During the last ten or fifteen 
years many 
new varieties of Coleus have been intro* 
auced, and the improvement has been 
steady. They now present as great a di¬ 
versity of form and coloration of foliage os 
any class of plants in cultivation ; every 
shade of color, from white and light yellow 
through orange, scarlet, rad, pinlc, 'purple 
and crimson to almost black, may ho found 
in the foliage of some one or other of the 
Coleus. 
A few years ago the horticultural world 
was startled by the announcement that the 
London Horticultural Society was in posses¬ 
sion of some remarkable varieties of Coleus, 
which have long since become public prop¬ 
erty ; and although at the time they were 
very distinct, some of them maintain 
their position to this day. Yet the majority 
of them have been superseded by newer and 
still more brilliant forms ; the prevailing 
colors in the Coleus are a leaf center of some 
shade of maroon or crimson with a margin 
of light lemon or deep, rich yellow, and it is 
the many and varied combination of these 
colors which gives distinctness to the Coleus. 
But some have 
leaves, 
propagating from green wood 
8HANKING OF GRAPES 
s the heading under which Mr. F. R. 
jocosely comments on my remarks 
»er number of Rural New-Yorker 
dthough rather sarcastic, I do not 
inkjnd. Yet he mistakes in quoting 
ring that. ‘"Roses and shrubs are bet- 
■>naer lived when grown from green 
ttings," a. s reference to my article 
r - Rllt >s not to argue this subject 
mme under, this heading. I believe 
Elliott has labored in the cause of 
ure and Pomology, as he says, “for 
y years,” with an unselfish desire 
id develop those interests and I 
will agree with me, from liis ac- 
' e ' vitlj nurserymen, that they will 
favorably in morality and intelli- 
th those in any other business or 
Tiif, English horticultural journals have 
contained lately a great deal of discussiou 
upon this subject. It relates to indoor 
culture both cold and heated vineries. In 
this country and among our readers, are 
many similar vineries and much in-door 
-- We have heard no complaint of 
iwever. But a corresnondeni. nf 
QUERIES ABOUT HICKORY TREES 
...I , a = ; < : 1 ', ,rn y ? f Mckories, among which 
h \°! 1° which hear good nuts and which 
L dfamXr eep > J hey are foar to sis belles 
iii cl lame ter and have grown un verv till 
Sv'?v,iS ho "' “■■’Vi 
c!S Si neaTeffirte 6 .' 1 iow 
rSAJS 
this spring ? Put them where thev ar° tn 
Andes*! Plan f in r °^ s for a 7ear or two ? 
4 n ,, a3 want them for nut. bearing, what 
sha ll I do with the tap-root ?—Novice. 
If you will remove a porrion of the trees 
in order to give those remaining a chance to 
extend their side branches, very little prun¬ 
ing will be necessary beyond cutting off a 
° f u 16 leadin U shoots, with perhaps 
slightly shortening some of the laterals to 
bring the trees into a better shape. In prun¬ 
ing off large branches, say an inch or more 
m diameter, it is a good plan to cover the 
wounds with grafting wax applied when hot 
or at least, quite warm. The trees cannot 
culture, 
shanking ho 
, _, 0 -- — vw»«vM|yvmiv,mi Ul, 
l he Garden defines grape shanking and gives 
au opinion as to its cause which we think 
will interest many readers of the Rural 
^ ew- d oitiCER. He says : 
This disease is very general among Grapes. 
It is the very worst of all the affections to 
which vines are liable. If attacked with 
any kind of insect, even by the Phylloxera, 
mildew, or any pest, the fruit can usually 
be made use of in some form or other, but 
when the disease is shauking it is utterly 
wort,Ideas. Some think their grapes are 
shanked when they are not; other.?, who 
would fain escape the fell destroyer, think 
shanking has not set lu when it has. I have 
often met with amateur Grape growers 
who could not understand how mauy of 
their grape berries, when apparently ripe, 
uere found to be quite sour; these were 
shanked. Shanked fruit is easdy known ; 
but that the disease may be more readily 
xl, as ne says, we can never have any re- 
lable orchards so long as we propagate from 
seed taken from cider mills,” &c. 
course should be taken by those 
to grow and send 
All honorable nun 
ance are experimei 
proposed, anxious to 
methods and regard 
be required to test 
business or profession that has made ,oore 
rapid strides or that more thought has been 
expended upon, within the past twenty 
years; and yet doubtless the future has 
much m store for the earnest student. 
