1B70.J 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
103 
yellow ; 7, 7, scarlet; 9, 9, purple. The planting 
here is done with various colored Verbenas, ex¬ 
cept in 1, where a rose-colored Geranium is used, 
and in 6 6, where the yellow is a Calceolaria. 
Moreover, the quieter colors must be towards 
the center, and the gay and positive ones the 
farthest from it. In fig. 2 is a design by the 
late Donald Beaton, for a garden in a front yard, 
which may have one of the short or one of the 
long sides towards the house, according to the 
Fig. 1. —CIRCULAR DESIGN OF A FLOWER GARDEN. 
nature of the locality. In this plan the beds 
are edged with box, and the walks laid 1 x 1111 
light gravel. It admits of being planted in a 
variety of ways; all the beds may be used for 
bedding plants, or those upon the side may be 
for roses and other shrubs, while the smaller 
ones may be filled with flowers in masses. 
To plant even a simple design in the bedding 
style, requires a large number of plants. Where 
there is a green-house and a gardener, these can 
be readily supplied, but if one has to purchase 
plants, the cost, even at the wholesale price, 
becomes a serious item. We enumerate some 
of the principal ones used for garden deco¬ 
ration, remarking that the florists’ prices for them 
are $1.50 to $3.00 per dozen. Geraniums or 
Pelargoniums. Among those of the Zonale 
class we have flowers of the most intense scar¬ 
let, salmon color, rose, pink, and white. They 
I 
1 
Fig. 2. —DESIGN FOR A FLOWER GARDEN. 
flourish well in our climate, and a great show 
can be made with them. Scarcely any of the 
beautiful tricolor Geraniums with markings of 
gold, silver, and crimson, will endure our hot 
suns. Verbenas are among the most popular 
bedding plants, and give a great range of colors, 
from white to scarlet, crimson, maroon, and 
purple. Petunias. Only the single sorts should 
be used for bedding; named sorts may be had 
of florists, or they may be grown from the seed 
like annuals. Lobelias give us pure white, and 
the most beautiful of blues. The plants are of 
low growth, and in ribbon planting should oc¬ 
cupy the outside lines. Shrubby Calceolarias, 
though they give crimson and other colors, are 
valued in bedding for furnishing bright-yellow 
flowers. These are the leading plants grown 
for their flowers, besides which we have a num¬ 
ber used for the ornamental character of their 
foliage. Among the most popular and valuable 
of these are the Coleuses. The old Coleus Ver- 
schaffeltii, with crimson leaves, makes a splen¬ 
did bed; C. Veitchii has a dark chocolate spot in 
the leaves, and a new set of Golden Coleuses 
promise to give us a new series of fine shades. 
Alternantheras are low growing plants with 
small leaves variegated with rose, crimson, and 
yellow. Among the white or silvery-leaved plants 
there are Centaurea Candida and gymnocarpa , 
Cineraria maritima, Gnaphalium lanatum, and 
others. These answer admirably to set off al¬ 
most any of the flowering plants, and are intro¬ 
duced as edgings with fine effect, as well as to 
separate bright colors in lines of ribbon planting. 
It is well to dig over the bed several times, at 
intervals of a few days, in order that the soil 
may get well warmed through before the plants 
are set out. The distance apart for the plants 
will depend upon the habit of growth. Lobelias 
and small-growing ones should be about 6 inches 
apart, and the larger ones, such as Gerani¬ 
ums, a foot or more, according to their size. 
Rhubarb as a Market Crop. 
BY PETER HENDERSON, BERGEN CITY, N. J. 
In a recent article on Asparagus, I stated 
that in consequence of having to wait for re¬ 
turns some years until the crop matured, it fol¬ 
lowed that the profits when thej r did come, were 
much greater than from annual vegetables, that 
were sown from seed and matured the first year. 
Rhubarb in this respect, is similar to Asparagus. 
