AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
G2 
munications and applications for seed. We 
have also raised a crop of two varie¬ 
ties, viz.: the Physalis alkckingi and P. viseosa. 
The alkckingi, as previously stated, was brought 
to this country by Gen. Mezaros, of Hungary. 
They were originally from Italy. This is a strong 
growing variety ; some of the plants under Gen¬ 
eral M.’s cultivation grew six feet high, and were 
very branching. They require starting in the 
house, or in a hot bed. Our own plants so start¬ 
ed perfected their fruit. The fruit, like all other 
varieties, grows singly in inflated capsules, is of 
a light orange color, round, one-half to three- 
fourths of an inch in diameter, and of an agreea- 
ole and somewhat acid flavor. The viseosa is evi¬ 
dently a native of this country, but none the less 
valuable for that. 
Their keeping qualities strongly recommend 
them, as they retain their freshness until mid- 
Winter when such fruit is an object. Ours are 
«till fresh at this date (December 15th) and show 
more indications of drying up than decaying. The 
plants of the native variety are very branching, 
with an inclination to trail upon the ground unless 
supported by stakes. The fruit is like the alke- 
iingi in appearance, but sweeter to the taste. 
The Peruviana is nearly allied to the viseosa, with 
more of an upright habit, and berries a trifle larger. 
We have received specimens of a blue variety un¬ 
der the name of French Tomato, which were from 
three-fourths to seven eights of an inch in diam¬ 
eter, very firm, dark blue on the outside, and green 
inside. They are described as an annual growing 
two feet in bight. We hear of the same variety 
growing wild at the West with others of green 
and grey color. 
The capsules or husks of the early ripening 
terries become nearly transparent in time, through 
which the yellow balls are seen. 
Having thoroughly tested the fruit in pickles, 
pies and preserves, we are very much pleased 
with the plant and shall be glad to scatter it as 
widely as our supply of seed will allow. 
We shall plant a large quantity for our own use 
another season, and only wish we had sufficient 
seed to supply a liberal package to every appli¬ 
cant. A few plants will furnish a large amount 
of fruit, and by putting what seed we have in 
small parcels, we still hope to furnish each sub¬ 
scriber desiring it with a package. We have only 
the American variety for distribution now, but may 
get a supply of the European before Spring. 
Dahlias Blooming the First Year from 
Seed. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I observe an article in respect to the propaga¬ 
tion of the Dahlia in your last number, which is 
so different from my experience that I may be 
permitted to give it. Last spring I planted the 
seed of the Dahlia, which quickly germinated, 
grew vigorously, until they attained the height of 
from four to five feet, and produced perfect flow- 
bis. They were very double, and of every color, 
except black—that sombre hue which nature has 
entirely excluded from this, her most beautiful 
department—and blue, that coveted color which 
no botanist has yet been able to obtain in the 
Dahlia. In the spring of 1856 I planted the seed 
af the Dahlia, with the same result, but under the 
impression which you have adopted, and which 
seems to be general among florists, that it requires 
two years to bring it to perfection. I was fearful 
it might be an eccentricity, and therefore did not 
communicate it. The soil of my garden is a rich 
Black loam, three feet in depth, which may have con¬ 
tributed to the result- still I am convinced that 
the Dahlia may be propagated from the seed in a 
single season, from any moderately rich soil. 
A. Sanders 
Davenport, Iowa, Dec. 8th, 1857. 
ANOTHER SIMILAR EXAMPLE. 
Mrs. M. L. J., of Claymont, Del., writes us, that 
she sowed, last May, Dahlia seed from France, 
transplanting when one foot high, into a large 
bed, putting them one yard apart. They produced 
in the fall “ as handsome flowers as could be found 
anywhere.” 
Bitter Pumpkins. 
In Volume XV, at pages 76, 100 and 132, we 
published some notes on bitter pumpkins, called 
out by a crop of them raised by Dr. Whitman, of 
Fiskville, R. I. The specimen sent us was de¬ 
scribed as resembling both a squash and pumpkin, 
but as bitter to the taste as quassia or quinine. 
We have the following recent letter from Dr. W. 
Fiskville, R. I., Nov. 10, 1857. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
About a year ago, I forwarded you through Dr. 
Balch, of Providence, a specimen of bitter squash 
or pumpkin, whichever you choose to call it, for 
examination. I think your opinion as expressed 
at that time was, that it was a cross with some 
other plant, a kind of hybrid. I think you were 
correct in that, for I saved the seed from them and 
planted again this season, but not one of them 
came up. This season I have another crop from 
one stalk only, that came up among some Winter 
squashes. This plant grew rapidly while the others, 
the Winter squashes, were nearly all destroyed 
by the bugs. I planted again and covered them 
with boxes to keep off the bugs. They grew very 
well until they began to run when all others in the 
neighborhood of what proved to be the bitter vine, 
died out and that ruled supreme over that portion 
of the garden. I picked from this one vine thirty 
squashes not as large as last year, but as bitter as 
any quinine. 
