1866.] 
AMERICAN ACRIOULTURIST. 
347 
is better shown if some expose the shady side. 
At one exhibition a collection of pears was ar¬ 
ranged in a most ludicrous manner; there were 
six specimens of each, upon plates much too 
small, and every pear was carefully placed with 
the calyx end out, and the stem end of the 
fruit entirely concealed. This arrangement, 
while it prevented the observer from seeing the 
true form of the varieties, gave the collec¬ 
tion the appearance of a miniature arsenal in 
which homh-shells were piled up ready for use. 
We mention this as an illustration of worse 
than useless pains-taking. Another, is the 
practice, less common than formerly, but still 
too frequent, of rubbing up the fruit. This pol¬ 
ishing of pears and apples is well enough for 
the stand of the huckster, but upon the table of 
a horticultural society it is in very bad taste. 
Local Fruit Lists. 
Some years ago, before horticultural societies 
were as niunerous or as active as they are at 
present, we obtained and published over seventy 
lists of apples. These were from cultivators liv¬ 
ing in all parts of the country, each one giving 
his selection of the twelve varieties best suited 
to his section. These lists will be found ’in the 
Agriculturist for April, May and June, 1861. 
Though in some cases newer or more thorough¬ 
ly tested varieties may be substituted for some 
of those in the lists, they are still of great value 
to whoever would make selections of fruit. Of 
late years the different horticultural and pomo- 
logical societies are doing good service in gath¬ 
ering and publishing similar statistics. Every 
one who grows fruit to any extent should be 
a member of his County or State Society, and 
while he adds his experience, avail himself of 
that of others. The lists by States are not, how¬ 
ever, unerring guides, as most of the States pre¬ 
sent a great diversity of soil and climate, and it 
will be impossible to fix upon a dozen varieties 
which will be best for a whole State; and while 
lists of this kind serve as a general guide, one 
should take pains to gather all possible local in¬ 
formation, and find out what has been the ex¬ 
perience of his neighbors. To answer several 
inquiries, we give the following list for Iowa: 
Summer: C%i'olina Red June, EJrkbridge 
White, Red Astrachan; s. High Top.— Autumn: 
Maiden’s Blush, Lowell, Rambo, McLellan ; s. 
Pumpkin Sweet.— Winter: Raule’s Janet, White 
Winter Pearmain, Roman Stem, White Pippin; 
s. Sweet Romanite. 
An experienced cultivator in Wisconsin sends 
the following as his selection: Summer : Red 
Astrachan, Earlj’’ Joe, Keswick Codlin; s. High 
Top.— Autumn: Fameuse, Autumn Strawber¬ 
ry, Duchess of Oldenburgh, Fall Orange; s. 
Munson Sweeting.— Winter: Golden Russet, 
King of Tompkins Co., W. Seek-no-further, Yel¬ 
low Bellflower, Lady Apple; s. Talman Sweeting. 
The Ohio Pomological Society made an at¬ 
tempt to ascertain the best twelve varieties of 
apples for market. They publish the replies 
from persons in different parts of the State, but 
the selections were so unlike jn different locali¬ 
ties that it would appear that no decision was 
reached. The following varieties obtained the 
greatest number of votes: Fallawater, Baldwin, 
R. I. Greening, Northern Spy, Peck’s Pleasant, 
Smith’s Cider, White Pippin, Red Canada, 
Westfield Seek-uo-further, Roxbury Russet. 
The Fruit Growers’ Society of Eastern Penn¬ 
sylvania, publish as the results of two years 
careful comparison of reports, a selection of the 
best twelve apples for Eastern Penn. Summ&r: 
Red Astrachan, Sine Qua Non, Early Harvest.— 
Autumn: Maiden’s Blush, Porter, Smokehouse. 
— Winter: Baldwin, Smith’s Cider, Fornwalder 
(or FaUawater), Northern Spy, R. I. Greening, 
Hubbai'dston Nonsuch. 
Their list of pears for Standards is: Summer: 
Doyenne D’Ete, Dearborn’s Seedling, Manning’s 
Elizabeth.—Awiwmn .: Seckel, Bartlett, Belle 
Lucrative, Flemish Beauty, Beiure Diel, Beurre 
D’Anjou.— Winter: Lawrence, Easter Beurre, 
Reading. For dwarfs: Summer: Beurre Gif- 
fard. Doyenne D’Ete, Osband’s Summer.— Au¬ 
tumn : Louise Bonne de Jersey, Ducliesse 
D’Angouleme, Belle Lucrative, Beurre D’Anjou, 
Beurre Diel, Buffum.— Winter: Lawrence, Glout 
Morceau, Vicar of Winkfield. The Massachu¬ 
setts Agricultural Society have given the fol¬ 
lowing as their list of the best six pears: Bart¬ 
lett, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Urbaniste, Beurre 
D’Anjou, Sheldon, Seckel, and for twelve add: 
Onondaga, Merriam, Doyenne Boussock, Vicar 
of Winkfield, Paradise D’Automne and Fulton. 
- -» I -go n r— I I I. - 
Hints for the Flower Garden. 