It is evident that indiscriminate Dropaga- 
tion of seedlings from fruits gathered at 
rge, will include some grown from seed of 
diseased trees or imperfect, fruit which nec¬ 
essarily weakens the vitality of the tree pro¬ 
duced ; but the .same may be said of all prop¬ 
agation whether by nature's primitive meth¬ 
ods or by our present management. Even in 
tha animal kingdom we only select our best 
formed individuals aud then feed to an un- 
aatural fleshy or diseased condition before 
propagating from them. There may doubt- 
what 
who desire 
out only the beat stock f 
•meu of my acquaint- 
g with every new plan 
improve upon former 
no expenditure that may 
it. There is probably no 
black, 
'’vhich are intermingled 
splashed or striped in various ways witt 
green. Nearly all these latter succeed wel 
in this country when planted out throng! 
the summer ; but the brilliant, tints of th< 
Golden varieties appear to melt away be 
neath our summer's sun. As pot-plants, 
however, in a warm greenhouse or conserve 
tory, and in some favored windows, they are 
^® r - 7 t beautiful and quite easily-managed 
Previous to 1871 the golden variegation of 
the Coleus was confined to the leaf margins, 
but m that year a variety originated in the 
garden of Captain Tryox near Leicester, 
England, being transversly marked—the up¬ 
per half of the leaf being maroon and the 
lower half golden yellow. This variety 
under the name of Coleus Tnjovii, was first 
exhibited before the Royal Horticultural So¬ 
ciety, and, being new, was much admired. 
Since then two or three other varieties, 
which are said to be similarly marked, have 
been sent out, and although wo have grown 
these with much care and to considerable 
size, yet, we have never had an opportunity 
of seeing the half maroon and half golden 
peculiarity of these plauts, except, in the 
colored plates of horticultural works. A 
Coleus thus marked, which was reliable and 
permanent in character, would be a very de¬ 
sirable plant. 
But the most remarkable Coleus now m 
cultivation is the American variety called 
Chameleon. The rich tints of pink, rose, 
green, white and magenta which this plant 
presents make up, perhaps, the most, extra¬ 
ordinary combination of color to be found 
in any plant. During the early fall of 1873 
this plant, was introduced into England, and 
twice during the past summer specimens 
were exhibited before the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society, where certificates of merit 
were awarded it, and where it was so much 
admired as to form the center of attraction 
on each occasion. The London Floral Maga¬ 
zine of September last gives a splendid and 
very life-like colored representation of this 
plant, and in describing ifc modestly says : 
“ We believe it is no secret that this first- 
class novelty is American and not of English 
green. It rarely shows itself until after the 
berries are stoned and have started to swell 
a second time, but after that it may appear 
at any moment, even when the fruit has 
hung for along time quite ripe. 
I he first crop on young vines sometimes 
shanks, but the evil is more generally con¬ 
fined to old ones which have been planted 
out for many yews. The future well being 
of young vines is very doubtful when shank° 
ing appears among their fruit, as, if once 
attacked, the disease usually returns after¬ 
wards, Unless curative measures are at once 
taken. I have often observed that early and 
quickly-ripened grapes do not shank so 
much as late ones that hang long before 
arriving at maturity. I have indeed rarely 
seen a shanked berry in grapes ripe in May 
or June. This I consider to be owing to the 
warmth applied to the roots of early vines, a 
fact which appears to afford proof that a 
cold state of the roots is the primary cause 
of shanking. It is about the month of Oct., 
or sometimes earlier if the season has previ¬ 
ously been wet, that, shanking begins to 
show itself, and this is the time, just before 
winter protection is put on,when the outside 
borders become excessively wet, and con¬ 
sequently cold. 
I venture to think that if vine borders 
were protected earlier, and more generally, 
there would be fewer shanked grapes. It is 
before the borders get saturated with 
autumn rains that coverings should be ap¬ 
plied, i. «., when the soil is dry and warm. 
Cultivators are generally particular about 
having their earlv vine horder-s nm rmw 
IMPROVED COLEUS 
11 is aoout thirty years since the old Coleus 
blumei was introduced into cultivation, and 
I remember that for several years it and 
t'rella naukmetiais , and perhaps an Amaran- 
thus or two, were about the only plants hav¬ 
ing that peculiar tint of foliage winch were 
grown extensively for bedding purposes. A 
ew years later other forms of Coleus ap¬ 
peared, among them the good old plant 
Cofeus TP erschnffetil, which to this day is 
unrivaled as a. bedding plant, on account « 
tie brilliant crimson coloring of its foliage 
I observed during the past summer that this 
plant is used very extensiveiv in r^i^i *. .. 
difference in solar influence. At the tirni 
of my visit most of the plauts of this Co 
lens appeared to be from four to six mchei 
igh, set quite closely together to form 1 
mass and placed in contrast with Golder 
Feather, variegated Ice Plant, b]ue LobeJia 
Echivenas, and many other plants. The ef 
feet is certainly grand, and the artistic skill 
and inmute exactness of the arrangement oi 
these plants, in mauy instances. I thought 
was really wonderful, but, in every cl se 
Coleus P erarluifff’tM did not appear to' me to 
be quite at home; its foliage was mostly of 
a dun crimson cast, lacking altogether ‘the 
hery ciuuson magnificence winch an Ameri¬ 
can sun gives this plant, and while strolling 
among the flower beds at the Crystal Palace 
and in fact other places too—I was im¬ 
pressed with the idea that one week of 
American July sunshine would completely 
revolutionize the whole system of English 
flower gardening. fe 
The Coleus grows much stronger in this 
country than in Englaud when planted oiff 
owing to the greater heat, which is so con¬ 
genial to these plants and others of a like 
nature. 
