lormtltitrc. 
DOOR-YARD ORNAMENTATION. 
We have made great progress, the past 
few years, in our style of gardening. For¬ 
merly every little door-yard, however small, 
was cut up into a labyrinth of narrow walks, 
carefully edged with dwarf box. This sort 
of needless and unsightly patchwork is fast 
passing away, and a far better taste is being 
shown in the smooth, soft, carpets of greefi 
grass, with the needful flower beds cut out 
wherever required. Flowers are like dia¬ 
monds; their settings should he of the in¬ 
conspicuous order, and never the most 
prominent feature of the t wo—as often seen 
among the “shoddyites” in both fashionable 
society and horticulture. Our florists and 
nurserymen still have a considerable demand 
for “ Box," for edgings; and it is a pity, al¬ 
though ’tis true, that we have so much bad 
taste shown in our suburban gardens. 
Sometimes the grounds are cut up into 
walks resembling an old-fashioned patch bed 
quilt of many colors, and the proprietor, not 
wishing to he outdone in the way of variety, 
crowds a thousand species and varieties of 
plants into a apace where a hundred would 
ho a far better number, and show to better 
advantage. This trying to see how many 
varieties can he grown, has been a curse to 
pomology, and is rapidly ruining floricul¬ 
ture. A dozen plants, well grown, show 
better taste and judgment than a hundred, 
us far too generally seen. 
We hope our readers will remember this 
when making their selections of seeds and 
plants this spring. Choose only a few of 
the very best, and of species that will give 
a succession of bloom throughout the sea¬ 
son, and bestow upon these all the care that 
would have been given to many, and see if 
greater satisfaction and better results will 
not be derived therefrom. 
We know of a man who cultivated three 
hundred varieties of Gladioli last summer; 
but one-tenth of the number properly se¬ 
lected, would have furnished all the beauty 
and other merits found in the entire lot. To 
strive for the very best is commendable; but 
to seek to obtain everything, is like trying 
to gain an education by studying everything 
and knowing nothing thoroughly. 
-♦ ♦ 
FLORAL NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Covering it Hluiup. 
Mignonette writes that she has “an 
ugly short stump" on her lawn, and would 
like to cover it with rocks and plants; she 
asks, “ Is the idea a good one ?” Certainly 
it is. Plant any ki id of dense running vine 
beside it, or a half-dozen sorts and no rock- 
work will be necessary. The mass of vines 
running over it will make a beautiful object 
of it. 
Pnnaleti tu Masses. 
A correspondent of the Gardener’s 
Chronicle says that no one who has not seen 
the effect of pansies in large masses can have 
an idea of their beauty. He planted a hor¬ 
din' four hundred yards long and t wenty-four 
feet wide, with pansies and cerastinms, with 
a single row of pyramidal Zonalegeraniums 
in pots at intervals of ten feet, and it was 
the admiration of all who saw it. 
An Early Flower. 
I espied the enclosed flowers down on the 
hillside to-day, and as they seem to he the 
Very first of “ the lovely procession,” l wish 
you would tell us their name.— Robert D. 
Parsons, Zanesville, 0., March 2. 
Stellar ia borcalie, Northern duckweed— 
one of the latest plants to bloom in autumn, 
and the earliest in spring. In fact, it is sel¬ 
dom out of bloom during cool or cold 
weather. 
Cobcn Vurioaatn. 
Is the Cobea scan dens vavicgala procured 
from the seed, and, if so, where can they be 
obtained ?— Mrs. M. I. L„ >$alalia, Mo. 
As the plant, you name is only a “ sport” 
of the Cobea scan-dens , it will probably not 
come true from seed. Young plants of the 
variegated sort may he procured of any 
first-class florist, and can be sent by mail 
quite safely to any part of the country. 
Cobeas are propagated quite readily by 
cuttings. 
Pruning Oleninlers, 
Mrs. M., Lynchburg, O., sends a leaf of 
the common Irish Ivy (Hedera Mix) for a 
name; also asks us to tell her when to prune 
or shorten the branches of a large Oleander. 
Spring is a good time to prune thjs shrub. 
The branches or entire head may bo cut 
back, and new shoots will spring out in time 
to bloom the present season. Oleanders will 
bear severe pruning without the least injury; 
in fact, they arc usually much benefited by 
suck au operation. 
Flower for n Nntnp, 
I send you leaf and flower for name. The 
plant has been in flower since the first of 
September. It has but one stem or stalk, 
five feet high, with a very few leaves. The 
Sample I send you, like all the others, is 
attached to the main stalk. — John II. 