It matures earlier, and is more easily cultivated 
than Asparagus, as it is a plant that adapts 
itself to almost any soil, provided it is well 
drained, artificially or otherwise. The prefer¬ 
able soil for Rhubarb as for most vegetables, is 
a deep, sandy loam. Whatever the soil, it 
should be plowed from 10 to 12 inches deep, the 
subsoil plow following in the wake of the other, 
stirring to the depth of 10 or 12 inches more; 
after plowing, harrow deeply and thoroughly. 
After the soil is prepared, lines are struck out 
by the plow 4 feet apart from each side of 
the field or plot, so that they will intersect at 
right angles. At these points the plants are 
set, first mixing with the soil 3 or 4 shovelfuls 
of well-rotted manure for each plant. The 
time of planting in the Northern or Western 
States, may be either in the fall or spring; in 
the Southern States the fall is preferable. 
Rhubarb is usually propagated by division of 
the old roots; each eye or bud when broken 
apart with a root attached, forming a plant. 
But making a plantation of any great extent in 
this way, is expensive to the beginner, as the 
plants are rarely to be purchased under $50 per 
1,000 eyes, and as about 3,000 plants are re¬ 
quired to an acre, quite an outlay is necessary. 
This expense may be obviated by increasing 
the plants by seeds instead of by division of the 
roots. In the Northern States, the best time to 
sow the seed is about the first of March, in a 
cold pit or frame, that is, such a pit or frame as 
is used for keeping cabbage or lettuce plants in 
during winter. (Sec “ Gardening for Profit.”) 
The soil best suited is a rich sandy loam, which 
should be thoroughly pulverized, and the sur¬ 
face made completely level before sowing. One 
pound of seeds, which will give about one thou¬ 
sand plants, will be sufficient to sow six sashes, 
or about 100 square feet of surface. After sow¬ 
ing, a soil made light with half its bulk of leaf 
mould from the woods, should be evenly spread 
over the seed to the depth of one-quarter of an 
Fig. 3.—vegetable worms— {See next page .}. 
inch, and then nicely patted down with the 
back of a spade. This is necessary in the sow¬ 
ing of all seeds; for if the soil which covers 
them is left too loose, the air gets through and 
dries up the seed, so that they germinate slowly 
or not at all. Thousands of dollars are annu¬ 
ally lost both on the farm and in the garden by 
the want of this simple precaution. If the sur¬ 
face of the soil in the frames becomes dry, it 
will be necessary to water, showering freely 
from a fine rose watering-pot. If the sashes are 
covered up by mats or shutters so that the soil 
never becomes frozen, the plants will be large 
enough, if sown March 1st, to transplant by 
May 1st, but if not covered up at night they 
will take three weeks longer. In such sections 
of the country as are warm enough to begin out¬ 
door operations by the end of February or the 
beginning of March, there will be no need for 
sowing under sashes, as sowing in the open air 
in the manner described, will do equally well. 
The plants are fit to be transplanted into the 
open ground when they are about an inch in 
bight. The soil to receive them should be en¬ 
riched and pulverized in the best manner, and 
the plants set out either in rows 13 inches apart 
and 3 inches between the plants, or in beds of 
a convenient width, say 4 feet, and the plants 
set equidistant, 6 inches each way. By fall they 
will have grown, if kept clear of weeds, so as 
to cover all the ground, and may then, in the 
succeeding spring, be planted out permanently 
in the manner previously described. 
The first season after planting, no stalks should 
be pulled, as they are j r et too young for a crop. 
But the next year, that is, the third year from 
the seed, a full return may be expected if proper 
attention has been given to cultivation. 
It is exceedingly difficult to name the annual 
profits from an acre of Rhubarb in full bearing, 
as every thing depends upon earliness. Even 
here in the vicinity of New York, growers vary 
in their statements from $100 to $500 per acre. 
The difference of a week in earliness makes a 
difference of $200 and $300. Here, then, is a 
chance for many a point in the Southern States, 
