gradients are liable to be washed off before 
warm weather, and might, therefore, have 
to be applied a second time during the Win¬ 
ter. With this composition, an active boy 
may in one day protect a thousand trees. It 
is not. only applicable to young orchard trees, 
but ma y be very profitably applied to nursery 
trees as well. 
in water, and I thought I would ask you if 
this same bulb will grow and blossom in the 
ground this Summer after it, has blossomed 
in t he house in the Winter?—N ki.uk Bonfoy, 
Greene Co.. 111. 
Your hyuointh bulbs will not bloom again 
next Hummer, and they will probably die 
soon aft.r o the flowers are gone. Now, as 
you are a little girl, wo will not use big words 
in trying to explain the reason why hyacinth 
bulbs blooming in water aro usually thrown 
away afterwards, but will try to make you 
understand it without them. If you should 
play all day wit hout having anything to cat 
or drink but pure water, you would become 
very tired and weak; but if you ate a hearty 
breakfast you could hold outalittlo longer 
and later than if you had eaten nothing. 
Now that poor hyacinth bulb was growing 
(in Holland, probably,) last summer; it be¬ 
came very fat anil strong, and now t hat it is 
placed in water and where the air is warm, 
it begins its play by throwing up a flower 
stem and at the same time its roots go down 
into the water after something to eat; but 
as they find not hing, or very little, the old 
bulb will become very weak and sick by the 
time flowers ha ve dropped off, if you toko 
it out of the water, then, ami plant in the 
ground next spring, it may live, although it 
will bo so weak that it cannot bloom again 
for two or three years, or until it again be¬ 
comes a strong, healthy bulb. Had you 
planted the bulb in a pot of rich dirt, it 
would have luul somethiug to cat while the 
flowers wero growing, anil when these w ere 
gone the bulb could have been planted in the 
garden and taken up next Fall and made 
to bloom, again. 
Jloricttltmral 
SUboriniltural 
A PROLIFIC LILY FROM JAPAN 
TWIG BLIGHT 
By the favor of Mr. Andrew "Wind, through 
a friend, wo are in possession of a copy of a 
Yokohama (.Japan) paper, called The Far 
East, printed in English, and illustrated with 
photographs of scenes and objects in Japan. 
In this copy we find a photograph of what i« 
called “A.Prolific Lily,” one stem of which 
we herewith illustrate. The Far East says 
these Japan lilies “are as various as they 
arc beautiful; but it is remarkable that those 
least prized abroad aro tho most valued by 
the natives. The most common in Japan— 
so common in fact that it grows wild all 
over the country, and oftentimes covers a 
whole hillside- is flic one most appreciated 
by foreigners out of Japan ; and undoubtedly 
it is a noble flower, with its lordly petals 
thrown boldly open to the sun, the deep, 
dark orange color of its center shading off 
into the most delicate yellow', on a rich spot¬ 
ted white ground. Tho plant is certainly 
beautiful, but until this year wc never saw it 
extraordinarily prolific. But this Summer 
there grew in tho garden of Mr. G. C. Pear¬ 
son, Yokohama, two steins from one bulb. 
Tho two stems cut. off mid stuck in a bowl of 
ferns wo illustrate. One was a fair specimen 
of the ordinary flowering of the plant, having 
eighteen flowers upon it ; but the other, upon 
a broad, flat stem, about an inch and a-half In 
width, but thin as a lath, had no loss than 
sixty-three buds, of which fifty-two wore in 
full flower at one time.” It is this last 
described stalk which w r o illustrate in the 
Rural New-Yorker. 
I desire to call attention to a disease com¬ 
monly known in the West as the twig blight. 
When thi3 disease overtakes a fruit tree, the 
leaves first begin to blight; afterwards the 
twigs and limbs wither, and finally the whole 
tree slowly dies. Whatever may be the true 
cause of this disease, it is sometime . ascribed 
to a borer. 
