338 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
NOV. 24 
fr 
hardy vegetation requires, during winter, some of 
the influences that come with the free action of 
the outer air, which also serve to temper at the 
same time, the otherwise concentrated cold. 
Not only is such close protection unsafe, but wn 
should seek the thinnest, lightest covering that 
will shelter from sun and sleet. All heaping of 
hay, earth, etc., too high about the plant is to 
be avoided, and especially should care be taken 
to leave untouched with the knife any growth of 
plants, like roBes, which require sharp pinning to 
develop flower-bearing wood. Such excision 
only makes an entranoe for cold and rain, to the 
consequent rotting or freezing of the heart of 
the plant. The pruning can be safely performed 
in spring. 
THE SAFEST METHOD OF PROTECTION. 
Heap a moderate amount of earth about the 
plant from one to six inches deep, according to 
its size and nature. Cover this with a light 
mulching of leaves or hay. and then apply a 
sort of hood over the tap by means of evergreen 
boughs stuck Inronnd about, and left sufliciently 
opep to allow free play of air without too much 
exposure to sleet and sun, Should evergreen 
boughs lie scarce, a convenient hood may he 
constructed by tying the ends of a hunch of 
straw together, and then hanging it over a stick 
somewhat tailor than the plant and inserted in 
the ground alongside it. This may be so ad¬ 
justed as to protect sufliciently the foliage of 
the plant which is all wo need desire. 
Buch Himplo methods of protection are avail¬ 
able for overy one, and were their employment 
more general, wo should hear less of winter¬ 
killed Rhododendrons and other evergreens, 
planted perchance where we could hardly expect 
a Norway Spruce to pass unscathed. Fate 
seems to ordain that a beautiful and choice 
plant, slightly delicate iu winter, must be the 
very one to take the most exposed and unsuit¬ 
able position. Wherever this is necessary, how¬ 
ever, a judicious system of winter protection 
at least should be followed. 
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF FLORICUL¬ 
TURE. 
BY ANNIE L. JACK. 
As we finished our last “ Peu-Talk ” the house- 
plants stood in bright array before us, and all 
fresh and well taken, appeared to give us hopes 
of a continued winter bloom. The sitting-rooms 
Hoemcd too warm to suit them, and we placed 
these treasures inside a canvas tent not far from 
the door And there they remained for a week 
or two, until otic night of sharp and sudden frost 
was too severe for sonic of onr tender beauties, 
and the const quenco was that the Heliotrope 
and Salvia, Begonia and CupbflBft were blackened 
as if scorched by lire. Worse than tills, (he 
Tuberoses that failed to bloom in these short 
summers, had been potted in the spring, with a 
view to winter blooming, and were to be seen, 
after this sudden cold wave, hanging their heads, 
heavy witti frost, while opening flowers and 
promising buds were a total loss. No fragrant, 
white, waxen beauty was to be mine. A few 
hours of the cold, which had surprised us that 
night, settled their fate, and with it my hopes 
for their sweet flowerets through the dreary No¬ 
vember weather. Never mind 1 we had done for 
the best, and it is only one of the shadows. 
8aid a friend to me lately in a “ pen-talk,” “ I 
always associate you with fruits and flowers, and 
wherever I go, if 1 see any choice blossoms, my 
first thought is to wish that, you were able to 
enjoy them with me." It is a pleasant thought 
that one's friends feel so. To he remembered 
among flowers and recalled when our loved ones 
seethe June roses or the English primrose; to 
be wished for, and connected iu memory with 
these treasures or nature, is not without its 
happy influence. This is one of the lights of 
floriculture. It is also one of the pleasures of 
this branch of gardening to he able to give to 
frauds slips or seeds or plants of anything they 
admire ; for nothing gives the true florist more 
enjoyment than to share with others. We shall 
think, uext spring, that dear Deatiuok, who has 
gone to Italy, took with her some of tho seeds 
that thrive so well in our Northern climate, simp¬ 
ly to grow what tee grow ; that Dick, who went 
to settle iu Nebraska, had a package of our 
choicest fruits and flowers to plant and sow on 
his new farm, where he intends to make a home 
before sending for bis wife. 
But when Mrs. Wantall comes down iu the 
spring for plants from the hotbed, and layers of 
our choicest Rose bushes, and unblushiugly asks 
for a little seed of any now variety we may have 
imported at great cost and trouble, giving noth¬ 
ing in return, not even thanks; and when, again 
in the autumn, she makes very neighborly visits, 
for the purpose of helping herself to seeds— 
which she does, without stint, or without asking 
permission—then one sees some of the shadows 
of floriculture. Mean do you think me ? I beg 
to differ with you, reader. You have not been 
tried, if thus you judge. I have dozens of friends 
to whom I give gladly and from pure friendli¬ 
ness ; for a blessing unshared is no blessing at 
all. Blit I have no sympathy with Mrs, Want- 
ALL. She cornea twice every year, and only 
then, and she never gives me any of tho seeds 
her uncle sends from Florida, or her roving 
brother collects in his travels. Was it Harriet 
Mautineau who said “ Human nature is the 
same every where ?” Why should I differ from 
my fellows ? 
