42 
THE BUBAL HEW-VGBMEB 
lortkultural. 
AN ANNOUNCEMENT. 
A DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL SHRUB AND TREE ELICTION. 
Oub readers are, it may be supposed, aware 
that Rose Elections are held in England for tbo 
purpose of ascertaining which Roses are entitled 
to rant above others. Experienced Rose grow¬ 
ers are invited to make out lists enumerating 
varieties in the order of their merits, as each 
estimates them. These lists are then compared 
and the result published. In this way well- 
known Roses are assigned x^osi Lions which arc 
measurably recognized by lovers of Roses gen¬ 
erally. 
We wish now, for the benefit of our readers, 
to institute an election of nAitov, deciduous, or¬ 
namental shrubs and trees, and we, therefore, 
solicit an expression of opinion from every one 
of our^nurserymen and friends who has had ex¬ 
perience enough with such plants to make his 
opinions of any value. By “hardy" we mean 
those shrubs and trees which, if properly planted 
in suitable situations, will at least endure a win¬ 
ter climate similar to that of New York City. 
It may soom that our nurserymen’s catalogues 
provido just such lists as those which an election 
would determine. But it must be borne in mind 
that such catalogues are tilled with plants adapt¬ 
ed to various climates; that the nurseryman’s 
object is to propagate suoh an assortment of 
plants that, whether the purchaser lives iu New 
York, Florida, or California, his catalogue may 
supply the greater number—if not all—of the 
plants which any individual may desire to order. 
Hence It. is that the cat alogues of leading nursery¬ 
men, in whatever States they may reside, will be 
found, upon comparison, to contain pretty much 
the very Bam" species anil varieties. 
Taking up the first catalogue at hand, we find, 
by counting, that it offers nearly 500 varieties of 
deciduous trees, nearly 300 of shrubs, and about 
200 of evergreens, not to speak of hundreds of 
Roses, herbaceous plants, Grasses. Vines, Bulbs, 
etc. Jt is plainly impossible to give in tho limits 
of catalogues a sufficiently comprehensive de¬ 
scription of each of two or three thousand plants 
to enable anybody who is about to purchase to 
select those wliioh are adapted to his soil, situa¬ 
tion and climate, ir the purchaser has not gained 
sufficient knowledge of plants to.be able to trust 
to his own judgment iu making such a selection. 
Now, a large majority of those of our readers 
who may have occasion to select hardy shrubs 
and trees, either to add to their present grounds 
or—and more especially—to adorn new grounds 
about new homes, are those who have had little 
or possibly no experience with shrubs and trees, 
which thoy must not the loss desire to be both 
hardy and the most beautiful in cultivation;— 
and it is just this class of persons that we think 
such an election as that proposed would greatly 
benefit. 
At the risk of being tedious—a risk, by the 
way, that is not likely to soaro anybody, by its 
novelty at, least—let ns illustrate this: The 
person desiring to make a selection may live 
in the Eastern, Middle, Northern, or Western 
States. Under headings of Hardy Trees and 
Shrubs in his catalogue, he selects those which 
impress him as most desirable. A very few win¬ 
ters, if not the first winter, will suffice to bIiow 
that a liberal percentage have been killed. So 
much for hardiness. As regards beauty of 
habit, leaf, flower, and symmetry of form, it is 
absurd to expect that catalogues can or ought to 
discriminate. AJ1 plants offered are more or 
less praiseworthy, aud while the catalogue gives 
all tho information that can be furnished within 
the limits of a publication that, at not a ruinous 
oost, can be freely distributed over the country, 
it is for the purchaser to possess himself of all 
the additional information needed to make com¬ 
parative selections for this, that, or the other 
locality. 
With the view, therefore, of ascertaining what 
shrubs and trees may generally be considered 
the most desirable for a climate approximating 
that of New York City, we ask each and all of 
our horticultural friends, whether professional 
or amateur, to send a carefully-considered list of 
such Twenty-five shrubs aud Twenty-five 
trees as may, in their judgment, carry out this 
view and give authority to the result of the 
election proposed. 
As for ourselves, pleased with ever so small 
an opportunity of promoting an appreciation of 
shrubs and trees, whioh, more than any other 
plants, serve to render our homes cheerful, at¬ 
tractive, and beautiful, we shall cheerfully give 
to the details of the eleotion all needed attention. 
PRESERVATION OF POSTS IN THE 
GROUND WHEN INVERTED. 
The question is being discussed why posts 
turned upside down will remain 6ound in the 
earth longer than those set relatively as a tree 
grows. The explanation given by corroborative 
correspondents of the Country Gentleman is, 
that as the cells open upwards for the passage 
of the sap, the sap cannot pass downwards, and 
that, consequently, no moisture cau be admitted 
into the post, from the ground when tho top end 
is placed therein. 
