1882.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
any plants dug up from the ground. No plant 
yields more readily to training ; it may be contin¬ 
ued with a single stem many feet in length, pro¬ 
vided that all side-shoots that start are nipped 
off, or if several stems are wished for, pinch off 
the growing end, aDd some will soon start. 
A Larger Patch of Beans. 
The season of the maturing of the Bean crop is 
short, and there is plenty of time to enlarge the 
acreage of this staple crop. White Beans from 
Germany are sold in the New York market for $3.10 
to $3.50 per bushel. White American Beans are 
scarce at $5.00. This is occasioned by the drouth 
of last summer, and is a very unusual state of the 
market. It is estimated by the dealers in this arti¬ 
cle that a half million bushels have been imported. 
Beans are among the cheapest and most nutritious 
of our table supplies, and in some parts of the 
country are served regularly every Saturday even¬ 
ing and Sunday morning, with the brown, or Indian 
loaf. Emigrants from New England generally carry 
these dishes with them wherever they settle. Me¬ 
diums and Marrowfats are good, but they soon 
lose ground where the Kidneys and the Limas are 
once fairly tried. The Large White Kidney is 
the favorite bush Bean for the main crop in the 
garden, and the Improved Lima is hard to beat 
for pole Beans. Plant a few more beans. 
Preparing for Winter Flowers. 
Those who have small green-houses or cultivated 
flowers in their windows, have set out their gera¬ 
niums, and other quick-growing plants for the 
summer. Many make the mistake of taking up 
these plants in autumn, after they have grown all 
the season in the open ground, and potting them 
to be replaced in the window or green-house. The re¬ 
sult will always be “ long-legged,” misshapen plants, 
which, instead of blooming satisfactorily during the 
winter, will take a long time to recover, and never 
be worth as much as new plants from cuttings. 
Such plants may be prepared for, this month and 
next, and with very little trouble. Of course those 
who have green-houses with appliances for propa¬ 
gating need no directions, but many lovers of flow¬ 
ers have to content themselves with such plants as 
may be grown in the windows of the living rooms. 
These become attached to their plants, and when 
one is set out in the bed they expect it back again. 
When such a plant goes out, consider it thrown 
away, for it may as well be, and set about replacing 
it. The following method will give a few plants 
with little trouble. Take a common store box, 
such as a starch or soap-box, knock off both cover 
and bottom, and if need be strengthen it with extra 
nails. Tack over this a piece of cotton cloth and the 
frame will be ready. Select a place where the 6oil 
is light and sandy, or if the ground is all stiff, spade 
in some sand or coal-dust to make it light and open, 
and place the frame over it. If cuttings of gerani¬ 
ums, cupheas, verbenas, or other such plants are 
placed in the soil and covered with the frame they 
will soon take root and form nice specimens, which, 
when they begin to grow, may be potted and be 
ready for winter. If the frame is where it will be 
shaded in the middle of the day, all the better ; if 
not, it may be tilted a little when the sun is very 
hot, to give ventilation and prevent overheating. 
I>ried and “Evaporated” Fruit. 
Within a few years there have appeared in the mar¬ 
ket very superior dried apples, peaches, etc., which 
are known in the trade as “ Evaporated Fruits,” to 
distinguish them from the ordinary dried fruits. 
In the common method of drying fruit, spreading 
it in the sun, or in stormy weather placing it near 
the kitchen stove, the long exposure to light gives 
it a dark color ; besides, it is liable to be soiled by 
insects and by dust. The attractive appearance of 
the “evaporated” articles allows them to com¬ 
mand a much better price than the others, and 
many who dry fruits are inquiring about the mat¬ 
ter. The evaporating process owes its superiority 
chiefly to the fact that the drying is done rapidly, 
and in the dark. There are half a dozen or more 
patented evaporators, but this is a feature common 
to all. They differ in their mechanical arrange¬ 
ments for handling the fruit, and these are im¬ 
portant. The apparatus consists of a tower, with 
a stove or furnace below for heating the air, plat¬ 
forms or stages for holding the trays of fruit, 
which are so arranged upon endless chains or 
otherwise, that they may be raised or lowered. 
Being in a current of warm, dry air, the moisture 
is removed from the fruit with great rapidity, the 
drying, which in the sun often takes days, being 
completed in a few hours. The majority of the 
evaporators are in capacity far beyond the needs 
of an ordinary orchard, while the cost, though it 
varies, is greater than one would be likely to incur 
for an apparatus for his own use. As one evapor¬ 
ator will prepare the fruit of many orchards, sev¬ 
eral fruit-growing neighbors might unite in the 
purchase, and run it in co-operation, or better 
still, for one with capital to establish an evapor¬ 
ator, if the others will agree to supply him with 
fruit. While we have said that the various evap¬ 
orators agree in essential principles, they vary 
much in details, and the best advice we can give 
those who inquire about them, with a view to 
working up the coming crop, is to lose no time, 
but send at once to the makers for their various 
circulars, and carefully compare their capacities, 
first cost, and mechanical details. That there is 
any important difference in the quality of the pro¬ 
duct, we do not believe. The very white “ evap¬ 
orated” apples are made so by bleaching them, 
sulphur being burned at the proper stage of the 
process. For family use, there are several dryers, 
the same in principle as the evaporators, but being 
upon a much smaller scale, all the moving of the 
trays is done by hand. These, or some of them, 
at least, if carefully managed, will turn out as fine 
a product as the large apparatus. In October of 
last year we showed how an excellent family dryer 
can be made with hot-bed sashes. The fruit dried 
in this will not be so light-colored as that dried in 
the dark, but vastly superior to the ordinary fruit. 
