102 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Maech, 
then several have informed us that it flowered 
with them, and one friend sent us abundant 
specimens. The flowers in the “ German ” are 
in large clusters of small heads which have no 
ray-florets, and are only about a quarter of an 
inch across, while the Cape Ivy has but one or 
two heads at the ends of the flowering branches, 
which have showy rays, and are two inches or 
more across. We have not seen the plant in 
flower, but the “ Garden ” (London), some 
months ago, gave a small cut of the flowers, 
and we borrow some from that engraving to 
place with our own; while the leaves are 
shown of the natural size that they are upon 
our small plant, the detached flowers here given 
are much reduced. The “ Garden” and other 
English papers say that this Cape Ivy is quite 
as well suited to house culture as the other; if 
it proves to be as manageable as the German 
Ivy, it must become very popular, on account 
of its finer color and closer resemblance to Ivy. 
]ST. B. It very rarely happens that we describe 
a plant of any kind, but we receive letters from 
persons in various parts of the country, asking 
us to send them plants or seeds, and we are 
obliged to repeat from time to time, that we do 
not keep or sell plants or seeds. If a plant is 
rare, we state the source whence we obtained 
it; if no mention of this kind is made, and the 
plant is a cultivated one, then it may be had 
from any of the regular seedsmen or florists. 
STotes from the Pines. 
It is pleasant to know that one’s readers do not 
forget him, and as there are quite a number who 
take an interest in my off-hand talk about garden 
matters that may not have read the first one, allow 
me to say that at the outset I promised to write on¬ 
ly from “ time to time.” This is mentioned in ac¬ 
knowledgment of the kindly inquiries from several 
who ask after “ the man at ‘ The Pines,’ ”—Inveter¬ 
ate letter writers, when they take up a sheet, do not 
stop when they get through, but feeling that they 
must cover the paper, after they have quite written 
out, fill up with talk about the weather. Un¬ 
like these, I begin with the weather....“ There 
never was such a winter,” is the common remark. 
These do not look at the records ; I have no data 
at hand, but I am quite sure that we have had two 
very much such winters since 1860.The great 
mortality among trees, evergreen and deciduous, 
for the past few years has been due to the fact, 
that che soil was very dry when winter set in, and 
trees dried out, quite as much as they froze out. It 
is several years since trees were so well prepared 
for a hard winter, as they w r ere last fall; the wood 
ripened well in the genial autumn weather, and the 
ground was abundantly moist, or as the old people 
say, “the springs were filled up before winter set 
in.” Still, up to the last of January we have had but 
few days of really cold weather ; the river is open, 
and for a great part of the time the ground has 
either not been frozen at all, or but a mere crust of 
a few inches. Still, as we can not foretell the 
weather, I took especial care with my young ever¬ 
greens. Fewer of the fine evergreens would be 
put down as tender, were they properly cared for 
while yet small. If a tree is of slow growth above 
ground, it is very sure to make a slow root-growth, 
and even hardy evergreens are helped by protecting 
them until, as the gardeners say, they get “ a good 
hold of the soil.” I think that in 
Protecting Young Evergreens 
on light ground like mine, I do quite as much good 
in keeping the soil from drying out, as I do in pro¬ 
tecting the plants from severe cold. I have found 
no better protection for young evergreen or deci¬ 
duous trees, than the boughs of pine and cedar 
stuck in the ground around them, or laid among 
them ; these protect the young plants from the cut¬ 
ting winds, prevent them from damage by heavy 
snow-falls, and yet allow a circulation of air among 
them. But the supply of this material with me is 
limited, and having trimmed “ The Pines ” all they 
then needed, I last year resorted to a substitute, 
which answered admirably. Brush from the woods 
(the much branched loppings from deciduous trees 
cut for fire-v r ood), was laid around and among 
the young evergreens, then some long marsh-hay 
upon this, and to keep the hay from being blown 
away, some of the straighter pieces of brush were 
laid upon that. In this way I kept Osmcinthus illicifo- 
lius, Skimmia Japonica, and other usually tender 
things through the severe colds of last winter. 
We do not yet by any means know 
Tlie Nortliern JLimits 
of a number of our native southern plants. Though 
last winter (7iG7'5) was so hard upon most things, the 
Carolina Jessamine ( Gelsemium ), and the Carolina 
Pink-root ( Spigelia ) came out all right, and Eny- 
thrina herbacea, a part of which was left out to die, 
obstinately persisted in living.If there is any 
vegetable product, eaten by any one, anywhere, 
that can be grown in this country, I endeavor to try 
it. This desire to be practically acquainted with 
all esculent plants, sometimes brings to the table 
dishes, which make, as the play-bills say, their 
“ first and only appearance ; ” after great trouble 
in procuring seeds, and care in cultivating, the pro¬ 
ducts often find the cows, the pigs, or the chickens 
their only patrons. On the other hand, these new 
introductions sometimes, like serial stories, are 
“to be continued.” Of late I have turned my 
attention to old “novelties.” Ever since I have 
had a garden, I have wanted a bed of 
Sea Kale. 
