1875 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
A67 
this tree ; not a decayed leaf or a vacant spot to be 
found, but a perfect unbroken wall of the richest 
golden green. A little plant of the Tea Olive, 
(Osmcmthus fragrans), about two feet high, has 
been one of the pets of my greenhouse, for I know 
of no fragrance more exquisite than the flowers of 
this afford. Near the door of the house from which 
I write, is a plant 10 feet high, which has been 
loaded with bloom. The shrub which has pleased 
me most, because I have so often read of it, and 
never before seen it in flower, is the 
Strawberry Tree, 
as it is called in England, but quite different from 
the plant so called with us. Ours is an Euonymus, 
while this is Arbutus Unedo, a native of southern 
Europe, and naturalized in Great Britain. The 
specimen here is about 8 feet high, and as regular 
as a haystack ; the clusters of Lily-of-the-Valley- 
like flowers are so numerous as to greatly hide the 
dark evergreen foliage, and.the beauty of the whole 
is enhanced by the appearance here and there of 
clusters of globular, strawberry-like fruit, which 
ripens at flowering time, but is the result of the 
bloom of the preceding year. The fruit is globular, 
the size of a small cherry, rough on the surface 
with small prominences, yellow at first, but bright 
scarlet when ripe, and eatable, it being, though 
very seedy, pleasantly acid to the taste. We do 
not know how far north this tree will succeed, but 
I can heartily commend it to every lover of fine 
plants in the southern states_I cannot under¬ 
take to make a catalogue of all the plants that are 
common here, but strangers to northern gardeners 
_At this season the ornamental grounds and 
flower gardens make a better showing in favor 
of the southern climate than do the 
Vecetable Gardens, 
which are now very barren. The only things I 
have seen in them are sweet potatoes, turnips, a 
few cabbages, and many collards. This last is 
seen everywhere ; if there is a garden at all ft is 
sure to contain collards. The English works and 
the few American writers who mention collards, 
speak of them as any cabbage plant that has not 
headed; the English say that they are cabbages 
taken as soon as “large enough to bunch,” and 
cooked as greens; Fearing Burr, usually so accu¬ 
rate, falls into the same error. To my surprise, the 
work so generally full as White's “ Gardening for 
the South,” does not treat of them, while this 
month at least this is the only green vegetable to 
be seen all through the country. White simply 
says, “all the cabbages in hot climates, without 
proper care, are prone to run into coleworts or 
collards.” Several friends here, well versed in such 
matters, assure me that the above is all wrong, and 
that the southern collards are as distinct a variety of 
the cabbage as savoy, kale, or any other, and so far 
from being a young cabbage plant, it is a variety 
so well fixed in its ways that it never will head. In 
proof of this they point out the plants now grow¬ 
ing, the seed of which was sown last spring, and 
though the outer leaves spread as widely as in any 
cabbage, there is no sign of a head, and will not 
be. I have looked up the matter in the several 
seed catalogues at hand, and find that Thorburn & 
Co., (John St., N. Y.), are the only ones who seem 
to understand the matter ; they offer under a dis¬ 
tinct head, the seed of “ Collards, Georgia grown ” 
seeds, and give directions for sowing. It has not 
fallen to my lot to taste them, but I am assured by 
several good judges, that after they have been 
touched (“ nipped ” they say here) by the frost, they 
are superior to any other form of cabbage, not ex¬ 
cepting the Savoy. For fear that some of your 
readers living near New York may think I am talk¬ 
ing about the Kale, I will say that I am as familiar 
with that as I was formerly ignorant of Collards, 
and know that the plant is as unlike kale as the 
Savoy is to an Early York; the plant is to all in¬ 
tents and purposes a long-legged, sprawling-leaved, 
and rather narrow-leaved, unheading cabbage. I 
am so impressed with its distinct character, and 
have heard so much of its superior qualities, that I 
hope next year to make a trial of it. The seeds are 
sown, and the whole after-culture the same as 
for late cabbages. 
THE 
(For other Household Items , see u Baslcet ” pages). 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
Tlie Family Circular. 
I have heard of a capital contrivance for regular 
communication between the scattered and busy 
members of families. Let us call it the Family 
Circular, and this is the way it works : 
A brother in Ohio sends a letter to a sister in 
Central New York. She replies as she pleases to 
this letter, and communicates matters of general 
family interest, but instead of sending her letter to 
the brother in Ohio, sends it along with his letter 
to the father and brother and sister and others of 
the family who live on the homestead in Massachu¬ 
setts. Here all who can, or who wish to do so, con¬ 
tribute letters, and the increasing budget is for¬ 
warded to Amherst. Increased yet more it moves 
on to Worcester. Weightier still with wit and wis¬ 
dom, it goes thence to Boston, a big budget indeed; 
and one of the best things that goes by mail. Here 
the letter from Ohio is removed from the packet, 
but its loss is made up by the contributions from 
Boston members of the family. So in due time the 
Ohio brother gets his sister’s reply to his letter, and 
all the other replies and communications. He tabes 
out the New York sister’s letter, adds a fresh one 
of his own, and sends all that has been communi¬ 
cated since that sister wrote, to her. 
So now, each time around, at each station, a let¬ 
ter, simple or compound, is subtracted, and a 
fresh one added; and once a month each brother or 
sister hears from all the other members of the fam¬ 
ily. I suppose no one is prohibited from writing 
directly to any other not in turn. They can, at 
least, write what business or privacy they choose 
on postal cards. 
This is the next best thing to family meetings, 
which are often of so difficult achievement, that 
they are extremely rare after the children are all 
married and have separate families to care for. 