But tho pleasure of giving flowers amply re¬ 
pays one for the hours of toil. How cheering 
they arc in the sick room! How the bright 
beauties prove to tho invalid that they are sent 
as a token of remembrance! And when for 
church or school, we give freely and wish we 
had more and hotter to bestow, and receive any 
thanks or praise as their right, we arc acting 
merely as proxy for tho little darlings, that only 
speak by their loveliness. Sadly, too, have we 
twined white flowers—the last loving tribute to 
the dead—all we could give the friends who 
loved our favorites in their lives. And when a 
now Labe has been sent to bless a neighbor's 
homo, our gift to the little stranger would al¬ 
ways consist, if it were possible, in some part, of 
flowers, to welcome it to this beautiful earth. 
No marriage seems complete without them,—no 
festival perfect if flowers arc wanting; and we 
thank nature and nature’s God, every day, for 
tho varied and wonderful gifts, and feel it one of 
tho lights among the Bhadows to have them ever 
with us. 
But stewards we, of nature’s '/if Is-the flowers. 
Friends ol' our sad, as of our joyous hours I 
Alike to all the fragrance they impart; 
Their silent blessins thrills to every heart. 
PETS OF OUR FLOWER GARDEN. 
No. III. 
BY AN EPICURE. 
While it is my intention to speak only of a 
few, yet they have, during the past season, been 
varied and numerous. To come at once to my 
subject, I will take up 
ORNAMENTAL FOLIAGE PLANTS. 
With a largo collection of Cannas, embracing 
many new and popular sorts, I am sorry to say 
1 am anything hut satisfied, so far as relates to 
impressions I received from the descriptions in 
the catalogues. It Is scarcely possible that 1 did 
not got sorts ordered, for I dealt with the most 
reliable seedsmen. It is more likely that fancy 
** got away" with me. I ouiy mean to say that 
they wore not what I exported, for their rich 
glaucous color cannot fail to attract and please 
the most indifferent observer: yet they were 
without the fine crimson and oroamy coloring 
expected. 
Riclnus Borbomensia arboreus came up to my 
most vivid Imagination. Those accustomed to 
seeing and even growing lticiuus, had to he told 
that it was a Ricinus, so mammoth was its trop¬ 
ical foliage. Catalogues say it will grow fifteen 
feet high, but mine did not. I t was shaded too 
much, and seed allowed to form, which stopped 
its growth. 
Not until this fall have I over seen any beauty 
in an Achyrantbus; just now my Achyrauthns 
Litidem and acuminata are beautiful, but it. is 
only of late that they have been brilliant in color. 
Iu passing to the Coleus, 1 know of no other 
way to manifest my unbounded admiration of 
tho Chameleon Coleus than to say, if I had to 
put up with possessing barely one plant, 1 would 
take it. A perfect specimen will attract more 
attention than any plant I have ever scon. 1 
have yet to see a single person, no matter how 
little he eared for ornamental plantH, who did 
not wish to possess one of those Charuoloon Co¬ 
leuses after seeing one. No pen has ever been 
adequate to correctly describe it, and I am amus¬ 
ed to see how florists puzzle and flounder and 
multiply w’ords in their catalogues when they 
undertake tho task. The Shah Coleus is in¬ 
deed an oddity, but does not give the satisfac¬ 
tion fancy prompts one to think it would before 
seeing it; yet its oddity alone entities it to a 
place in every collection. 
Iu regard to the Coleus, I find as much pleas¬ 
ure and satisfaction in growing seodlings, us I do 
in growing named sorts, yet it is only now and 
then one gets a lir^t-rate, beautiful plaut. I 
have one I chanced upou this season, that all, 
who have seen it, declare to be as flue as any 
they have seen. It is after the style of Ver- 
schaffeltii, with brighter colors, yet it is a dis¬ 
tinct sort. I study day and night what its name 
shall be. Passing to flowering plants, I am 
compelled to say I am at Joss to kuow where to 
begiu or leave off. I iiave been somewhat dis¬ 
appointed this season with “ novelties." A 
yellow Balsam proved to be almost the whitest 
object I evor beheld. If you wunt a fine white 
Balsam, order a yellow one. 
