1881.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
23 
The Great Variety of Salads. 
Lettuces in great variety and of a perfec¬ 
tion of which we know nothing, almost, for 
the market kinds are most of them raised 
under a cloche, or bell-glass. Then, besides 
these many lettuces, are ‘ ‘ Barbe de Capu- 
cin,” “ Scarole,” Corn Salad, also Dandelion, 
the French name for which would shock 
many, and I know not what else, crowd the 
stands in the market in tempting array. 
Most Frenchmen would think they had not 
dined did not a salad of some kind form.part 
of the meal. The great excellence of the vege¬ 
tables in Paris is understood when one rides 
through the suburbs of the city and sees the 
beautifully-kept market gardens, each with 
its tank, or tanks, for liquid manure, without 
which the present high culture would not be 
possible. Near our hotel in Paris was a green¬ 
grocer, who sold a large pumpkin in slices. 
Ivy in the House. 
While we cannot, save in exceptional cases, 
employ Ivy upon the exterior of buildings in 
the Northern States, we can have it within 
doors, and it seems strange that it is so little 
cultivated. There is nothing in the way of 
home decorations that may be had with so 
little expense, managed with so little trouble, 
or will give results so satisfactory as the Ivy. 
There is no room so palatial to which it may 
not add embellishment, and it will give an 
air of cheerfulness and refinement to the one 
room of the settler’s log-cabin. Of course, 
we refer to the true evergreen Ivy, Hedera, 
and not to the tender plants known as “ Par¬ 
lor,” “German,” “Colosseum,” and other 
Ivies. If one has a sprig of Ivy and a pot or 
a box of earth, wonders can be accomplished 
if the owner possesses one other requisite— 
patience. The growth is slow at first, but it 
is increasingly rapid, and each year the plant 
will reward patient care, by becoming more 
beautiful and more valuable. Perhaps the 
best time to begin with Ivy would be to get 
the plant in the spring, and to grow it through 
the summer, and take it in-doors in autumn. 
But there are so many other things to do in 
spring that one does not then care to prepare 
for winter. Fortunately, one can, but 
■for the loss of the season’s growth, just 
ns well begin now, at the time when the 
desire for such decoration is the strongest. 
The nurserymen and florists generally have 
Ivy in pots, at 25 or 50 cents, according 
to the size. One of these can be bought, or a 
single cutting, a branch a foot or two long 
may be bought, or procured of some friend 
who has the plant. There are many varieties 
of Ivy, and much confusion as to names. 
The variegated kinds are not so desirable, and 
those with small, deeply-cut leaves are of slow 
growth. The large-leaved kind, known gen¬ 
erally as Irish Ivy, is one of the best. If one 
gets a plant in a pot, and the ball of earth is 
crowded with roots, transfer it to a larger 
pot. But a twig, longer or shorter, with roots 
or without, will make a beginning, and the 
rest will follow. If the Ivy stem has no 
roots, fill a glass, a little vase, or whatever 
will hold it, with clean sand, stick in the 
Ivy, covering a few inches of the lower end, 
from which the leaves have been cut, and set 
it on the table or wherever else it will be orna¬ 
mental. Keep the sand very wet, and in a 
few weeks, more or less, the Ivy will have 
thrown out roots ; then transfer it to a pot of 
.good soil, supply it with a stick to which it is 
to be tied, and keep it in a room that is not 
over-heated. Give water as needed ; once a 
week go over the leaves one at a time with a 
soft damp cloth, and if any scale-lice are 
found, remove them with a bit of soft wood. 
