THE BORA!. NEW-YORKER. 
leaves of young beets make the best of greens 
and the voting roots the most delicious of root 
vegetables...... 
Sow Chicory in drills the same as carrots. 
In the Pall, dry the roots, roast and grind for 
coffee..... 
Garlic. —The garlic may be called an in¬ 
spissated onion, which is not of itself a capti¬ 
vating quality. But there is a peculiarity 
about it that makes it of great value as used 
in cats ios. Worcestershire sauces or Ameri¬ 
can imitations thereof and in soups and the 
Dutch s yle of cookery. The roots or small 
bulbs are called “ cloves” of which there are 
a dozen enveloped in a white, papery, half¬ 
transparent skin. Plant the cloves or bulbs 
in April an inch or more deep in rows a foot 
apart and five inches apart in the row. Keep 
the soil mellow an 1 free from weeds The 
bulbs mav be harvested when the tops die.... 
Tim Ego Plant is very tender and should 
be started in the hot bed with tomatoes or in 
a sunny window. In transplanting, care 
should be taken that the plants be not chilled. 
They need a good garden soil and a sheltered 
situation. Set the plants in rows two 
feet apart each way. We have raised 
Egg Plants by sowing in the open ground the 
15th of May, though they did not amount to 
much. As to varieties, Long Purple and Early 
Dwarf Purple are the earliest, while New York 
Purple is the largest and perhaps the most 
productive... 
It is well to have a little plantation of Hor e 
Radish in an out-of-the way corner of the 
garden. If, however, it is worth raising at 
all, it is worth cultivating in foil which will 
produce tender roots, and such a soil must b > 
both mellow and fairly rich. M ike r,.ot cut¬ 
tings (or use crowns if preferred! four inches 
in length, plant and cover with two or three 
inches of soil. Half a dozen plants will suffice 
for a family, as they spread rapidly and of¬ 
ten become a nuisance. Its season of use in 
this climate is from early October till mid- 
Spring. Whenever the ground is unfrozen 
or not much frozen, the roots may be gathered 
—or they mav be pitted in late Fall. 
Many think that balsam seeds improve 
with age—that is. tb it old seeds will produce 
larger and more “double” flowers than fresh 
seeds. Thou h this is the general belief, we 
presume few have te ted the matter for them¬ 
selves, Nine years ago we saved seeds of a 
strain of balsam known as Smith’s Prize. 
Some of these were sown last Spring. The 
plants were rather more dwarf than those 
from fresh seeds and the flowers were perfect 
in form and as “double” as it is possible for 
balsam flowers to grow Still, the same may 
be said of most of the flowers of this strain 
grown from fresh seeds... 
We arc often asked what kinds of fowls we 
prefer. Well, here is the best answer we can 
make after having tried all of the well-known 
breeds : Plymouth Rocks, White and Brown 
Leghorns and Light Brahmas. 
It will scarcely be denied that the Lima is 
the best of all beans. In connection with 
its cultivation two mistakes are often made. 
The first Is in not setting the poles before the 
beans are planted ; the second, in not setting 
them so deep that they will withstand the 
power of Summer g ties when the vines cover 
them, The pales should be six feet lcng at 
least and firmly set not less than 18 inches 
deep, and be plac d four by two feet apart. 
Plant five beans around each pole and culti¬ 
vate often enough to keep the ground miliow 
and to destroy all weeds... 
Mr. Graham Bronson kindly points out 
that in our Querist Department, mistaken 
answers were given to several question, in our 
issue for Feb. 11, for which we are obliged to 
him. Four poun is of onion seed to the acre 
are ample with rows 14 inches apart, and the 
usual product of beaus to the acre will not 
exceed 30 bushels. We find that errors, in 
spite of our best efforts to prevent them, will 
creep into our columns and we are always 
thankful to have attention called to them in 
order that corrections may be made.......... 
Test your onion seeds by placing a little in 
moist sand, cotton or moss in a warmish room. 
If fresh, it will soon (in about three days) 
sprout. Onion seed should not be more than 
one year old and the difference in the crop 
from new an i old seed is such that all onion 
culturists should test their own seeds before 
sowing..................... 
Salsikx or Vegetab'e Oyster is one of the 
easiest crops to raise and every garden should 
have a row or so. Satisfy is excellent fried 
or boiled. If boiled, it should be scraped, cut 
in half-iueh pieces and thrown in water (made 
acid with a little vinegar) immediately, or the 
the pieces will turn a dark color. Boil for 
half an hour and add milk, salt, pepper and 
butter. Our readers should try this really 
delicious vegetable cooked as above. The 
culture is much tuethe same as that for pars¬ 
nips or carrots. Sow early in drills 1(1 .inches 
apart, and t hin out to four inches apart in the 
drill. It may remain in the ground all Winter 
an 1 will not be the worse for freezing. 
