©EG. 40 
@26 
the frost it is a good vegetable. It will bear 
a deal of cold, but hot sunshine and sudden 
thaws in Winter affect it badly. Besides the 
Scotch Curb'd and some improved varieties 
of the same for culinary purposes, there are 
kales with leaves most beautifully variegated 
with red, white and yellow-, and crested, and 
whicli are used in European gardens in com¬ 
pany with dwarf evergreens, daisies, prim¬ 
roses, bulbous plants and the like, to fill up 
for the Winter season the flower beds that 
have been vacated by the Summer bedding 
plants. And these pretty kales are also good 
to eat. If you want some for next year get 
your seedsman to order a packet of the Im¬ 
proved Variegated Kale. Sow it when you 
sow your main rop of turnips. 
• * 
And the Rural farmer watered w-ell his 
celery and secured the finest' crop he ever had 
in consequence. Celery is as thirst}- as straw- 
berry plants, and at no time during the period 
of its growth should it suffer for want of 
water, else its growth will be checked, its suc¬ 
culent stalks made stringy and there will be a 
prevailing tendency bo " bolt.” In the Lon 
don market gardens, in that fat belt of land 
on the bank of the Thames at Fulham and at 
Woolwich, where the land is deep and black 
and from exceedingly heavy manurings every 
year, ns fat as fat can be, perhaps the finest 
celery that enters the London market is grown. 
The land is naturally moist, the English climate 
is moister far than the American, still those 
gardeners almost deluge their celery plants 
while growing. Some have hydrants in their 
fields and lead the water through the rows 
with rubber hose, some have iron pipes and 
wooden leads, many fields are ditched and the 
water haled up into cisterns to run off in 
pipes and leads adown the rows. These gar¬ 
deners pay from @50 to @100 of rent a year j>er 
acre, and still this labor pays them and their 
crops would not pay without a vast amount of 
labor. In Eastern Ohio some weeks ago I 
called upon a gardener whose place is on the 
bank of the Mahoning River. Last Spring 
the river overflowed its banks, flooded all his 
place, washed away his crops and killed the 
plants he had in his greenhouses. He suffered 
severely, still he seemed qui te buoyant as he 
pointed out to me some thousands of plants of 
celery growing in that deep, black land, and 
told me he expected to get 10 cents a head for 
them before the Winter should go past. With 
a good market and such an easy crop as celery 
in rich, moist land, who would grow geran¬ 
iums to sell if they wanted to make money* 
* * 
Dr. Warder, of Ohio, speaking at Boston 
of the hardy catalpa said: " It has a local 
habitat of a few hundred miles. It is of rapid 
growth and very valuable as an ornamental 
tree. It grows rapidly and the timber is very 
durable, there being many instances of fence 
posts of this wood lasting 75 years. * * * 
In twenty years, in a good soil, it will make 
three railroad ties per tree.” 
• * 
Mr. H. H. Hunnewell has contracted 
with Mr. Douglas, of Waukegan Ill., for the 
planting of 550 acres of this catslpa in Kansas. 
The soil is broken up and planted in corn one 
year before setting out the catalpas. They 
are planted four feet apart, taking nearly 
3,000 to the acre, and Mr. Douglas contracts 
to take care of them for three cents each until 
they are old enough to take care of them¬ 
selves. 
* * 
A few years ago the Double-flowered 
Sweet Alyssum was reintroduced to public 
notice. It was received favorably for it is an 
excellent thing either for the outdoor or win¬ 
dow garden. Yesterday a friend showed me 
a variegated leaved form of it. The variega¬ 
tion is just as good as is that of the common, 
Single flowered Sweet Alyssum. 
* * 
The same friend also called my attention 
to Tradescantia qnadrioolor which he was 
propagating. This is a variety of the variega¬ 
ted form of old-fashioned, green-leaved Wan¬ 
dering Jew; its leaves, besides having the 
deep white or p ile yellow variegation, are also 
suffused and streaked with glowing red. As 
a basket or bracket plant or to grow on the 
surface earth in pots containing roses, cal las, 
or other house plants, or even in bottles of 
water it is a sterling addition to our list of 
window plants, and so far it grows as freely 
as does the common Wandering Jew. 
* * 
A neighbor, a florist, built some cheap 
greenhouses a few years ago. The sides were 
of wood— spruce, tar-paper and clapboard, 
with red cedar posts. For the small house one 
inch spruce boards were set together closely 
and lined on the outside with tar-paper, outside 
of which were cl ipboards. This made a fairly 
good wall and is in middling condition still. 
