ofloriqultuipl. 
HAEDY SEEDLING PLANTS OF EASY 
CULTIVATION. 
Many, perhaps a majority of our readers 
who delight in plant cultivation, are not 
possessed of the facilities for gratifying their 
fondness during the winter season when con¬ 
servatories and their costly concomitants 
are indispensable to floral displays. To such, 
we have to suggest the cultivation of certain 
hardy plants from seeds that will germinate 
and grow in any sunny window, if only a 
freezing temperature be provided against. 
For the rest, a flower pot, grape or starch- 
box, well-drained and filled with ordinary 
soil ligfitened with sand, are the ^tsily-pro- 
eured requisites. It will not be expected that 
the seedlings will bloom while in the house 
or, indeed, for the most part during the first 
year ; but, planted out-of-doors in the spring, 
they will require very little care afterwards, 
and they will add a permanent attraction to 
one’s home, let it be ever so humble. 
The Lilac was once a great favorite and it 
is worthy of every good word that ever lias 
been said of it. Planted in little holes of 
natural earth—a stranger to sunshine often, 
as to pruning and care of any kind always— 
its blackened, distorted branches, scantily 
tipped by a few hungry leaves, have, by 
slow degrees, tarnished its ancient repute 
and consigned it to the wood pile. And yet, 
this shrub, if given half the care that is lav¬ 
ished upon fifty others less meritorious, 
would surprise us, as well by its shapeliness 
and ample foliage, as by the quadrupled size 
of its refreshing, delicately perfumed and 
abundant tliyraes of spring’s earliest flowers. 
The seedlings during the fl rst season form 
a single, straight stern, which may easily be 
preserved by occasional pruning unt il a stock 
is grown as tall as desired. By pinching out 
the lower buds as they appear, a round, 
shapely head will develop, completing a sym¬ 
metrical little ti'ee that bears but a faint re¬ 
semblance to the zig-zag Lilacs y&t to be 
found along stone-walls, alleys or among 
thistles and weeds, more displeasing than 
the objects they are intended to conceal. 
The seed capsules split vertically, forming 
two canoe-shaped parts, each containing a 
seed. These are very persistent and, if we 
remember rightly, may be gathered even 
two or three weeks later than now (Nov. 25). 
One of the oldest and most extensive nur¬ 
sery firms in America, now offers its own 
and other seedling Lilacs for sale at the 
modest price of one dollar each. Among 
these we may note Syringa mnguinea “deep 
red, shaded with violet’’—and S. carutea 
superba “aclear blue.” Groups of seedling 
Lilacs of one’s own, bearing immense clus¬ 
ters of red, white and blue flowers, would 
assuredly compensate for a deal of trouble 
and patience, though their cultivation is 
unattended with much of either. 
Dculzias .—Half a dozen different cata¬ 
logues tell us that the Deulzia (the double- 
flowering one at least) “ is the finest flower¬ 
ing shrub in cultivation.” These grow as 
freely as annuals from seeds. Growing from 
three to ten iuohes during the winter, and 
planted out in spring, they will form pretty 
bushes three feet high during the summer, 
retaining their foliage green and fresh until 
the latter part of October, and blooming the 
second season. There is little need, there¬ 
fore, of purchasing these shrubs or of even 
striking cuttings, since their increase from 
seeds is so easy and rapid. The seeds of 
Deulzias are likewise persistent and may be 
gathered as late as the 1st Jauuary. 
Hardy Phlox .—A good deal of interest has 
been shown within two or three years in the 
cultivation of hardy Phlox; an interest that 
has proven eminently fruitful, as appears by 
comparing the Improved varieties of to-day 
with those of the old French Lilacs, as they 
were called in days past. 
It is said that crosses between P. acumin¬ 
ata and maculata have produced the splendid 
varieties wnioh from the first of July .until 
the firac of .November, bloom constantly. 