It is common to forward from one to another let¬ 
ters from members of the family who are most sel¬ 
dom heard from, but I had never before heard of 
such regular epistolary circulation throughout a 
family as this I have reported. I fancy that many 
scattered families, like tlie one into which I was 
born, will gladly hear of such an easy and delight¬ 
ful mode of intercommunication, and will regular¬ 
ly follow the example. There are ties stronger 
than those of blood to people who have had a birth 
above that of the animal, but tlie ties of family are 
strong, and should be tenderly cherished. They 
should not make us narrow in our sympathies, but 
they may warm our hearts into greater love for all 
humanity. An unkind brother or a selfish sister 
can not be a true philanthropist; and I suppose 
that the hoped-for reign of “ peace on earth and 
good will among men ” is helped forward far more 
by simple brothers and sisters who just aim with 
loving hearts to do their daily duty faithfully, in 
field, or kitchen, or shop, than by any professional 
philanthropists. 
Heading for tl»c Family. 
This matter can hardly be safely allowed to take 
care of itself. Bright children will have something 
to read, and if good books and papers are not sup¬ 
plied to meet their need, they will accept of almost 
anything in their place. One of the best things 
that parents can do for their children is to cultivate 
in them a healthful taste for good literature. This 
alone is sometimes equal to a “liberal education.” 
Many men and women, who justly take rank 
among the best informed and most cultivated peo¬ 
ple in society, owe more to their thorough and sys¬ 
tematic reading than to any school or college. 
I wish that newspapers had more faith in the 
existence of innocence and of genuine childhood. 
Doubtless there are plenty of pert unchildlike chil¬ 
dren, but I wish there were fewer paragraphs in the 
papers indicating that their horrible sayings and 
doings are considered laughable. What if George 
Washington never did burst into tears and throw 
himself into his father’s arms, exclaiming tliat he 
could not tell a lie. That little story is not a bad 
one, though it may not be correct history, but the 
newspaper thrusts at it are positively vicious. Why 
must our daily and weekly newspapers scrape to¬ 
gether so many accounts of horrible crimes ? Some 
papers are far worse than others in their selection 
of items, and in the comparative prominence given 
to elevating or corrupting statements of news. So 
there should be careful judgment exercised in 
choosing a daily or weekly newspaper. 
Interesting books are desirable for family reading 
on winter evenings—books that are alike interest¬ 
ing to old and young. There are good books that 
meet this demand, not “ written down ” to the sup¬ 
posed mental necessities of children, but so clearly 
expressed that all can easily comprehend them. 
Quite young children become very much inter¬ 
ested in good novels, when read aloud, but such 
mental fare is not nearly so wholesome, though it 
may be the best of its kind, for growing children, 
as are “The fairy tales of science and the long re¬ 
sults of time,” or, in other words, interesting rec¬ 
ords of science and history. Novels are more or 
less love stories, and these are a stimulus not the 
most desirable for unfolding childhood. Moreover, 
there is danger that when the mind has begun to 
feed upon novels, its tone will be so far impaired 
as to produce a morbid craving for reading of an 
exciting character. It is the safer way to cultivate 
in youth an interest in useful facts about the world 
we live in. Fiction has its place, and a useful one, 
but it is so easy to take, so attractive to most minds, 
that it is not necessary to labor to cultivate a taste 
for it. It is a great mistake to condemn fiction en¬ 
tirely. I have sometimes regretted that I was 
taught to hold the name “novel” in such abhor¬ 
rence, that when I had an opportunity and leisure, 
at the age of sixteen, to read as many of Walter 
Scott’s Waverley Novels, as I chose, I dared not 
touch them because they were novels. 
Wedding Presents, 
No doubt the splendid array of wedding presents 
made to wealthy brides is often tedious and taste¬ 
less enough to provoke plentiful criticism. But I 
think it must be a very pleasant thing to assist in 
giving a modest young couple a “setting out”; 
especially if they are going directly to housekeep¬ 
ing. There is almost no end of useful presents 
that might be contributed, for we all know how 
many things it takes to furnish a house and to 
stock a farm. It is pleasant for a married pair to 
earn most of these things together if they have 
health and a good business ; but if they begin poor, 
and their family increases, they will find it hard 
enough to struggle through the early years of mar¬ 
ried life, even with many a lift from sympathizing 
friends. 1 am not pleading that expensive presents 
should be given to such beginners, but useful 
household articles not too costly for the giver’s 
purse, nor too fine for the recipient’s use. A kind 
of conventionality often rules in this matter. Cer¬ 
tain things are supposed to be suitable for wedding 
presents, and of these the bride sometimes gets 
more than enough. This is all nonsense. Any¬ 
thing is suitable for a wedding present, which can 
be made of use or give pleasure by its beauty. 
Winter and Spring Wheat. 
Now I know what was the matter with that “best 
winter wheat graham flour,” which I wouldn’t have 
in the house if I could get better. My provider 
believes in that rule about the dictionaries—“ Get 
the best ”—and persisted in getting for me neatly- 
put-up sacks of graham made of “ white winter 
wheat,” until I showed him that fully two-fifths of 
the whole sifted out as coarse bran. I had to sift 
it in order to get it eaten at all, for not only the 
ehiklren’s stomachs, but my own, revolted at such 
coarse fare. Then he doubtfully bought me cheap¬ 
er stuff, graham-meal made of spring wheat, and 
that we ate with gladness of heart and without sift¬ 
ing. When I did sift some occasionally, the pro¬ 
portion of bran was much less and of finer quality 
than in the winter wheat graham. So I fancied 
that there was some cheating about the latter, un¬ 
til I moved into the country and procured my gra- 
