1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
at the time of planting, they should be sprayed often 
with a very fine spray, so as to keep the foliage and 
atmosphere damp, without overwatering the soil. 
This is a critical period. Until new root growth starts 
we want a thoroughly moist, but not soggy soil, a 
condition rather hard to describe. The idea is to 
supply the plants with moisture through the leaves, 
by frequent fine spraying—in bright weather two or 
three times daily, perhaps—rather than through the 
roots, until new growth starts, which should be in a 
week or so. A light shading on the glass, we think is 
beneficial, until the plants are well started ; the 
simplest is a wash of clay and water put on with a 
brush. It is easily applied and removed, and should 
be taken off gradually, so as to accustom the plants, 
by degrees, to the full light. 
Abundant ventilation should be given all the time ; 
in fact, the ventilators might be left fully open in 
this latitude, day and night, until the latter part of 
October, without much risk, unless one is forcing a 
very early crop of bloom. The carnations will stand 
a pretty low temperature without other damage than 
retarding the crop—even a slight freezing will not 
harm them, unless they have been forced in a h ; gh 
temperature. 
There is not much advantage in having a large cut 
of flowers until after chrysanthemums are out of the 
way, which is in December. Of course, there is a 
market for them all the time, but the best prices are 
usually obtained during the winter months. 
It would probably interest many of the readers to 
see the “summer bloomers,” as they are called, one 
grower alone having something over half an acre for 
that purpose. They are a beautiful sight, indeed, 
while the delicate fragrance is perceptible at quite a 
distance. 
At the present rate of increase in glass area, this 
county will not only blossom as a rose in a general 
sense, but liter¬ 
ally as the car- * 
nat ; on. In com- / 
pany with a Mk 
fellow bicycler 
florist, I have M,W pj\ 
recently visited 
some 30 differ- 
ent establish- f 
ments, and AwK/ 
found about as ^ 
many new ^ ^ 
houses in course 
of construction. AW\\^. | 
To the^ timid, 
ous ; the novice 
season, and this 1 
has induced » 
many to em- ^ 
, , . . - A LEAF OF P. CUSPIDATUM. Fia. 20 
bark in the 
business. How¬ 
ever, many of these houses will be devoted to toma¬ 
toes ; the stock of carnation plants is below the 
average in condition, and these factors, in connection 
with the constantly increasing demand for flowers, 
will, I trust, prevent any very serious depression. 
Fluctuations, more or less marked, we have had, and 
doubtless will have ; but the lessons they teach are 
that quality in this, as in other industries, is of prime 
importance, and that our methods of distribution are 
not always the most efficient. c. p. barnabd. 
Westchester Co., Pa. 
2. The Timbrell, that is so thoroughly satisfactory 
at the Rural Grounds, has no value whatever here. 
3. The Miller (Miller Queen) raspberry is vastly 
superior to any other red variety that has ever fruited 
on my grounds—vigorous plant, healthy, heavy 
foliage, early to ripen its large, bright-red berries 
which are quite firm and free from crumbling when 
picked from the plants ; quality excellent, and last, 
but no less important, very prolific. Thompson, Tur¬ 
ner, Brandywine and flausell are “back numbers” as 
compared with the Miller. 
4. Late blooming of varieties of plums, pears, 
peaches, etc., does not always afford greater cer¬ 
tainty of a crop. For example, this year, nearly all 
of the quite early blooming fruits produced full 
crops, while those kinds less sensitive to spring sun¬ 
shine, and which bloom later on in the season by 
from one to two weeks, were caught just in the 
“ flood” of bloom, in a pi*otracted downpour of rain 
lasting a full week, and failed to pollinate. The late 
1 1 w 1 
JN- 
ImI 
A LEAF OF P. CUSPIDATUM. Fia. 209. 
A LEAF OF P. AMPLEXICAULE. Fia. 210. 
C. P. BARNARD. 
FRUIT LESSONS OF THE PAST SEASON. 
“ We would like to know what you know now, that you 
didn't know in the spring.” 
1. I know that the application of the Bordeaux 
Mixture to strawberry plants, failed absolutely to 
prevent the rust. Three different applications—one 
each in October, March aDd April—to rows running 
through the patch, showed no effect whatever, and 
there was no difference between them and the rows 
not treated.’ All had plenty of rust—that is, all of 
certain varieties, such as Parker Earle, Barton’s 
Eclipse, Beder Wood, etc. So, my dependence for 
freedom from this disease, will hereafter be a careful 
selection of such kinds as possess plant vigor sufficient 
successfully to resist its attacks. 
bloomers were a failure as to crop. This was es¬ 
pecially conspicuous in plums, and as the Japan varie¬ 
ties are nearly all quite early in blooming, thereby 
escaping injury, this year’s crops of these will, no 
doubt, renew the enthusiasm in their favor. Not so 
with myself, however. 
