1870.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
34.1 
Ornamental Shrubs.— The Bladder Sennas. 
■ 
The Bladder Sennas, or Coluteas, are desira- 
ble in a collection of shrubbery, as they are of 
rapid growth, and though not particularly 
sho vry, are pleasing both in flower and in fruit. — 
bladder SENSA. — (Colutea Haleppica.) 
They belong to the Leguminosnj, or Pulse Fami- 
ly, and are nearly related to the Locust. The 
flowers are borne in small clusters in the axil 
of each leaf, and are of the shape and size 
shown in the engraving. The flowers are suc- 
ceeded by thin, bladdery pods, wliich look as if 
they had been inflated ; these, when suddenly 
pressed, burst with a small report. The pods 
being usually of a reddish color, the shrub is 
quite attractive in fruit. The leaves have been 
used as a substitute for senna, a circumstance 
which, together with the bladder-like character 
of the pods, has given the popular name. The 
origin of Colutea, the botanical name of the 
genus, is unknown. Several species arc given 
in the books, most of which are probably 
varieties of Colutea arborescem, the common 
Bladder Senna of Southern Europe. Our en- 
graving is taken from the one known as the 
Aleppo Bladder Senna, Colutea Haleppica. 
i »♦» — 
The Elegant Humea. 
■ — 
In the ornamentation of the Flower Garden 
at Central Park, the Humea is introduced with 
fine effect. The engraving which we present, 
while it gives the form and habit of the plant, 
cannot convey a proper idea of its real beauty. 
One must imagine a plant of from four to eight 
feet in bight, with its gracefully pendent branch- 
es stirred by the breeze, and crowded with mi- 
nute crimson or purplish flowers, to have an 
idea of its elegance. The plant belongs to the 
Composite Family; its heads of flowers are 
very small, and covered by a colored involucre, 
which is the showy part of the flower. The 
flowers have the dry, papeiy character of the 
Rhodanthe and 
others of the 
" Everlastings, " 
and like them 
may be used for 
winter bouquets. 
This Humea is 
no novelty, as it 
was introduced 
into cultivation 
from Australia in 
1800; still it is, 
in this country at 
least, very rarely 
seen. The reason 
it is so seldom 
grown, is prob- 
ably due to the 
fact that it is a 
biennial. Our 
people are gener- 
ally too impa- 
tient, to grow a 
plant a whole / 
year in hope of j 
its flowering the \ 
next ; and in the . 
desire for inime- |f 
diate returns, they 
overlook many 
beautiful things. 
The seeds are 
sown in Septem- 
ber, and the 
young plants, 
when large 
enough, are pot- 
ted singly, and 
are kept in the 
greenhouse all 
winter. In spring 
they are turned 
out into a rich border or bed, and usual- 
ly come into flower in July. The plants may 
be put in groups of several, but well-grown 
specimens placed singly upon the lawn produce 
a fine effect. At flowering time the leaves die 
away, and the plant looks naked at the base, a 
defect which may be concealed by setting some 
other plants around it. The young Humeas, 
during the first year, have so strong a resem- 
blance to tobacco, that several have mistaken 
our young plants for " the weed." Unlike that, 
the leaves of the Humea have a spicy fragrance, 
compared by some to that of cinnamon. The 
genus was named in honor of Lady Hume. 
"marker," at the distance of 12 or 15 inches apart. 
The seed is sown rather thickly, we prefer to do 
it always by hand, using about 10 to 15 lbs. per 
acre; when thickly sown, the plants can be 
thinned out so that a much larger yield will be 
given. "We sow here from the oth to the loth of 
The Culture of Spinach. 
BY TETEH HENDERSON. 
As September is the time in this region for 
sowing the winter and spring crop of spinach, a 
few suggestions may be useful to your readers. 
Any soil that will grow a good corn crop, will 
grow spinach, though, as is the case with all 
other vegetables in which the leaf or stem is the 
part used, the land can hardly be made too rich. 
Our practice is to grow it on our best soils, ap- 
plying not less than 50 tons of well-rotted stable 
manure to the acre, or, in lieu of stable manure, 
one ton of bone-dust; or about 1,200 lbs. guano, 
sown after plowing, and deeply harrowed in. — 
The rows are made with the ordinary garden 
THE elegaxt HniEA. — (Humea elegans.) 
September, and quite frequently sell, by thin- 
ning out, 50 or 75 barrels from an acre, which 
usually, in October and November, sells for $2 
per barrel. This thinning out, which is done by 
cutting out the plants where thickest with a 
knife, if carefully performed, does not at all in- 
jure the main crop, which is to stand over win- 
ter until spring. I may here caution the inex- 
perienced of the necessity of treading down the 
soil on the seed, if the laud is dry; the crop is 
often ruined by the want of this precaution, 
in. continued hot, dry spells that are frequent 
with us during September. If the soil is lift 
loose, the hot air shrivels up the seed so that it 
will never germinate. If a heavy roller is not 
at hand, the best way is to tread in each row 
with the feet. The same precaution is necessary 
in the sowing for cabbage and lettuce plants ; at 
this season these are often lost from the same 
cause. There has some question arisen of late 
whether the round or prickly seeded Spinach is 
the best; as far as I can judge, it makes but lit- 
tle difference which kind is used, though we use 
the round almost exclusively, as it is the easiest 
to sow. The price of Spinach in the New York 
market, last year in February, for a few days, 
reached §10 per barrel, although the average for 
the spring months of April and May, (its regu- 
lar time of selling.) was not more than $3 
per barrel, but fair crops give a yield of 200 bar- 
rels per acre ; at a high estimate, the expenses 
