JAN. 24 
45 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
florlcxtllitral. 
THE LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY. 
Keats says : 
“ No flower amid the garden fairer grows 
Thau the sweet Lily of the lowly vale, 
The queen of flowers.” 
The Lily-of-the-Valley grows wild iu Eu¬ 
rope from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Cir¬ 
cle, not only in the lowland woodlands but 
also on the wooded flanks of the Alps ; like¬ 
wise in the Caucasus and Siberia, and, too, in 
America, in the high Alleghenies. Although 
amenable toulmost all situations iu the garden, 
from the shaded grove to the exposed border, 
its natural homo and that in which it de¬ 
lights the most and thrives the best, is a par¬ 
tially shaded place, as under trees and shrubs, 
along the margin of some rich wood, and on 
a north rather than south-facing slope. It 
loves rich, moist soil and has a preference for 
that which is open and sandy over that which 
is retentive and clayey. 
Our illustration represents it as it may be 
seen in May naturalized in the wood. Of 
all our garden plants there is not one more 
fitted for naturalization in our woods and 
groves and other rural and rustic parts about 
our homes, than the Lily-of the-Valley. There 
is nothing delicate about its constitution or 
tastes ; it merely w ants a footing and to bo let 
alone. How much prettier it w ould be and 
more appropriate too, to let the Lily-of-tbe 
Valle}' run wild iu onr shrubbery beds, than to 
preserve in them the perpetual bareness of the 
surface of the soil. And in company with the 
Lily-of-the-Valley we could introduce daf¬ 
fodils and Poet's Narcissus, crocuses, squills 
and snowdrops, and such nther familiar plants 
as would t hrive among the bushes. No annual 
digging would be needed any more, but a good 
top-dressing of old leaf-soil or well-rotted 
manure given every' Winter would be a bene¬ 
fit to every inmate of the bed. 
We have the Lily-of-the-Valley grow ing at 
the base of a house-wall on a high, sunny and 
exposed terrace and where it is almost roasted 
in Summer: but still it seems to luxuriate 
there ; its roots are a perfect matted sod, and 
where they have got up into the corner at 
the stone step there they are thicker und 
stronger. Here they come into blossom 
during the first or second week in May. iu 
richer land on the sunny outskirt of a shrub¬ 
bery bed in the garden they thrive finely, 
spread rapidly and come into bloom some 
eight or ten days later than those do around 
the house wall. On hard, dry ground under 
some Hemlock Sprue es there is another lot, 
and they seem to do well also, but on account 
of greater starvation and more shade than in 
either of the other cases, they do not bloom 
so finely or so numerously. Once established, 
Lily of the-Valley is not easily removed ; so 
long as a piece of root is left in the ground, 
so long, the next Summer, you may expect to 
find a plant. We remember seeing some very 
fine Lily-of-the-Valley grow ing along the line 
of an old stump fence in Maine! where the 
great tree roots had mostly rotted into the 
earth; there the Lily-of the-Valley and the 
Bunchberry and the creeping Winter-green 
grew up together. We plucked the lilies for 
their fragrant flowers, and the young tips of 
the Winter-greens for their aromatic taste, 
but the little cornel flowers, being neither 
good to eat nor smell, were with indifference 
let alone untouched. 
There are several varieties of the Lily-of-the- 
Valley, some with larger bells and longer 
spikes than the typical form ; some wdlh pur¬ 
ple or rose-colored flowers ; others with 
double flow ers, white and also purple ; and 
there are varieties whose leaves are streaked 
with yellow' and white. The American form 
is far less eonmon than the European one ; 
indeed, it is the latter that is altogether used 
in gardens here as abroad. But we have 
both forms, and find that the American is, 
if anything, of ranker habit than the Eu¬ 
ropean, but the latter has whiter (in their 
earlier-state) and more numerous blossoms. 
-- 
SNAPDRAGONS—Antirrhinum. 
WILLIAM FALCONER. 