Mu. D. D. Cottom of Dayton, Onio, writes 
us as follows: 
In the Rural of Jan 39 I notice a cut and 
description of a tomato named “President 
Garfield” claimed to be “new?”. Well, from 
the description I think it is the same that has 
been grown in this city by an enthusiastic 
amateur for three or more years. Seeds of 
this kind cams from California and were 
called Califorinia Mammoth. It is a very 
late variety and positively mustbe trained on 
a trellis, for it grows seven to ten feet high. It 
is of extra quality and almost seedless. 
fieri ciilliirdl. 
EVENING PRIMROSES. 
(See pape 166 for Illustration.) 
•‘You Even I ni? Primroses, when day has fled, 
Open your pallid Ilowera, by dews and moonlight 
[fed” [ Carton. 
“The Evening Primrose shuns the day; 
Blossoms only to the Western star. 
And lores its solitary ruy." [Langhorne. 
A glance at the accompanying illustration 
will readily remind us of the Evening Prim¬ 
roses so common in our gardens in the summer 
time. These Evening Primroses are not 
primroses at all, they are known bolanically as 
CEnothera, and are nearly allied to the Clark 
ias—common garden annuals, and the fuchsias 
we cultivate iu our windows and greenhouses. 
True primrose are observable in ihe Chinese 
Primroses we gi uw in our houses for blooming 
in the winter tin and aL-o iu the polyanthu¬ 
ses of our garden in Spring; the cyclamen 
and Pimpernel likewise belong to the primrose 
family, bo that the difference between an 
Evening Primrose und a true primrose may 
be readily perceived. Evening Primroses 
mostly are natives of the United States and 
are most numerously represented west and 
southwest of the Mississippi. Some of them, 
as Bistorta VeiCobiana, a beautiful little 
flower from California, are annual; some, like 
Lamarck’s Eveuing Primrose—the one shown 
in our illustration—a strong-growing, showy 
kind from Texas, are bieunial; and many, as 
the Missouri Evening Primrose, the Lett and 
showiest of the group, are perennial. Some 
kinds, as riparia, glauea, frutieosa and line¬ 
aris, are herbaceous ufter the fashion of asters 
and golden rods, that is, they are perennial, 
grow in tufts, bear erect, branchy stems that 
are laden with flowers for weeks together, and 
die down to the ground in the Fail. Speciosa 
is a beautiful, white flowering, perennial &ort 
from Texas, of somewhat straggling liabit, 
copious and lasts in bloom all Summer long; 
towards Winter it dies down to the ground, 
but not in a tuft like frutieosa: its roots are 
thick and fleshy, like those of a bindweed, and 
spread all around uuder the ground. Triloba, 
the dandelion-leaved, and some others grow 
in bunches and are bright and pretty in early 
Summer but of little beauty lat*-r in the season. 
Drummondii is of bushy, branchy habit and 
very profuse; it is best treated as an annual. 
The very name of Evening Primrose suggests 
that the blossoms open iu the evening and 
shut up by day, and although this is strictly 
true in the case of most of the kinds of annual 
and bieunial nature, as well as speciosa, the 
Missouri, and some other of the perenuials; 
glauea, frutieosa, riparia, linearis, and others 
of that set keep opeu by day. The glowing 
brightness of the Evenmg Primroses together 
with the profusion of the long tubed, white- 
flowering tobaccos, the fragrance of the Even¬ 
ing Jessamines, and the large, white blossoms 
erf the Moon Flower (Ipomcea bona nox) add 
materially to the charms of a well-tilled garden 
in the eventide. Nearly all of the Evenmg 
Primroses have a mild, pleasant odor, and 
some of them, as marginata and coespitusa are 
quite fragrant. Tne prevailing color of the 
flowers is bright yellow and the blossoms of 
many of them are exceedingly large and 
showy, sometimes measuring, as in the case of 
the Missouri Evtning Primroses, us much as 
six inches across. But several bear white 
flowers, as speciosa, marginata and the dande¬ 
lion leaved, and these white flowers, oh they 
advance in age, assume a rosy-purple tinge. 
They all bear seeds freely and can be readily 
raised from the same. The herbaceous species, 
like frutieosa, can be increased by division of 
their crowns, and such sorts as speciosa, from 
pieces of their fleshy roots. Annuals and per¬ 
ennials usually blossom the first year from 
seed, but the true biennials, as biennis, Lamar¬ 
ck’s and the like, may not blossom the same 
year in which they are sown. There is nothing 
peculiar to iheir garden cultivation, ordinary 
garden soil and care and an open, sunny ex¬ 
posure apparently suit them perfectly well. 
A little Winter mulching is beneficial. The 
beautiiul annuals known as Godetia, and com¬ 
monly grown in our gardens in Summer, are 
now included in the same genus as the true 
Evenmg Primroses, so that what were lormely 
known as Godetias are now called QEuotheras. 
