bearing orchards, experiment with root and 
mid-summer pruning, and report results. 
Perin Tone. 
care not to penetrate the internal cavity of 
the capsule. The incisions are repeated 
every evening tin til each capsule has re¬ 
ceived six or eight wounds; they are then 
allowed to ripen their seeds. The ripe cap¬ 
sules afford little or no juice. If the wound 
was made in the heat of the day, a cicatrix 
would he too soon formed, white the night 
dews, by their moisture, favor the exudation 
of the juice. 
“ Early in the morning old women, boys 
and girls, collect the juice by scraping it off 
Arboriculture 
American florists have been indebted to 
importations for stock of new varieties, but 
within a few years past some of them 
have grown them from seed, a source of 
supply which will probably increase rapidly 
with the growing demand for new and su¬ 
perior sorts. An important item with this 
bulb is its care through the winter, a care 
that should commence as soon as there have 
been severe frosts in the fall, and before 
there is danger of 
their being frozen in 
the ground. Our 
practice is to cut off 
the top of the stalk, 
leaving a portion a 
foot long, and on a ^ 
clear, dry day lift 
them with a spade, 
and lay them ju the fljM///jJw \ \ ' 
sun to dry. If there Mff/Mr \ V\ 
is no danger of free/.- vmlfjw \ \ V 
ing they are better VwWJ \V\ 
to be covered with llm/ VY v 
mats or old carpets If'/ 
at night, and ex- I 
posed for two or M (\V * jj 
three dayB, after V (\\W 
which the dirt is W 
shaken off and the \ lOM 
different sorts placed \ 
in baskets or boxes \l 
and set in a cool, V V 
dry room. On the W, 
approach of severe 
cold weather they {¥/ 
are removed to the VvVnS\ W (r'$ 
cellar and set on fil'i y 
shelves. They need Jmm/M 
a dry cellar, any ex- 1 \\Ya 
cess of moisture l'».\ V\ .. \ 
being shown by 1 
mold, upon the ap- ImliwM 
peurance of which W^ Vm TWTi vr 
they should be dried VYfe filin 
and removed to a % V v 
more suitable place. 
Few bulbs require bac. ' ((A. 
less care or are of 
more easy culture, !l\,\ 
and none, in showi- 
ness of flower, bet- 
ter compensate for 
the room and labor 
required, and they W\i (w/ii* ‘ 
will unquestionably ijft '(/ 
increase in public (f V y^ 
Though a full col- 
lection of tire best xw 
French Hybrids 
would be expensive, 
it might soon be 
madcupbypurchas- ^ 
ing a few choice y 
ones each year, and \ 
selling to a neighbor j 
or some seedsman 
t hose not wanted for 
home planting. 
In this connection 
we give a line eugra- G-n( 
ving (kindly loaned 
us by ft. K. Buss & Son, seedsmen of this 
city,) of a group of seedling Gladiolus. We 
have, written the above in answer to at least 
a score of inquiries which have come to us. 
floriculture 
SURFACE PLANTING OF TREES, 
UNFRUITFUL ORCHARDS. 
MANAGEMENT OF GLADIOLUS, 
T in,-, roots of trees usually strike down¬ 
ward from the surface of the earth, when 
there is not some impenetrable obstruction 
to hinder their ramification through the soil. 
None except the annual feeders near the sur¬ 
face of the ground are found to tend upward 
as they push, out from a main root or branch 
of a root. In case a tree is planted too deep, 
a new system of roots will he thrown out 
from the stem, one or two inches beneath 
the surface of the soil. No matter how 
deeply tap roots and branch roots may he 
sent downward, it is a habit of fruit trees to 
produce a complete system of roots, rootlets, 
fibres and feeders so near the surface of the 
earth, that the countless number of minute 
mouths may imbibe the moisture and plant- 
food, soon after the small particles begin to 
descend from the surface. 
