1870.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
221 
The Jasmine-like Bouvardia. 
(Bouixwdia jasminoides.) 
The Bouvardias are among the most valued 
green-house plants ; whether to the commerical 
the jasmise-like BOUVARDIA. — (Bouvurdia jasminoides.) 
florist who sells cut flowers, or to the arnateu.i 
or gardener who wishes to have his houses gay 
in winter. Some of them are useful as bedding 
out plants, and flower freely during the sum- 
mer. The colors run from white, through flesh- 
color and rose, to intense scarlet. Last autumn 
some of our florists imported from England the 
Bouvardia jasminoides, which is regarded as 
the most valuable addition to the list of winter- 
flowering plants that has been made for years. 
The engraving gives a flower cluster of the nat- 
ural size. "What gives it especial value is the 
pure white character of the flowers, which have 
a delicate jasmine-like fragrance. Flowerdeal- 
ers are aware that the demand for white flowers 
is three times greater than that for colored ones; 
and every winter-blooming plant, that produces 
delicate white flowers freely, is looked upon 
with great interest. Unlike some of the Bou- 
vardias, the one under notice is easy of propa- 
gation. We believe that it has not yet been 
offered for sale, but as it is in the hands of sev- 
eral of our florists, it will no doubt be obtainable 
as soon as a good stock of it has been propagated. 
The Large-leaved Saxifrages. 
The majority of the Saxifrages in cultivation 
are small alpine or sub-alpine species, that re- 
quire a rock-work and shade for their success- 
ful growth. There arc a few very robust, large- 
leaved species that flourish well in a common 
garden border. The one we have figured, the 
Thick-leaved Saxifrage (Saxifraga crassifolia), 
will serve to show the general appearance of 
this group. The plant forms clumps, consisting 
of half a dozen or 
more divisions like 
the one shown in 
the engraving. The 
leaves, which are 
6 to 9 inches long, 
are thick and per- 
sistent through the 
winter. Early in 
April the flowers 
appear, beginning 
to open down 
among the leaves, 
but as the season 
advances they are 
lifted up by a stem 
about a foot high, 
and the, at first, 
compact cluster, 
expands. The flow- 
ers are of a lively 
rose-color, and last 
for some weeks. 
Nearly related to 
this are the Heart- 
leaved and Strap- 
leaved Saxifrages 
(S. cordifolia and 
S. ligulata), which 
much resemble the 
Thick-leaved in 
the flowers, but 
differ in the shape 
of the foliage. 
They are equally 
hardy with it and 
bloom at the same 
time. S. purpur- 
ascens is a fine spe- 
cies, but not hardy. 
The first mention- 
ed species is a na- 
tive of Siberia, and the others are from Nepaul. 
These Saxifrages propagate slowly by division, 
and unless they can be readily raised from seed 
they will never be very abundant. They are valu- 
able plants on account of their great hardiness, 
their broad green foliage, and early flowering. 
the difficulty, unless by getting the plants grow*, 
at the North to be sent South. But Celery 
plants grown at the North at the usual season, 
would not answer, as they would become so 
large that they would require to be planted out 
Celery Culture. 
BY PETBE HENDEKSOS. 
What I have previously written about grow- 
ing celery comprised the main features of its 
culture as practised by our market gardeners in 
the vicinity of New "York ; as we are again at 
the season of planting, numerous inquries ren- 
der it necessary to say something more upon 
the subject. 
I will not allude to our method of raising the 
plants from the seed, as it is too late to do it this 
season ; and in fact we have made no im- 
provement on the s} T stem already described. 
The time of planting out in the Northern States 
may run from June 15th to the end of July ; 
and in the Southern States from August 15th to 
the end of September. The great difficulty ex- 
perienced in the Southern States is in raising 
the plants ; for if sown in March or April, as we 
do here, the high temperature and dry atmos- 
phere either kill the plants outright, or so 
shrivel them up that they never start to make 
a free growth. There is no way of obviating 
the thick-leaved SAXIFRAGA. — (Saxifraga crassifolia.) 
before the end of July, and in most of the 
Southern States, if planted then, they could 
not stand the long continued high temperature 
and dry atmosphere of August and September. 
For celery plants, grown at the North for South- 
ern planting, the seed should not be sown before 
the end of May, which would delay their fit- 
ness to plant until August or September; this 
would no doubt answer well, as the genial 
growing weather of October, November, and 
December, in many parts of the South, would 
be well adapted to their growth. It is doubtful 
if this special growing of plants is likely to be 
done, and our friends at the South must submit 
to paying us for our celery already grown, just 
as we must submit to have the cream of our 
profits taken off by their early supply of spring 
vegetables. It is a geographical condition of 
culture that both sections must accept. 
Celery should always be planted on the level 
surface of the ground ; never in a trench, which 
is the European method, and the one which 
three out of four of our private gardeners yet 
practise here. The soil best suited, is a deep 
rich loam ; nothing is better than a well drain- 
ed meadow or bottom land ; if black and peaty 
it will answer quite as well, but it must be free 
from water. Celery, though it grows in its 
wild state in wet ditches, is as susceptible to in- 
jury from excess of moisture as a cabbage. In 
new lands broken up from sod, and where the 
turf is well decomposed, but little manuring is 
