3 4,6 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
ical names to wild roses, lias been already 
alluded to; the present one may be found in the 
books as Rosa rugosa, R. Forlunii, and R. Rege- 
liana, all evidently the same thing, varying as 
to the tendency of the flowers to become 
double ; of these names Rosa rugosa, the “ rough 
rose,” is the oldest; but some botanists say 
that this is the same as the Kamtscliatkan rose, 
(Rosa Kamtschatikd), which is a doubtful spe¬ 
cies. In all this confusion we were glad to 
come across a name for our Japan favorite, 
which is quite non-committal botanically. Ac¬ 
cording to Thunberg, who first brought the 
plant into notice, it is called by the Japanese 
Ramanas, a name which will serve to designate 
the rose, until botanists have satisfactorily 
cleared up the matter. We have both the or¬ 
dinary form with red flowers, and a white- 
flowered one, of which the petals have a fine, 
crape-like appearance; the French works men¬ 
tion a double variety, and our’s often produce 
flowers with several extra petals. This rose is 
a capital subject for experiments in hybridiz¬ 
ing ; if by this means varieties could be obtain¬ 
ed, in which the fine flowers of the remontants 
and others, were united with the compact habit 
and robust foliage and healthy vigor of this, 
it would be a great step in rose culture. 
--o 1 9 1 - - 
The Failure of Seeds to Germinate, 
6 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
I do not remember of any season wherein there 
have been so many complaints of “bad seeds” as 
in that just past; while the fact is that probably 
in no season for the last twenty years have we had 
better seeds, the previous summer having been one 
particularly suited to their proper development and 
ripening. It is astonishing that those who have 
been workers of the soil for years fail to understand 
the true cause of such failures. One of my neigh¬ 
bors came to me about the middle of June and 
complained that his crop of Evergreen corn was 
nearly a failure, hardly one hill in a hundred being 
perfect. On examining the patch of nearly an acre 
in extent, I found it to be a steep slope of rather 
sandy soil, and that the only perfect hills of corn 
were at the bottom, a fact that at once suggested 
the cause of failure. If anything had been the 
matter with the seed, the failure would have been 
alike all over the patch, but the failure was partial 
only in some hills, (towards the bottom), and com¬ 
plete on the dry part of the hill. An examination 
showed the shrivelled seed in the hills only an inch 
or so from the surface ; it had been literally baked 
in the soil, which had been dry as an ash-heap from 
the time of planting until then ; and the sun, 
heating it up sometimes, no doubt, to 120 de¬ 
grees, had destroyed the life germ about as com¬ 
pletely as if the seeds had been thrown directly into 
fire. Now if my neighbor had taken the precaution 
ig plant his corn two or three inches deeper, or if 
he had supplemented his shallow planting, of only 
an inch, by pressing firm his loose, sandy soil with 
his foot, he would probably not have failed with a 
single hill of com. But if failures from this cause 
occur with such a seed as com, what may be ex¬ 
pected with such fine seeds as celery, carrots, pars¬ 
nips, etc.? From the same cause, the shrivelling up 
of the seed by the dry, hot atmosphere of May and 
June, the crop of celery plants in this vicinity 
proved to be less thaD half ; with all my experience 
in such matters, my crop was but little more, en¬ 
tirely due to the shrivelling of the seeds we sowed 
early, about the middle of April, the ground being 
in fine condition. Lines were drawn to the depth 
of about an inch, the seed sown and raked iD, not 
aoross the bed, but parallel to the lines; this 
slightly covered the seed, and the ground was then 
rolled evenly with a light wooden roller. This had 
been our practice for years, and until this season I 
do not think we ever failed to have a crop. From 
the time of sowing until nearly the middle of May, 
we had hardly a shower that more than laid the 
dust, and the consequence was that three-fourths 
of the seed was shrivelled up by the dry, hot at¬ 
mosphere. About May 15th, (usually much too 
late to sow celery seed), being convinced that our 
crop was likely to be a thin one, I again sowed, 
from the same bag of seeds. This time, however, 
we took the precaution, after sowing the seed in 
the drill, to go along it and firmly press the earth 
over the seed with the foot, it was then scratch¬ 
ed over with the rake and rolled. We further¬ 
more shook a thin covering of hay over the bed to 
shade it, and in two weeks we had a splendid 
“braird” of plants, having taken the precaution, 
however, to rake off the hay as soon as the seed 
had shown itself, choosing a dull, moist day to do 
so; to have taken off the shading in a dry, hot, 
sunny day, the plants would have been burned up ; 
they require twenty to thirty hours, in order to 
get sufficiently hardened to endure the exposure to 
the sun and air. Now, had I taken the precaution 
to tread in the drills with the foot with the seeds 
sown in April, there is but little doubt that the 
crop would have been a good one; but such dry 
spells in spring are very unusual with us, and 
hitherto there had been no necessity, but our ex¬ 
perience this year has taught us a lesson by which 
we are likely to profit. Understand, though, that 
there must be no firming or treading of the soil 
unless it is dry ; to do this when the soil is at all 
moist would be injurious. Now the season of 
sowing our seeds for fall crops is approaching, such 
as spinach, turnips, etc. We often have long dry 
spells after sowing, so let it be borne in mind that 
hardly any kind of seed can germinate if the soil is 
loose and dry around it; for garden culture, or in 
small patches, the ground may be firmed with a 
spade, or trodden in as directed, and for field cul¬ 
ture, rolling to effect the same end is indispensible 
to success if dry weather long follows the sowing. 