The larger houses were double-boarded, then 
papered and cla> -'warded, and are now so 
rotton tnat they have to be removed. The 
damp g«t in between the double boards and 
kept them wet all through the Winter months; 
they rotted quickly in consequouce. He is re¬ 
placing them with single boards. 
* * 
I called at a seed store the other day 
and asked if they had got anything new in 
the way of bulbs. Yes, they had Crocus 
speeiosus, a big, blue Autumn flowering one. 
I said, “Why, that is as oldasthe hills!” They 
knew it, but nobody hereabout had imported 
it for sale and nobody wanted it till some one 
exhibited a clump of it last Fall; now there is 
quite a demand for it. The same was the case 
with the Spring Meadow Saffron (Bulbocodium 
vernum) or “ Pink Spring Crocus” as they 
call it at the store. Now both of these are 
quite hardy and cheap, very pretty and worth 
growing. If too late this season, see that you 
have a few next year. Leon. 
. •» • > - 
Franconia, Naomi, and Lost Rubies. 
With regard to the identity of these, we have 
just received the following note from Mr, 
Charles Downing:—“You ask my opinion as 
to the identity of Franconia, Naomi and Lost 
Rubies Raspberries. I have grown the Fran¬ 
conia for 50 years or more, and the Naomi 
since its first introduction, and had plants of 
it from the original stock, and also afterward 
from F. R Elliott and M. B. Bateham and 
others who claimed them to be distinct, espe¬ 
cially in hardiness. I have grown these side 
by side with Franconia for several years in 
succession, examined them carefully at differ¬ 
ent times in the .season, not only the fruit, but 
the growth, foliage, canes, time of ripening, 
etc., and never could detect any difference; 
neither could the grow-ers—experts — who 
came to examine them, and I am satisfied that 
they are identical. As to the Lost Rubies 
being the same, I am unable to say, having 
seen o ly plants of last season’s growth, but 
the foliage, canes and spines appeared distinct; 
yet more time is necessary to give a decided 
opinion.” 
Pont o logic at 
THOUGHTS UPON THE SELECTION 
OF TREES FOR HOME PLANTING. 
T. T. LYON. 
The season for the selection of trees for 
Autumn planting is now nearly or quite past, 
especially at the North; and the time is at 
hand when the plans should begin to take 
form for the operations of another .Spring. 
To those, therefore, who have ulrauny*- 
laid in a stock of trees for Spring planting, 1 
remark that the Autumn is by far the letter 
time to do so, since the Autumn purchaser 
usually gets “the cream of the stock,” and 
with care .nay render his trees far safer by 
heeling them in, in suitable ground, well shel¬ 
tered against the possible severities of Win¬ 
ter, with the very satisfactory assurance that 
they w ill tie at hand in Spring at the time to 
him most convenient for planting. 
To those, however, who have yet to procure 
trees for the Spring, I suggest: 
Avoid Cheap Trees.— Few men are for¬ 
tunate enough to find opportunities to get 
something for nothing, or, indeed, to pur¬ 
chase anything for less than its real value. The 
man who attempts to do so w-ill usually find 
his match, and will be very likely to discover 
too late that, like the dog with the bone, in 
trying to grasp too much he has lost the sub¬ 
stance and secured only the shadow. 
Tall Trees are generally grown by nur¬ 
serymen for the reason that almost all buyers 
are so ill-informed as to demand them, and 
also for the further reason that they are more 
profitable, since, if crowded in the nursery, 
they naturally run up tall and straight, and 
thus economize space, cultivation, and loss of 
growth in priming. Such trees, on the other 
hand, ai-e in the worst possible condition to 
bear the shock of removal and free exposure 
in the orchard. Indeed, they may fairly be 
said to be much in the condition of the thous¬ 
ands of w-orthless trees annually removed 
from the dense shade of the forest to the open 
exposure of the street or highway, and hope¬ 
lessly lost. 
Trees of One or Two Years’ Growth 
may be planted out with comparative safety, 
since less of either root or top w-ill be lost in 
the process, while the tree will have acquired 
little inherent tenderness, in nursery, from the 
protection of its neighbors, and, for both 
reasons, w ill the more readily recover its lost 
vigor and its hold upon the soil. Trees of all 
kinds are by nature more or less fastigiate, 
pushing their new shoots from near the ter¬ 
minus of last year’s branches. Therefore, 
the planter should determine definitely, at 
what, higlit he prefers to branch his trees; 
and when one or two-year old trees are used 
head them back remorselessly to that liiglit, 
or at the most a very few inches above—just 
enough to afford room for a set of five or six 
branches to become a foundation for the fu¬ 
ture head of the tree. 
