for a plow. Land should be plowed and 
sub-soiled at least once a year for all crops. 
The harrow spoken of is excellent for 
smoothing purposes and for cultivating 
grain or oorn when it is yet young. That it 
is t.ho best for tearing soddy ground to 
pieces we are In doubt; but it is fair to say 
we have never tried it. Considerable fault 
lias been found with it in some lo¬ 
calities. If we were to choose be¬ 
tween a good two-horse cultivator 
X and a harrow for general farm use, 
\ we should prefer the cultivator. Of 
the relative merit sof different kinds 
'T-jj we are not disposed to speak. 
est attraction. The leaves are large, and of 
the form shown in the illustration (page 
121). At Hrst, they are of a light, yellow¬ 
ish green, the stripes or veins being of a 
deep golden color; but as they grow older, 
the yellow tinge in the ground color becomes 
a deep green, and the veins a silvery white. 
The plant is readily propagated from 
NIGHT SOIL 
VENUS’ FLY-TRAP 
A correspondent at Magnolia, Ark., 
asks what night soil is, and how to make a 
This interesting plant is a curiosity in 
the vegetable kingdom. Thomas Barnes, 
writing in The Garden, says of it 
( Dioncv.mnsetjiuhi ):—“ Lt is referred 
to in most, works on physiological 
botany, as affording a striking in- A 
stance of vegetable irritability. The 
trap-like extremities of its leaves are /f|n 
so sensitive indeed, that the least 
touch causes them to close instantly 
on the luckless tly, wood-louse, or ^ ' 
even larger insect that happens to 
get within their grasp. In the grow- 
ing season, when the plant is strong, > 
1 have seen even a slug, four inches ^ 
long, held fast by the fail until it 
was dead; and beetles so large as to 
protrude on all sides from the trap 
meet with a slow but certain death. 
This plant has, indeed, somewhat 
puzzled vegetable physiologists, some 
maintaining that its legitimate use o 
in the vegetable world is that of an 
insect destroyer; others that it is 'jsjj 
carnivorous, and that it is benefited 
Mosquito Manuv©.—The Scien¬ 
tific American has the following: 
“At Stratford, Conn., where mos- 
qultoes arc as thick as a fog, lives an 
ingenious Yankee, so (hoy say, be¬ 
lieve it who may, who puts these, iu- 
s >ots to profitable uses. Flo has in¬ 
vented a large revolving scoop net 
covered with lace, which is pul in 
motion by a. windmill, water power, 
or steam. The lower half of the 
scoop is placed in water. The upper 
half moves through tho atmosphere 
and at each rotation draws immense 
numbers of the ‘squiloes ’ down into 
the water, where they drown ami 
sink to the bottom. Kvery revolu¬ 
tion of tho net draws in an Ounce of 
mosquitoes, or a tun for thirty-two 
thousand turns of the machine. The 
mosquitoes thus collected make a 
splendid manure for tho laud, worth 
forty-live dollars a tun.” 
TRAP-LIKE APPENDAGES OF VENUS’ FLY-TRAP 
green cuttings of the branches, or even cut¬ 
tings of the leaves will grow quite readily; 
therefore, there is no good reason why the 
plant s will not be very cheap and common 
another year. We have used the Sun- 
vhe::la as a bedding plant this season, and, 
although it succeeds well in this position, 
still its place for making the best display is 
as a. window or conservatory plant, ft is 
.just one of those charming and always 
Ixumtiful plants which the ladies so much 
admire as a pet house-plant, not requiring 
any special care or culture. 
ert'dizer of it. Night soil is human excre¬ 
ment. It is perhaps tho best fertilizer 
known, and yet tho least used in t his coun¬ 
try. Farmers, as a rule, make no effort to 
utilize it. They scrape their barn-yards 
over to get a load of manure, which does 
not contain as much plant food as a half 
bushel of night, soil, which they permit, to 
lie year after year in their privy vaults, 
ferment and emit its noxious gases with¬ 
out any attempt even to deodorize it, much 
less uso it. 