What do Robins Eat? —“J. H. K.,” Kings¬ 
ville, O., writes : “ A pair of Robins built their nest 
on the window sill near where a friend of mine 
works as a mechanic. They were under his obser¬ 
vation constantly—he was particular to notice what 
they fed their young upon. He says for the first 
week after hatching it was entirely the common 
black cut-worm, and he is quite sure that they con¬ 
sumed in that time more than one thousand (1,000), 
and the balance of the time their food was mainly 
cut-worms. His estimate was based on actual count 
at different times. This one family of robins con¬ 
sumed cut-worms enough to have made several 
acres of corn look rather spotted. 
i (g * m — -■ 
Rivers’ New Early Peaches in Georgia. 
BY P. J. BERCKMANS, AUGUSTA, GA. 
The new varieties of early peaches sent out by 
Mr. Rivers, having fruited with us for three con¬ 
secutive years, may now be reported upon, as their 
behavior has been quite uniform, and so far they 
have been free from the tendency to vary in season 
of maturity, an unfortunate feature with the Hale’s 
and many of its offsprings. 
Early Beatrice. —First production of fruit in 
1873. Half-a-dozen specimens matured well, but 
were very small, and a week later than the first 
ripe specimens of Hale’s Early. This doubtless 
was due to trees having been planted the previ¬ 
ous winter. Second production in 1874. Fruit 
quite small, very sound, highly colored, and of good 
quality; matured June 10th. First Hale’s being 
gathered at same date. Third production is of the 
present year, and from this we note as follows : 
Size small and medium ; shape regular > skin white, 
nearly covered with crimson and mottled darker 
crimson, somewhat downy. Flesh pink, veined 
with darker red, and of very fine texture, juicy, 
very vinous ; freestone, but having numerous fila¬ 
ments adhering to the stone, and running through 
the flesh. Quality very good ; commenced to ma¬ 
ture June 9th, crop fully ripe June 18th, or within 
a period of ten days ; whereas Hale’s Early, in same 
soil and under same conditions, commenced to ma¬ 
ture a few days before Early Beatrice, and at this 
date (July 5th) is still maturing gradually. The 
merits of Early Beatrice may be thus summed up : 
1st. The fruit is regularly sound, not a decayed 
peach was discovered in the past three years. 
2nd. Its period of maturity is* uniform, not ex¬ 
tending beyond 10 or 12 days, allowing the whole 
crop to be gathered in two or three pickings. 
3d. The fruit, although small, is highly colored 
and attractive, and matures gradually and wel 
after being gathered, a desirable quality when 
shipping to distant markets. 
4th. Early, regular, and profuse bearing. 
Early Louise. —Almost similar to Early Bea¬ 
trice in shape and appearance, but somewhat lar¬ 
ger and not so highly colored. Flesh white, vinous, 
with still more filaments through it than Early Bea¬ 
trice, to which it is inferior in quality; quality 
good ; maturity from three to five days later. 
Rivers’ Early.— Size above medium to large, 
(average 8 inches in circumference), slightly oblong. 
Skin greenish white,with a slight blush on the sunny 
side, very thin, and peeling off perfectly at maturity. 
Flesh white, melting, very juicy, vinous and highly 
flavored, with a few filaments adhering to the 
stone. The whole crop ripens within a week. 
Quality best. Much superior to Early Beatrice 
and Early Louise ; matures one week later than 
Early Beatrice. This is the best of the trio, as 
well as the largest, but its. skin is rather thin and 
easily bruised, which unfits it for carriage to dis¬ 
tant markets. For home use it is unquestionably a 
most desirable variety. 
Next in maturity we have Early Albert, Early 
Alfred, Magdala, Early Silver, all of good quality, 
but of rather small size, and all superseded by 
Mountain Rose, which matures at same time. 
Following Rivers’ Early, we have our Fleitas’ St. 
John, or May Beauty of Louisiana, a very showy 
yellow-fleshed peach, of best quality. With this 
also opens the season of Early Tillotson, still one of 
our best early market sorts, and before the bulk of 
the crop of that variety is gathered, our early 
clingstones, such as General Taylor, Tuskena, etc., 
make their appearance. Of the late ripening 
varieties of Mr. Rivers, few are valuable for the 
southern states, so far as one year’s fruiting ena¬ 
bles us to form an opinion ; our good native sorts, 
such as Columbia and Picquet’s, together with our 
famous clingstones, being of larger size and super¬ 
ior in quality. As regards the very early ripening 
varieties of peaches produced in England, we may 
safely consider them as valuable acquisitions to 
our fruit growers, their quality being doubtless 
improved, as they are cultivated further south ; but 
it is fallacy to expect late ripening varieties, origi¬ 
nated in England, to compete with kinds having 
had the congenial southern climate to perfect their 
qualities; a fact now well established by the im¬ 
proved and superior fruits which have of late 
years been desseminated by our few but zealous 
amateur fruit growers. 
It will Pay. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
A young man writes that he is engaged as a clerk 
in a Railroad Office from 9 A. M. to 3 P. M., in a 
large inland town in New Jersey, and inquires if I 
think it practicable for him to construct a green¬ 
house, to be worked by himself, before and after of¬ 
fice hours, and make it pay a sufficient return on the 
investment of the necessary money and time. If 
the time is not used, and can not be used to any 
better purpose, I think it safe to say that it un¬ 
doubtedly will pay, if the work is energetically be¬ 
gun and persisted in. Not only will it pay in money, 
but it will also pay in giving those-habits of industry 
generally lacking in thousands of young clerks who 
think five or six hours of desk work is work enough. 
It may be enough work at the desk, but it is not, in 
my opinion, sufficient to fill up the full measure of 
industry required from a young man who is sound 
in body and limb. If he is aiming for success in 
life, it will not come once in a hundred times by 