The Tuberose “ Pearle,” comes nearer being 
all that lias been claimed for it, than any 
“ novelty ” or acquisition I have tried for sev¬ 
eral years. In perfume and color of bloom it 
differs not at all from the old variety, but the 
blootn is very double, which, together with alow, 
stocky growth, makes it more desirable than tho 
old sort. Those who have not seen the Double 
Tiger Lily, have yet a treat before them. It is as 
essentially double as is a rose, which is very rare, 
In fact, with Lilies. I ehauced upon a native Lily 
this season growing upon high clayey white-oak 
soil that is entirely distinct from any Lily I, or 
any of my friends have ever seen. Likely 
florists have it, bnt 1 cannot find anything in 
forty different lists that describes it at all. 
-♦♦♦-- 
KNIPHOFIA MACOWANI. 
•Having grown this new variety of Tritoma 
the past seasou, perhaps your readers would be 
interested in kuowitig bow it thrived. In June 
a small plant was received from France and im¬ 
mediately planted out in tho border. It soon 
began to grow vigorously, and in a few weeks it 
threw up a spike about twelve inches high 
terminated by beautiful rod and yellow flowers, 
exactly like the T. Uvaria in miniature. During 
the past summer it lias thrown up four succes¬ 
sive spikes of bloom, all tho flowers being fully 
developed. It has certainly earned the title of a 
free bloomer. We hall this miniature prototype 
as a worthy addition to the flower garden. It 
will undoubtedly bloom freely as a pot plant. 
This, combined with its simple culture, will make 
it a favorite for the house or porch. It is not 
affected by early frosts. “ Xineohp." 
[This plant was originally described by Mr. 
Baker, in 1K74, when bo expressed a hope that 
it would soon he introduced into cultivation. 
Professor Macowan, discovered it growing on 
grassy slopes on tho Busohberg Mountains in. 
South Africa, at an elevation of 4,500 feet, 
There arc other species as hardy as this, among 
them R. cauiescens. This is said to bo the most 
distinct of all the species, having a decided 
stem to the rosetto of leaves like a caulescent 
Aloe. For a very pretty colored plate of K. 
Macowani, the reader is referred to the London 
Garden of August 4, of this year. Eds ] 
THE GRAPE-ROT PROBLEM. 
BY B. M. BATEHAM. 
The question, “ what causes grape-rot,” is, I 
think, the most important problem at this time 
pertaining to American horticulture. In many 
portions of onr large grape growing States, the 
malady has been so prevalent, the past year or 
two, as to threaten the entire abandonment of 
grape culture. Isidor Bush, of Missouri, says 
“ nearly all varieties have rotted badly this sea¬ 
son, and unless somo preventive of this evil iH 
discovered, or it disappears, grape growing 
here is seeing its last days." The same maybe 
said of large portions of Illinois, Michigan, In¬ 
diana aud Ohio. 
Iu Southern Ohio, the rotting of the Catawba 
grapes commenced more than twenty-years ago. 
and iu a few years canned the ruin of more than 
a thousand acres of vineyards in that section. 
Then the Ives' Seedling was planted and proved 
quite successful for some years; but, of late, 
tliis also lias generally succumbod to tho rot, 
aud along with it the Concord, the boasted 
“grape for the million," and even tho hardy 
little Clinton. 
In many of tho interior parts of the state 
many vineyards of from five to twenty acres 
each, of tho Concord variety have been planted 
within tho past ten years, and have generally 
done quite well, until the past, two Reasons, in 
which the rot has prevailed so extensively as to 
discourago most of tho owners. Here iu Nor¬ 
thern Ohio, especially along the Lake Shore, the 
evil has not prevailed so generally, and lias been 
confined mostly to the Catawba variety. The 
largo vineyards of Catawba, on the Islands, have 
occasionally suffered badly by the disease, during 
the past ten or fifteen years, and the intelligent 
cultivators there have been much puzzled to ac¬ 
count for its visitations; but they do not, as 
yet, feel greatly discouraged thereby, as the 
malady has never seemed to eomo there to stay. 
IS PHYLLOXERA THE CAUSE!? 
Professor Riley of Missouri, expressed the be- 
liof, some years ago, that the phylloxera which 
was causing such devastation iu the vineyards of 
Franco, and was known to exist in many parts 
of this country, was also the cause of more mis¬ 
chief here limn was commonly supposed, in pro¬ 
ducing disease and failure of our grapo crops. 
This led to a pretty general investigation, but 
the insectB were found in only a few locations, 
and nowhere, as a rule, iu such unmbers as to 
be likely to do much harm ; so that little appre¬ 
hension has been felt in regard to it, and the 
opinion has prevailed, that our American vines 
generally, if not proof against the lice, were so 
little affected by them as to escape serious in¬ 
jury. On this account, large importations have 
been made of American vines, (Concord and 
Clinton) within a few years past by French vig- 
neros. 
