546 
AMERIOAlSr AGRICULTURIST. 
[Decembee 
Shall the Walks he Straight or Curved? 
If one proposes to improve his place, whether 
the improvement consists merely in “fixing up the 
front yard,” or in beautifying a large estate, the 
plan should be well considered. Make a sketch or 
plan of the ground as it now is, and then mark on 
it the proposed 'alterations and improvements. 
The plan may be on smooth, brown paper, which 
can be fastened to a planed board. Draw to a 
scale, which should be large enough to show all 
the objects distinctly. It will add greatly to the 
interest of the work, to make the plan a matter of 
family consultation, and encourage all, young and 
old, to offer suggestions as to details. It is well to 
recollect the Irish tailor, who, when ridiculed for 
the great amount of chalking he did on his cloth 
before cutting, replied : “ Shure, and chalk is not 
shears.” Chapges are readily made upon the plan, 
but when the plan is carried out on the ground, 
alterations are difficult and expensive. In making a 
plan, the question will come up as to a walk or 
road: “Shall it be straight or curved?” The an¬ 
swer to this is often of more importance with a 
small area than a large one. A small plat, should 
be so treated as to make it appear as large as pos¬ 
sible. In his volume which we shall publish in a 
few days, Mr. Elias A. Long says of figures 1 and 3: 
“ When the door of the house is twenty or more 
feet from the entrance gate, curves may usually be 
introduced by having the gate not directly in front 
of the door, but a little to one side. Such an ar¬ 
rangement tends to keep the area in front of the 
house larger, when the walk is set to one side ; as 
a result, the house shows to better advantage, than 
if the main front plat were kept smaller by a 
straight walk encroaching upon it. The house, in 
figure 1, it is at once seen, has a finer setting 
with a curved approach, than if the part in front 
of it were to be narrowed by a straight walk, as 
shown by the dotted lines. This principle is also 
illustrated in figure 3, both in walks and carriage- 
drives. Although here, by making curved walks, 
there is one more leading to the house than if they 
were straight; still with the foreground thus ar¬ 
ranged, the buildings are seen to much better ad¬ 
vantage over the stretch of lawn, embellished with 
trees, shrubs, and flowers (omitted in the engrav¬ 
ing), than if the scene were cut up by the hard 
lines of a straight walk. The general improve¬ 
ment in the appearance of the grounds is also much 
better, for instead of increasing the angular out¬ 
lines—strong enough already in the buildings and 
boundaries—by making the walks straight, we curve 
them gracefully, and thus induce variety in the 
lines. The curves are brought in such a way, that 
we secure that most desirable of garden qualities, 
breadth just where it is most needed, namely : in 
the foreground of the main building. This simple 
point is one that accounts for much of that 
indescribable diflferenco in places, which makes 
some appear finer than others, with the use of 
about the same advantages and materials in both,” 
Before we had competent landscape architects, 
ignorant gardeners from the old country pretended 
to a knowledge of the art. They were unfortu¬ 
nately sometimes intrusted with the laying-out of 
large places, and the face of nature has been sadly 
disfigured by their efforts. Having seen walks and 
drives at home, which were properly laid out with 
a graceful sweeping curve, they 
evidently thought that the art of 
the designer consisted in making 
the walks curved, and acting on 
the principle, “ there can not be 
too much of a good thing,” they 
made some remarkable specimens 
in the serpentine style. Figures 3 
and 4 are two illustrations of un¬ 
meaning crooks and turns, sketch¬ 
ed by Mr. Long, from actual ex¬ 
amples. In localities where the 
surroundings are formal, and large 
buildings present strong architectural features, 
curved walks would be manifestly out of keep¬ 
ing. Straight walks are demanded, and they 
may be so treated as to contribute to the ornamen¬ 
tation of the plat. In illustration of this view, Mr. 
Long gives figure 5, concerning which he writes: 
“ The plat is skirted in its border by a belt of trees 
and shrubs, and a conspicuous circular bed of ever¬ 
greens occupies a central position. This simple 
arrangement of neat, well-kept walks, cut into the 
level sward, harmonizes with the strong angular 
Fig. 5.— STBAIGHT WALKS ESSENTIAL. 
features that exist in the surroundings—which are, 
it may be said, too' strong to be overcome in effect, 
by ordinary natural arrangements. In this way is 
found a pleasing kind of ornamentation for the 
place, which it would be hard to equal by any 
other means. It should be observed in this case, 
that the walks are not so prominent or so close to¬ 
gether, but that they convey the idea of subordi¬ 
nation to buildings, trees, grass, and streets, hence 
their fitness is easily accounted for. 'Were the 
square plats between the walks filled with flowers 
or numerous vases, etc., instead of mostly plain 
grsss, the fine effect would be largely lacking.” 
