1 
APRIL 25 
MOORE’S RURAL P3EW-YORKER. 
269 
(Jtori^ultinpl 
SELECTING FLOWER SEEDS. 
These sunshiny days will be sure to set 
flower lovers to thinking about sending for j 
flower seeds. I am aware from my own ex¬ 
perience that the hardest thing about mak¬ 
ing a selection from the wonderfully beauti¬ 
ful catalogues which dealers send out is to ! 
confine one’s self to a few kinds. Every i 
flower seems to bo so attractive that you are 
sure you must have it; if we were to get all | 
that we think we must have, or gain knowl¬ 
edge of through the catalogue for the first, 
time, we should have our hands pretty busily 
employed through the summer in taking 
care of them. 1 have found that the best 
plan, at any rate the most satisfactory one, 
is to get only a few of the very best, aud | 
give thorn the very best, treatment 1 can. 
One will be amply repaid for all the time 
and labor lie or she may give them. Asters, 
Balsams, Ten-week Stock, Fonsies, Portulac- 
cas, Phlox, Verbenas and Mignonette are 
sure to give complete satisfaction, and make 
the garden brilliant from June to frost. 
Perhaps a few hints about my style of ar¬ 
ranging them may suggest some new ideas 
to others. I always get my Phlox seed in 
packets containiug separate colors. I some¬ 
times make a long, curving bed, sometimes 
a circular one. A circular one, with a Canna, 
Ricinus, or some similar large and stately 
plant in the center, is very pretty, with the 
different colors of the Phlox iu rows. I had 
one last year with a row of white about the 
plant in the center; then a row of pink, and 
the bed edged with another row of white. 
A curved bed had a row of scarlet running 
through the center of it, bordered on each 
side by a row of white, and the bed was 
edged by Mignonette. A. very pretty way 
to arrange Asters is to set the tall-growing 
sorts at the further side of the bed, and the 
lower-growing kinds in front, keeping the 
colors unmixed, As there are several kinds 
of Asters, all of them differing in respect to 
hight, a charming hedge can be made in this 
way, which will look like a bank of flowers 
in August and September. I know of no 
annual which gives as much satisfaction as 
the Aster. Some of them are nearly equal 
to roses. 
My Portulacea bed was very much admired 
last summer. It was round, aud the center 
was raised about a foot. The plants covered 
it completely, and in the morning it looked 
like, like —well, I don’t know anything 
pretty enough to compare it to, except an¬ 
other bed of Porlulaccas. t succeeded in 
getting some double ones last summer for 
the first time. 
Verbenas are great faverites with me. 
Planted in slightly elevated beds, I know of 
nothing which will give a greater and more 
constant profusion of flowers. I think the 
Verbena will do quite well in a dryer soil 
than most other flowers, because it covers 
the ground so completely with its rampant 
growth. Pansies need a shady place. Bal¬ 
sams love the sun and a good deal of water. 
The greatest objection—in fact the only ob¬ 
jection—so far as I am concerned, to Balsam 
is that the leaves are apt to grow so thickly 
on the stems, especially in rich soil, that the 
flowers are half hidden. This can be easily 
remedied by cutting out the leaves once a 
week. E. E, R. 
- 4 « » — 
FLORICULTURAL NOTES. 
Keeping Roses in the Cellar. —(G. H. A.)— 
Yes, it is practicable to take up tender roses 
in the fall and keep them in boxes of earth 
in the cellar during winter ; provided, first, 
that only the roots are kept covered with 
soil; second, that you do not allow the 
soil to get too dry or too wet; and, third, 
the cellar must not be so warm as to start 
the plants into growth. If the boxes con¬ 
taining the plants are shut up tight, the 
plants will mold and rot; and if left open 
they must be kept where the mice and rats 
cannot reach them. Attention to these little 
matters will enable you to keep roses in the 
cellar during winter. 
Preserving Cut Flowers .—In a letter to the 
French Society of Horticulture, a chemist, 
M. Fremont, mentions that a good way of 
preserving cut flowers in a state of freshness 
is to dissolve sal-ammoniac, or cklorhydrate 
of ammonia, with the water in which the 
stems are put, in the proportion of five 
grammes per liter of water. They will thus 
often be kept fresh for a fortnight. The ex¬ 
periment is one which can be easily made, 
A Strange Freak in Orafting Roses is 
thus told in Science Gossip : — “ A moss rose 
grafted on the common cabbage rose pro¬ 
duced a shoot on the top of graft same as 
the parent stock, the flowers on which were 
cabbage rosea and those on the center of 
same shoot moss roses.” [The moss rose is 
only a freak, or sport, of the old cabbage, or 
Provence, rose, hence the perfect natural¬ 
ness of the mixture as above described.— 
Ed. Rural.] 
