1807.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
351 
popular — provided that it favorably answers the florists 1 
great question— "will it cut?" 
Toad. B^flax. " Snap ©ragoii." 
— w Butter and Eggs."— E. Stowe, of Wis., asks: 
" Will you be kind enough to state the best method of de- 
stroying that pest of farmers, 'Snap Dragon.' — There 
is more or less of it in Wisconsin; I have mowed it in 
blossom, and tried digging it out ; this last seems to 
spread it and make it grow more vigorously." 1 — Answer.' 
"We know of no way easier than to smother the plant. 
Make a pile of fresh cut grass or weeds, S inches thick, 
well trodden down over and around the infested locality. 
If on a lawn or in a garden, after cutting up the plants, 
cover with old boards, laid close together, and covered 
with hay to prevent their warping. This is said to be a 
euro cure in one season, and is the easiest one we know. 
^'Illustration Blorticole. — This is a 
most elegantly illustrated monthly, published by A. 
Verschaffelfc, the horticulturist of world wide reputation, 
o0d contains beautifully colored plates of all the floral 
novelties. The June number is especially interesting to 
Americans, as it contains a new Passion Flower from 
Panama, Tacsonia Buckanmii, in compliment to our 
esteemed friend, J. Buchanan, of this city, who first cul- 
tivated it. The same number contains a colored repre- 
sentation of our native Bird-foot Violet, Viola Peclata, 
one of our common plants, which we pass by unheeded, 
but one on which our friends over the water lavish a 
great deal of eloquent French. 
TTfltc Revue SEorticole* — This periodical 
is published semi-monthly, in Paris, under the able edi- 
torehip of M. Carriere. Its " Chroniquc Horticole " is an 
admirable resume of horticultural news, and we cordially 
recommend the journal to those who read French, and 
wish to keep advised of European horticultural doings. 
The Revue has one feature which we would commend to 
the attention of certain American journals — when it 
copies, as it often does, articles and figures from the 
Agriculturist, it gives full credit for them. 
"Sunsliinc am*! SHowers." — This is 
a most fascinating subject. It engages everybody's atten- 
tion, because it affects everybody's comfort. An English 
barrister has written a very instructive popular book on 
the weather, giving it the above attractive title. No 
doubt the laws which govern the weather of Great Brit- 
ain prevail over the whole world, and, with a little allow- 
ance for the different climatic influences, would form a 
correct basis for judging of its changes, provided wo 
could give proper relative weight to the indications. 
Everybody believes that it may be possible to predict the 
weather with some degree of certainty, and Mr. Steinmctz 
believes that he can do so generally, and that man ought to 
do it, as well as the lower animals. In a very pleasant way 
he discusses the premonitions which storms and showers 
give of their approach. Certain it is that many birds 
know when storms are coming, and frogs and leeches 
perceive it also. The Old Salt has no better reason for 
predicting a storm than that he "smells it," and the 
old rheumatic aunty, than that she "feels it in her 
bones." Hence we fully believe that if we, who are 
neither "old salts 11 nor rheumatic, only knew enough, 
we could do the same. The little book before us has 
helped us so much towards gaining knowledge about 
those things, that we have placed it on our book list. It 
is printed in London, but imported in sheets, and neatly 
bound by Roberts Bros., Boston, Mass., and is for sale at 
our counter, or will be sent by mail on receipt of price. 
'JTItc Osug'e Oft'iinge as a Tree. — 
Those who have only seen the Osage Orange as a hedge 
plant, can have no idea of its beauty when allowed to 
grow into a tree. There are fine specimens at Iona 
Island, (T>r. Grant's,) and at the place formerly owned by 
the late A. J. Downing, at Newburgh. It grows to the 
night of twenty or thirty feet, and has a remarkably clean 
appearance. The leaves are of a bright green, and its fruit, 
which grows to the size of a large orange, is very con- 
spicuous. It is put down by botanists as a dioecious tree, 
i. <?., one having stamimtle and pistillate flowers on sep- 
arate plant-:. Our French friends are. discussing this 
point, as they find that trees hear fruit when there is no 
staminatc 0110 in the neighborhood, and suppose that, as 
i< very likely to be the case, it is only imperfectly 
dioecious. Wo hope to SCO this very beautiful tree more 
generally introduced in ornamental planting. 
