V 
1 
f 
cdflanqultupl. 
FTG-. 3.-LILIP>U r r O Ti. 
very old, it is new to me. Will you tell me 
where I can get the seed, what they will 
cost, and if they will do well in Washington 
Territory?—«. l. b . 
Can bo obtained of any seedsman, at 
about ten cents n package. It is slow in 
propagating. It is as well to plant it in (he 
fall, and it will start next spring. If planted 
production of roots, the vine may be cut 
about half way through before covering. 
The Hod Beet is being urged for plant¬ 
ing on English grounds, as a decorative 
plant, been use it is both hardy, beautiful 
and useful. There are some who object to 
MOORE’S RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
SAVE THE FORESTS-PLANT TREES. 
A proposition is made to remove the 
duties on lumber for the purpose of saving 
American forests. No! If American for¬ 
ests are of any value in the market, let 
them be cut down and sold. Because wheat 
is scarce should we let it He in the bins un¬ 
marketed ? Tho way to- protect forests is 
to plant now ones. If timber is to be scarce 
and valuable, the greater should be the in¬ 
centive for planting. In proportion to its 
scarcity is the profit of planting. Thou¬ 
sands of acres of lands are good for nothing 
else hut to grow valuable timber. Let ev¬ 
ery farmer plant trees whore trees alone 
can grow profitably; and of varieties that 
an* most used in the economic industries of 
the country. We uoed not be alarmed at 
tho denudation of our lands of trees pro¬ 
vided we plant ono or two trees for every 
one cut down. If the same policy is pur¬ 
sued in planting trees that obtains in the 
cull iration of other crops, there will be no 
cause for complaint or alarm. 
ARBORICULTURAL NOTES. 
Orchard Items from Maine. — Avery 
remarkable case was stated by Elder Dun¬ 
ham (at the late mooting of the Maine 
Board of Agriculture), of an apple tree 
which in ton years had grown to bo two 
feet in diameter, and on the tenth year 
yielded ten bushels of apples. It was plant¬ 
ed on soil which had been removed from a 
neighboring bank which was made by suc¬ 
cessive layers of very different soils. This 
mixed soil, which was about eighteen inches 
thick, was deposited upon a muck bed which 
rested on a coarse, gravelly foundation. 
It was stated that the best mode of plant¬ 
ing orchards in Maine was to put seventy 
trees to the acre, or about thirty more than 
is found useful in other States. 
A southwest wind, blowing for two days, 
will as effectually kill all the blossoms on 
the apple trees as though fire had passed 
over them; but if the orchard is surrounded 
by a belt of pine trees, no such effect fol¬ 
lows.—M. 
O.sage Orange Hedges.—Will you an¬ 
swer: 1. Does Osage Orange require a rich 
soil? 2. What time elapses before it can be 
depended upon as an effectual barrier ? 3. 
How thickly should the plants be sot, and 
how sot, and how miuty to the rod. 4. 
Should you enclose a farm with it entirely ? 
—Wii, Perry, Cool spring, Del. 
1. No; but it will grow more rapidly in a 
rich soil than in a poor one. 
2. Three to six years. 
3. Ono of the best plans for making a 
thick and substantial hedge is to set in 
double rows; that is, rows one foot apart 
and tho plants one foot in the rows, placed 
alternately thus 
4. Wa do not know of any good reason 
why a farm should not be entirely enclosed, 
except beside the roadways, with a hedge. 
Pear Trees on Mountain Ash Stock. 
—Robert Douglass writes in the Poumlo- 
gist in favor of the Mountain Ash as prefer¬ 
able to the Quince for grafting pear stock 
for the West. “The quince root is not 
adapted to the West, and will frequently be 
found dead iu the spring when the pear 
tree above the ground is uninjured. Robert 
Hassel of Alderly, Wisconsin, wrote me 
that he has trees on pear stock, also on 
American Ash stock, var Flemish Beauty, 
and that those on Mountain Ash were the 
healthiest and fruited best, lie also says 
that the American Mountain Ash stock is 
a better stock than the F.uropeau.” 
Cutting Out Young Raspberry Canos. 
—L. II. O. writes that he has a quantity of 
raspberries which will bear fruit this season, 
after which they are to be destroyed. He 
proposes-to cut out all the young canes as 
soon as they appear this spring, believing 
that the orop of fruit will be very much in¬ 
creased by adopting this plan. Wo do not 
know but hig expectations will be fully re¬ 
alized, but advise leaving the young canes 
on alternate rows, and fully testing this 
system, and then let us know the result. 
DAHLIAS, OLD AND NEW. 
SICKLY GERANIUMS. 
Pi .ease toll mo through the Rural New- 
Yorker what is the matter of the Inclosed 
geranium leaves. The little leaflets against 
the stem turn yellow and die before they 
are half grown, ami the common leaves 
turn, as these are that 1 inclose, and dry up 
ami the stalk is speckled like the leaves. Is 
there any remedy? What is the difference 
between Geraniums and Pelargoniums?— 
Eli.a C. Howe, Marshall, Mich. 
We conclude from the uppeuranoe of the 
leaves received that your geraniums are 
suffering from want of light, and probably 
the soil iu the pots is soured and should be 
Changed. Repot them and give good soil, 
and place where they will receive the direct 
rays of the sun for at least six hours each 
day. 
