Vol. XL. No. 1664.} 
NEW YOKK, DEC. 17, 1881. 
f PRICE FIVE CENTS 
l $2.00 PER YEAR 
[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.] 
at this time. The really proper time, how¬ 
ever, to cut out the old wood is immediately 
after the fruit has been gathered. That, too, 
is a good time to select the new canes for 
fruiting the following year; but these things 
are seldom done. 
their views on this subject ? When I say W. 
G. W’s good example, I meau that they look 
at the subject from both sides and all sides, 
and state the result candidly and fairly, what¬ 
ever it may be. This, to be sure, is not by 
any means so easy as to look at a subject 
from one point of view only, and that the one 
of fault-finding, which perhaps is one of the 
Hickory, the Spanish or Italian Chestnut, 
the Hazelnut, or Filbert, etc.) with the posi¬ 
tions given them. I think the dwarf Japan 
Chestnuts (one of Mr. Thomas Hogg’s intro¬ 
ductions) will find a suitable place here in the 
future. [This bears fruit very early—does 
it not?—Eos.] 
THE BROAD BELL FLOWER—PLATY- 
CODON. 
The broad bell flowers are near of kin to the 
campanulas, as Harebells, Canterbury Bells, 
and the like, and include 
some of the finest hardy her¬ 
baceous plants iu cultivation. 
They are uatives of Siberia 
and China, and perfectly har¬ 
dy in our Northern gardens. 
In open, sunny places, shel¬ 
tered from strong winds, and 
in a rich, light and open soil 
well drained, they attain 
their greatest perfection. In 
wet and retentive soils they 
are apt to perish. According 
to their situation and treat¬ 
ment they grow from 1% to - 
three feet iu hight; several \V j * 
stems arise from each crown 
and are terminated, us you 
will observe in the accouipa- 
nyiug illustration, by a num- 
ber of loosely arranged, 
large, open blossoms. The 
flowers are single und double, 
blue, very palo blue or pure 
white in color, and ai'e pro- \ 
duced from July to Soptem- j 
ber. There are two or three 
reputed species in our gar- \ 
dens, differing from each oth¬ 
er mainly in stature nud time 
of blooming. They go under 
the names of Flutycodon 
grandiflorum, Chineuse and 
autumnale, but, so far as we 
can perceive, the first named 
is the only one entitled to re¬ 
cognition as a species, and the 
others we believe to be but 
varieties of it. But all are 
beautiful and well worth 
growing. They bear any 
quantity of seeds and are 
easily raised from the same, 
either from sowiugs in the 
Fall when the seeds have just 
ripened, or in Spring. A few 
will blossom the first year, 
and nil should bear a full 
crop of flowers the next year. 
And as they advance iu age 
they grow in strength and 
size. Choice varieties, us the 
double white, are usually in¬ 
creased by division of the 
crowns. The roots are fleshy, 
long and in tap-root style* 
Our illustration wus drawn 
from a specimen growing 
in the Rural Experiment 
Grounds. 
I am much pleased with the remarks of W. 
I think I have on a former 
occasion alluded to the Epi- 
phyllum truucatum and its 
varieties (often called Crab’s 
Claw or Lobster Claw Cac¬ 
tus) as among the best of win¬ 
ter-blooming plants for the 
sitting-room. They are easily 
grown, bloom profusely, and 
succeed well in the usually 
hot, dry atmosphere of the 
living-room. A large plant 
needs to be elevated or 
placed upon an inverted pot, 
or, better still, suspended like 
a hanging basket. They 
should be grown in a light, 
sandy soil and regularly wat¬ 
ered when in bloom. A little 
weak manure or ammonia 
water occasionally when the 
buds begin to appear, will 
strengthen both the plant and 
the bloom. Cuttings strike 
readily in sand. E. trunca- 
tum, the species, is good, but 
the variety E. vioiaceum is 
much better and one of the 
best on the list. These two 
(and perhaps Russelianunn 
may be had of some of our 
leading florists, but a collec¬ 
tion is very hard to get. 
Carmineum is a very desira¬ 
ble variety, aside from its 
beautiful flowers, the whole 
plant being aglow with the 
rich color from which it takes 
its name. These remarks may 
be useful and interesting to 
H. and C. J. in the “Young 
Querist’s” column on page 
S06, as well as to others. 
Jim •£' It may not be out of place 
{£$.'• to say that many amateurs 
especially beginners) 
make a great mistake in neg- 
«§* •' lecting to “pot off” their 
. . cuttings till the roots have 
become such a tangled mass 
that it is impossible to sepa- 
■////;. rate them without breaking 
'////■' them and seriously injuring 
the plants. Almost without 
an exception, cuttings should 
be potted as soon as they have 
become thoroughly callused, 
and in no case should they 
be left till the new roots are 
more than a quarter of an 
inch long. Potted at this 
time, growth goes on without 
any apparent check and the 
young plant soon becomes 
vigorous and strong and fitted 
for the performance of all 
the functions of plant life, 
placed under proper condi¬ 
tions. If potting be left too 
long and the roots of the cutting in conse¬ 
quence become mangled and broken, a se¬ 
rious check is given to future plant growth, 
and many become so much enfeebled as to be 
put back for weeks, while others die a linger¬ 
ing death. Those hints are intended for those 
who put in cuttings in the Fali with the ex¬ 
pectation of having young flowering plants in 
Winter, as T suggested some weeks back. 
If raspberries and black 
berries have not yet been 
primed, it should be done 
now, at leust to the extent 
of cutthig out all the old 
wood. It has been a matter 
of observation with me for 
many years that farmers (and a good many 
others) in all parts of the country leave 
this kind of work to l»e done iu the Spring. 
I here is enough, and more than enough, 
to be done at that time, without doing 
work that can be better done in the Fall. 
The old wood may be cut out at any time dur¬ 
ing the Fall and Winter, and there is no rea¬ 
son why the whole pruning may not be done 
BROAD BELL FLOWER—PLATYCODON.— Fig. 554 
G. W. (p. 755) on the subject of planting fruit 
trees on the lawn. He states fairly, and in 
the best of taste, about all that can be said 
against the use of fruit trees on the lawn, and 
at the same time he has view's broad enough 
to see how some kinds at least can be intro¬ 
duced with propriety and without offense to 
good taste. Now will not others follow the 
good example set by W. G. W. and give us 
easiest things in the world to do, but by no 
means the most conducive to good. This is a 
subject which should interest everybody who 
owns an acre of ground, or even less. By- 
and-by I will submit for criticism (or infor¬ 
mation if you please) a list of fruit trees that 
I have used and found to be good for the pur¬ 
pose (including some of the nuts, such as the 
Madeira or Euglish Walnut, the Shellbark 
