1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
527 
Rnr alisms— Continued. 
lives upon a little island in Long Island 
Sound, near Glen Cove. 
IT must be about 17 years ago that a 
picture of a raceme of Xanthoceras with 
some of the leaves was presented in the 
columns of The R. N.-Y. It was drawn 
from a colored portrait which appeared 
in the London Garden during 1875. Sev¬ 
eral years after we succeeded in getting 
a plant which, after blooming one sea¬ 
son, was accidentally destroyed. We 
next raised a dozen or more from seed 
which, though planted in the open 
ground, germinated freely and wintered 
perfectly, though not protected. They 
made a growth the first season, as we re¬ 
member, of about one foot. The ra¬ 
cemes are much like those of the horse- 
chestnut (Xanthoceras belongs to the 
same order—Sapindaceaa) but the flowers 
are an inch in diameter, with white 
petals, marked with red at the base. It 
is a native of China, where it is said to 
grow as tall as 15 feet or more. 
It is many years since we have alluded 
to the American Stuartia (S. pentagyna), 
one of those rarely beautiful native 
shrubs that unaccountably escape popu¬ 
lar notice. The buds are round like 
those of a peony, swelling to an inch in 
diameter before the petals unfold. The 
petals are white lK-inch broad in the 
middle and two inches long—the flower, 
borne on a phort, strong peduncle, being 
fully four inches in diameter. About the 
edges the petals are crimped, reminding 
one of a fluted shell like that of the scal¬ 
lop and suggesting Shell Flower as an 
appropriate familiar name. In the center 
of the flower is a cluster of a hundred 
stamens or more with prominent orange- 
colored anthers. The petals are normally 
five, but often we find two or three more, 
the stamens having changed to petals. 
No doubt fully double flowers might 
come from seedling cultivation. This 
shrub or little tree blooms in early July 
and is then a most showy object. The 
leaves are broadly elliptical and about 
five inches long with short petioles. 
Stuartia pentagyna is a native of the 
Alleghanies of Virginia and somewhat 
further south. Stuartia Virginica, found 
in the woods of Virginia and southward, 
differs from the other in that the petals 
are smaller and the flowers have but one 
style, while those of Pentagyna have five. 
The pods of the latter are angled and 
pointed ; the others are round and blunt. 
The tea plant and the camellia belong to 
the same family, viz., Camelliaceie. 
An excellent colored illustration of the 
new cherry, named Bing, appears in 
United States ex-Pomologist Van De¬ 
man’s report for 1892. The Bing orig¬ 
inated with Seth Lewelling, of Milwau¬ 
kee, Oregon, and Mr. Van Deman pro¬ 
nounces it “the largest cherry ever re¬ 
ceived at this office, and an excellent 
shipper.” It is heart-shaped, and the 
color is nearly black—a very dark crim¬ 
son. In quality it is said to be vinous 
and sweet. The season in Oregon is the 
first half of July. 
Otheb colored portraits in Mr. Van 
Deman’s report are the Eldorado black¬ 
berry, which originated with E. M. Buech- 
ly, of Greenville, Ohio. It is an oblong, 
irregular berry of large size. The color 
is a brownish black, flesh deep crimson 
with tender core ; flavor sweet and rich. 
Princess originated with Luther Bur¬ 
bank, of Santa Rosa, Cal., and is a hy¬ 
brid between a Siberian raspberry (Ru- 
bus crataegifolius) and the Pacific coast 
dewberry (Rubus ursinus). It is classed 
with the blackberries because it most 
resembles them in appearance, and the 
berries generally adhere to the recep¬ 
tacle. The berries are large, long, coni¬ 
cal or oval—the drupes of medium size. 
The quality is juicy, sub-acid, aromatic, 
resembling the raspberry in flavor. It 
ripens with the Hansell raspberry. The 
color is a dark purple. The plant has a 
trailing habit. 
Other colored portraits show the Han¬ 
nibal blackcap and Royal Church rasp¬ 
berry. The latter is of a lighter color, 
and smaller than it grows at the Rural 
Grounds. We shall make our report of 
this and other new raspberries in a few 
weeks. 
Pure, fine ground bone and a good 
quality of unleached ashes form a com¬ 
plete fertilizer and, if we use twice as 
much ashes as bone, a well-balanced fer¬ 
tilizer for almost any crops. We doubt if 
the fertilizer men can devise a better 
formula. True, the nitrogen of the fine 
bone is not so soluble as the nitrogen of 
nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia. 
We need only to apply the fine bone a 
little earlier to the land, or, for that mat¬ 
ter, sow a little soda as a starter. 
Dr. C. A. Goessman says that basic 
phosphatic slag (odorless phosphate) can 
be used with unleached wood ashes and 
nitrate of soda without suffering any 
loss. Here we have a complete fertilizer 
of high grade and high value. 
