THE fHJBAL HEW-Y@KKEB 
fodtralteral, 
NOVELTIES. 
Fob the first week of the New Year it has oc¬ 
curred to us that we could do no better to inter¬ 
est our readers than to examino the foreign 
catalogues and to give brief sketches of the new 
or interesting plants there offered. Many of 
these, it will be found, aro not at present pro¬ 
curable at Lome; but wo shall endeavor to 
notice only those plants which seem possessed of 
so much worth that they must sooner or later bo 
offerod by our own florists and nurserymen. It 
is a general complaint among them that it, does 
not pay to import novelties. This is true and 
not true to a certain extent. 
The prices asked for first-rate novelties are 
necessarily high; the risk of importing them 
considerable. The cost of propagating a suffi- 
cientlv largo stock to soil from—the time re¬ 
quired to do so aud, above all, the expense of 
advertising thenoveltios must also be considered. 
Then, after all, they may not prove popular, and 
the result is a loss of time, labor and capital 
that is very likely to disappoint the expectations 
of all who are not possessed of sanguine hopes 
and abundant means. Young florists had bettor 
leave “ novelties ” alone, and confine themselves 
to those plants that aro everywhere well known 
and lor which there is, every season, a greater or 
loss demand. But the worst of it is that, know¬ 
ing the attraction that the word “novelties” 1 
carries with it, a worthless lot of stuff is adver¬ 
tised tinder this head. High prices are charged. 
The buyer is disgusted, and “novelties'' have 
hence acquired among us that sort of reputation 
which needs to he thrice lauded beforo the flori- 
cultural public become interested. 
A substantial knowledge of the business and a 
love of it aro needed for tho florist or nursery¬ 
man beyond what are essential for those avoca¬ 
tions that aro purely mercantile. The business 
of a laborer or a tradesman is adopted as a 
means of livelihood, to be abandoned as soon as 
that la secured. Whether he is devoted to such 
business or not has nothing to do with it. Tho 
only question is: Is there money in it? The 
latter is too often tho almighty incentive of flor¬ 
iculture. But tho floriculturist who is such for 
that reason alone, would bo au ass if he were 
not a kuave, and, like a poet who sees only dol¬ 
lars in his stanzas, or a painter who cannot wait 
to finish his picture, through his desire to real¬ 
ize whatever it may bring, will, sooner or later, 
bo driven to tbc conclusion that he has sadly 
mischoseu his profession. 
A praCtioal knowledge of plants can not bo 
gained in a purely mechanical way—it matters 
not how much labor is bestowed upon it—any 
more than a Correct uudcrstandiug of music can 
be acquired by those who have no ear for it. It 
is tho natural taste for the pursuit which alone can 
determine what there is to learn and that can 
assimilate, so to speak, tho information of oth¬ 
ers, by reading, with one's own daily practice. 
Florists or horticulturists, who to a natural taste 
have added a sufficient practice, may pursuo flor- 
iculturo as a “ living,” since they must live—but 
the beautiful part of their art must exercise a 
controlling influence throughout their lives. It 
has no end—it strengthens aH they grow older. 
With every investigation, as if it wore the unex¬ 
pected dehiscing of a mauy-seoded capsule, are 
brought to view a hundred objects of study 
where there was hut one previously to inquiry. 
And thus every day of labor and study brings 
with ita happy reward and a stronger stimulus 
to further research. 
There aro many European establishments that 
make the procuring and raising of novelties a 
specialty, and botanists are sout to the ends of 
the earth to explore floras of which we have an 
imperfeot knowledge. Such establishments are, 
for the most part, perfectly trustworthy, and a 
correspondence may put the experienced florist in 
possession of all facts respecting any advertised 
plant as well as if it ware being Cultivated in his 
own grounds or conservatory. The risk of im¬ 
porting (so far as proper selections are con¬ 
cerned) rests mainly with those mushroom 
florists, who, neither from practice nor study, 
can judge of the merits of the novelty, or how 
well suited it may be to the needs and tastes of 
Amerioan amateurs. 
We look, therefore, in a great measure, to the 
horticulturists of England. France and Gomiany 
to procure aud introduce novelties. They adver¬ 
tise them through their horticultural papers, to 
which they themselves largely contribute, and by 
the time a given plant has there become popu- 
l ar if not common—a demand is hero created 
for it through our own horticultural press, that, 
overcoming their fears of loss, givCB our florists 
tho courage to import wliat has been thoroughly 
tested abroad and ascertained to bo in no way 
wanting. Many will say it is best so. We think 
not, while, with tastes as lively aud as refined in 
the floral world as are those of the people of for¬ 
eign countries, we are thus kept far behind. 
