138 
[April, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
are covered with a thick down, and resemble 
the horns of a stag when in “ the velvet,”—a pe¬ 
culiarity which gives the popular name. The 
leaves are of a lighter green than in the first 
mentioned species. The Dwarf or Mountain 
Sumach (It. copattind), is the handsomest of our 
native species, and rather less common than 
the other two. It is from one foot to six feet 
high, and while it has the same general appear¬ 
ance as the others, it is readily distinguished 
by its darker green and shining leaves, the stalk 
of which, or petiole, is winged or margined, so 
as to appear jointed. All three species add 
much to the beauty of our autumn scenery, 
their leaves giving ns the most brilliant colors; 
those of the first two turn to yellow, scarlet, 
and crimson, and in the Dwarf Sumach they 
become a beautiful purple, while the crimson or 
purple heads of fruit make up a mass of color 
that few shrubs can equal. They are all easily 
propagated by cuttings of the root, and it is 
this facility with which they are multiplied that 
renders them in a great measure unsuitable for 
introduction into well-kept grounds. Still 
there are many sandy and barren places where 
nothing else will grow, which the Sumach would 
make green in summer, and aglow with the 
most brilliant hues in autumn. A species of 
the south of Europe (It. coriaria .), furnishes 
in its leaves a valuable material for dyeing and 
tanning. The species we have named possess 
similar properties, though in a somewhat less 
degree. Analysis shows their relative value, to 
be as 20 to 20. The leaves are collected when 
fully grown and before they begin to turn, usu¬ 
ally in August. The leafy tops of the shrubs 
are cut off or the long leaves bea'ten off by 
means of sticks, and carefully dried. Where 
there is a demand from manufacturing estab¬ 
lishments in the neighborhood, the leaves under¬ 
go no preparation, but to make them an article 
of commerce, they must be ground and bolted. 
A Hew Method of Grafting Fruit Trees. 
BY M. JEAN SISLEY, LYONS, FRANCE. 
The readers of horticultural publications are 
aware that Mr. A. Boisselot, of Nantes, (France), 
is the inventor of a very useful method of graft¬ 
ing the vine, which is to insert the graft in the 
fork between two branches, as shown by the 
engraving. The advantage of this mode of 
grafting the vine has been generally recognized, 
but no one has before thought of applying it to 
other trees, and A- Boisselot himself was not 
aware of the great service he rendered to horti¬ 
culture when he published his invention. I 
have applied it to a great variety of trees, but 
principally to the pear, to experiment with new' 
varieties of pears which I receive in great num¬ 
ber every year. Before I knew Boisselot’s sys¬ 
tem I could not make use of a great number of 
the grafts I received, not being willing to sacri¬ 
fice the trees that were yielding me yearly a 
quantity of fruit; the old system of cleft-grafting 
necessitating the mutilation of the whole tree, 
or at least its principal branches. During the 
last two years I have grafted every variety of 
pears I have received, (and at any time of the 
year), according to the Boisselot system. The 
grafts have grown like the other branches of 
the trees, and some of them bore fruit last year. 
I can thus keep my old trees until I find that the 
new sorts are preferable to the old ones, and 
most likely I shall not be obliged to cut them 
dovm, as several sorts of pears can very well 
live and prosper together on the same tree. I 
have thus increased my enjoyment. This method 
is, of course, not very practicable on large trees, 
but is principally useful for small gardens 
where espaliers and dwarfs are grown, to take 
up less space. By this method, with a limited 
number of trees, a great many varieties of fruit 
can be grown. It can also be usefully employed 
for experimenting with seedlings that show 
signs of excellence. It must be understood that 
no part of the branches between wdiich the 
grafts are inserted is to be cut back; therefore 
no mutilation of any part of the old trees is 
necessary, as is the case in cleft-grafting. [The 
engraving shows the graft as inserted ; it is lobe 
tied, and the junction covered with grafting-wax, 
or waxed cloth, in the usual manner.— Eds.] 
Experience with Vegetables. 
BY J. ROBE, MT. LEBANON, N. Y. 
—-©- 
Beaks. —The Fejee, or White’s Early Bush 
Bean, is remarkably early as a shelled bean, and 
almost as good as the pole cranberry; but these 
dark-colored beans do not find so much favor 
as the white kinds. Some of the Fejees are 
nearly white, and I have been trying to run out 
the dark color by selecting, and planting only 
the whitest, but have not yet succeeded. 
Beets. —The Spinach Beet, I procured from 
Washburn & Co., Boston, is an excellent sub¬ 
stitute for Spinach, being superior in flavor to 
it. It may be cut several times during the sea¬ 
son. The roots, if slightly covered, will live 
through the winter, and make early greens, but 
if covered too much, they will be smothered.... 
