MOOBE’S BUBAL WEW-YOBKEB. 
of a Dtoraltiit. 
DAILY EUEAL LIFE 
From the Diary of a Centleman near New 
York City. 
SETTIH0 OUT BEDDING PLANTS. 
June 7.—A gentle, drizzling rain yesterday 
afforded us a fine opportunity for putting 
out bedding plants, the first we have had 
since the weather has been warm enough to 
insure safety to such things in the '’pen air. 
Of course I made haste to make the best of 
this chance to get as many plants out of the 
greenhouse as possible, and this morning the 
garden bag got on some "new clothes” of 
gay colors. Groups of geraniums in full 
bloom now stand where there were naked, 
newly - prepared beds yesterday morning, 
and all appealing as fresh as though long 
residents of their present location, 
Madame Lemoine, with its lovely double 
pink flowers, is one of my especial favorites, 
cither for house culture or bedding out in 
summer. There maybe bettor varieties of 
this color, but if there are, they have never 
come under my notice. 
Triumph■ is a grand double scarlet. The 
clusters of liowers, when fully expanded, are 
a fiery ball of petals ; and it would be diffi¬ 
cult to determine wherein it could be im¬ 
proved, for it blooms freely both indoors 
and out. 
La Neige is a very fine double variety, of a 
dark crimson color, but the flowers do not 
open freely in the house; in the garden, 
however, they oorao out finely. 
Aline Sisley, described as a double white, 
and A lice CrOUSSe aa a double peach color, 
are just about as worthless varieties as one 
could imagine, for they aro not true to the 
colors claimed, the flowers are few and far 
between, and the form is a wretched, ragged 
deformity. They are an Insult to the floral 
world and to the ladies after whom they 
were named. 
Marie Lemoine is too similar to Madame 
J.emoine to be considered as distinct, but 
Am Oray, Charles Lyell, and Madame Re - 
dander are splendid sorts and uniques in 
this class. 
Amoug the many single varieties plauted 
out the following are excellent and distinct 
in color: 
Virgo Maria, pure white and a free 
bicomer; Sensation, light salmon, shaded 
with white; Salmon Queen, rich, deep 
salmon ; Master Christine, delicate rose 
color and one of the best of its class; M. 
Bertrand, a delicate shade of rose, ap¬ 
proaching a lilac—a superb root; Jean Sis¬ 
ley, brilliant scarlet, with white eye. What 
are termed the "Nosegay” class contain 
many brilliant-colored sorts, with immense 
trusses of flowers, but the flowers lack sym¬ 
metry of form, and taken altogether they 
fall short of my notion of what a good gera¬ 
nium should be. Of course our florists think 
differently, or they would not praise and 
propagate them. 
Scarlet. Sage .—This is an old "stand-by” 
for making brilliant spots in the garden 
during the latter part of summer aud fall. 
I put out some 300 or 400 plants in one bed 
yesterday, where they will doubtless make 
a show at the proper season. The plants 
were raised from seed, which is a much 
cheaper plan of production than propagating 
from cuttings. In some of our Northern 
States this plant does not produce seed very 
freely, if at all; but I have never expe¬ 
rienced any difficulty on this score, and 
lienee fail to understand why oar seedsmen 
should charge the prices they do for this 
very old and common plant. Five to eight 
dollars per ounce, or twenty seeds for t tven- 
ty-five cents, is a pretty good price, althougn 
these are the rates quoted in dealers’ lists. 
Other Hood Bedding Plants .—No one 
would think of making a "show” in the 
garden without “coleuses,” but the varieties 
which will withstand our hot, dry climate 
arc few and far between. The new golden 
sorts do well if the summer is cool and moist, 
otherwise they are failures. The old Coleus 
Vtrschafff Uii is still the best dark-colored 
sort known. Magnel, Chameleon and 
Zanzibar are passably good, but their 
colors look dull by the side of other bril¬ 
liant-colored leaves. Of Achryanthus, the 
old Oilsonii ranks with the first-named co¬ 
leus as a good, bright-leaved plant for plant¬ 
ing in masses. For a silvery-leaved plant to 
put alongside, or as a border, the new varie¬ 
gated Gnuphalium ( Q-lanntum variigalum) 
is excellent, besides being a fine plant for 
bouse culture. Then comes Calodiums, 
Cannas and other large-leaved plants to pro¬ 
duce a tropical effect, besides the numerou 
smaller kinds, like Verbenas and Lantanas, 
to fill in between or set out iu masses, and 
to complete the picture. The materials to 
make good gardens are plentiful enough, but 
the time aud money needed are frequently 
lacking ; hence their scarcity. 
