FLORAL NOTES 
New-Yorker.] Mr. Crane has fed cotton seed 
maul, and finds It Rood for cows, bat doubts Its 
value for horses. Mr. Cmms bought corn meal 
at Schenectady lust week at $40 per ton, and 
linseed cake at $50 per ton. 
Market for Apple Heed.— R. HARGRAVE, Peru, 
N. Y., asks where there Is a market for apple 
seed. No one knew. 
X Woman on Potatoes.—Z krina WniTNKY, 
East Dethel, Vt., 'vrlt.es“ By repeated experi¬ 
ments for airrcat many years past, I ain satisfied 
that lnrKOseed (fives better returns than small, 
but I ajrroo with Dr. Hkxamhr that the relative 
price or potatoes at seed time, and harvest Utkou 
Into the account, may sometimes deoido tho 
profit In favor of small seed. Still 1 am In favor 
of cutting tho seeds. In the experiments that I 
have made, T have found more small potatoes 
from whole seed than from that that was out, 
and tho reason to uie Is obvious. One large 
potato planted whole Is too much seed for tho 
ground It occupies." 
To Keep rider Hwoet.—8. B. Phelps, Norwich, 
Vt., says:—“A piece ol' aluin, tho slzo of an 
English walnut, dropped In a barrel of older, will 
stop fermentation at any desired stage,und keep 
or hold the elder in jn«t that Mato for any length 
of time.” Prof. Whitney responded, when it is 
remembered that alum is used for binning skins, 
it. will bn easy to comprehend its effects on the 
human stomach. 
New Jersey Fanning —Dr. 8alem-Ceimty-on- 
tbo-Uraln, who asserts thut he is not, and never 
was, State Entomologist of New Jersey, arose 
and said lie Imd been again to Salem county, and 
had found four big potatoes and six earsot corn, 
grown on soil plowed only two limbos deep. Tho 
announcement was received with rapture; but 
the vote, taken to present tlm discoverer with 
tho modal onco prepared for TVrra-culturist 
Comstock, failed. The potatoes exhibited, were 
grown by Clark Thompson, m Mil. way: The 
ground upon which they grew, Imd been In with 
corn the year previous, and was not plowed at 
all for the potato crop. The seed potatoes were 
oovored with earth, just two Inches deep, and 
then tho ground covered all .over with course 
hay, to the depth, while loose, of about u foot. 
This hay, of course, was soon packed so as to bo 
only a few Inches in depth, but still sufficient to 
prevent tho growth of all weeds or grass; but 
very little immure was applied. From some 
cause, tho potatoes did not como tip well, and 
the stand was poor; but still the crop was IKK) 
bushels to the acre. The crop on land adjoining, 
cultivated In the ordinary way, and heavily ma¬ 
nured, was only half us good, or 130 bushels to 
t he acre. Mr. Thompson told us that on two 
previous Reasons he hits had ns many as (500 bush¬ 
els of potatoes to tho acre, by this mode of cul¬ 
tivation. 
Tho three thick ears of corn are from Davit> 
Petit. Two of them have 1.300 grains ouch, tho 
other about 1,400 —or thirty two rows, with 
torty-four grains iu a row. It is ten Inches long 
by nine Inches In oiroumforonco. Tho cob is 
sovou inches In circumference. The cur weighs 
ono and a-hnlf pounds. It Is a rule that seventy 
pounds of corn in tho ear make a bushel; at 
that rate, forty-seven of such ears would make 
a bushel of shelled corn, or less than half tho 
number usually allowed. The live weeks of hot 
weather, wit hout any rain between harvest and 
tho 10th of August, prevented his corn from 
filling out to its full length ; that most of tho 
longest, ears have more or less colls unfilled, 
owing to the season. Ho told us that In some 
seasons ho hus bad ears with two thousand 
grains, and when each ear would shell a quart, 
or thirty-two ears to the bushel. Ho hopos for 
such a season again. This corn is the result of 
an experiment continued for muny years. Ho 
originally began with nubbins, or deformed 
ears-taking only those for seed that were un¬ 
naturally thick—from tho Idea tluit if he could 
retain tho thickness ho could lucrcaso tho 
length; and bo has certainly succeeded to a 
great extent. Where this corn grew this sum¬ 
mer wheat Is now sown Clover seed will bo 
sown In tho spring. That clover will bo a rank 
growth by next lull, and to bo plowed under tho 
next spring Just three Inches deep, und planted 
with corn. Thus, while he has either wheat, or 
corn every year on tho same ground, he has an 
Intermediate crop of clover, which Is the chief 
fertilizer of tlm corn crop. He further says, 
** by thus having nucha largo amount of vege¬ 
table mattor near tho surfaces the crop is able 
to withstand a great amount of dry weather, us 
the moisture cannot escape froinbolow without 
coming In contact with this vegetable mat ter at 
the surface, which la ono of the best materials 
for holding moisture, and will hold It for tho 
benefit or the growing crop.” 