The Pacific Rural Press, published in 
San Francisco, illustrates a single tomato 
plant 19 feet high and 25 feet wide. It is 
eight months old. The picture is from 
a photograph and the picture of what 
seems to be an ordinary sized man stand¬ 
ing on the fourth step of a ladder gives 
proof that the dimensions of the plant 
are as stated. 
We have before called attention to the 
fact that so-called Canada unleached 
ashes vary in potash from 3 per cent to 
11 per cent. The phosphoric acid is less 
variable. It rarely contains less than 1 
per cent or more than 1.50 per cent. Not 
one of the samples analyzed was offered 
for less than $10 a ton. Most of them 
were about $12, and one of them $15. The 
lowest per cent was worth not over $3 25 
for its potash ; the highest per cent over 
$ 11 . 
The roses and the rose bugs this year 
took leave together. 
The corn worm and smut this year 
more than ever before have nearly de¬ 
stroyed the earliest ears of corn. 
The First Report of the Terra Cotta 
and Lemon Blush Tomatoes comes to us 
from Prof. W. F. Massey, the energetic 
horticulturist of the North Carolina Ex¬ 
periment Station (Raleigh). As these 
varieties originated at the Rural Grounds, 
as our readers are well aware, we are 
pleased to receive so favorable a report 
from a wholly disinterested and trust¬ 
worthy source: 
EDITOR R. N.-Y.: 
We have had the Terra Cotta and Lemon lHush 
tomatoes ripe for about a month (The letter is 
dated July It.—E ds.) The Lemon Blush I reward as 
the best yellow tomato I have ever grown. 1 do not 
think we have found one uneven fruit upon any of 
the pla-ts. I prefer it sliced to any of the many 
sorts we grow. 
Terra Cotta is well named, for Its color is peculiar 
—a sort of salmon brick color. The plant seems to 
have the resistant character of the Peach and the 
fruit Is larger. It s peculiarly destitute of any hard 
core, and while it Is not suited f ir a shipping tomato, 
It Is a step in the right direction. It Is the least acid 
of any we have. Iam Inclined to think It will can 
well, as It Is just about the size to can whole and 
need not be mutilated to cut out cores for It has 
none. I Und It almost as productive as the Pear- 
shaped tomato 
Abstracts. 
Harper’s Magazine : “ Pedants are 
ever building the language about with 
rules of iron in a vain effort to keep it 
from growing naturally and according 
to its needs.” 
- Prof. Lounsbury: “Slang is an effort 
on the part of the users of language to 
say something more vividly, strongly, 
concisely than the language as existing 
permits it to be said. It is the source 
from which the decaying energies of 
speech are constantly refreshed.” 
“It is the function of slang to be a 
feeder of the vocabulary. Words get 
threadbare and dried up ; they come to 
be like evaporated fruit, juiceless and 
tasteless. It is the function of slang to 
provide substitutes for the good words 
and true which are worn out by hard 
service.” 
EXAMINATIONS IN HORTICULTURE. 
Garden and Forest gives the following 
list of questions which were used by the 
Royal Horticultural Society of England, 
in examining candidates for gardeners’ 
certificates : 
1. Explain the mode of formation of 
the soil. 
2. What evils arise from stagnant 
moisture in the soil; and why is access 
of air necessary to the roots of plants ? 
3. In the selection of a site for the 
formation of a garden, what are the 
principal conditions to be observed ? 
Describe those of most importance. 
4. Describe the usual system of rota¬ 
tion of cropping in the kitchen garden, 
and what are the advantages derived 
therefrom ? 
5. Mention a few common weeds which 
usually grow: (1) on clay soils; (2) on 
sandy soils ; (3) on limestone soils. 
(i. Explain the ill effects which arise 
from too deep planting. 
7. IIojv may a succession of vegetables 
be obtained during every month in the 
year ? 
8 Explain the process of grafting, and 
state what objects are served by it. 
9. By what circumstances is the work 
of the leaves impeded ? 
10. Why is a combination of various 
substances in manure generally prefer¬ 
able to the application of one substance 
alone ? 
11. Describe the method of preparing 
the ground for strawberries ; the prepa¬ 
ration of the runners; also the best time 
and method of planting. 
12. Give some illustrations where fungi, 
so far from being injur ous, contribute 
to ti e welfare of the plant on which 
they grow. 
13. What are the relative advantages 
of training fruit trees on the espalier 
system, and on walls ? 
14. What variations occur in the mode 
of growth of a cutting ? 
A “gardener’s certificate,” as we under¬ 
stand it, is much like a teacher’s certifi¬ 
cate—a guarantee that those in authority 
consider the holder fully qualified to act 
as gardener. The object of an examina¬ 
tion ought to be to disclose what a per¬ 
son knows rather than what he does not 
know. He who can answer the above 
questions satisfactorily certainly knows 
a good real about a garden. 