Everybody is familiar wiBh the annual Phlox 
Drummond I t, Its brightness and variety of 
color is surpassed by few other summer 
flowers. But the hardy Phlox, while it vies 
with the annual in this respect, is superior 
in every other essential characteristic* — 
foliage, length of bloom, hardiness and adap¬ 
tation to different purposes. Its self-colors 
are pure white, lilac, rose, salmon (“Lot hair” 
is a beautiful salmon), red, crimson. And 
the bicolors the same, with contrasting eyes 
or striped petals. Seedlings started in the 
house n jw, will every one of them bloom 
next summer I The seeds are confined in 
shelly capsules of three cells, perfecting 
usually but one, sometimes two seeds. These 
capsules are burst by the expansion of the 
air within them during the warm part of the 
day, and the seeds scattered. These ought 
to have been gathered earlier, though we 
yet find an intact capsule here and there. 
Their period of germination is variable. 
Some will germinate at once, that is, in two 
weeks—others that have become hard and 
dry only after a repose of one or two months. 
that anything is adequately prized that 
comes to us without labor, physical or men¬ 
tal. Luxuries cease to be luxuries the mo¬ 
ment we are surfeited, and when intelligence 
and purity may be procured by the “ turn¬ 
ing of a penny,” the first will cease to be 
respected, and the second will cease to be a 
vi rtue. E. S. Carman. 
Elver Edge, Bergen Co., N. J. 
P. 8.—Of the hardy Phlox mentioned, we 
have a small quantity of seeds from new 
ANGELICA TREK. 
As soon as the second leaves are grown, prick 
them out of the seed-pot or box with the 
blade of a knife—retaining aa much earth 
about the tender fibrous-roots as possible— 
and place them in thumb-pots. If not plant¬ 
ed too thickly, however, they may be re¬ 
tained in the pot or box until spring, and 
then transplanted. 
Grape-vines .—In the same manner the 
Grape-vine rnay be cultivated. We suppose 
that the chance of obtaining a hardy seed¬ 
ling grape, superior, oreven equal to the best 
known varieties, is darfeJy problematical. 
Yet there is a chance which, as we view it, 
invests our winter-seedling garden with a 
stronger interest. 
It. is said that, white grapes are as likely to 
be produced from the beeds of black grapes 
as they are from those of white. Neverthe¬ 
less, if we preferred white, we should select 
their seeds, since it seems reasonable to sup¬ 
pose that color—the same as auy other mark 
or property—should be, at least slightly, 
subject to hereditary laws. For a quicker 
eermiuation, it is better to plant the seeds 
fresh from the grape. We have had them 
appear In less than a mouth ; and we have 
known them, when planted in the fall, not 
to germinate until March. Their growth 
during the winter will vary from three to 
seven inches, and thrifty seedlings thus 
started wifi make a growth of three feet 
during the following summer. Many (a 
small percentage it may be) will fruit the 
third year. 
Seeds of other hardy shrub9 still cling to 
the stems. Those of the Black Alder (red 
^boricultural 
ANGELICA TEEE. 
EVEEGEEENS ABOUND THE FAEM 
HOUSE. 
berries) growing in our swamps; of St. 
Johnswort ( Hyeprieum) ; of the Burning 
Bush (Euonymuti) ; of Kolreuteria patiicu 
lata, a singular little ornamental tree to 
any of which we can not further allude at 
present, may yet be gathered and raised in 
the simple way we have described. 
