simple, sessile and decurrent, or clasping the 
stem without a petiole and continuing down 
for two or tbree inches like a frilled wing, 
almost meeting the frill of the alternate leaf 
beneath. 
This plant impressed us at first a-s a very 
great addition to the sub-tropical garden and 
a peer-companion to Wtgandias, Caladiutns , 
Carinas, etc., before it bloomed. But the 
heavy green stems of the upper plant seem 
well off. Wool brings within two cents per 
pound of Boston and New York prices. 
1 he home demand for beef, pork and mut¬ 
ton is extensive at high figures ; live stock of 
all kinds can be sent by rail to all parts of 
the United States at low rates of freight, we 
having several competing lines of road 
already in operation and more in process of 
construction. In fact, I know of no place in 
the Union where the stock and dairy busi¬ 
ness could be carried on with greater ease 
and profit. Yet our farmers mostly oling to 
the old notion of raisiug wheat and corn, 
with a few fruits and vegetables, and seem 
to know but little about anything else, not 
having enterprise sufficient to try anything 
new. All this may be owing to a want of 
knowledge, and perhaps partly to want of 
capital, but the capital requited will not be 
large; and should persons of industry and 
enterprise coma here and locate, they could 
in a few years outstrip the old-fashioned 
farmers and teach them and their sons much 
useful knowledge, while they themselves 
would becomes wealthy, prosperous and good 
citizens. Many of these lands can bo bought 
quite low, while other portions of them 
could he hired at moderate rents per annum 
for a term of years, besides the labor and 
toil would be much less than would be re¬ 
quired to carry on promiscuous farming. 
While T am writing (July 1st) to my knowl¬ 
edge the clean blue joint, blue grass, red top, 
wild timothy, and geveral other kinds of 
prairie grasses, are from 2 % to 4 feet high on 
the bottom lands and level prairies of 8t. 
Joseph County, ludiana. These grasses are 
now quite fit to commence mowing, and if 
well cured and properly attended to, will 
make the best kind of hay; but I presume 
most of these grasses will be neglected and 
become spoiled. We have in our county 
tbree pex-sons la the stock business on a 
moderate scale, yet they are making money 
GRASS AND ITS PRODUCTS IN 1874. 
NEGLECT OF THE DAIRY IN THE WEST. 
The value of the agricultural product, with 
the betterments in the United States for 
1869, was $2,447,538,659, and as there is some 
BY E. S. CARMAN 
imaginable. More than half of the plant is 
covered with this fountain-shaped, weeping, 
metallic inflorescence, which endures in all 
its brightness for weeks. If the stalk were 
cut off just below the first flowering branch¬ 
es, the outline would describe a cone with a 
base two foot or more in diameter and an 
altitude of four. Of all the many “foun¬ 
tain-plants ” which we have seen and read 
about, llumea elegcms is the most fountain- 
like. 
It is a half-hardy biennial, and though of 
easy culture care must be taken, especially 
iu transplanting, lest it lose its lower foliage 
—a loss that, until it blooms at least, it can¬ 
not well afford. 
The peculiar, unplant-like beauty of its in¬ 
florescence, as well as its coarse leaves, do 
not, it seems to us, place it in harmony with 
foliage plants or as the center of annual 
bedding flowers, as lias been recommended, 
but rather suggest a self-group or a place 
among the ornamental grasses. 
H. purpurea is advertised as a novelty of 
the past season, and is described as of a 
deeper red and a dwarfer habit. 
PELARGONIUM FERNIFOUUM. 
If ever we were ready “ to go into eesta- 
cies” over a plant and to give praise with¬ 
out any limit whatever, wo are so tempted 
iu speaking of this matchless little gem. its 
leaves, one of which the cut imperfectly 
represents, are .curved and wiry, of a soft, 
dull green color, feathery, fern like and en¬ 
during, and its habit is so close that the 
branches crowd eaph other. They droop 
just enough to imjjart a graceful rotundity 
and fullness. 