Should the plant freeze, let it thaw very 
gradually, and no harm will come, unless it 
should be in growth. Unless in a veiy warm 
room, growth will not start until towards 
spring, when danger of frost is over. Should 
new shoots be pushing, take care that it 
does not freeze. The future growth of the 
plant is easily controlled, and should be 
guided according to the use to be made 
of it; one, two, or more leading shoots 
being permitted to grow, and the rest 
stopped by pinching their ends. When 
frosts are over, put the plant out of doors in 
a partly shady place, but where it may be 
cared for and the growth watched and di¬ 
rected. Whoever has one plant, will soon be 
able to start others, and several may be used 
to advantage. They may be trained around 
POT-GKOWH IVY IX THE HOUSE. 
the window frame, may encircle a mirror or 
picture frame, may be run along the cornice 
or wherever fancy or taste suggests. Where 
adjoining rooms connect by folding doors, 
the openings may be festooned with the vines 
in the most pleasing manner. The engraving 
shows part of such a doorway, belonging to 
a friend of ours, there being a corresponding 
pot on the opposite side. Halls and stair¬ 
ways may often be decorated with Ivy ; in¬ 
deed, we know of nothing so effective that 
is so readily at the command of those who 
have little to expend for ornament, as Ivy. 
The point is to begin. Begin now. 
About New Apples. 
New varieties of the apple are sent us every 
year, and in this year of abundance, when 
everything in the shape of a tree has borne 
a crop, it is within bounds to say that we 
have had at least 30 apples claimed to be 
new—most of them fruit of excellent 
quality—and if one has the tree he is for¬ 
tunate. Some of these apples have been sent 
with the request that we figure, describe, and 
name them ; others state that they have the 
original tree, and wish us to inform them of 
some nurseryman who will propagate it “on 
shares”; others offer to send grafts to who¬ 
ever will apply. The fact is that in all of 
the older States there are apples which are 
either seedlings, and consequently new vari¬ 
eties, or have been propagated from trees 
brought over in the “ colony times,” and are 
not known to our pomologists. In some 
neighborhoods of northern New Jersey, there 
are scores of varieties, with local Dutch 
names, that are not known elsewhere. There 
are now in our Pomological works over 2,000 
varieties of apples recorded and described. 
Those who have given the most thought to 
the subject are convinced that a list of 100 
varieties, and some place it as low as 60, will 
contain all that are really desirable for all 
seasons, in all parts of the country. Taking 
the larger number, 100, we have then over 
1,900 named and described varieties which 
might be dropped from the list, and from 
cultivation, without detriment. The Ameri¬ 
can Pomological Society has on its catalogue 
about 300 varieties, concerning which it is 
desirable to have information from all parts 
of the country. It by no means commends 
all these, for each year many are stricken 
from the list, and a few are added on proba¬ 
tion. Moreover, our best nurserymen offer 
fewer varieties than they formerly did, yet 
even now, if a novice would make a selection 
he is embarrassed by the number from which 
he has to choose. In view of all this, while 
we are always pleased to see new varieties 
that are esteemed by our friends, we must 
generally decline to comply with their requests 
to figure and describe them. Considering the 
best interests of the community, we have 
come to the conclusion not to add to the 
thousands of names, unless some variety 
should come to our notice that is positively 
superior in some quality, whether of the 
fruit or the tree, to any other variety of the 
season now known to us. Those who have 
choice unnamed varieties are to be congratu¬ 
lated ; and such may often be advantage¬ 
ously distributed in their neighborhood, but 
it is not well to add to the already cumber¬ 
some list of apples without good reason. 
See«llinf? Pears.—Correspondents who 
have young pear trees raised from seeds, ask 
us if, by inserting buds or grafts from them 
upon old and bearing trees, they cannot 
get their fruit sooner than to wait until 
the seedlings come into bearing. Certainly, 
the fruiting of the seedlings will be much 
hastened, and still more so if they are budded 
on quince stocks. These methods are often 
resorted to by those who raise seedling fruits, 
but how much may be thus gained cannot be 
foretold; the seedlings differ greatly as to the 
time required for them to bear on their 
own roots, they would similarly vary when 
worked upon a stock. The same may be done 
with seedling apples and other kinds of fruits. 