Mr. <’ram> on Small Fruits.— Mr. Crane said 
his experience, the past season, had shown that 
the Green Prolific Strawberry was ono of the 
most profitable varieties. The Charles Downing 
ho would put next, and the Colfax ns tho very 
poorest. In raspberries, lie would place Doo¬ 
little first, for profit, and tho Philadelphia next. 
Ho thought tho fruit business was overdone 
about Elizabeth, N. J. The difficulty Is, that, 
whenever thoro Is a ohaneo to make money. 
Irrrintltttrf 
(trtrmfr 
Discussions 
Sickly Verbenas. 
Mrs. L. R. says:—“ May I ask wliat ails 
my verbenas? they were growing nicely at 
first, but now look as if sprinkled with flour, 
and leaf alter leaf dries and falls off, and I 
am afraid they will not live. They stand in 
a south window, and I use liquid manure ou 
ihem once a week. What shall I do for 
than, and how are verbenas taken care of 
in winter? I think they must have extra 
care, ns a number of my friends fail to keep 
them alive and healthy." 
PROTECTING TENDER ROSES, 
AMERICAN INST. FARMERS’ CLUB 
ORNAMENTAL GOURDS 
Many persons who admire the tender 
Bourbon, Tea, and Noisette roses, fear to at¬ 
tempt their culture on account of the sup¬ 
posed difficulty of keeping them through 
winter. Wc used to try Btoring in a cellar, 
and as usual, lost many on account of getting 
too dry or the reverse, and occasionally mice 
would get in and make sad havoc among 
them. At last, we tried burying in the open 
ground, and since that, failure lias not been 
known in our garden. We have plants five 
years old of such varieties as Solfaterre, La 
Pactole, Souvenir, Ac., that have been lifted 
every autumn and burled in the ground, and 
they always come out fresh in spring, and 
bloom duriug summer, far more profusely 
than when wintered in a greenhouse. 
Our method of protection is as follows: 
After there have been several hard frosts, 
sufficient to check growth, we dig up the 
bushes and heel them in, selecting a dry 
place for this purpose, the roots only being 
covered at the time. In heeling-in,a trench 
should be dug of sufficient length (or a num¬ 
ber of them near together) to admit of plac¬ 
ing the plants iu a single row or layer. In 
digging, throw the soil all upon one side of 
the trench, forming a high bank; against 
this lay the tops of the bushes. The earth 
used in covering the roots should be taken 
from another trench made a foot or two 
from the first. The final covering of the 
tops should be deferred ns long as possible, 
or until the soil has become cool; then bank 
up, and cover entire. No straw nor manure 
should be placed against or in immediate 
contact with the hushes; but,in tho extreme 
Northern Slates a smull quantity of some 
similar material might be placed over the 
surface. We doubt, however, if it is acces¬ 
sary anywhere. The following spring, the 
tops of the bushes should Vie uncovered as 
soon as the frost is out of the ground. This 
may be readily and rapidly done with a 
fork, passing it under the plants, carefully 
lifting, and shaking out the soil. It is not 
well to take out tho plants entirely until after 
all danger of freezing weather is past. 