Granges for the Complexion —The 
Globe-Democrat gives this remarkable 
treatment for a bad skin : 
No sort of food is better for the com¬ 
plexion than oatmeal and oranges. The 
finest complexions in the world aretLose 
of the Italian and Spanish ladies, who 
live largely on coarbe-grained food and 
fruit, like the oraDge and banana. It is 
said that the fact is becoming appreciated. 
and that some ladies, to acquire and pre¬ 
serve a good complexion, are living 
almost entirely on oranges. Half a dozen 
for breakfast, with a cup of coffee ; a 
dozen for lunch, with a glass of milk and 
a saucer of oatmeal, and a dozen more 
for supper, with a crust of bread and a 
sip of tea, may not be high living in the 
proper sense of the word, but such a 
course of diet will bring a complexion of 
peach and ivory which will drive almost 
any belle out of her head with envy. 
We should say that one who can afford 
such a diet would naturally have no 
higher ambition than to build a good 
complexion. The majority of us would 
prefer something a little nobler. 
If you name The Ritual New-Yorker to our 
advertisers, you may be pretty sure of prompt 
replies and right treatment 
IF YOU WISH your infant to be 
well nourished, healthy and vigorous. 
THE • BEST • FOOD 
For Hand-Fed Infants, Invalids, Conva¬ 
lescents, Dyspeptics, and the Aged. 
Our Book for MOTHERS, 
“THE CARE AND FEEDING OF INFANTS,” 
Mailed free upon request. 
DO LIBER GOO DALE CO.BOSTON, M ASS. 
♦ CIVE THE BABY ♦ 
NVALIDS. 
MARK. 
WOOD ASHES. 
FOR FERTILIZING PURPOSES. 
The Michigan Agricultural College values Hard 
Wood Ashes worth I'll).00 per ton. (Soft Wood 
$1(1.80 per ton, and Leached Ashes $10.40 per ton. 
Write for carload prices at jour Railroad Stations. 
We also manufacture Fotash Salt and Fare 
Bone Fertilizers. 
FITCH FERTILIZER WORKS, 
238 North Madison Ave, Bay City, Mleli. 
FRLL 1893 
"KEYSTONE” 
Coi’n Husker and 
FODDER CUTTER. 
"'KEYSTONE" 
CIDER MILLS. 
Two sizes:— 
Do fast and good work. 
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9 
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* 
9 
9 
at Husks the corn uud cuts the fodder at 
_ same time. 
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KEYSTONE” 
i* Wr/mT . -3 DISC 
GRAIN 
DRILLS 
PuIverize 
the soil, drill 
any grain 
and cover it. 
DISC SEEDER 
Pulverize the 
soil, broadcast 
the seed and 
cover it. 
DISC 
HARROW 
KEYSTONE” 
I'VrwTflwc*.. 
The great 
pulverizer 
for any 
soil. 
Send for full descriptions. 
? KEYSTONE MFC., CO., 
Sterling. III. 
««*fli »»999999999 
VAPORATINC FRUIT 
Full trcatlacon Improve, I method**, yield., pro- 
11,.,,,,, I „rlee« Free. AMERICAN MFC. CO. 
IRREGULARITY. 
Is that what troub¬ 
les you? Then it’s 
easily and promptly 
remedied by Doctor 
Fierce’s Pleasant 
Pellets. They regu. 
late the system per¬ 
fectly. Take one 
for a gentle laxa¬ 
tive or corrective; 
three for a cathartic. 
If you suffer from 
Constipation, Indi¬ 
gestion, Bilious At¬ 
tacks, Sick or Bilious Headaches, or any 
derangement of the liver, stomach, or 
bowels, try these little Pellets. They 
bring a permanent cure. Instead of 
shocking and weakening the system 
with violence, like the ordinary pills, 
they act in a perfectly easy and natural 
way. They’re the smallest, the easiest 
to take — and the cheapest , for they’re 
guaranteed to give satisfaction, or your 
money is returned. You pay only for 
the good you get. 
ENGINES. JAT., 
Threshing Machines. 
Best Machinery at Lowest Prices. 
A. B. FARQUHAR CO., York, Pa. 
PAINTroofs 
DIXON S SILICA GRAPHITE PAINT 
W ater will run from it pure and clean. It covers double 
the surface of any other paint, and will last four or/lv4 
timeslonger. Equally useful for any iron work. Send for 
circulars. Jos. Dixon Ckuciblk Co., Jersey City, N.J. 
PORTABLE BATHS, 
fi..t ever ttuo-n. WW.U..W m. 
Af.mt. W..U4 »t.ij 
Send f#r Clrcninrt, 
E. i. KN0WLT0N. 
