came down from the mountains and every¬ 
thing in the plant line not protected with 
nets or placed in the house was demolished. 
Two years since I forwarded a new stock, 
and a little later visited Golden and found 
the greater part of the plants growing finely, 
and the lady in question in excellent spirits 
over her success ; but another change has 
come over “ tho spirit of her dreams,” as 
may be seen by the following extract from a 
letter just received : 
“ We have had a very mild winter and I 
have not lost any of my house plants ; but I 
will add that to keep anything of the kind 
alive in this country, costs all that it is 
worth, uud a little more. Last year we had 
grasshoppers enough to drive one crazy : 
nothing was saved in the gaidcn except a 
few things fought for, inch by inch. Tois 
spring we found many of our hardy plants 
winter-killed, not by the severe cold, but 
literally ‘dried to death,’ or at least all above 
tho ground, and if a sprout starts from the 
root, a grasshopper to every leaf awaits its 
appearance. We saved a few plants by cov¬ 
ering with boxes and and keeping in liot-beds, 
and that is all. Our summer suns arc bo hot 
and the winter winds so dry, to say nothing 
of those which come at the former season, 
that it is almost impossible to keep plants 
alive. I have hod to keep something wound 
about my Clematises to prevent drying up, 
and this is the way one thing after another 
needs constant attention, and the only way 
to grow plants here is to keep them under 
glass, where the mountain ‘imps,’ cannot 
* break through and steal.’ Thanks for your 
offer to send more plants, but under the cir¬ 
cumstances, 1 shall be obliged to decline to 
attempt anything further in that line. My 
former rivals in floriculture have all given 
up in despair, and I am fighting the battle 
alone in this field, with every prospect of 
being unsuccessful.” 
We who complain of hard winters, and 
sometimes of drouths in summer, would do 
well to think of those whoso lot is east in a 
region where neither natme nor art can 
make trees or any plants above the lowest 
weeds live and grow, and when partial suc¬ 
cess appears to be crowning herculean ef¬ 
forts, the grasshoppers come along and take 
them. 
NASTURTIUMS AS BEDDING PLANTS. 
Scarlet Sage and Scarlet Geraniums are 
certainly showy plants in the garden during 
the summer months, but the old Nastur¬ 
tiums, with the newer sorts, are equally so, 
besides being much cheaper and thrive with 
less care and attention. By obtaining seed 
of the different sorts and planting them in 
masses, a brilliant display of flowers may be 
secured at a trifling expense, and in addition 
the green pods make a pickle of the highest, 
order and a relish not to be despised by lov¬ 
ers of such condiments. A glance at the 
varieties offered by our seedsmen’s cata¬ 
logues will give one a good idea of what may 
be done in cultivating Nasturtiums as bed¬ 
ding plants, or for covering rock-work or 
trellises, as well as how the useful and orna¬ 
mental may be combined where a family 
cannot afford to have both separate. 
the light, while the hay, as it reaches the 
ground, will form an excellent mulch, keep¬ 
ing the soil beneath moist throughout the 
summer, and in a great measure keep down 
the weeds. 
We have purchased in our markets cases 
containing forest evergreens, also imported 
seedlings, at a half cent to one cent per tree, 
and by following the above directions suc¬ 
ceeded in making 05 per cent, of the number 
live. If we can grow such trees without any 
special care beyond that named, why cannot 
others do the same thing, and surround their 
homes with evergreens and make the farm 
and garden look cheerful even in dreary 
winter ? There is not a farm in the country 
upon which at least one thousand evergreens 
could not be used with benefit as windbreaks 
or for ornamental purposes. 
EVERGREENS FROM THE FORESTS 
DAILY RURAL LIFE. 
From the Diary of a Centleman near New 
York City. 
THINGS GETTING MIXED. 
June 1.—We usually give “ Dame Nature” 
credit for understanding her business, and 
doing things, on the whole, about right. 
There are persons, however, who immagine 
that they could fix matters a little better 
than they generally are, if consulted, and 
their advice taken in regard to the occurrence 
of natural phenomena. 
Although T am not much given to finding 
fault with matters beyond my control, still 
there can be no harm in making a note of any 
vagaries of the “old lady” named above. 
