154 
AMEElOAl^ AGEIOULTUEIST, 
[April, 
office or grocery, to be supplied, an ear each, to 
those getting their letters or groceries. The aver¬ 
age post-master or grocer, in a farming community, 
would gladly distribute seeds, cions, and plants, 
without compensation, to help in a good work. 
There are centers in almost every agricultural town 
where people gather for business and trade, where 
each family cultivating a garden, could be furnish¬ 
ed with the choicest varieties of fruits and vege¬ 
tables. This would in no way interfere with the 
sales of the seedsmen and nurserymen, but rather 
increase the demand. The best districts for their 
business are where the taste for good gardening 
is already established, and every man is experi¬ 
menting, and adding to the valuable things already 
possessed. The great difficulty in any community 
in improving horticulture is to get a lew neigh¬ 
bors to make their first investment in improved 
varieties. When one has planted his first Bartlett 
pear tree, his first Delaware or Concord grape, his 
first improved strawberry or raspberry, and eaten 
the fruit, there is no man more ready to invest in 
seeds and plants. Seeing is believing. Eighty years 
ago or more there was a clergyman settled in one 
of the feeble country parishes of Connecticut, 
whose horticultural tastes were as sound as his 
views in theology. He preached good gardening 
six days in the week, by example as well as pre¬ 
cept, cultivated fine apples, pears, and grapes, 
made his home an oasis in the wilderness, and dis¬ 
tributed seeds, cions, and plants with a liberal 
hand. Great improvement in the horticulture of 
the whole town resulted, and the impress of his 
ministry in the pulpit and the garden is still visible 
there in almost every home. This ministry in hor¬ 
ticulture is within reach of almost every farmer, 
and is one of the easiest and most effective ways 
of doing good. It has an important bearing upon 
morals and the right training of the rising genera¬ 
tion. Stomachs fed with the milk and honey of 
fine gardens, are not so likely to crave alcohol and 
tobacco. The distribution of seeds and plants is 
in order now. Connecticut. 
A Useful Hand-Light. 
Among the many helps found useful or neces¬ 
sary by the European gardener, is the hand-light 
and the bell-glass, the latter the cloche of the 
Erench. One sees in the market-gardens around 
Paris cloches by the acre. They are bell-shaped, 
about fifteen inches high, and the same in width 
across the mouth, and are now made without a 
knob for a handle at the top. These are used for 
covering seeds, cuttings, etc., but especially in 
growing lettuce and cauliflowers, for both of 
which they are employed on a large scale. Our 
market gardeners could not use these with profit, 
as steamboats and railroads can place the produce 
of southern gardens in the market cheaper than 
they can raise it under such glasses. The amateur 
gardener will often find a hand-light of some kind 
Fig. 1 .—A STORE HAND-EIGHT, 
convenient to protect tender plants, etc. Fig. 1 
shows the kind usually sold; it is costly, easily 
broken, and difficult to repair. We have sug¬ 
gested as a substitute a grocery box of conven¬ 
ient size, removing top and bottom and cover¬ 
ing the top with light cotton sheeting ; or a frame 
may be nailed together of six or eight-inch boards, 
and covered in the same manner. WTien more 
light than the cloth will admit is needed, a similar 
frame may be covered with a pane of glass. Such 
frames are a great aid in forwarding and protect¬ 
ing young melon, cucumber, and other vines, and 
in a private garden are worth the trouble of mak¬ 
ing them. The objection to all such hastily made 
substitutes is, they are not cared for, and, when 
wanted for use a second time, are often not to be 
found. It is well to have a few well-made hand- 
lights to meet sudden requirements, as they may 
be stored away and be ready when needed. Fig. 
2 represents a form that we have found con¬ 
venient, and it will be well to have them of at least 
two sizes, using for some a single pane more nearly 
square. The engraving requires no description. 
If strengthened by hoop-iron straps at the comers, 
and painted, or treated to a few coats of erode 
petroleum, these protectors will last many years. 
Plantain and Other Weeds. 
Among the questions most frequently asked us, 
are those relating to the destruction of weeds of 
different kinds. A subscriber at New Lisbon, N. T., 
asks : “ What will kill Plantain ? We have a lot of 
ten acres covered with it, and threatens to run out 
everything else.”—This is an illustration of a ma¬ 
jority of the inquiries, they ask, “ What will kill,” 
instead of “How can I kill” this or that weed. 
There is a general impression that something may 
be applied to the soil, so discriminating, that it will 
destroy the weeds, and leave the plants of the crop 
unharmed. Though we have many times shown 
that this is impossible, the idea still prevails. 
Nothing can be put upon the land that will of it¬ 
self destroy weeds, and let the other plants alone. 
The only manner in which any application can kill 
weeds is, by stimulating the growth of the crop to 
such a degree that it will crowd out and smother 
them. Weeds come into our lands in various ways. 
