302 
AMERICA NT AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
possible, to strike the runners in pots. This method, 
while it can not be profitable in field culture, allows 
the amateur to save a year, if he will take the small 
amount of trouble it requires. Small flower-pots, 
two or three inches in diameter, are filled with rich 
soil; plunge these into the soil of the bed, each di¬ 
rectly under an unrooted runner, or rather the bud 
of a uew plant at the end of the runner—setting the 
pot down in the soil of the bed up to its rim. Place 
:a small clod, or stone, or forked twig to hold the run¬ 
ner in place upon the soil of the pot, and it will 
take root in two weeks or so ; the connection with 
the old plant may then be severed, and the new 
plant turned out of the pot and set in the new bed 
■without any disturbance of the roots. If set this 
month, well cultivated, and the runners kept off as 
they appear, a very fine crop may be expected next 
spring. The layering should be done at once. 
Notes from the Pines. 
In a fairly large collection of ornamental shrubs, 
I know of none that is more desirable than the 
Double-flowered Deutzia Crenata. 
I refer to the shrub first introduced under that 
name, and which has been in our collections for 
several years. In the first place, it fills a gap, by 
coming along just after the Weigelas and other 
early-blooming shrubs have done flowering, and 
makes its display about the middle of June. It 
first gives us a few days of promise, and these 
■show the outside of the petals with a most charm¬ 
ing tinge of purplish rose. The few days it re¬ 
mains in this state, are, to my notion, the best; but 
it after this comes into full flower, and the bush 
is a sheet of white, as by opening, the iuterior 
petals quite hide the outer colored ones. After 
this excellent shrub had become well established, 
the nurserymen offered, with some flourish, 
Deutzia Crenata flore alba pleno, 
which, being interpreted, means the White Flow¬ 
ered Double Deutzia crenata. This has flowered 
with me this season, but is in no respect preferable, 
indeed, not equal to the older variety. It is true 
that the flowers are pure white throughout, but 
give only pure white, while the older kind gives us 
both the purple-rose tinge before it fairly opens, 
and at length as good a white as the other_In 
former notes I have mentioned our 
Native Wistaria, 
Wistaria fnttescens, as a much neglected climber. 
It does not flower until the vine is in full leaf, and 
its flowers are not so large or of so deep a purple 
as the more generally cultivated Chinese species. 
It is for the very reason that it flowers later that I 
value it. The Chinese is good in its way.; still, if I 
could have but one, I should take our native, as 
it gives foliage at the same time with the flowers. 
Having cultivated the ordinary purplish-flowered 
form, and also the white variety for several years, 
I was quite surprised to And, in conversation with 
horticultural friends around Boston, to learn that 
The White American Wistaria 
was quite unknown at that center of horticulture. 
This led me to “hark back” on the plant, and 
trace its origin. I found that my vines were sent 
me, the season that I came to “ The Pines,” with a 
very generous contribution of other hardy stuff, 
from my not very distant neighbor, A. S. Fuller, 
Esq., and that he procured his original plant from 
W. R. Prince, of Flushing, who had in his time a 
most remarkable collection. Beyond this it is not 
possible to trace its history; but those who knew 
Mr. Prince in his younger days, are aware that he 
spared no pains in procuring any new and strange 
plant that he might hear of, in any part of the 
country.... Several years ago a gentleman in 
Tennessee (I think) sent me some small trees of 
The Dyehouse Cherry, 
so called because it originated on the place of a 
person by the name of Dyehouse. When they 
came, I, to save them, put them in temporarily 
where they grew a year or two, and were then set 
■out where they were to remain. This is the first 
year that they have borne anything of a crop, and 
though the trees are not over 6 or 8 feet high, 
they were fairly filled. The fruit was ripe at least 
a week or ten days before the “ Early Richmond,” 
heretofore the earliest cherry 1 had, and while 
about the size of that, is a palatable fruit. The 
“Early Richmond,” even when dead ripe, is, to 
my taste too sour for anything but cooking ... 
It is curious to see how flower-fashions run. I 
can recall cases in which the American Agriculturist 
was the first journal to describe and figure a 
plant, and I may say the same of the “ Gardener’s 
Monthly.” The plants, whether of native or foreign 
origin, have been presented to the horticultural 
world in these American journals for the first time, 
at no little trouble on the part of the editors, to 
procure and grow them, and at considerable ex¬ 
pense on the part of the publishers, in giving excel¬ 
lent, and original engravings. Yet, what good does 
it do ?—It is only when these same plants, years 
after, are brought out in European publications 
and in the catalogues of European cultivators, that 
our growers become aware of such things. It 
would seem that our people cau not appreciate the 
value of a plant unless it has been first endorsed 
abroad. As long ago as 1868, I saw a bed of 
The Japanese Iris (Iris Kcempferi) 
in the ga^en of James Hogg, of ISiew York City. 
The plants had been sent by that most excellent 
horticulturist, his brother, Thomas Hogg, then a 
resident of Japan. After they had been in the gar¬ 
den of James Hogg sufficiently long to show that 
they were perfectly hardy, I, in October, 1870, gave 
some account of them, with an engraving, consid¬ 
erably reduced in size, it is true, but sufficient to 
show their great beauty, and how unlike they were 
to any heretofore known forms of cultivated Irises. 
Within these few years the Japanese Irises have been 
introduced into European gardens, have been fig¬ 
ured in European journals, and now our dealers 
have found out, from across the water, how fine 
they are, and offer them as novelties. Having cul¬ 
tivated them these 8 or 10 years, I can endorse all 
that the dealers say of their beauty, and hope that 
they may be as well known as their merits deserve. 
