32? 
c» 
MAY IS 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Bhould have a label attached to it or fastened 
where it may be seen. This should be placed 
on, or just back of or in front of, the specimens. 
These cards should be attached to the plates by 
some kind of clasp to prevent visitors or the 
wind from removing them. 
Specimens are generally best shown on a flat 
surface and not piled on each other. The neat 
white plates adopted by the Massachusetts Hor¬ 
ticultural Society are excellent for this purpose. 
They vary in size to suit the size of the samples. 
The plates are in the form of a parallelogram 
with a very slightly raised edge. Each plate is 
intended to hold twelve specimens of apples, po¬ 
tatoes, etc. Collections should be distinctly 
separated by neat boundaries of some kind, to 
make it easy for visitors and j udgos to distinguish 
them from each other without asking questions. 
This can be done by stems and leaves of aspara¬ 
gus, evergreens, or strips of rod, blue, or white 
paper. 
For convenience in judging vegetables, the 
lots in each class should be as near each other 
as possible. Competent judges will not trust to 
the eye alone in determining the merits of vege¬ 
tables and frnits. They will not be misled by 
overgrowth, but will consider those best which a 
person of good taste would select for his own 
table. Very often something can be told of the 
quality by cutting and tasting in a raw Htate, 
but in oaae of potatoes, turnips, squashes etc. 
samples Bhould be. well cooked for comparison. 
Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich. 
- -4 ♦♦- 
THE WOOLEN INTERESTS. 
It seems to be folly to sweep away the whole¬ 
some protection which the tariff now affords to 
the woolen interests for both the wool-grower 
and the manufacturer of woolen fabrics. As is 
well known to the readers of the Rural the 
present tariff is the result of a patient and care¬ 
ful conference between those interested, and it 
has met with universal approbation, and under 
its fostering care the woolen interests of America 
have prospered. It is the specific duty on wool, 
of ten and twelve cents a pound, which really 
affords the protection to the wool-growers, and 
that duty the tariff hill now before Congress 
proposes to do away with and have only a nom¬ 
inal ad valorem duty, which would redace the 
protection more than three-fourths. The sheep 
industry of this country cannot stand any such 
legislation and we trust Congress will kill this 
part of the bill, at least. Every citizen is inter¬ 
ested in the maintenance of the present pros¬ 
perity in the woolen interest. Other avenues of 
business are well crowded and would be dam¬ 
aged by the addition to their ranks of those en¬ 
gaged in the various avocations connected wltb 
wool in its different forms, its production and 
manufacture. The government is an interested 
party ; for it has millions of acres of land to sell 
adapted for nothing else but sheep and cattle 
growing, and the more people who occupy these 
regions, the more there will be to help bear the 
bur Jen of the national debt. 
The manufacturers and wool-growers were in 
session during the latter part of winter in Wash¬ 
ington and agreed to a new schedule of tariff 
rates, wliiob would be satisfactory and which was 
all the reduction they thought they could stand 
and keep the flocks from being sacrificed and 
the mills from destruction. They, however, 
were cloarly of the opinion that no change what¬ 
ever ought to be made, but prepared a new 
basis for a change, if one must, be made. The 
Committee of Ways and Moans paid no atten¬ 
tion whatever to those suggestions, but arbi¬ 
trarily struck the life out of wool-growing, so 
far as their aotion was concerned. 
We trust that Congress will not thus deal with 
this groat interest, but heed the voice of warn¬ 
ing aud bo guided by the suggestions of those 
who thoroughly understand the matter, and who 
have taken so much pains to harmonize all of 
the conflicting interests involved, by mutual 
concessions, and by making as many saorilioos 
as ought in reason to bo demanded. We were 
never clothed so oheaply as now, which Bhows 
that the margins in the woolen trade are at the 
lowest point. Every citizen is interested more 
or less in this great underlying iuduatry. 
-» » » 
CATALOGUES, &c., RECEIVED. 