BIO-LYED BEETLE, FROM STATEN ISLANO. 
Daily Rlkae Life.— Dear Sir; The en¬ 
closed bug was found on a cedar tree at 
Staten Island within 30 feet of the sea shore. 
What is it ?—R. E. Bateman, Box IJep’t., 
P. O., A'. Y. 
June 8.—Upon opening the above note 
I found it contained a live specimen of the 
big-eyed beetle or Alans ooulalus. — Linn. 
This is the largest of our Northern species 
of spring beetles, Elatkridaia specimens 
frequently being found measuring fully two 
inches long, and about one-half inch broad. 
It is of a block color sprinkled with white 
dots. Upon each side of the thorax, there is 
a large oval velvety black Bpot, which some 
persons suppose to be the eyes of this insect, 
hence the specific name of oculatus or eyed. 
The larva or grub of this beetle infests decay¬ 
ing trees, stumps, and old logs, where they 
may mually be found during the spring, and 
summer. If one of these beetles happen to 
fall upon its back, or is otherwise placed in 
this posit ion, it possesses the faculty of giving 
a sudden spring upward, and coming down 
right side up, hence the common name of 
spring beetles. 
There are several hundred species belong¬ 
ing to this family, and the grubs of some of 
the smaller oues, are frequently quite in¬ 
jurious to growing crops. They ate some¬ 
times referred to as “wire-worms,” although 
the true wire-worm (lulus) is not an insect, 
but belongs to myriapada or many footed 
worms, while those of the spring beetle have 
only six feet or legs. 
The celebrated oueuio or fire-beetle of the 
West Indies, belongs to this family, and it 
feeds upon the pulpy substance of the sugar 
cane. All of our larger species live during 
their larval stages in old, half-decayed wood, 
hence cannot be considered as very Injurious, 
but some of the smaller ones attack the 
root s of growing plants, and do more or less 
damage. They vary in size from about one- 
eighth of an inch in length, up to nearly or 
quite three inches ; the largest are natives of 
the Southern States aud California. Over 
five hundred species of Elaters have already 
been described as native of the United 
States, and new ones aro constantly being 
discovered. 
COLORADO POTATO BEETLES AT HAND. 
This long expected and much dreaded 
pest, has at last made its appearance in my 
own garden as well as those of my neighbors. 
A few were found in an adjoing town last 
fall, but not enough to create alarm, in fact, 
there were very few persons who saw them 
that know what they were. Within the 
past week they have suddenly appeared in 
all the potato fields hereabout and my 
farmer neighbors will probably have to take 
one practical lesson in Entomology whether 
agreeable or otherwise. The have had their 
time of sneering at my feeble attempts to 
learn something of insect life, and now it 
will bo mine to laugh at their struggles in 
fighting one of those little, insign ificant hugs, 
which they think only “ cracked-brained 
fools” spend time in studying. 
If a loss of a few millions by insect depre¬ 
dators would make the people of New Jersey 
a little more liberal towards science gener¬ 
ally, and those branches which relate to 
natural history' in particular, I for one would 
rejoice at the event, even if I never again 
tasted a potato. The state has always been 
too penurious to contribute anything towards 
the support of an Entomologist, and our 
great colleges so magnificently endowed, 
have never thought it worth while to give 
their pat rons the benefit of an entomological 
cabinet, large or small, and we actually need 
an invasion of insect enemies, to teach our 
old fogy’s wisdom, or a pestilence which 
will make room for better men. 
-——- 
NOVELTIES IN FLORICULTURE. 
Ageratum, “Countess of Stair .”—“There 
is not a shoot but throws up a head of dense 
bloom beginning a few inches from the 
ground and only ending when its bight of 6 
or 8 inches is attained, when the whole top of 
the plant is one mass of fragrant lavender- 
blue blossoms.” It is highly recommended 
as a bedding plant. 
Fuchsia procumbens is described in the 
English papers as a seedling from New Zea¬ 
land, of a shrubby, trailing habit, producing 
freely at the axils, short, erect flowers with 
orange-yellow tube and violet-black sepals. 