Severson, Alley any C'o. t N. Y. 
Tiie name is Campanula pyramidalis, or 
pyramidal growing Canterbury Bell. There 
is another variety of this species with white 
flowers. They are both hardy perennials in 
(• be (barbener. 
W 1, *1 _ 
A CURIOUS VEGETABLE 
I send you, by to-day’s mail, a sample of 
fruit or vegetable known here as the 
gA CURIOUS 
the lattitude of New York city; but farther 
north may require a slight protection in 
winter. 
rbflricnltitrr. 
PLANTING EVERGREENS EARLY. 
Robert Douglass, the well known arbo¬ 
riculturist of Waukegan, Ill., in a private 
note to us says:—“ People have got a notion 
that tin: Larch, being a Conifer , must there¬ 
fore be planted late, when it should be plant¬ 
ed at the earliest possible moment. And 
this recommending late planting for ever¬ 
greens is all wrong, in my opinion. We in¬ 
variably gel flic best growth on ours when 
we plant them early, and we have tried both 
early and late planting pretty thoroughly.” 
The above is in perfect accord with our 
own experience; and wc always transplant 
evergreen trees as early in spring as the 
weather will permit. Wc said many years 
ago, that the far too general practice of i rnns- 
planling evergreens late in spring came into 
vogue through the discovery that they could 
be safely moved later in the season than de¬ 
ciduous trees, and not because it was a bet¬ 
ter time. Procrastination is the bane of hor¬ 
ticulture, and if a certain kind of work can 
he put off a week or month, there are always 
those who will seek a good excuse for the 
act. Having tried both early and late plant¬ 
ing of evergreens quite extensively, and dur¬ 
ing a goodly number of years, we are decid¬ 
edly in favor of the earliest possible moment 
after the ground is in suitable condition to 
work in spring. 
- — •» ♦» 
ARBORICULTURAL NOTES, 
Prospective Pent- Culture. 
What is your opinion in regard to the 
result obtained from setting out a hundred 
standard pear trees on a good bardpan soil, 
facing the east?—N elson T. Stillson. 
A man who plants a hundred pear trees 
on a good bardpan soil facing the east, does 
a good act. Our opinion of the result will 
he exactly in accordance with quantity and 
quality of fruit produced. If you want our 
opinion, let us know what the result is. 
(■rafting Wax. 
I would like a recipe for making grafting 
wax, as I wish to do considerable grafting 
this spring.— W. A., Rome, Mich. 
There are as many different ways of mak¬ 
ing grafting wax as there are nurserymen. 
One of the oldest and most popular recipes is 
the following:—One pound of tallow; three 
do. beeswax; four do. resin. Put into a ket¬ 
tle and melt slowly until all the ingredients 
arc combined. It to be used in the open air 
in cool weather, add a quarter to one-half 
pound more tallow. Some persons leave out 
the beeswax altogether; but we prefer to 
have it in, and always use it. 
VEGETABLE. 
“Vegetable Pear.” It produces no seed; 
but the fruit saved over winter, in-doors, are 
planted at the same time with tender vege¬ 
tables, producing, the same summer, a large 
vine covered with fruit. Just before the first 
frost the peal's are gathered and stored away 
for winter use. They are cooked in various 
ways,—in the shape of preserves, pies, frit¬ 
ters, i&e., Ac,, and artr>«hjemetl a delicacy. 
What I desire to know is the proper name 
and native country of the vine.—F. W. II., 
Baton Rouge, La. 
The vegetable is new to us, and exceeding¬ 
ly interesting. We give, herewith, an illus¬ 
tration of the specimen received. It is very 
firm and of a dark green color, and will 
probably keep for many weeks without de¬ 
caying. If any of our readers know this 
vegetable’s scientific name, will they please 
communicate it ? 
TRANSPLANTING ASPARAGUS. 
I raised a quantity of Colossal asparagus 
from seed last summer. Will you please tell 
me how to treat the roots this spring to get 
them into good hearing condition, and 
oblige.— John Burrows, Fon du Lac, TFw. 
Prepare the ground for the reception of 
the roots by applying a liberal amount of 
good stable manure. The older and more 
fully decomposed the better. There is no 
danger of putting on too much, for aspara¬ 
gus is one of lliosc plants that will thrive in 
the richest soils, and its value depends al¬ 
most entirely upon the rapidity of its 
growth. The manure should be worked into 
the soil deeply, and thoroughly mixed up 
with it, not put in layers as is often done. 