A knowledge of these facts warranted an 
experiment in planting trees directly on the 
surface of the ground. In the spring of 
1848, when I was planting the first trees for 
my own orchard, there were a few places 
where holes could not he dug with a spade, 
as the earth for several feet in depth was 
composed of fragments of slate and small 
boulders. Neither could the ground be 
plowed. A thick and tough sod of Kcu- 
tucky blue grass rested on the su face; but 
roots of trees could spread among the stones 
without difficulty. Hence, I resolved to try 
the doubtful experiment of setting trees 
without digging any boles. Stake boles 
were first worked down through the stones 
with a crow-bar, and stakes wore driven in 
firmly, to support the trees. The roots were 
then spread out on the grassy sod, us a tree 
was held near a stake, after which a few 
bushels of mellow soil were shoveled from 
u loaded wagon around each tree, sufficient 
to cover the roots with about two inches of 
mellow dirt. The body of each tree was 
then tied firmly to the stake, and the surface 
of the ground round about the trees was 
mulched with coarse, strawy barn yard ma¬ 
nure, covering an area of about eight feet in 
diameter. Pieties of boards, old rails and 
brush were laid on the mulch to prevent 
fowls from removing the coarse material. 
Amid the sneers of those who knew that 
such a mode of planting was superlatively 
ridiculous, and could never prove at all satis¬ 
factory, 1 waited, in doubtful suspense, for 
the result. The trees that were set in mel¬ 
low- ground, around which the surface was 
kept clean and free from vegetation, grew a 
few Inches higher, and broader, while every 
tree that was set on the grassy surface threw 
out branches of good ripe wood laterally 
and vertically from one to four feet in 
length. The first season some gentlemen 
called to learn the secret of such a wonder¬ 
ful growth, and measured the new wood just 
before the leaves had fallen, and found many 
branches over four feet in length. After the 
first season, the branches did not. grow faster 
than those on other trees. Every tree that 
was planted on the surface succeeded in a 
most satisfactory manner, and yielded as 
much fruit as any others. In 1808 1 saw 
them bending beneath a bountiful burden of 
fruit. In after years T planted many trees 
on the grassy surface, always with the most 
satisfactory results. 
On stony fields, in rocky dells and on 
lawns, where the ground cannot be plowed, 
and w here disturbing the sod is objection¬ 
able, there is no more satisfactory way of 
planting trees of any kind, or bushes, than 
to spread out the roots on the sod and cover 
them with a little mellow earth ; then mulch 
the surface. Sereno Edwards Todd. 
Brooklyn, L. I. 
Wnv does this orchard bear well and uni¬ 
formly, and that other usually fail ? And 
the barren orchard is of standard fruitful 
varieties, set on good ground, and apparent¬ 
ly well taken care 
of. It makes a re¬ 
markable growth of 
wood. The fruitful 
orchard likewise 
grows thriftily. It 
is not difficult., in 
Western New York, 
to grow a thrifty! 
healthy apple tree, 
but It is not always 
certain to bear fruit, 
. as it should, when it 
arrives at the proper 
y \ size and age. If wc 
I hiiirpS-^, could solve the ren- 
mtl/Jm sons for this ill bc- 
WWf§M havior, and ascer- 
WM&JTA tain what treatment 
would correct it, the 
k information would 
Jj he worth thousands 
-s, ’’ the apple growers. 
j Perhaps,if they will 
It take pains to send to 
a fty \,y$j I j the Rural state- 
W M yVr J incuts of facts con- 
v ^l# A I corning the age, 
\ ^ Am III I growth, varieties, 
A Mai I / culture, pruning, 
j Mfjlm // soil and yield, the 
MMm\\ desired result may 
MM be reached. At any 
' - rate it is worth try- 
No doubt many 
orchards on rich, 
deep soil make wood 
too fast at first. 1 
sometimes think it 
imfwm is a habit which the 
tree acquires by be- 
^ ing forced to grow 
fast when young, 
and it is not easily 
put off when mature 
l : i • age conies on. It is 
the usual custom to 
prune in Iho opi'ingv 
and this only causes 
J a greater wood 
y growth by forcing 
W\¥ the sap into fewer 
r channels. T rocs 
that produce too 
much wood, and, as 
a consequence, little 
f r ii i t, should he 
pruned in mid-sum¬ 
mer, when the fo- 
iT j S< liage is frill, as this 
weakens its lhturo 
wood growth. It is also highly probable 
that root pruning might be of great advan¬ 
tage. This can be readily clone by digging a 
trench around the tree at the proper dis¬ 
tance to cut one quarter or third of the root 
growth. 
