p Mimmi 
Vol. XL. No. 1(5534 
|4_ NEW YORK, OCT. 1, 1881. 
_ [Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by the Rural New-Yorker, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
| PRICE FIVE CENTS 
t $2.00 PER YEAR 
MARLBORO SEEDLING. 
On July 29 we received from A. J. Caywood 
a second specimen branch of the Marlboro Seed¬ 
ling... We know nothing of this from tests at 
the Rural Grounds, but the branch sent to us 
was laden with berries as large and bright as 
any we have ever seen. Many of these meas- 
. ured seven-eighths of an inch in diameter and 
were of a roundish-conical shape with rather 
small grains, quite hairy and of a beautifully 
bright red color. The berries did not. seem to 
bo very firm, though of this it is not fair to 
judge from specimens sent a considerable dis¬ 
tance by express. They were very juicy, and 
of a quality that to our taste is not surpassed 
by any hardy raspberry in cultivation. 
The following is Mr. Cay wood’s history and 
description of the Marlboro Seedling: “Fif¬ 
teen years ago I crossed u variety known as 
the Globe with the Hudson River Antwerp, 
and produced a seedling of many good quali¬ 
ties: it was large, fine-flavored, prolific and 
hardy; but it would each year produce a few 
imperfect berries. I crossed this with the 
Highland Hardy or Native and produced the 
variety which 1 have named “ Marlboro Seed¬ 
ling.” The bush is an unparalleled grower 
and perfectly hardy, not having been buried 
for the last three Winters, but remaining tied 
tc*the stake, yet it is now producing fruit from 
the terminal buds, while Cuthbert and High¬ 
land Hardy suffered considerably from W in¬ 
ter. The arms are very large. Even when 
the hill is unusually largo the fruit is all on 
the outside. The berry is of the largest size: 
specimens measured to-day one inch in length 
and over three-quarters of an inch across the 
shoulder. Color, light red, approaching scar¬ 
let, leaves the peduncle easily, is firm and 
carries well. The leaf is unusually large and 
the wood thornless.” 
-♦ » » 
RAYS. 
Passing along that handsome avenue, 
Prospect Street in Cleveland, I observed a lot 
of hanging baskets suspended in tho veranda 
Of a pretentious mansion. Some were mixed 
with various plants, but those that pleased me 
most were filled with but one kind of plant ; 
thus one basket was bidden in English ivy ; 
another in fuchsias ; another in the fuchia-like 
begonia, and a fourth in nephrolepis ferns. 
The plants—several in each basket—were so 
arranged that not a particle of the body of 
the baskets could be seen for leaves or leaves 
and flowers. 
* V 
Some 10 to 20 years ago the prairie farmers 
of Illinois must have had a mania for plant¬ 
ing Lombardy Poplars. Here they stand in 
belts or hollow squares around their homes, 
some dead, some dying, some living, some 
growing, but living trees over twenty years 
planted are a rarity; indeed, whole belts 
stand here grim in death. As shade trees 
they are useless ; for fencing, firewood or tim¬ 
ber, worthless ; they are too weak for shelter 
belts. You may have planted them provision¬ 
ally for effect’s sake, but now those that are 
dead, for decency’s sake cut them down and 
burn them. 
* * 
Mimulus cardinalis, a native of California 
and Oregon, where its grows alongside of the 
water-courses, is one of our very best garden 
plants. It is a hardy (or nearly so) herbaceous 
perennial, of bushy growth, some 2 to 2)-£ 
feet high, and from mid-summer till destroyed 
by frost, it is gayly and copiously furnished 
with cardinal blossoms. It propagates very 
readily from cuttings or ground-sprouts, and 
seeds germinate easily ; the seedlings raised 
in spring blossom the same season. One 
peculiarity about it is, that although its na* 
MARLBORO SEEDLING.--Fig. 472 
tural habitat is along water-courses, with 
me it grows and flowers quite as satisfactorily 
in a dry, sunny border as in the moist ground 
by the spring. I have had it growing in both 
places for the past three years. With a hand¬ 
ful of litter or leaves thrown over the crowns 
as a winter-mulch, they survive quite well, but 
the sealing winds of Spring hurt them so 
badly that 1 approve of raising a fresh stock 
from seeds or cuttings every Spring. One 
stock plant will yield hundreds of cuttings. 
* * 
Friend Boaidman lives in one of the 
prettiest streets of a suburban city, and 
many folks who do not know him personally 
are familiar enough with him os the petunia 
man. The street is an open one with hand¬ 
some houses, well-cared for lawns, gay beds, 
and young hut comely trees. There are no 
fences to separate the lots from one another or 
the street, and a pleasant rivalry exists about 
who shall keep his place the neatest. Besides 
some choicer flowers nearer his house, Mr. B. 
has oblong beds between the side-walk and 
the street opposite his lot, and the little cir¬ 
cles that surround the young maple trees along 
and half way down the street, he also cares 
for in a garden way and plants petunias in 
them every year. These little flower circles 
set near the outside of the brick side-walk, so 
novel in themselves, inspire a happy homely 
feeling ; all who pass by appreciate them, no 
one despoils them. 
* * 
One of my neighbors has a fine stand of 
sweet peas, which are now, September 2, and 
have been for several weeks past, loaded with 
blossoms. She is a careful gardener, gives 
them rich soil, shelter and lots of water, but 
she attributes her success more to keeping the 
seed-pods picked off as they appear. She 
sowed the seeds some eight inches deep, but 
w hether or not that has anything to do with 
the luxuriant and lasting condition of the 
plants in flower I am not prepared to say. 
* * 
The same lady has a bed of geraniums 
(speaking properly I should say pelargoniums) 
that has disappointed her ; the plants have 
grown well enough, but they have not 
blossomed sufficiently. They were raised 
from seed last Spring. Raising seedling pelar¬ 
goniums may be interesting work, but it 
doesn't pay. Perhaps not out of a thousand 
plants can we get one that will equal, let alone 
supersede, the better kinds already in circula¬ 
tion. But the raiser’s seedlings may be like 
the mother’s children—prettier in her estima¬ 
tion than anybody else’s. Unless our seedlings 
are decidedly superior to the standard kinds, 
we should not disseminate them, no matter 
how- pretty they may be. But how are we to 
compare them with older sorts ! Visit the 
trial grounds of some of our great florists and 
seedsmen, Vick’s at Rochester. N. Y., for in¬ 
stance, and behold them there in all their 
glory, a few plants of a kind, all together, and 
ah 1 named or numbered ; if your seedlings are 
better than any in these trial grounds, then go 
ahead and send them out ; but if not, then 
don't. [As our older readers are aware, several 
years ago we raised 1,500 pelargoniums from 
seed, the result of the carefulest crossing of 
tho best known kinds. There were not one 
dozen plants that were equal to the best kinds 
in cultivation. One of these wo gave to Mr. 
Peter Henderson, who, under the name of 
“ Rural ” offers it in his catalogue.— eds.] 
* * 
Talking of Vick reminds me of his lilies. 
On both sides of that handsome street, East 
Avenue, are fields of Japanese lilies, gladioli, 
zinnias, verbenas, double portulaeas and 
many other pretty things. They are not ex¬ 
cluded from the public, but growing right up 
to the street side—in an open field without a 
fence, a hedge or a gate. All may see them, 
walk beside them and enjoy them. Nor are 
ijqey planted there in patterns or geometrical 
9 
