good eating apple after the middle of February, 
After having lost hundreds of so-called “ hardy 
the largest two feet, three 
But all of the leaves were nearly 
■ near the top. They 
little acute at the apex 
entire. The 
' i length, 
i diameter, remaining quite 
•if free it may be called—stood 
hard wllidi and storms and the leaves were 
—- little torn. It towered up, during the mid¬ 
dle and later part of the season, above the sur¬ 
rounding foliage, and was one of the mos 
attractive objects in the grounds. The sketch 
was taken not until after a rather severe frost, 
to which the somewhat conical, drawn appear¬ 
ance of the leaves is due. A rich, mellow soil is 
best adapted to forcing the Paulowma to make 
.rvrmvth thus confined to a single 
opposite, decussate, 
inches across. II-1 
as large, except those at or 
are roundish, cordate a L. 
of all the principal veins—otherwise 
huge petioles aversged sixteen inches in 
nearly an inch in 
green. The tree—E 
many 
very 
apple trees, I have now a large orchard sot witn 
Tetofsky, Duchess of Oldenburg, Wealthy, Ma¬ 
gog Bed Streak and Scott’s Winter, which is 
coming into bearing. Every tree looks as 
thrifty and is growing as freely as in any orchard 
in Central New York. I have also some I'ewau- 
kee, two and three years set, that seem to be all 
right. 
Having been invited, the past fall, to visit the 
exhibition of the Montreal Horticultural Society, 
as ons of the judges of fruit, I had an excellent 
opportunity of gathering information regarding 
a class of Canadian seedling apples not yet much 
known or disseminated, but of wonderfully high 
quality as well as of great beauty. At some 
future time I shall take pleasure in giving your 
readers an account of them. 
“IRON CLAD” APPLES, 
speaking—and gather wisdom. He tried a new 
kind of sweet potato this year, and I arrived 
here in time to witness the gathering of the 
crop. It was the Early Peabody, ftud splendid, 
mealy and quite dry; not quite equal to the 
South Carollua article, as I’ve eaten them on their 
native heath, but better than the New Jersey or 
Delaware sorts. It is a decided acquisition. Two 
of the crop weighed, respectively, four pounds 
and four pounds and a half. How is that for 
the heavy soil Of south-eastern Connecticut ? 
I was gravely told by a dealer in the town, the 
other dav, that the Marrow squash didn’t do well 
here ^-it‘wanted the sandy soil of New Jersey. I 
objected not; but iu my mind's eye, Horatio, 
rose the figure of Gregory nf Marblehead crown¬ 
ed with squashes. But when you consider the 
matter, isn’t it ridiculous that squashes and all 
Buch stuff come from Now Yotk, and not a f aim¬ 
er in the neighborhood thinks it worth his while 
to bother with ** sieh truck—don’t pay. no how ?’ 
I paid twenty-five cents the other day for a small 
—quite small— Hubbard squash. No profit, eh, 
to somebody on that article ? And grapes . the 
markot here has been utterly bare. I’ve only 
Beon two baskets, both of them from Croton 
Point on the Iludson. I “reckon” grapes won’t 
grow here “ nuther.” 
I take possession of an acre x lot which a rela¬ 
tive of mine has just purchased, next week. It 
is iu grass now, a fine sod, the aftermath heavy 
i cfvnnrr T am poituf to plow it up immcdi- 
BY nil- T. H. HOSKINS. 
Very few’ farmers, and indeed I might say 
very few pomologists, in the United States, are 
acquainted with the fact that there is a large 
region of country extending along our Northern 
border, in which even the hardiest apples grown 
in the orchards of Southern New England, New 
York and Ohio, suffer from winter-killing to the 
extent that orcharding there with such varieties 
is practically impossible, 
New Hampshire and Vermont, the ad- 
of Quebec (Lower Canada), 
All of northern 
Maine, 
joining provinoe 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the northern part 
of the province of Ontario away from the great 
lakes, arc of this character as regards winter 
climate. A temperature of twenty to forty, and 
sometimes forty-five degrees below z-ro, is suf¬ 
ficient to kill or fatally cripple all such varieties 
as the Baldwin, It. I. Greening, Roxbury Russet, 
King of Tompkins County, Esopus Spitzenhnrg, 
Porter, and in fact every known and popular 
market apple of the great fruit-growing States. 