Dahlias .—The “Garten Zeitung” says 
that 530 new varieties of Dahlias have been 
offered by German growers this year, 
(Sautyn. 
HINTS ABOUT TRANSPLANTING, 
Most farmers would be well repaid by fre¬ 
quent visits to market gardeners near large 
cities. They learn much by visiting each 
other, but market gardening is farming re¬ 
fined to its last degree of profitable soil cul¬ 
ture. Not that gardeners always use more 
expensive methods than farmers, often they 
are less so, aud farmers may frequently learn 
economy in doing nice jobs from men whose 
keen competition compels the greatest pos¬ 
sible saving of time, labor and money, while 
they will also learn the skillfulneas and care 
essential to success. This is especially true 
in setting out plants, shrubs or trees. The 
comparatively little which farmers do in this 
line costa more than it should, and after all 
from carelessness of important rules is as 
likely as not to result in failure. The farm 
er’s tomatoes and cabbage are more apt to 
wilt than the market gardener’s, though the 
time the farmer gives to the work may be 
fourfold what the other employs. 
The common error in transplanting her¬ 
baceous plants us cabbage, tomato and celery 
is in trying to save too much top. The farm¬ 
er gets large plauts with thrifty leaves, 
which make a flue appearance, aud he hates 
to sacrifice any. The market gardener looks 
mainly to the roots, increasing them if he 
has the growing of them by once or twice 
transplanting from the seed bed. This causes 
numerous fibrous roots to form aud makes 
the cheek from final transplanting very 
small. As for the leaves, a market gardener 
will trim these remorselessly, leaving only a 
center from which all growth must spring. 
The result is the same in either case. The 
fine-looking leaves which the farmer tries to 
save invariably die. spite of careful covering 
with burdock or rhubarb leaves, while the 
trimmed plants of the gardener, if planted 
at sundown, have taken root by morning 
and will take little injury thereafter. The 
philosophy of this is very simple. The large 
leaves attached to the plant are exhaling 
moisture all the time, and the leaves wither 
clear to the stem before the root can supply 
them with any moisture. Even at this stage 
it is better to clip them off with the shears 
rather than leave them to rot on the plant 
and slough off slowly, as they will surely do. 
A common mistake in transplanting is 
deluging the soil with too much water. A 
little water on the leaves checks their evapo¬ 
ration by keeping them cool. But the ground 
is apt to be. of lower temperature than the 
air, and if deluged with cold water this 
makes it colder, retarding the action of the 
roots and often causing many of them to rot 
outright. Quite frequently the plant perishes 
from this cause, and the owner does not sus¬ 
pect what is the matter. Besides, on heavy 
soil excessive water, warm or cold, causes 
the earth to bake in dry weather and a hard 
crust to form on the surface, entirely exclud¬ 
ing light and air. Under such conditions 
tender plants cannot thrive—can scarcely 
live. The practice of the best, gardeners is 
to use very little we ter about, the roots and 
that rather warmer than colder than the air. 
If the ground be freshly plowed, it will 
usually be moist and favorable for the roots 
to start. In such cases dipping the plant, 
roots and top, in water will be sufficient. 
Some water will adhere to the roots and the 
earth will cling to this sufficiently. If 
further watering is needed, let it be always 
before the hole around the plant is filled up. 
The packing of earth around the roots 
should be done carefully by band, pressing 
fine particles around and between the root 
fibers. Where a hole is made in the ground 
and earth raked in around the plant, it is 
always the lumps which naturally fall in 
first, and in these the roots make hard work 
to live. Put the finest earth in contact with 
the roots. Even if dry, when the roots have 
been wet properly it will moisten the soil 
sufficiently. Better have too little water 
than too much. Press the earth moderately 
around the stem. With the too common 
practice of packing the earth at the top of 
the ground and little if any below, it is a 
wondor that so many plants live as do. 
Do not, on any account, drench the plant, 
heavily with water soon after transplanting. 
The only effect of this is to wash down 
among the roots and loosen the earth from 
rootlets already perhaps beginning to form. 
If the plant seems to be drooping, wetting 
its leaves or covering with a wet rhubarb 
leaf will usually be sufficient. (A great many 
farmers will use burdock for this purpose, 
aud burdock leaves will answer, but we 
shan’t take the responsibility of recommend¬ 
ing burdock.) 
