307 
MAY S 
The White Providence is also an excellent 
variety and has the thinnest hull of any oat I 
know of. F. K. M. can not go wrong by sow¬ 
ing the White Belgian or White Russian 
either, but the first named is decidedly pref¬ 
erable with me. Robert Bell, Jr. 
Ontario, Canada. 
THE PRESENT PRICE OF WHEAT NOT 
UNDULY HIGH. 
I believe the facts in regard to the great 
shortage of the wheat crop of 1881 have raised 
the price of wheat. It has averaged *1.28 in 
Chicago for “ cash No. 2 Spring” ever since 
July 1st, when the facts of the great shortage 
began to be believed. Whether the same 
grades of wheat are above the real foreign 
price is an open question. The English papers 
have much to say of the East India wheat and 
of supplies from other non-American sources; 
but the Millers’ Journals reveal the fact that 
it is very inferior. They speak of "clay pel¬ 
lets in this wheat almost as hard as stone" 
which injure both the mill stones or rollers, 
and the flour; and of the absolute need of in¬ 
venting some new device to take out these 
pellets. Our supply of good No. 3 wheat is 
exceedingly short, and if the English and 
French expect to buy it at rates to compare 
with those of low-grade India wheat they are 
mistaken. The fact that ocean ships and 
steamers are offering a premium for wheat 
"as ballast,” shows that our stock for export 
is very short, and that Europe wants more 
than it can get. Our stock may prove so light 
that foreign demand will cease to fix the home 
price, as in the case of potatoes and apples 
now. Wheat is lower here now comparative¬ 
ly than any other kind of food. Apples and 
potatoes are $1.50 per bushel. Prime cuts of 
beef are higher in our cities than for ten or 
fifteen years. Corn is higher in proportion 
to wheat than for many years, and even oats, 
of which the crop was large, have sympathized 
with corn and got above the relative price of 
wheat. All vegetables are higher than wheat 
in proportion, and the poor cannot fall back on 
palt pork, for it is higher, nor the rich on fresh 
beef or mutton or veal or fancy meats or veg¬ 
etables, for they are all higher. In point of 
fact, wheat is now really the cheapest article 
of human food in the United States, and Nos. 
3 and 4 wheat are about as cheap to feed 
to stock as either corn or oats. I cannot see 
that wheat has an “ unduly high figure.” As 
for “ speculative flurries” the average month¬ 
ly prices in Chicago since harvest have suffered 
less fluctuation than for any corresponding 
period for 15 years, as the complete tables of 
daily prices for that period now before me 
show. The month of February was the only 
apparent exception. 
In my opinion good No. 3, wheat is not above 
the facts and if it declines materially before 
July it will be in spite of and not because of 
these facts. W. I. Chamberlain. 
Columbus, Ohio. 
GARDEN TALKS.—NO. 3. 
WALDO F. BROWN. 
I had settled down quietly to read The Ru¬ 
ral one rainy morning, when there was a 
knock at my study door, aud on opening it I 
found the Squire accompanied by a prepos¬ 
sessing-looking young man whom he intro¬ 
duced as his nephew Frank. 
“ This boy is to be married soon” said the 
Squire, “ and he has but $1000 besides his 
team and a few tools, and he wants to ask 
your advice about going into the gardening 
business, and now 1 will try and keep still and 
let him do the talking.” 
“ Suppose you tell me what you propose to 
do,” 1 said, addressing Frank. 
“ I shall bo glad to do so and I want you to 
advise me as you would a son,” he answered. 
‘•Go on and tell me your plans, and I will 
advise you as well as I know how,” 
“ The Squire has told you what my means 
are, but I may add that I have good health, 
and am not afraid to work, and (with a blush) 
my wife will do her part.” 
“ Good so far, go on!” 
" I am offered thirty ncres of land for $30 
an acre, near a village of 2,000 inhabitants, 
and I would like very much to buy it, but I 
huve a horror of debt, and feel that I need 
some advice.” 
“ Have you any experience in gardening ?” 
I asked. 
“ Not a great deal, but I have a taste for it 
and can learu. 1 want to get my business in 
such shape that I can be kept profitably em¬ 
ployed Summer and Winter.” 
“ What is the character of the soil on the 
farm you speak of ?” 
“ It is a clay, with limestone foundation, 
but there is on one side a strip of warm creek 
bottom sheltered on the north, and naturally 
underdrained and yet high enough so that it 
is never overflowed. This will be a good place 
for an early garden and for hot-beds, and 
there is a spring upon the hillside which will 
furnish water for irrigation.” 