A Matter of Fact —In an ordinary window 
East or South, three feet wide, with a shelf 
one foot wide, at least forty of the above 
plants may be started from seeds. At 
twenty-five cents each—the lowest price for 
shrubs of any kind from the nursery at re¬ 
tail—this would amount to ten dollars : a 
small sum indeed—but greater thau many, 
whether rich or poor, are willing to spend 
for this purpose. In from one to four sea¬ 
sons all should have borne either flowers or 
fruit, and the meanest area,, the dreariest 
door-yard may be made by their aid to as¬ 
sume a cheerful aspect—the stepping-stone 
possibly to a more discriminating view of 
life’s pursuits, and to benefits little dreamed 
of when the first seeds were sown, If 
cleanliness—“ the ornament of the poor”— 
patience, perseverance, system and the like 
may be inculcated by floriculture—and vve 
have great faith that they may be—it is bet¬ 
ter to begin humbly with the seed, as with 
one’s letters in learning to read, than, by 
procuring full-grown subjects, to render in 
a measure unnecessary the progressive ob¬ 
servation and study, by which these line 
effects are alone attainable. It is seldom 
In the Rural of Oct. 30, page 3S5, is prac¬ 
tical advice that every farmer should attend 
to. Now that the forests present so many 
leafless branches of the deciduous trees, the 
evergreens are more generally admired. We 
have hundreds of these in our yard, and the 
flecks of birds that shelter there in the cold 
winter might add another pleasure. The 
dark green of the leaves gives a pleasant 
contrast to the many dead plants around. 
In the spring when they first begin to grow 
is the best time to remove them, and any 
reliable nurseryman will then sell and send 
to you a lot at a low price, provided you take 
trees 18 to 24 inches high, which are just 
what you want, and they will grow lust as 
readily as apple trees. Jn a few years these 
will give a grand appearance to y our home, 
andt-hould your children not fully appreci¬ 
ate them, rest assured that in later years 
they will look back to the old home and its 
surroundings, and while thinking of these 
trees they will also think of him who 
planted them. Although thsre are hundreds 
of them—embracing the various kinds grow¬ 
ing around our house—do not infer that I 
have trees on sale, for I have no interest in 
any place where they are grown. 
Brownsville, Fayette Co., Pa. (L L. Gob. 
Road-side Fruit Trees.— The roads in 
some parts of Germany are lined during the 
entire distance with lows of poplars, or of 
apple trees, the branches of which latter 
bend beneath the weight of the fruit. A 
line of 3s. is the penalty for plucking the 
fruit, consequently it is permitted to ripen, 
ana the owners or the community reap the 
benefit of their foresight in mailing shade 
trees at once beautiful and profitable.—Lon¬ 
don Garden. 
§0 mol og teal. 
VEXATIONS OF CEANBEEEY CULTUEE. 
varieties, which we would be pleased to send 
by mail to a few Rural subscribers, if they 
will forward an addressed envelope, e. s. c 
Tue accompanying cut, from the London 
Garden, well represents a young Angelica 
tree, or xlrallu Japonica . When older the 
lower foliage is lost, leaving only an arbor¬ 
escent top, which gives it the look of a 
Palm. The. stem-grows, with us, about ten 
feet high, thickly covered with sharp thorns. 
The main petiole? are about three feet long, 
nearly at right angles with the stem, which 
they clasp by an oval swelling, that when 
detached resembles a horse’s foot. 
The engraving will give a better idea of 
the tri-pinnate leaves than any description of 
ours. The inflorescence consists of maDy 
umbels of little greenish flowers, upon irreg¬ 
ularly branched peduncles growing from the 
top of the stem, and forming, as it were, a 
miniature plant in the middle of the spread¬ 
ing, umbrella-shaped foliage and branches. 
It is a wild, picturesque little tree, and par¬ 
ticularly well adapted to that style of gar¬ 
dening that takes nature as its guide. 
A Bp.rcKSBURO (N. J.) correspondent of the 
Philadelphia Times says:—“The cranberry, 
like all other fruit, has its enemies, the most 
destructive of which is that populary known 
as the scald or rot, though some separate 
those two blights. The vines begin bearing 
the third or fourth year after being set out, 
the yield increasing each season for double 
that time. The cultivator finds his whole 
field or “bog,” as it is always called down 
here, blushing crimson, or about to do so, 
and he rubs his hands as he mentally calcu- 
ates the near profits. An acre yields from 
one to four hundred bushels, which sell from 
two dollars a bushel to three and four dol¬ 
lars, and during the yesr the price obtained 
was three or four times that amount. But 
before picking time the blight sweeps over 
the field. A few berries turn a dirty yellow, 
and in a week the whole bog is badly off. 
