211 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
luture reference. We publish the reply as re¬ 
ceived. 
Yale College Analytical Laboratory, ) 
JNew-Haven, Ct., June 3d, 1859. S 
Orange Judd, Esq., Ed. Am. Agriculturist: 
Dear Sir: Your letter of the 30th ult., enclosing a sam¬ 
ple of “Tyler’s Patent Tree Powders” was duly received. 
As you requested, I have submitted the Powders to a 
careful examination, and find they consist of Calomel^ 
with a little lime, magnesia and soda, not more than may 
often occur in commercial Calomel. 
The idea of destroying insects that prey on the foliage 
of trees, by infusing some poison into the sap, seems to 
have this very serious objection, that whatever will kill 
the insect, may kill or at least injure the tree itself, or 
those who partake its/iuits. 
Calomel is a substance so insoluble that if placed, as di¬ 
rected for the “Tree Powders,” between the bark and 
wood of a tree, it is not to be anticipated that it could 
travel perceptibly into the circulation, so as to poison in¬ 
sects that feed on the foliage or bark. 
SAMUEL W. JOHNSON. 
-«s>-4--MSB 38=»*— —<2B-- 
Prune Fruit Trees How. 
Not excessive pruning, and indiscriminate 
cutting and slashing after the practice of the 
newly arrived Englishman, who was making 
openings “ to let the Aair in,” but more or less 
pruning must needs be done, especially in or¬ 
chards which have not received proper care in for¬ 
mer years. If fruit trees are properly trained from 
the time they leave the nursery until they arrive 
at maturity, a common pruning knife will be the 
only implement needed, except in accidental 
splitting down of branches. But taking things 
as we find them—with the cross growth chafing 
the bark, a compact and too crowded head, limbs 
already beginning to decay—there are branches 
from three to four inches in diameter which must 
needs be removed, for the future best interests 
of the orchard. 
To doctor such an orchard we would, during 
the latter part of July or early in August, take a 
light ladder, a narrow, fine toothed saw, a sharp 
pruning knife and a pot of shellac dissolved in al¬ 
cohol with a paint brush in it, and commence 
operations. It is useless to attempt to make a 
full grown orchard, whose pruning has been neg¬ 
lected, look like the well formed, evenly balanced 
and short jointed trees which have yearly re¬ 
ceived a judicious cutting-out and shortening-in, 
from the time they were first planted. This is 
out of the question. In cases of doubtful expe¬ 
diency, we would give the tree the benefit of the 
doubt by leaving the branch, or in other words 
we would leave a somewhat thick top rather 
than make too many wounds to heal over. 
Select a limb, saw it off close to the body of the 
tret ox larger branch , being careful that its weight 
does not cause it to split down just before falling. 
Paris the wound smooth and coat with the shel¬ 
lac to keep out water and prevent sun-checking. 
Yfhen done during this month (July) the later 
giowth of the season will commence to roll over 
th? smooth cut and in a few years the new wood 
will unite upon the two sides and scarcely leave 
a scar. If an ax is used, leaving a stub of some 
six inches in length, the new growth fails to cov¬ 
er this cut; the stub begins to rot and let in wa¬ 
ter, which still further hastens decay even tow¬ 
ards tie heart of the tree. 
Agair, there is no free sap now in the tree to be 
both lost and converted into a poisonous acid upon 
the trunk The abundant foliage also protects the 
wounds which without shade or covering of some 
kind would crack in the sunshine. 
We know that early Spring pruning has strong 
advocates, with many of the old school cultivators, 
some contending that their fathers and grand¬ 
fathers prunVd at that season, and consequently 
it must be the best time. Others ask why let the 
tree grow from May to July, and then throw 
away this very growth, and still others say July 
is a busy month, while we have plenty of time 
in February and March. 
Answering the last first, we say, if you can not 
afford the needful time to attend to fruit trees, 
you can not expect success, and may as well give 
up fruit growing. Again it is not always found 
that the practices of our fore-fathers brought with 
them from an entirely different climate, are best 
suited to our wants, and they are gradually aban¬ 
doned or changed. Let us also ask what is 
gained in point of growth by cutting off a limb in 
Spring and allowing the sap to escape, or let that 
same sap form wood which in turn is cut awayl 
With small shoots of but one year’s growth 
the time of pruning is not very essential. The 
old directions to “ prune at any time when the 
tools are sharp,” may answer for these. But on 
large limbs, give us July and August for pruning 
in this latitude. 
Pot Culture of Roses. 
Many persons who have no gardens, wish to 
have a collection of window-plants ; and among 
these, they desire by all means to have a few 
roses. Others who have gardens, wish also to 
decorate their living-rooms in Winter with some 
of these floral charms. To such we offer a few 
words on the cultivation of roses in pots. 
Small plants may be bought at the nurseries for 
a trifle ; but where one wishes to avoid even this 
expense, they maybe got in the following manner: 
Ask some generous Florist, or some rose-growing 
friend fora few cuttings of several desirable sorts, 
and “strike” them yourself Get the cuttings 
in June or September, three or four inches long 
and with three buds. If possible, have a bud on 
the lower end of each cutting, and a leaf or two 
on the upper end. Insert them two inches or 
more in very sandy soil, shade them from the 
mid-day sun, and give them gentle sprinklings 
every evening. In three or four weeks, they 
will probably be rooted, and may be transplanted 
into separate pots. If extra care is given them, 
they will flower the first Winter. 