She generally wakes up in spring promptly 
at a certain time, then proceeds to put on 
her “ flue fixings ” in a very orderly manner, 
trimming her slippers with tulips, snow 
drops and hepatica?. Her dress, as she ap¬ 
pears in the Western States, is of the royul 
purple of the Ccrcis, and in the Atlantic 
States the spotless white of the Amelanchier, 
bordered with golden bells, ( Forsythiu ) and 
trimmed with a fringe of true lilac-colored 
Chinese lace (Wistaria). In her hat the 
white flowers of Cornua Florida and Mag¬ 
nolia Compicua are sure to appear ; but 
this spring all this regular order of dress has 
been changed, and I cannot account for it 
upon any other hypothesis than to believe 
she tried to catch a short nap between the 
“ first and second beil,” or in other words, 
overslept herself and then endeavored to 
make ,up for lost time by putting on spring 
and summer clothes at once. 
Whatever may have been (he cause, (lie 
fact is apparent Unit some of our earliest 
spring flowers are blooming with the early 
summer, and the old lines of demarkation 
are either rubbed out or have become very 
tortuous. For instance, the Chinese Wis¬ 
tarias have heretofore been considered as 
among the earliest blooming of the climbing 
shrubs, flowering before the appearance of 
the leaves, but my oldest and largest plant, 
which reaches tho very top of a sassafras 
tree, aud spreading out over its branches, 
has just come into bloom ; hundreds of its 
long, lilac-colored racemes swing among the 
green leaves and young shoots of the plant, 
producing them. There were no flowers in 
advance of the leaves this spring, conse¬ 
quently we will have to qualify the descrip¬ 
tion generally given to this plant, inserting 
“usually” blooming before the leaves ap¬ 
pear, instead of the positive assertion that it 
does so always. 
Then here are Daphnes, Hawthorns, Lilacs 
Spiraeas and Silver-bell trees all in bloom at 
the same time, without the least regard to 
the well-established rules of propriety, to 
say nothing of what, has been said of them 
by botanical authorities. Even our native 
Umbrella Magnolia, hastuken to “sporting” 
this spring—the flowers appearing before the 
leaves, instead of after as they generally do. 
Dr. Gray, in describing this species says : 
“A low tree, with leaves on the end of the 
flowering branches crowded in an umbrella¬ 
like circle, smooth and green on both sides, 
obovate-lanceolate, pointed at both ends, one 
to two feet long, surrounding a large white 
flower in spring.” 
The above is true generally, but this spring 
was an exception, for there were no “ long 
leaves surrounding” the flowers on the 
specimen tree in my grounds, although it 
bloomed as freely as ever. I might cite 
scores of instances of the wide departure 
from the general rule of budding, and bloom¬ 
ing, of different kinds of plants the present 
season, but those already noticed are suf¬ 
ficient to show that even staid “Dame 
Nature” has “sportive” habits. 
FLORICULTURE IN COLORADO. 
June 9.—A lady relative of ours residing 
in Golden, Col., is passionately fond of flow¬ 
ers, and when seeking her present home, 
some four or five years since, slie earned 
along many of the old favorites among the 
window and garden plants. In addition to 
those I have sent her boxes by express, and 
packages by mail, from time to time, of 
later introduction in the way of greenhouse 
novelties. The presence of these plants in 
the neighborhood soon created a spirit of 
rivalry among a few ladies who had a taste 
for such things and could afford to purchase 
them. For a time everything moved 
smoothly along, although it was climate 
versus skill and constant attentions, but the 
latter came out a little way ahead the first 
season. The next year the grasshoppers 
TOADS AND SNAKES, 
An English Gardener contributes the fol¬ 
lowing item to Natural History :—We had 
an excellent collection of Dahlias, and they 
were put to “start” on a bed of leaves in 
one of the early vineries, where we were also 
very much troubled with earwigs and wood- 
lice eating them. I got a lot of toads and 
placed amongst them, and found they were 
quite at home in their new quarters, and 
soon rid us of our enemies. My toads and I 
got great friends, and they became so tame 
that they would eat from my hand, and I 
was also an eyewitness to one of them taking 
off his jacket and making it up in a pill and 
bolting it. One day, during the month of 
July in the same year, i was gathering 
strawberries in the open "garden, and came 
upon a very large snake, which 1 killed. 