: Are there any buildings on the land *” 
1 Yes; not what we would like, but we can 
get along with them for some years.” 
“What chance have you to get manure ?” I 
asked. 
The very best; there are several livery 
stables in town, and the road is good, so that 
I can draw it out even in wet weather, and it 
can be bought cheap.” 
One question more—are there schools or 
manufactories in the town, so that there are 
boarding houses to supply and a class of 
workingmen to be fed ?” 
“Yes, I think there is a good chance for 
marketing, for the population of the village 
is largely made up of non-producers. Now, 
what had I better do i” 
“ I have no hesitation in advising you to 
make the purchase, and if you are industrious 
and prudent and keep your health, there is no 
doubt that you will succeed, and your prop¬ 
erty will be likely to double in value in ten 
years. I would advise yon to pay only $300 
down, so as to have $400 cash capital to begin 
with. I would invest the most of this money 
in good milch cows, and begin a system of 
dairying and truck farming. I would not 
attempt, at first, to go iuto hot-bed gardening 
or to attend to marketing all the season; but 
begin with a few standard articles and then 
increase as you gain experience and find out 
what your soil will produce to the best ad¬ 
vantage, and what suits your market. At 
first you will pasture your cows perhaps, but 
as you need more land it will pay you to adopt 
a system of partial soiling, so as to keep your 
cows in the stable most of the 24 hours and 
save their manure. 
I would begin with sweet corn, tomatoes, 
Irish and sweet potatoes, Lima Beans, Nutmeg 
Muskraelons, pickles, cabbage and turnips— 
for the leading crops. 1 would grow not les 8 
than two acres of the corn, one half an early 
variety planted on your warmest land quite 
early, and the other one of the large varieties, 
either Stowell Evergreen, or Mammoth Sweet, 
planted about June 20th. I would put in from 
three to five acres of Irish potatoes, from a 
fourth to a half acre of sweet potatoes, an 
eighth of an acre of Lima Beans, and about 
one-half acre each of Nutmeg Melons and 
cucumbers for pickles. The turnips you can 
grow among the melons and cucumbers, and 
you can grow a fine lot of pumpkins for the 
cows on the acre where the early sweet corn 
grew.” 
“Are these all the crops you would have 
me grow?” asked Frank. 
No, I would advise you to experiment 
with others on a small scale. I would begin 
with early peas, onions, beets both for table 
and stock, Hubbard Squashes, and would also 
make a start with strawberries the first season. 
Keep a daily record of planting and market¬ 
ing, and also an account of the expense and 
income for each crop. It will be invaluable 
to you in the future. Whenever you find a 
crop that pays well, stick to it, and push it all 
that it will bear. If you can market profit¬ 
ably more than I have recommended of any 
pat ticular thing, increase it.” 
“ How shall I find customers for the vege¬ 
tables when they are grown—shall I sell them 
at the groceries?" 
“I would not advise you to do so; there will 
be too much expense and loss to you, and then 
many of your customers wifi get stale vege¬ 
tables. You ought to supply families diree tly 
and the best way to do this is to deliver the 
vegetables at their houses. It will be a little 
awkward at first, but you will soon get a 
route established and your customers will 
expect you and will often give you their 
orders in advance. Be sure to always give 
good measure, never put the best ou top, and 
be obliging. In short, cairy out the principle 
of the Golden Rule.” 
“ Why do you recommend the dairy business 
in connection with it ?” asked Frank. 
“ For several reasons. You will need a lit¬ 
tle income from the start which your cows 
will give you. Then you cannot occupy all 
your land in gardening for some time; your 
cows will furnish considerable manure, and 
the waste of the garden will help to keep 
them. It may be that in a few years you will 
have capital and experience so that you will 
want to cultivate all your land and dispense 
with the dairy part; but for the present I 
think it best to advise the two.” 
“ Well, Frank, do you think you can make 
it j” asked the Squire, as I finished speaking. 
“Yes, I believed so before; but my plans 
were not definite, but I begin to feel now as 
though I knew how to begin.” 
“It is time to go,”said the Squire, and they 
both bade mo good morning. 
I like the stuff Frank seems to be made of, 
and if I live ten years I expect to see him a 
successful business man with his property paid 
. for eTid greatly ipiproved. I shall keep an 
eye on him and give him the benefit of my 
own experience occasionally. 