My friend Professor Cook, of the Michigan 
Agricultural College, is a zealous worker aud 
teacher, and follows Professor Riley in his opin¬ 
ion about the phylloxera, as will he seen by the 
paper of which an abstract was given in tho 
Rural New you her of November 3. In a pri¬ 
vate note received by me from Professor Cook, 
after speaking of tlm vast importance of the 
subject, he kindly asks me to ciiticiso the paper 
just referred to, in the light of the facts. He 
makes this request., no doubt., because I have 
heretofore expressed cisbelief that the phyllox¬ 
era had much, if auythuig, to do with causing the 
grape-rot. 
With no other facts than those stated by Prof- 
fessor Cook, as existing at Crosse Isle, the evi¬ 
dence would indeed seem pretty strong in favor 
of the phylloxera theory. He admits, however, 
that, iu one case he was mistaken as to finding 
the root-lice where, by the rotting of the fruit, he 
expected to do so. H ft family of a dozou per¬ 
sons were all taken sick, after eating a dinner 
of soup and other articles, a physician, on being 
called, might at first suspect that tli i Coup had 
caused the mischief; but if, on inquby, lie found 
that one mum her of the family had not eaten 
any soup, though sick with the rest, he would 
hesitate about adopting such a conclusion. And 
if, the next day, he should find another family 
down witli the same kind of sickness, where no 
such soup had been eaten, he would at once infer 
that some other cause had produced all the 
trouble. 
Iu my own vineyard, are 500 Iona vines, ten 
years planted, the fruit of which rotted to some 
extent last year, and more this season. My 
next neighbor has a Catawba vineyard of the 
same ago, with about the same amount of rot. 
On receiving Professor Cook s letter, 1 made a 
thorough search for phylloxera in both these 
vineyards—having learned from Professor Cook, 
when at Kelley’s Island with him last year, how 
to find the little posts—and ou examining the 
roots of ten vines in different rows, whera tho 
fruit, had rotted, I could only find the lice or the 
knotted roots which are evidonoe of their work, 
on two or my own vinos, aud one of my neigh¬ 
bor's ; aud in each ease these were located whore 
tho soil, which is deep and sandy, was so de¬ 
pressed, as to be quite moist in a rainy timo, 
though never having standing water. I also 
searched in vain for the insects on the roots of 
some Creveling vines which have failed badly 
from rotting. Those vines are on a slope of 
dry soil, where other varieties, by their side, 
have not rotted. 
Another objection, in my mind, to the phyl¬ 
loxera theory as tho cause of rot, is the fact that 
in all tho oases that I have H een, at homo and on 
Kelly’s Island, where the insects were found, the 
vines did not seem in the least degree injured 
or checked iu their growth, and at t he Inland the 
fruit on these vines was as froe from disease as 
on vines not thus affected. Professsr Cook, also, 
himself states that tho vinos at Gi-obso Isle 
where the fruit rotted so badly, and the lice were 
generally found, were of vigorous growth; and 
yet he speaks of tho mischief being done b> 
“abstracting the sap” or, robbing the vines of 
nutriment. This seems inconsistent, as wo know 
that root pruning iB often an advantage in 
checking the luxuriant growth of tree or vine. 
Here, too, 1 may sav, that, old grape growers 
would not recommend “ heavy priming” where 
“ the growth of wood is tremendous." My ad¬ 
vice in such a case would be to prune lightlj. 
and if there is not enough trellis room, dig out 
overy alternate vine. 
IS WET WEATHER THE CAUSE. 
Professor Cook intimates a suspicion of this, 
in view of the fact stated, that both of the two 
past seasons were very wot, and the soil of the 
vineyard, although underdrained, was at times 
so wet that one could hardly go on it; and iu 
liis conclusions he is careful to recommend 
“ thorough drainage.” But we have strougei 
testimony ou this pointy One of the oldest 
grapo growers of Kelly’s Island, the late G. C. 
Huntington, made daily observations of the 
weather and a record of the meteorology of 
that locality, for many yours, for the officers of 
Smithsonian Institute at Washington. He 
also observed closely the effects of the weather 
and temperature of the different seasons on the- 
grape crops, especially as to the prevalence of 
mildew and rot.. The report of the Ohio State 
Horticultural Society for 18<W, contains an in¬ 
teresting essay by Mr. Huntington, on Me¬ 
teorology and Grapo Rot," road before the Lake 
Shore Grape Growers' Association. It contains 
minute records of the weather at Kelly’* Island, 
with the amount of rain-fall atid number ° 
rainy days for each month of tho ten preceding 
years. In summing up the observations, Mr. 