TThc Vegetable World, by Louis Fi- 
guier, Now York. D. Appleton & Co. A handsomely 
printed volume of 5715 pages, and intended to give n pop- 
ular account of the structure, and some general ideas of 
the classification, of plants. Unfortunately it was trans- 
lated from the French by One who apparently bad no 
knowledge of the subject, mid the work id so full of nils* 
takes as to seriously interfere with its value as a popular 
teacher. The illustrations are many of them very beauti- 
ful, but as some blunderer has in several instances put 
the wrong names to them, they are sometimes calculated 
to mislead rather than to instruct. It is painful to sec so 
handsome a work marred by so many blemishes. While 
those who have sufficient botanical knowledge to see the 
errors, will find much instruction in it, we cannot recom- 
mend the work as an introduction to the study of plants. 
Our Annuals. — The American Agricultural 
and Horticultural Annuals arc in course of preparation, 
and will be issued before the close of the present year. 
As these works arc in part devoted to recording the pro- 
gress in Agriculture and Horticulture during the past 
year, they cannot.,on this account, be brought out as early 
as if they were made up of miscellaneous articles that could 
be written at any time. The work has mainly to be done 
when the growing season is over. The favorable recep- 
tion given to the volumes of 1SGT is an incentive to make 
those for 1868 worthy of general approval. 
Conn. Board of Agriculture, 18456. 
—The First Report of the Conn. State Board of Agricul- 
ture has been for some time on our table, through the 
politeness of Hon. K. H. Hyde, Vice President of the 
Board. The chief value of the book consists in the report 
of the lectures and discussions at the annual meeting in 
January last, a brief account of which was given in the 
Agriculturist for February. The Board, between their 
meetings for business, listened to lectures which were 
open to the puplic. The report of them is so full as to 
give the volume a permanent value to all agriculturists. 
They are, one by Prof. Johnson, on The Source of Nitrogen 
in Plants; one by Prof. Brown, on Irrigation in Califor- 
nia, and two, by the same gentleman, ou Diseases of 
Plants Caused by Fungi. Discussions took place in regard 
to Draining, Irrigation, and Fruit Culture, and responses 
to a circular, sent out by the Secretary, asking informa- 
tion based on personal experience on these subjects. 
The information thus given is of notable value. The Sec- 
retary has little to tell about the town and county 
societies which are known to exist, except their names, 
and the fact that they spend the $1G00 appropriated for 
premiums by the State, and it appears as if he collected 
this meagre information about them much as a newspa- 
per reporter would do. This ought not to be, and the 
State bounty should, we think, be appropriated only to 
those societies presenting a detailed report of all their 
doings, and the amount paid should be graduated ac- 
cording to the degree of excellence of these reports. 
Gray's Manual off" Botany. — Fifth 
Edition. N. Y. : Ivison, Phinney, Blakeman & Co. — 
About twenty years ago, the first edition of this work 
appeared, and immediately took the position it has since 
maintained— that of guide and hand-book to those who 
wish to gain a knowledge of the plants of the Northern 
States. That our first botanist should be so mindful of 
the wants of students as to prepare for them a series of 
books unequalled by any in the language, is something 
to be thankful for— a good which those of us, who, in 
our early studies, struggled along with incomplete and 
unsatisfactory text-books, can better appreciate than can 
the student of the present day. We are intlcbtcd'to the 
publishers for an advance copy of the new edition, which 
is in the same neat and attractive style that characterized 
the former manuals. The present one embodies all the 
recent discoveries, and contains such alterations as the 
advance of the science demands. Gray's Manual for 
the Northern States, Chapman's Flora for the South, and 
Brewer's forthcoming Botany of California, gives us a 
series of admirable hand-books for all parts of our ex- 
tended territory — except, perhaps, "Walrussia," — and 
the botanist will be likely to find but few plants not re- 
corded in one or the other of these standard works. 
IPlants Named. — Mrs. C. L. Mabbit, 
Vineland, N. J. — Veronica spicata, the blue; and the 
white is the delicate Fringed Orchid, Platanf/iaxi Ueph- 
ariglottis Mrs. Robuck, Herkimer Co.— Dicentra Cana- 
densis, the Squirrel-corn; less common than ihc.closcly 
related I). C'ucuUaria, or Dutchman's Breeches, and worth 
cultivating F. W. Earl, Tawas, Mich. — Katmia angus- 
tffolia. the Low, or Sheep Laurel A. Williams. Hills- 
dale. X. T. — The common Wicgela rosea, properly Dit r- 
villa Japonica,& fine ornamental shrub C. J. Brane, 
Wabash Co., hid.— Solan urn Dulcamara, Bittersweet, a 
pretty climber, but the berries are suspected of poison- 
ous qualities. 
