1864 ] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
147 
best of our native species.—The common 
Trumpet-creeper, Tecoma radicans and T. grandi- 
flora, a large flowered Asiatic species, are both 
valuable and showy. Even the common Hop- 
vine makes a dense and pleasant green.—Among 
the annuals none are more valuable than the dif¬ 
ferent Morning-glories, some of the newer sorts 
of which are really splendid.—The Canary-bird 
Flower, Tropozolum peregrinum, is very curious 
and pretty for small trellises, and other Tropce- 
olums or Nasturtiums, are very brilliant; these 
grow readily from seed.— Maurandia Barclay ana, 
Loplxospermum scandens, and Gobea scandens, are 
all fine, a,nd may be grown from seeds in a hot¬ 
bed, or be had of the florists. In an enumera¬ 
tion of annual climbers, the Sweet Peas should 
not be omitted. They grow so readily, and are 
so beautiful and fragrant, that they are general 
favorites. Sow early, and again later for succes¬ 
sion, and have a plenty of them to completely 
cover the brush upon which they are supported. 
Flowers—What Annuals Shall I Plant ? 
This often asked question becomes each year 
more difficult to answer, as the Annual Cata¬ 
logues come to us with their constantly expand¬ 
ing lists. If those who have had little experi¬ 
ence with plants, look over the catalogues and 
make their selections from the descriptions there 
given, they will very often be disappointed. 
Flowers must have certain requisites to make 
them popular, and mere novelty will never sat¬ 
isfy the great mass of cultivators. The fact is 
that for people in general, not one fourth of the 
flowers of the seed lists are worth growing— 
not because they are not good of their kind, but 
because they are not of a kind which meets the 
popular idea of a flower. To be satisfactory, 
an annual must be a free bloomer, and last a 
long while in bloom; the flowers must be 
showy individually, or in the mass, and be of 
good color, or to compensate for a lack of these 
qualities, they must have a pleasing fragrance. 
A plant with a tall weedy growth, with^here 
and there a showy flower of short duration, 
may be interesting and pretty, but will never 
be popular. The following list gives some of 
those which can be safely recommended for 
general culture: Sweet Alyssum; white flowers 
with honey-like fragrance; once sown will per¬ 
petuate itself like a weed. Antirrhinum or Snap- 
Dragon, slow, but satisfactory. Asters; indis¬ 
pensable for late summer and autumn. Many 
sorts are in the catalogues; Pseony-flowered, 
Ranunculus-flowered, and Giant Emperor, are 
good, as are many others. Clarldas ; all pretty. 
Convolvulus minor; fine. JDianthus or Pinks; the 
Chinese sorts and D. Eeddevngii are good. Gilias; 
small, but pretty when grown in masses, and 
the same may be said of those Gilias which in 
the catalogues are called Leoptosiphons. Linum 
grandiflorvm; fair. Martynia; those with color¬ 
ed flowers are showy in a large garden, and the 
fruit is good for pickles. Marigolds; the bronze 
and striped sorts are good, when they come 
true from seed, which is not always. Mignonette; 
grown for fragrance only. Nemophillas or Love- 
grove; all are fine in a cool and shady place. 
Pansy; too well known to need comment. 
Phlox Brummondii; this is the showy annual; it 
gives the best effect in masses; all colors from 
deep scarlet to white. Portulaccas; good, espec¬ 
ially the double; all colors. Petunia; nothing is 
finer than the best sorts of this. Stock—' Ten- 
Weeks; grown for both beauty and fragrance. 
. Tropoeolum or Nasturtium; the dwarf sorts are 
very brilliant, yellow to deep scarlet and bronze. 
Whitlavia; fine blue, self-sowing. Zinnia ; coarse 
in growth and foliage, but with large and showy 
flowers, the double ones are fine and in great 
variety of colors. Candytuft; white, crimson 
and purple sorts, are showy in the bed, and 
fine for bouquets; blooms all the better for cut¬ 
ting. These with some of the “ everlasting flow¬ 
ers” noticed in the April American Agriculturist , 
will give a good selection of reliable sorts. The 
list does not include all the good things, nor is 
it intended to discourage those who wish from 
trying novelties, but merely as a guide to those 
who have no experience. 
The Treatment of the Tuberose. 
