470 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
our climate, and that they may be introduced with 
propriety to decorate our dwellings, however hum¬ 
ble or costly they may be. We have often seen a 
western log-cabin, simply by the aid of a common 
hop-vine, looking more home-like, more as if real 
refinement dwelt under its roof, than the costly 
mansion of some newly rich, whose idea of archi¬ 
tecture is to have large wooden pillars, and plenty 
of them, the bright white paint upon which must 
not be soiled by vines and creepers. The merits of 
the hardy woody climbers have often been discussed 
in these columns, and these are in many cases to 
be preferred to the herbaceous vines, that die down 
to the root each fall, or those that must be renewed 
altogether from seeds or cuttings each season. 
Still these annual vines are very useful, to produce 
an effect in a very short time ; they may be used 
with advantage until the slower growing woody 
ones get established ; they are often more tractable 
than others, especially if one needs a mass of fo¬ 
liage near the ground ; for these uses, and for tem¬ 
porarily covering a surface rapidly, they answer a 
better purpose than the more permanent vines. 
We are more than ever inclined to advise our 
readers to decorate their houses with climbers. 
Not one of them has a dwelling with an exterior so 
perfect, that these can not add to its beauty, and 
we are quite sure that many, like ourselves, have 
come into possession of the “ginger-bread work” 
of some country carpenter, which they would glad¬ 
ly hide by a charitable drapery of foliage. Among 
the vines used by Mr. Barry, was one that we had 
not before seen in the open air, though we had 
grown it as a greenhouse climber; it had assumed, 
when placed in the open air, 6uch a vigor, that we 
did not recognize it at first. The plant is cultivat¬ 
ed in Europe as Pilogyne suairis; as that name is al¬ 
ready in the catalogues, and botanists are not al¬ 
together in accord as to this and relative genera, 
we will accept this as a handy garden name. It be¬ 
longs to the Gourd Family, and in the same division 
with the Balsam Apple ( Momordica ), which in some 
respects it resembles. The staminate and pistillate 
flowers are in separate plants, and as only the male 
plant has thus far been introduced, it can only be 
propagated from cuttings, and a stock must be kept 
over winter in a greenhouse. The delicacy of the 
young growth makes it useful for covering pillars, 
etc., in greenhouses and conservatories, but when 
planted out, the leaves become much larger, of a 
fine dark green, and overlap one another in such a 
manner, as to make a complete sheet of foliage, 
above which the slender young shoots push forth, 
to find a hold for the delicate tendrils, and when 
once made fast, they in turn add to the curtain of 
dense verdure. The engraving gives the 6hape of 
the leaves, and general appearance of the plant. 
Those who have Ellwanger & Barry’s catalogue of 
Greenhouse and Bedding Plants, will find there an 
engraving that shows its appearance as a pot plant. 
Keeping Celery in Winter. 
Though in former volumes Mr. Henderson has 
plainly told the whole story about celery, yet the 
access of new readers, and also the increase in num¬ 
bers of celery growers, bring to us numerous let-' 
ters concerning it. These we have in part answered 
in the “ Notes about Work,” under “ Kitchen and 
Market Garden,” but we have several correspond¬ 
ents asking about the keeping of celery in winter; 
these should have made their inquiries a month 
before, as it is not possible to answer those made 
in November earlier than December—a time when, 
for the majority, any instructions will come too 
late. However, we will explain the conditions and 
methods of keeping celery, as they may be useful 
to those in mild climates, who have not yet put up 
their supplies for the winter, and they may be use¬ 
ful in enabling those who have already put away 
their plants, to modify their method if need be. 
Celery during the winter should be kept from hard 
freezing, on the one hand, and on the other from 
any warmth that will induce growth. If put in a 
warm place, the center will grow at the expense of 
the outer stalks, which will soon become exhausted, 
hollow, and useless. The same trouble will occur 
if the celery is stored in a cool place in too large 
masses. Being quite dormant, it will, like so much 
dead vegetable matter, if there is a large quantity 
together, ferment and decay. Another important 
matter is the exclusion of light. If put up quite 
green, and no light reaches it, celery will, in a few 
weeks, become blanched and tender. To recapitu¬ 
late : the celery must be kept cool, but not freeze ; 
must not be in so large masses as to heat, and must 
be kept perfectly dark. The method followed by 
market gardeners around New York, meets these 
requirements. A trench is dug 10 or 12 inches 
wide, 10 inches being better than wider, as deep as 
the plants are tall. Of course a place must be 
chosen where there will be no trouble from water 
entering the trenches, and provision made for sur¬ 
face drainage. When there is danger of actual 
freezing—moderate frosts do not hurt the celery— 
the plants are taken up, with what earth may ad¬ 
here to the roots, and set upright as close together 
as possible in the trenches. Some litter, such as 
straw, marsh hay, or leaves, is thrown over, a little 
at first, but as the weather becomes cold, the cov¬ 
ering is increased, until finally it is at least a foot 
thick. In putting away celery in trenches, we have 
modified this plan somewhat; we have made the 
trenches so deep that the tops of the plants were 
quite below the level, then put strips of board 
across here and there, as needed, and on these are 
laid short boards, old box covers, or any spare short 
stuff. Later, leaves, or straw, are put over these. 