My experience, however, refers more to 
the remedy than the cause. I believe there 
is n simple remedy that will not fail to restore 
every tree affected by this disease, if applied 
in tune. It. consists simply in boring with a 
gimlet or bit into the tree, filling the. cav¬ 
ity with sulphur, and plugging it in. The 
sap will carry 1 he sulphur to every part of 
the tree, and when the borer smells brim¬ 
stone•, he will "git up anil gib" The cause 
of the disease lining removed, the tree will 
begin to put forth fresh and tender 
BARBERRY SEED AND PROPAGATION. 
Can vou tell me where I can get the seed 
of the Barberry plant for a hedge, and t he 
best way to propagate it l —A. C., H uron 
County, Ohio. 
We think you can obtain Barberry seed of 
almost any of our Eastern seedsmen ; if 
not, try Thomas Meehan, Germantown, Pa. 
Fresldv gathered seed planted in Autumn 
will usually germinate the following Spring, 
but occasionally not until the second season. 
Tf the seed is not fresh, or has been kepi, for 
some time in a dry place, better soak it for 
two or three days in warm water before 
sowing or placing it where it will freeze. 
Barberry plants are also grown from cut¬ 
tings, bub the cheapest way to obtain them 
is from seed. _ 
PRESERVING YOUNG APPLE TREES FROM RABBITS. 
Beef’s or hog’s liver rubbed on the tree 
where tho rabbits aro likely to work will 
prevent their ravages. I have tried it—and 
I live where, there aro thousands of them— 
and have never had a young apple tree hurt 
that has been so treated, and 1 have seen 
rabbit tracks all about, the trees. Hang the 
liver up when the hogs or beeves are killed 
in the Fall, for such use. It pays.—F. H, H., 
Toledo, loim. 
YELLOWS IN PEACHES. 
Prof. R. C. Kedsie lias little doubt that 
fungus at the root is the cause of this disease, 
and the euro is the use of hollow water in 
shallow trenches about the trees. Ho lias 
tried experiments which irnvc brought this 
conviction. 
soon 
leaves, the withered foliage will slowly drop 
off, and tho tree in time will be restored to 
its natural growth. 
I have recently spent a few days in Michi¬ 
gan, and found apple trees, treated with sid- 
pliur twenty-five years ago because then they 
seemed to bo dying, now growing vigorously, 
and nearly ns large as one can span with both 
arms. 
Once I noticed a neighbor's plum tree—a 
large and beautiful tree full of plums about 
half-grown—begin to wither and die. Half 
tho foliage died with tho outer twigs and 
limbs, and the plums began to shrivel up. 
Sulphur was recommended and applied. But 
the tree was so far gone that t ho outer leaves 
and limbs and plums died and dropped off, 
while towards the center of the tree new and 
fresh leaves came forth, and n portion of the 
plums in that locality swelled out again to 
their natural size, and actually got ripe ! The 
life of the tree was saved “ as by fire.” 
An orchard near this institution has been 
slowly dying for two years. After strenuously j 
recommending sulphur several times, (and it 1 
is a marvel how slow fanners are to apply the 
remedy,) it was applied to seventeen trees. 
In about two or three weeks fresh leaves be¬ 
gan to appear on all but one of those trees. 
The owner says ho is sure of one thing "The 
blight has ceased.” One tree in the corner of 
the orchard was nearly dead. For several 
weeks after the sulphur was applied I 
thought surely the tree would die. It seemed 
to bo a desperate struggle between life and 
death, about equally balanced. But at length 
fresh leaves appeared, and the tree stands a 
fair chance of living. 
Tho twig blight prevails over the country 
more thun one might at first suppose. The 
past Summer I have traveled over the State > 
of Kansas, and made a t rip to Pennsylvania I 
and New England, and I find it. almost every- i 
where, though most in the West. If the truth I 
were known, 1 1 hould not be surprised if him- 1 
dreda of thousands of fruit trees, mostly apple 
trees, were slowly but surely dying of this I 
fatal disease. 
I believe that nearly all of these trees can 
be saved. Bore into tho tree with a gimlet or 
bit, within a foot or two of the grouud, mak¬ 
ing a hole proportional to the size of the tree, 
not cut tin; 
STEAM IN GREEN-HOUSES. 