Nitrate of Soda. —A good commercial article 
of nitrate of soda contains fourteen and one-half 
per cent of nitrogen. The price is now about fifty 
dollars per ton. In other words, the nitrogen costs 
about seventeen cents per pound. It is in an 
active available condition, and there is probably no 
cheaper source of nitrogen. Market-gardeners, 
nurserymen, and all others who buy manure, could 
unquestionably use nitrate of soda to great advan¬ 
tage. What the market-gardener needs is rich ma¬ 
nure. The ordinary manure obtained from city 
stables and elsewhere is poor in nitrogen—espeei- 
ally in soluble nitrogen. Five hundred pounds of 
nitrate of soda used in conjunction with twenty 
tons of manure per acre, would often produce a 
better crop than forty tons of manure. We have 
used it with decided benefit on asparagus, onions, 
young cabbage plants, carrots, beets, celery, etc, 
Nitrate of soda is very soluble, and should be ap¬ 
plied in small doses to the growing crop. Much 
will be washed out of the soil by heavy rains. 
A New Pecan Nut. 
The Pecan-nut has been so generally regarded as 
a tree belonging to a warm climate, that very few 
persons have deemed it worth while to attempt 
to cultivate it in a cool one. In the absence of any 
very extensive experiments in raising pecan trees 
in our Northern States, we have but few facts to 
give as an encouragement to those who may desire 
to plant this tree extensively for either the nuts or 
Fig. 1. —nussbaumee’s pecan nut. 
timber. It may be said, however, that because 
there are few bearing pecan-nut trees in our more 
Northern States, it should not be taken as proof 
that this tree is not adapted to the climate. It is 
quite likely that most of the seedlings raised in 
nurseries and by amateurs, have been from the nuts 
purchased in our markets, or received from friends 
and correspondents in the Southern States, and 
trees raised from these would be far more likely to 
be tender than those gathered from the extreme 
northern range of this species of hickory. 
If there is anything in what is called the acclima¬ 
tion of plants, then seedlings raised from the pecan 
nuts grown in Virginia, Kentucky, and Illinois, 
would prove to be far more hardy and better adapt¬ 
ed to localities, still farther North than those seed¬ 
lings raised from nuts gathered in the warmer parts 
of the South. It may be well for those who wish to 
try the experiment of raising pecans in our Northern 
States to remember this when looking for either 
nuts or seedling trees for planting. Nuts of the 
very largest size are produced by trees along the 
most northern range of the pecan. In fact, the 
largest nut that I have as yet seen, was recently 
received through the kindness of my old friend and 
veteran pomologist. Judge Samuel Miller, of Mo. 
This nut is correctly represented in figure 1. Judge 
Miller writes me that the tree bearing this nut is 
growing in St. Clair County, Illinois, and has been 
named “ Nussbaumer’s Hybrid,” after its dis¬ 
coverer. The tree is a very large one, the stem 
measuring some two feet in diameter at the base, 
and is very tall, but its bight has not been cor¬ 
rectly ascertained. It is supposed to be a hybrid 
between the Carya olivc^orniis bluA Canja sulcata, \>\ii 
this is only conjecture. But whatever its origin, it 
is certainly one of the most remarkable as well as 
largest pecan nuts as yet discovered, and it is to be 
hoped that the owner or some one else will be 
successful in propagating it extensively, for such a 
noble and valuable variety should not be allowed 
to become extinct. The shell of this nut has a 
slightly undulating or rugose surface that rather 
sustains the view of its being a hybrid, and I am 
inclined to think favorably of this idea. 
From the neighborhood of Mobile, Alabama, I 
have this season received some specimens of a very 
early as well as large variety of pecan, and figure 
Fig. 3.— PECULIAR SHAPED PECAN NUT. 
3 was made from a nut of a fair average size. This 
nut is not only early, but is of a peculiar shape, 
its greatest diameter being near the upper end, 
then tapering suddenly to a point. There are 
no doubt hundreds of very distinct varieties of 
pecan nuts, to be found in regions where this tree 
is indigenous, and it is time that the very best and 
largest were sought out and propagated in planta¬ 
tions of nut-bearing trees. A. S. Fuller. 
