io4 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Maech, 
Hobbies in Horticulture. 
An old friend of ours, whom it is a delight to 
visit, always has some hobby, which, for the 
time, he rides bravely. The last time we were 
at his place, he was riding Chinese Primroses; 
his new seedlings were just coming into flower, 
and the pleasure he took in observing the differ- 
ence in the shades of color, or the promise that 
some plants gave of being a little more double, 
or otherwise different from others, was some- 
thing pleasant to see. In this country we have 
but little of this devotion to one particular genus 
or family of plants. Abroad, they have their 
chrysanthemum, auricula, gooseberry and other 
shows, and even societies devoted to some 
special culture. In our desire to do a 
little of everything, we do but little well, 
and are disposed to sneer at people who 
estimate gooseberries by grain weights 
and count the pips of a flower truss. Yet 
great perfection comes out of this devo- 
tion to a single thing. Years ago, we 
knew a journeyman shoemaker who car- 
ried all the prizes for asters away from 
under the noses of " gentlemen's gar- 
deners," and, in his own humble way, did 
as much for the improvement of this 
flower as Truffaut, or any of the foreign 
florists. What can be pleasanter, for 
those who have leisure and taste, to take 
a plant, or several plants, and see what 
Uiey are capable of, and by selections 
and crossings make them do their ut- 
most. We suggest this not only for 
flowers, but for fruits, as there are 
many fruits that have not yet been half 
developed. — Who has crossed a peach ? 
and j-et what a chance the Golden Dwarf 
presents for experiments. Who will give 
us a raspberry as hardy and prolific as 
the Philadelphia, and as fine flavored 
as Brinckle's Orange ? Where is the 
sweet and high flavored strawberry as 
surely productive as the Wilson ? Then, 
in flowers too, are we to stop with what 
the Japanese have done with the lilies ? 
Will not some one put odor into our 
native violets by a lucky hybridizing? 
There is a whole host of hobbies wait- 
ing for some one to mount them. We 
ask those who are on the look out for 
every "new importation," and spend 
their money freely for the results of for- 
eign skill and patience, to try their hand 
at the home production of "novelties " in 
fruits and flowers. Let what Snow has 
done with the Verbena, and other of our 
florists with the Carnation, encourage the belief 
that success is not confined to any country. 
The Sweet-Scented Shrub, or Carolina 
Allspice. — {Calycanthus floridus.) '" 
but little difference in appearance between the 
calyx and corolla. The parts of the calyx are 
united below, and form a kind of cup which 
encloses the pistils, a fact that gives origin to 
the botanical name. The bark and leaves have 
an aromatic odor, which doubtless suggested 
the name of Carolina Allspice, while the fra- 
grance of the flowers, compared by some to 
that of strawberries, and by others to that of 
apples, has given it the name of Sweet-Scented 
Shrub. The flowers give off their odor more 
powerfully when crushed or slightly wilted. 
There are several varieties which are ranked 
by some botanists as species. Calycanthus glau- 
cus, Iwoigatus, inodoi'us, etc., are put down by 
For those who prefer fragrance to beauty of 
flowers there is no common shrub from which 
more enjoyment may be derived than from the 
Calycanthus. It is not particular as to soil or 
treatment, remains in flower for several months, 
and diffuses a strong fruit-like odor that is to 
most persons very agreeable. It is a shrub that 
has already become popular, and we notice it 
now as one of those good old things that every 
lover of shrubbery should have. It grows from 
six to nine feet high, and naturally forms a 
roundish clump. The character of the leaves 
and flowers are given in the engraving. The 
flowers are oi a brownish purple color, with 
THE SWEET-SCENTED SHRUB (Catycailthw floHdVS.') 
some as distinct species, and by others as only 
varieties of G. floridus. It is found in most of 
the Southern States, one variety extending as 
far north as the mountains of Pennsylvania. 
C. occidentalis, of California, is much larger in 
all its parts than our Eastern plant, and has 
brighter colored flowers. This is prized in Eu- 
rope as an ornamental shrub, but we have not 
noticed it in cultivation with us. The Calycan- 
thus readily multiplies itself by an abundance 
of suckers, or it may be propagated by layering. 
'Getting a Few Turns Ahead." 
A man employed in a shipyard to turn a 
grindstone was found by the men, when they 
came to their work, busily engaged in turning 
the stone. When asked why he was turning 
when no one was holding, he replied, " I am 
getting a few turns ahead." The idea was a 
good one, but not well carried out. Getting "a 
few turns ahead " can be done in many opera- 
tions, and in none more satisfactorily than in the 
garden. Whoever cleaned up and burned all 
rubbish last autumn, got " a few turns ahead " 
of him who has to do it this spring, when all is 
so soaked that it won't burn. Now, before gar- 
den operations, in most places, fairly begin, some- 
thing can be done to forward plants, and have 
them ready earlier than they would be in the 
natural course of things. Those who have hot- 
beds or cold-frames have already read what we 
have said last month on page 63. If there is no 
disposition to try glass, or not the ability to com- 
mand it, there are the kitchen windows. We 
last year advised the use of boxes, and can only 
briefly say now, that they are much bet- 
ter than pots. Get a long box six inches 
deep ; filled with light soil, sow the seeds 
of early cabbage, tomatoes, etc. Keep it 
moist and exposed to full light in the 
kitchen window, where cooking and 
"washing are going on, and the air is al- 
ways moist, and the j'oung plants will 
soon be up and need thinning. Thin, and 
transplant the thinnings to another box 
like the first. Open the window on mild 
days, or set the boxes out of doors during 
the middle of the day, and there "will be a 
lot of hard}- plants ready to put out by 
the time a less wide-awake neighbor is 
just sowing his seed. On a larger scale, 
make a bed as soon as the ground thaws, 
put aframc around it of nine inch boards, 
and have some shutters made, of boards 
battoned together, to cover it. Open the 
frame, when the sun is warm, in the 
morning, and cover it as soon as the heat 
declines in the afternoon. In a short 
time the soil will get well warmed, and 
lettuce, radishes, cabbage, and other 
things, may be forwarded considerably 
without glass. Get ahead of your work 
in every possible way ; having tools ready, 
manure in sufficiency, seeds procured, 
and wherever forethought will do it, be 
a "few turns ahead" in the garden. 
Earliness in Vegetables. 
If we can get a variety of any vege- 
table a few days or a week earlier than 
any before known, it is a great gain, 
especially with the cultivator for market. 
Much that is said by venders of seeds, 
about extreme earliness, that experience 
fails to sustain. One, this year, adver- 
tises a tomato thirty days earlier than any 
other sort. Now, a tomato a whole month in 
advance of any we now have, would be, near 
New York, worth a small fortune, and we doubt 
not it would be proportionately valuable else- 
where, and few would be willing to part with 
the seeds of so precious a variety. While we 
hope that all that is said of this tomato may be 
true, we would not have any one deterred, hy 
our doubts in this case, from striving for great 
earliness, or testing this, and all other things 
claiming to be in advance of ordinary varieties. 
Much can be done in most vegetables by 
selecting, year after year, the earliest for seed. 
We know of an instance in which this plan of 
selecting the earliest Sweet Corn for seed, for 
several years in succession, resulted in establish- 
ing a variety of great earliness. If in saving 
peas for seed we took the very first pods for 
next year's crop, instead of using them upon 
the table, we should not be running after "First 
Crops," " Expresses," and other new sorts of 
peas— and the same with other vegetables. 