We sow them, they are brought in by ourselves 
and our animals, and they are brought by the 
winds. By far the most frequent method is, by 
unintentional sowing. Weeds are taken to the ma¬ 
nure heap or the pig-pen, where they ripen their 
seeds before they decay, and when the manure is 
applied to the land, that is manured and at the 
same time seeded for an abundant crop; seeds of 
weeds are also sown with other seeds, especially 
those of grasses and clover. Every farmer should 
be familiar with the appearance of these seeds, and 
if on examination of a smalt sample, better with a 
microscope or magnifier, any other seeds are seen, 
do not sow them. Several seeds have hooks by 
which they cling to the coats of animals, and to our 
own clothing, and many weeds may be introduced 
upon the farm in this manner. Winds and streams 
convey the seeds of weeds, though not so frequently 
as some suppose. All the other causes together, 
introduce fewer than the farmer himself, by his in¬ 
difference to the quality of his seeds and his manure. 
As to destroying the weeds after they are once 
on the farm—there are weeds and weeds, and a 
knowledge of their nature will be a great aid in the 
warfare against them. Like other plants, they 
are annual, biennial, or perennial. Annual weeds 
come up, and die the first season, and that is the 
end of them. But before they depart, they make 
abundant provision for a succe.ssion, by produc¬ 
ing a multitude of seeds to carry on the work. The 
earlier such weeds are destroyed, the better, as 
some perfect their seeds when quite small. The 
cultivation of crops that must be frequently worked 
by hand or horse implements, is the most ready 
way of getting rid of them. Biennial and peren¬ 
nial weeds the first year from sowing, prepare to 
produce seeds the next year, and arc usually not 
conspicuous the first season, there being only a 
tuft of leaves lying close to the ground, looking 
innocent, but preparing for mischief, by laying in 
provisions for an active growth the next year. The 
biennial, the second year, shoots up a flower-stalk, 
perfects its seeds, and dies. The perennial shoots 
up a flower stalk, perfects its seeds and don’t die, 
but on the contrary lays up in its roots provisions 
for a more active campaign the third year, and so 
on continuously. When such weeds are estab¬ 
lished, their spread should be prevented by cutting 
off their seed-stalks, or rather flower-stalks, before 
seeds are formed. If the flower-stalks of a biennial 
weed are cut away, the plant will die sooner or 
later, and give no further trouble. Not so the pe¬ 
rennial weeds, the measures for their extermination 
must differ with the nature of the plants and their 
numbers. In some cases, pulling or digging up the 
roots will be cheapest; in others, the constant cut¬ 
ting of the leaves as soon and as often as they ap¬ 
pear at the surface of the ground, will answer. 
Again, it may be best to smother the weeds with a 
heavy growth of Buckwheat, or the Southern Cow 
Pea. This last makes a remarkably dense mat of 
vines and foliage, under which nothing can live. We 
have thus indicated the general methods to be fol¬ 
lowed in the destruction of weeds. Those persona 
will be most successful in applying them who ac¬ 
quaint themselves with the plants known as weeds, 
and are able to reeognize them at every stage, and 
who consider their habit of growth in undertaking 
their destruction. Every farmer should recollect 
that a sharp hoe properly applied to any weed 
in its youth, will avoid much trouble in future. 
How Roses Are Produced Cheaply. 
Some of our amateur friends, who make cut¬ 
tings of several joints when they propagate roses, 
wonder how florists can turn out roses so rapidly 
and at such a low price. The large establishments 
which make a specialty of roses or any other plants, 
are reerular factories, with everything arranged for 
the end in view. The roses to furnish the cuttings 
are potted the fall before and kept in a cool green¬ 
house or pit until the time they must be started 
into growth to furnish shoots from which to make 
cuttings. Instead of taking these several inches 
long, the stem is cut into pieces with a single leaf 
A ROSE CUTTING. 
each. The leaf has a bud in its axil, and is planted 
in the sand of the cutting bench as show'n in the 
engraving. The cuttings are made from tender 
shoots, but sufficiently mature to have formed 
buds in the axils of the leaves. Of course the tem¬ 
perature of both the sand and the air of the house 
must be properly controlled to produce the best 
results. Amateurs, who need at most a few dozen 
roses, will not expect to raise them in -this manner. 
Even if they have a propagating house it would be 
vastly cheaper to buy the few plants needed than 
to give the neeessaiy care and attention, which 
would be nearly as much for a few dozens as for 
several thousands. The “ saucer method,” de¬ 
scribed last month, p. 99, comes to the help of the 
amateur. We have not tried it for roses from very 
young shoots, but from our success with other 
shrubs in rooting them from very green wood, we 
have little doubt of its success. Observe that the 
sand is to be made as wet as mud, and kept so. 
Drying out will destroy the roots. The cuttings 
should be from the green shoots pushed by the 
window plants, as soon as buds are formed—not 
flower buds, but the leaf-buds, those which when 