The soil for potting roses is of great impor¬ 
tance. A good mixture is, a compost of sand, 
turfy loam, and old manure, in equal proportion. 
If leaf-mold can be got, a little may well be added. 
Small pieces of charcoal may also be put in near 
the bottom of the pot; the roots delight to ramble 
among them. Every pot should be supplied with 
an inch and-a-half of drainage, made of small 
stones, pieces of broken crockery, or oyster shells. 
Plants intended for house culture should be kept 
in pots during the Summer. They would per¬ 
haps grow more luxuriantly if set out in the open 
ground, but in taking them up in the Fall, their 
roots would be so much injured that the plants 
would not bloom till about the following March. 
Keep them in pots the year round, sinking them 
in the ground during Summer, in some rather 
shaded situation so as to check their growth ; 
re-pot them carefully in September, or add some 
fresh mold to the same pots, give them a good 
pruning, cutting out the weak shoots and short¬ 
ening the strong, and set them for a few days in 
a cool aspect. Afterwards, they may have a 
sunnier spot, until frosty nights come on, when 
they should be taken under shelter. They will 
soon make new growth and exhibit flower-buds. 
These before long should be pinched back, so as 
to give the plants a vigorous, bushy habit, and a 
profusion of flowers during mid-winter. 
We now suppose our plants to be in their Win 
ter quarters, on a table or plant-stand near the 
window. The pots are washed clean, the bushes 
are neatly tied up to stakes, and every decayed 
leaf removed. They occupy one side of our liv¬ 
ing room, the air of which we know is too dry 
for their well-being ; but we sprinkle their leaves 
every morning, and keep pans of wet sand cov¬ 
ered with moss standing among them, hoping that 
the constant evaporation will keep them tolerably 
moist. Whenever the weather will permit, we 
open the window and give them a taste of fresh 
air which they undoubtedly relish. Insects in¬ 
fest them at times, hut a little perseverance sub¬ 
dues them. We first tried the fumes of burning 
tobacco upon them, but this killed only a part, 
while it filled the house with offensive odors. 
Then we invited them to “take tea” with us 
the tea being tobacco-juice, and they left in dis¬ 
gust. And this is the entertainment we always 
give them when they come to our house. Or, to 
drop all figure, we make a pretty strong decoc¬ 
tion, using the leaves found at tobacconists, take 
the plant infested and holding a cloth firmly over 
the top of the pot to keep the dirt from falling 
out, we plunge the foliage in the decoction and 
keep it there for a minute or two. This proves a 
settler to all the vermin In the course of ten or 
fifteen minutes, we give the foliage a sprinkling of 
clean water. It is well occasionally to loosen up 
the soil in the pots With a small stick. Water 
should be given, just enough to keep the plants 
from flagging, increasing the quantity while they 
are growing vigorously and blooming freely. 
The following will furnish a good list to select 
from. Bourbons: Souvenir de la Malmaison, 
flesh color, large and double; George Couvier, 
carmine, good form, and abundant bloomer ; Her- 
mosa, bright pink, cifpped, always in flower. 
Tea Roses : Devotiiensis, creamy white, and 
excellent; Gloire de Dijon, fawn color; Frago- 
letta, rosy blush ; Niphetos, pure white ; Eliza 
Sauvage, canary yellow. Noisettes : Solfaterre, 
sulphur yellow, globular; Fellenbergh, crimson, 
great bloomer; Lamarque, greenish white. 
Chinas : Aggripina, crimson ; Madame Bosan- 
quet, creamy blush, very beautiful. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Dielytra or Dielytra? 
NAMES op plants. 
What a difference a small part of a letter will 
produce in a name. While this, now well known 
and truly superb plant, the diadem of the flower¬ 
bed, is in Europe called and written Diclytra : 
here it is known as the Dielytra , and it seems 
that at the first introduction of the plant into 
this country the c was read e. In some of the 
English catalogues it reads with c also, and if the 
plant was exported from England to the Conti¬ 
nent, the mistake may he on the other side. 
It is certainly an interesting question, which of 
the two is the true name of this most valuable 
flower 1 Authorities speak for Diclytra, etymolo¬ 
gy for Dielytra. The plant is the Fumaria ( amo - 
ena ?) of Linnde, the Corydalis spectabilis of' 
Persoon, and the Diclytra spect of De Candolle, 
who in his Prodromus, enumerates several of the 
Corydalis under that name. Boppe, in his admi¬ 
rable and most complete work (German) on flori¬ 
culture, has it as Corydalis, but gives the syno¬ 
nym, “ Diclytra We can hardly doubt in such 
authorities. Yet, etymology finds nothing in 
Diclytra, while in Di-elytra it clearly sees a de¬ 
scription of the form of the flower, as—in Greek— 
the name signifies : two-bladdered or two wing- 
cased; every flower has a double swelling. 
Can any one of your readers give a decisive 
answer to the question—and thereby to the fa¬ 
vorite flower its proper name I Mimosus. 
P., N. II. 