One-and-a-Half or Two Feet, in loca 
tions exposed freely to w-ind and sun, are 
ample for the average hight of apples, and 
especially for pears, plums, cherries and 
peaches, since at that hight the trunk will 
soon come to lie well shaded from the direct 
rnys of the sun, which are the prolific cause 
of sun-scald, bark-burst, borers and other 
ills, to say nothing of the swaying of the 
tree and the loosening of its roots by the 
force of the w-ind. 
Well-Branched Treks of three or more 
years’ growth would doubtless be preferred by 
many if not by most planters; but to produce 
such it is indispensable that they each have a 
clear space, in every direction, of three or four 
feet, since without abundant side light a suit¬ 
able set of branches cannot lie produced, and 
hence a well-shaped head becomes impossible. 
Six or Eight Times the Usual Price 
would be necessary to remunerate the nur¬ 
seryman for the cost of trees grown in this 
manner, as compared with those generally 
grown. That such trees, even at the price 
suggested, w-ould prove relatively cheap for 
the purchaser, 1 very confidently believe, but 
the prospect that any considerable number of 
purchasers could be induced to act upon such 
tielief seems so very remote that few if any 
nurserymen will be likely to venture upon the 
production of this class of trees beyond what 
may be needful to meet orders actually given 
in advance. 
Root-Pruned Trees may be grown in this 
manner to almost any desired age and size, 
and may be transplanted from the nursery 
with comparative ease and safety, even after 
they have reached the age of bearing, if cai-e 
lie taken to repeat the root^pruning every 
seeond or third year after the first. Of 
course, the growing of trees in this manner 
must add greatlv to their cost, and hence 
they are not likely to be sought except by 
those anxious to secure the earliest practicable 
results, with little regard to expense. 
A Trek Two Years Old, from a root 
graft, or one year old from a bud, managed 
wisely, will, as the rule, at bearing age be 
found fully equal to a three or four-year-old 
tree, as usually managed, while it will ever 
afterwards be found far more satisfactory. 
b o licit Iturol. 
HONEY LOCUST, Gleditschia Triacan- 
tho a . 
PROFESSOR J. L. BUDD. 
This fine native tree has received more at¬ 
tention in Europe than here. It has there 
sported into different varieties, with extremely 
varied habits of growth. This tendency to 
variation is exhibited in growing its seedlings, 
and w-e even notice that our native trees are 
varied in time of flow ering, color of petals, 
habit of growth, and even in hardiness of 
trees when grown on the prairie. Our cor¬ 
respondence continually indicates a common 
belief, that this is a true Locust, and that like 
the Black Locust, it is noted for sprouting 
and liable to the attack of the borer. We 
wish to repeat, that it does not sprout any 
more than the maple, and that no form of in¬ 
sect has yet molested it, except a long necked 
licet,le ofteu found on potato vines, called by 
Harris, Cantharis oinerea. Plants in nursery 
and young hedges are sometimes set back by 
these hungry fellows at work on the foliage. 
The only effect observed, aside from a brief 
check in growth, is that the plants so treated, 
become more thorny than those unmolested. 
Several American writers, following Loudon 
more closely than is creditable, say: The 
woxl of the Honey Locust, when dry, weighs 
fifty-two pounds to a cubic foot. It is very 
hard, splits with great difficulty, resembling in 
this and some other respects that of the com¬ 
mon locust.” Loudon really wrote “ splits 
with great facility, ” which agrees with my 
practical experience. I have experience 
with this timber as a fence material, dating 
back nearly twenty-five years. Fence rails of 
that age, made from tough native timber, 
nailed on posts, have outlasted three sets of 
posts and tw-o sets of Red Oak rails, and the 
locust rails are yet mostly good. These rails 
were split and nailed on in June and July. 
Posts made from native timber, seasoned one 
Summer before setting, mixed with White 
Oak posts treated in the same way, lasted 
equally well. Some long Honey Locust posts 
in this fence, when rotted off, -were inverted, 
and lasted ten years longer in a new fence. It 
is well to say, that young timber rapidly 
grown on our rich prairie soil, will in no case, 
prove as durable as that of our old native 
trees. But recent observation, in the groves 
of Illinois of twenty-five years’ growth, makes 
the fact evident, that as growth is Impeded by 
standing thick, and complete occupancy of the 
soil by roots, the proportion of sap wood be¬ 
comes small, and the heart wood becomes firm 
and dry, as noted in thick growths of the 
poplars. As fuel, the Honey Locust rates in 
value with the Red Oak. 