The ItiJRA i. Nkw York hr has repeatedly 
given directions for making it. inodorous 
aud portable. One way is this: Instead of 
digging a Imle in the ground and walling it 
up, over which t.o set the privy and into 
which the droppings are to fall, build the 
privy high enough from the surface of the 
ground to admit a large box, as long as the 
seats and as wide as Is necessary. Some 
farmers build this box on low runners—a 
sort, of a bob-sled, so that, a Imrse can lie 
hitched to it, when desired, and thus haul 
it direct tn tho place where tho manure is 
to bo used or deposited for use. At any 
rate the box should be so built that it can 
be easily removed, emptied and replaced. 
To prepare night soil for use, there should 
bo always standing in the privy a box or 
barrel containing pulverized charcoal, or 
dry muck from the swamp, or plaster, or 
line chip manure, or Semi-decayed leaves nr 
rotten wood from the forest. If none of 
the above are Convenient, let some good, 
stiff dry loam be used; and at least once a 
day a quantity of Homo one or more of the 
materials mentioned should be thrown into 
the box or vault. It should be so deposited 
as to cover tho surface of the excrement., 
ami enough of it to absorb the liquids. In 
this waj r it. is easy to secure a good manure, 
and an inodorous privy. 
The wasted wealth in this country, in the 
shape of night soil, is almost, beyond com¬ 
putation, and is a constant reproach upon 
the int elligence and economy of our people. 
Scarce a farmer or gardener in a thousand 
uses it. And we know of no city whose 
system of sewage makes any provision for 
saving and using this enormous resource in 
the production of food. And yet, it is so 
valuable, that if such provision were made 
in our larger cities, the revenues that would 
be derived from its sale to neighboring far¬ 
mers and gardeners would more than com¬ 
pensate the expense of such provision annu¬ 
ally, beside diminishing the cost of and in¬ 
creasing the production of the country. 
Brush for Firewood.— John Davis, 
Decatur, 111., urges Western farmers to cul¬ 
tivate quick growing timber, ns Lombardy, 
1‘oplnr, Soft Maple, Willows, etc., to be cut 
yearly, the cuttings to be bound into bun¬ 
dles and used as firewood, when if will burn 
slowly and make good fuel. Mis attention 
was first, called to the subject by burning 
bundles of cuttings in bis office stove, which 
were left over from sales and planting out. 
This plan is recommended for immediate 
use in treeless and coalless sections of tin- 
West, and as a substitute for ears of corn as 
firewood. 
inches high, a corymb of white flowers. 
From t he bulli-like root proceeds, in a radi¬ 
ating manner, a number of leaves on long- 
ish stalks. Tho lamina of the leaf is divi¬ 
ded by the mid-rib into two nearly semi¬ 
circular valves, each of which is fringed 
with stiff hairs, and furnished near the 
middle with three minute bristles arranged 
in a triangle, which bristles are extremely 
irritable, and when touched by a fly or 
other insect cause, the two sides of the leaf 
to collapse with a sudden spring, imprison¬ 
ing the Intruder until it is either dead or 
ceases t,o move. It is a native of swamps in 
North Carolina. 
“ February or March is a good time to 
commence its culture. 1 have found it to 
grow well in the following materialsThree 
parts rotten sphagnum chopped tine, two 
parts fibrous peat broken small, one part 
broken crocks, 1 he size of a pea, a little leaf 
mold, and sand. Pot tolerably firm, using 
thumb pots well drained; plunge these 
closely in sphagnum in a pot or pan sulli- 
ciently large to accomodate them, giving 
the whole a liberal watering. If strong, tlm 
plants will grow up flower stems; but these 
should be removed as soon as they arc long 
enough to pinch out. During the season of 
growth water copiously every day. 
“Towards November the plants will show 
signs of going to rest, by making a few t)hO)‘t 
leaves; these will be retained during the 
Winter, the larger Summer leaves dying off. 
The soil must never be allowed to become 
dry, not even in Winter, at which time the 
plants should be placed in a temperature of 
50° by night, allowing a rise of some 10 din ¬ 
ing the day time. During its season of 
growth it enjoys a night temperature of tilt , 
with 75 or 80 by day. Provided the atmos¬ 
phere of the house (which should be moist.) 
suits the plant, all tho crowns that throw 
up flower stems will ho found to increase 
naturally by throwing off off-sets. Many 
grow this plant under a bell-glass, but its 
growth is st ronger without than with one. 
