1861.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
345 
An Afternoon among tlie Flowers. 
Summer Exhibition of Brooklyn Horticultural Society. 
This Exhibition was held June 20th, just after 
the July Agriculturist had gone to press, and was 
confined to members of the Society, and in¬ 
vited guests. No prizes were offered, yet the 
display was fine, and speaks well for the enthu¬ 
siasm which almost invariably attends the culti¬ 
vation of flowers. 
Roses were a chief feature of the Exhibi¬ 
tion. Messrs. Dailledouze and Zeller had 53 va¬ 
rieties of choice Perpetual, Climbing, Tea, and 
Moss Roses. A. G. Burgess exhibited 45 kinds, 
among them a new seedling climber, very double 
and fragrant—not yet named. The same gentle¬ 
man had 65 varieties of seedling Sweet Wil¬ 
liams, comprising every shade, from the darkest 
maroon to the purest white, many of them mot¬ 
tled, fringed, and mixed in most beautiful com¬ 
binations.—15 varieties of Monthly Carnations, 
very fine, and 57 varieties of Pansies were 
shown by Messrs. Dailledouze and Zeller. 
A collection of Fuchsias shown by Mr. John 
Humphries was generally pronounced the finest 
ever exhibited in this region. They had been 
trained to the highest perfection of form, and 
elicited universal admiration. Dahlias, Del¬ 
phiniums, Campanulas, Pceonias, Foxgloves, 
and numberless other Summer flowers in bou¬ 
quets and frames were in profusion. 
One feature gave great pleasure in examin¬ 
ing the collection. Here were flowers for the 
million—not rare exotics which must be petted 
by professed gardeners, and nursed in hot¬ 
houses, but those which bloom beside the hum¬ 
blest cottage in the land, as freely as on the lawn 
of the millionaire. We wanted all those who 
have but small plots, in which a few dozen 
plants can be grown, to be there, that they might 
know how much beauty can be enjoyed by 
proper selection among easily grown flowers. 
A plan adopted in some of the collections 
was particularly commendable, and should al¬ 
ways be followed. Each specimen was plainly 
labeled, so that any one desiring to procure a 
desirable variety “ when the war is over,” and 
money is not so scarce, could make a note of it. * 
Take Care of the Bulbs. 
It is quite important that such bulbs as the 
nyacinth. and tulip should be lifted in mid-sum¬ 
mer of every year, or at least every other year, 
and kept dry until the Autumn, when they are 
to be replanted. They keep firmer and health¬ 
ier from year to year, and truer to their colors, 
than when left continually in the ground. It is 
desirable to take them up, also, in order to re¬ 
move the offsets which form around the parent 
plants. Lift them, dry them, and put away in 
paper bags, which should be plainly named. 
Some persons, however, whose bulbs are set 
in conspicuous beds, feel impatient to get rid of 
the leaves of the plants immediately after the 
flowering time is past; and so they very soon 
cut them off, or barbarously pull them off. A 
great mistake this. The healthy maturity of the 
bulbs depends on the vigorous growth of the 
leaves, and we should strive to encourage, not 
check it. A few years of such cruel treatment 
will spoil the finest bulb. Give the plants all pos¬ 
sible light, and keep the ground well stirred, un¬ 
til then 1 maturity is completed. When the leaves 
turn yellow, the bulbs may be lifted and stored 
away. If necessity seem to require moving 
them, about the time the tips of the leaves fade, 
take up each plant with a ball of earth attached, 
set it out again carefully in a reserved bed, until 
the foliage is ripened off completely. 
■-— ——»«>■—-- » 
Notes on Early Bush Beans. 
(July 1st.)—We planted seven kinds of beans for 
experiment, on April 27, and they have come in¬ 
to bloom as follows: Early China, June 17; Ear¬ 
ly Rachael or Quail-head, June 18; Dwarf Horti¬ 
cultural, June 20; Early Dun, June 20; Early 
Mohawk, June 21; Nonpareil, June 23; Hybrid 
Tampico, not yet in bloom, though the others 
have pods of various sizes upon them. As these 
were all planted alike, in rows side by side, the 
above results show very fairly the comparative 
value of the several kinds as respects early 
yielding. They are all very fair for cooking. 
According to our previous experiments, the 
Early China ranks among the best for the table; 
though there is not much choice among all the 
above except as to their early bearing. A small 
quantity of several of them planted at the same 
time will keep up a succession. 
—--»<— --- 
Early Peas. 
The Daniel O’Rourke has been a favorite as a 
very early pea because it comes so quickly into 
bearing, and produces a fair crop. The excel¬ 
lent Champion of England, and other large richer 
sorts, though later, are preferable for the main 
crop of peas for cooking green. This year by 
way of experiment we planted Daniel O’Rourke, 
March 27th, and on April 1st, a new variety 
called the “ Extra Early Princess Pea.” June 
1st, they were both just ready for picking. The 
Princess is a little sweeter than the O’Rourke, 
and is preferable on that account as well as being 
a trifle earlier; but the Princess grows taller, 
requires more bush and is a poorer bearer. 