Circular — Roebuck’s Wire Screens for doors 
and windows, 164 Fulton St., N. Y. 
Report of the Secretary of the Iowa State 
Agricultural Society for the year 1877. John R. 
Shaffer, Fairfield, Jefferson County, Secretary. 
Western New York Horticultural Society. 
Proceedings of the twenty-third annual meeting 
held at Rochester, Jan. 1378. The work is rnado 
up of a valuable oollootion of eBsays by dis¬ 
tinguished men. 
A treatise on Potato Culture, by William 
Hunt. Pablished by the Quinnipiac Fertilizer 
Co., New Haven, Conn. This gives the results 
of an intelligent farmer’s experience, and is of 
value to all who cultivate the potato. 
Illinois Industrial University, Urbana, 
Champaign Co., IU. The total number of stu¬ 
dents for 1877-78 is 404. The aim of this Uni¬ 
versity is to teach such branohes of learning as 
are related to agriculture and the mechanio arts, 
without excluding other scientific and classical 
Btudies, in order to promote the liberal and 
practical education of the industrial classes in 
the several pursuits and professions in life. 
HANDSOME FLOWERING SHRUBS. 
WILLIAM FALCONER. 
(Concluded.) 
Azalea viscosa comes into blossom about the 
middle of June and continues more or less in 
good condition till well into Jnly. Rhododen¬ 
dron punctatum, a very pretty Southern species 
which sometimes gets considerably winter-killed 
so far north as thiH, bears its rose-colored 
blossoms very plentifully from about the middle 
to the eud of June ; but scarcely has its beauty 
faded when R. maximum, a larger and more 
showy native speoies, steps forward and re¬ 
mains with ns throughout July. June is, too, 
the season of perfection of the Catawbiense and 
many lovely kinds of garden Rhododendrons, 
for which we are indebted to the horticultural 
art. 
Kerrias, single and double, begin blossoming 
in May and continue throughout the summer 
more or leas to display their yellow flowers; 
and from the end of May till the end of June 
is the heyday of the Mook-orangea or Syringas, 
as they are often called. From early June till 
the end of July the Common and Oriental Blad¬ 
der Sennas, with yellow and saffron blossoms 
respectively, are in perfection and their pro¬ 
fusion of pea-blossoms, lively foliage, inflated 
bladders, neat habit and hardiness, render 
them desirable shrubs. Iu June, too, every 
branchlet of Cytisns cupitatns is terminated by 
a lot of downy-yellow pea-blossoms; and the 
Carolina Allspice is decorated with its fragrant 
dark purple flowers that continue to be produc¬ 
ed throughout the summer. The Burning Bush, 
— Euonymus atropurpureug — bears myriads 
of tiny dark-purple blossoms in the latter half 
of June, and these are followed by a brilliant 
display of red fruit in the fall, which is shown 
off to excellent advantage in front of an ever¬ 
green back-ground, as for instance a belt or 
hedge of Norway Spruces. Itea Virginica, 
from the tiniest morsel of a plant to large 
Bhrubs, bears its pretty racemes of white flow¬ 
ers from about June 20th to the middle of July. 
Magnolia glanca, the Sweet Bay of our swamps, 
is a handsome shrub or small tree that pro¬ 
duces lino, globular, creamy-white, fragrant 
blossoms from the middle of Jnne tiii near 
the middle of July; and about the same in 
season are our Catalpa times which, either as 
arboreal or minor specimens, display their 
beauty long and lavishly. The American species 
is much handsomer than tho Japanese. 
The misty panicles of tho Smoke Tree are 
beautifully expanded about the 20th of June 
and remain in perfection throughout July, but 
after that I think the smoke is more a disad¬ 
vantage than a gain. Rose Aoacias are shrubs 
of June; still straggling clusters are occasionally 
borne throughout the summer. 