The bulbs are imported from the South of 
Europe, and are sold at the seed stores at mod¬ 
erate prices. The flowers have the most de¬ 
lightful fragrance, and are highly valued by the 
bouquet makers. Our season is not long enough 
for them to flower, if they are planted in ordina¬ 
ry garden soil, and frequent inquiries come to 
the Agriculturist as to the best way of blooming 
them. We have had fair success by making an 
excavation and putting in a half bushel or so of 
stable manure, covering this with a little earth 
and then planting the bulbs, about a half dozen 
in a cluster. A more sure way is to grow them 
in pots altogether. A six inch pot will do very 
well; it should have good drainage and a rich 
soil. Rand in his excellent little work on “Flow¬ 
ers for the Parlor and Garden,” gives a me¬ 
thod somewhat different from the one we 
have practised, and as it seems to be good, we 
give the substance .of his directions. The pots 
have charcoal in the bottom for drainage, and 
over this is placed about four inches of frag¬ 
ments of old dry cow-dung. The pot is then 
filled with a compost of equal parts of sand, 
peat, loam, and old hot-bed manure, with a little 
charcoal dust. One bulb is put in each pot and 
just covered. The pots are then placed in a hot¬ 
bed having a covering of tan or sawdust in 
which to plunge them up. to the rim. The fo¬ 
liage soon appears, and when it begins to look 
“ spindling,” water is given to dissolve the ma¬ 
nure, and at the same time the compost is 
pressed compactly. When blossoms appear, the 
plants are removed to a partial shade. The 
flower stalks should be tied up to neat stakes. 
Whatever mode of culture is practised, only 
sound bulbs should be taken; if any remains 
of a flower stalk are present, the bulb should be 
rejected. Remove all offsets at planting, and 
continue to remove them as they appear during 
the season, for they weaken the main stalk. 
Try Some Sweet Corn. 
This may seem uncalled-for advice to many, 
yet experience has shown us that a large num¬ 
ber of farmers depend upon “ roasting ears ” 
from the field, for their supply of green corn. 
All corn in the milky state contains ■ more or 
less sugar, which turns to starch as the corn 
ripens. The varieties known as sweet corn have 
an unusual amount of sugar, so much that it is 
never all converted into starch, and the grains 
present a shrivelled appearance unlike that of 
any other corn. It is nutritious and an excel¬ 
lent article of food in its season, and when 
dried, forms one of the luxuries of the table in 
winter. The difficulty of obtaining seed need 
be no reason why any one should be without this 
and other nice garden vegetables. Two cents 
will pay the postage of four ounces of seed to 
any part of the country, and the names of a 
number of reliable seedsmen are to be found 
among the advertisements in this paper. Sweet 
corn has run into a number of varieties dis¬ 
tinguished by their time of maturity, size of ear 
and comparative sweetness. The earliest varie¬ 
ty is the Extra Early Sugar, which has stalks 
only about three feet high, and short but very 
sweet ears. Darling’s Early is next in time, and 
has larger ears of fair quality. Stowell’s Ever¬ 
green is a late and very sweet sort; it is prolific, 
and has large kernels. It is excellent both for 
immediate use and for drying. Perhaps for 
two garden sorts Darling’s Early and Stowell, 
will give the best satisfaction. The “ suckers” 
which are abundant in some sorts ought not to 
be removed, as these secure a more perfect fer¬ 
tilization, and consequently well filled out ears. 
Well manured ground and frequent hoeing will 
hasten the maturity of the crop. 
------ 
The Osage Orange from Cuttings. 
The Osage Orange is readily propagated from 
pieces of the root, and nurserymen have multi¬ 
plied it in this way by starting the cuttings in a 
propagating house with the aid of bottom heat. 
John Porter Esq., of Niagara Co., N. Y., writes 
to the Agriculturist that he succeeds perfectly 
well with root cuttings in the open ground. He 
cuts the roots into pieces about two or three 
inches long and plants them horizontally, where 
the hedge is to stand, covering the pieces entire¬ 
ly. He finds that he gets stronger plants than 
from seed, and that they are less liable to be 
thrown out by the frost. Those who have es¬ 
tablished hedges, can by pruning the roots get 
a supply of cuttings for increasing their stock of 
plants. As it is now impossible to get seeds, 
this plan seems to be well worth trying. 
The Deciduous Cypress. 
This, though a cone-bearer, is not an ever¬ 
green, but, like the Larch, drops its foliage 
every autumn. Where it will stand the winter, 
there is scarcely any tree which exceeds it in 
the beauty of its delicate feathery foliage. 
Though a native of Virginia and further south, 
it will endure a much more northern climate. 
We have seen it in Central Michigan, where it 
stood as a shrub, having a portion of the new 
growth killed back every winter. It is worthy 
of being introduced as an ornamental tree 
wherever the winter is not too severe. When 
the seed is sown in rich ground, the young 
plants make a rapid growth, and it is on this 
account that especial attention is called to it. 
In many parts of the West, nurserymen and 
cultivators generally experience a great diffi¬ 
culty in finding stakes suitable for their pur¬ 
poses. The Deciduous Cypress is just the thing 
to supply this want. The seed sown in good 
soil will in two years give strong, straight and 
durable stakes. The seed may be had of the 
large dealers, may be sown as directed in Febru¬ 
ary, and will germinate the same year. 
Non-Blooming Fuchsias. — These favorite 
house plants are frequently too severely taxed. 
If allowed to bloom continually for too long a 
period, their strength is exhausted, and at length 
they cease to flower. In such a case rest is re¬ 
quired to restore them. In autumn place them 
in the cellar; water only enough to keep them 
alive. In spring prune off all side branches, 
and upon giving warmth and water, shoots wiL 
start from the stem and again produce flowers. 
