336 
AMERIOAK AGEIOXJLTtTElST. 
[August, 
vicious liabit. If the fowls are turned out where 
tliey can >^et insects, this will meet the want. 
Skimmed or sour milk, liealthy beef-liver, butch¬ 
er's offal, fish offal, and chandler’s greaves, are 
cheap forms of animal food, generally within reach. 
The Snow Plant of Sierra Nevada. 
"When the overland route to California was by 
stage coaches, travellers often gave glowing ac¬ 
counts of the natural wonders to be seen, es- 
)iecially in the Sierras. Among these was the 
Snow Plant, which appeared as if by magic, sud¬ 
denly thrusting its blood-red spike out of a snow 
bank. Aside from a little enthusiasm, these trav¬ 
ellers’ descriptions were not far wrong. Mrs. B. E. 
Hunter, of Reno, Nevada, has given us an oppor¬ 
tunity of examining the plant in the living state, 
by sending one “just beginning to grow,” the de¬ 
velopment of which we were able to observe. Bo¬ 
tanical works state that the plant flowers as “soon 
as the snow melts away.” Mrs. Hunter in .sugges¬ 
tions as to the treatment of the specimen after it 
should arrive, says : “Place it in water as deep or 
deeper than it was in the ground... .If you put ice 
in the water it will make it thrive better, as it grows 
up out of a snow bank, and needs to be kept cold.” 
This confirms the travellers’ description as to its 
occurrence in the snow. The engraving gives the 
wlioie piant redueed in size; the specimen sent, 
when fuli-grown, was a foot in hight. It wili be 
observed there are no real leaves, but instead are 
numerous fleshy scales, which are broad upon the 
portion of stem below ground, and long and narrow 
upon the fleshy flower- 
spike. At the base of each 
scale, upon a short stalk, 
is a single flower, which is 
bell-shaped, lobed at the 
mouth, and about three- 
fourths of an inch long. 
The flowers, the scales, and 
all visible parts of the plant 
are of a dark liesh-red, with 
not a particle of green about 
it. Having no proper foli¬ 
age, the Snow Plant is either 
a parasite, attached to the 
roots of some other ])lant, 
like our Beech-drops, or else 
it lives upon decaying vege¬ 
table matter (a Saprop/ujie). 
THE NEVADA SNOW' ri.ANT {San'odes sanguinea). 
The fact that it will flourisli at the low temperature 
of melting ice is striking, but w'e have an liumble 
plant, our little Chiekweed, that does the same. 
The Snow Plant is found in the Sierra Nevada, at 
the altitude of four thousand to nine thousand 
feet, in the forests of Spruce, and the groves of 
Sequoia — the “ Big-tree ” of California. It was 
lirst discovered by Eremont, and described by Dr. 
Torrej' in the “ Smithsonian Contributions,” who 
gave it the name Barcodes (resembling flesh), san- 
(juinea (bloody). The engraving gives at the left 
a separate entire flower of real size, and below one 
cut through longitudinally, somewhat magnified. 
Notes From the Pines. 
A short time ago, a young man from California 
called on me, who is known as a horticultural wri¬ 
ter. He wished to tell me how much help and 
encouragement he found in the Notes in his early 
elTorts in horticulture on the Pacific side. I shall 
continue them from time to time, in the 
hope that there are other young men who 
may find them helpful and encouraging. 
It is, after all, the little matters, those that 
writers upon horticulture do not regard 
as of suflieient importance to give a place 
in their books, the minor matters of prac¬ 
tice, that are suggested in one’s daily work, 
that are really of service to the novice. 
PLANTING THICKLY AT FIRST. 
I W'as looking over, recently, a work on 
gardening, which advised, in laying out a 
new place or in remodelling an old one, to 
plant shrubs and trees thickly for immedi¬ 
ate effect, and as they become too much 
crowded by increasing in size, to thin them 
out. Is this good advice ? Perhaps it is for 
some. But when I remodelled this place, I 
had the same idea and planted thickly, with the in¬ 
tention of thinning, and that good intention has not 
been put into practice. 'When a tree or shrub has 
grown u]) under one’s eyes for ten years or more, if 
he can put the axe to the root, he has more courage 
tliau 1. I adipit that it would be better for those 
remaining, to remove it, but then this one that has 
grow'n into my affections all these years, will be 
there no more. I have had a few trees removed 
while I was away from home, and the vacant places 
daily remind me of the loss. From my owui ex¬ 
perience I should not advise thick plantin'';, for 
W'hen the time for the thinning arrives, it will not 
be done. A tree-planter should be able to imagine 
the appearance of his work when the trees have 
attained tl.eir full size. Mr. Elias A. Long illus¬ 
trates the danger of too close planting by means of 
a diagram which I borrow. The young trees are 
shown at the time of planting, and do not appear 
to be at all crowded. The curved dotted lines 
show’ the sizes of the trees at the end of a few years. 