THE GREAT INSECT POWDER. 
The Persian Insect Powder, or Pyrethrum 
roseum, is, no doubt he coming insecticide. 
We have spoken favorably of it in these col¬ 
umns from time to time, and this week we 
present, at Fig. 83, an illustration of the 
flower of the Pyrethrum plant. At a and b 
are shown the flowers and upper leaves from 
plants grown at Washington, D. C.; at c, a 
leaf from flower stalk; at d, an involucre. 
We have had it in cultivation at the Rural 
Farm, but we do not know how it has stood 
the past Winter. We have used the powder 
upon the various insects which infest the 
vegetable gardens, finding it very effective. 
One great advantage which it has over Paris- 
green is that it is not poisonous to mankind. 
Last season we distributed a few small pack¬ 
ets, as long as they lasted, among our sub¬ 
scribers who applied for them, and in order 
that they and others may know how to pre¬ 
pare the plants for use and how to apply 
the powder to insects, we give below the 
salient points of the process. 
The flowers should be gathered during 
pleasant weather, just as they are about to 
open, or at the time when fertilization takes 
place, as at this time the insecticide qualities 
reach their highest development. The stalks 
may be cut, ground aud mixed with the 
flowers in proportion of one third of their 
weight. Great care must be takeu not to 
expose the flowers to moisture, or the rays 
of the sun, or still less to artificial heat. They 
should be dried under cover and hermetical¬ 
ly closed up in sacks or other vessels to pre¬ 
vent untimely pulverization. The finer the 
fl nver-heads are pulverized the more effectu¬ 
ally the powder acts and the more econom¬ 
ical is its use. For his own use the farmer 
can pulverize small quantities by the sim¬ 
ple method of pounding the flowers in a 
mortar. It is necessary that the m Ttar be 
closed, and a piece of leather through which 
i he pentle moves, such as is generally used 
in pulverizing pharmaceutic eubstances in a 
laboratory, will answer. The quantity to be 
pulverized should not exceed one pound at a 
time, thus avoiding too high a degree of 
heat, which would be injurious to the quality 
of the powder. The pulverization being 
deemed sufficient, the substance is sifted 
through a silk sieve, and then the remainder, 
with a new addition of flowers, is put in the 
mortar and pulverized again. The best ves¬ 
sels for' keeping the powder are fruit jars 
with natent covers, or any other perfectly 
tight glass vessel, or tin box. 
The effect of this insecticide is not the same 
on all species of insects. Hairy caterpillars 
and spiders resist its action most effectually, 
while the Hyineuoptera, for instance, suc¬ 
cumb at once. Pyrethrum does not kill in¬ 
stantaneously, the period before death vary¬ 
ing from several hours to, sometimes, three 
days. 
Pyrethrum can be used as a dry powder, as 
a fume, as an alcoholic extract diluted, as a 
tea or decoction, or by 6imply stirring the 
powder in water. As a powder the poison 
may be applied with bellows, with a sieve, 
or by hand sow ing, which is generally more 
effectual, as all parts of a plant can thus be 
reached, while with a sieve they cannot. 
Fumigation is impracticable on a large scale 
in the fleid, but for insects which infest furs, 
feathers, or for flies and mosquitoes, the fumes 
of the burning powder are effectual. It burns 
freely, but it can be made to burn slowly by 
molding the powder, after being dampened a 
little, into cones. The fumes affect all in¬ 
sects, but m -st quickly those whose structure 
is soft and delicate. 
Probably the simplest, most effectual and 
most economical method is to dissolve the 
powder in water and “spray” it upon the 
plants. On dissolving, the powder at once 
imparts the poisonous qualities. While the 
powder is as costly as at pres« nt it is well to 
apply the liquid in as fine a spray as possible. 
Two hundred grains stirred up in two gallons 
of water are amply sufficient to kill cotton- 
worms, except those fully grown, perhaps, 
while 25 grains in two quirts of water make 
the solution strong enough to kill young cob- 
ton-worms. The solution is best when flirt 
made; it loses its power the longer it is kept. 
This leads us to notice briefly the most seri¬ 
ous disadvantages of this insecticide, which 
are serious now that the powder is so dear. 
The action of the powder is not permanent in 
the opeu air. If applied to a plant, it affects 
the insects on that plant with which it comes 
in contact, but it is perfectly harmless to those 
which come upon it a half hour, or even lees, 
afterwards. Moreover, it must come in con¬ 
tact with the insects or it has no effect. Ap¬ 
ple d to the upper surface of a leaf, an insect 
on the lower surface will not be harmed, and 
it has no effect on insect eggs or on pup® that 
are at all hardened or protected. The first of 
these objections will,of Course, be largely over¬ 
come when the plant is more commonly culti¬ 
vated and its cost made less. We are indebted 
to the Commissioner of Agriculture fora circu¬ 
lar respecting Pyrethrum, from which some 
of the above notes have been taken, aud from 
which our , ngraving has been drawn. 
s. PARSONS, JR. 