Before planting again, all decayed or half¬ 
dead branches should be cut away, and the 
sound ones considerably shortened. The 
older and stronger the hushes become, the 
more easily preserved. A man will take up 
and heel iu several hundred plants in a day, 
or set them out again; and the extra cost of 
these operations, over the culture of the 
hardy sorts, is a mere trifle compared with 
the number of flowers produced. The rose 
bed can, by this means, be changed from one 
part of the garden to another, and fresh soil 
selected for their receplion ; nnd wc have al¬ 
ways thought that our tender roses were not 
so liable to be attacked by insects as the 
hardy kinds, and that their exemption was 
owing to the annual removing from ono 
place to another. 
We admire the old June roses and Hybrid 
perpetuals; but sluce learning bow to keep 
the tender sorts through without any con¬ 
siderable trouble or expense, they have been 
our favorites. An abundance of roses in 
June and July is certainly enjoyable, but a 
perpetual feast of six months is far better. 
Notes of DiacuasloiiH. Extracts from Let¬ 
ters, Ac. 
U>« of Cotton Herd Meal. — T. H. BEDELL, 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., desired to know — first, is 
tho cotton seed tncul of commerce simply tho 
6eed ground, or Is It tho meal of the onko after 
the oil is expressed? second, what is Its value 
for milch cows, In comparison with other grain ? 
third, where oau It be obtained ? Major Curtis 
Jonaii’s gourd wits nothing in compari¬ 
son with some of the fancy kinds of tho 
present time. Of course our gourds will 
grow and overshadow a man as soon as the 
one mentioned in Holy Writ, and we think 
bear fruit more unique and beautiful to look 
at; but, in regard to quality, Jonah’s was 
Verbenas arc difficult plants to keep 
through winter in any ordinary living room ; 
but we know of many persons who do it, 
and are quite successful. You are killing 
}hu plants with kindness. Throw away the 
liquid manure and give nothing but pure 
water, and this very sparingly, until the 
plants begin to grow. Verbenas are natives 
of a dry climate, and grow in rather dry 
soils, and although they will flourish in a 
very rich compost in summer, they do not 
want it in winter when almost dormant. 
Cut off nearly all the old branches and wait 
for now shoots to spring up from their base. 
You do not say that you took up old plants 
or the rooted layers; but we presume so; 
and this Is just what gardeners never do, if 
it is possible to avoid it. Cuttings taken off 
in August make far better plants for keeping 
through winter than the old stools or layers 
therefrom. We never could understand why 
the ladies should bother themselves with 
verbenas to winter, when it is so easy to save 
a few seod in summer, and then sow it to¬ 
wards spring in pots or boxes, and raise hun¬ 
dreds of plants with almost no trouble at all. 
Besides this, there is always such an endless 
variety of colors among seedlings, and it is 
always gratifying to have a collection of our 
own, and different from those of our neigh¬ 
bors. 
Perpetual Moms Roses. 
A lady Subscriber asks the following 
question :—“ Will you tell me how to make 
a perpetual moss rose bloom ? Shall I put 
it down cellar this winter, and can it be 
grown from slips ?" There is really no such 
thing as a perpetual moss rose. There art; 
a few varieties that will occasionally bloom 
two or three times during the season, aud 
very sparingly at that. To obtain anything 
like a succession of flowers, the plants must 
have a very rich, deep soil, and plenty of 
moisture. All the moss roses are hardy, or 
nearly so, even in the extreme Northern 
States, and they should not be dug up in the 
fall, but allowed to remain in the open 
ground. If there is danger of injury by 
cold, bend down the canes, and cover with 
earth just before the ground freezes. Moss 
roses are not readily propagated from cut¬ 
tings, and amateurs will seldom succeed 
with them, even under the most favorable 
circumstances. 
" - Tn'r 'i iwt ■ 
Seed tVoiu Doable Stocks. 