Thus it will be, however, while upstart florists, 
that can see in plants only dollars and cents, are 
patronized by our people the same as are those 
who have made floriculture the study aud prac¬ 
tice of their lives. Thus it will bo also while we 
blind ourselves to the beauties of native plants, 
or to the merits of those raised by enterprising 
and skilled florists, until they have been sent 
abroad and reintroduced, as if their existence 
dated from the time of their foreign announce¬ 
ment. But tho homago paid to foreign plants is 
another question which wo can not consider now. 
We have, indeed, little space left to redeem our 
promise in the beginning of this article, but the 
deficit shall bo made up another time. 
Let us first, examine tho novelties offered by 
Mr. B. 8. Williams of London. Camollia 
“Thomas Moore” flowered Borne years ago 
among a batch of unnamed imported plants. 
The flowers are 4 %inches across, perfectly round 
and well imbricated; the color is carmine, shaded 
with crimson. Mr. Williams deems it “the 
most perfect Camellia he has ever seen.” 
Coprosma Htockil. This forms, in time, a 
dense and handsome shrub, suitable for the con- 
Bcrvatory or sub-tropical garden. The leaves 
arc beautifully variegated In tho center with 
various shades of green and pale yellow. It be¬ 
longs to tho same onler as Bonnard in, Gardenia, 
etc. ( Rubiaceas ). Its flowerB are not referred 
to. 
Six new Gloxinias are described, the prettiest 
of which are Avalancho, puro white flowers, 8% 
inches across, which last a long time in perfec¬ 
tion ;—Crown Prince, month and throat crimson, 
tho lobeB having a broad margin of white;— 
Masterpiece, large lobes of a crimson color, 
mouth purple aud violet-Bhadod and spotted 
throat. 
Begonia “ Loyalty" is described as a garden 
hybrid of the bulbous section, of intermediate 
growth, branching habit, orango-scarlet flowers, 
4 inches aoroaB. This is an immense flower for 
Begonias. 
Amaryllis Mendelii .—The flowers of this vari¬ 
ety aro of extraordinary Bize, being about 9 
inches across, and the petals 3 inches in width. 
The color Is bright orange-scarlet, shaded with 
orimsou, the center pale sulphur color. The 
startling prico of 03s. each is asked for this Ama¬ 
ryllis. 
DipkvO ida WiUiamsii is a garden hybrid, be¬ 
tween J). amabilis and J). splmdens. Individ¬ 
ual flowers are nearly 4 inches in diameter, of a 
delicate pink color. This is a novelty of '74. 
Uahrothamnvs elegant argenha, also a novelty 
of '74, is said to bo one of the most beautifully- 
variegated greenhouse plants ever offered. It 
maybe grown as an ornamental shrub or uged 
for covering a wall or pillars in the conservatory. 
Nearly the whole surface of the leaves is a 
creamy-white, tinted with rose, and relieved 
by irregular blotches of light green. Flowers 
are in dense racemes, tubular, an inch in length, 
of a deep, reddish purple color, finely contrast¬ 
ing with tho delicate white of tho foliage. 
The Japanesc Maples which, on account of the 
slowness of their growth and tho beauty of their 
foliago, mighfc ns well ho spoken of under flori¬ 
culture as arboriculture, are offerod by .Tajiks 
Vejtch & So .ns of London, ouo of the best known 
establishments in the world. Our remarks re¬ 
specting them ami tho sketches of leaves given 
in the Rural, a short time ago, are probably 
fresh in the memory of our readers. There can 
be little doubt that these Maples possess the 
prettiest lea\ es, both in shape and coloring, of 
any hardy plants known. 
Tho Veitchkh also offer the new Hydrangea, 
“ Thomas Hogg. ” It is of the hortensis sort and 
not hardy. The flowers are pure white, and con¬ 
tinue in bloom for a long time. The price asked 
for this is 21s. 
XaUlhoceras sorbifolia, to which we have so 
often referred and of which an excellent first-page 
engraving was given, Feb. 26, has already been 
ordered from the above firm by ourselves, aud by 
one of our nurserymen friends and contributors. 
It is a glorious, hardy shrub, and its racemes of 
flowers, six to eight inches in length, white, with 
rosy centers, quite resemble a hyacinth in full 
bloom. We will tell our friends more about it 
when we can write from experience. 
Azara microphytta is also a hardy shrub 
(hardy in England), introduced by the Yeitcheh 
from Valdivia, to which we call especial atten¬ 
tion. The habit and appearance, judging by the 
engravings, are very distinct. Tho catalogue 
says: “The loaves have some resemblance to 
those of Cotoneastei'inicrophylla, hut are lighter 
in color. They are produced in pairs, one being 
smaller than the other and distichonsly arranged 
on t he branches. The flowers are inconspicuous, 
but are succeeded by small orange-rod berries 
that add to the ornamental qualities of this ele¬ 
gant shrub.” 
