146 
AMEHICAN AG-RIGtrLTUBIST, 
r April, j 
WINTER PROTECTION FOR THE BUDS. 
Sometimes lie bends the lower limbs to tlie 
earth, and puts a weight upon them to keep 
them there; very often the snow furnishes the 
needed covering, and in northern climates this 
will be found sufficient. But in our less snowy 
latitude, where we often have great depression 
of temperature without any such covering to the 
eartli, we need some artificial protection. For 
tills purpose, Mr. Bolmer uses long open boxes, 
supported by four legs of the requisite hight, 
say from tw'o to five feet, to adapt them to the 
dilFerent parts of the 
trees. Into these the 
branches are gathered 
and crowded and pres¬ 
sed down, and covered 
with straw, with a little 
earth or something else 
to keep them in place. 
This is done in Novem¬ 
ber, and they are left 
until late in March or 
April, when the exposed 
part of the tree is in 
full bloom; these pro¬ 
tected buds are then be¬ 
ginning to swell, and 
they will be two or 
three weeks later in their 
blossoming, and may 
thus escape a spring 
frost that might destroy 
the earlier bloom and 
fruit. Mr. Bolmer cuts 
back his peach trees 
every second j’ear, or if 
they bear too full, he 
shortens them every 
season, to thin out the 
fruit, taking off say one 
third of them, so as to 
increase the size of those 
that are left. This he 
considers a very paying 
operation, on account of 
the increased size and 
corresponding price of 
the fruit; nor is it a 
very expensive opera¬ 
tion, if, as he says, one 
man can trim from fifty 
to one hundred trees a 
day. To recur to the 
mounding work, he 
does not give the abso¬ 
lute expense of the ope¬ 
ration, which each must 
calculate for himself, 
reckoning local cost of 
labor, etc., but he claims 
that it pays, and that 
it preserved the longe¬ 
vity of his trees, while other orchards in his 
neighborhood have died out and disappeared. 
The original tree upon which he first oper¬ 
ated, now twenty-seven years old, is still living. 
Though not able to give the cost per tree or 
jier acre, Mr. Bolmer feels satisfied that the ex¬ 
pense will compare favorably with the constant 
plowing, and tending, and worming of a peach 
orchard, attended with uncertain results and 
frequent fiiilures, because mounds once made 
are a permanent protection from the worms 
and insure a crop, so that he considers his plan 
the cheapest and most profitable method of 
growing fruit that has yet been discovered, and 
he claims that fruit produced in this way is 
worth one-third more on account of its superior 
flavor, size and color.” 
A Brilliant Bedding Plant. 
{Gazania splendens.) 
Of late years many plants formerly consider¬ 
ed as only suitable for green-house culture, have 
been found to'i^Tow with perfect success when 
placed in the open ground, and even attain a 
luxuriance of growth, and give a profusion of 
GAZANIA SPLENDENS. 
bloom, far in advance of any results that can be 
reached in pot culture. These bedding out 
plants are in great demand, and the establish¬ 
ments devoted to producing them are, so to 
speak, regular plant factories, where the speci¬ 
mens are turned out by hundreds of thousands. 
One of the plants which has been thus popular¬ 
ized and removed from the exclusiveness of 
green-house society to the promiscuous assem¬ 
blage of the border, is Gazania splendens, of 
which we here give an engraving. The plant 
branches frecl}’-, its w'eak stems laying pros¬ 
trate upon the ground; the leaves are rather 
thick in texture, and of a dark green upon the 
upper surface, while below they are very near¬ 
ly white. The flowers are produced singly 
upon long stalks, and are of the size and shape 
shown in the engraving. It will be seen that 
this flower belongs to that very large family, the 
Composite, of which the Sunflower and Mari¬ 
gold are common representatives. The ra)’-s in 
this flower are of a rich yellow color; each one 
of them has, near its base, a spot of purplish 
brown, so dark that it appears to be black, and 
upon each one of these dark spots is a clear 
white marking. Tliese spots together form a 
circle or crown of ex¬ 
ceeding brilliancy. A 
great merit in this plant 
is the long duration of 
its flowers; they open 
only in a strong light, 
and close at night and 
on dark days. The same 
flower will open and dis¬ 
play its beauties day 
after day, for about a 
week. The plant is a 
native of the Cape of 
Good Hope, and though 
tender, is not destroyed 
by the first light frosts 
of autumn. With this, 
as with other bedding 
plants, cuttings should 
be mare during the 
growing season for a 
stock to keep through 
the winter. It succeeds 
well in ordinary garden 
soil. The name, Gaza¬ 
nia, is said to come from 
the Persian word for 
riches, while the specific 
name, splendens, is so 
near the corresponding 
English w'ord as to need 
no translating. The bo¬ 
tanical name is not inap- 
propriate,for the plant is 
both rich and splendid. 
Forest Trees for 
Shelter. 
The importance of 
sheltering fruit trees 
from the violence of 
winds, is shown by the 
attention given to the 
subject by the Western 
Horticultural Societies. 
At the last meeting of 
the Illinois State Horti- 
cultural Society, the 
merits of the different 
forest trees w'cre discus¬ 
sed almost as fully as those of fruit trees, and a 
list of those best for shelter adopted with equal 
formality with the lists of fruits. We enumer¬ 
ate the trees selected, placing those^first which 
the Society consider most valuable. Black 
Walnut, Ilickoiy, Butternut, Wild Cheriy, Sil¬ 
ver Maple, Elm, Ash, Sugar Maple, Ash¬ 
leaved Maple, Basswood or Linden, Honey 
Locust, Oaks (Red, White, and Bur,), Larches, 
Red Mulberry, Catalpa, Chestnut, Lombardy 
Poplar, Silver Poplar, and Osage Orange. The 
Cottonwood, and White and Yellow' Willows, 
W'ere recommended, if nothing else could be 
had. The Evergreens recommended were: 