Seeing a large lump about its middle I placed 
my foot on its tail and took a garden rake 
and worked the lump upwards, aud in much 
loss time tha n it has taken me to write I had 
worked it out at the snake’s mouth—a fine 
live toad. He winked and blinked a bit, and 
then hopped off, no doubt well pleased with 
his change. 
Snakes reproduce their species by laying 
eggs, usually in a heap of some material 
which will produce warmth ; sometimes the 
carpenters used to find their eggs in a heap 
of sawdust, and put them in a box. These 
put In a warm plaro soon hatched and 
became lively little fellows. Snakes used to 
crawl up the Ivy of the Castle and get in at 
the bedroom windows, aud tho boys on the 
(•state sometimes found them in birds’ and 
squirrels’ nests in the Spruce trees at a good 
bight from the grouud ; and this brings me 
to a very different reptile to the preceding, 
via., the adder, which we all know is danger¬ 
ous, its bite causing great pain, and some¬ 
times death. 
Before t he Fir trees were cut down round 
the Castle and garden, udders were very plen 
tifuluud sometimes people were bitten. The 
remedy used was immediately to cut a 
chicken in two, and nut the half on to the 
wound ; this brings the poison out to a cer¬ 
tain extent, and trie part almost immediately 
becomes black. [!] The adder, unlike the 
snake, gives birth to her young, and will lie 
and busk with them in the sunshine ; on the 
approach of any danger she utters a “hiss,” 
aud the young ones one after another enter 
her mouth, when she decamps with them to 
a place of safety. 1 know that this fact is 
disputed by many eminent men, but from 
this very parish I could find as many persons 
as there are weeks in the year (ana some of 
them persons of education uud intelligence), 
who have been eyewitnesses to it. 1 daresay 
J shall bring down upon myself a certain 
amount of ridicule for believing this, but I 
must say that from the abundance of such 
evidence I believe it to be the fact; and 
were adders as plentiful now as then, I 
should have no difficulty in sending you up 
the parent and offspring as described. At 
that time they were far too numerous, and 
often took up"queer positions, but the most 
remarkable was in one of the lodges; the 
bedroom was on the ground floor, and there 
the mother found one coiled up in a vessel 
after the children had gone to bed. 
TRANSPORTING LIVE FISH 
The London Field of a late date contains 
diagrams of an apparatus in use by the 
German Fisheries’ Association for transport¬ 
ing fish on long journeys, which consists of a 
long cask mounted on wheels, the motion of 
which works an Derating bellows, so that 
manual labor is dispensed with. There are 
iron or wooden tappets attached to tho 
spokes by an open fork, and secured by a 
cotter, and when the wheels revolve the 
tappets strike upon and set in motion a 
swinging lever, aud connecting wire attached 
to the lever works the bellows. Should it be 
desired to work the Derating bellow's at a 
quicker rate, without increasing the speed 
of the vehicle, this can be accomplished by 
adding to the number of tappets. The bel¬ 
lows can be worked by hand in case tho 
apparatus remains stationary for any length 
of time, aud the barrel can be easily removed 
from the frame at any time. It is a useful 
contrivance. 
THE U8E OF TOADS, 
The Journal des Connaissances Medicates 
states that the French horticulturists have 
followed the example of tho English ones, 
and peopled their gardens with toads. 
These reptiles are determined enemies of all 
kinds of snails and slugs, which, It is well 
known, can in a single night destroy a vast 
quantity of lettuce, carrots, asparagus, etc. 
In Paris toads are sold at the rate of fifty 
cents a dozen. The dealers in this uninvit¬ 
ing article keep it in large tubs, into which 
they plunge their hare hands and arms, 
without any fear of the poisonous bite to 
which they are supposed to expose them¬ 
selves. Toads are also kept in vineyards, 
where they devour during the night millions 
of insects that escape the pursuit of noctur¬ 
nal birds. 
NOTES AND QJJERIES. 
Fish Infected.— Mr. J. M, Elliott reports 
finding Strongylus filaria (cousin to trichina) 
in white fish and. Mr. J. H. Kliphart found 
the same in Yellow' Perch, it is asserted. 
Don’t forget to remember the law about 
catching fish, and be sure not to violate it 
nor allow' your neighbors to be- transgressors. 