This scalding has kept up so long that it is 
becoming monotonous, and not the least re¬ 
markable pecularity is the fact that no one 
has been able to find out a preventive for the 
plague. Finally Professor Taylor, theUnited 
States Mlcroscopist of the Agricultural De¬ 
partment at Washington, was called in and 
he visited the bogs here and at Cape Cod, 
and spent weeks in probing for the cause. 
His thorough investigations showed that the 
root of the evil lay in the root of the fruit, or 
rather in the ground, which, in a’l cases of 
the rot, was found to be sour, causing fer¬ 
mentation and decay in the berry. This was 
established beyond a doubt, and the ap¬ 
parently simple problem remained of deter¬ 
mining how the soil should be sweetened. 
, The professor recommended lime, sand and 
various fertilizers, and never did the crau- 
berry season open upon a more hopeful set 
of men than were the grower- a few months 
ago. Professor Taylor came down in this 
county to hear the results of following his 
advice. Lime had been used more than ever 
before, and the rot among the cranberries 
is greater than ever was known. One grower 
recommended sand; his neighbor, at his el¬ 
bow, announced that it was worthless ; an¬ 
other had tried plaster of Pails, and not 
a berry was tainted ; a red-faced cultivator 
tried the same thing and declared his crop 
wasn’t worth gathering. The most famous 
grower in the association Informed the audi¬ 
ence that somebody had it commended salt, 
and he had staked out a portion of his bog 
and sowed it with savory fertilizer. Some 
time ago he went out to Bee how the vines 
liked it, and there was not a vine left. 
Another enthusiast solemnly asserted that 
he had nursed a small bog for seven or eight 
years, and that he had not as yet gathered a 
sound berry from it. 
New Jersey raises one-half the cranberries 
in the country. The area under cultivation 
is about 5,000 acres. The crop for 1873 was 
some 125,000 bushels : for 1874, 90,000 bushels, 
and this yeax* the yield is estimated at ten to 
twenty thousands bushels less. This steady 
decrease in the face of area is due to the de¬ 
vastation of the rot and scald, which is still 
uncontrollable, and is likely to continue to 
rage until, like the potato blight, it shall 
have run its course and exhausted itself. 
APPLE8 IN THE SOUTH. 
8ome of our exchanges advise the fruit¬ 
growers of Delaware and Maryland to sub¬ 
stitute the apple for the peach, since our pro¬ 
duction of the latter fruit has made it un¬ 
profitable lor market. No doubt the apple 
is the king of fruits and more necessary than 
auy other, but it does not follow that it is 
always or generally the most profitable fruit. 
Especially is this true of the South, which is 
not adapted to profitable apple growing. 
Southern apples must be early and come in 
competition with the glut of summer fruits 
iu Northern cities. In the North where 
apple growing is most profitable, summer 
apples do not generally pay. As for winter 
apples they can only be successfully grown 
in northern localities, as even the latest 
varieties lose their keeping qualities when 
grown in the South. The apples of Western 
New York, Michigan, and the Northwqgt, 
sell Cor higher prices than those of Ohio and 
Illiuois, while farther south than these last 
named localities, winter varieties of apples 
would be of little value. On the other hand, 
in such delicate fruit as peaches, the people 
of the South, and especially of Maryland and 
Delasvare, have an important advantage. 
We wouid not discourage Southern fanners 
from growing some apples for home use, but 
they will probably always find it more prof¬ 
itable to buy winter apples from Northern 
markets, and in peaches have as clearly the 
advantage over their Northern brethern. 
PS-73 — 
Li 386 
CORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER 
. 18 