The same article gives the reasons why we can 
not comply with requests to give directions to 
make a home-made evaporator. 
Why so lew Chrysanthemums? 
The Chrysanthemum is a plant that has every ele¬ 
ment of popularity, and we have often wondered at 
the comparative neglect of it. There are a few old 
sorts, a lilac, a yellow and a white, that are to be 
found in the old country gardens, that have under¬ 
gone neighborly division for many years. Some of 
the new kinds are so beautiful, and they all come 
into bloom in the garden at a time when there is 
very little else, and are so bright in the dull days 
of autumn, that we should be glad to see more of 
them. Chrysanthemums, as a general thing, with 
us, are treated like other hardy plants; put out 
and left to take care of themselves, until the 
clumps get too large, when they are divided and 
reset. They will abundantly repay a little care. 
Instead of allowing the roots to throw up a small 
thicket of stems, remove all but four or six, and 
as these get large, give them stakes to prevent 
the autumn storms from breaking them down 
when loaded with flowers. The chrysanthemums 
are admirable for window blooming. If for 
flowering in-doors, the plants, as soon as buds 
are formed, should be potted ; they will soon re¬ 
cover, if placed in the shade for a few days; the 
pots may then be plunged in the soil, or placed in 
a frame and surrounded by coal-ashes. When cool 
weather comes they are to be taken up, cleaned, 
and taken in-doors, giving them abundant air on 
mild days. Whether in pots or in the open ground 
they are apt to be infested by a plant-louse, which 
should be treated with tobacco water; a woolly 
caterpillar is sometimes destructive ; this is not nu¬ 
merous and may be hand-picked. The plant is one 
that yields readily to training, and by pinching in 
its early growth may be formed into neat compact 
bushes. After the potted chrysanthemums are 
through flowering, the stems are to be cut down 
and the pots containing the roots placed in the cel¬ 
277 
lar until spring. To the old large-flowered and 
the small-flowered, or Pompone varieties, there 
have been added of late years the exceedingly 
beautiful Japanese Chrysanthemums, some of 
which are cultivated by florists for cut flowers. 
About 'Wittering' Plants. 
Unless one has an abundant supply of water, 60 
that its use, when once begun, can be continued, 
it is better, as a general thing, to not water at all. 
In the drouth which we so generally have this 
month, a mere sprinkling of the leaves is worse 
than no watering at all. Still, we all may have in 
the vegetable as well as in the flower garden cer¬ 
tain plants that we w y ould like to favor. In such 
cases, instead of watering the plant, the water 
should be applied to the soil; draw' the earth away 
from the plants, forming a sort of basin around 
them; then pour on water gradually, and let it 
soak in around the roots. Afterwards return the 
removed dry earth to its place, and this will act 
as a mulch, to keep the moisture at the roots. 
A 'Well Kept Lawn. 
We have already suggested that the use of the 
lawn mower should not be governed by any rule, 
such as “ mow once a week,” but by the condition 
of the grass. In mid-summer more injury may re¬ 
sult from mowing too frequently than from cutting 
too seldom. We would now call attention to the 
weeds in the lawn. Weeds here, as elsewhere, are 
annual and perennial, and they may be undesirable 
grasses or other kinds of plants. Take the perennial 
weeds, for example; these come from seeds 
brought on in manure or taken there otherwise. 
These are cut back each time the mower is used, 
and are hardly, if at all, noticed in the spring 
months. In mid-summer, when we mow less fre¬ 
quently, to give the grass a chance, these weeds 
which we have been unintentionally pruning in the 
early months, are quite ready to assert themselves. 
Plantains, Docks, Thistles, and others not before 
noticed, will in the short rest we give to the grass, 
make themselves conspicuous. The best treatment 
for such perennial weeds, even on a large lawn, is 
hand weeding. A long knife or a chisel-shaped 
“ spud ” thrust well down to cut the root, will 
allow the plant to be pulled up without disturbing 
the grass. In England they have a contrivance for 
killing such plants, which places a few drops of oil 
of vitriol (sulphuric acid) on the centre of each. We 
have not had occasion to try this, but those who 
make the experiment should keep in mind the de¬ 
structive effect of the acid upon the clothing, and 
the fact that it should not come in contact with the 
fingers, etc. Annual weeds as a general thing are 
of but little consequence after the first year, as the 
frequent mowing subdues them. One of the worst 
of these is a grass, the “ Crab-grass ” (Panicum 
savguinale). It appears late and its prostrate stems 
lie close to the ground, taking root at every joint. 
This is also known as “ Finger grass,” and bears 
its flowers and seeds in a panicle that looks like 
the frame of an umbrella. Whenever the flowers 
of this appear the lawn should be mowed to pre¬ 
vent the ripening of seeds, and it will be safe to 
rake off the mowings, for fear that the immature 
seed may be ripened after the grass is cut. 
lMant-Ei ce. 
It would seem that almost every plant had its 
particular louse. While these are among the most 
abundant of insects, they are also those most 
easily kept in control. While some insects, like 
the Rose-bug, resist all applications, the tender¬ 
skinned plant-lice are easily subdued by tobacco 
in any form, whether dusted upon them, applied 
in the liquid form, or as smoke. What are known 
as “tobacco stems” may be had of the cigar- 
makers, often for the carrying off, or at any rate 
for a very small price. These may be burned for 
plants in greenhouses, but for those out of doors 
the application must be in a liquid form. Fill a 
barrel with the stems, crowding them down firmly, 
and then add water; hot water, if in a hurry, but 