Penstemon IfenziesU Robvnsoni, au herbace¬ 
ous Alpine, was found, we presume, by the Mr. 
Wm. Robinson, who is the editor of the Loudon 
Garden, in the California Sierras, duriug a visit 
which he made to this country several years ago. 
We are glad that he discovered this little plant 
and that it was named after him, for Mr. Robin¬ 
son* seems almost as much interested in our hor¬ 
ticultural progress as in that of England, as one 
soon discovers that reads his praiseworthy jour¬ 
nal. 
This variety of P. Menziesii “ is a free bloom¬ 
er, the corolla being about an inch long, of a 
pinkish-violet, irregularly funnel-shaped, with 
tube compressed.” 
Could we have our wish, good readers, we 
should strew your New Year's path with plant 
novcltioB—but it is a poor hobby to ride for those 
of Blender means and robust outgoes, aud many 
a dollar is in this way squandered that might be 
put to a far better use. But whatever you cul¬ 
tivate, so that you cultivate flowers, wo w ish you, 
through a Happy New Year, every pleasure that 
is ever derived from them. 
■ - -»»♦- 
NOTES. 
A Giant Castoh-Oil Plant. —Mr. Henry W. 
Sargent w rites to the London Garden that a* 
some of its readers may like to know liow the 
Castor-oil Plant behaves in this country (Hudson 
River) ho sends the following memorandum from 
his gardener: “Measurement of a Castor-oil 
Plant, grown at Wodenethe, l'ishkill on HudBon, 
between May 1st and Oct. 30, 187C:—Stems and 
leaves, 20 ft. in height; side branches, 10 ft. in 
length; circumference of stem at ground, 11% 
in.; circumference of stem 14 ft. from ground, 
6; : C in.” ThiB plant was raised ^om a seed put 
in the ground, and not first, started under glass, 
and never had a drop of water, except rain, dur¬ 
ing a long and very dry summer 
[This is the way a Castor-oil Plant behaved at 
“ Wodenoyioit in not the way tho Castor-oil 
Plant behaves in “ this country." We believe 
that such dimensions, under the same circum¬ 
stances, were never before attained. Will not 
Mr. S.’s gardener give us the secret of its culti¬ 
vation ?—Ed.] 
THE GREEN FLY, OR APHIS. 
Every person who has ever attempted to keep 
house plants, has had occasion to destroy the 
small green flics, or Aphides, which infest them. 
But there are comparatively fow persons who 
know anything of tho history of this very trou¬ 
blesome insect, and why in summer the ants as- 
eoeiuto with them. A writer in Chamber’s 
Journal gives a very* interesting sketch of the 
life history of the Aphides, from which wo con¬ 
dense the following: 
All who keep a garden or greonkouso must be 
familiar with those curious little green insects, 
the aphides or plant-lice. Existing in thousands 
on our flowers and shrubs, and feeding on the 
juices of the plants, they constitute veritable 
pests ; and somo species, infesting the bean, bop 
and other cultivated plants, cause much anxiety 
to the agriculturist from their destructive effects 
oh his crops. Both sexes of aphides are gener¬ 
ally found in a wingless state, although, as will 
presently be explained, the individuals of one 
and the same species may possess wings at one 
period, and be wingless during the rest of the 
I year. 
THE ANTS—MILCH COWS. 
A fact of primary interest in the habits of 
these insects consists in tho attention paid them 
by the familiar ants—(he famous Huber being 
the first who noted tho discovery. Thus the ants 
may be observed to follow after the plant-lice, 
aud to stroke the abdomens of tho lutter with 
their antennae or “ feelers.' the act causing the 
aphides to exude a sweet viscid secretion from 
two tubular pores placed towards the hinder ex¬ 
tremities of their bodies. This the ants greedily 
devour. Mr. Darwiu mentions un observation 
of bis own, which seems to strengthen the idea 
that the relations between the ante and tlieir 
providers are of a very intimate and reciprocal 
kind. Having removed all the attendant ants 
from a group of about a dozen aphides which 
resided on a dock-plant, Mr. Darwin prevented 
the ants from regaining their vantage-ground 
for several hours, feeling certain that the aphides 
would by that time have secreted a goodly store 
of the sweet secretion of which tho ants are so 
fond. Mr. Darwin watched them intently for 
some time, but did not observe a single apliis 
emit the secretion. Ho then tried to imitate the 
movomeuts of the ant’B antenna? by stroking the 
abdomens of the plant-lice with a hair; not a 
single aphis, however, responded to the imitative 
demand. A single ant being admitted to the 
guarded Rphides, it was observed to hurry from 
one to the other, as if aware of the plentiful 
store of sweets awaiting its attention; and when 
this single marauder, if we may so term it, be¬ 
gan to stroke the various aphides with his an¬ 
tennae, the latter rapidly excreted the coveted 
fluid, which was greedily absorbed by the aut. 