The Imperial White Sugar Beet is, perhaps, the 
sweetest of beets_For early beets to be eaten 
while small, the Scarcity or Mangel is the earli¬ 
est and best, but when older, it becomes coarse, 
and is only fit for cattle_The Bassano is not 
only very early, but for raciness of flavor is the 
ne plus ultra of beets, for, though we have tried 
Simon’s Early, the Pineapple, the St, Osyth, 
etc., we have as yet found nothing to equal it. 
Cucumbers. —The West India Gherkin makes 
a very good soup or stew, and is easily raised : 
sow at the same time as the common cucumber, 
about twenty seeds in a hill, for the black flies 
are very fond of them. Thin out, so as to 
leqve, finally, but o.ne or two plants in each hill. 
Okra..— This is an excellent vegetable, and 
should be more extensively cultivated. As with 
the tomato, the taste for it must he cultivated, 
and then no vegetable is nicer. The pods are 
eaten not only in soups, but cooked like aspara¬ 
gus. In our latitude, it needs a hot-bed to start it. 
Peas. —Sowed April 18th, without brushing, 
in triple rows, one foot apart, about one pint to 
one hundred feet, the four following kinds: 
McLean’s Little Gem, Advancer, Eugenie, and 
Champion of England. Time of blooming: 
Eugenie, June 6th; Gem, the8th; Advancer, the 
12th; and Champion, the loth. Pods ready for 
picking: Gem, 23d June; Advancer, the 27th ; 
Eugenie, J«ly 4th ; and the Champion, July 8th. 
From blossoming to full pods: Advancer and 
Gem, fifteen, Champion, twenty-three, and Eit-- 
genie, twenty-eight days. They are all excel¬ 
lent varieties of peas, but the Eugenie did not 
fill its pods well, although it is a great bearer. 
Potatoes.—T he Sebec, with us, yields poor¬ 
ly, and rots badly_The Goodrich is produc¬ 
tive and good_The Garnet Chili is good, and 
does not rot; and although not called early, 
vet we can dig large ones sooner than from the 
Sebec or Goodrich_The Harison, with us, is 
very productive, but also very poor and soggy; 
though a friend of ours, three miles off, got some 
of our Harisons, and from that stock raised splen¬ 
did mealy potatoes. The Early Handsworth 
turns out early, small, very few, and very poor. 
Scolymus— Is cooked like Vegetable Oyster, 
butis,I think, preferable, the roots growing much 
larger. [Called Spanish Oyster Plant.— Eds.] 
Tomatoes. —The following kinds were sown 
in the house in boxes Feb. 27th; transplanted in¬ 
to hot-beds April 3d, and set out in open ground 
May 25th: about 300 Tilden, 300 Cedar Hill, 
and 80 each of Smooth Red, Early York, Keyes, 
and Orangefield. The first ripe were: Tilden, 
July 28th ; Cedar Hill and Orangefield, August 
7th; Keyes, August 12th; York and Smooth 
Red, August loth. Crop to August 23d : Cedar 
Hill, forty-four bushels, or one bushel to seven 
plants; Tilden, twenty-five bushels, or one 
bushel to twelve plants; York, live bushels, or 
one bushel to sixteen plants; Keyes,four bush¬ 
els, or one bushel to twenty plants; Smooth 
Red, two and a half bushels, or one bushel to 
thirty-two plants. So that, although the Tilden 
was ten day's ahead of the Cedar Hill, yet by' Au¬ 
gust 23d, we had picked forty-four Cedar Hill 
to twenty-five Tilden. At the end of the sea¬ 
son, the Cedar Hill averaged one bushel to three 
and a half plants; the Tilden, one to four 
plants. One hundred Tildens were nipped in, 
and three hundred not nipped; when the first 
began to ripen, we picked thirty tomatoes from 
the one hundred nipped, and had to go over 
the three hundred to get the same number.... 
The Orangefield is almost as good as a plum 
for eating raw ; it is the sweetest tomato I have 
tasted. I think that by selection of the sweet¬ 
est, the tomato will finally' rank as a table fruit. 
Fruit at Alton, Ill.—Peaches, Apples, 
and Plums .—by o. l. barlf.r. 
[Alton, Ill., has become one of our important 
potnological centres. Its fruit-growers and 
others are united in a Horticultural Society, 
which is a wide-awake body, and is doing a 
good work. We have arranged with Mr. Bnrler 
to keep our readers informed as to the horticul¬ 
tural doings in and about Alton.— Eds.] 
On the night of the 10th of December, 
the mercury sank to 14° below zero, and killed 
every peach bud in all this region, so far as we 
have examined, or heard from. Never, in the 
knowledge of the “ oldest inhabitant,” have the 
buds been more thoroughly killed, whereupon 
some have been thinking that it would be a 
« heavy joke upon the curculio.” Dr. Hull pre¬ 
dicts that, finding no peaches, the “ little Turk" 
will turn upon and destroy our apple crop. 
