20 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
some regard to the quality of the article. One 
of his best safeguards is to purchase of seeds¬ 
men of known good reputation. As far as our 
acquaintance with American seedsmen extends, 
we believe that they wiquld not knowingly sell 
a bad article. The report confirms our often 
repeated advice to test the vitality of seeds by 
sowing a counted number and noting how many 
come up before risking a loss by sowing largely. 
- mm 9 anm -O*- 
Property in Plants. 
A question is now being discussed which is 
of no little importance to both raisers and 
growers of plants. In brief, it is this: Should 
not one who, by years of careful labor and 
patient experiment, produces a new and valu¬ 
able fruit, or other plant, derive some pecuniary 
benefit from it ? Books, the result of a few weeks’ 
labor, are copyrighted, and cannot be reproduced 
without the consent of the author. A particu¬ 
lar arrangement of sticks and strings for grow¬ 
ing hops, or a combination of the posts and 
wires for a grape-trellis may be patented, and 
no one can use them without paying for the 
privilege of doing so. But if one, after many 
trials and years of failure, produces a new 
variety of hop, or a new grape of more value 
to the country than all the trellises that were 
ever invented, the moment the first bit of either 
goes out of his possession lie’loses all control 
over it, and whoever possesses the most ample 
means for propagating realizes the greatest 
benefit from it. That the originator of a valu¬ 
able plant should be remunerated no one will 
deny. How protection can be assured by law 
is not so easy to see. Several earnest horticul¬ 
turists, who think something should be done, 
are moving in the matter, and it will, probably 
before long, be presented to our law-makers. 
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Crab Apples. 
Fruit growers are just now paying consider¬ 
able attention to Crab Apples. It we were 
asked to define a Crab Apple we should be 
much puzzled, as the subject, both in pomolog- 
icalbooks and in nurseries, is “rather mixed.” 
The term is applied to the wild state of our cul¬ 
tivated apple (Pyrus Mai us), to two Siberian 
species or varieties (P. prunifolia and P. bacca- 
ta), and to two native species of apple (P. coro- 
naria and P. angustifolia.) More than this, 
some small apples of doubtful origin, which 
may possibly be hybrids, are also called crabs. 
Years ago when we had only the kind that 
bore small, waxen looking fruit from which the 
calyx dropped, there was no trouble in distin¬ 
guishing a Crab Apple. This was the Small 
Siberian Crab (P. baccata.) Then came the 
Large Siberian, both red and } r ellow, which was 
like the other in most respects, except that the 
fruit was larger and the calyx remained. This is 
the Siberian Plum-leaved Apple Tree {P,p?'u- 
nifolia.) Of the sorts more lately introduced, 
the origin is doubtful. Leaving pomologists to 
settle knotty points, we may say that those ap¬ 
ples which have, so to speak, Siberian blood in 
them are hardy and productive, and though the 
fruit is not always of the first quality it is gen¬ 
erally good for cooking, and the trees by their 
hardiness are especially suited to cold climates. 
From the great beauty and profusion of the 
fruit the Crabs are worthy of cultivation as or¬ 
namental trees, while at the same time, the 
apples will be found excellent for preserves and 
jellies. We enumerate the most prominent va¬ 
rieties: Currant Grab, cultivated for ornament, 
it being showy both in fruit and flower. Small 
Bed and Small Yellow Crab. These are the 
kinds referred to above as dropping the calyx ; 
very showy in fruit. Large Bed and Large Yel¬ 
low Crab. These bear fruit about twice the size 
of the foregoing, do not drop the calyx, and 
the trees also have differently shaped leaves. 
Transcendent Crab. Said to have been dis¬ 
covered on Long Island. A great bearer, with 
most beautiful fruit, and withstands the severest 
cold of our northernmost localities. The fore¬ 
going are ripe in September and October. We 
have now a winter crab, which is said to keep 
until spring, called the Marengo Winter ,Crab. 
Tins is very strongly advocated by the pro¬ 
prietor, who brings good testimony in favor 
of its quality. We have not seen the fruit. 
The Soulard Crab is another new variety, 
which has been supposed to be of Russian ori¬ 
gin, but Mr. Soulard, in the Gardener’s Monthly 
for July last, gives its history. A thicket of 
native Crab Apple trees near St. Louis, Mo., 
was cut down, and another crop of trees 
afterwards sprang up, in which was 
found the variety now known as the 
Soulard. He supposes it to be a hybrid 
between the Wild Crab (Pyrus coronaria) and 
the cultivated apple. Said to be very fine for 
cooking and with care to keep for two years. 
Our Wild Crab, so beautiful in flower and fo¬ 
liage, bears a fruit of marked fragrance, but of 
little value. We learn that an improved seed¬ 
ling of it has been exhibited in Canada, but no 
particulars are given concerning its qualities. 