Nothing less than eighteen inches in depth 
of rich soil will make a good asparagus bed. 
When the ground is made ready and har¬ 
rowed or raked level, open trenches six 
inches deep and four feet apart, either by 
plowing two furrows, throwing the soil to 
the right and left, or with a spade. Place 
the plants in the bottom of these trenches 
and two fee t apart. Spread the roots out 
level, and then cover and rake nr harrow 
down the surface. If the soil is light, it is a 
good plan to roll or pack it down over the 
plants. 
Some old fogy gardeners, when preparing 
an asparagus bed, dig out the soil two to 
three feet deep and place stone in the bot¬ 
tom, and then fill up with, coarse rubbish, 
manure and soil, and cover the plants twelve 
to eighteen inches deep; but modern ideas 
are against such a practice. If the roots are 
not covered more than six inches they will 
start much earlier in spring than if placed 
deeper. Of course, ifyou want white-stalked 
asparagus you must plant deep ; but no one 
who knows anything about this delicious 
vegetable will purchase or cook such stuff, 
for it is only that portion of the stalk which 
has been exposed to the light and ah' that is 
fit to eat. These elements are as necessary 
to make asparagus stems tender and healthy 
food, as their absence is in the preparation 
of celery for the same purpose. 
GARDEN NOTES. 
Tomatoes (rout Cutting*. 
A Saratoga gardener plants his tomato 
seed in February or March, and when the 
plants are five or six inches high, cuts off the 
top just above the seed leaves, and sets 
them out as cuttings in a properly pre¬ 
pared hot-bed, where they take root and 
grow. In April they are transplanted to 
cold frames, and finally set out in the open 
ground. Mr. Henning claims that by this 
treatment the plants have better roots than 
when they are allowed to retain their ori¬ 
ginal ones, and that they bear earlier and 
are more productive. 
To Ilnlsc Cucumbers Successfully. 
Make a bed, as shown in the sketch, fill 
the center, b, with good stable manure, which 
should be raised six inches above the sides 
of the bed, a , a, a, a. Plant the seeds from 
four to six inches from the manure, all round 
in the beds, a, a, a, a. One or more buckets 
VINEYARD NOTES. 
Over-Fee«liuB Grape Vines. 
The London Gardener’s Magazine says: 
“ If there be any one prevailing fallacy in 
grape culture which we should be always on 
our guard against, it is, without question, the 
tendency to afford the vines more nutritive 
aid than they can appropriate, and we may 
be sure of this, that many more vines are in¬ 
jured by excess of food than by deficiency. 
In the vegetable kingdom the same law pre¬ 
vails as in the animal; it is not the quantity 
of looil taken into the system which affords 
nourishment, but the quantity actually di¬ 
gested.” 
Applying Muuure to Vines. 
R. S.,in Rural World, says he uses the 
best stable manure he can get. “ This ought 
to be put in heaps and turned once or twice 
during summer, then it is fit for use. The 
fall is the best time, if the vines are eight 
feet apart, spread evenly about five feet 
over the center; plow to the vines; the 
furrow in the center, fill up with straw, or 
litter; in spring plow to the centre. Culti¬ 
vate well, examining the part where it lias 
been manured, and it will be found the roots 
have made double the progress those have 
where there was no manure; not only the 
roots but tbe wood and the fruit thereon.” 
A Novel Wny of Preserving Grnpes. 
A California paper says.-— “The Chi¬ 
nese have a novel way of preserving grapes, 
and one which is said to be very successful. 
They keep them in pumpkins. The pump¬ 
kin is carefully chosen ; must be ripe, and 
without blemish. An aperture large enough 
to admit of the hand is made; the inside is 
well cleaned, and the ripe grapes are pro¬ 
tected by a tight cover. The grapes retain 
excellently their size and flavor. Per¬ 
haps so.” 
ntonrolagtral. 
THE RANSOM CHIP-TRAP PROCESS FOR 
KILLING THE CURCULIO. 
I earnestly solicit the many readers of (lie 
Rural New-Yorker, who an: interested in 
fruit culture, and who have studied this method 
of catching Cureulios, described in a late num¬ 
ber, to give the process u fair mid full trial iho 
present season, and report to me the results. 