Even such hardier kindB as Westfield Seek-no— 
Further, Blue Pearmain, Talman s Sweet, Gold¬ 
en Russet of Western Now York, Fainense, Bon 
Davis and Red Astrachan are grown with diffi¬ 
culty, and succeed only in favorable spots, and 
in the hands of skillful growers. As cared for, 
or rather neglected, in the hands of ordinary 
farmers, none of them is likely to reach bear¬ 
ing size before being killed. 
The necessity for finding hardier varieties, or 
of abandoning apple culture altogether, has 
compelled the fruit growers of these cold sec¬ 
tions to search for among native BeedJings, or to 
grow from seed, sorts that would endure their 
climate. At first tfie only species upon which 
dependence could be placed was the Siberian 
crabs and their hybrids. But these are so small. 
“APPLES AND PEARS FOR VARIOUS 
SECTIONS.” 
BULBS FOR THE FLOWER GARDEN 
BY W. C. L. DREW, 
I noticed in a late Rural —page 322 —under 
the head of “ Apples and Pears for Various Sec¬ 
tions,” a list of those recommended for Minne¬ 
sota Knowing that the Rural circulates ex¬ 
tensively in this State, and that its readers con¬ 
sider anything found in its columns as good 
authority, I fear that some 
MUSCARI. 
The MUBCari group of spring flowering bulbs, 
sometimes called Hyaeinthus, is one the mem¬ 
bers of which have for ages oommended them¬ 
selves for Bpring flowering. The group is com¬ 
posed of several distinct varieties, among which 
arc the M. botryoidoa or Grape Hyacinths, the 
M. moschatum or Musk Hyacinth, the M. mon- 
strosum or Feathered Hyacinth, and M. race- 
mosum. Owing to the similarity of the com¬ 
mon name, llyaeinthUR, the Museum are of¬ 
ten confounded with the large-flowering y- 
acinths, an error whioh has been to their detri¬ 
ment, for they are not so popularly cultivated as 
they would have been if only offered under the 
name Musoari. The general mass of oultivators 
believing them to be small, insignificant Hy¬ 
acinths, have neglected them entirely. 
The Musoari botryoides is a charming addition 
to any garden. It may be had in three distinct 
colors, the white, known as M. b. album ; the 
blue M. b. azureum, and the cream or flesh col¬ 
ored known as M. b. carneum. The M. botry¬ 
oides, for grace of form and delicacy of color, 
am unsurpassed by any of the more extensively 
known spring bloomers. They grow nine inches 
to a fool high, the flowers are produced, in Cali¬ 
fornia, in early May; in the Eastern States they 
bloom in Jon® Tbo florets are in the shape of 
little hells produced iu abundance along the 
flower stem. They are chiefly adapted to the 
purpose of edging bods of larger growing bulbs; 
though they may also be planted out on lawns 
with a good effect. 
Musoari raccmosmn Hyacinth is a little beauty. 
For clearness and delicacy, nothing can surpass 
the bright sky-blue of the variety. For edging 
with snowdrops this is particularly commendable. 
Try it and be delighted. Musoari monstrosum, 
the best of the entire group, is a singularly good 
iwinter flower. It is known to amateurs as 
‘ > of them who con¬ 
template planting trees, will frame their orders 
from that list, and that it will prove very disas¬ 
trous to them. With your permission therefore 
I will revise and comment upon the list. I have 
had an experience of 21 years in fruit growing 
hero, and have probably fruited more varieties 
than any other orchardist iu the State, and 
through my connection with the State Horticul¬ 
tural and Agricultural Societies, have an ac¬ 
quaintance with all the prominent fruit growers, 
have learnt the success they are mooting with 
and know that the only varieties of apples that 
can he grown here with any reasonable degree 
of success, in all situations, are tho DucIjosb of 
Oldenburgh, Tetofsky, Plumb’s Cider, Fall 
Queen or Haas, Red Astrachan and J’ameuso, 
and our Horticultural Society has dropped the 
two last from their list for all localities in this 
State. In the most favorable localities the 
American Russet, St. Lawrence, Talman Sweet, 
Price's Sweet, Saxton or Fall Stripe and Utter's 
leding reasonably well, and 
Large Red, are succei 
the Walbridge or Cogswell, and the Wealthy, a 
Minn, seedling, arc promising well. 