The seed ripens in Autumn, and may tie 
gathered any time during the Fall or Winter. 
But the sooner pods are gathered after falling 
to the ground the lsitter. In Cedar County, 
on Cedar River, and at many points on the 
Iowa. Des Moines, Missouri, and indeed most 
of the rivers of the State, pods may be 
gathered in quantity grown on thornless trees. 
Before planting, scald the seeds severely. 
Pari of them will swell. Sift these out with 
a coarse fanning-mill sieve. Scald the re¬ 
mainder again; repeatedly scalding and sift¬ 
ing-, until all are swelled. The ground should 
lie ready and the seeds at once planted. They 
will come up in two or three days if the 
weather bo favorable, and their upright 
growth is so rapid that less care is needed in 
picking out weeds from among the plants, 
thnn with any other forest tree seedlings. 
Keep the weeds down carefully with good cul¬ 
ture during the Summer. Take up the plants 
in the Fall and heel in carefully where water 
will not stand. If left standing in the seed bed, 
the plants are often injured during the Win¬ 
ter. After the first year the plants are per¬ 
fectly hardy, if seeds from our n tive trees 
be used. We may here note that the seed sold 
in the Eastern markets is mostly imported. 
Many of the plants produced from the foreign 
Honey Locust seed, prove as tender in our 
climate as the peach tree. No valuable tree in 
our list bears transplanting with as little 
check to growth as the Honey Locust. 
Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa. 
£ 1 }C Cl|)iariaa. 
VALUABLE HINTS IN BEE CULTURE 
PROFESSOR A. J COOK. 
It has been my good fortune of late to spend 
two or three days with Mr. D. A. Jones, of 
Beeton, Ontario, Canada, who is perhaps one 
of the most successful apiarists in America, 
and w-ho without doubt possesses a broader 
experience than any other bee-keeper in the 
world. He it is w-ho went to Syria and Cy¬ 
prus to procure and to introduce into America 
the bees of those far-off countries. He now 
has a largi apiary in Cyprus, and another in 
Syria, both in charge of Mr. Frank Benton, a 
graduate of the Michigan Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, whom Mr. Jones secured to assist him 
in this great enterprise. Last Winter Mr. 
Jones, at a very great expense, sent Mr. Ben¬ 
ton to Ceylon and the Indies, in hopes to get 
and introduce into America the famous Apis 
dorsata. Mr. Benton got the bees, but owing 
to severe hardships, he was prostrated with a 
serious illness, and so was not able to care for 
them, and as a consequence they died in tran¬ 
sit. One colony, however, did not die till it 
had reached Palestine, showing, as Mr. Benton 
says, a remarakable endurance on the part of 
the bees. From the knowledge gained by 
this expensive experience, the procuring of 
this bee will now lie not only possible but 
comparatively easy. I am most happy to re¬ 
port that Mr. Jones has the persistence to push 
the matter to a successful issue. This Winter 
he sends Mr. Benton with an assistant, and so 
we may be sure to see Apis dorsata at no dis¬ 
tant day. 
In conversation with Mr. Jones during his 
two days’ visit at my house, I gathered so 
many rich and valuable hints from his wide 
experience with several apiaries and hundreds 
of colonies of bees, hints that were with 
slight exception exactly in accord with my 
own observation, that I am glad to give them 
to the readers of the Rural. 
FEEDING. 
Mr. Jones is very emphatic in his advice to 
feed whenever the bees are not getting nectar 
from the flowers—justa little each day to stim¬ 
ulate them so that breeding may go vigorously 
forward. I and my students proved the impor¬ 
tance of this by repeated and most careful 
experiments several years ago. I have 
always stoutly recommended it and empha¬ 
size its importance in my “ Manual of the 
Apiary.” Mr. Jones, however, has brought 
out two new points in connection with feed¬ 
ing: 1st, If the queen stop laying once, it is 
far more difficult to induce her to commence 
again than to keep her at work by judicious 
feeding, before she ceases to lay. Sometimes 
if she is forced to idleness from the entire 
cessation of storing on the part of the bees, 
during the latter part of Summer and in Au¬ 
tumn, it is impossible to get her to resume at 
all, even if vve do feed. This adds new force 
to the advice; “Always feed, especially in 
late Summer and in Autumn, when the bees 
are not gathering.” The second point is that 
this persistent idleness on the part of the 
queen, if once commenced late in the season, 
is much more marked in old queens than in 
young ones. This furnishes another reason 