The best cultivator ever put into an 
orchard when it had come to a bearing age 
was a hog. No cultivator tooth or subsoil 
plow ever equalled his unwrung snout. That 
device of his for loosening the soil without 
materially harming the most delicate root 
libers of the tree, at. the same time catching 
the worms and grubs in the earth and fallen 
apples, would be worth a fortune to any 
man if he could only get a patent on it. 
I know an orchard which bore marvel¬ 
ously ; it was on good soil, protected by 
forest on the north and west; the trees had 
low, open and spreading heads; it was an¬ 
nually pruned after the foliage lmd come, 
and a drove of hogs was kept in it through 
the summer. The farm changed hands, and 
the new proprietor turned out the hogs and 
put in the plow ; he also pruned early in the 
spring. The yield of apples fell off at once, 
and since has been hardly up to the average 
of second-class orchards. 
Whatever cause diminishes the vigor of a 
tree, tends to throw il into hearing. Aim a 
blow at the existence of the individual, and 
straightway it puts forth an effort to bear 
fruit and perpetuate its kind. A tree in a 
young orchard which bore fruit very sparing¬ 
ly, was attacked by the borer, and before the 
neglect of its owner let it die, it produced a 
fair crop of fruit. Its companions continued 
comparatively barren, in au orchard four 
or five years set, (too young to bear,) some 
trees were injured by mice, all slightly save 
one, and that was com pletely girdled. I Is own¬ 
er bridged the spot where the bark was want¬ 
ing by Inserting cions, and the sap flowed 
on its course once more, though in a dimin¬ 
ished stream. Blossoms put forth and fruit 
formed, which wisely, however, was re¬ 
moved, and the tree grew well. 
Let owners of thrifty growing hut uon- 
Among summer flowering bulbs none de¬ 
serve a higher rank than the Gladiolus. 
They are known among florists os “ Cape 
Bulbs” from being natives of the Cape of 
Good Hope. The earliest known varieties 
were Olodiolm Byzantium and Gladiolus 
communis, which were grown by the Dutch 
florists and sent out for fall planting with 
Hyacinths, Tulips, &c., being hardy varie¬ 
ties. The blooms were seifs, or of one color, 
the variety being confined to purple, red 
and white. Many years later Gladiolus car- 
dinales was introduced, a fine specimen with 
showy scarlet and white flowers; hut prov¬ 
ing a weak growing-plant, received little at¬ 
tention. The varieties next, brought out 
were Gladiolus Gandavensis, color good 
orange, scarlet and yellow; G. Jloribundus 
shaded rose, pink or white, and G. ramosvs 
a beautiful rose color, marked with white 
and carmine. From the varieties hast named 
have been produced by florists in Europe 
the large varieties of beautiful blooming 
Gladiolus with which our gardens are beau¬ 
tified, and of which Henderson has truth¬ 
fully said “ they are now almost, numberless, 
varying in every shade of their beautiful 
markings, which range through all degrees 
of scarlet, crimson purple, carmine, rose, 
yellow and violet, down to while. 
New varieties arc obtained from seed, and 
the different bulbs perpetuated by offsets. 
Producing new varieties has been confined 
mainly to professed florists. Bueok gives 
the modus operandi as follows:—The seed 
should bo sown as Boon as ripened in boxes 
or pots, in a peaty soil, and placed in the 
green-house; or it may be sown in April or 
May in a liot-bed with moderate heal, the 
seeds scarcely covered, and f lu: young plants 
shaded from the hot sun by mats. When 
the young plants arc two inches high, 
they may bo re-potted and plunged in the 
open ground in .lime, to make the greatest 
possible growth the first year. Iu the fall 
tins pots are taken up and placed iu a dry, 
warm place, the bulbs remaining in the soil 
during winter. The succeeding spring the 
bulbs are planted out, taking them from the 
pots. The greater part of them will show 
bloom the third year. Desirable ones are 
kept for increasing, the balance nearly worth¬ 
less. 