We know nothing of its pedigree, and it at 
once occurred to us to raise Fernlfoliitm 
seedlings, deeming it possibly a sport of the 
Skeleton Pelargonium, to which, though far 
more finely cut and delicate, it bears a gen¬ 
eral resemblance, both in foliage and flower; 
but we could induce no seeds, either from 
what is t ermed a contubescence of the anthers 
ou account of the invirility of the web-like 
divisions of the stigma. 
Our only specimen this season is planted 
within a foot or so of a young, healthy, 
weeping Hemlock ; and it requires no great 
stretch of the imagination to fancy the Fer- 
nifolium a weeping Hemlock of a finer, 
dwarfer character. 
Supposing it to be a sport of the Skeleton 
Pelargonium, it bears pretty much the same 
relation to it as does the Tom Thumb Arbor- 
vitse to its parent,—or. rather, its other self, 
'i huja oecirlenlalis. But if they were not so 
wide apart as to make comparison ridiculous, 
we should say that the Fernifotium is to 
Geraniace* what the weeping Hemlock is to 
Coaiferae 1 
NICOTIAXA TABACUM. 
In a beautiful circular bed of a neighbor’s 
grounds glows a specimen of the Virginia 
lobacco, now blooming and nearly seven 
leet high. Its flowers are funnel-form, nar¬ 
row and greenish to the middle, inflated and 
rose-colored to the border, which h a dull 
red. They are about two inches long and an 
inch wide borne in terminal compound pan- 
icies. The largest leaves are at the bottom, 
uhy two feet long, prominently veined, 
oiiiie, yet, tuey are malting money 
quite fast and aro considered men of wealth 
and property. 
All that is lacking at present to make Sfc. 
Joseph County one of the richest agricultural 
counties in the country iH for a few men of 
enterprise, who understand the stock and 
dairy business, to come here and go to making 
butter nud cheese, raising and fattening cat¬ 
tle, and otherwise properly utilizing our 
natural lmy and pasture ; and should the 
fanners in other parts of the Country exert 
themselves in the b- me direction, it would iu 
a few years raise Mib value of the agricul¬ 
tural crops in the United States to upwards 
of 13,000,000,000, which would also increase 
the product of our other industrial pursuits 
placing us far ahead in amount of real we&ltU 
ami prosperity. Tho land itself would he 
much improved by the droppings of the 
stock, and in various ways our whole country 
would be greatly benefited. 
South Bend, Ind. Isaac Esmay. 
PELARGONIUM 
disproportionately large, and the compara¬ 
tively small, short-lived flowers bloom grace- 
lessly upon untapering peduncles, so that the 
luxuriance of the lower foliage which, how¬ 
ever, is a little tender to be preserved entire, 
is somewhat neutralized by the clumsiness of 
the top. If, nevertheless, we aimed to fill a 
plot with plants remarkable for bold, vigor¬ 
ous foliage, we should select N. Tabacum 
for one. 
PROPAGATION OF THE DOUBLE WHITE 
MOSS ROSE. 
attordmg no suckers and seldom growing 
even from layers. An intelligent gardener 
of Lanarkshire, Scotland, has been quite 
successful in increasing this favorite plant 
by layering in a peculiar way. The part of 
the garden occupied by the white moss-rose 
and other choice plants was low and sheltered, 
the soil consisting almost entirely of rotted 
bark or tan formerly used in the hot houses 
and melon frames. This substance is not 
congenial to the growth of plants so long as 
it contains any of the tannin or matter 
which renders bark useful to tanners, but 
when decomposed and reduced to a black 
mold it is superior to any other soil for 
choice plants. 
In this soil the roses were planted, and 
after they hao established themselves for a 
year or two, his plan was to layer them— 
not in the usual way, by bending down the 
branches and inserting a parti in the soil— 
but by bending down every branch and cov¬ 
ering with an inch and a hall' of mold. Had 
he left a single shoot uncovered, his opinion 
was that the tendency of the sap being to 
flow upward, too much of it would find a 
passage in that direction, but when all the 
branches were covered, they all received a 
like impulse, and his theory was borne out 
by the fact that every eye pushed forth a 
vigorous shoot, which took root below the 
surface. By managing in this way more 
plants were produced from a given number 
of stools in a single season than could be 
produced in ten years by the old, common 
method. 