J. W. Landman asks why lie never gets 
any seed from bis double Blocks. Perfectly 
double flowers, of any kind, seldom produce 
seed, because they are really deformed, and 
not natural. Good double Stocks (Mathiolu) 
never produce seed—at least, we have never 
seen one that did—and the only way of 
multiplying particular varieties is to propa¬ 
gate them from cuttings. Seed is always 
obtained from single or semi-double sorts, 
and if only a few seeds are allowed to ma¬ 
ture on a plant, and this is given extra cul¬ 
ture, a large proportion of the next genera¬ 
tion of seedlings will be very likely to pro¬ 
duce double flowers. 
said some seed la ground tieforo the oil la ex¬ 
pressed, and in other eases the refuse from the 
oil mill is used. It la excellent for cowh, and in¬ 
creases the flow of milk. Prof. Whitney said: 
The cotton seed has throe portions— the kernel, 
the hull, and the filters that cling to the hull 
ufier the seed conies from the gin. This fibrous 
material should be taken off by machinery; It 
would make better paper stock than rags, and it 
la estimated that the annual product would Vie 
about a quarter of a million of tons. Tho bull 
should Vie taken l'rorn the seed before grinding, 
this being the most approved practice. Tho 
grinding and pressing extract the oil, which Is 
much too valuablo to permit tho impressed 
meal to bo used for feed. The cake, ground, 
makes a most valuable feed, and should be used 
in this country for cultlo just as linseed cake la 
in England. Tito benefit is obtained not only in 
the growth and fattening of tho cuttle, but in 
the greatly Improved quality of tho manure—a 
point not sufficiently appreciated by our farm¬ 
ers. English chemists have very minutely in¬ 
vestigated the relative value of different kinds 
of food, and of tho manure derived from thorn. 
If tho Chair wish, I will prepare for a future 
meeting a brief abstract of tho results ns stated 
by them, having more special reference to lin¬ 
seed cuke and cottoa seed meal. 
• Dr. ScirppEitNONG saidCotton seed rneal 
is simply the cake ground fine. Its value as a 
food for cows ia greater tiiuii any food except 
corn meal, while It. is cheaper than any of the 
grain meals. It should be fed mixed with hay, 
just as has been tho custom to use linseed onke 
or corn meal. The production of this article Is 
likely to bo very largo this season. There Is n 
largo crop of cotton, lienee plenty of seed, and 
many new mills have been erected. There Is 
still room for many niMw, as the uses of tho 
cake and the oil are both becoming more varied 
and the consumption greater. Any commission 
merchant will furnish It to tho gentleman on 
his order. I would advise buying the euku and 
grinding It himself. Any Common corn mill 
will do. During ray trip South I talked to the 
planters of this article, and found that nearly 
all of them wore going to try it as a manure; 
that some had, with very good effect. They 
generally use It mixed with ground phosphates 
or super-phosphates; some add plaster and a 
little salt. As a cuttle food, I was told It added 
great richness to the milk. Large quantities of 
it are exported to Europe, and the English farm¬ 
ers use it both as a feed and fertilizer. If they 
can afford to pay $15 aud $50 gold, per ton, for 
this cake, our farmers certainly can afford to 
pay $35 to $40 currency. At a rough estimate, I 
would say that about 100,000 tons of this oak© 
will be made tbls year, and about 4,000,000 gal¬ 
lons of the oil. The oil is clarified and used as a 
salad oil; is also used for making a lubricating 
oil, and for making soaps. For this last purpose 
It is especially adapted. 1 have seeti some very 
fine Castile soaps made from ft. As au industry 
at the South, It is destined to be a great and. 
profitable ono. It enables the farmer to add 
several dollars to tbc bale on the price of bis 
cotton, and gives to the world a new article of 
oemmeroo from that heretofore wasted. 