That posts •will last longer if so inverted may 
be granted—but that the above is the reason of 
it is not clear. 
We are told by one of the correspondents 
above alluded to that the “ pores ' of wood are 
“ minute valves, opening upward, like the valve 
of a pump, and closing by downward pressure,” 
and that “ air cannot bo forced through the 
wood from tho top towards tho butt by an air- 
pump.” Neither then, wc hhould say, could an 
air-pump force it through the wood from the butt 
towards the top, except by the rule that made a 
monkey's length greater from the tip of the nose 
to tho tip of tho tail than from the tip of the 
tail to tho tip of the nose. 
The cells of plants, though varying greatly in 
shape, are entirely closed, and it would be im¬ 
possible to determine, even by the aid of a mi¬ 
croscope, which part was uppermost. Tho crudo 
sap received from the roots finds its way to the 
leaves through the sap-wood, and when acted 
upon by them, returns between the sap-wood 
and the inner bark, adding a zone of growth to 
either and distributing the needed nourishment 
to every bring part. The new cells are, there¬ 
fore, formed not by the ascending, but by the 
descending sap, which, according to tho “pump- 
valve” philosophy, should find.it impossible to 
make the slightest progress. 
Many cuttings will grow equally well, which¬ 
ever end is inserted in the earth. Young trees 
have been bent over and the branches buried. 
These, having formed roots, the Stems have 
been severed just above the original roots, and 
have grown as freely as ever. If such inverted 
trees were, years afterwards, to be used as posts, 
it would be difficult to detennine which way the 
“valve” opened, or which ends should bo placed 
in the earth, with a view to their better preserv¬ 
ation. 
Let us take tho lted-cedar. Tho fiber is the 
first part to decay, and it is that part 
through which the elaborated Hap is dis¬ 
tributed in its dowuward course. Tbs sap-wood 
next decays, and it is through this mainly that 
the crude sap ascends to the leaves. The heart- 
wood is tho last to decay, which, as soon as it 
has become heart-wood proper, is impervious to 
either crude or elaborated sap. But as tho heart- 
wood was at one time liber, its colls must have 
been formed by tho elaborated or descending 
sap. As a descending current in the tree as it 
naturally grows, would form an ascending cur¬ 
rent if the tree were inverted, it is reasonable to 
suppose that a post, whioh. while a living tree 
had given passage to elaborated sap, would, if 
inverted, tho more readily give passage to the 
thinner moisture of the earth. 
We are led by this reasoning to thick, so far 
as the admission of moisture is concerned, that 
the posts had better bo placed small end up as 
the tree grows, and to look for another hypothe¬ 
sis to account for the fact that they last longor 
when the reverse plan is adopted. a. o. o. 
-♦.*-*- 
MISCELLANEA. 
Protection from Frost. —Some idea of the 
protection that a sheet of paper may give to a 
plant may bo had by sitting near a hot fire and 
bolding a paper between tho tire and the face. 
When, upon extremely cold nights, it is feared 
that the plants near tho glass or tho conserva¬ 
tory or windows of the room maybe frost-bitten, 
a newspaper cone placed over each plant wifi 
have a considerable power to preveut it. Paper 
is an excellent non-conductor, and radiator as 
well, bo that, to use words more expressive than 
scientific, tho cold from without will bo re¬ 
flected back from its surface, and the higher 
temperature within the cone will be, in a meas¬ 
ure, retained. The leaves of trees or shrubs in 
early fall act in the same way to prevent the 
formation of frost beneath them. It is tho same 
with clouds. 
It is also a good plan to place pans or even 
teacups of water here and there among the 
plants in rooms when there is a possibility of 
frost. The water in these vessels must freeze, 
at least upon the surface, before the plants will 
be affected—and iu freezing, the water gives out 
a quantity of heat to moderate the temperature 
about the plants. Tubs of water placed in the 
cellar will exert the same influence therein. 
That frosts occur not so late in the spring and 
not so early in the fall about large bodies of wa¬ 
ter, such as tho Grape region contiguous to the 
Lakes, is in this way explained. 
Novelties. —The Zebra - striped Eulalia, to 
which we shall again refer, is offered for sale by 
Peter Henderson, and, we think, by him alone. 
Its variegation is cross-wise, instead of length¬ 
wise. and it is nearly hardy in the climate of 
New York. 
“Thomas Hooo.”—This Hydrangea, of which 
we spoke under Mr. Vejtch’s novelties, is offered 
by several of our own florists. 