Besides tho advantage of protection from 
cold, by closing all tho small crevices with 
frost in very severe weather, by creating 
steam in green 1 louses, which 1 accomplish by 
pouring water on tho hot flues, I find it the 
most successful pliui for destroying the red 
spider. I create by this means a dense fog as 
often as seems necessary; and as it; reaches 
the under sides of the leaves, where water 
when showered on seldom touches, it gives 
the little pests a vapor bath which they can’t 
endure. It might be applied to conserva¬ 
tories in dwellings by dropping hot irons in a 
vessel of water; or perhaps better by a piece 
of hose or pipe attached to a kettle of water 
on a stove in an adjoining room.—M. b. p. 
HYACINTHS IN WATER 
T AM a little girl eleven years old and very 
fond of ilowors. I am growing a hyacinth 
HEW CONSERVATORY CLIMBER. 
The Garden (English) says:—“ The new 
conservatory climber, Tacsomu, Kxonitnsis, 
which received a first-class certificate tliis 
Hummer at Birmingham, is in lino bloom in 
Mr. VKETCH'S nursery at Exeter. Even in a 
cool greenhouse it bus now upward of a 
hundred flowers on it in different stages of 
growth. 
FERTILIZING MELONS AND CUCUMBERS, 
The Gardeners Magazine says:—The artifici¬ 
al fertilization of the female flowers of cucum¬ 
bers and melons constitutes a most important 
article of faith among practical horticultur¬ 
ists. Tho "setting” of tho crop by 1 land is 
insisted on in all garden calendars; if it is not 
necessary, immense amount of time consumed 
thereby is wasted, in tho thousands of gar¬ 
dens where handsome and well-flavored fruit 
is everything, and seed of no consequence at 
all, we believe the operation to be altogether 
unnecessary. At all events, wo have managed 
to secure for onr own use for many years past 
cucumbers and melons in sufficient plenty, 
without putting ourselves to the trouble of 
applying the pollen, and have long f.ineeboen 
satisfied that, except for the production of 
seed, it is labor wasted. 
ig off too many woody fibers in 
prairie States where high winds prevail near 
the equinoxes, and fill with sulphur. Large 
trees may need a second dose. Let fanners 
give it a fair trial, as it can do no harm, and 
publish the result. John D. Parker. 
PROTECTING TREES FROM RABBITS, 
Dr. Howsley of Kansas, in Western Plant¬ 
er says:—I have, for the last several years, 
used with the most satisfactory results, a 
whitewash . composed of fresh slacked lime 
and soft soap, brought to the consistency of 
ordinary paint, with common flour paste ad¬ 
ded, to make it adhesive. Tiffs composition 
applied with a common paint brush, has, with 
me, always been effectual. In this mixture 
the lime is not only offensive to the taste of 
the rabbits, but also destroys any lurking in¬ 
sects which may have taken shelter there for 
the Winter, and by its absorption through the 
pores of the barb, furnishes food for the 
growth &f the tree. The soap has, in this 
case, a similar influence to that upon the ani¬ 
mal body—that of cleansing the surface and 
keeping open the pores of the bark for the 
free escape of all useless matter from the in¬ 
side out, and for the free passage from the 
outside in, of whatever may lie necessary for 
the health and vigor of the tree. TLo flour 
paste, as before remarked, is only for the pur¬ 
pose of making the lime and soap more ad¬ 
hesive; for without the paste, the other in- 
SMALL ONIONS FOR SEED. 
Are small onions assorted from a crop 
grown from seed of any value for planting 
again.—S. W. B. 
Very small onions, say about a half-inch 
in diameter, aro extensively used by our mar¬ 
ket gardeners, instead of seed for raising an 
early crop, which is usually pulled and sold 
in market as “green onions.” These "sets” 
aro produced by sowing seed very thickly on 
very poor soil, and as soon us the bulbs aro of 
tho requisite size they arc pulled up aud 
dried and laid away for planting the next sea¬ 
son. Now, if your small onions are of the 
size we have named, they will probably an¬ 
swer for sets; but if much larger they will be 
very likely to produce seed-stems instead of 
larger bulbs, 
