(32 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February 
edge sometimes reaching the Atlantic coast, 
very rarely extending inland. 
Out of 100 storm-centers noted during 1879, 
one moved north, 3 southeast, 24 northeast, 
and 72 nearly due east. Their velocity varies 
from 20 to 40 miles per hour, so that either 
storm-centers or cold waves travel from the 
mountains to the sea in from two to five days, 
then passing oft' upon the ocean, frequently 
taking a north-easterly direction after reach¬ 
ing the coast. Sometimes a storm may be 
deflected from its course, or spend its force 
midway, or increase in severity, as it moves 
eastward. It is these possibilities, together 
with the varying ve¬ 
locity of the wave, 
which render us de¬ 
pendent on the tele¬ 
graph for its record 
of daily or even 
hourly progress,and 
which sometimes 
contradict the best- 
founded predic¬ 
tions. But with all 
these possibilities of 
error, 80 to 90 per 
cent of the predic¬ 
tions are verified, 
and upon perhaps 
75 per cent our reli¬ 
ance may be almost 
perfect. At times, 
either on land or 
sea, a single warn¬ 
ing may save prop¬ 
erty to an amount 
greater than the 
whole annual ex¬ 
pense of the bureau, 
to say nothing of life and comfort. Our 
weather then, in general terms, comes 
from the west, and when we read in the 
papers that ‘ ‘ an area of low pressure with 
heavy rain and severe gales is developing in 
the upper Mississippi, or upper Lake region,” 
the farmer had better not begin his haying 
or his harvesting, and the traveller had better 
not set out by way of the lakes or the ocean, 
until it has passed by. While if in the fall or 
winter, you read that “ an area of high pres¬ 
sure with violent winds and rapidly falling 
temperature is prevailing ” in the same re¬ 
gions, the farmer had better look to his young 
stock, and make all snug about cellar and 
bam, and the traveller will do well to take 
his heaviest overcoat. 
Bearing in mind these few simple facts, 
every farmer or farmer’s boy who has access 
to the daily “indications and reports,” or 
better still to the daily weather maps, may 
become, to a great extent; his own weather 
prophet, for two or three days ahead, and 
thus neither be taken in by the guesses of 
those who make predictions to sell, nor fail 
of the advantage winch may often be gained 
by a tolerably definite and reliable knowledge 
of what sort of weather is coming. 
such as Forget-me-not, violets, etc., may be 
put in, and it makes an excellent receptacle for 
cut flowers, the Ivy forming a green setting. 
American Plants at Home in England. 
The engraving given below is presented for 
a triple purpose : in the first place, to show 
what exquisite drawings Mr. Alfred Parsons 
made to illustrate Mr. Robinson’s book ‘ ‘ The 
Wild Garden ” (noticed in Nov. last, p. 500); 
secondly, to give some idea of what is meant 
by a Wild Garden, and thirdly, to call atten¬ 
tion to one of our native plants, highly 
Mvy and Moss. —An English writer 
makes the following suggestion. Select a 
glass or earthenware dish, about one-fourth 
as deep as broad, and fill it with sphagnum or 
bog-moss. Insert around the edge of the 
dish, and train around and over the side some 
branches of Ivy ; this will soon take root and 
grow. Hyacinths, crocuses, or other bulbs, 
may be placed in the moss, or small plants 
the great white Trillium or “wake robin” (Trilliumgrandiflorum). 
prized abroad, but rarely seen in a garden 
here. The Wild Garden, is by no means a 
garden run wild from neglect. To plan and 
stock a wild garden requires some fore¬ 
thought. The selection of the spot for the 
garden will be governed by the locality. One 
would not place a wild border in a trimly 
kept lawn; it should be in a more retired 
spot. Some bank or other place, where one 
would naturally expect to find wild flowers. 
The ground will be already occupied by 
grasses and other undesirable plants, 
hence it should be cleared, and as no af¬ 
ter digging is practicable, the soil should 
be well dug and manured. If any large 
stones crop out, by no means remove them, 
as they may be turned to good account. 
The selection of plants for the wild garden 
may be made largely from native plants, if 
one would avoid expense, but those from 
other countries also, will allow of greater 
and more pleasing variety. The first requi¬ 
site in a plant for a wild garden is, that it 
shall be perfectly hardy and able to take care 
of itself. Of course, such a garden will be 
near a path or road, and the planting should 
be done in reference to this, placing the tall 
growing plants at the rear, where they may 
not overtop and hide the more humble ones 
at the front. The planting is not to be in 
lines or rows, but the different kinds should 
be in little clumps here and there, as we find 
plants when growing wild. Creeping, or 
low spreading plants, should have a place 
among others, so that in time the surface 
of the ground may be completely covered. 
Before planting time is at hand we hope to 
give a list of some of the most easily pro¬ 
curable plants suitable for a wild garden. 
As to the plant shown in the engraving, 
it is the “Great White Trillium” (Trillium 
grandiflorum ), called in some parts of the 
country “Wake Robin” and “Beth Root.” We 
notice that Mr. Robinson calls it the White 
Wood-Lily, a name, so far as we are aware, 
not known in this country. Trillium is not 
so difficult a name that it cannot become 
popular, especially when it is recollected that 
it refers to the triple arrangement of the 
plant, its green leaves, the green parts of the 
flower (calyx), and the three large petals 
being conspicuously in triplets. The plant 
has a tuber-like root-stock, from which arises 
a stem a foot or 
more high, with 
three broad leaves, 
and in June, a soli¬ 
tary flower three or 
four inches across; 
this is at first of the 
purest white, but 
after some days 
changes to rose 
color. The plant 
does better with 
partial shade, but 
in a sunny border, 
where the soil re¬ 
mains moist, it suc¬ 
ceeds with us ad¬ 
mirably. This Tril¬ 
lium is found usu¬ 
ally in rich woods, 
from northern New 
England westward 
to Wisconsin and 
southward to Penn¬ 
sylvania. In some 
places it is very 
abundant; in one of the Western States 
we have seen it almost by the acre. The 
roots are offered by dealers in hardy plants. 
Preparing Peach Stones. 
Several have asked how to prepare peach 
stones for planting. They are probably 
aware, that when the stones are kept dry all 
winter and then planted in spring, very few, 
if any, will germinate. In nurseries, the 
stones are not allowed to get very dry, but 
they are stratified or bedded just before win¬ 
ter sets in. The usual manner is, to mark 
out the limits of the bed and spread the 
stones over it to the depth of two or three 
inches; the stones are then spaded in as if 
turning under a dressing of manure. By 
this operation they are distributed through 
and well mixed with the soil, where they are 
left to freeze and thaw all winter. This 
treatment causes the halves of the stone to 
separate and the pressure within of the 
swelling seed can push them apart. This 
may be effected by other methods than that 
of spading in. The stones are sometimes 
spread upon she ground and covered with 
spent tan-bark or sawdust to the depth of 
three to five inches, and thus exposed to the 
weather. In spring, when the ground is 
ready to plant, the stones that have been 
spaded in are separated by throwing the soil 
of the bed upon a riddle, such as is used by 
masons ; the earth falls through while the 
stones are left upon the riddle. Those that 
have been under tan or sawdust are more 
easily recovered at planting time. It is to be 
assumed that those who at this time ask 
what is to be done “ to prepare peach stones 