Our people who design planting orchards 
should give the Ben Davis, Edgar Red Streak, 
Fall Pippin, Gravoustein, Hawthornden, Rambo, 
and Maiden’s Blush a severe letting alone. They 
have so far proved too tender for this climate. 
Trie Late Strawberry may do, I think, although 
there is but one tree of it iu the State that haB 
fruited. Fruits of the varieties I have con¬ 
demned and many others have been raised in the 
State and exhibited at the fair*, but only by in¬ 
dividuals of uDtiring perseverance in the most 
favorable situations, (and the same men can and 
some of them have raised peaches,) but the trees 
rarely survivo to hear more than two or three 
crops, aud are unsightly objects after going 
through oue of our extra-hard winters, like that 
of 1872-73. Our list iH short, but if we can add 
to it one good, hardy, long-keeping variety, wo 
can get along very well, and wu hope soon to ftud 
some among the thousands of Beedliugs coming 
on, that will be desirable and lengthen out our 
Rst. John 8. Harris. 
La Crescent, Minn. 
East, to stir things up a little ? 
GARDEN EXPERIENCE 
To produce a fine crop of onions is perhaps, as 
satisfactory to the cultivator, as to raise an 
equally fine crop of any other vegetable. For 
the last two seasons, however, this satis-faction 
has been denied me, for I have been disappoint¬ 
ed iu obtaining even tho shadow of a crop. It is 
the general custom here to raise onions almo.-t 
exclusively from top or button onions, and 
generally the practice is attended with the best 
results, but with me it is different; for I have 
planted, weeded, hoed, manured, etc., and yet 
all my cares have been of no avail. I think the 
soil of my former attempts is not suited for that 
L’infl nf cron, and shad try another location for 
RANDOM NOTES 
The Carden, and Other Things 
BY ALBERT W. AIKEN 
Dear Rural;— The plants came safely to 
baud. Ah, me! the pleasure of opening such a 
package and examiuing the floral treasures! 
here’s richness! And they are doing well, too, 
safely e i sconced in a sunny window. 
As you will notice by the post-mark, I have 
emigrated, and “ driven my stakes’ (to use the 
old Kentucky term) in the -venerable Nutmeg 
State, and I like it. True, there are a few rocks 
here—let me see ; wasn’t it in Connecticut where 
they used to whittle the noseB of the stock down 
to a fine point, so that they could get at the grass 
between the rocks ? 
Well, it’s a fine State, anyway! The staples 
round about mo here are hay, cows and apples— 
and rocks. I mustn’t forget the rooks ; my mare 
don’t allow me to forget them; like Mark 
Twain's animal, she shies impartially, and there¬ 
fore I don't generally fall off twice in succession 
on the same side. 
I'm in luck again. My next-door neighbor is 
a gardener, and Huch a gardener ! HiB grounds 
even now, in “ the sere and yellow leaf” of the 
CATALOGUES, &c., RECEIVED 
A Manual of Vegetable Plants. How to 
grow them successfully iu any locality. By I. 
F. Tllliughast. The work contains over 100 
pages, neatly hound in boards and muslin. Til- 
hughast Bros., Factoryville, Pa., have had great 
experience in vegetable growing, and as they are 
now giving more attention than usual to their 
seed trade, they have embodied in this little 
work their experience and discoveries for the 
bonefit of those who choose to read it. 
Thos. S. Ware, Tottenham, London. Autumn 
catalogue of hardy florists’ flowers and roses, 
etc. 
Also Illustrated Catalogue of choice hardy 
perennials, including some now offered for the 
first time. Aquatics, Bamboos and Grasses. 
Also ABC Bulb Guide, including likewise 
climbing plants and spring flowers, herbs and 
economic roots and hardy Orchidaceous plants. 