NOTES. 
A Eucalyptus Globulus Plantation in Ver¬ 
mont. —We have written in these columns so 
much about the above plant that all of our read¬ 
ers interested in such matters must know that it 
iB so far from hardy that it will stand only two 
or three degrees of frost. 
A gentleman of Brandon, Vermont, writes to 
the Gardener’s Monthly that a friend in Italy 
has secured him a few hundred jjl&nts of this 
wonderful tree, of which ho proposes to make a 
plantation on a piece of land he has. He is 
quite elated at the prospect of being the first in 
(hat part of the world to introduce it—at least, 
he supposes ho is, as bo can learn of no one who 
has planted it therealiouts, though in the papers 
he sees they have it in California. As ho wishes 
liis Eucalyptus plantation to do well, he asks the 
G. M. several questions. When he saw it in 
Rome it was growing in swampy ground—his 
land is rather dry. It is protected on the north¬ 
east by a high ridge of hills. Ho was told by an 
Italian gardener it might want a little of such 
protection In the United States. “Is it neces¬ 
sary” he asks “to liring some mud to put in 
the holes in such a situation as this ?" and con- 
tinuoB—“ I am so anxious to be tho first to have 
a plantation of there wonderful trees in this part 
of the world, that I would not mind the expense 
of a few barrels of dirt by railroad to add to the 
natural soil, if necessary to success. Should the 
trees be set deep? How about pruning the 
roots ? 
The editor replies: “ We may say that in the 
soil and climate of Vermont he need not get any 
‘ mud' or other soil, aud it doeB not matter how 
deep they are set. The location, also, is good 
enough, and when the ‘forest’ grows up, he 
wil^no doubt get thousands from all parts of 
the world to come to look at it, and ho himself 
will go down to posterity as one of the greatest 
benefactors of liis race. The conditions are all 
right, but Instead of bringing mud, we should 
prefer to lay in a big stock of cord-wood to keep 
a good fire nil around tho plantation during the 
winter season.” 
If this Vermont gentleman had but known 
how easily seeds germinate, how rapidly the 
plants grow, and that enough seeds to thickly 
form liis plantation might, have been purchased 
inN. Y. for ten cents, then he would have boen 
saved the expense of “securing a few hundred 
plants in Italy.” Ho ought to lake a horticul¬ 
tural paper. 
Mr. W. II- Carson sends ns hie seed catalogue 
for 1877. Though it has no showy, colored 
plates to captivate the eye of tho inexperienced, 
it is an elegant little book of 80 pages, illustrated 
with upwards of 100 sketches of popular plants. 
It contains a list of tho best varieties of vegeta¬ 
ble, field and flower seeds, as also of small fruits, 
bulbs for spring planting and a general assort¬ 
ment of garden requisites. 
Plain general cultural directions are given for 
every class of plants, and each variety is suffi¬ 
ciently described. 
Mr. Carson, formerly a member of the well- 
known firm of Peter Henderson A Co., has had 
a life-long experience in the several departments 
of the seed and plant business. He says that it 
is liis object to build up a reputation as a dealer 
in choice seeds of the best quality, aud, from a 
personal acquaintance with him, we have no 
doubt that he will earnestly and honestly strive 
to do so. 
Wo advise our readers to send for this cata¬ 
logue (125 Chambers St. N. Y.), which will be 
forwarded to ull applicants upon the receipt of a 
postage stamp. 
Anthurium ViaTCHU.—The Gardeners’ Chron¬ 
icle gives an excellent engraving of this plant, 
the leaves of which are two feet long. They re¬ 
semble. in form, those of the Galla, whioh is not 
remarkable, seeing they are both Avoids—but 
the veins are so prominent as to givo them a 
wrinkled, heavy appearance. The spadix, un¬ 
like many Anthuriums, is its least showy part. 
The same journal gives a view of the interior 
of an Orchid house, filled with the beautiful 
Cattleya Mossi.ce., to which we have before re¬ 
ferred. The picture is pretty—the reality must 
be a dazzling sight. 
-- 
EXCHANGE. 
Will you please name the inclosed seeds, with 
just a word of description for each in the Rural? 
They were sent me from Kansas. On the way 
tho packets got loose and all were thrown to¬ 
gether. 
I am getting much more than I expected in 
the way of “exchange." I have received be¬ 
tween 10 and 50 packets of seed. Better than 
all, I have a larger spot for my flowers next sea¬ 
son. 
In looking over my seed. I find quite a 6tock 
of some sorts, yet would like to exchange Arnar- 
ranthus tricolor or A. erventus for Lavender or 
Summer Savory. —Mart Waijiy, Poquemoc 
Bridge, Cl. 