Hydrangea arborescens and radiata have 
large flat cyrnose heads of greenish-white flow¬ 
ers in July, and the silvery lining of the radiata 
leaves makes them quite ornamental. In early 
July appear the erect, slender panicles of blu¬ 
ish flowers of Oladrastia Amurensis, aud about 
the middle of the same month the long, erect, 
raoeme-hko panicles of whito flowers or /Escu- 
lns parviflora are quite telling in large gardens, 
but, of course, it is not condensed enough for 
small plots. Iu July, too, the Trumpet Vine 
makes groat show, aud Yucca fllameutosa— 
though not a shrub but au admirable substitute 
—sends forth its immense branched flower-stems. 
From July far into August the White Alder, 
Olethra alnifolia, is laden with racemes of small, 
fragrant, white flowers; and 0. acuminata, of 
equal season, has larger but fewer racemes. 
Both are desirable garden plants. Of the Hame 
season as the Clethras is Oxydendrmn arborenm, 
a Southern shrub or small tree that has numer¬ 
ous pretty white flowers arranged in one-sided 
racemes clustered in loose panicles, and Its 
leaves too are among the most beautiful of 
autumn-tinted foliage. 
From the middle of July all through August, 
we have likewise the Vitex iucisa in bloom; Its 
bluish flowers are moat abundantly produced, 
aud the cut pinnatifld leaves are uo small orna¬ 
ment. Though annually winter-killed a little, it 
seems to enjoy tho knife and every young shoot 
blossoms. From early August into September 
is the season of our shrubby Althfeas—Hibiscus 
Syriacus—whose showy flowers, single and 
double, present almost every shade of white, 
purple, and rose. The roots but not the stems 
of the Lemon-6C3nted Verbena are hardy here, 
but as summer approaches, new shoots are 
made and they bloom from August into Septem¬ 
ber. The branchleta of CaUicarpa gracilis re¬ 
veal some modest little flowers about the 20th 
of July and keep increasing them more and more 
till fall, when blossoms bedeck the branchlet 
points and amethyst berries the lower portions; 
indeed they are only at their prettiest when 
November or December frosts nip their beauty. 
Hydrangea paniculata, among shrubs, is the 
lion of autumn, and we find young plants pro¬ 
duce larger flower-heads than do old ones, and 
the same superiority is visible in specimens 
that have been cut hard-back over those only 
shortened in & little. The greenish panicles 
appear early in August, beoome white from 
the middle to tb.e 20 th of the month, and attain 
their purplish hue as September advances. 
Many miscellaneous blossoms are produced 
throughout the fall months, which added to 
the conspicuously decorative fruits of several 
bushes,as Cratwguses, Snowberriee,Bitter-sweet, 
Winterberry, Burning Bush, Strawberry Bush, 
Rose hips, Sumachs, Ac., and the brilliantly 
tinted leaves of many of our American and East¬ 
ern Asiatic shrubs and trees, give to the fall a 
mature richness entirely its own. And the last 
flower of the year is perhaps the yellow blos¬ 
soms of the Witch-Hazel, that are unfolded in 
late fall when the leaves are turning and drop¬ 
ping. 
But I have omitted a few very pretty little 
shrubby plants that are better suited for edging 
shrubbery borders than for mixing with stronger 
growers: Erica oarnea, the European Heath, 
which from March till May is laden with rose- 
purple bells ; E. vaganB, the Cornish Heath, 
which is in blossom iu July and August: Calluna 
vulgaris, the European Heather, in July, and 
Daphne Cneorum, a very pretty low-growing 
evergreen that bears a profusion of terminal 
clusters of rose-pink flowers in April and May, 
and again a light second crop in fall. 