Oxalis Doicici .—(G. H. A.) Bowie’s crim¬ 
son oxalis is late fall or early winter bloomirig 
sort. The bulbs may be retarded or forced, 
varying the time of blooming a month or 
two to suit the fancy or convenience of the 
cultivator. 
c^aipit (Bt|ononig. 
HEN MANURE 
VEGETABLES. 
FARM LABOR. 
The difficulty of getting good help is partly 
owing to the price paid as corresponds with 
other business. A laborer may work on a 
farm 10 years and the last year he will com¬ 
mand only a dollar or t wo more than a man 
that has only worked a few months, pro¬ 
vided ho is capable, of the same endurance ; 
while the clerk in the store or the apprentice 
at a trade generally gets twice as much the 
second year as the first, while he gets nearly 
as much the first year as a farm hand. 
The farm hand seldom finds a place where 
he can improve his mind ; there is seldom 
found much of a library in the farmer’s 
house. Perhaps he will And one political 
paper and a few school books, and if the 
hand takes a paper or has any books, he may 
have to keep them in his trunk, where it is 
difficult to reach for a few minutes’ perusal, 
from the fact of his room being in some out- 
of-the-way place ; or if he leaves his paper 
in the sitting-room he may And it torn up or 
mislaid where it would take him longer to 
find if than he has timo to read ; and there 
are no reading-rooms except near large 
towns. 
“A farm hand is respected for what he is, 
the same as in other business.” Iu this I 
must differ with some. I have had some 
experience, and quite a chance to observe 
the usage of farm help. I claim that the 
farm hand should be respected and consid¬ 
ered as good as the clerk, mechanic, or the 
men in any other avocation, provided he 
merits it in his manner* arid good behavior. 
T have seen the farmer and men of qther 
avocations pass by t he farm hand to shake 
hands with a. clerk or mechanic or lawyer, 
acting as if the farm hand was beneath his 
notice. I have been in a store or post-office 
and heard an intelligent young man talk ; 
and when he passed out, some one would 
ask, “Who is that?” The reply .would be, 
“Nobody but farmer H.’s hired man ; he 
would look better if he would keep his mouth 
shut.” 
The way farm help is quite often paid is 
a reason why men und women do not like to 
work on a farm or in the farmer’s house. I 
have known them to be kept waiting for 
their pay five or six months after their time 
was out, for the sake of getting a higher 
price on some article of produce. I have 
heard girls tell how much harder it was to 
get their pay than it was for the music 
teacher ; when the girl worked a week of 15 
hours each day but Sunday, and that day 
about seven hours, for 82, while the music 
teacher got 85 for 10 lessons of about an 
hour each ; and how the lady of the house 
would draw the 82 bill through her fingers 
und tell them how they must use it, &e. 
Frequently, when a hired man asks his 
emyloyers for money it seems to come grudg- 
iugly, and the inquiry is, “What do you 
want to do with it ?” and “ How much muBt 
you have?” After a man has earned his 
money he doesn’t want to be made to feel as 
if he is under any great obligation for his 
pay. He has fulfilled his part of the con¬ 
tract, and it is the duty of his employer to 
| pay him without still making him feel that 
| ne is still indebted to his employer. 
Harvest is generally a trying time for 
month hands ; they are generally required 
to do two or three hours’ more work in a 
day than day hands, while da}' hands get 
from 82 to 82.50 per day, the month hand 
getting from SO to 00 cents per day. if there 
is a jug of water to get, he is generally called 
on to get it ; or if the reaper gives out, he is 
sent to the barn fora bolt or tools, &c., while 
the day hands rest. 
“ Farming does not pay,” is an excuse wita 
many men. That discourages. If it does 
not pay, it is the fault of the employer, not 
of the hand. A Subscriber. 
Our correspondent is evidently a farm 
liaud, aud knows just what he is talking 
about. We have worked as “hired help” on 
a farm, and know that his picture is not over¬ 
drawn. We give it so that some folks can 
see how they look in the mirror. 
You will see from my address that I am 
in the Pennsylvania “Clil Regions.” I intend 
to plant potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, 
cabbages, onions, &c. Soil, black mucky 
loam—new land ; I have several bushels of 
hen manure uud I would like to know if I 
can use it on those vegetables beneficially. 
