1861 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
113 
The Early Flowers. 
Here they are ! The Snow-Drop came before 
the snow banks had melted. 
“ Already now the snow-drop dares appear, 
The first pale blossom of the unripened year; 
As Flora’s breath, by some transforming power, 
Had changed an icicle into a flower.’? 
It is a modest little thing, with drooping head, 
as if half ashamed at being seen abroad at such 
an unpropitious season; but if several roots are 
set together in some sunny nook, their united 
blossoms make quite a brave show. We con¬ 
fess to a very tender affection for this flower 
and a few others that come in its train—they 
are harbingers of brighter days to come. 
The Crocus appears not long after the snow¬ 
drop. We often gather them in the same bou¬ 
quet. This is a bolder and more dashing flower 
than the. other. It is larger, holds its head 
erect, and sports several colors and shades of 
color. Among them, the Cloth of Gold is the 
earliest, a large, bright yellow blossom, with a 
brownish stripe down the middle of each petal. 
Queen Victoria, a large white flower; David Rizzio , 
purple; La Nige, with a white ground, and pur¬ 
ple and blue stripes. But we can not name and 
describe them all; there are deep blue and light 
blue, white with blue stripes, blue with white 
stripes, white with purple base, etc., etc. They 
are all of them desirable, and so cheap—50 cents 
a dozen—that most persons can have a large 
assortment. Like the snow-drop, they require 
very little care. Plant them in the early Au¬ 
tumn, in any good soil, and they will be sure to 
grow. But the trouble with many persons is, 
that they forget to plant them at the right sea¬ 
son. In September and October, when the gar¬ 
den is all aglow with Fall flowers, they think 
very little of the coming Spring, six or seven 
months away. But when Winter has flown, 
and these bright, cheery little heralds of the 
flower-season appear, they are all delighted, and 
send off at once to the nurseries for plants of 
the same. We have been told by several com¬ 
mercial florists, that they have repeated applica¬ 
tions every Spring for bulbous roots then in 
bloom! Of course, they can not properly fill 
such orders. 
The Daphne Mezereon is one of the very ear¬ 
liest flowers. It is a low shrub, from two to 
three feet high. The flowers, which appear 
early in April, are found in clusters all around 
die shoots of the former year, and they open be 
fore the leaves expand. 
“ Though leafless, well attired, and thick beset 
With blushing wreaths investing every spray.” 
fh ere are two varieties, one with pink and the 
jtlier with white blossoms, both pleasantly fra¬ 
grant, This §hrub is partial to a dry soil, yet 
olossoms bet# in a shaded aspect. As it comes 
nto flower so early, it is advisable to transplant 
it in the Autumn; though with care it may be 
removed in the Spring. It is one of the few plants 
which no garden can afford to be without. 
The Bulbocodium vernum is another desirable 
Spring flower. It is a hardy, bulbous-rooted 
plant, a few inches high, resembling the crocus, 
and blooms about the same time. The flowers 
are pink, and are great favorites with the bees. 
To the above, may be added the Mountain 
Daisy, in its varieties, which are sometimes 
found in flower under the snow. These plants 
are often placed under glass, in pits, during the 
Winter; but this is not absolutely necessary. If 
set in the garden with a northern exposure, and 
then covered with leaves or other loose litter, 
not more than three or four out of a dozen will 
perish. In our experience, it is generally the 
freezing and thawing that comes from a south¬ 
ern exposure that kills them.—Our company 
of early flowers is not complete without add¬ 
ing the Primrose, or Polyanthus, some varieties 
of which bloom in April. With us the dark 
crimson, with a yellow eye, is the earliest. 
Gather the above all into one cosy spot in a 
garden, and what can be more cheerful and^ay ! 
It is a defect of many gardens, that their 
chief attractions are confined to one season, that 
of mid-summer. Then, flowers every where 
abound; they are “ cheap as dirt,” and more¬ 
over, the heat is so intense that gardens are less 
resorted to than earlier and later in the season. 
It should be the aim of every one who would 
have more than a second-rate garden, to secure 
many of those plants which bloom in Spring 
and Fall. Mid-summer will almost take care of 
itself. Let our floral readers now make note of 
the best spring flowers, and then procure them 
in the Autumn. And in the Fall, observe the 
flowers of that season, to be secured the follow¬ 
ing Spring. 
-•» « ——— . - 
Hints on Choosing Shade Trees. 
The first consideration, of course, in selecting 
an ornamental tree, is tliacharacter of its foliage 
in the Summer. If it has dark, rich green leaves, 
like the locust or horse-chestnut, and is unaffect¬ 
ed by drouth or insects, these are good points, 
certainly. Then again, if the leaves push out 
early in the Spring, like the Mountain ash, or 
larch, or scarlet maple, this, too, is a good thing. 