It likes a moderate amount of light, but no 
sun; therefore, if the house is thinly •■'ha¬ 
ded, the plant should have in addition a 
piece of thin tissue paper over it in bright 
weather. This is indispensable. About 
five years ago 1 had a large mass of this 
plant filling a twelve inch-pan. I gave it 
more light than is usually allowed it, and 
the trap assumed a beautiful bronzy color, 
so much so, as to be remarked by all who 
saw it. Tho following year l thought to 
still improve it by placing it still nearer the 
light; but one week's bright weather so in¬ 
jured it that it never recovered.” 
FLORICULTURAL NOTES 
Tulips from Hood. Can tulips be propa¬ 
gated from seed? and, if so, what time will 
if, do to sow them?— Subscriber, Silver 
Creek, N. Y. 
Certatni.v; tulips can bo propagated 
from seed ami all new sorts are produced in 
I bis way. 'Flu* seed should he sown as soon 
as ripe, either in shallow boxes in a green¬ 
house or in the garden, the same as you 
would sow any other small seed. If sown in 
the open ground this Fall, they would come 
up next Spring, when they should be kept 
free from weeds, as the little grass like 
loaves will betpiickly smothered by coarser 
growing plants. If the seedlings should 
appear so near each other as to crowd, the 
small bulbs may be transplanted in Sum¬ 
mer after the leaves die; otherwise they 
need not be disturbed until they bloom, 
which will be when they are from three to 
five years old. This, certainly, is a long 
time to wait for blooms; but by sowing a 
few seeds every year you will soon have a 
new lot of seedlings coming into flower 
every season, which will in part compen¬ 
sate lor the long delay at the beginning of 
such an experiment. 
GARDENERS’ NOTES 
M yrsipbyllum Aspargoides (Smilax). 
—Two years ago 1 had a Smilax sent mo 
from Boston, and there were about a dozen 
shoots from the roots, or, more properly, 
bulbs. The following Spring it died down; 
when it started again i here were only two, 
and this Spring, after it died down, 1 repot¬ 
ted it, and, now that it has started to grow, 
there are only three, and they do not look 
thrifty and well; there was apparently a 
large number Of Imlbs. Will you please tell 
me what to do with it ? Ought, 1 to divide 
the bulbs? What kind of soil is best?— 
A i. lett <’., Cl aver ack. 
The soil in which your plant is growing 
has probably become soured and the tubers 
diseased. Take out the roots and separate 
them and put into fresh soil. A good, rich, 
sandy loam is best—one not containing any 
decaying vegetable matter such as barn¬ 
yard manure. Transplant and separate the 
tubers every season after the stem dies 
down in Spring. 
ECONOMICAL NOTES 
Cultivators, Harrows and Plows.— 
Mrs. Jameson is informed that we know 
nothing of the cultivator named; but; a 
good two-horse cultivator on stiff soils may 
be substituted for the plow in Spring in 
preparing laud for seeding, provided it has 
been lall-plowed. Corn ground can be pre¬ 
pared for full seeding, also, by the use of 
the cultivator. But we know of no culti¬ 
vator that should be regarded a substitute 
To Protect Garden Walks from 
Weeds.—The following has been recom¬ 
mended:—Take one gallon of gas-tar and 
about half a pound of air-slacked lime, t oil 
and incorporate them well together, t hen 
apply the mixture with a common long- 
handled whitewash brush. This will drvin 
a few hours if put on boiling hot, and will 
kill off all the young weeds andprevent their 
growth. 
SANCHEZIA N0BLIS VARIEGATA 
This comparatively new variegated-leaved 
plant has, as yet, found its way into very 
few gardens, but when it becomes known, 
we think it will be a general favorite. It is 
not so rapid a grower as the Coleuses , and 
not quite as elegant in habit; but tho rich, 
unique variegation of the leaves is itsgreat- 
The Night Blooming Cerens Grnndi- 
tlorus—Is said to be used by American 
physicians in their treatment of heart dis¬ 
ease—plant and blossom being employed. 
We don’t know but what it is so; do not 
know any reason why it should not be so. 