The snapdragon of our gardens is too old 
and common a favorite throughout the tem¬ 
perate world to need an introduction, and as 
it grow's so easily and blooms so copiously and 
for so long a time—all Summer long—and has 
flowers of such a variety of color, from the 
purest white and brightest yellow to the deep¬ 
est maroon, some self-colored, others mot¬ 
tled, flaked and striped, it is likely ever to 
continue to be one of our stand-by Summer 
plants for garden decoration and bouquet 
work It is a native of Southern Europe, 
w'here it is found mostly on bleak, rocky ex¬ 
posures; but it has also escaped into better 
ground and is frequently naturalized through 
Central Europe, where it has escaped from 
gardens. In Europe, associated with wall 
flowers and house leeks, it is often met with on 
old walls, ruins and thatched roofs of houses. 
It belongs to the fig-wort family of plants, 
and is a near relative of Butter-aud-eggs, 
maurandia, calceolaria and some others as fa¬ 
miliar. Although a true perennial, it is best 
treated as an annual, or hiermiaL; that is, 
young plants are better than old ones. Seeds 
sown in Spring in a box or pot in the home, 
or in a cold-frame out-of doors, germin¬ 
ate freely and by timely thinning and 
transplanting grow to be good-blossoming 
plants by midsummer; seeds sown in Au¬ 
gust or September make nice little plants 
before Winter sets in, but they had bet¬ 
ter have the protection of a cold-frame or 
mulching in Winter. They will begin bloom¬ 
ing in May or June. Flowers of many colors 
are obtained from seedlings; so if you want 
your young snapdragons to he identical with 
their parents, you must propagate them from 
slips or cuttings which “strike” quite easily. 
In dry, sandy and gravelly soils the snap¬ 
dragon is usually quite hardy, but in w r et and 
clayey land it is not reliably so. 
Plant and Flower of Snapdragon. 
Fig. 23. 
There is a new strain of snapdragons dwarf- 
er in habit than the old form, and in that way 
an improvement on it. So fine are some of 
the older snapdragons that European florists 
name and perpetuate them as they do garden 
phloxes or l’us' hias. 
Besides the common snapdragon (Antirrhi¬ 
num majus), another species called ru pest re, 
is common in cultivation. It is smaller iu aLl 
its parts and duller in color than the old spe¬ 
cies; but it grows so bushy and blooms so 
freely it is much used for bloomingin hanging 
pots or brackets in Winter, and for out-door 
rock-work in Summer. A. Asarina is another 
dwarf species; it is of creeping habit, with 
wooly leaves and yellowish (lowers, pretty 
for rock-work, but barely hardy. It is not 
showy enough for general use. A. speciosunn 
formerly called Gambelia speciosa, is a tender, 
shrubby-herbaceous species from the Islands 
of Catalina and Guadaloupe. It is a “new” 
plant to cultivation, has terminal racemes of 
brilliant scarlet flowers, and would be a desir¬ 
able subject were it free-blooming enough, 
but so far it is not. Prof. Meehan hds a col¬ 
ored illustration of it in his Native Flowers 
and Ferns of the United States, the plant 
there represented being the first thut bloomed 
in the country and only a sorry apology for 
the lovely racemes that its children have borne 
since then. 
One year I grew these four species side by 
side in a bed, saved seeds from them and raised 
therefrom a lot of young plants for next sea¬ 
son. Asarinaand speciosuni maintained their 
MARKET GARDENING. 
The Remarkable Growth of this Indus¬ 
try Around Mobile, Alabama. 
MESSRS. HOLMES AND SWEETLAND. 
[Special Correspondents of the Rural Nkw-Yorkrr.] 
While my associate, Mr. Holmes, is en¬ 
gaged in his duties in the Northwest, weath¬ 
ering the cold and rigorous Winters of that 
section, I am making close research in the 
more sunny climes of Mississippi and Alaba¬ 
ma., to give your many thousand readers some 
ideas of the active agricultural pursuits and 
of the character and adaptability of the soil. 
My attention was attracted while in Mobile 
by the importance which market gardening 
was assuming in and around that section, and 
I visited several of the most important gar¬ 
dens to gain such information as I might. 