It is a common practice to cut out oval beds 
b}' the walks in the lawn, and to fill them with 
flowering plants. Some persons fill these beds 
with roses, which look well in Spring and 
early Summer, but later in the season they be¬ 
come tall and spindling, difficult to be trained 
handsomely, and the leaves on the lower 
branches turn brown and continually drop. 
In our own grounds, we have found it a great 
improvement to remove the roses to the flower 
garden proper, and to fill the beds on the lawn 
with verbenas, and other similar plants. These 
just peep above the grass level of the lawn, and 
their nodding heads of scarlet and white and 
blue, ever smiling and gay, are a continual feast 
of beauty from early summer to November. 
In another part of the grounds, we devoted 
an old rose bed last season, to Drummond’s 
Phlox. Seeds of eight different varieties were 
sown in boxes in the house the first of April, 
and the plants set out one foot apart early in 
May. They soon became established, and were 
in bloom nearly all summer. Indeed they came 
into full and abundant flower sooner than the 
verbenas, and for the months of June and July, 
were the finer spectacle of the two. But they 
could not endure the drouth of August, and 
then the verbenas eclipsed them. It is not 
known to all what great improvements have 
lately been made in these phloxes. We now 
have scarlet with white eye, crimson with 
ditto, rose color ditto, white with dark eye, 
and then the marbled and purple, and several 
other shades. As flowers for massing on the 
lawn, both verbenas and Drummond’s Phlox, 
can hardly be surpassed. 
Another lesson we have lately learned, is, 
never to set choice flowers on the south side of 
a hedge and near to it. The early bulbs, such 
as crocus, snow-drop and hyacinth, will do 
very well here, because the ground keeps moist 
during the usual period of their blooming. But 
in mid-Summer, between the concentrated heat 
and the exhaustion of the moisture by the roots 
of the hedge, all choice plants will droop and 
perhaps die a lingering death. 
If anything besides the early bulbs is to be 
set here, let it be the hardiest perennial plants, 
or low shrubs. Indeed we question whether 
fences should not be substituted for hedges in 
places near the flower borders. Fences have no 
hungry roots, and though hedges are more orna¬ 
mental they occupy more soil than can be spared. 
Asphalt or Coal Tar Walks. 
Last year we gave an account of the method 
of making garden walks of coal tar and sand. 
In towns in the interior of New York State, a 
somewhat similar process is employed in making 
street walks, which a gentleman residing there 
thus describes to the American Agriculturist: 
“ When lumber could be bought at a fair 
price, plank-walks were about the best that 
could be made for the sti-eets of country villages. 
Quickly built, they were also pleasant to the 
feet. But they did not prove durable, and are 
now too expensive. Good gravel is not to be 
had now in sufficient quantity for the public de¬ 
mand, and, as commonly used, even gravel 
walks wear out. Some one has suggested the 
use of coal gas tar and water-lime, mixed with 
gravel and sand, to form a concrete bed for 
walks. The experiment has now been in course 
of trial for several years, and thus far works well. 
The ground is excavated for the walk to the 
depth of three and-a-half inches, and as wide 
as the path is desired. Hemlock scantling, two 
inches by four, are then laid down on each side 
of the track, and fastened by stakes driven into 
the ground, which are sawed off flush with the 
surface of the scantling. In the walk between, 
a layer two inches thick of coarse gravel or 
small stones is spread, the stones to be no larger 
than hens’ eggs. This layer is now saturated 
with a mixture of gas tar and water lime. 
While this is yet moist, a layer of fine gravel two 
inches thick is spread over it, the gravel hav¬ 
ing been previously sifted. This, too, is satu¬ 
rated with tar and water lime. A final coat of 
sand is now spread over this, raising the suface 
an inch or more higher than the scantlings on 
each side. The walk is now to be made com¬ 
pact and hard by passing a heavy roller over 
it until it settles to a level with the scantlings. 
It is desirable that the walk be made a little 
higher in the center than at the sides, so as to 
shed water effectually. After a few days, it will 
be hard enough to use. 
The cost of such a walk is from 40 to 60 cents 
a square yard, according to the price of mate¬ 
rials in different localities. Walks of this de¬ 
scription have been in use at Elmira in this 
State, for several years, at Syracuse, Palmyra, 
Waterloo, and Lyons, for three and five years, 
and in all cases they prove durable, cheaper than 
stone flagging, and pleasanter to the feet. It 
was predicted at flrst that the frost would heave 
and break them up, but this does not prove to 
be the fact. The only practical objection we 
have heard of is, that occasionally in hot weather 
they emit the odor of gas tar, which is offensive 
to some persons.” 
Earth Closets. —The English agricultural 
and horticultural journals contain advertise¬ 
ments of “ earth closets.” From the brief descrip¬ 
tion given, it seems that they are intented to re¬ 
place water closets, and that they are so con¬ 
structed that instead of washing away and 
wasting the deposit, it is covered by a quantity 
of dry earth, sufficient to absorb all gases. A 
practicable apparatus of this kind, if it could be 
generally introduced, would be of great benefit 
in saving for our farms.and gardens much valu¬ 
able manure, that is now lost. From another 
source we learn that the earth used may be 
dried and used again a number of times (five to 
seven), with equal effect, and without offense. 
Some of our inventors should turn their atten¬ 
tion to this matter, and when an efficient ap¬ 
paratus is devised, we shall be glad to note it. 