Fresh Figs. 
There are many places in which fresh figs 
miglh? be enjoyed at the expense of a little 
trouble. We read in our exchanges of their 
success in Southern Ohio, but it is not stated if 
any protection is given. Good crops are obtain¬ 
ed around New York City if the trees are laid 
down and coverec/with earth in winter. -¥11036 
of our readers who live in the South and South¬ 
west should have them in abundance, and thqge 
who live in still colder climates would, 
no doubt, succeed if they gave their trees 
some slight protection during winter, such as 
branches of evergreens. White’s Gardening 
for the South enumerates twelve varieties 
known to be good ; the Brown Turkey, Small 
Brown Ischia, and Celestial, are considered the 
hardiest. Mr. Van Buren, who wrote the article 
on the fig, recommends that growth be stopped 
after the middle of September, by breaking off 
the ends of the shoots and removing all fruit 
that forms after that time. Rivers, in his Min¬ 
iature Fruit Garden, gives a plan successfully 
followed in England, and worthy of trial here. 
“The trees should be low or half standards, 
or dwarfs with a clear stem (not bushes branch¬ 
ing from the ground). The former should have 
a stem three feet high, and the latter, one from 
one foot to eighteen inches; in each case the 
tree should have a nice rounded head. 
Trees thus selected should be planted in a 
sunny situation, and require only the following 
simple mode of treatment. They, we will as¬ 
sume, were planted in March or April. They 
will make a tolerably vigorous growth, and 
must be pruned by pinebingoff the top of every 
shoot as soon as it has made six leaves, leaving 
five. The stem must be kept quite clear from 
young shoots. By the autumn, nice round- 
headed trees will be formed, and about the end 
of October thej' should be taken up (their 
leaves cut off, if they have not fallen) and placed 
in a cellar—no matter if dark, but a light, dry 
cellar would be preferable—some earth should 
be placed over their roots, and there they may 
remain till the first week in May, when they 
should be planted out, and the same routine of 
culture followed. They will bear one good 
crop of fruit in a season, and ripen it in Septem¬ 
ber. This annual removal brings on great stur¬ 
diness of growth in the tree, and the roots be¬ 
come so fibrous as to hold a large quantity ot 
earth, which should not be shaken from them 
when they go into their annual winter abode. 
In the year 1857 I saw fine trees thus treated in 
the garden of the Duke of Altenburg, in Cen¬ 
tral Germany; their stems were as stout as a 
man’s leg and their heads full of fruit; and this 
season, 18G5, my fig-trees, taken up last Octo¬ 
ber, and placed in the orchard-house during the 
winter—their roots in the soil—have given me 
a crop of very rich, well-ripened fruit. The 
roots that have borne best are the Brown 
Ischia, Brown Turkey, and Brunswick.” 
Browned Leaves occur upon house plants, 
especially if the temperature of the room be 
high, much to the annoyance of the cultivator. 
In the majority of cases, the trouble is caused by 
the insect popularly known as the “Red Spider.” 
It is so small that it requires sharp eyes to see 
it, and one would hardly think such a mile of a 
thing capable of producing so much damage, 
yet it is one of the worst pests, not only of the 
green-house but of many open air plants. The 
red spider will not flourish in a moist atmosphere, 
and frequent drenchings are fatal to it. The 
remedy is to shower the plants frequently, es¬ 
pecially the under sides of the leaves. If you 
have no syringe, lay the plants down and shower 
them from a watering pot with a fine rose. 
Growin® Stakes.— Gardeners and nursery¬ 
men ■who live upon the prairies can, with a 
little trouble, raise stakes and poles for vines 
and other plants. One of the best of the quick¬ 
growing things is the Ailanthus, which is in 
some places grown for vineyard purposes. The 
Deciduous Cypress of the South, perfectly 
hardy in the climate of New York, in a few 
years from the seed, makes fine and durable 
stakes. Osiers answer an excellent purpose for 
small grape and other vines requiring support. 
An Edging- of Apple Trees. 
Last autumn we saw one of our best known 
nurserymen preparing to plant dwarf apple 
trees along the borders of his fruit garden. This 
plan is very popular in Europe, where it is called 
the “ cordon horizontal." The trees must be 
purely dwarfs and on Paradise stocks, and are 
set at five or six feet apart. A wire is stretched 
upon stakes at a foot or eighteen inches from 
Fig. 1.— CORDON OF APPLE TREES. 
the ground, and the trees cut back to the bight 
of the wire. Two of the upper shoots are 
trained along the wire and all the rest removed. 
Another way, and one we have seen successfully 
practiced, though the result is not so neat in ap¬ 
pearance, is to bend the trees down and fasten 
them to the wire without cutting them back, as 
shown in figure 1. Where a tree treated in this 
way is long enough to reach the next one, the 