Col. Curtis said linseed cake mnde In this 
OOUntry was mainly sout to England, where the 
farmers know Its value, which is more thnu can 
be said for our farmers. The Commander of 
tho Club asserted that the reason why our farm¬ 
ers do not use it more is that wc have no mills 
for grinding it; and it is too hard to be used un¬ 
til ground. Long John Lyman made the re¬ 
markable assertion that the droppings of cattle 
fed ou oil cake arc just as valuable for manure 
as tf the cake Itself were applied directly to tho 
•oil! [Did the learned gentleman ever learn 
whether tho excretions of a human being fed 
on buckwheat pancakes areas good a fertilizer 
as a top-dressing of pancakes applied directly 
to the soil? It would be Interesting to know 
Long John's opinion ubout it.—E ds. Rural, 
MANURE THE GARDEN. 
Ground that, is to be used for vegetables 
next spring, should be manured in the fall. 
Haul out from the barn-yard all the manure 
that can be spared for this purpose, and 
spread it over the surface, and then plow 
under, and leave the soil in slight ridges un¬ 
til spring. If the manure is fresh and warm, 
it will become sufficiently cool and decom¬ 
posed by spring, and Us Juices thoroughly 
incorporated with the soil. Where the sur¬ 
face of the land is nearly level, and there is 
no danger of the manure washing away, it 
may he spread upon the surface even after the 
ground is frozen. For vegetables, tho en¬ 
riching materials used should be thoroughly 
decomposed and Incorporated with the soil; 
and we do not know of a heller way of do¬ 
ing this than to begin in autumn, plowing 
once at this time, and then again in spring. 
The heavy rains will do more towards mix¬ 
ing the materials than any manipulation 
with plow or spade. 
IN THE FLOWER GARDEN, 
The growing season for hardy plants is 
over and gone, and that last frost of the 10th 
of November lias spoiled nearly all the 
beauty of leaf and flower; ouly here and 
there a geranium lias stood it bravely, and 
most of my roses, especially the dark colored 
ones; the light colored sorts look dingy. 
The Chrysanthemums are fresh and bright, 
and many of them oh! how beautiful! So I 
shall hope to enjow my garden yet a little 
longer, while I am transplanting some of my 
herbaceous perenials, planting a few more 
bulbs, and digging up and leaving loose for 
the action of frost plots of ground for next 
year’s annuals, aud bedding-out plants. 
But I want to tell you how brilliant, a 
week ago, was a plaut of American Ivy 
trained up over the stem aud branches of an 
old dead evergreen, and thence in and among 
and over a plaut of Spirea lanceolata. Tbu 
crimson red of the leaves of the Ivy in, 
among, and against the deep green of the 
Spires was only equaled in beauty by a lit¬ 
tle group of Mahonias, in which the spikes 
of red flowers of the Scarlet, Sage — Salvia 
Spletulem — mingled in and loomed above. 
Atul then a week ago how showy were the 
large, spike-like clusters of the Hydrangea 
paimalata gmndiflora — of a pale pink, it is 
true, but they had been in bloom since tho 
10th of August, and from a white had passed 
into a deep pink, and thence faded to a pale 
pink, but all the time beautiful. It is one of 
the best shrubs we have. 
I think we do not half study, and when 
planting time conies again, I hope some of 
your intelligent writers will just give us 
country people a few good hints, if they 
don’t tell us all. Frank Amon. 
VARIETIES OF RHUBARB, 
A certain individual, who shall be name¬ 
less here, has made a wonderful discovery, 
which he communicates to one of our ex¬ 
changes, i. <?., that all the named sorts of 
rhubarb, except the Linnaus, are worthless. 
This is bringing the list of choice sorts down 
to a point; aud while we are ready to admit 
that the variety named is one of the best, it 
would be going a little too far to say that all 
others are worthless. We should not be 
afraid to wager a year’s subscription to the 
Rural New-Yorker that our nameless 
writer could not distinguish a stem of Down¬ 
ing’s Colossal, or Victoria, from the Litmo- 
atts, after they were divested of their skin. 
There are persons of good taste on these 
matters who would prefer the small early 
Prince Albert to the Linneaus; and there 
are others who grow this vegetable for mar¬ 
ket who believe the Victoria is a larger and 
more profitable sort than some others; ami 
we are inclined to let them have their own 
way about it, for, in truth, nature did her ut¬ 
most on acids when she made the sweetest 
rhubarb known. 
