AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
263 
watermelon vines, many of which have fruit 
already formed, and he expects to supply the 
market with this delightful fruit by the 10th 
proximo. In each hill of the melon vines 
was a tomato plant. Mr. Peabody informed 
us that the tomato does not interfere with 
the melon while it protects it from the bugs 
that prey upon it. If this be true, it is a fact 
worth remembering by cultivators of the 
watermelon. 
PAULOVNIA IMPERIALIS. 
The Imperial Paulovnia is decidedly one 
of the most ornamental deciduous trees we 
yet possess. It grows in its native country 
(Japan) from forty to fifty feet high. Not¬ 
withstanding this, we have plants in this 
country, extending from the middle to the 
south of England, twenty feet high—and 
particularly in the south, where it attains a 
greater hight, growing spontaneously, pro¬ 
ducing in one season large robust shoots 
three or four feet long, and at the same time 
bearing ample foliage. I once observed (at 
a nursery in Sussex) a large healthy plant 
twenty-five feet high, lifted from the situa¬ 
tion in which it had been established eight 
years, and removed to a gentleman’s estate, 
there replanted, and to his great satisfaction, 
the plant reflourished in a most luxuriant 
manner. But in this part of England, as 
well as the midland localities, we find our 
strongest plants with their terminal shoots 
nipped, and more or less killed by the autum¬ 
nal frost, or, what is worse, the biting north¬ 
east winds of spring. Three years ago I be¬ 
held a plant coming nicely into bloom, it had 
expanded three lilac-colored, Gloxinia-like 
fl.iwers, on a spike six inches long, but un¬ 
fortunately it experienced one frosty night, 
which destroyed the whole, but in the same 
summer, at the Bishop of Exeter’s favorite 
and beautiful grounds, at Bishopstow, near 
Torquay, a plant bloomed most profusely, 
from which specimens were forwarded to 
the conductors of the Botanical Magazine, in 
which it is mostly splendidly figured, Tab. 
4066. “ The flowers,” his Lordship writes, 
“ are produced in terminal clusters, and the 
odor is of a delicate violet-like character.” 
He states that the effect to the eye is rather 
disappointing, for the bloom precedes the 
leaves, which were not then half out. His 
Lordship’s statement concerning the struc¬ 
ture of the flower exactly corresponds with 
what I have myself perceived. Great diffi¬ 
culty has been experienced in propagating 
the Paulovnia, as the robust shoots which 
our English summers seldom ever half ripen, 
will not strike, though it has been in many 
instances rooted from layers ; but the most 
successful mefhod of effecting propagation 
is by taking the roots in the autumn and cut¬ 
ting them into parts about one inch and a 
half long, and inserting one half of the sub¬ 
terraneous cutting into some good sandy 
soil, and leaving the other half exposed to the 
light; let the soil be pressed rather firm, 
and kept rather moist; then let the pot be 
plunged into a medium bottom heat, and a 
handglass placed over the whole. 
The soil which is best adapted for this 
plant is that of a dry sandy nature, and the 
situation in which it should be planted ought 
to be exposed to the powerful rays of the 
sun; by these means the abundant flow of 
sap in moist weather would become checked ; 
the plant would form its bloom at a much 
earlier period, and be more likely to expand 
its flowers, before the inclemency of the 
weather would injure them. This plant, as 
well as a great many other semi-hardy plants, 
would form ornamental objects in the Crys 
tal Palace. The whole beauty of many of 
these plants we have not yet discovered, and 
particularly those of New-Zealand, because 
they can not withstand the various tempera¬ 
tures to which our island is so subject.—G. 
G., in London Florist. 
THE PLEASURES OF FLORICULTURE; 
WITH REMARKS ON DIVIDING THE FAMILIES OF 
PLANTS, AND CREATING NEW GENERA FROM THEM. 
BY J., OF JERSEY. 
The love of flowers, and of their culture, 
has been very great in me from my child¬ 
hood. It was imparted to me by my good 
Aunt Mary, who was considered as having 
always the prettiest, most healthy, and best¬ 
looking flowers in Jersey ; except, perhaps, 
those rare sorts which were then cultivated 
in the few greenhouses which there were at 
that time in the island. Her garden was, 
from early spring until late in the autumn, 
replete with the enlivening blossoms of the 
beautiful objects of her care. To the pleas¬ 
ing occupation ofout-of-door culture she add¬ 
ed another, in which she took much pleas¬ 
ure, and which is now called Window-garden¬ 
ing. In this she certainly excelled; her 
windows looked as if there had been spread 
over them a screen of various tints of cheer¬ 
ful green, over which some fairy hand had 
strewed fragant blossoms of the fairest hues 
in the utmost profusion, which, while imper¬ 
vious to the ardent ray of mid-day sun, 
readily admitted every zephyr, fraught with 
perfume, into the cool interior of the rooms 
The plants wich produced these pleasing ef¬ 
fects were then called Geraniums. 