This greatly facilitates getting at the celery in win¬ 
ter ; the boards that cover the trench being in 
short pieces, it is handier than if they were of full 
length. Still, in heavy snows, or what is worse, the 
trenches are covered with snow that has been 
rained upon and frozen, it is sometimes difficult to 
get at the celery, and those who have a cool cellar 
will do well to adopt, for a share of their crop at 
least, Mr. Henderson’s plan of putting it away in 
boxes. Bough boxes are made about 9 inches wide, 
as long as may be convenient, with sides a little 
less in hight than the celery. These have an inch 
or two of sand or sandy soil placed in them, and 
the celery stacked in closely the same as in the 
trenches. If the main crop is put away in trenches 
outside, it will be convenient to have one or more 
boxes of this kind in the cellar, from which to take 
what is needed for the table, as one is then inde¬ 
pendent of the weather, and in a favorable time 
the boxes may be replenished from the trenches. 
If the cellar has a ground floor, trenches may be 
made by the use of planks or boards, these being 
held up by stakes driven into the ground. One 
section of 9 inches being put up and filled, a space 
of the same width is left, and then another section 
9 inches wide, of boards held up by stakes, is filled 
with the plants, and so on. Of course this method 
is impracticable in a cellar heated by a furnace, and 
can only be adopted where the place can be kept 
but little above the freezing point. Those who 
have no suitable cellar, can no doubt keep a box of 
the kind described in a barn, if covered with suffi¬ 
cient hay or litter to prevent freezing. There is 
another method of preserving small quantities, that 
some may find useful. A bottomless barrel is sunk 
in the earth in a convenient place, leaving about 
one-fourth above the surface. The celery is packed 
closely into this, a cover put on, and in cold weather 
some litter thrown over it. Whatever method will 
comply with the essential conditions above named, 
will keep celery through the winter satisfactorily. 
A Useful Garden Implement. 
Kecently in looking through the grounds of 
Woolson & Co., Passaic, N. J., we noticed that the 
men at work in taking up and resetting hardy pe¬ 
rennial plants, were using an implement that seem¬ 
ed very effective for the purpose. Upon examina¬ 
tion we found this to be something like a cross be¬ 
tween a trowel and a dibber, and capable of doing 
the work of either. We learned from Woolson & 
Co. that they came across it in use by Hoopes 
Brother & Thomas, Westchester, Pa., with whom 
they suppose it originated. Thinking that many 
of our gardening readers would find such a tool 
very useful, we made a sketch of 
it, which is here given, much re¬ 
duced. The whole length is 16 
inches; that of the blade 10 inches. 
The blade is 2i inches wide above, 
and tapers gradually to the point; 
it is i-inch thick in the center of 
the upper part, and beveled to the 
edges; a very strong shank or 
tang passes through the handle, 
and is headed down at the end 
over a bur; the handle is large and 
quite fills the hand. It will be 
seen that this is no implement 
for fancy gardening, for it weighs 
almost a pound and a half, and 
being strong in every part, it 
means work, and in certain kinds 
of work it will accomplish a great 
deal. Messrs. Hoopes Brother & 
Thomas say it is more useful in 
setting out root grafts than the 
common dibble, and Woolson & 
Co. find it more effective than a 
trowel, and use it for much of 
their work that would ordinarily 
require a spade. This tool, so 
far as we know, is not yet for 
sale by the trade, but may be readily made by a 
blacksmith from the dimensions here given. 
Tree Planting at the Capital. 
BY PETEK HENDERSON. 
Practical Suggestions for Setting out Trees. 
I know of no city that has such an extent of wide 
and finely graded streets and avenues, as the city 
of Washington. The streets, radiate from the Capi¬ 
tol as a center, all the leading avenues being 160 
feet in width, and some of them, such as Pennsyl¬ 
vania avenue, being upwards of 4 miles in length. 
The most striking feature of the city is the extent, 
variety, and beauty of its street trees. Some five 
years ago there was appointed what is known as 
the “Parking Commission,” consisting of Wm. 
Saunders, Supt. of Gardens at the Department of 
Agriculture, Win. Smith, Supt. Botanic Gardens, 
and John Saul, Nurseryman, all of Washington. 
The selection of these gentlemen showed excel¬ 
lent judgment on the part of the authorities, all 
being men of ripe experience in horticulture, and 
whose combined knowledge, working as a commit¬ 
tee, has even now produced results iD tree planting 
that probably no other city can equal. Already 
40,000 trees have been planted on the avenues, and 
yet their work is not half completed. Some 30 
kinds are used, but the bulk of planting will be 
confined to not more than 10 leading kinds. The 
trees most largely planted, are named in the order 
in which they are valued by the Commission. First 
is the Silver or White Maple ( Acer dasycarpum), 
then American Linden ( Tilia Americana), American 
Elm ( TJlmus Americana), Scarlet Maple (Acer ru- 
brum), Box Elder ( Negundo aceroides), Sugar Maple 
(Acer saccharinum), American White Ash (Fraxinus 
Americana), English Sycamore ( Acer Pseudo-Plata- 
nus). Button Ball (Platanm occidentalis), _ Tulip 
Tree ( Liriodendrmi Tulipifera), Honey Locust (QU- 
ditschia triacanthos), and Norway Maple (Acer pla- 
tanoides). These, and some 20 other kinds in 
smaller numbers, are set from 20 to 25 feet apart, 
and there are miles and miles of streets, in which 
not a dead tree, or one diseased, can be seen, show¬ 
ing that the planting must have been done in the 
best possible manner. To tell how this has been 
done with such unparalleled success, is the object 
of this article. To begin with, the trees must have 
been regularly transplanted, in order to have an 
abundance of fibrous roots, a condition necessary 
to success. No matter how fine trees may be got 
from their native woods, unless planted in nursery 
rows for one year, many will fail if set out in the 
open street. Even when the Commissioners have 
purchased trees from distant nurseries, unless their 
TROWEL. 