Now that I have finished I begin to realize the 
army of favorites I have overlooked, as the host 
of Spiraeas that keep up a succession all sum¬ 
mer long; the Snow-drop tree and Cornus 
florida that bloom in May; the many ornamental 
Primroses aud Pyruses, Berberis, deciduous and 
evergreen; B. Thuubergii is a beautiful species, 
that leaves out and blossoms earlier than most 
kinds, has the most brilliantly colored fruits of 
any species with which I am acquainted, and 
moreover, the hues of gold and crimson that 
appear in its leaves in autumn give it a place in 
the front ranks of that class of ornamental 
shrubs, and it is perfectly hardy; Tamarix, 
whose wythe-liko stems are clad with tiny purple 
racemes iu early May ; Vibnmums, as the Guel¬ 
der Rose, Rhodotypus, and several others. 
Botanical Gardens, Cambridge, Mass. 
-- 
FLOWERING PLANTS FOR ROOMS. 
JAMES TAP LIN'. 
Many of my lady friends are very successful 
in growing and flowering plants in rooms, while 
others say they have no luck with their plants, 
the want of it being due either to lack of atten¬ 
tion, or unsuitable position or atmosphere for 
growing the plants. 
I have no doubt if it came to the growing and 
’lowering of plants in rooms, many of the lady 
readers of the Rural would do it far better than 
[ should on the llrHt trial, as the conditions are 
very different to greenhouse treatment, so If hall 
only call attention to a few useful plauts suitable 
for the above purpose, with a few general hints 
as regards cultivation while advising growers 
not to attempt growing too many soits, but to 
confine themselves to a few well-grown plants 
which they have found to succeed best under 
their own particular circumstances. I may also 
mention that unless there is a special plant- 
stand furnished with a pan for catching water 
when plantB are watered, it is necessary to place 
saucers under pots, not for holding water, but to 
prevent it running on the flour, for few plants 
will keep in good health if constantly standing in 
water. 
Roses are genera 1 ly desired for flowering in 
rooms, and I have seen some growers very suc¬ 
cessful with these plants; but many fail from 
not commencing with good, established plants, 
or often from having nice plants in flower 
from a foroing-house. The so-called Month¬ 
ly Roses, which include the China and Tea 
varieties, are the only varieties Buit&ble for 
growing in rooms, and should be grown in pots 
at least a year before brought into the house. 
The green fly is often troublesome on the 
young growth, but can be easily killed by dip¬ 
ping in tobacco or quassia water, and mildew 
must be destroyed by dusting with sulphur. 
Calla Lilies. I recollect these as window 
plants when I was a boy, aud they are more 
popular now than at that time. Tills is one of 
the few plants which, when in full growth, can 
stand in a pan full of water. I have complaints 
from visitors that their Callas grow well, but do 
not flower. To these I would recommend stand¬ 
ing the plants outside in the full sun, from May 
until September, and then shaking away ali the 
soil and repotting in good, rich soil. 
Geraniums. Under this head, I shall include 
both scarlet and the so-called Lady Washington 
varieties, although vhey require rather different 
treatment. The scarlet varieties are best grown 
from cuttings rooted in the spring and grown 
in pots outside during the summer, and will usu¬ 
ally flower freely in a light, warm room during 
winter. Old plants ate worth nothing for this 
purpose, although useful for planting outside in 
the summer. The Lady Washington class can 
be either grown as young plants or the old ones 
cut down after flowering. In dry, droughty 
rooms, the green fly is often troublesome on 
them, but oan be destroyed by tobacco. 
Carnations. —These are best obtained from 
some florist early in the fall, before the plants 
have been grown in a war n. house, and will, with 
fair treatment, generally flower all the winter. 
Bouvardia. —The above remarks will apply to 
these, excepting that the flowering season does 
not usually extend much beyond Christmas. 
Mignonette.— A few pots of this sown outside 
iu September, are very desirable to flower in-doors 
when the ground is covered with enow. The 
same remark applies to the old-fashioned Musk 
plant, which will grow freely if well supplied 
with water, and other charming plants of which 
the ladies never get tired, for example, the For¬ 
get-me-not. This can bo planted ontBide in April, 
and will flower all the summer in a damp, shady 
place. I saw some charming beds of it in the 
neighborhood of New York recently. 