I was removed for a time from my pleas¬ 
ant home for the purposes of education, but 
I carried with me and retained the love of 
floriculture, which had been so early im¬ 
planted in me. I continued to look on my 
old friends, the Geraniums , with undimin 
ished, perhaps increased pleasure; and on 
my return home some years afterward, 
having a little time on my hands, one of my 
principal sources of recreation was the 
growth of flowers. A little success in this 
had the effect of putting me in communica¬ 
tion with regular amateur florists, from whose 
experience I derived most important, benefit; 
but, when talking one day with one of them 
about some of my favorite Geraniums , I was 
mortified by his telling me that they were no 
longer called by that name, and had been re¬ 
placed by that of Pelargonium , but he could 
not tell me for what reason. Another friend, 
more learned and versed in the recent 
changes, informed me that the name of Ge¬ 
ranium was preserved, but that it had been 
divided into two genera, Geranium and Pe¬ 
largonium, because there existed differences 
in character, easy to be distinguished. He 
had the kindness to define them for me as 
follows : 
The Geranium (Crane’s bill), alternate 
leaves, regular flowers, with ten prolific 
stamens. 
The Pelargonium (Stork’s bill), having 
leaves opposite, irregular flowers, seven pro¬ 
lific stamens, and the upper division of the 
calyx a little larger than the others. 
1 was forced to agree to the propriety of 
this arrangement, but knowledge, ever on the 
march, was not satisfied with so imperfect a 
classification, and I was soon called upon to 
adopt a new name , which had been given to 
a genus formed out of the two others; this 
was— 
The Erodium (Heron’s bill), having for 
characters alternate leaves, flowers regular 
and five fertile stamens. 
Thus were formed, from the original Ge¬ 
ranium, two additional genera— Pelargonium 
and Erodium. 
Years have passed away,'during which my 
time has been too much occupied by other 
matters to permit me to take much thought 
about floral matters, but now being, through 
ill health, unable to give so much time to 
business, I am glad to devote some of my 
leisure hours to a pursuit which afforded me 
so much gratification in past days ; but I find 
things have much altered. There has been 
a stupendous improvement in the culture, 
and an infinite number of superb hybrids has 
been produced ; but I find that the names 
have been changed, and am at a loss to dis¬ 
tinguish by which of them I should call my 
plants. 
Thus, Erodium is seldom heard of now ; 
the only instance in which I have met with 
it lately being in Messrs. Harrison & Co.’s 
“ Catalogue of Herbaceous and Alpine 
Plants,” Erodium Reichardii. As to Geia- 
nium, when I read of it in the Cabinet, the 
word is followed by so-called, in a paren¬ 
thesis; and reading in the Times, of 11th 
May, the report of the Botanic Society’s 
Flower Show in the Regent’s Park, on the 
9th, I find it stated that “the Geraniums of 
Mr. Turner, of Slough, were of the best;'’ 
but I look for them in vain in the list of 
prizes—the two awarded to Mr. Turner are 
for Pelargoniums. 
In order to remove my uncertainty, with 
respect to the names, I have thought I might 
take the liberty, as a subscriber to the Cabi¬ 
net from the commencement, upwards of 
twenty-two years ago, of applying to you 
for information ; and therefore request you, 
or some of your correspondents, will have 
the kindness to tell me what is a Geranium, 
and what is a Pelargonium. Also, if the 
aamo of the class is changed, and if so for 
what reason—which, in that case, I hope is 
a good one ; for otherwise I think that Ge¬ 
ranium is much the prettier name,and should- 
have been retained.— Floricultural Cabinet. 
THE GOOSEBERRY. 
Gooseberry growers are not very success¬ 
ful in our State. Their culture is so attended 
by difficulties that it is not very unusual to 
see whole plantations dug up and thrown 
away. These difficulties can not wholly be 
obviated, but much may be done to nullify 
them. The great cause of failure is the 
aridity of the climate at certain seasons of 
the year, which induces mildew. Whatever 
contributes to the moisture of the atmo¬ 
sphere in which the gooseberry grows, as¬ 
sists their perfect development, and aids in 
warding off the attacks of mildew. The 
The gooseberry here fails most generally in 
proportion to the dryness of the soil in 
which it grows. In England and other 
countries famed for their mammoth goose¬ 
berries, a dry rich soil is not so unfavorable, 
because the superior moisture of the atmo¬ 
sphere supplies the necessary humidity. 
The best soil in our district for the goose¬ 
berry is one which retains a good supply of 
moisture through the summer, and one 
which at the same time will not bake in dry 
weather. Where it is unavoidable to plant 
in dryish soil, thorough soakings of water 
while the fruit is setting, and a mulching of 
loose litter thrown over the soil around the 
roots, is of vast benefit to it. 
Another excellent mode of generating 
moisture about them is to sprinkle the soil 
under the trees occasionally with salt —not 
too much; just enough to make the ground 
look white. As a practical man, and writing 
for practical people, I need not explain why 
or how salt aids humidity ; that it does so, 
will be a useful fact to those - who wish to 
grow—if not “ monstrous,” at least superior 
gooseberries.— Thomas Mehan, in Progres¬ 
sive Farmer. 
The New-York Evening Post says: “ The 
Navy is a good place for bad boys, and abad 
place for good ones.” 