Does it hold its leaves persistently through Sum¬ 
mer and late Autumn, like the lindens and ma¬ 
ples, or does it drop many of them, like the elm 
and butternut, and buttonwood? And how 
about the colors of the foliage in the Fall months ? 
We could hardly bear to lose the crimson and 
purple and gold and scarlet of the maples, 
white ash, tulip trees, and oaks. 
These are settled points. But there are other 
things which should be taken into the account. 
Deciduous trees are without foliage nearly six 
months of every year, and their appearance 
when naked, is worthy of consideration. Take 
the locust, again. It is fair to look upon in Sum¬ 
mer, when robed in full dress, but in the Winter 
it is stiff and uncomely. Worse yet, are the 
butternut, black walnut, coffee tree, and Her¬ 
cules’ Club. The child who should walk daily 
under their branches, would be likely to grow 
up angular and awkward! How different, in 
this respect, is the elm, which spreads out a fine 
net-work of branches, pendulous, swaying, 
graceful almost as in mid-summer. Nor is the 
maple altogether deficient in this particular. It 
often has a delicate spray, particularly those va¬ 
rieties whose seed-vessels hang on into the Win¬ 
ter. So with the linden, to some extent. The 
European Mountain Ash is enlivened by clus¬ 
ters of scarlet berries. And what these last 
named trees lack in gracefulness, is made up by 
their smoothness of trunk and limbs and sym¬ 
metrical arrangement of branches. 
The color of the bark of trees deserves more 
consideration than it usually receives. This 
feature, hardly noticed in mid-summer, is re¬ 
vealed when the leaves fall. Among the tries 
to which we now refer, the golden barked Ash 
is a good example. The red and the yellow 
barked lindens are also beautiful trees. Differ¬ 
ent from these, is the asli-leaved maple, with a 
bright green bark, also. The striped bark ma¬ 
ple, and the red-twigged maple are very desira¬ 
ble trees of this class. Among shrubs, the cor- 
— I B BnBBW IMIIMIM MBaB— — 
nus semguinea is almost as beautiful, with its 
bright shining red bark in Winter, as with its 
abundant white blossoms in Summer. All these 
trees and shrubs with various colored barks, are 
the more striking if they have a background of 
evergreens. 
To Save Trees Gnawed by Mice. 
Mr. Editor : I neglected, last Fall, to bank 
up my young trees with hillocks of dirt, as you 
advised, and have consequently suffered a good 
deal from the mice. The bark on several choice 
young pear and apple trees is gnawed, in some 
cases entirely around the tree, and in others part 
way. What shall I do ? Is there any help ? 
Never will I be careless again. Jas. Brown. 
Reply : Your trees, we think, may most of 
them be saved by proper care. Where the bark 
is not completely girdled, pare the edges of the 
wound smooth, with a sharp knife, cover the 
same with grafting-wax, or with gum shellac 
dissolved in alcohol. If your trees are healthy 
and Well established, they may soon heal over. 
For other trees, try another remedy : If the 
girdle is not broader than an inch or two, find a 
limb of a large, 
vigorous tree, from 
which you can take 
a section of bark 
about the size of 
your girdled tree, 
as shown in the ac¬ 
companying illus¬ 
tration ; clasp this 
around carefully, 
and fit it to the 
wound above and 
below, as nicely as possible. Tie it in place 
with woolen yarn, and then cover with wax. 
Where the wound is several inches long, the 
chances are very poor, but the tree may pos¬ 
sibly be saved. Pare the ragged edges, take 
plump cions from another tree, and insert 
them, with one end above and the other below 
the wound. The cions should be inserted an 
inch or more above and below the wound; the 
nicer the fitting of the parts, the greater the 
chances of success in this vegetable surgery. 
-♦-+-—a <S> ——»-•-■ 
Notes for the Orchard. 
The present is a suitable time for attacking 
various insects which infest fruit trees. Of these, 
the apple worm is quite an important one. 
During the Summer, the moth lays its eggs in the 
calyx of the young fruit, where the grub is 
hatched, and then eats its way into the core. 
Commonly, the fruit falls off when half grown, 
or it becomes prematurely ripe. Soon after it 
falls, the grub leaves it and ascends the tree, 
where he builds a cocoon house for himself, in 
some crevice of the bark. The early Spring, 
therefore, is an excellent time to destroy him. 
Take him while napping in his cocoon; for on 
the approach of warm weather he will hatch out 
and leave it. What can be better April work 
for the boys! They should have a premium 
for every dozen cocoons brought into the house 
and burned. 
The Woolly Aphis or American Blight, is 
another pest of the orchard which should be 
looked after now. It is called woolly , from the 
substance which covers its body, which enables 
it to be blown about from tree to tree; this is its 
mode of traveling. A full description with draw- 