Very young plant-lice similarly respond to the 
call of their insect brethren ; and this latter fact 
would tend to show the purely instinctive and 
hereditary nature of the curious impulse on the 
part of the aphides; whilst the action of the ants 
in the matter must be no less of an instinctive 
kind. 
6REIDIN0. 
But exceeding in interest even the curious 
habits just noted, we find the development of 
aphides to present ns with Borne phases of puz¬ 
zling and inexplicable aspect. At the close of 
autumn, male and female aphides are found 
herding indiscriminately together. The eggs 
produced by them, after lying dormant through¬ 
out the winter season, burst into active life in 
the succeeding spring, and give birth, not to 
males and females, as might be expected, but to 
wingless, six-legged aphides, which, if their sex 
be determinable at all, must be that of the fe¬ 
male. 
CURIOUS PHENOMENA. 
Now appear some curious phenomena; for, if 
these wingless females be watched, they may be 
seen to produce, alive, and not from eggs, brood 
after brood of young aphides, exactly resembling 
themselves, in that they wholly consist of female 
insects, and, like their parents, are destitute of 
wings. Throughout the spring, summer and 
autumn, each successive generation of theso 
wingless femaleB thus produces progeny which 
repeat the featurea of their spinster-like parents, 
not a single individual of tho “sterner” sex be¬ 
ing found within the limits of this Amazonian 
population. And this uninterrupted succession 
of female generations may bo repeated and 
traced in a single season through nine, ten, or 
even eleven generations, whilst the number of 
tho progeny of a single aphis-mother may 
amount, as estimated by Boaraur, to 5,904,900,000 
at the fifth generation alone. At length, when 
the close of autumn once more cornea round, and 
ten or eleven generations have been born, this 
uninterrupted succession of female progeny 
ceases, and gives place to a due proportion of 
winged males—as at tho similar period of tho 
preceding year, when our survey of thc-ir life 
was supposed to begin. Then, as before, eggs 
are produced by this generation; and from these 
eggs, in tho succeeding upring, will be devel¬ 
oped the wingless females, whoso descendants 
will repeat the strange history of the preceding 
year. 
WATERING KITCHEN GARDENS. 
Those of our readers who happened [to reside 
the past summer in the “dry regions” of the 
Eastern States will fully appreciate the impor¬ 
tance of securing water for tlieir gardens in the 
future, and we fully endorse tho following from 
tho London Garden in regard to the same. 
This is a Bubject to which more than ordinary 
attention should be paid, inasmuch as in many 
districts kitchen garden crops suffer considerably 
from drought during the dry summers. There¬ 
fore in choosing a site for a new garden tho 
means by ivlneh it is to be watered during dry 
weather must not be overlooked. In sonic parts 
artificial watering is seldom resorted to, nor is it 
needed; but in naturally dry localities deep cul¬ 
tivation affords in somo measure a substitute for 
the watering pot. Unfortunately, however, 
deep soils do not everywhere exist, and in such 
cases arrangements should bo made for supply¬ 
ing water in some practical manner. Where 
there is a running stream, as sometimes happens, 
advantage should be taken of it to irrigate the 
garden; but where this is impracticable from 
the loiv situation of the water, recourse must be 
bad to pumping or carrying. Where, however, 
there is uo stf earn or other convenient way of ob¬ 
taining water, a well must bo sunk, and to do 
this in some parts of the country is no easy mat¬ 
ter. A little expense, howover, must not be 
thought of if a good and productive garden is 
the object in view. 
After the well has been sunk, a pump will be 
needed to throw the water from the well into a 
tank placed some few feet above the level of the 
highest part of the ground. If a main pipe be 
then laid from this tank down the center of the 
garden, branch pipes or wooden troughs may be 
laid from it to conduct the water into tanks dis¬ 
tributed about the garden ; or better still, means 
may be provided for watering with a hose. This 
is the best and easiest way of watering, and in 
some cases even better than irrigation, as in the 
latter case all the crops have to be watered, 
whether water is necessary or not. whereas by 
the former method any part can bo watered 
separately, and the plants sprinkled overhead, 
an operation that is in many cases more benefi¬ 
cial to vegetation than root watering. When¬ 
ever water is given to any kind of crop, it should 
always be of a temperature if possible within a 
few degrees of that of the soil to which it is to 
be applied, for it is a well-known fact teat to 
water any crops in summer with very cold wato 
1 eign countries, we are thus kept far behind. 