Gladiolus are of easy culture, flourishing 
best in a soil made rich by good decomposed 
manure, and stirred to the depth of a foot or 
eighteen inches. If the soil is stiff, an addi¬ 
tion of sand will be found beneficial. In a 
word, any good garden soil will be suitable 
for their growth, and in which they will 
bloom satisfactorily. As (he bulbs are in¬ 
jured by frost, planting should be delayed 
until danger from that source has passed. 
Any time in May will answer, and where 
succession of bloom is desirable, planting at 
intervals of one to two weeks may be made 
as late as the first of .Tune. If planted too 
early, they come into bloom during the 
greatest heat of summer, by which the flow¬ 
ers are injured; if delayed after June, the 
early frosts injure them beyond recovery. 
They may he started in the green-bouse, con 
servatory, or an ordinary liot-bed for early 
flowering, thus prolonging their season. 
Each variety should lie marked by t he name 
ou a neat label driven into the ground not 
far from the stake. 
Tbo books recommend planting a foot 
apart; but our experience is in favor of 
twice that distance, where the room can be 
spared, as insuring better growth and blooms. 
They appear to advantage in rows, or as 
single plants, but the best effect is obtained 
by massing in a bod, and rather in the back 
ground, as the plants in good soil attain a 
height of three to live feet. The bulbs should 
be covered not less than two inches, and be 
provided with substantial stakes to each, to 
which they should be tied with a soft string 
to prevent injury by wind and storm. In 
ornamental grounds, if the stakes are stained 
or painted a light green, they can hardly be 
distinguished from the stalk, which adds to 
the effect in ornamental planting. 
Large bulbs will usually give the best 
flowers, though those not more than three- 
quarters of an inch in diameter will furnish 
some, though inferior blooms. They will 
require little cultivation, with the exception 
of keeping the soil loose and free from weeds, 
in doing which care is needed that, the leaves 
are not cut or mutilated, as the growth of 
the bulb is thereby injured. Leaves should 
not be removed for appearance sake, unless 
they have turned brown. If the flowers are 
not desired for use, (and we have found them 
good for some kinds of bouquets,) the bulb 
will he benefited by their removal as early as 
they begin to fade, as the forming and ripen¬ 
ing of the seed is clone at the expense, to 
some extent, of the bulb. Gladiolus increase 
rapidly by offshoots or division of bulbs, the 
largest ones usually furnishing the greatest 
number 
the wounds with a small iron scoop, and de¬ 
posit the whole hi an earthen pot, where it 
is worked by the hand iu the open sunshine, 
until it becomes of a considerable thickness. 
It is then formed into cakes of a globular 
shape, and about four pounds in weight, and 
laid into little earthen basins, to be further 
dried. The cakes are covered over with 
poppy or tobacco leaves, and dried till they 
are lit for sale.” 
1 would here observe that the cultivation 
of the White or Opium Poppy and the 
manufacture of Opium, lias been several 
times tried in Great Britain. Dr. Young, 
some years ago, did so, in the vicinity of 
Ediuburgli. The uncertainty of the seasons, 
however, and Lin- frequent absence of the 
sun, with rainy weather, were found to be 
very great drawbacks to the successful cul¬ 
tivation of Ibis drug. In strength and medi¬ 
cinal effects, however, the British opium 
equaled that of warmer climates. 
Of the two kinds imported is the Turkey 
opium, which is a solid, compact, substance, 
possessing a considerable degree of tenacity, 
with a shining fracture, and uniform appear¬ 
ance when broken. It is of a dark brown 
Color, exciting at. first, when chewed, a nau¬ 
seous, hitter taste, which soon becomes acid 
with some, degree of warmth, and having u 
peculiar, heavy, disagreeable smell. The 
best pieces are the flat or compressed, the 
round masses being of an inferior quality. 
The East India opium has much less con¬ 
sistence, being sometimes not much thicker 
than tar, and always ductile. 
I may add that opium is one of the most 
important articles iu the Materia, Medica ; 
for almost all other medicines substitutes 
may be found, but for opium none,—at least 
in the majority of cases in which its pecu¬ 
liar influences are required. 