The establishment of this industry as a bus¬ 
iness is of comparatively recent date. At the 
beginning, some nine years ago, only a few 
early cabbages and beans were grown, and 
timid ventures of sending these hy express to 
the North were made. Even after paying the 
enormous express rates, these proved a re¬ 
munerative experiment. 
Very soon, however, the Mobile and Ohio 
Railroad, seeing what the possibilities of the 
trade might call for, made special efforts and 
gave special inducements to secure the trans¬ 
portation by freight, putting on fast trains 
and specially-constructed cars, and endeavor¬ 
ing as far as possible to insure the delivery of 
the products in a sound condition. Thus the 
traffic began, the shipments from this point 
being made principally to the cities of St. 
Louis, Cincinnati and Chicago. The bulk of 
the trade, however, has been iu the past to 
the two former cities, as there was a gap be¬ 
tween Columbus, Ky., and Cairo, Ill., in di¬ 
rect communication with Chicago. Now, 
however, that portion of the Mobile and Ohio 
Road has been completed: hence the connec¬ 
tion to Chicago is as direct as to the other 
cities, and the market better on account of its 
being in a more northern latitude. 
At this time, as nearly as can be approxi¬ 
mated, there are from 1,500 to 2,000 acres in 
cultivation for early vegetables between Mo¬ 
bile and Citronelle. Of course, much of the truck 
is marketed at home or along the Gulf coast; 
but two years ago the shipments brought 
over $240,000: while an idea of the develop¬ 
ment and continuous increase of shipments 
may be gleaned from the following statement 
kindly furnished me by Mr. A. L. Rives, the 
Vice-President and General-Manager of the 
Mobile and Ohio R. R. 
Cars of voKC-talUes forwarded by (be the M. & O. 
from Mobile b> Citronelle (I months) 1878 . 80 
Same 1H7!>... 1-52 
Same isw).....— 207 
The shipments of the month of May were 
by far the largest, being successively—36, 104, 
and 117 cars in 1878, 1879 and 1880. This, of 
course, is the time when the vegetables are in 
the best condition for shipment , and the North 
has none except such as are puny and forced 
by hot-house culture. The profits in ordinary 
seasons in this class of gardening here, are 
from $150 to $200 per acre, while the beauty 
of it is, as Captain W. H. Homer, one of the 
largest gardeners, says; “There is never a 
day in the year when you cannot plant some¬ 
thing adapted to the season.” 
How many market gardeners there are who 
do not know what is being done in the South 
in this industry. Even now there are abun¬ 
dant openings for experienced men of energy 
and vim in any locality south of Citronelle 
The Lily of-tre-Valley in a Copse.—(A fter William Robinson’s Wild Garden.) 1- • 
on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, the genera 1 
country having much the same character of 
soil. 
true specific character, but my majus and ru 
peetre seedlings were neither the one thing 
nor the other, but the most miserable lot of 
mongrels I ever saw. 
Among the many kinds of petunias those 
bearing flowers with green margins are inter¬ 
esting, not only as flowers, but to show how 
by selection and crossing, they may be 
changed into green leaves, as has several times 
occurred in the experience of the writer. 
In regard to the soil, it is an extremely 
sandy loam—so sandy, in fact, that the use of 
fertilizers is a necessity. It has principally a 
yellow clay - - • 'soil, is easily tilled, quick and 
warm. The vicinity of Mobile has never 
lacked for rain, and the precipitation, espe¬ 
cially during Winter (the growing months), is 
abundant. The more hardy vegetables are 
often planted in December and January, but 
most of the planting is done in February and 
March, after which there is no fear of frost. 
In regard to fertilizers, I find that the one 
most commonly used, which has been thor¬ 
oughly tested, is cotton-seed meal in connec¬ 
tion with stable manure. Peruvian guano is 
used, but the difficulty seems to be to get a 
good article at reasonable rates. Fish guano, 
shell marl and bone dust are also preferred by 
some. 
