258 
AMERICAN AGRICUETURIST. 
[juLif, 
model to follow in trying to improve the looks 
Of one of the most harmoniously beautiful of 
nature’s productions. Use colored washes. 
A Hopeful Sign. 
The census shows that N. Y. city made but lit' 
tie increase of population for the last five years 
With all due allowance for the influ¬ 
ence of the war and for the rapacity 
of landlords, we can but think that 
the attractions Of country life are bet¬ 
ter appreciated. Rents for dwellings 
are unparalleled, and this cause has 
driven multitudes from the island. 
Once in the country, in the enjoyment 
of its independence and healthful 
breezes, they have learned to like it, 
and, as they say, would not go back 
to the city again for anything. To 
people who have always lived in the 
city, the hardening process is a little 
Uncomfortable, but is soon over. It 
involves more labor to keep house in 
the country, but this does not neces¬ 
sarily come upon the housekeeper. 
Country life has its compensations, 
and we think the balance is decided¬ 
ly in its favor. We do not have the 
Croton coming into every room in the 
house in the country, but then we do 
not have the water bills to pay for, 
and the plumber’s bills, and the an¬ 
noyance of bursting pipes, and flood¬ 
ed carpets and spoiled papering and 
plastering, and the endless list of bills 
to get things set right again. We do 
not have gas, but then we have the 
bliss of paying for just what light we 
get, and no more. We occasionally 
miss a good lecture in the country, 
but we have more than we can hear. 
In social advantages, in religious priv¬ 
ileges, in schools, in all the means of 
rational enjoyment we are on a par 
with the resident of Fifth Averfue. We 
can beat him on eggs and vegetables, 
for we know the hens and the soil 
that make them, and have no occasion 
to take the word of the green grocer 
for their quality. We can beat him 
on dawns and sunsets, clouds and 
breezes, easy, and as to high art, he is 
just nowhere. We have the orig¬ 
inals of the sublime mountains, the fine land¬ 
scapes, the cattle and fruit pictures they make 
such a fuss about at the Academy exhibitions • 
and it costs us nothing to frame, hang and take 
care of them. We can but think these things 
are better understood than they used to be, and 
that the seed we have been sowing in the Agri¬ 
culturist tox \Xxq last dozen years or more is 
springing up. There is a good time coming. 
Henderson grows a variety of A. paniculatus, 
which, as a “ foliage plant,” is not excelled in 
brilliancy by any of the plants with colored 
leaves that we have yet seen. It grows 3 or 4 
feet high, and has large leaves, is an annual, and 
has a pleasing habit. There is not a particle 
of green about the plant, and in a good light, 
it is a “foliage plant” of great brilliancy. 
Viola CoRNtr'rA.—This old violet is attract- 
ing a great deal of attention abroad, and some 
of our own florists have made a trial of it. In 
planting an ornamental bed, we made use of 
ttns as an edging, and though not in full flower 
It ^promises so well, that we are much pleased 
With it. If half what is said of it abroad should 
prove true with us, it will be a valuable addition 
to our gardens. We shall watch the behavior 
summer with interest, 
pro a y oor readers will hear more about it. 
THE SORREL-TREE, —( Oxydendmm arboreum .) 
The Sorrel-tree. —{Oxydendrum arhoreum.) 
Amaranth.-U nder the 
name of Amarantus sanguineus, Mr. Peter 
When we state that this is a most beautiful 
native small tree, it is equivalent to saying that 
it is not commonly found in cultivation. Were 
it from abroad, and only to be had at five dol¬ 
lars the plant, it would be found almost every¬ 
where. We shall keep “ pitching into ” you, 
Messrs.^ Kurserymen, until jmu take a little in¬ 
terest in our native plants—not that by any 
means we would have you neglect the foreign 
ones, only give our home-made things a chance 
to be known. This tree was formerly called 
Andromeda arlorea, but when that large genus 
was divided up, this received the name of Oxy¬ 
dendrum, which means “Sour-tree”—and indeed 
It bears the name of Sour-wood in some parts 
of the country. The leaves of the tree have 
a remarkably sour taste; they are decidu¬ 
ous, have a bright shiny green color, and in 
shape, bear much resemblance to those of the 
peach. ^ The engraving gives a representation 
ot a twig at flowering time, and shows the form 
of the leaves as well as the loose panicle of 
small white flowers. It is found growing wild 
in most of the Southern and Middle States, 
Pennsylvania and Ohio being its northern lim¬ 
its. It grows wild in rich woods, and in culti¬ 
vation should have a soil with a good deal of 
vegetable mould to correspond to its natural lo¬ 
calities. The tree flowers when quite small, but 
it attains when old- the bight of 40 to 60 feet. It 
seems to be quite hardy, as tve harve 
seen it endure the very cold winters 
near Boston and in Michigan. 
Books, and How They Are Made. 
We have heard several times of late 
that Mr. Puller’s Grape Book, and 
Mr. Henderson’s Garden Book, were 
written by one of the editors of the 
Agriculturist. These allegations come 
so direct from people who ought to 
know better, that we feel bound to 
notice them, and if, after this dis¬ 
claimer, we hear anything more on 
the subject, we shall mention the 
names of those who circulate these 
reports. In the first place, it is a mis¬ 
erable imputation upon both the 
authors and the editors. It implies 
that the authors cannot write, as well 
as that the editors are willing to allow 
what they write to be issued over an¬ 
other name. How we distinctly re¬ 
pudiate both these charges. We have 
never published a work of which the 
author did not furnish the full man¬ 
uscript. We exercise a critical super¬ 
vision over all the works we publish, 
(would that others did the same,) but 
it is only to make the author say what 
he means, and in the best possible 
manner, that any corrections or 
changes have been made at all in not 
only these works, but any works that 
we publish. We would have certain 
persons understand that we publish 
only reliable works from competent 
authors, and that our books are not 
made against time and by the job, to 
fit certain furnished illustrations; that 
we are not in the “book making” 
busIness.^ We have, in our safe, the 
manuscript of more books than we 
can get out in many months, and 
some of them of great value, but 
■we. must submit them all to editorial super¬ 
vision. One rule is, to never accept a manu¬ 
script until we have read it. We have had 
some experience in the matter, and we never 
yet saw the manuscript that some one other 
than the author could not improve. So correct 
an author as Bancroft has his History put in 
type, and, before he prints it, he subjects the 
proofs to judicious friends. He means to be 
correct, and if some publishers of horticultural 
books, we know of, would take the pains to 
have their works properly edited, both the 
authors and publishers would fare better, and 
the public would be saved much nonsense. 
Yotjno Grape Vines.—T he great trouble 
with inexperienced cultivators is, that they will 
allow a young vine to have its own way. It 
is the inexorable law, that a vine cannot yield 
both fruit and wood. If the vine is grown for 
present satisfaction only, then let it fruit if it will, 
but if future crops are regarded, then remove 
all the fruit that sets the fii'st year after planting, 
and pinch the laterals to get a good wood growth. 
