3L4r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
picked, and the stem carefully removed. They 
are then packed in any vessel, a glass jar pre¬ 
ferred, until it is two-thirds full; water is then 
poured over the fruit, but not enough to fill the 
vessel, and on the water oil (olive) is poured to 
form a covering about half an inch thick. The 
oil should not come quite up to the edge of the 
jar, in order to allow of the expansion and con¬ 
traction by changes of temperature. We give 
this as we find it, and feel about it much as did 
the New Hampshire dominie who was preach¬ 
ing upon the power of faith to remove moun¬ 
tains. Looking out of the window towards 
Monadnock he said: 
“ Monadnock is a pretty 
solid old mountain; but, 
my friends, it will do you 
no hurt to try to move it.” 
The Wood op Pau¬ 
lownia. —Paulownia Im ¬ 
perials is used to a con¬ 
siderable extent in this 
country as an ornamental 
tree. Its rapid growth 
and the beauty of its flow¬ 
ers in spring commend it; 
while its enormous bunch¬ 
es of dark brown seed 
vessels, which remain for 
a year or more, are against 
it. M. Carriere, of the 
Jardin des Plantes, has re¬ 
cently called attention to 
the value of its timber. 
He thinks that the extreme 
lightness of the wood has 
caused it to be neglected. 
A well-dried branch of a 
young tree is scarcely 
heavier than cork. The 
wood from an old tree is 
more compact, and is sus¬ 
ceptible of a fine silky 
polish. The striking pecu¬ 
liarity of the wood is that 
it does not shrink, nor 
warp, nor split, even when 
green or however thin it 
may be cut. The Japan¬ 
ese use it in thin veneers 
for the same purposes 
that we use pasteboard— 
to make boxes, etc. M. 
Carriere thinks that when 
the value of the tree 
becomes better known it will be planted along 
roads and such places. The Paulownia grows 
readily from root-cuttings, and may be raised 
from seed, and is worthy of the attention of 
those engaged in tree planting at the West. 
Bath Asparagus. —The young flower-stalks 
with the undeveloped flower buds of the Or- 
nitkogalum Pyrenaium are sold in Bath under 
the name of “ wild asparagus.” This Ornitlio- 
galum grows wild in abundance in some parts 
of England. We know its congener, 0. u\n- 
lellatum , as the Star of Bethlehem, found in 
old gardens, and more or less naturalized. The 
Gardeners’ Chronicle says it is the best substi¬ 
tute for asparagus yet tried; “ better by far tiiau 
the Hop-tops of which our Belgian and Dutch 
friends make so much, and better than any 
‘green-corn’ we have yet tasted, in spite of 
what our American friends may say.” That is 
a little cool—the idea of an Englishman, even 
though he be an editor, protending that he 
knows anything about green-corn! 
The Shah and Horticulture. —That ill- 
mannered Oriental that has made England 
happy by leaving it has been turned to account 
by several horticulturists. One fills a whole page 
of each of the London horticultural journals 
with an account of the floral decorations at 
Buckingham Palace “ in honor of His Imperial 
Majesty the Shah of Persia.” A table decora¬ 
tion in the “private rooms appropriated to 
Royalty” on the occasion of the Shah’s visit to 
the Crystal Palace is minutely described in one 
journal, and another informs us that it should 
have stated last w r eek that the bouquets at the 
state ball in honor of the Shah were by Mr. 
A New Double Poinsettia. 
DOUBLE POINSETTIA PULCHEKRIMA. 
Wimsett. Several nurserymen and florists get 
a fine lot of advertising, so the visit of the 
Shah has done a little good. 
Propagating Ipecacuanha.— The attempts 
to cultivate Ipecac in British India promise suc¬ 
cess. It has generally been grown from root 
cuttings, but w'e learn that a cultivator in Sik¬ 
kim has succeeded in striking plants from a 
single leaf. We are not surprised at this, as 
Ipecac under almost any circumstances is pretty 
sure to come up. ' 
“Our Pears.”— L. Van Houtte, the cele¬ 
brated Belgian nurseryman, announces a work 
with the title “Nos Pokes.” It will bo in 
French and English, and give colored plates of 
SO varieties, and wood-cuts of 39 others, which 
will include about all that can be ranked as 
first-class. 
Abutilon Thompsoni. —This finely varie¬ 
gated Abutilou is said by the Gardeners’ Chron¬ 
icle to be only a form of the well known A. stri¬ 
atum —commonly called “Flowering Maple”— 
with its leaves blotched and marbled with yellow. 
Every one familiar with greenhouse plants 
knows the Poinsettia pulcherrima. Botanists 
now call it Euphorbia, but it will probably re¬ 
tain the old name of Poinsettia among florists. 
In this plant the inconspicuous flower clusters 
are surrounded by several floral leaves or 
bracts, each three or four inches in length, and 
of the most intense scarlet imaginable. When 
we say that this new Poinsettia has not only 
the original series of bracts, but that the center, 
ordinarily occupied by the flowers, is filled up 
with hundreds of smaller 
bracts upon short stems, 
diminishing in size until 
the smallest are only an 
inch long, every florist 
will see that here is a 
novelty indeed. This re¬ 
markable plant was dis¬ 
covered by that prince of 
collectors, Mr. Roezl, who 
found it in a small Indian 
village in the Mexican 
State of Guerrero in May 
last. He modestly says 
that no botanist or florist 
would believe his descrip¬ 
tion of this magnificent 
plant; but he has brought 
dried specimens, which we 
have examined, and are 
quite sure that he is within 
bounds when he states 
that what we may call 
the “flower cluster” is 
often 14 to 18 inches in 
diameter and about six 
inches high. Mr. R. states 
that the smaller bracts are 
scarlet tinged with violet, 
and that the flowers in 
Mexico last from De¬ 
cember until April. The 
original Poinsettia is a 
wonderful plant, with the 
leaves near the flowers 
taking on all the delicacy 
aud brilliancy of petals, 
and we now have a sport 
in which the flowers them¬ 
selves are superseded by 
clusters of bracts, making 
it about as different from 
the normal sort as a cauliflower is different 
from a cabbage. In our reduced engraving we 
can only give a general idea of a cluster, but a 
careful examination of the dried specimens 
shows it to be no exaggeration. This will cer¬ 
tainly take a high rank for conservatory decora¬ 
tion, especially as it holds its color—we can 
hardly say bloom—so long, and for florists and 
bouquet makers the clusters of small aud bril¬ 
liant bracts will be invaluable. The large bracts 
of the old sort can only be used in large bou¬ 
quets aud decorative pieces, while this will 
allow the same brilliancy to be imparted to 
smaller work. A house filled with the ordinary 
Poinsettia in full perfection forms the most 
gorgeous displays of color we ever saw, and we 
can hardly imagine the brilliancy that would 
be presented by an equal number of this new 
kind. Mr. Roezl informs us that he has placed 
the small stock that he succeeded in saving of 
this, the most remarkable of his many valuable 
contributions to horticulture, in the hands of our 
veteran florist Mi'. Isaac Buchanan of this city v 
who willl send it out in due time. 