Violets can bo successfully grown iu pots, by 
taking up plants, when planted out iu tho spring, 
and bringing them in-doors before frost. 
Fuchsias are useful plants for house deflora¬ 
tion, as they do better in partial shade, and 
Btrike freely from cuttings, or if plants are re¬ 
quired in flower at once, these are cheap to pur¬ 
chase. Bulbs, such as Hyacinths, Crocuses and 
Tulips, are best obtained fresh each year, or 
they can be planted ont for one year and taken 
up for floweriug the next. These are among the 
most useful plants for winter blooming, for if 
potted early, some can be had in flower by Christ¬ 
mas, and a succession of flowers may be kept up 
until May by bringing in a few plants at a time. 
I object Vi Narcissns flowets in a room, as they 
are, like Tuberoses and Lilies, of too powerful 
scent to be pleasant, but, of oonrse, these flow¬ 
ers are nice out-of-doors. 
I am often asked if various flowers will do well 
in a room ; for this reason I often try plants not 
generally grown, among them the Anthurium 
Scherzerianum or Flamingo plant. One of these 
I placed in my room six weeks ago, and the plant 
looks about the same as at first; tho flowers 
which were expa> ded, are still perfect and others 
have opened, and it looks likely to Btay in 
flower for six weeks longer. I may say that we 
do not burn gas, do not keep rooms very hot, 
and ventilate at all times. 
A Brooklyn lady informed me she had her 
window filled with Thomas Hogg Hydrangea at 
Easier, and how much it was admired! She had 
a greenhouse, however, and the plants were, no 
doubt, iu flower before placed in the window, 
but these plants can be kept in the cellar and 
would then flower well Later in the season. 
I may add, it is well-to bring plants into rooms 
before too far advanced in flower. They last much 
longer. It iB also well not to bring them from a 
very close, moist, hot-house, for in the best 
regulated rooms there is always a dry air in win¬ 
ter. 
South Amboy, N. J. A 
gjboritttltml. 
TWO NEW JAPAN QUINCES. 
SAMUEL PARSONS. 
Tms species of shrub possesses many quali¬ 
ties which well lit it for frequent use in lawn 
planting. We have known it so long and be¬ 
come so accustomed to its presence everywhere 
that we hardly realize the superior advantages 
it undoubtedly offers for every purpose required 
of a flowering shrub. Hardy, compaot aud 
vigorous or growth, its bright glossy leaves 
and numerous, richly-colored flowers, clinging 
closely to the stem, would certainly call forth 
rapturous expressions of delight were they pre¬ 
sented as a new introduction from foreign 
countries. As it is, every one enjoys the early 
beauty of the glowing flowers formed before the 
leaves are developed, and no group of decidu¬ 
ous Bhrubs that preteuds to offer a series of 
blooms extending throughont the spring and 
summer, oan dispense with its rich colors. 
The Japan Qaince is a large-growing shrub, and 
henoe should occupy positions in the center or 
rear of the mass, unless some prominent point 
of peculiar character requires a larger growth 
than is ordinarily used. It should be set out 
early, althpugh on the whole it is quite easy to 
transplant. Years ago it was considered some¬ 
what difficult to propagate, but now it is 
grown readily from root cuttings. As already 
intimated, the foliage constitutes one of its 
great charms, and a thorny habit has caused its 
successful employment for ornamental and im¬ 
passable hedges. To snm up its advantages, 
it has nearly everything necessary to the char¬ 
acter of a perfectly hardy, deciduous flowering 
shrub. Although the general appearance of 
the foliage of the Japan Qaince in its many 
varieties, is much the same, the color, size and 
shape of its blossoms form & very distinctive 
peculiarity. Distinguished chiefly by the ap¬ 
pearance of the flowers, there arc at least a doz¬ 
en varieties common in nurseries. Their col¬ 
ors range all the way from scarlet or crimson 