THE JAPANESE SNOWBALL. 
In my rather large collection of shrubs there is 
none finer, or that has afl'orded more real pleasure 
than the Japanese Snowball. Every one knows 
the old-fashioned Snowball, to be found in all old 
gardens. This Japanese species {Viburnum plica- 
turn), is vastly superior in every respect. My spec¬ 
imen is now about eight feet high, and when 
loaded with its snow’-white clusters in early June, 
was a grand sight. The habit of the bush, its 
rich, very dark-green leaves and snow-white clusters 
all place it in the very front rank of ornamental 
shrubs. Being somewhat difficult to propagate, it 
is held at a rather liigh price in the nurseries, 
but it is worth all it eosts to lovers of fine shrubs. 
COAL ASHES FOR WALKS. 
I at one time regretted that we eould only get 
good gravel here by bringing it a long distance by 
rail and at a great exiiense. Since I have had more 
experience in the use of coal-aslies for walks, I 
prefer them to gravel at the same price. “When 
laid dow’n, some soil should be sprinkled upon the 
surface of tlie ashes, and they will soon pack and 
form a path with a permanent, smooth surface, 
that is delightful to walk upon. We placed all our 
own ashes upon the side-W’alk of the road leading to 
the railroad station and post-office. A factory a 
mile or more distant was glad to have us cart away 
all the ashes we would take, and as a result we have 
a w’alk that is dry, firm, and at the same time elas¬ 
tic, making a grand neighborhood improvement. 
THE KENTUCKY COFFEE TREE.- 
Looking out from my window ujion a fine speci¬ 
men of the Kentucky Coffee Tree, I thought what 
a pity it is, that with this and so many other line 
native trees, to give variety, people should go on 
planting just a few kinds, each one selecting the 
same, so that one place is just like another, so far 
as the trees can make it so. The Neighborhood 
Improvement Societies have done much good 
work. If they could contrive to teach people the 
merits of our neglected native trees, they would 
add to their usefulness. The tree in question may 
be described as a glorified Black "Walnut. The 
leaves are two or three feet long, are much more 
divided than in the Walnut (twice pinnate, as the 
botanists say); the foliage is much more graceful, 
ILLUSTRATING ERROR OF NOT CONSIDERING FUTURE GROWTH. 
and as it plays in the breeze has a lightness that is 
most pleasing. The flowers are not conspicuous, 
and the staminate and pistillate are on different 
trees. The fruit is a large curved pod, which con¬ 
tains several large flattened seeds. The early 
settlers at the West used these seeds as a sub.stitute 
for coffee, which gave the tree its common name. 
“When the abundant foliage has fallen, the tree has 
a peculiar appearance on account of the large size 
of its naked branches, and the absence of small 
spray. From this characteristic its botanical name 
is dei ived, Gymnocladus, meaning naked branch. 
Being found froiTi Canada, southward, the tree is 
generally hardy. The reddish wood is fine-grained 
and durable, which with its rapid growth make the 
tree valuable in timber plantations. It is propa¬ 
gated from the seed, and grows readily from cut¬ 
tings of the roots. The American Agriculturist has 
done much to make our native trees better known, 
and I suppose that the only way is to keep hammer¬ 
ing away at them. The Pines. 
Save the Potatoes. 
JOSEPH HARRIS. 
The method of applying Paris Green or London 
Purple to potato vines infested with the Colorado 
beetles or “potato bugs,” is of comparatively 
little consequence. The important point is to ap¬ 
ply it early enough, and often enough, and late 
enough. Half-way measures do not answer. It is 
folly to talk about hand-picking. It is fool-hardy 
to sit still and hope that the bugs will leave of their 
own accord, or do little damage. 
If left alone, or not killed entirely, they will al¬ 
most certainly ruin your crop. And mark you, 
the injury done, whether it is to the extent of one- 
eighth, one-quarter, or one-half the crop, is so 
much deducted from your profits. The interest on 
the land, the cost of manures, the labor of plow¬ 
ing, harrowing, rolling, marking, planting seed, 
cultivating, hoeing, and to a great extent digging 
the crop, is the same for a good yield as a bad one. 
Potatoes will probably be potatoes next spring. 
It is seldom they are so cheap as they were this 
spring two years in succession. But whether they 
are cheap or dear, provided we grow them at all, it 
is very unwise to let the bugs eat up the vines and 
our profits at the same time, all for the want of a 
little energy, and the prompt and repeated applica¬ 
tion of a little Paris Green or London Purple. 
Two years ago, we knew a man who had two fields 