Do not put any strong manure in contact 
with the roots of newly-set plants. Many 
farmers have their cabbage and tomatoes 
unaccountably die from this cause. If it is 
advisable to manure in the hill, put the ma¬ 
nure a little below or one side the plant, and 
mix it somewhat with the soil. The roots of 
newly-set plants are dormant at first and 
easily begin to rot. For this reason strong 
liquid manure should never be applied until 
some time after a new growth has com¬ 
menced. Ground for celery needs to be very 
rich, and mistakes are most frequently made 
in too heavily manuring this plant in contact 
with its roots. It should be remembered 
that celery loves a moist, cool soil, as well 
as a rich one, so that violent heating manures 
are not advisable for this plant. 
- 4 ~*~*- 
IN THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 
After vegetable plants have made their 
appearance in spring, their future growth 
depends very much upon the attention which 
is given them. With such plauts as onions, 
beets and carrots, it will not do to delay 
hoeing and weeding many days, else the race 
between them and the weeds will be decided 
In favor of the latter. Besides every day’s 
delay increases the difficulties of the care to 
say nothing of the labor involved, and the 
old adage of a “stitch in time saves nine” 
is never more true than in gardening. In 
addition to the actual necessity of keeping 
the weeds down, frequent stirring of thesur- 
f.iCC soil is beneficial to growth, and should 
not be neglected either iu time of drouth, or 
even after heavy showers. 
TRANSPLANTING. 
It is seldom that a perfectly even stand 
of any kind of vegetables, can be secured 
with the best of seed, and iu the most favor¬ 
able season, hence transplanting to fill up 
vacant spaces in the rows, must be resorted 
to quite frequently. Beets, turnips and simi¬ 
lar plants are readily transplanted, and we 
have had pretty fair success with carrots 
aud parsnips. This is work that requires 
attention in moist weather, while hoeing 
must be done iu dry, consequently there is 
work to be done at all times in the vegetable 
garden. There is not only a loss in leaving 
the plants crowded In the rows, but It is a 
waste of time to hoe and cultivate ground 
which is only half filled. A full crop can 
only be secured by having the plants regu¬ 
larly distributed, and at distances which 
will secure a full development. 
APPLICATIONS OF FERTILIZERS. 
Liquid manures can usually be applied to 
vegetables while growing, with decided 
beneficial results. Manure from the barn¬ 
yard, poultry house, or any of the readily 
soluble commercial fertilizers may be used 
for this purpose. Guano is probably the 
best of the latter named kinds, but others 
may be used instead. Land plaster is a 
cheap and excellent fertilizer to dust over 
the leaves of all kinds of vegetables, and 
will frequently prevent the depredations of 
insects. 
Wood ashes are also excellent for this 
purpose, but not quite as safe as plaster, 
because if fresh and strong, they will some¬ 
times burn the leaves. If put on during 
rainy weather, ashes act as a powerful 
stimulant, almost if not quite equaling in 
value some of the more expensive fertilizers. 
To obtain good vegetables, or a heavy crop, 
the plants must not be checked in growth, at 
any time until mature, and it is a safe plan 
to have stimulants ready in case they are 
required. 
INFESTE0 WITH INSECTS. 
Insects will prey upon vegetables, and 
constantly fighting the depredators is usual¬ 
ly the only alternative even in the most 
favorable season. Soot, ashes and salt are 
all excellent applications to destroy onion 
grubs, or those which cause club-foot in 
cabbages and turnips. To prevent the 
latterit is well to dip the roots of the plants 
in a solution of sout made of the consiateney 
of thin paste before planting. Lime dusted 
over the leaves of p tatoes, cabbage, turnips, 
and other plants, infested with the various 
species of flea-beetles, is an excellent preven¬ 
tive as these insects work on the upper side 
Of the leaves, as well as under, and fresh 
lime is rather distasteful to them. Ashes 
may also be used for the same purpose 
although not quite as effectual. If the green 
fly or aphis appears it may be destroyed by 
applying a strong solution of tobucco to the 
plants. 
The Colorado potato beetle is best de¬ 
stroyed with Paris green, mixed with flour, 
and dusted over the leaves, one part of the 
former to fifteen of the latter, are the prepa¬ 
rations most generally adopted. In hot, dry 
weather the lame )nuy he destroyed, by 
sweeping them off upon the ground, but 
this plan should be considered as only 
somewhat temporary relief from this pest, 
as many of the grubs will escape, evep if the 
sweeping is quite thorough, 
