1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
23 
and a recent writer in the “ Gardener’s Chronicle,” 
tells us that it “ can be grown in a cold frame, 
plunging the pots in winter, or it will succeed out 
of doors when a suitable position is found for it.” 
All that the plant needs in England, is a swampy 
or marshy place ; as its native range extends to 
the British Possessions around Hudson’s Bay, it 
can not need protection in any part of England. 
Raising Evergreens from Seed. 
With the increasing interest in the cultivation of 
forest trees, many, the coming spring, will make 
their first attempt at raising trees from seed. Those 
especially who sow the seeds of evergreens (by 
which we mean the cone-bearing trees) will meet 
with disappointments and surprises, and it is well 
to point out some of these in advance. One great 
obstacle to success in growing forest trees of ali 
kinds from seed, is, that the novice does not recog¬ 
nize the fact that trees, no matter how hardy and 
robust they may be at maturity, are, when young, 
the most delicate o( plants. Just as man, the most 
helpful of all animals, is in infancy the most utterly 
helpless of all, so the most hardy trees are in their 
early years the most exacting in their demands for 
care and protection. Of the millions of nuts and 
other tree-seeds that are self-sown every year, how 
few ever produce a tree ? If this matter be exam¬ 
ined, it will be found that it is only where every 
favorable condition is present, and especially a 
friendly shade is afforded by some shrub or other 
plant, that one of the many bushels of acorns ever 
becomes an oak. The Giant Cereus of the arid 
plains of Arizona and Northern Mexico, with its 
single column and candelabra forms, give a feature 
to the landscape unlike that to be seen elsewhere ; 
they are types of ruggedness, and stand 30 to 50 
feet high, resisting for years the fierce wind-storms 
of that country. Every one of these plants annually 
sheds seeds enough to overstock the country and 
make it to bristle with the prickly mousters. Vet 
it is only when a seed happens to germinate at the 
base of a mezquit or other shrub that shall afford 
protection to and nurse the plant in its early years, 
that a Giant Cereus is produced. The English tim¬ 
ber-growers early learned that they could not raise 
their plantations of oak without the aid of “ nurse- 
trees,” and in the treatises on timber-growing of 
half a century or more ago. we find much space 
given to the discussion of the different “nurse- 
trees,” as of equai importance with the trees they 
are to protect But to return to the evergreens. 
We may state that, as a general rule, it will be of 
little use to undertake to raise evergreens from 
seed, unless one can give them the proper care ; and 
one of the most important items included under 
41 cart- ” is a sufficient shade and shelter. Evergreen 
seedlings arc sold so cheaply by those who make a 
business of raising them, that unless one has the 
time and the taste 
for such work, it 
will be far better 
to buy the seed¬ 
lings than to raise 
them. Still we 
would not dis¬ 
courage those 
who would make 
the attempt, as 
there are no dif¬ 
ficulties that may 
not be overcome 
by one who will 
devote himself to 
it. The largest 
nursery for the 
production of 
forest tree seed¬ 
lings is that of R. 
Douglas & Sons. 
Waukegan, Ill Here one may see acres devoted to 
seed-beds, and all undercover. Crotched posts are 
set in the ground, poles laid from one to the other, 
and across the poles is laid brush to make a rude 
but sufficient covering. This shelter, if we recollect 
rightly, is about 7 feet above the beds, at any rate 
Fig. 1.—SEEDLING PINE. 
high enough for men and a small horse or mule to 
work beneath it. It is only since their operations 
have become so large that this elevated screen has 
been adopted. Those whose sowing is on a small 
scale, can use the lattice screen that has been no¬ 
ticed in former articles. This may be made of 
common plasterer’s laths, nailed to stronger strips, 
the laths being their own width apart, and the 
screen of a length convenient for handling. The 
laths are four feet long, and this is a convenient 
width for the beds, which should be a few inches 
above the general surface, and may have a board 
set on edge at front and rear, to hold the screens. 
As success with evergreen seedlings largely de¬ 
pends upon getting an early growth, so that they 
may be well rooted before the summer drouths 
come on, all preparatory work should be done well 
beforehand, so that the seeds may go into the 
ground as soon as it thaws in spring. There are 
some peculiarities about young evergreens that are 
puzzling to those who have never raised them. In 
most kinds the seed-leaves are unlike those of ordi¬ 
nary trees or other plants. In other seedlings, 
where the seed-leaves appear above the surface, we 
are accustomed to see two of them, usually thick 
and fleshy, and unlike the proper leaves which fol¬ 
low. In most evergreens, especially the pines, the 
seed-leaves are in a whorl of four, six, or even 
twelve, giving the unusual appearance to the little 
plant shown in figure 1. But a still greater de¬ 
parture from the ordinary way of seedlings is found 
in the Arbor Vitaes, Junipers, Cedars, and some 
others, in which the early leaves of the young plant 
are quite unlike those proper to the tree. So 
different is the general aspect of the seedling from 
that of the older plant, that growers have supposed 
that they had been furnished with the wrong seeds. 