5. The Willard is no earlier than the Yosebe (both 
Japan plums), and while it has the advantage in size, 
the latter has it in greater freedom from rot. The 
Willard, with me, was about the size of the Eugre, 
only a trifle earlier, and fully as susceptible to rot— 
which means nine-tenths of them unmarketable here. 
The claim, made by some, that the Willard is a month 
earlier than Wild Goose, is fallacious to an extreme. 
6. The Crosbey peach averages too small in size to 
count for anything as a market variety for this pen¬ 
insula, ripening with me, about the same time as 
Crawford’s Late, and other fine large kinds of the 
Melocoton type ; this renders it wholly ineligible as a 
peach “for revenue.” Several popular Michigan 
varieties are also valueless here for the same reason, 
such as Snow’s Orange, Switzerland, Lewis, Dumont, 
Corner, etc. Size seems to be the all important and 
indispensable requisite for a market peach with us, 
color second, quality third. Truly, “ What fools we 
mortals be,” for who with a civilized palate, would 
swap a well-matured OldmiNon for a Crawford’s Late 
or Susquehanna ? 
7. There is but a small margin of profit in summer 
apples, when there is a pretty general crop of such, 
as this year. No matter how fine the fruit, when 
there is an abundance of it, competition lowers the 
price. 
8. This peninsula has fewer debts, and more smiles 
on the faces of its fruit growers and farmers, than 
was the case six months back. Oh ! the incalculable 
blessings embodied in a peach crop, that brings hun¬ 
dreds of thousands of cash to a dozen counties. All 
the vast machinery of business is lubricated. “ Man’s 
inhumanity to man ” is obscured by the radiant smiles 
of prosperity, the gentle dews of which renew that 
feeling of the human heart which entertains “Charity 
for all and malice toward none.” j. w. KERR. 
Maryland. 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
Knotweeds, Saghalin, Cuspidatum and Amplexicaule 
Now we may tell our readers, as we promised to do, 
all we have learned about Saghalin from a single 
season’s trial, and compare it with its near relatives 
Cuspidatum and Amplexicaule. The name Saghalin 
(Sacaline, as it ought not to be called) will probably 
stand as a “common” name. In the absence of any 
recognized familiar names for the other two, we may 
designate them by the botanical specific names of 
Cuspidatum and Amplexicaule, or stem-clasping, 
alluding to the manner in which the leaves clasp the 
stems. These three plants belong to the Buckwheat 
family. It had not been suspected that either 
Amplexicaule or Cuspidatum has any value as a forage 
plant, until The R. N.-Y. called attention to the pos- 
J a sibility last 
/mm\ year, when 
/{mt mjk Saghalin was 
mwllluk first announced 
in this country 
V as “a new for- 
lyit WmJrwh ago plant pro ' 
■™,\ w/\fkk ducing from 90 
P\\\S to 180 tons of 
/tf‘h v JMI green torage 
needs no culti, 
cuttings each 
Vv year ; grows 14 
JEAF OF SAGHALIN. FlO. 211. feet h ^ g h 
June; affords 
shade to cattle in summer, protection against storms 
in winter; floods will not destroy it, fire will not 
kill it; cattle cannot trample it out,” etc. 
The above statements are copied from a pamphlet 
issued by A. Blanc & Co., of Philadelphia, Pa., who 
claim to be the introducers as to this country. 
Our experience with Saghalin, as our readers may 
know, is confined to a trial of the past season. One 
plant was sent to us by Blanc & Co.,several others by 
Mr. Jaenicke of West Grove, Pa. We have had Cus¬ 
pidatum for over 20 years, and Amplexicaule for about 
eight years. 
The plants of Saghalin, June 25, had three shoots, 
one six inches, the others 2>£ feet high. There were 
about five leaves to the foot of stalk, the largest being 
seven inches long and four broad. By August 19, the 
plants had become quite bushy, about three feet high, 
the older stems being hollow. They have since made 
little growth, the plants forming pendulous bushes 
about four feet in diameter. 
July 25, the Amplexicaule, though crowded by 
many herbaceous plants and several trees, was five 
feet high. This old plant has spread in all directions. 
Just what it would do if growing by itself and in 
good soil, we may only guess. The stems are much 
shorter jointed than those of Saghalin, the leaves 
much longer—the longest over a foot—and the stems 
neither so hard nor so woody. Again, the s.tecqs avvj 
Cifl 
A LEAF OF SAGHALIN. FlO. 211. 
