346 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[DECEMBER, 
The Witch Hazel. — (Hamamalis Virginica.) 
As we write, in November, the leaves are dead 
and fallen, the tender wild flowers have all 
gone, leaving only the "Witch Hazel, which 
seems to defy the approach of winter. This 
shrub, singularly enough, comes into flower, and 
appears at its brightest at the very time when 
other plants are beginning their long rest. The 
shrub is usually rather irregular in form, grows 
from six to twenty feet high, and presents noth- 
ing very attractive until autumn, when just as 
its leaves have turned yellow and are about to 
fall, the stems are clothed with a profusion of 
light yellow flowers. The flowers usually ap- 
pear in October and November and are produced 
in clusters of three or four upon a little stalk. 
The engraving is taken from a freshly gather- 
ed specimen, upon which a leaf still remains. 
The shape of the leaf is shown, also some of the 
flower clusters and the ripe fruit. A separate 
flower is seen at one side. Its most conspicu- 
ous parts are the four long, narrow petals; 
within these are eight stamens, only four of 
which are perfect and large enough to be seen. 
After flowering, the undeveloped fruit remains 
through the winter, perfects itself the next year, 
and is ripe by the next flowering time. It 
is a two-horned seed pod, which when ripe, 
splits and throws out its two black, shining 
seeds with considerable force. The shrub is 
common along the borders of woods, and is 
worthy of a place in a collection of shrubbery 
on account of its peculiar season of flowering. 
It may be brought into tolerable shape by a 
free use of the knife. It propagates by layers 
and from seeds, or the plants may be trans- 
planted from the woods. The application of 
the botanical name is not clear, but it is called 
"Witch Hazel, probably for the reason that its 
twigs were used as divining rods by impostors 
professing to discover hidden springs of water. 
•-. «»» — »-•. • 
Fighting 1 Against Insects. 
Not a few of the queries coming to the 
American Agriculturist are to ask the best way 
to destroy some particular insect. No ques- 
tions are more difficult to answer than these, 
and the best we can do is to note down from 
time to time such remedies, and present such 
views as come to us well authenticated. An 
English gardener has recently found hot water 
the best remedy for the "American blight," as the 
woolly aphis is called in England. He syringes 
the tree with boiling water, which by the time 
it reaches the foliage probably becomes cool 
enough not to injure it, but still retains heat 
enough to destroy the insect. Rose bugs we 
thought incurable, except by killing and crush- 
ing; but a correspondent of the Horticulturist 
avers that he has kept them from his grape 
vines while in bloom by a free sprinkling of 
plaster (ground gypsum). It is easily and 
cheaply tried; our faith in it is not large, 
yet we hope it is effective. Dr. I. M. Ward, 
mulches his pear orchard with salt hay, which 
is put on in the spring after plowing. His pears 
are never attacked by curculio ; he attributes 
his exemption to the use of the mulch. The 
fruit of his neighbors, who cultivate well, but do 
not mulch, is sadly infested. There is no doubt 
that the borer can be kept out of trees if culti- 
vators will only take pains to use some of the 
various methods we have recommended from 
time to time. In confirmation of this we have 
a letter from Dr. J. B. Chapin, of Providence, 
R. I., who says : K Three years ago last Spring, 
I set fifty apple trees. The first year the borer 
destroyed three of them, and seriously injured a 
dozen more. The following April I dug down 
to where the roots branch off, and. tied snugly 
about the trunk a strip of tarred paper— such as 
is used for roof covering — and wide enough to 
reach two or three inches above the surface, and 
then drew the soil back against it. I have not 
found a borer since. It is very inexpensive, eas- 
ily applied, and appears completely effectual." 
Insects on House Plants. 
These are among the greatest obstacles to 
success in window gardening, but they are not 
insuperable. Let us take them one at a time : 
The Red Spider. — A small fellow, and it needs 
a sharp eye to find him. But we may be sure 
he is on hand if the room is kept hot and dry, 
and the leaves turn yellow. To expel him, syr- 
inge the leaves above and below for several 
days. In desperate cases, put a little sulphur in 
the water. But water alone is generally effectual. 
The Mealy Bug. — So called from its whiteness, 
and from the white web it often spins for itself 
at the axils of the leaves. It is a hydropathist, 
and will not budge for syringing. Pick off one 
by one, or scrape off with a wire or stiff feather. 
The Green Fly.— This is the commonest foe 
to house-plants, and happily can easily be got 
rid of. Tobacco smoke applied under and 
among the leaves will kill it. The smudge 
must be made under a barrel, box, or even a 
paper cap or tent, so as to retain the smoke 
among the leaves. Put a little tobacco in a 
pipe and light it, then fill the pipe with tobacco 
and blow through the stem. This will give off 
great volumes of smoke which may be directed 
under the covering of the plant. Do not blow the 
hot smoke on the leaves. A quicker and pleasaut- 
er way is to dip the leaves in water heated to 125° 
or 130°. Be sure to test the water carefully with 
a thermometer ; then place your hand over the 
ball of earth in the pot, and inverting it, hold 
the leaves under water about five seconds, or 
as long as it takes to count five slowly. 
iKjil 
The Green Rose. 
Every few years this comes up as a novelty. 
We saw a green rose at least 25 years ago, and 
can not tell how much longer it has been known 
in this country. The " Flore des Serres" the 
great horticultural journal of Prance, dates its 
appearance in 1855, but there is no reason why 
the same phenomenon might not have appeared 
in this country much earlier. It is simply a de- 
generate form of rose, with green leaves pro- 
duced in the place of the petals or " rose leaves." 
It is well known to those who have paid any 
attention to vegetable structure, that a flower is 
only a branch with its leaves changed to serve 
a particular end. We have tried to explain this 
here and there, as much as would be proper in 
a journal of this character. The green rose, 
which from some accident or, so to speak, freak 
of the plant, is a flower which has stopped 
forming petals and gone to producing leaves 
instead, is a good illustration of the fact that 
the flowers and leaves are identical in nature if 
not in character. The engraving gives the ap- 
pearance of this curious floral monstrosity. 
» I ■»! » ' < ■ 
A Domestic Platform.— One who has had 
considerable experience in the housekeeping 
line, says that a home should be supplied with 
such necessaries as piety, pickles, pots and ket- 
tles, brushes, brooms, benevolence, bread, char- 
it} 7 , cheese, faith, flour, affection, cider, sinceri- 
ty, onions, integrity, vinegar, wine and wisdom. 
Have all these and happiness will be with you. 