This difference in foliage is strikingly seen in the 
Red Cedar, where the young trees for several years 
produce only sharp, spreading, needle-like leaved 
foliage, and quite different from the short, scale¬ 
like leaves of the tree. It sometimes happens that 
a branch of an old tree of the Red Cedar, whether 
from injury or not, we cannot say, will produce 
these prickly leaves, and form a cluster that shows 
a marked contrast to the rest of the tree. This 
change from the foliage of the young plant to that 
of the mature one, sometimes takes place the first 
year, but often not until later. The engraving (fig. 
2) shows a seedling of the Gigantic Arbor Vitae 
(Thuja gigantea) of Oregon, in which the change 
from the long, spreading, prickly leaves to the 
scale-like form has already begun in the first year. 
In some varieties of our common Arbor Vitae, the 
young form of the leaves is retained for many 
years. That known as Tom Thumb Arbor Vitae, is 
very dwarf and rounded in form, and oplv rarely 
produces the scale-like leaves, There are other va¬ 
rieties of this, and also of the Chinese or Onental 
Arbor Vitae (jBio/a),'with the same peculiarity, and 
the very variable Retinisporas also afford example 
of the retention of this early form of foliage fer 
many years. Ordinarily, however, “ the foliage of 
infancy,” as it has been called, soon gives place tfl 
the characteristic form peculiar to the species. 
THE HOTOTKM. 
For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
Dressing-the Children “ with Limited Means.” 
I don’t know by experience just how it seems to 
set about the clothing of a family of children, with 
no regard to expense, but I do know what it is to 
feel that many garments must be supplied before 
the severest winter weather comes, when there is 
little money in the purse, and little material in 
the closets, and drawers, that is available. I know 
exactly how to sympathize with the burdened 
mother who cannot possibly see where the material 
for the clothing is to come from, or the time and 
strength for the necessary sewing. It is hard to 
keep up one’s courage in such a pinch, and when 
deliverance comes in some unexpected way, what 
a relief it is ! But I confess to a considerable pleas¬ 
ure in some of the inventions which the necessities 
of straightened means entail upon us, if the thing 
does not go too far, and cause actual suffering. 
The little garments pieced up by some combination 
method are sometimes quite pretty and satisfactory. 
The dresses wear out first around the bottom. A 
broad stripe of strong fabric that harmonizes well 
with the old dress, remedies this evil. At the same 
time the dress can be pieced down if too short, by 
letting the broad stripe come down below the old 
skirt, with a strong new calico or cambric lining. 
If the dress has been worn without a sleeved apron, 
the sleeves are worn out too. New ones can be 
made like the broad stripe around the bottom ; or 
like the body of the dress, and trimmed with the 
stripe material. If one prefers to have the child 
wear high-necked, long-sleeved aprons, the broad 
trimming at the bottom, with a neat finish at the 
neck and waists of the same, makes the old dress 
practically into a new one. Or, low-necked, sleeve¬ 
less aprons can be worn, of a pretty graceful pat¬ 
tern, which shows only the shoulders, sleeves, and 
bottom of the dress skirt. All these may be cov¬ 
ered with the new material if desired. I make all 
our clothes with a view to economy in washing, for 
our washings are inevitably large, let me save as 
best I can. In winter I want to keep as clear as 
possible of calico dresses—such a mass of calico 
must be washed, starched and ironed when the front 
of the garment is soiled. Calico or gingham aprons 
should take all this, to be worn with worsted skirts. 
Table bibs, made of calico or gingham, of generous 
size, buttoned around the neck by a strap, save some 
washing of children’s aprons, but they must be 
encouraged to keep the bibs clean, for the sake of 
establishing cleanly habits as early as may be. 
Undersuits. 
1 saw an advertisement of Merino union under¬ 
suits for children, very cheap. I took the first op¬ 
portunity to go in search of them, hoping to be 
saved some of my fall sewing. But the suits, un¬ 
exceptionable in other respects, were made with 
short legs, the ribbed bottoms reaching only a trifle 
below the knee. It was worth something to see 
long sleeves provided, but why should the legs of 
children be left with less protection from the cold 
than the rest of the body? So I bought thick 
Shakers’ flannel (much cheaper) to make suits cov¬ 
ering the little bodies from wrists to ankles. They 
should be loose and easy in every part, with allow¬ 
ance for shrinkage and growth—though properly 
washed flannel need shrink but little, if any, and 
Shakers’ flannel shrinks less than any other. I pre¬ 
fer to finish them without any cotton bindings or 
facings, because cotton washes harder than flannel 