And if so, in what manner and quantity ? I 
am going to send for some of “Compton’s 
Surprise” “Extra Early Vermont” or 
“ Brounell’s Beauty” potatoes. Would like 
to know which of the three I would lie surest 
of a good yield with ; aud also, a good winter 
potato. V. R. Wilcox, Clarion Co., Pa. 
Hen manure is an excellent fertilizer for 
all kinds of vegetables, but we think it is the 
moat economical plan to compost it with 
muck or common soil some time before ap¬ 
plying it t.p crops. Add two barrels of muck, 
if it can be had, to each barrel of lieu ma¬ 
nure, and mix together under cover, turning 
the heap over until all is thoroughly pulver¬ 
ized If the compost can be made several 
weeks before using, it will lift better than if 
applied fresh. Two quarts of this, put in any 
hill of potatoes or other vegetable, or scat¬ 
tered over the. onion beds before or after 
sowing, will certainly be beneficial. 
The potatoes you name are all good and it 
would be diilioUlt to determine which is the 
best. Either may be considered a good win¬ 
ter potato. Because a variety ripens early, 
is nothing against it as a late keeping sort. 
We have no better potato in market to-day 
than the Early Rose. Fine, large sound 
tubers of excellent quality, are to be seen iu 
our markets, showing that it is a good keep¬ 
er although very early sort. 
was sufficient not to desire another since that 
time. 
Barberries From Cuttings .—“A subscrib¬ 
er,” Pittsfield, MuLne, is informed that Bar¬ 
berries may be propagated from cuttings in 
the same tuunner as currants, but do not 
grow quite us freely. Make the cuttings of 
the previous season's growth and about 
eight, inches long ; plant in trenches, cover¬ 
ing the cutting to within about two inches 
of the upper end. A rather light, soil is pre¬ 
ferable, and it should be firmly packed about 
the cuttings. We have frequently propagated 
barberries in this way. 
APPLICATION 
LIME. 
At the Solebury Farmers’ Club, there was 
a talk on the subject, in which Moses East- 
iuan said “he thought as soon after harvest 
as possible, was the right; time to apply lime, 
und the place on the wheat stubble. Ap¬ 
plied in this way it helps the grass crop, puts 
the ground in good condition for corn, and 
does not make oats ripen unevenly. Hamp¬ 
ton Rice had obtained the most benefit from 
applying lime on the sod the winter before 
the corn was planted. Samuel H. Rica had 
applied from 700 to 1,900 bushels per year for 
40 years, on " farm of 80 acres. It had al¬ 
most made liin farm,but for a fewyears pant, 
it had not been much benefited by it. Wal¬ 
lace Paxsoii thought the man hit it who said 
“get it on, never mind where, but get it on.” 
Ilenry Wildman had applied a handful of air 
slaked lime to the hill of corn after it was 
up, with marked benefit. He had also made 
a mixture consisting of 50 bushels of lime, 
10 bushels of plaster and 6 bushels of salt- 
dissolved the salt and slaked the lime with 
the brine. He sowed the mixture on 12 
acres of grass in the spring, and had a fine 
crop on land poorly set. 
^ijkricultural. 
ARCHITECTURAL NOTES. 
LIFE 
FLORIDA. 
Aloes for Washing Trees .—A correspond¬ 
ent of the Sun says :—I have often read in 
your paper about tarring trees, or white¬ 
washing them with lime. Here is something 
better : Dissolve aloes in warm water and 
paint the trees with it; then the insects and 
vermin will find them so bitter that they 
wiU. go away. The great French chemist 
Raspail says :—“When I came out of prison 
I went to live in Belgium, and there I rented 
a house near Brussels. In the garden I had 
quite a number of trees, but half the branch¬ 
es were dry, and the trunks half eaten by 
insects. In the spring I went to work and 
cut all the dry branches and rubbed the bark 
smooth and clean and then painted them 
with the dissolved aloes. After that the 
trees grew healthy and bore plenty of fruit.” 