--—.—->«»----- 
Trimming up Fruit Trees. 
An ornamental tree should seldom be touched 
by saw or pruning knife. Road side trees, and 
those in pastures and public parks must be 
trimmed up ten or twelve feet from the ground; 
but lawn trees should generally spread their 
limbs on all sides in their native luxuriance. 
And this for beauty. We believe, also, that 
for simple utility, fruit trees should have very 
little pruning of their lower limbs. Doubtless, 
one cause of the diseases to which such trees are 
subject, lies in the exposure of their trunks to 
the hot sun. The leaves need all the light they 
can get, but not so the limbs and trunk. Keep 
them cool and shaded, and the sap will flow up 
and down from root and branch uninjured. 
The injury from the sun’s rays is probably as 
great in the Winter and early Spring, as in the 
Summer. After a severe frosty night in March, 
let the bright sun shine upon the bark of a pear 
or cherry tree, and it will be quite sure .to burst it. 
In the northern region where we now write, we 
can count thousands of trees—apples, cherries, 
pears, horse-chestnuts, lindens, and others—with 
large cracks or rotten places on the south side of 
the trunk, caused, undoubtedly, in the way above 
indicated. Now, who will say that if the lower 
branches had been suffered to grow on those 
trees, they would not have prevented these in¬ 
juries? There is a benefit to the soil, also, in 
the treatment we recommend. It is kept moist, 
cool, open, and in a favorable condition for the 
growth of roots. Grass and weeds make but 
little trouble. Mulching is seldom needed. 
Low headed trees are seldom apt to blow 
over. The blossoms and fruit are less liable to 
be blown off by high, winds. If insects invade 
the branches, they can be more easily reached 
and exterminated. Grafting can be done with 
great facility. Fruit can be gathered with much 
ease, and that which falls to the ground gets lit¬ 
tle injury. The bark of such trees is less likely 
to be infested with vermin, because it is bright, 
and smooth, and of course there is little or no 1 
need of scraping and washing the trunk and 
limbs. We presume, also, that such trees will be 
longer lived and more productive than those- 
trimmed up.—The only objection we have 
heard is, that in such a fruit-garden or orchard,, 
nothing else can be grown between the trees. 
Well, there ought not to be. A well managed 
fruit garden is the most productive part of a 
man’s farm, and he ought to be satisfied with it. 
THUS MOTSEMm 
Save the Fruit—It will be Needed. 
Those who have plenty of fruit, as well as 
those who have little, should save as much as 
possible this year, by drying or other modes of 
preserving. (See sundry directions last month, 
page 215.) The truth is, so far as we can gath¬ 
er, that the fruit crop of the whole country 
will be small. Cherries failed almost en¬ 
tirely, except in a few sheltered localities. 
Peaches abound in a few places, but generally 
there will be few or none. Apples will give but 
a moderate yield at best , and in a multitude of 
orchards there will not be an average of half a 
dozen apples to the tree. Dried apples are cheap 
just now, but there will be very few dried this 
year. We shall not be surprised, if they are 
worth two or three times as much as now, be¬ 
fore a year from this date. Provident house¬ 
wives will therefore do well to save all the black¬ 
berries and other small fruits they can, and when 
the apples begin to mature, dry all that will 
not bring a fair cash price. And here let us say, 
that much of the market value of dried apples, 
depends on the good pearing, coring, and dry¬ 
ing. Happening into a wholesale store the 
other day, we saw a purchaser take dried apples 
at $4 per 100 lbs., instead of a lot offered for $3, 
though the latter were every way preferable, 
except in not being pared clean. A little extra 
work in removing the skins, would have in¬ 
creased the saleable value at least one-third. 
Save the Eyes Now—A Hint. 
Probably every body now reads daily three 
times as much as he did a year ago. The ex¬ 
citement of the times keeps every one reading 
the news, or reading to find news. This is not 
to be deprecated, if it gets the mass into the way 
of reading more than formerly—provided the 
habit be turned to good account after the pres¬ 
ent excitement is over, that is, if light trashy 
literature does not come in to supply the place 
of news. But we began this item to offer a sin¬ 
gle hint about saving the eyesight, suggested by 
a call on a neighbor the other evening. Father, 
mother, and four children, were around a table 
reading fine type newspapers by a single central 
bright light. Every one of them had the pa¬ 
per spread on the table, with the face towards 
the light—the most uncomfortable, most un 
healthy position that could be chosen, and the 
very worst one for the eyes. To say nothing of 
the compression of the chest and lungs, and the 
curving of the shoulders, the bright light fell 