All the European works and journals highly 
praise the Sea-Kale, ( Crambe marilima). Gardening 
friends, who were brought up in the British Isles, 
have often asked me, “Have you Sea-Kale?”— 
“No.”—“Ah, that is the best of all, you should have 
that.”—“Have you it?”—“No.”—And this has 
happened a number of times. I have tried seeds 
from every seedsman, year after year ; I sowed them 
in the pods, and shelled them out, I have sowed 
them in hot-bed, and in the open ground—but never 
a plant did I get from the seed. I became, as it 
were, a crambe-maniac. Last 
fall, in writing to an English 
friend, with whom I ex¬ 
change flowering plants, I 
begged him, if the United 
Kingdom could furnish 
them, to send me a dozen 
roots of Sea-Kale, and added 
in my desperation—“ at any 
price.” My friend sent some 
root-cuttings from his own 
garden, and from these I 
have a half-dozen or so of 
plants, which will give me 
a start for the long wished 
for bed. I mention this 
merely to show the difficul¬ 
ties that one meets with, 
who wishes to do anything 
out of the ordinary way. 
Another old novelty is 
Cardooii, 
which, though it has been 
grown in European gardens 
for over two centuries, is 
scarcely known here; in¬ 
deed, I never saw it in any 
other garden than ours, and 
doubt if any of your readers 
who have not lived in 
Europe, ever saw or tasted 
it. This plant is own 
brother to the true or Globe 
Artichoke, rarely cultivated, 
at least at the north, for the 
scales of its enormous thistle-like heads. In the 
Cardoon the leaf-stalk is the part eaten, just as in 
celery. The plant is a biennial, used in the first 
year, and is only kept until the second year when 
it is desired to raise seeds. It looks like an enor¬ 
mous gray thistle; its leaves, three to four feet long, 
are so cut and divided, that a single specimen 
would make a showy lawn plant. The seeds are 
sown in rich soil in May, putting in three or four 
seeds at intervals of 18 inches ; when well up, all 
but one plant in a place are pulled out, and these 
are kept well cultivated. In September, when 
they are blanched, this is done in various ways, 
some merely tying the leaf-stalks closely together, 
and earthing up the same as celery, but a much 
neater method is to closely wind the cluster of leaf¬ 
stalks—or head, as we call it in celery—with a 
straw band ; having no suitable straw to twist, we 
adopted another plan ; the leaves being tied up 
closely together, were wound around with stiff 
brown paper, and earthed up, the object of the pa¬ 
per being to keep the earth out of the heart. The 
blanching went on fairly, considering it was not 
started until late, and when real freezing weather 
came on,the plants were taken up and stood in boxes 
of earth in the cellar. There are several varieties 
cultivated in Europe, some with very prickly, and 
others with smooth leaves ; ours was of the kind 
called “ Large Solid,” and an ugly customer to han¬ 
dle, on account of its prickles. Removing the outer 
leaves, there is in the center a heart of blanched 
leaf-stalks, and undeveloped leaves, as large round 
as one’s arm, and of the appearance shown in the 
engraving. To prepare for cooking, the stalks are 
separated, the spines trimmed from the edges, and 
peeled; we have cooked them in only one way— 
cut into inch pieces, stewed tender, and served 
with a cream sauce, the same as we do celery or 
salsify. I hardly know what to compare it to, but 
Cardoon was voted “very good.” A friend who 
has lived in Europe, says that it is very fine cook¬ 
ed with cheese, after the manner of maecaroni. 
Roses from Seed. 
A correspondent complains that the seedsmen 
give him no information about raising roses from 
the seed. There are very few people in this coun¬ 
try who will take the time and trouble to raise 
seedling roses, and these need no instruction. 
Some growers obtain seed by crossing desirable 
varieties in the usual manner, but the majority sow 
seed from good sorts, knowing the tendency to 
vary, and take their chances. The first requisite 
is thoroughly ripened seed; the next is that it should 
never become dry. Some prepare a rich, light soil 
in a frame, remove the seed from the hips, or ber¬ 
ries, sow them in drills, or broadcast, and cover 
lightly ; the frame is left open until the soil is fro¬ 
zen hard, and then covered with shutters to keep 
out mice. The seedlings will appear when the 
weather gets warm. Another plan is to sow in 
boxes as soon as ripe, and set them under the stage 
of the greenhouse, where they will be kept moist; 
when the plants begin to appear, they must be 
brought to the light. If the seeds cannot be sown 
until spring, they must be kept in the hips and 
mixed with sand ; if allowed to get dry, they will 
not grow until the second or third year, if at all. 
Those who have seeds which they have allowed to 
dry, can yet mix them with earth, and allow them 
to freeze and thaw. Some seedlings bloom the first 
year, others not until the second or third. The flow¬ 
er is not so good the first year of blooming as it is 
the second or third. With the best success, the great 
majority of the seedlings are worthless. Raising 
seedling roses is an occupation which many of our 
amateur gardeners might find interesting, with the 
possible chance of now and then securing a prize* 
Manures for the Garden.—" We have no sta¬ 
ble manure, and cannot buy it, what shall we use 
on the garden ? ” is the question which comes to 
us several times a w;eek, not only from those who 
have private gardens, but from market gardeners 
all over the country. Night-soil is a good substi¬ 
tute for a while, but it does not seem to do so well 
used continuously. Of the commercial manures, 
Peruvian guano, when pure, is the best, and near 
the coast, as cheap as any. Next in order are pure 
fine bone, dried blood, and a good phosphate. Our 
best gardeners use these at the rate of 1,200 to 2,000 
lbs. to the acre, broadcast, or from 200 to 300 lbs. to 
the plants in hills. Either of these concentrated 
fertilizers should be composted for several weeks 