Gold Fish in lrondequoit Bag. — The 
Germantown Telegraph says :—“ Seth Grceu 
proposes to stock lrondequoit Bay, Lake 
Ontario, with gold fish, which, he says, 
are good eating. He has taken 500 to .Reich 
ester for the purpose.” This is the state¬ 
ment going the rounds, and if correct as 
reported, we believe our old friend Seth is 
for once mistaken. We should say that the 
gold fish will not be regarded as edibie by 
anybody who can get any other fish. They 
have an unnatural sweetish taste, not unlike 
the smelt, but lacking the flavor of the smelt, 
aud repdering tin*pi quite insipid. We have 
| not tasted one for thirty years, bqtthat taste 
Few persons imagine how large a country 
is the one wo five in, and they do not readily 
realize that we have within our borders ns 
many climates at one time as any country 
on the globe. Just imagine yourself at or 
near the City Hall in Now York City on a 
cold, windy, snowy night in February, the 
thermometer many degrees below zero, and 
as you turn a corner, or meet a side street, 
a gush of cold air comes upon you cutting 
you like cold steel. You seek to keep off the 
blast, and wrapping your overcoat more 
tightly you think of the oozy home you are 
hurrying to, with its bright, cheerful light 
and warm fires; and you thank the Giver of 
all that you have a liaven you will soon 
reach, where you will not think that the 
thermometer stands at 8“ below, outside. 
Suppose now, instead of hurrying to the 
cozy home, whore coal fires give you warmth 
and coal gas gives you light, you step on the 
cars bound to Washington and the South, or 
on one of the magnificent sea going steam¬ 
ships which several times a week leave Now 
York for Savannah, Ga., and in seventy-two 
or eighty hourB—and at for less than fifty 
cents per hour—you sleep, eat and enjoy 
yoursely nearly as much as you would at 
home, and then you arrive in semi-tropical 
America—Florida; Florida, the homo of the 
orange and the alligator, and the land of the 
warm, sunny climate. 
To those who have never visited Florida I 
would like to my a few words, and tell them 
of wliat I tiave seen there. In February and 
March, when it is so cold and disagreeable 
in the North, it i3 pleasant in Florida; the 
climate is like the latter part, of May and be¬ 
ginning of June in the Middle States, but 
vegetation is further advanced. You find 
daily on the tableH blackberries, strawberries 
and'mulberries, now Irish potatoes, cabbage, 
beets, onions, peas and string beans, fresh 
from the garden, with plenty of wild game, 
such as venison, turkey and duck. The for¬ 
ests are in full leaf ana look grand, with the 
light green of the maple and water oak and 
the dark green of the wavy palmetto and 
pine. The sun shines so brightly, the rivers 
teem with Osh jumping and sporting, while 
the ugly alligator, if not basking in the hot, 
tropical sun, is swimming lazily to and fro, 
seeking what he may devour. 
At evening, as you sit on the cool, broad 
piazza, common to all Southern bouses, in 
your thin coat or short sleeves, smoking, per¬ 
haps, you think of the home you have left 
behind you only three days ago, and wonder 
if it be possible that, it is cold, freezing and 
snowing there, while here you find a palm- 
leaf fan highly scrvieable. 
To an invalid how grateful is this climate! 
He breathes new life, and wishes to get welL 
With rod in hand ho goes to the creek or 
river, and in a few hours of pleasant—not 
tiresome — sport he lands ten or fifteen 
pounds, or perhaps fifty pounds, of fine 
black bass, rosy-breasted perch, or some 
other equally choice fish. Or he takes his gun 
and, under the guidance of a native hunter, 
roams the woods for only a short time, and 
returns, both he and the hunter, laden with 
game—deer and turkey. Or if he is too in¬ 
dolent for these sports, he sits on the bank 
of the river under a large, spreading, shady 
Live oak, and with his rifle tumbles over one 
or two alliga tors as they go lazily floating by. 
How cool and shady are the Live Oak and 
Water Oak groves in February and March, 
when the thermometer stands at 90’ In the 
shade! I cannot fully describe them, they 
1 are bo unlike a Northern grove or forest. 
’ The trees are large, spreading and thickly 
draped with long Spanish moss, trailing 
, nearly to the ground. It. lookB so solemn, 
and sways in the cool sea breeze ns though 
1 moved by invisible bauds. The ground un- 
; demeath these trees is generally clear and 
thickly covered with leaves; but in places it 
’ is covered with the Dwarf or Saw Palmetto, 
a handsome, graceful plant; also with grape 
■ vines and innumerable flowers. Mocking 
vines and innumerable flowers. Mocking 
bii’ds sing, and birds of bright plumage rus¬ 
tle among the branches, while the over¬ 
abundant gray squirrels drop nuts all 
around you, and chatter and bark to their 
full content. How charming it is to read 
the “ Lotus Eaters” and dream of “Chateaux 
du Kspugne ” in these wild woods, as the 
pleasant sea breeze, ludeu with the perfume 
of the flowers of the wild orange and the 
yellow jessamine, wafts over you and luljs 
you into a half sleepy state! H. G. l. 