In the first place, they come into flower after the 
ordinary garden Irises have done blooming. The 
flowers are quite unlike those of the ordinary gar¬ 
den varieties, as they spread out in a flat plate, and 
are seen at their best when looked down upon. 
They are from four to six inches or more in 
diameter, and present a great variety in form, 
color, and marking; there are pure whites, pure 
blues, and those of the richest imaginable royal 
purple. In the way of marking, there is the great¬ 
est imaginable variety. Nothing can be richer than 
some of the intense purples and blues with lines of 
golden yellow, or more delicate than the whites, 
with net-work of blue and purple, and vice versa. 
With such a marked tendency to vary, no doubt 
seedlings will be raised finer, if possible, than any 
we now have. European growers are astir with 
this Iris, and I am glad to know that Mr. Thomas 
Hogg, who has introduced so many choice Japan 
plants, without claiming the leastcredit, has select¬ 
ed the choicest of his importations to which, as will 
be seen elsewhere, he has given names and descrip¬ 
tions, and has placed them in the trade, where they 
will be accessible to those who fancy choice plants. 
_Sometime ago, in speaking with Prof. C. S. 
Sargent of a brother horticulturist, he remarked, 
“he knows a good thing when he sees it.” I have 
more than once had occasion to think the same 
of Prof. Sargent, who not only “ knows a good 
thing when he sees it,” but he also takes care that 
others shall know it, by freely distributing, as 
well as talking about it. Among the plants that 
he has been instrumental in thus popularizing is 
Hall’s Honeysuckle (Lonicer.a Ilatteana). 
In the general confusion in which the genus Lo- 
nicerra is at present, I will not undertake to say to 
which botanical species this belongs, but as it is in 
several catalogues as Lonicera Ralleana, there can 
be no difficulty in getting it under this, its horti¬ 
cultural name. Any one “who knows a good plant 
when he sees it,” can not fail to appreciate this as 
a most valuable climber. Its lithe slender stems 
make it a most manageable plant. I have it growing- 
flat upon the ground, and running up upon what 
is part fence and part trellis, and also in pot cul¬ 
ture. It is one of those easy-going things that will 
grow anywhere, and bloom whether 2 or 20 feet 
high, and—what is more to the purpose—keep on 
blooming. It blooms right along, all summer. Its 
flowers, when they first open, are of the purest 
white; a little while later they are of a delicate 
buff-color, and before they are done with, become 
darker still—almost an orange-color. All the while 
they have a most pleasing perfume. In some for¬ 
mer talk I have said something about 
Wire-Work on the Veranda 
to the effect that one could decorate his veranda, 
or portico, as he pleased, without having the wire 
in contact with the woodwork. Screw-eyes of 
galvanized iron, 4 to 6 inches long, may be had at 
the hardware stores, and with these and galvanized 
wire, No. 14 or 16, one can build a framework upon 
which such vines as Hall’s Honeysuckle can be 
trained, and keep the vines from actual contact 
with the wood-work, while they appear to com¬ 
pletely clothe it....Early peas are for the most 
part unsatisfactory for their shortness of bearing, 
the best of them giving but two pickings, at the 
most. This is all well enough for the market-gar¬ 
dener, who wants his crops all at once, and then 
can clear his ground for something else. Generally 
no crop is so unsatisfactory as early peas. There is 
the trouble of sticking, picking, and other time-tak¬ 
ing work, for a mess or two. With later peas, like 
that good old stand-by, the “Champion of Eng¬ 
land,” it is different. One can pick, and come again 
and again. I had about come to the conclusion 
that early peas were more plague than profit, when 
this season, finding “Early Peas” on my memoran¬ 
dum, I asked Mr. W. H. Carson to give me some 
of his best early peas, leaving the choice to him. I 
thought no more of the matter, until the peas came 
to the table. We had, of course, at first some 
strain of “Daniel O’Rourke,” early, and peas, but 
calling for no comment. Then came peas that were 
peas, and on inquiry I found they were 
Kentish Invicta, 
with the remark that they were a great cropper, 
and held out remarkably well. Seedsmen make a 
point of five days, in the earliness of peas, but I 
had rather wait twice five days, and get peas like the 
“Kentish Invicta,” than to bother with such fla¬ 
vorless things as the Daniel O’Rourke, by whatever 
name it may be called—and it has a dozen or more. 
Quinces and their Cultivation. 
Why is it that the Quince, which is as hardy and 
as well adapted to our soil and climate as the 
apple, is comparatively scarce, and commands on 
the average three or four times as much in our 
markets ? There is seldom, if ever, a “glut” in the 
market, and prices are uniformly remunerative, 
bringing the producers for handsome fruit from 
S2 to $4 a bushel, in New York and Boston, almost 
every season. The apple, in the fresh or dried 
state, enters into the annual supplies of almost 
every family, as cider, vinegar, jelly, sauce, and 
other preparations, and is also a profitable feed for 
our domestic animals, while not one family in ten 
knows anything of quince preserves and jellies. It 
is really one of the most appetizing and wholesome 
of the sweetmeats found among the stores of our 
housewives ; and the cultivation of this fruit should 
be greatly extended. We know of no fruit that 
promises so good returns as this to the intelligent 
fruit-grower. If we look at the quince plantations, 
as we ordinarily find them, they are few and far 
between in the farming districts. -The popular 
fancy is, that the bush flourishes 'jest in a damp 
soil, and if there be an undrained swale on the 
premises, we may safely look for the quince bushes 
there. More frequently than otherwise, they stand 
in the grass, receive no cultivation, and after a few 
brief years die, either from stagnant water, or the 
attacks of the borer. Under such treatment the 
trees have no chance to bear fruit, and make them¬ 
selves profitable. The quince wants a deep, rich, 
rather moist soil, but it should always be well 