The Editor, (page 122), alluding to the Por- 
tulaca, asks, “ Has Horticola ever observed 
that the colorof the flower as well as its varie¬ 
gation (when striped), can be determined 
quite accurately by the color, striations, etc,, 
of the stems of the plant?” In selecting 
plants from self-sown seed I have observed 
this association of color, and made use of it, 
but in the variegation the editor is in advance 
of me. I must thank him for calling atten¬ 
tion to this interesting fact, as will doubtless 
many of the readers of the Rural. And 
now if we could only tell the double flowers 
in a similar way, what a blessing it would 
sometimes be. 
[As Horticola knows, they can be deter¬ 
mined by the shape of the bud as easily as 
those of a pelargonium.—E ds ] 
I am indebted to my old friend, Mr. Wilder, 
for a copy of what might be called a mono¬ 
graph of the “ Rise and Progress of Horti¬ 
culture in Boston and its Vicinity.” Like 
every thing ho does, it is brimful of interest 
and information, and is a valuable contribu¬ 
tion to the history of horticulture in one of 
its greatest strongholds in this country, and 
this, too, by a man who has entered his eighty- 
fourth year. It would really seem as if the 
mantle of youth had fallen on his shoulders, 
and long may he yet live to wear it. 
In what respect does the Gen. Garfield dif¬ 
fer from the original Feejee Island Tomato ? 
As to its size or weight, specimens of the Fee¬ 
jee weighing two and three pounds each were 
exhibited in New York city thirty years ago 
or more; but they were great coarse, ribbed, 
warty things, just like the portrait of the 
Gen. Garfield in the Rural. Next came 
Lester’s Perfected, which was only the Feejee 
toned down a little. We hardly want to go 
backward so many years in the march of im¬ 
provement. What would really be acceptable 
would be a tomato as good as the Acme and 
two or three weeks earlier, if only half the 
size, but no more so called Gems. 
Horticola. 
--— 
RAYS. 
The Briar Rose (Rubus roiaefolius) was at 
one time quite a popular plant, especially as a 
winter-blooming room plant; but it seems to 
have faded mostly out of sight, except among 
old-fashioned people, who love things for what 
they are. I have grown it for many years, 
and have it in bloom now, and its pure, white, 
double flowers are very pretty. It will sur¬ 
vive a mild Winter around New York, but I 
have usually found it necessary to cover it 
with leaves or litter, and not always with suc¬ 
cess. It is chiefly valuable, however, as a 
winter-blooming plant, and should therefore 
be grown in pots. Every two years, or even 
annually, it should be shaken out of the pot 
in the Spring, and divided. Young plants 
bloom better than old ones. It is subject to 
red spider, and should be frequently syringed. 
In other respects it is an easy plant to grow, 
and does best in a moderately low tempera¬ 
ture. This is the plant land not a true rose) 
about which a lady correspondent asked for 
information some time back, in the Rural. 
I meant to allude to it at the time, but it 
slipped my memory. Seeing the plant in 
flower has brought the subject back again. 
This may meet the lady's eye now, and will 
give her the information she sought, and per¬ 
haps be useful to others. 
I quite agree with Mr. Farnell that the 
Epipbyllum truncatum is very pretty worked 
on the Pereskia, and have so stated; but I am 
not going to let him be misled and go over to 
the enemy because a florist in New Jersey 
says it is “ worthless" on its own roots. From 
my knowledge of the gentleman who makes 
the assertion, I am very much inclined to 
think that ne made it thoughtlessly. I have 
growu Epiphyllums for more than forty 
years, and I can truthfully say that the finest 
and most satisfactory plants I have ever 
gTown have been on their own roots. The 
finest that I have now are so grown, and 
there is always a flower wherever there is a 
place for a flower to grow; and I fully believe 
that nearly every person of good taste will 
say that those grown in Nature’s own way 
are the most beautiful and graceful even 
when out of bloom ; for graceful they cer¬ 
tainly are when pendent from one to two feet 
on all sides of the pot. I am going to let Mr. 
Parnell judge of this matter for himself. 
When the weather gets warmer I will send 
him a plant started as it onght to be grown, 
and will only ask him to let it have its own 
way, with plenty of room to droop at its 
pleasure, and not to let it dry up. To the 
reader I would say, buy the Epiphyllum 
worked preferably on the Pereskia if yon buy 
it worked, but do not be afraid of buying it 
on its own roots. I believe that more Epi- 
phyliums die for want of water than from an 
excess of it, though many will probably not 
agree with me on this point ; but there are 
many mistakes made in growing this plant. 