Salmon Fisheries in England. — 
The work Of restoring this noble fish tothe rivers of Eng- 
land is in successful progress, though It meets with ob- 
Btaclos from defective legislation, from the refuse of fac- 
tories poured into tlu Btroama, from badly constructed fl-h 
ways, and from Illegal flatting, Xntwlthntniullng thesa 
hindrances, the fish appear in increasing numbers in all 
the streams that have been restocked, and best cuts of 
salmon are quoted in the London market at twenty cents 
a pound, or about half the price it commands here, in the 
cheapest part of the season. When we get our rivers re- 
stocked, we hope to turn the tables on our British consins, 
and quote salmon at ten cents a ponnd. The best style of 
passes or ladders at the mill dams is now a theme of live- 
ly discussion. One writer proposes "rough rock work, 
the rougher the better, built against the dam on an in- 
cline." He has seen fifteen fish pass such a ladder in 
three quarters of an hour. The idea may be valuable. 
EIuiL'hiug Shadat Molyolte, Mass. 
— Mr. Seth Green, of Mumford, N. Y., is supervising the 
work of stocking the Connecticut River with shad, at 
Ilolyoke. By his system, 95 per cent, of the spawn is 
hatched while in the river. It is estimated that not more 
than 5 per cent, live, the most being destroyed by fish 
and by unfavorable changes in the temperature of the 
water. He will turn into the river this season more than 
100,000,000 of these fish. If they return to their birth- 
place as their instinct prompts them, there will be fine 
fishing in that stream next season. Under the new reg- 
ulations of the New England Fish Commissioners, the 
fish will be able to visit the upper waters of the River, 
and Vermont and New Hampshire can eat home-bred 
shad again. Fish breeding is now as easily managed as 
the breeding of land animals, and measures should be 
taken to restock all our streams. 
BS>airmp Houses. — "W. B." These are oc- 
casioned quite as often by the surroundings as by the 
materials of which they are made. An undrained cellar, 
or too many shade trees, will make a damp house. If 
brick or stone is used, fill out the walls, and ventilate. 
The house is then as dry as if made of wood, and cooler 
in summer as well as warmer in winter. 
ILons* worth's Wine Mouse. — Some 
samples from this establishment show that it maintains 
its well established reputation, and are of a quality to 
convince even the writer in the Boston Journal of Horti- 
culture that " pure wines " can be produced in the North. 
Ox-wows and Yokes. — II. A. S., of Man- 
chester, Conn., criticises the ox-yoke, figured in the 
August number, page 2S4, on the ground that the holes 
for the bows are too close together. Such narrow bows 
may do, he says, to draw in, but cattle will not back well 
in them. Narrow bows chafe the roots of the ears in 
hacking or holding back, going downhill. He formerly 
used yokes with bows only 10 inches wide, but never 
found his cattle to back easily until he put the bow-holes 
12 inches apart. Cattle will not hack well if the y®ke 
hurts them. 
Prof. ©lover's Work on Entomol- 
ogy.— Aside from his labors in the Museum of the De- 
partment of Agriculture at Washington, Prof. Glover is 
carrying on his elaborate work on insects, which, one 
would think, is of itself sufficient to occupy all his time. 
His plan appears to he as admirable in design as his fig- 
ures are beautiful in execution. The work is needed, 
and we hope that a way will soon be found to publish it. 
3Iosnuitoes in Water-tronglis.— A 
few little brook or pond fish keep water-troughs, open 
cisterns, water barrels, ponds, etc., entirely free from the 
larva* of mosquitoes, by eating them almost as soon as 
the eggs hatch. 
Pickling* incumbers. — B. G. B. We 
have never found any substitute for salting cucum 
hers. A bag of spices is usually lied up, and put in the 
vinegar for those who like it. More commonly the vine- 
gar is applied hot upon the cucumbers, but some house- 
keepers of unquestioned gumption apply the vinegar 
cold. Cider vinegar, however, is always used, and has a 
snap to it. Mem,— It is some trouble to have anythingnice. 
lE&tflucncc of Climate in Norrtli and 
South America.— Prof. John Distnmell has given 
to the public, through the publishing house of D. Van 
Nostrand, New York, a work with the above title, dis- 
cussing the climate and climatic changes and influences = 
which prevail in this Western Hemisphere, and their in- 
fluence upon vegetation, animals, man. diseases, civili- 
zation, etc. It is accompanied by an agricultural and an 
Isothermal map of Ninth America. The former shows 
the limits of profitable culture of our staple crops; the 
latter, the lines of equal moan, summer and winter tem- 
peratures. The work contains fl great array of eiirefully 
collected facta and observations, with free citations of the 
opinions of travelers and writers upon the climate. 
n i- an octavo of 634 doaaty printed pages, 
