108 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
The Slender Jessamine.— {Jasminum 
gradllimum.) 
New plants of a kind that are likely to be 
popular in general cultivation, do not appear 
to have been very abundant abroad this past 
year. Among those that seem likely to at¬ 
tract the attention of our cut-flower growers, 
and we think will become useful as a win¬ 
dow plant, is an entirely new Jessamine, 
Jasminum gradllimum. This was sent 
home from northern Borneo by Mr. Burbidge, 
collector for the Messrs.Yietch, and was ex¬ 
hibited by that enterprising firm at the 
meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society 
in December last, receiving a first class cer¬ 
tificate. The plant, only about three feet 
high, was furnished from the base with very 
slender, pendulous branches, each bearing a 
cluster of flowers about twice as large as 
currence ; when hot weather comes on after 
the banking-up is done, the plant is smother¬ 
ed by excessive heat, and hence rots. This 
will not occur if banking is delayed until the 
cool weather which, in the Northern States, 
is usual in the latter part of September, 
which time is soon enough to begin to bank 
Celery, very little being wanted until cold 
weather. He asks again: “What is your 
experience with Superphosphates in growing 
vegetables ?”.... I have had little satisfac¬ 
tory experience with them, and of late years 
have used pure Bone Dust to the exclusion 
of nearly all other commercial fertilizers. 
the slender jessamine {Jasminum gradllimum.) 
those shown in the engraving. The flowers 
are pure white, charmingly fragrant, and 
what will especially commend it to our 
florists, produces flowers in the greatest pro¬ 
fusion throughout the winter. It is regarded 
in England as one of the finest new plants 
of the year, and though it is not yet offered 
by any of our dealers, so wide awake are 
they, that we have no doubt that some of them 
already have it, and will present it so soon 
as they have propagated a sufficient stock. 
A Trouble with Celery. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
“ J. E. H.,” Winona, Ohio, asks : “ Why, 
out of a thousand Celery plants, should only 
150 prove solid, and the balance hollow?” 
and wishes a reply through the American 
Agriculturist .... Probably, because he 
planted a poor variety instead of a solid 
one. Still, in some peaty soils, Celery that 
is generally solid will prove hollow. He also 
asks: “Why should a great many roots rot 
after banking ?”.... This is no unusual oc¬ 
A New Apple—Highland Beauty. 
Though as stated in January last, we re¬ 
gard it as against the best interests of 
Pomology to bring forward the many new 
apples that come to our notice year¬ 
ly, we make an exception in respect 
to this one—the Highland Beauty, be¬ 
cause it is not altogether new, and be¬ 
cause it belongs to a class that has 
heretofore had but a single member. 
We first made the acquaintance of 
this variety when judging fruits at 
the Autumn Exhibition of the N. Y. 
Horticultural Society, three or four 
years ago, and were so impressed with 
its singular beauty that we requested 
the exhibitor to keep us advised as to 
its future. Each succeeding year he 
has sent us specimens that show it to 
be a very regular bearer, as well as 
constant in its character. The High¬ 
land Beauty is a seedling of the 
“Lady Apple,” raised by a relative 
of the exhibitor, Mr. E. P. Roe, at 
Newburgh, N. Y. The apple averages 
about twice as large as the “ Lady,” 
has much the same shape, though 
perhaps less positively flattened. It 
may be described thus : Below me¬ 
dium to very small, regular, flat; Sur¬ 
face smooth, waxen, pale lemon-yel¬ 
low, half more or less suffused with 
light but brilliant carmine, in distinct 
contrast with the ground color, with 
dots of darker color ; Basin medium, 
eye small, open ; Cavity very deep, 
broad and irregular, rarely with rus¬ 
set streaks ; stem short; Flesh very 
white, tender, juicy, with a pleasant 
subacid flavor ; season, early winter to spring. 
While this is much larger than the “ Lady 
Apple,” it is handsomer, because there is more 
of it. There is the same brilliant contrast of 
fine carmine upon a clear, yellowish ground. 
In quality it is greatly superior to its parent, 
as it has none of the hard breaking charac¬ 
ter, and is altogether a more satisfactory 
fruit. We are informed that the tree inherits 
the bearing qualities of the “Lady.” This 
apple, with care, will keep until May, and if] 
may be had in good condition at the Holi¬ 
days when such fruit is most in request. 
Dwarf China Asters. 
In mentioning a few months ago some of 
the plants offered in the flower markets of 
European cities, pots of Dwarf Asters and 
Dahlias were named as among those not seen 
with us. Of course those who buy them 
know that they purchase them for the pres¬ 
ent enjoyment they will afford, and that 
when the crop of bloom fades, there is an end. 
Our people have not learned to buy a living 
plant as they would a bouquet, but expect 
their flowers, like the stories in their pa¬ 
pers, “ to be continued.” They would have 
come to a sensible view of the matter long 
DWARF CHINA ASTERS. 
ago were it not for the fact that many of the 
side-walk plant venders are scamps, who will 
promise for a plant everything that the buyer 
will ask. In no one annual has there been 
such wonderful improvement as in the Aster, 
or Chinese Aster. Perhaps some of our 
readers may recollect when it was not very 
rare to hear them spoken of by very par¬ 
ticular persons as “ Chaney Oysters.” Our- 
first recollection of the “ Chany Aster,”—our 
grandmother had got beyond the “Oyster” 
phase—was a flower a little larger than the 
Ox-eye Daisy, with just as pronounced a yel¬ 
low disk, and a circle more or less full of ray 
flowers, all the way from white to very dark 
purple. They were very showy, grew much 
taller than any of the present varieties, and 
branched so freely that one plant took up the 
space of half a dozen of the present kinds. 
The appearance of the real double Aster was 
an event—then how soon there followed va¬ 
rieties innumerable, and they still come. At 
the present day the finer Asters are among 
the wonders of horticulture. Take one of 
the “ miniature ” sorts, which we select as the 
most common style in the European markets ; 
the flowers present such a mass, an almost 
unbroken surface of bloom, that one won¬ 
ders where the leaves can be that produced 
all these flowers. This engraving is no exag¬ 
geration, for we have seen such by the hun¬ 
dreds. Our special object in calling attention 
to the Asters, is that we know of no one an¬ 
nual with which a real lover of flowers, who 
must gratify his tastes, if at all, with a few 
pots, in a limited space, can do so much with 
really satisfactory results. After procuring 
seeds of the best strains, the most important 