That is a very good portrait of the Dodder 
on page 121. Last Summer it was more 
abundant than I baye known it for many 
years. I saw streams of water eight to ten 
feet wide which the Dodder had completely 
bridged over. Wl at an odd-looking thing it is 1 
Speaking- with friend Hardey (of the firm 
of Thayer & Co., the Laboratories, Cam- 
bridgeport, Mass,) the other day about insect 
powder, he told me that last year they con¬ 
verted some three tons of the blossoms of Py- 
rethrum cineraritefolium into Dalmatian In¬ 
sect Powder, and most powerful stuff it is. 
Last year Mr. Allan, an ex-mayor of Key 
West who has a farm-garden in Southern 
Florida, wrote to him for somethi ng that would 
destroy or reduce the insect pests that so rav¬ 
aged bis garden vegetables, and was supplied 
with some of this Dalmatian Insect Powder. 
During an extended trip in Florida the past 
Winter, Mr. Hardey visited him and beheld 
the finest patch of egg plants he had ever seen, 
the plants having from 12 to 18 fruits apiece. 
These fruits were in all stages of growth, from 
the fading blossom to the fully swelled egg, 
and the plants were perfectly healthy, and 
free from any insect damages. Mr. Allan at¬ 
tributed the exceptional thrift of his plants 
to their immunity from insects, and this to the 
use of the Dalmatian Powder. He applies 
the powder by shaking it over them from a 
tin can, perforated at the end like a pepper 
box; but Mr. Hardey says that it may be 
more thoroughly and economically applied by 
means of bellows. Last year this powder at 
wholesale cost 40 cents a pound; this year it 
may be a little cheaper, because last season’s 
crop of blossoms was heavier than the previ¬ 
ous year’s. 
* * 
Mr Hardey also tells me that the Dalma¬ 
tian Insect Powder is an excellent thing to 
rid houses of mosquitoes and flies. Some peo¬ 
ple dust it about the window sills and on the 
table, but he says the quickest way is to 
dust a little of the powder on a hot shovel or 
on the stove, and the flies leave your house 
very quickly, by death or escape. 
* * 
Mr. Hardey haB also prepared from the 
flowers of the Pyrethrum a tincture which he 
thinks may be serviceable in cases where the 
powder is impracticable, but on account of the 
alcohol it must be diluted if used as an insect¬ 
icide on plants. Ha made but a little, and 
that by way of experiment, and for bis own 
use; he meant to have taken it to Florida to 
rub on his skin to keep the mosquitoes away, 
but like many another good boy, he went 
away and forgot it. He is to let me have 
some to try on my plants, when I hope to re¬ 
port results in future. 
* * 
As Mr. Parnell and Horticola have had 
something to say about Poinsettias, I want 
to, too. The common Poinsettia is an ex¬ 
ceedingly decorative plant in warm green¬ 
houses during the early part of the Winter; 
the double Poinsettia forms a succession. The 
White Poinsettia is not white enough for my 
liking. As window plants, under exceptional 
circumstances, Poinsettias may prove satis¬ 
factory; but as general window plants I 
should say they are useless. But what glo¬ 
rious out-door shrubs they are in Southern 
Florida and the West Indies, where in De¬ 
cember to January they are a blazing mass. 
Did any of you ever raise Poinsettias from 
seed ? I have, but I never could get seedling 
plants to form good heads of bracts. Seeds 
germinate readily and the seedlings make 
good blooming plants within a year. 
* * 
Some of my Spring bulbs are up and others 
appearing, and again I am convinced that the 
annual mulching of leaves, straw or rank lit¬ 
ter over beds of jonquils, tulips, hyacinths 
and the like, is worse than useless. Before 
the frost has left us these early-starting plants 
begin to grow up through the mulching, 
which, on being removed, leaves the bleached 
sprouts an easy prey to drying sunshine and 
searing winds. My own plan in the case of 
accepted hardy bulbous plants, is to clean 
and open the ground about them in the Fall, 
and then apply a mulching of well rotted 
manure which I mean is to stay there perma¬ 
nently. The sprouts come up in Spring 
through the manure as through the earth ; 
the manure nourishes them and in Summer 
acts as a mulching to keep the ground cool, 
moist and open through the season. 
