64 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February. 
like those shown in the engraving; the rays 
are of good substance, are qf a brilliant pur¬ 
ple crimson, with a golden yellow disk, the 
heads being at least three inches across. It 
blooms in autumn at a time when bright and 
lively flowers are welcome. Having read 
enthusiastic accounts of this plant, we were 
quite pleased, on seeing it at Ware’s Nursery, 
Tottenham, London (Eng.), to find that it had 
the beautiful groundsel (Senecio pulcher.) 
not been over praised. Mr. Ware regards it 
as one of the finest introductions among hardy 
plants that have been made for many years, 
and suggests that it will group admirably 
with the White Japan Anemone of the same 
season. Though the plant has long been 
known to botanists, it is a recent introduction 
to the gardens. In England it has been 
called “Tyerman’s Groundsel,” after a gar¬ 
dener who first raised it there from seed, 
but the name may well be discontinued. 
“Asphalt” or Coal Tar Walks. 
coal tar; not only does it ‘ ‘ wet ” or come into 
more thorough contact with the particles of 
sand, etc., when made fluid by heat, but the 
boiling drives off some volatile matters, and it 
“sets” harder than when used cold. If there 
is no cauldron at hand that may be used, a 
box of heavy sheet-iron, strengthened by a 
wooden frame at its upper edge will answer. 
A close platform of old boards, on which to 
do the necessary mixing, the needed hoes, 
shovels, and a roller, complete the out¬ 
fit. The first point in making a walk is to 
secure a good foundation ; the surface should 
be excavated about three inches, and rolled or 
pounded firm ; if sandy, it will be all the bet¬ 
ter to put on a layer of broken stones and 
pound this down hard. Edgings should be 
put down at each margin of the walk ; these 
may be of hemlock plank fastened in place 
by nailing to stakes driven down and sawed 
off flush with the edge of the plank. A bet¬ 
ter edging may be made with bricks set on 
end. A convenient quantity of the sand, 
ashes, or mixture of the two is placed on the 
platform, and boiling tar poured into a cavity 
in the center of the heap ; the two are then 
mixed together, adding more tar, if need be, 
to bring the mass to the consistency of mor¬ 
tar. It is then spread quickly on the road¬ 
bed, and the surface made as smooth as pos¬ 
sible. When hard enough, dry sand or ashes 
is sprinkled on the surface, which is to be 
rolled, using a board to stand upon. By roll¬ 
ing in upon the surface, all the sand or ashes 
that will adhere, the color of the walk will be 
greatly improved. The operation goes on, 
mixing only so much at a time as can be con¬ 
veniently spread before it begins to harden. 
If the mass has to be moved in a wheelbar¬ 
row, sand or ashes prevent it from sticking. 
Notes from the Pines. 
It is only in a large city that one can see 
an accumulation of things which individually 
seem of small moment, but in the aggregate 
are surprising. At the proper time we put 
up our Christmas tree, and think but little of 
the tree itself. But the trees, for thousands 
pleasant to walk between the walls of ver¬ 
dure stacked up in the streets, and making a 
pleasant “woodsy” smell, quite in contrast 
with the ordinary street odors. There are 
trees of sizes to suit all, from the modest 
little one that the woman takes home with 
her marketing, up to those of 20 feet high, or 
more, for Sunday schools and other large 
gatherings. White and Black Spruce are the 
most common, but the handsomest trees are 
those from the nurseries in which there is an 
excess of overgrown Norway Spruces, which 
briug a better price as rootless Christmas 
trees than they do as stock to plant. The hol¬ 
iday trade in trees and greens of other kinds 
has reached immense proportions, and pre¬ 
sents many interesting points... In noticing 
The Plants for Home Decoration, 
sold in the Paris Flower Market, I mentioned 
as one of those offered for sale, an Aralia, of 
which, though the plant was familiar enough, 
I could not recollect the species. In looking 
over the numbers of Mr. Robinson’s success¬ 
ful weekly, “ Gardening Illustrated,” that 
had accumulated in my absence, I found the 
same plant noticed as “ One of the best win¬ 
dow plants that can be grown,” with an en¬ 
graving which you may borrow to illustrate 
these “ Notes.” The plant is 
Siebold’s Angelica-Tree (.Aralia Sieboldii ), 
c~ the greenhouses. Recent botanists have 
separated this and the related Rice-paper 
Tree from Aralia, and with one other species, 
these form the genus Fatsia, but I here give 
the name by which it is known to the dealers. 
Its large leaves are of a fine green, and the 
plant is not at all particular as to temper¬ 
ature, soil, or other conditions, being one of 
the few things that will endure the neglect 
that too often falls to the share of window 
plants. , Still, if one will take the trouble to 
remove the dust from its leaves with a soft 
sponge or damp cloth, it will repay the at¬ 
tention .... The out-door horticultural ex¬ 
hibits at our Centennial were much scattered, 
and while, as a whole, the effect was not 
imposing, there was much there that was 
worth looking after. Nothing interested me 
more than a. bed, by Krelage, I think, of 
siebold’s angelica tree ( Aralia Sieboldii.) 
Those who have asked us to give directions 
for making “Asphalt” garden walks, of 
course refer to the various mixtures of Coal 
Tar, which are improperly called Asphalt. 
The true Asphalt roads, such as one sees in 
Paris and other cities abroad, are made from 
a natural bituminous limestone, found chiefly 
in Switzerland, and when properly laid forms 
perfect roads. In this country there are several 
companies that put down roads, paths, side¬ 
walks, etc., of compositions for which they 
hold patents, and if the ingredients of these 
were given, one could not use them without 
infringing upon the rights of others. A fairly 
good walk may be made by unpatented 
methods. Some of the towns in Western 
New York and elsewhere, have long had side¬ 
walks made with coal tar and water-lime 
or cement. Though this makes a good walk, 
it is needlessly expensive, and, for garden 
paths, no better than the tax and sand. Equal 
parts of sand and coal ashes may be used; 
sand alone, with the tar, answer well, and we 
are informed that coal ashes and tar without 
sand make a good walk. Though this last 
has not come within our experience, we should 
not hesitate to try it. The sand used should 
be perfectly dry, and the coal ashes have all 
cinders larger than a pea sifted out. There 
must be some arrangement for heating the 
who are to celebrate Christmas, what a 
forest they make! By the first week in 
December they begin to arrive, and by the 
beginning of Christmas week certain streets 
in New York for a considerable distance are 
Fairly Blockaded with Christmas Trees. 
As we go from the ferry to the office, it is 
The Cape Hyacinth (Byacinthva candicans). 
Its boldness of habit and profusion of white 
flowers were very striking, and I was not a 
little pleased to receive the next year from a 
correspondent in Germany several bulbs of 
the plant, with the remark that it had proved 
hardy with him. Seeing the same plant a 