The difference between geraniums and 
pelargoniums is more marked in the plants 
than In the scientific descriptions given iu 
botanical works. The species and varieties 
in cultivation have become so mixed up that 
it would be difficult to again separate them 
and determine which should be called by 
either name. Dr. Gray, iu his latest work, 
places all our wild species, such as the 
Cranesbill, O. inoculations , and C. Caroll- 
nianuin, under the head of Geraniums, and 
the cultivated species and variet ies, such as 
t he Oak-Leaved, Horso Shoe, Penny Royal, 
Ivy-Leaved, etc., etc., all as Pel*IT(ioniums. 
Our gardeners and fiorists have a different 
classification and place the Zonal and Tri¬ 
colored sorts, which are of the old Horse 
Shoe type, under the head of Geraniums; 
and the large llowering kinds which usually 
bloom in winteraud spring are called Pelar¬ 
goniums. You need not fear of getting very 
far out of the way by calling them by either 
FLORICULTURAL NOTES. 
Geraniums from Seed.—A correspond¬ 
ent says she has been trying to get a Gera¬ 
nium ever since she has been iu Washington 
Territory, but has not yet succeeded, and 
asks if they will grow from seed. They will 
!FTGr. 1.-DAHLIAS PJC2 
this spring, possibly it may not start till 
next spring. 
Wistarias Not Blooming.— Ida II. M. 
says that she has had a Wistaria two years, 
but it has not bloomed. The Wistaria does 
pioisr^Y'TA. yyiNTD crocata 
planting it in rank with other decorative 
plants because it is useful; but that ought 
not to cause it to be tabooed when a mass 
or lines of a dark purple color are desirable; 
for it can be grown with less labor and ex¬ 
pense than most plants. 
Pears on a Western Slope.— Subscrib¬ 
er, Easton, Washington Co., N. Y., is in¬ 
formed that pears can be successfully culti¬ 
vated on a Western slope—that a stiff, clayey 
loam is best adapted to pears, aud that the 
protection of a belt of deciduous trees, 
with a few evergreens, is of advantage iu 
windy situations, in order to prevent pre¬ 
mature falling of fruit—aud chiefly for that 
purpose. Close planting is one way of pro¬ 
tection much iu vogue in windy countries. 
grow readily from seed, and the seed may 
be obtained of any seedsman. Send for the 
catalogues of those ad vert i sing iu the Rural 
New-Yorker. 
Dietamnns Fraxinelln.— In the Rural 
New-Yorker, Aug. 5, 1871, there is an en¬ 
graving of this flower. Though said to be 
not usually bloom until it is well estab¬ 
lished or of considerable size. Some of the 
varieties are very free bloomers aud others 
are quite tardy. The best way to propa¬ 
gate the Wisteria is to layer the vines in 
spring, making quite a sharp bend at the 
point covered with earth. To hasten the 
It is supposed that the Dahlia was intro¬ 
duced into Spain from Mexioo In 1789; but 
it seems to have been lost, and re-introduced 
in 1801, some French gardener receiving a 
quantity of seed. About ten years later it 
began to appear in Eugiish gardeus, and 
we mention these dates because the rapid 
improvements that followed are unparal¬ 
leled in the history of any plant with which 
we are acquainted. We herewith gi ve illus- 
trations of two of the first Dahlias raised 
from seed obtained iu Mexico. One (the 
larger one in Figure 1), was a dark red or 
crimsou variety, and knswn to the older 
botanists as Dahlia pinna to, aud the other 
(the smaller ono iu Figure 1), was a small 
yellow variety called D. crocata. 
Tho ingenuity and perseverance of Euro¬ 
pean fiorists was never more conspicuous 
than in their handling of this wild Mexican 
plant. For, although, as we have stated, 
Dahlias were scarcely known in English 
gardens until 1814, still so rapid had been 
the improvements that ten years later (1834) 
over two hundred varieties of Double Dah¬ 
lias were offered by English nurserymen. 
For the next twenty-five years there was 
scarcely any abatement in “ Dahlia fever,” 
and every gardener, from the humblest day 
laborer up to the very highest and most ex¬ 
tensive cultivator of rare plants, seemed to 
vie with each other to see who should pro¬ 
duce the best new sort. The result, we all 
know and have seen in those models of sym¬ 
metry so often exhibited at our Fairs. The 
rage formerly was to see who should pro¬ 
duce the largest as well as tho most perfect 
flower; but the finishing stroke seems to 
have been put upon some of the sorts raised 
several years ago, and it was necessary to 
go in some other direct ion to insure pro¬ 
gress—hence we find the new pompene or 
Liliput I hihlias coming into fashion, ten or 
more years ago. At first the varieties were 
not very perfect iu form, but they soon im¬ 
proved and equaled, if not excelled, the 
older and larger sorts in symmetry of form 
and iu color, Our illustration represents 
one of the most perfect of the new sorts, 
showing tho flower nat ural size. 
The Dahlia has long been popular on ac¬ 
count of its stately growth and gaudy-col¬ 
ored flowers, but being destitute of fra¬ 
grance, it is one of those plants which oue 
feels like admiring at a distance, saving our 
best affections for the roses and pinks, which 
permit of a closer and more intimate ac¬ 
quaintance. 
