RVlRfU, 
[Entered accordln« to Act of Congress, in tbe year 1875, by the Rural .Publishing Company, In the oUice of the librarian of Congress at Washington.J 
<&he (Saturn. 
THE RICINUS.—CASTOR-OIL PLANT, 
The Ricinus, Castor-Oil Plant, or, as once 
called, I’alma-Chrixti (palm of Christ), is a 
native of India and Africa and is said in 
those countries to attain the stature of a tree 
upwards of forty feet in hight. With us it 
is an extremely tender annual, and the 
young plants are often cut down in the 
spring, and the old ones suffer from the first 
frosts of fall. Were it hardier, groups of 
Recini of the various species and varieties 
would rank among the first of those plants 
distinguished as subtropical. 
Thus placed in groups, three feet apart for 
the larger, two for the smaller, a suitable 
situation is afforded for shade-loving flowers, 
and a carpet of Violets or Pansies, inter¬ 
spersed with the tricolor Geraniums under 
the fresh, glittering, sharply-cleft leaves of 
the Ricinus, would highteu the Interest and 
beauty of the group. During the past sum¬ 
mer, we noticed a circular bed with a strong- 
growing Ricinus in the center filled in with 
healthy Coleus, of brigfit shades of amber 
and purple, that justly excited much admi¬ 
ration. 
For grouping we would recommend the 
followingFor interior or central speci¬ 
mens. R. Rorboniensie, growing about 12 
feet high, with very large leaves and reddish 
veins. R. sun guinea, 10 feet, with very 
pretty red fruit. Jf. macrocarpus, 8 feet, 
pea-green leaves. 
R. Oibsoni, is a novelty said to differ from 
other varieties in the possession of deep-red 
foliage like an A mar ant hus. It grows 5 
feet high and is a native of the Phillipine 
Islands. And for the outer portions, a 
skeleton, dwarf variety of slight, branching 
habit, growing 3 feet in hight and known as 
R. nanus. 
Ricinus communis is the common plant 
from the seeds of which, by some processes, 
and from the fruit as well by others, the 
well-known drug Castor oil is obtained. The 
fruit is a spinous capsule, resembling a young 
chestnut cupule, with three cells each con¬ 
taining a seed that resembles a tick, the 
Latin for which has been adopted us the 
generic name of the plant. One bushel of 
seeds will yield about five quarts of oil. This 
is extracted iu the Indies by bruising the 
seeds, boiling them and skimming off the 
oil as it arises to the surface. In the U. S., 
after thorough cleansing, they are subjected 
to a rauderate heat which facilitates the 
expression of the oil when placed under 
powerful screw presses. The oil is then 
subjected to further processes for its purifi¬ 
cation. E. s. c. 
-♦♦♦- 
PITS FOR STORING PLANTS IN WINTER. 
A cold fit, as it is usually termed, is quite 
a useful structure about a place iu which to 
keep half-hardy plants over winter. The 
hot-bed sash may be used for covering them 
if a person cannot afford to have two sets of 
these very useful adjuncts to a good garden. 
As the heat to be depended upon for pre¬ 
venting freezing in winter is supplied mainly 
from the earth, it is quite important that the 
pit should be made in a dry, well-drained 
soil, for if where water can eDter it the en¬ 
tire object of the structure will be defeated. 
If no dry, warm bank of earth is convenient, 
one may be made ; or in other words, tbe 
walls of the pit may be laid up from the 
surface of the ground and then banked up to 
the very top with earth drawn from a dis¬ 
tance. But these ahove-grouud pits are far 
more likely to freeze up than those exca¬ 
vated in the natural soil, unless very thor¬ 
oughly banked and to a good width. Brick 
or stone are the best materials for the walls 
for a permanent structure of this kind, out 
logs from the woods, split timber, or even 
slabs from the saw-mill, may be used if the 
former is thought to be too expensive. The 
Width of the pit is usually regulated by the 
length of the sash used for covering, but four 
or five feet will generally Buit better than 
much wider or narrower. Of course it Is 
immaterial how long the pit is made, as this 
will depend upon what the pit is to be used 
for as well as the quantity of plants to be 
stored in It. The depth may be varied to 
correspond with the climate; the further 
north the excavation the deeper It will have 
to be to prevent freezing. Four to »ix feet 
are not unusual depts even when placed in a 
warm, protected situation. The pit should 
be placed facing the south, and the sash 
covering them descending the same direc¬ 
tion and in the same manner as ou an ordi¬ 
nary hot bed. 
Straw mats, or some such material, for a 
covering over the glass should also be pro¬ 
vided, because in very cold, cloudy weather 
and at night protection will be necessary. In 
bright, sunny days the mats are removed to 
give light to the plants and also secure some 
solar heat, even in very cold weather. 
In the Middle States and further south 
pits two to four feet deep will answer every 
purpose that deeper ones do at the North, 
and less heavy and expensive materials will 
do for oovering the glass. Almost any one 
to storo their large Abvtilons, Oleanders 
and similar coarse, woody but tender plants. 