Captain Homer has been very successful 
with the fertilizer of George B. Forrester, 
New York, and he tells me that without any 
exception it has done good work. One pail he 
has found ample for a long row, and last year 
in the same field cabbage Eaiied utterly or 
partly where he used cotton-seed meal or 
bone dust, while it throve magnificently under 
Forrester’s fertilizer, having large, full heads 
—no failures. He is now experimenting in 
salting cabbage. 
There are some new cabbages being shipped 
now (December 15). but of course they are 
small and unformed. The principal vegeta¬ 
bles grown for sale are cabbages, potatoes, 
tomatoes, cucumbers, snap beans and peas. 
Many cucumbers and tomatoes are being 
forced under glass. Mr. Homer’s forcing de¬ 
partment is very large. He has orders now 
for 50,000 tomato plants for Pennsylvania. It 
has been the custom during many years for 
the earl}' potatoes consumed in the South to 
be grown there, but the Winter supply has 
been brought from the North and W est under 
the impression that the second crop would not 
turn out well; hut Mr. Riekaby and Mr. 
Smith (large gardeners) inform me that their 
second crop last Fall had a good start and 
turned out from 75 to 100 barrels to the acre. 
The Dunmore Seedling was the variety mostly 
planted. 
The advantages of this class of business can¬ 
not be over-estimated in the South, especially 
in this region, for almost the entire year may 
be termed a growing season, Thus the char¬ 
acter of the soil, and especially the equable 
climate, are such as to insure rapid and won¬ 
derful growth and early development. 
This Fall I find has been too warm here, 
bringing plants in and necessitating resetting 
earlier than is desirable. Of course, there are 
some drawbacks. This season there are a few 
complaints of the cue worm in cabbages; also 
of a small, green worm which attacks the 
buds; bub I never saw a finer field than Cap¬ 
tain Homer’s. Then there is a fear of some 
unheard-of prank of the weather bringing on 
frosts when not expected, but the excellent 
features outnumber Jthe bad ones; at least 
those who are in the business here do not seem 
anxious to better their lot unless by the acqui¬ 
sition of additional acres. 
The fact that gardeners here are able to get 
their vegetables into the city markets by 
freight, iu good condition and at moderate 
rates, before any grown North makes sales 
rapid and certain and prices high. One word 
about fertilizers and I close: I have found a 
statement from Professor Harper, the Missis¬ 
sippi State Geologist, which says: “ I have 
seen quantities of the eocene formation. The 
deposits of fine shell marl, which is entirely 
made up of disintegrated shells, underlie, as 
far as I am now able to judge, more than 
2,000 square miles in the State. They are 
from a few inches to more than 100 feet in 
thickness, and contain everywhere the finest 
tertiary fossils; nearly every outcrop 
abounds with them.” Thus, very near his 
own State, the agriculturist is provided with 
a fertilizer which has been proven one of the 
best in use, rendering the yielding qualities of 
the soil certain and permanent. 
I append a statement made by a prominent 
gardener: “ Investment for 90 acres, $2,000; 
fertilizer, $600; mules, 8250; implements, 
$50; labor, $400; total, $3,300. Returns first 
year—Cabbages, $1,500; potatoes, $1,000; 
Crab Grass (sold for hay), $900; total, $3,400.” 
This does not include a second crop of pota¬ 
toes, which can be easily raised. 
A whole history might be written on the 
adaptability of the soil and climate for small 
fruit, as well as for pears, peaches, oranges, 
apples, etc., and the profits of their culture, 
but I must leave that for the future. 
-- 
CATALOGUES, ETC. 
Report of the Michigan State Board of 
Agriculture for 1880. We have received 
from Secretary R. G. Baird the 19th annual 
report of the Michigan Board of Agriculture, 
and, like the preceding reports, it is a valua¬ 
ble addition to this class of agricultural litera¬ 
ture. It comprises 500 pages, a large portion 
of which is interesting to the fanning public 
in general, while that port devoted to the 
record of the proceedings of the State Agri¬ 
cultural Society will be of more particular 
interest to the inhabitants of the “Wolver¬ 
ine” State, and they are to be congratulated 
on having placed this department of the agri¬ 
cultural interests of their State in such able 
hands. The first 84 pages are devoted to the 