The greater the amount of the peculiar 
alkaline base called Morphia, in combination 
with an acid which lias been termed Meconic 
acid, the greater the value of the article. I 
find it recorded that:—“The amount of 
opium imported Into England in the year 
1808, was 347,111 pounds from Turkey; 
4,083 pounds from Egypt, auil 3,571 pounds 
from other places. Turkey opium was 
worth 18s. Od. a pound; Egyptian, 9s. lOd.; 
and the rest 8s.; so that the total value of 
the imports was .0383,145. Of this, 110,101 
pounds were exported, of which the largest 
amount were taken by the United Stales, 
Holland and New Grenada.” 
Lancaster, Pa. J. Stauffeb. 
POPPY CULTURE AND OPIUM, 
On page 135 of Rural of February 19, 
1870, No. 8, is the query:— 1 "Who, of our 
readers, can and will give experience and 
practice in answer 1.o this inquiry V” The 
writer of this has no personal experience to 
offer, but has at hand valuable information 
from those who have, winch may not be ac¬ 
cessible to your readers, and winch. 1 am 
willing to give. 
The White Poppy is so named from the 
whiteness of its seed ; a variety of it, how¬ 
ever, is well known to produce black seeds; 
it is the Tapaver Somniferum, a native of 
the warmer parts of Asia. The opium is 
chiefly obtained from Persia, Arabia, and 
ollier parts of India. Mr. Kerr details the 
manner of cultivation in those countries, and 
his account appears to contain till the infor¬ 
mation required: 
“ The field being well prepared by the 
plow and harrow, and reduced to an exact 
level superficies, is then divided into quad¬ 
rangular areas of seven feet long and five 
feet in breadth, leaving two feet of interval, 
which is raised five or six inches, and exca¬ 
vated into an aqueduct for conveying water 
to every area, for which purpose they have 
a well in every cultivated field. The seeds 
are sown in October or November. 
“ The plants are allowed to grow six or 
eight inches distant from each other, and 
are plentifully supplied wfth water. When 
the young phuils arc six or eight inches high, 
they are watered more sparingly; but the 
cultivator strews all over t he area a compost 
of ashes and animal manure, uud a large 
portion of nitrous earth, scraped lrotn the 
highways and old mtul walls. When the 
plants are about to flower, they are watered 
very profusely, and kept constantly moist.. 
When the capsules are half grown, the sup¬ 
ply of water is stopped, and the process of 
collecting the opium is commenced. 
“At sunset they make two longitudinal, 
double incisions upon each lmlf-ripe' capsule, 
passing from below upwards, and taking 
ARBORICULTURAL NOTES, 
Uni-berry for Hedge. 
Wm. Y. Warner, Bucks Co., Pa., writes: 
“ The Osage Orange does not give satisfac¬ 
tion as a hedge plant in some districts. The 
Barberry lias been recommended; but, ns a 
generaffact, there is very little known as to 
Its nature and habits. Could you not, through 
the Rural, call out. a few communications 
from experienced persons, setting forth its 
merits as a hedge plant ? T Ihink you would 
be doing a public service if you could induce 
persons to plant more live fences.” 
So ii h<> in Jnpouica I’cmluln. 
John A. Small, Harrisburg, Pa., writes 
ns:—“Under tin: head ‘Sophora Japonica 
Pendula ’ you give a wood cut of .a tree 
which is an exact representation of the 1; irge 
ones planted in the Capitol grounds in ibis 
place some seven years ago, and now about 
ten feet high ; also of a number of smaller 
ones planted three or four years. They 
were bought under, and go by, the name of 
‘Kilmarnock Willow.” In addition to those 
mentioned above, many are growing in Hie 
grounds of our citizens. Are they not the 
same? I think they are. If so, is not. some¬ 
body trying to get out an old thing under a 
new name r 
No; they are not the same nor are they 
related. The Sophora Jajjonica belongs to 
the Pulse family of plants,— Ltquminomv, 
while the Kilmarnock Willow is a member 
of the Willow family, Boticaora. Their only 
point of resemblance is their weeping habit, 
so far us we are aware. 
W V . V- V m i 
1 
' flEs ’'A 1 ' 1 'r, Vv 
^ l * -A 