They may be either shaken out of the pots 
and heeled-in or plunged in the soil at the 
bottom of the pots. Even (Juraniums, Lnn- 
tanas, Bouuardias and many other rather 
delicate plants may be kept safely through 
winter in a good, dry pit by giving proper 
care in tho way of admitting air and light 
occasionally, to prevent mildew and rotting. 
During the coldest weather the pit may bo 
lefl banked and covered with suow for a 
week or two at a time without serious injury 
to its contents; still, it is well to uncover 
and give light and air as often as it can bo 
done with safety. It Is frequently the case 
that the pits cau be so arranged adjoining 
the bouse or barn that ingress to them may 
be had through a cellar, thereby avoiding 
the necessity of opening them from the out¬ 
side during the coldest months. Next to the 
hot-bed, the cr.ld-pit is one of the most use¬ 
ful adjuncts to the flower and vegetable 
garden, and it costs but little beyond the 
labor of building. 
-- 
PR0FjlX8 FROM WILD BLACKBERRIES. 
Notwithstanding the enormous progress 
made in the improvement of small fruits, it 
is a curious fact that a large part of those 
sold are grown from wild ones, requiring 
and receiving no care from man, except to 
gather their fruit, which, by the way, is 
mainly done by women and children. This 
is especially true of blackberries, whose 
sharp, heavy spines are very objectionable 
la cultivated inclosures. In some of the 
Southern Atlantic States picking blaekber 
ries is yearly a source of profit to thousands 
THE CAST OR-OIL EE AIN'T. 
can plan and build a pit of this kind to meet 
his.wants, and we can assure those wno have 
never used such a structure that they will 
be found quite convenient and useful. The 
ladies will find such pits good places in which 
of people. A correspondent of the Atlantic 
Herald writes: 
“I could name men in the High Point and 
Salem region of North Carolina who have 
made nice little fortunes by the blackberry 
trade, and it has carried many formerly un¬ 
known luxuries into the homes of the poorer 
classes of that section. Picking and drying 
blackberries and selling them comes ne rer 
getting somethingfor nothing than anything 
I know of. Almost every ten-year-old child 
| cun earn 50 or f)0 cents per day. They need 
but little care Iu drying, except to be kept 
from rain, and should be dried as quickly as 
possible. There is no danger in stocking 
the market. Thousands and thousands of 
pounds are used in making an excellent Imi¬ 
tation of port wine. I well remember when 
the idea of drying and aelliug blackberries 
was much laughed at here. Two millions of 
pounds are sent off and pass through the 
North Carolina lailroad country after the 
drying season is over.” 
SULPHURIC ACID AND WEEDS. 
A correspondent of the Journal of Hor¬ 
ticulture (Eng.) writes: 
“ Taka an °id blacking bottle, with a wire 
around it to carry it by and a stick to dip 
with. The stick should not be pointed, but 
should be notched round for an inch or two 
ut the end, the better to hold the liquor. 
Just o CO dr^. quite in the heart of the plan¬ 
tain is sufficient to cause death, and the 
notched stick will contain at one dip enough 
to destroy three or lour plants. If the acid 
Is good the work of death can both be seen 
and heard, for the vitriol hisses, and it burns 
up the plantain in a moment. A row of 
plaintaina a foot wide sprang up on a lawn 
here where an iron fence formerly ran. Th j 
owner, seeing at a place he visited the good 
effect of vitriol, put the hint (n practice 
The plaintaina were killed in an hour ami 
have never appeared again. It is three yeans 
since, and It is impossible to recognize the 
line of the fence ; it completely burns the 
roots out. I have tried it on large dande¬ 
lions with the same result. One of the young 
men there Amused himself by hunting out 
the longest thistles he could find to experi 
ment on. The vitriol completely killed I hem 
by eating the roots out. One drop will do 
Care /s required that It does not touch the 
skin, boots or clothes ; it is not safe in the 
hands of children, but a man or woman, 
with 10 minutes’ practice, can kill plantains 
much more quickly than any lad can eat 
gooseberries.” 
GARDENERS’ NOTES. 
Drumstick Asparagus, —To obtain aspara¬ 
gus white, all but quite tho point, nothing 
more is needed, so soon as the point of a 
shoot appears above tho surface, than to cut 
it as low beneath the surface as a knife car 
be thrust. Such white-stalked, useless shoot* 
we never tolerate. We let the shoots grow 
until 3 or -1 inches above the surface arc 
quite green. Those iaches arc all eatable 
and high-flavored. The white-stulked shoots, 
which we call drumsticks, have only theii 
tips eatable, and they are insipid. So says 
an English exchange. • 
Moss hi Lawns .—The bsst and most eco 
nomical method to get rid of moss in lawns i: 
to rake wheuever the ground is bare in win 
ter. Even when the ground is frozen th*: 
moss is readily tom up. After the moss is 
removed give a top-dres3ing of finely-rottec 
barnyard manmv, and early in spring sow 
on a liberal quantity of blue grass seed aiu 
a little white clover. Then roll with a heavj 
roller uud not mow in spring until the youiq 
grass has become well-established. 
NEW YORK, AND ROCHESTER, N. Y„ OCT. 30, 1875. 
VOL. XXXII. No. 18. I 
WHOLE No. 1344. J 
PRICE SIX CENTS. 
PER YEAR. 