[We cannot name plants from seeds. One, 
three and four belong to the Pulse family; two, 
to the Gourd family. This is ali we can say.] 
DR. MICHENOR ON PEAR BLIGHT. 
Dr. E. Michenob has given his ideas in regard 
to the cause of pear blight in an essay read be¬ 
fore the West Grove, Pa., Farmers' Club which is 
at least sensible if not entirely correct. His the¬ 
ory may be said to be, that general debility is the 
principal cause of this disease, hence be inveighs 
against so much crossing and hybridizing and 
working free-growing varieties or species upon 
dwarf stocks. He says on this point: 
“ In hybrids there must be a constant antag¬ 
onism between the discordant, elements thus 
forced into Unnatural union. The nutriment 
furnished through the blood or sap is not con¬ 
genial to the delicate and sensitive organism 
which it is designed to nourish. This is mani¬ 
fested by the imperfect re-tmion, so commonly 
observed between the ligneous cefis of the quince 
and the j»ear. The samo probably occurs in all 
hybrids. The blood or sap of the stock, does 
not readily enter and assimilate with the organ¬ 
ism of the other. In proof of this, sections of 
four trees, grown on quince stocks, were pre¬ 
sented, which had died from the effects of blight. 
There was an imperfect union between tho 
kindred woods. They appear to be separated in 
many places by a film of bark, and are conse¬ 
quently easily broken asunder. Hence dv, arf- 
ing the pear tree is only another name for feed¬ 
ing with uncongenial food—and is a fit prepara¬ 
tion for blight, whether it shall prove to be it¬ 
self a fungoi<jJ growth, or only tlic foster-parent 
of a fungus. Tho impurity aud deficiency of 
healthy nutrition—are sufficient, to cause mortifi¬ 
cation and death from climatic changes. 
The conduct of tho nursery should also he 
radically changed. Let the young trees be fed 
and cultivated more iu accordance w ith hygienic 
principles—in tho same manner in which they 
ought to he when transplanted to the orchard. 
With these precautions your pear trees might 
once more rival the endurance of those of the 
last century. 
In conclusion, I propound to you the following 
questions: 
1. Is blight proportionally more frequent and 
more fatal iu dwarf trees than in standards ? 
2. Does it occur more frequently on one side 
of pear trees than on the other, and on which 
•aide ? 
3. Is the scale or scab, so common on the 
trunks and larger branches of the pear trees of 
this form, an incipient stage of blight, or espe¬ 
cially connected with it., and is it more frequent 
on one side or aspect of the tree, and on which 
side?" 
An instance was cited as to the influence of 
temperature on blight. ‘ ‘ The deep 3 now of 1836 
was followed by six weeks of intensely oold 
weather, yet I noticed that the warmth of the 
two o'clock sun melted the snow on that side of 
the young apple trees in my orchard, leaving an 
open space of half an inch between the bark and 
snow, extending down near to tho earth. Thus 
the warmth of the sun by day, and the intense 
frost by night, were frequently alternated. The 
ensuing summer, I found that about, one-half of 
the trees had a patch of bark killed, varying 
from two to six inches, always on the two o’clock 
side, and below the depth ot the snow. This led 
me to examine two other orchards of about the 
same age, (from seven to teu years,] both of 
which were found iu precisely tho same predica¬ 
ment with mine. This was certainly climatic.” 
SERICULTURE IN KANSAS. 
No doubt many of the readers of the Rural 
New'-Yorker have heard, more or less, about 
the extensive preparations which have been 
made (on paper] for raising silk-worms upon a 
stupendous scale in Kansas. In fact, it our mem¬ 
ory does not fail us, we think some estimates of 
the amount of silk likely to be produced iu the 
State have appeared in our columns, and while 
everybody would rejoice at the success of seri¬ 
culture in Kansas or elsewhere in the United 
States, still it is our duty as a journalist to warn 
our readers against great expectations from this 
Bource. For tho purpose of showing both sides 
of the question, we give the following letter of 
Mr. N. Cameron, of Lawrence, Kansas, as pub¬ 
lished in the Kausas Farmer, of recent date; 
I have been led to make these few remarks, by 
reading an article in the last number of the 
Farmer, on silk culture. I was first led to ex¬ 
periment with silk-worms, on bearing that -Ilk 
was worth 812 00 a pound at the factories in the 
Eastern States, but I was not then aware of the 
fact that it took ten or twelve pounds of cocoons 
to make a pound of silk, nor of the expense of 
reeling. I procured the eggs that I experi¬ 
mented with from Prof. C. V. Riley, of St. Louis, 