By similar treatment the tree peony may 
be increased in a manner that is rpaiw 
THE BEST KIND OF HEDGE. 
In a discussion before the Western N. Y. 
Hort. Society, we believe it was Cuaki.es 
Down’NO Who, when asked wlmt plant, made 
a successful hedge, answered that we bad 
none. Of course he qualified this sweeping 
assertion a trifle by admitting hedges for 
ornament, and in some exceptional cases fur 
windbreaks and even for fencing. But no 
member of the Society could vouch for any 
plant easily grown, hardy always and which, 
without more labor than it was 'werth, would 
make a successful fence against unruly stock. 
Possibly the Osage Orange comes nearest the 
mark, but experience the past winter has 
shown its tenderness in many cases where 
no loss had ever before been known. 11 may 
do for Southern States but is too tender for 
any northern latitude. 
In truth, there will probably never be any 
such growing of hedges in this country as 
prevails in England. Hundreds of English 
faimers would gladly rid themselves of half 
or more of their hedges could itbedono with- 
out, too much expense. With increasing 
prices of labor hedges cost too much in En¬ 
gland and they are still more expensive here. 
They take too much room, are a harbor for 
weeds and vermin, and are one of the chief 
obstacles to thorough culture of all the laud 
which Is implied iu good farming. But an 
established hedge with open ditch on each 
side is a “bad lot” to tackle, and hundreds 
of miles of such hedges are left in England, 
not as an advantage to the farm but simply 
because their removal would be too expen¬ 
sive. 
It may be profitable on Western prairies 
where timber is scarce to use hedges for out¬ 
side fences to inclose the farm. Even here 
we believe that generally some cheaper aod 
better fence may be found. The true use of 
the hedge is as a wind-break, and as such it 
should be madeef large and rapidly-growing 
trees in belts on the windward side of farms 
and perhaps through it, fencing it oil' fn con¬ 
venient-sized lots. These trees on any tree¬ 
less Western prairie will be worth more than 
the land they stand on, besides moderating 
the ferae of winds and making the whole 
farm more productive. They can also, as 
the trees become older, be made info fences 
by connecting the rows of trees with boards 
or with wire, so that animals cuunot pass 
through. 
Uruss arxl, immure and fertilizers, de- ’ ’ ' 
rived from ths liny and Krusa crop, 
worth five per caul, to uirilte other 
agricultural crops.. 60.000.000 
Derived directly and indiieoiVv from iiiiy* l ’ l ' ! ' <1 < ’" ’ 1 
arid gra<8, leaving all other crops 
valued at only about.Bl.ZObm.lflfi 
Thus it will readily be seen that the part 
derived directly and indirectly from tho hay 
and grass crop is worth more than all the 
other agricultural crops combined, clearly 
showing the great importance of the hay 
and grass crop of the United States. Yet it 
would seem to be the most neglected of all 
the farm crops. It is true in some of the 
older States it is well cared for, while in 
most of the Western and newer States it re¬ 
ceives but little of the right kind of atten¬ 
tion. Take, for instance, St. Joseph, Lar 
porte, and Lake counties in the northwestern 
part of Indiana, each of which have a large 
quantity of excellent natural hay and grass 
land, which, if mowed early in the season 
and properly attended to, would be fully 
equal to hay made from the cultivated 
grasses, and would be a source of great 
revenue to the farmer. Yet most of it will 
be allowed to rot on the ground. Then, 
again, the pasture being of good quality^ 
would support a large number of cattle and 
other live stock. The dairy business could 
be earned on to a great extent, realizing 
large profits therefrom, there being plenty 
of good, pure water, with all the other con¬ 
veniences at hand or easily to be obtained, so 
that the business could be conducted with 
larger and better results than any other agri¬ 
cultural pursuit. Yet there are no butter or 
cheese factories in the vicinity. Butter sells 
for from 20 to 50 cents per pound, cheese 
from 15 to 25 cents. The milkmen get eight 
cents per quart for milk iu the winter and 
six cents in summer, and are becoming quite 