The experience of n hundred persona in as many 
different parts of the country, will be far more 
decisive and important than Hint of any on© in¬ 
dividual in any one locality. It was too late lust 
year, ivhon Hie process was first announced, to 
give it n fair trial, and I do not wish the present 
year to pass without fully settling the question 
as to its real value iu different parts of the coun¬ 
try. The chips should be placed around the trees 
immediately. Reports giving dates ol examina¬ 
tion, character ol soil, number of trees experi¬ 
mented on, number of ourculios caught, at .what 
hours of Hie day, etc., etc., if sent to my address 
any thno the coming summer, will be gratefully 
acknowledged by C. V. Riley. 
Room :J9, Insurance Bld’g, St. Louis, Mo. 
SNOUT-BEETLES 
Injurious to Fruits mid Vegetables. 
BY CIIAS. V. RILEY. 
[Read bofore the Ill. State Horticultural Society.] 
[Continued from page 200.] 
The Season of the Year Oaring Which it 
Works. 
The beetles come from their winter quar¬ 
ters and begin to work ou the fruit at about 
the same time its does the Plum Curcnlio—if 
anything-a little later. They have gener¬ 
ally got. fully to work, and larvae may be 
found already hatched, by the first of June, 
and they may be found in the fruit in one 
stage or another, all along through the 
months of June and July and the greater 
part of August. 
Remedies and Preventive Measures, 
Notwithstanding we have had reports pub¬ 
lished in the columns of our agricultural 
papers, of the relative number of Apple and 
of Plum Cureulios captured from peach 
trees by jarring with the curculio catcher, I 
am fully convinced that such reports were 
not bused on facts, and that we may never 
expect to subdue this insect by the jarring 
process. It is not as timid or as much in¬ 
clined to drop as the Plum Curculio, and 
though it can occasionally he brought down, 
it generally remains defiantly on the fruit or 
on the bough, through the gentlest as well 
as the severest jarring of the tree. Indeed, 
its habit of transforming in the fruit places 
it in a great measure beyond our control, 
and I fear that this is one of the few insects 
with which we can do but little by artificial 
means. But we have only just commenced 
to understand this foe, and there is much 
yet to learu about it. I sincerely hope that 
the few facts which have hero been given, 
will increase your interest iu this insect, and 
enable you to carry on future operations and 
experiments with a better understanding, so 
that they will at last result in making us 
masters of this rather difficult situation. 
Mr. H. G. Lewellinq of High Hill, Mont¬ 
gomery Co., Mo., who has had much of his 
fruit injured by this insect, informs me that 
Tallman’a Sweet is preferred by it to all 
other varieties, and our observations should, 
as much as possible, tend in the direction of 
deciding which varieties are most subject 
to, and which most exempt from its at¬ 
tacks; and which varieties fall most read¬ 
ily when infested by it. For it is obvious that 
with our present knowledge, the only real 
remedy which yet exists is the destruction 
of tbe infested fruit, whether upon or off the 
tree, and it may turn out that although we 
cannot jar down the beetles, we can jar 
down much of the infested fruit, which 
would, without jarring, remain ou the tree. 
Anthoxomcs QOArmiGiBBirs, SAY — Larva (Fig. 
8 , b.y-A voruge itui-Mil length, whop full grown. 0.45 
Inch; soft und white, with u very few sparse toft 
hairs; arched anti wrinkled Lamollleum-fashion, the 
space between tint wrinkles, and u distinct dorsal 
VHScular line blul«h-bluck. Head free und almost 
perpendicular, yollnwi*h-hrown, with the mandibles 
darker. A pair of polished ventral t liberties tm each 
of the three thorueic Joints, and each bearing u dis¬ 
tinct bristle. 
Puna (Fig. 8, a.)—Average length 0.40 Inch. Whit¬ 
ish, the snout of tin* male reaching beyond Hie tip 
of wing-cases, that of tlie female not much beyond 
the elbow of middle femora and tibia). Thorax with 
a few short, stiff hairs springing from slight conical 
elevations. Wing cases showing Lhe * trim and bumps 
of future beetlo, the tip of the Upper case usually 
terminating in » thorn. The nine abdominal Joints 
deeply and distinctly separated, the flrst sliuwlng it 
rounded, acntellar tubercle; the sides angular, con¬ 
ically rtdgod, and armed on each Joint with two 
brown thorns or bristles, which becomo stouter to¬ 
wards anex; a transverse dorsal row of about eight 
similar bristle* on the posterior sub margin of each 
joint, also becoming larger towards apex. Teftuinal 
siUmojiurnt (ndinq in. one *tout, * lightly curved, thorn 
[To be continued. 
