4-18 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[November, 
ljilities as a garden plant, as well as to answer 
several who have inquired for its name. It grows 
in most parts of the country, North and South. 
The Japan Anemone. 
The number of late-blooming hardy peren¬ 
nials is so small that any addition to them is 
welcome. One of the most desirable plants of 
this kind is the Japan Anemone {Anemone Ja- 
ponica), which though long in cultivation in 
Europe, is yet but little known in our gardens. 
It has strongly cut, downy leaves, and throws 
up a stout flower stem, each of the numerous 
branches of which bears a red flower an inch 
and a half or two inches across. There is a 
white variety called Honorine Jobert, of which 
a figure is given. The petals (or rather the pet¬ 
al-like parts of the calyx) are of a pure white, 
surrounding a center of golden 3 r ellow stamens. 
These are beautiful plants when grown as 
single specimens, and fine when planted in 
masses. The white variety is particularly de¬ 
sirable, as we have scarcely any other late flow¬ 
ering plant with such a spring-like look. Like 
other herbaceous perennials, the old clumps 
may be divided in fall or spring. Mr. Hender¬ 
son, from whom we received the plants, propa¬ 
gates them by cuttings of the root, placed on 
a propagating bench, as described elsewhere. 
Various Grape Items. 
The season has to many grape growers been 
a disastrous one. The long-continued rains 
have in some localities at the West reduced the 
crop to far below the average, and we hear some 
reports of total failure. At the time of writing 
we are without statistics to show what the loss 
has been, and the early injuries to the fruit may 
be supplemented by those from early frosts. 
New samples with new names have appeared 
in about the usual numbers, but very few of 
these are worthy of notice. Persons who have 
seedlings are apt to place a higher estimate upon 
them than can be done by a disinterested person. 
A variety should be, in some particular, better 
than any other grape of its season to make it 
worthy of propagation. Some seedlings of the 
Delaware have been brought us which were 
white and of the same general appearance as 
that variety, but with a very tough skin and 
lacking in good qualities. Pox grapes, strong 
in odor, tough in hide, and solid in pulp, have 
been less abundant than in former years. 
The new sorts that have attracted the most 
attention are two hybrids by Stephen W. Under¬ 
hill, of Croton Point, N. Y. The Croton is a 
white grape, a cross between the Chasselas de 
Fontainebleau and the Delaware. The bunch is 
long, with a large shoulder and often winged, 
the berries of fair size, of fine amber color and 
of a pleasant flavor. Its foliage shows but little 
of the tenderness of the foreign species. We 
have seen Mr. U.’s vines, of which he has a 
number in bearing, and they are hardy and 
healthy in an unfavorable locality. The pro¬ 
prietor makes no extravagant claims for this 
grape, and is willing that it should rest upon 
its own merits, and we hope that it will succeed 
elsewhere as well as it does at Croton Point. 
The Croton received this year the silver medal 
of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 
The Senasqua, also raised by Mr. Underhill, 
is across between the Black Prince and Concord. 
It is a large black, but rather late grape, of high 
vinous flavor, and resembling in its flesh the 
foreign varieties. Avery’s Prolific is a black 
grape, originating with John P. Avery, Norwich, 
Conn., much resembling the Hartford. It re¬ 
ceived the premium last year at the New Lon¬ 
don Co. Fair as the best new variety. It is 
claimed to be very prolific and early. The 
specimens sent for our inspection were over-ripe. 
Several who raise seedlings complain that 
they blossom and do not bear. It is a very 
common thing for seedlings, whether wild or 
cultivated, to produce imperfect flowers, and 
where this is the case no fruit will be produced 
if the pistil is imperfect; but should the stamens 
be wanting or inefficient, fruit may be obtained 
by planting a fertile vine, which blooms at the 
same time, near the barren one. Such vines, 
however, are not worth taking any trouble with. 
A subscriber has a vine, of which he sends a 
sketch; it starts with two canes from the 
ground, one of which is represented in the en¬ 
graving. He proposes to train it on the arm 
and spur system, as we infer. The two canes 
spread wide apart at the bend, and the vine 
would be much more compact if the arms were 
crossed, and the right-hand one put in the place 
occupied by the left-hand one, and vice versa; 
but this is not essential. The canes b b should 
be cut back to two buds, when the leaves are 
off, and in February the upper bud may be cut 
off, leaving but one, which will produce a fruit¬ 
ing cane; the next year two buds may be left 
at pruning. The cane c should be used to ex¬ 
tend the vine horizontally. It should be short¬ 
ened to about two feet and bent down horizon¬ 
tally, to form a part of, and extend, the arm. 