(See page 167 for Illustrations.) 
It is a fact not to be disputed that., to a very 
considerable extent, farmers neglect the im¬ 
provement of their home grounds and door- 
yards, and also that they neglect them even 
more than people who dwell in towns or their 
suburbs. American farmers are an intelligent 
people who read books, venture on interior 
decorations in the way of mildly ®-thetic 
wall paper and furniture, but for some reason 
they don’t indulge much in lawn planting- 
Must we attribute their aesthetic movement 
indoors entirely to the efforts of the fair sex; 
and the neglect of the door-yard to the fact 
that the heavy work of planting and cultivat 
ing trees and shrut« must be usually done by 
the men folks, who, as a rule, object both to 
the trouble and expense? 
Now this condition of things seems very 
strange when we consider that American 
farmers are celebrated for intelligence, and 
are, as a class, quite as able to appreciate and 
desire to possess a lovely object, whether it be 
book or picture, as their cousins in England; 
and yet in England rho odendions and 
laurels and aucubasand wonderful ro-ebushes 
aud chrysanthemums grace the door-yards of 
very humble w'ork people. I know planting, 
like everything else, is largely a matter of 
fashion, and that as yet planting has not be¬ 
come the fashion in America except in so far 
as one can persuade himself to cousider 
the setting out of hideous little beds of 
coleuses or geraniums huddled alongside the 
porch entitled to the name of fashionable. 
But I believe some misunderstanding must 
exist fashion or no fashion, or how can we 
account for intelligent fanners’ failure to 
secure the charms of woodland, glude and 
meadow directly before their door steps. In 
fact, I believe this misunderstanding is based 
on actual ignorance of a subject that farmers 
have never roused themselves sufficiently to 
study as they ought, because the very fact 
that they have always worked themselves 
among plants of one kind or another has 
deluded them into the notion that they were 
already tolerably well informed on the matter 
in question. Hence, probably, the fact that 
wily tree agents, with their extraordinary 
colored plates, Feap such specially rich har¬ 
vests in our farming communities. To tell 
the truth, I don’t believe many farmers at all 
realize the fact that 40 or .50 trees and shrubs, 
worth 25 cents to 75 cents each, will suffice to 
make a really lovely lawn quite equal to the 
somewhat imposing grounds of our illustra¬ 
tion (see p. 107) In their minds as a rule, a 
lawn means an expensive artiflcallv leveled 
surface dotted all over with trees of but two 
or three kinds bought probably at the front 
door of a tree peddler. If you refer the aver¬ 
age farmer to neighbor Smith's yard planted 
in this way, that now after ten years has 
grown up into a decidely unattractive forest, 
he says, “ Yes, just look at it, you couldn’t 
pasture a cow in it, and certainly you wouldn’t 
want to have anything to do with trees if 
that is the result.” He may go even farther 
and point out another place where most of 
the trees, chiefly Arbor-Vitaw and stiff Nor¬ 
way Spruces have died in setting out, 
leaving a poor remainder of forlorn, neglected 
specimens as an additional pioof that the 
whole business of planting a door-yard or 
lawn is a nuisance, unless one can afford to 
give plenty of time and money to the 
work. Plenty of time and money doubt¬ 
less can be spent to great advantage 
on any lawn; but It can be easily shjwn 
that a really elegant and imposing lawn can 
be had with little labor and expens . Let the 
farmer, if he has not already a tolerably level 
greeasward about his door—tep, take a few 
spare hours in the Fall—best iu September— 
when there is always more leisure than in 
Spring, and simply plow up his house grounds, 
filling up the worst holes a little with his 
harrow. The long swells and irregularities 
left after harrowing, provided the plowing is 
done by going around the plot and filling up 
the one back furrow with the help of a little 
shoveling, will make a far better and more 
picturesque effect than the most perfect of 
dead levals. I believe a lawn maker should 
abhor a dead level and a straight line.as much 
as nature abhors a vacuum. The turf itself, 
as every farmer knows, can be easily made 
rich and permanent on fertile soil by a liberal 
sow ing of Red Top or Kentucky Blue Grass 
instead of the usual Timothy and Red Clover. 
On such a lawn cows can be tethered and 
sheep allowed to range without harm to any¬ 
thing. This will be especially the case if 
sound lawn planting principles are acted on, 
principles that mav be comprised in these few 
words, namely: Keep broad, open spaces of 
lawn: plant—deciduous trees in Fall or Spring 
and evergreens only in Spring,—on curves of 