I should like to know what gives them this in¬ 
tense bitter taste, and what properties this bitter 
possesses if any. * * * 
A. C. Whitman. 
* >- * - » ««- 
Willow Baskets. 
There is not a poorer article in use about a farm 
than the cheap, shammy made, splint baskets, 
chiefly of black ash, which the makers and venders 
of them impose upon us. They charge great 
prices for them, and when we get them we use 
them but a little while, and throw them aside, 
worn out or pulled to pieces. 
Now, nothing is easier than for any farmer who 
has a piece of moist land under fence, to grow 
his own osier willows, and either make his own 
baskets, or have them made in his own neigh¬ 
borhood. A row of good osier willows, six or 
eight rods long, will produce enough cuttings 
every year to keep an ordinary farmer in baskets 
continually ; and one good willow basket is worth 
half a dozen of the shammy things made of ash 
splints. The willows require no peeling, except 
for fancy work ; they are very strong, and can be 
worked into any shape desirable. Where willow 
baskets have once been tried, you will have no 
wish to throw them by, and take back the ash ones. 
If the true osier cannot be obtained, the common 
swamp willow answers a good purpose, as we 
have tried. But the osier is now so generally 
cultivated, particularly in the nurseries, and so 
easily obtained, that every farmer might have a 
little patch on his premises; and if he cannot 
make the cuttings into baskets himself there are 
usually men enough in the neighborhood wh» 
will gladly take and make them up on shares. 
---- »- 
Bark louse on Fruit Trees. 
To tfu Editor of the American Agriculturist : 
I have received direct, and through you, a large 
number of letters, and specimens of Bark Lice 
on apple limbs, currant bushes, &c., in reply 
to my article on this topic in the December Agri¬ 
culturist. I am examining them with the aid 
of the microscope, and will be ready to replj in 
the February number. A. O. Moore. 
Making and Keeping Good Cider. 
E. C., of New-York, desires us to tell him and 
others how to keep cider sweet during the Winter. 
There are several items to be taken into account 
in answering the above question. One is, that the 
article called “ Cider,” be really true, veritable 
juice of the apple, pure and unadulterated, not 
mixed up with hen droppings in and about the pom¬ 
ace vat, and the press slovened with tobacco saliva 
while being made; the “Cheese,” in pressing, 
“ slushed down ” with dirty water, and various oth¬ 
er ingredients mixed therein, such as we have seeu 
at sundry cider presses in the course of our agricul¬ 
tural observation. Another is, that it be made of 
sound, wcll-ripencd apples, where the rotten, as 
well as the green, acrid fruit has been thrown out 
before going into the mill. A third, that the whole 
machinery of its manufacture be sweet and clean, 
and kept so through the whole cider-making pro¬ 
cess. A fourth, that the pomace lay in the vat af¬ 
ter grinding at least twenty-four hours, with two or 
three thorough shovelings over in the meantime to 
give it a sufficient opportunity to absorb the oxygen 
from the atmosphere, wherewith to sweeten and 
give tlie juice the deep, full color, which good cider 
always should have. And fifthly, that after press¬ 
ing it should be well filtered, into sweet oaken casks, 
and thoroughly worked of its impurities before 
bunged and brought into the cellar for Winter 
storage. 
All this being done, our correspondent would 
have little need of instruction how to keep the cider 
sweet during the Winter. It would keep sweet of 
itself. If, however, when it is perfectly “ settled ” 
—which may be readily ascertained by the aid of a 
gimlet hole near the bung, if the barrel be full, 
through which the frothy matter will still ooze, if 
not thoroughly worked—a tendency to change into 
the vinous state is observed, it should be drawn off 
into another clean cask, and a gill of powdered 
charcoal poured into the bung hole, the cask light¬ 
ly shaken, the bung driven tight, and the vent hole, 
if one exist, be plugged also. This will keep it 
sweet for the Winter. If bottling be intended, in 
the month of March draw, or rack off the cider 
again, and if it be not perfectly clear, dissolve an 
ounce of pure Isinglass in a little of the cider, and 
pour it in, which will make it clear and sparkling. 
In May it may be drawn off and bottled. Fill the 
bottles to within two inches of their tops, drive the 
corks close, seal them and lay them in boxes, when 
it will be abundantly purer, and infinitely healthier 
than nine-tenths of the villianous compounds termed 
and labeled “ Champagne,” for which you will pay 
$10 to $25 the dozen at the wine dealers. 
There is a great deal of corked and manufactured 
trash got up at the cider cellars in various parts of 
the country, in which, as in the champagne afore¬ 
said, there is scarcely enough of the pure original 
juice of the fruit of which it ought to be made “ to 
make a note of.” To all sellers of such compounds, 
the lovers of real cider should turn the cold shoul¬ 
der by letting it alone. 