Notes from “ The Pines."—No. 6. 
Next to having a man who will do less than 
he is told, it is most annoying to have one who 
does more than is laid out for him. In the 
kitchen garden were rows of Summer Savory, 
Thyme, Sage, etc. The Summer Savory being 
ready, the man was told to pull it. He did so, 
and more than that, he in the same summary 
manner pulled the Thyme also. As this last 
had some months yet to grow, the loss was 
provoking. To slightly alter the words of 
the poet, we now “take no note of thyme 
but from its loss.” The Sage was saved; 
whether its name Salvia (from Salvo, to save), 
had anything to do with the matter, is not 
yet decided. As to Sage culture: a Massa¬ 
chusetts grower writes that where it is grown 
on a large scale they sow it in rows, where it is 
to stand, and thin and weed the same as carrots 
and similar crops. Shall try this next year. 
Among other odds and ends, tried to see what 
they were like, was some Cow Cabbage or Caesa¬ 
rean Kale. It is a broad-leaved variety of Kale, 
said to grow six feet high. Ours has more than 
a month of growing weather before it yet, and 
is over three feet high upon soil which is far 
from rich. It is probable that it would give a 
greater weight of fodder on poor soil than would 
cabbages. If the seeds are sown the same as 
those of late cabbages, and the plants put out 
where early crops have been taken off, a very 
large supply of green fodder may be raised. 
If I am fond of anything it is melons. Not 
those tasteless, mealy things which some people 
appropriately call «i«sZt-melons, but lusciously 
sweet, fine-grained, and juicy. The best sorts, 
including some. with unpronounceable names 
from the Department of Agriculture, were 
planted, and made a fine start. Then came the 
long drouth, and the vines were so thoroughly 
rested that Avhen the rains came they forgot to 
grow again, and instead of having melons by 
the hundred, they came only by the dozen. Of 
the varieties which perfected, Ward’s Nectar, 
though small, proved of first quality in every 
respect. Alton Large Nutmeg is large and of 
very good quality, but with us a little late. 
Good reports of it come from the West. Mr. 
Gregory, of Marblehead, gave me a taste of his 
Hybrid Japan, which was the nicest thing in 
the way of a melon I have tasted this year. By 
the way, why is it that in catalogues and in ex¬ 
hibitions, melons are placed with vegetables ? 
Artists who paint fruit pictures always intro¬ 
duce them where they belong, among fruits. 
Last year there appeared in the Agriculturist 
an article ou having greens all the year round. 
Midsummer is the most trying time, as spinach, 
the main reliance, cannot endure the hot 
weather. There has not been a day all summer 
upon which we could not have an abundance 
of greens. The Spinach Beet and New Zealand 
Spinach follow spinach and last until frost 
comes, when the Borecole or Kale will be ready. 
Propagation by Root Cuttings. 
There are some plants which can be success¬ 
fully multiplied only by cuttings of the roots. 
Not many years ago this method of propagating 
was kept as a sort of horticultural secret by the 
professional gardeners, but of late, thanks to 
the numerous popular books and papers, it has 
become generally known, though not as gener¬ 
ally practised as it might be. Among our small 
fruits the Blackberries, and those Raspberries 
which naturally produce suckers, are largely 
and cheaply multiplied by root cuttings. Among 
ornamental shrubs, the Japan Quince, Sweet- 
scented Shrub (Calycanthus), Buffalo-berry, and 
others, grow readily from roots. In the same 
manner such trees as Locust, Pawlonia, Ailan- 
thus, Osage Orange, etc., may be multiplied. 
A large number of herbaceous perennials, both 
hardy and greeu-liouse, are most satisfactorily 
produced from root cuttings, such as Anemones, 
Bocconias, Saxifrages, Perennial Poppies, Bou- 
vardias, and many others. The florists increase 
their stock of many ornamental things by plac¬ 
ing the root cuttings upon the sand of the prop¬ 
agating bench, and covering them slightly with 
sand mixed with leaf-mold or some similar sub¬ 
stance, to make it light. The engraving shows 
a cutting of a Japan Anemone, with the bud 
just starting. The cuttings of trees and orna¬ 
mental shrubs will, for the most part, succeed 
if planted in well-prepared soil in the open air. 
The cuttings are made three or four inches 
long and dibbled in, taking care to place the 
root in its natural position, and covering entire¬ 
ly with one or two inches of earth. With the 
Blackberry and Raspberry it is found advau- 
