322 
THE BUBAL NEW-YOBKEK. 
MAY 45 
^tailing for tljf gomtjj. 
BIRD SONGS. 
I n tbe old cherry tree by the garden gate 
A robiu sings sweetly, both early and late; 
Her nest is up high in the branches, and there 
Four nice little robins are waiting her care. 
With a worm in her mouth she flies to the tree, 
Aud oh, how they chirrup, their mother to see. 
The worm is divided, and, taking a rest, 
She sings them a song by tbe side of the nest, 
Ood made all the birds and tiiugbt them to sing, 
And fly through the air with light, rapid wing. 
They come ere the foiest with green leaves is gay K 
And warble their songB all the long summer day. 
Sophia C. Oaubktt. 
-♦ - 
TALK ON BOTANY-NO. 1. 
CKCf.K MARK. 
Last summer several articles on botany ap¬ 
peared In these columns for the benefit ot the 
cousins, and particularly for the members of the 
Horticultural Club, who are supposed to take a 
lively interest in everything concerning plants. 
During the winter these articles were Dot con¬ 
tinued, because to study this science to advantage, 
It should be pursued In the summer, when nature 
is every where giving Illust rations of the lessons, 
and •* specimens " for examination can easily be 
had. summer Is now again at hand, with all Its 
riches of vegetation open for our enjoyment, and, 
with the permission ot the cousins, we will again 
take up the botany lessons. My little nieces and 
nephews will lind It a highly Interesting play to 
examine the wild flowers and plants that greet 
them on every hand; to learn their structure and 
habits; for It Is but play to those w ho Interest 
themselves In the matter. By early' giving their 
attention to this and similar studies, they will 
acquire habits ot observation, and become famil¬ 
iar with numerous facts that may be of untold 
value in alter life. But It la not only the youug 
folks who may profit by a knowledge of botany, 
the older folks, too, will find it greatly to their ad¬ 
vantage. Every farmer should be familiar with 
the stucture of the plants he cultivates, with their 
mode of fertilization, tlielr habits, etc. And even 
those who are not farmers and do not. in any way, 
make a business ot the cultivation of plants, will 
profit by a knowledge of botany. H will furnish 
material for thought and reflection, and open to 
the mind a world ot enjoyment, from w hich they 
are otherwise effectually shut out. It teaches one 
to “ Look through nature up to nature’s God.” 
The natural mode of propagation with most 
plants la by' seed. Of course, everybody knows 
what seed Is. There is not a cousin who, when 
the word seed is mentioned, does not immediate¬ 
ly form an Idea In the mind of some small grain to 
be sown In the ground and from which plants are 
expected to grow up. In a botanical sense a seed 
is always the product ot a flower, it is a very pe¬ 
culiar organism, and possesses singular powers of 
very great interest to the students. Thus the 
smallest seed, but little larger than a particle of 
dust, contains within its tiny' coats the power to 
germinate and develop into a plant with roots, 
stems, leaves and flowers, like the plant which pro¬ 
duced the seed. The giant oaks of our forests, which 
now so majestically' spread themselves and tower 
heavemvard, the very symbols of strength, were 
once small acorns, of which a boy might hold a 
dozeD In his hand; and the acorns that now drop 
from the lofty tops ot these Oaks may, it placed 
under favorable circumstances, develop into as 
sturdy trees as their* patents. The seed is thus a 
wonderful concentration of power and possibilities, 
and In the case of nuts, the future tree Is literally 
contained In a nutshell. 
But the seed not only has power to grow Into a 
plant; It has other peculiarities which can be dis¬ 
covered only as the plant develops. 'Lake, for in¬ 
stance, two peas; they may be exactly alike as far 
as any one can discover. They are precisely of 
the same form, color and size; you may cut them 
open and examine the cotyledons (seed leaves, or 
the first pair of leaves that appear when the seed 
begins to grow; and the embryo as closely as you 
please, and still you can discern no difference be¬ 
tween them. They are "as like as two peas," yet 
when planted one may grow five leet high while 
the other will only reach two feet m htght, and 
though planted at the same time, the latter may 
bear fruit two or three weeks before the former. 
In short, they' are of different varieties. But this 
could not be discovered in the peas. It Is the same 
way with multitudes of other ktuds ot seed. Jiall 
a dozen Pansy seeds may be alike: they may grow 
up, and still the plants ate alike, but. when the 
flowers appear the markings on these are qu'te 
different. What, these markings should be, we may 
assume with tolerable certainty, was already de¬ 
termined In the seed, but the most carelul exami¬ 
nation would fall to reveal It. (The coloring of 
flowers, however, is greatly Influenced by the kind 
of soil In which the plant grows, but not In the 
same degree with all plants.) itls this power of the 
seed to develop peculiarities and distinctions that 
exist only In its kind of plants thatls especially in¬ 
teresting and puzzling. We know It has this power, 
but Just why or how it Is brought about none can 
tell. 
A great deal may be said about the seed, its 
parts and their relation to each other, but It Is not 
my purpose to describe It here at present. Late? 
on, when we shall have become familiar with the 
general structure of plants, and horv they live and 
develop, we will again take up this Interesting 
subject. We will now begin with the germination, 
or beginning of growth, of the seed, and try to 
follow the plant as it develops till it lias run Its 
course, and we shall have studied IIs many inter¬ 
esting features. 
When a perfect seed is placed under favor¬ 
able conditions for growth, that Is, In a place 
where It can get the necessary amount of moist¬ 
ure and warmth, a start ling change at once sets 
In. The seed-coats begin to absorb moisture; the 
whole body swells Into larger dimensions; It can 
no longer he contained within Its narrow cover¬ 
ings, and finally, like a chick that bursts Its shell 
and struggles to get out, the enlarged embryo 
bursts the seed-coats and a tiny gerrn becomes 
visible. Then we say' that the seed Is sproutlug. 
It Is now no longer a dormant seed, it Is a living 
organism which has wants that must be supplied. 
These wants are as yet only warmth and moist¬ 
ure. The growing germ needs nourishment, but 
this It gets from stores within tbe seed; it Is 
not yet able to absorb nourishment from the 
ground. Any one of my nieces and nephews can 
easily follow tills Interesting process by watching 
the germination of a pea lu a short time the 
germ will extend Itself In two opposite directions, 
one part growing upward forming the stem, or 
ascending axis, of the plant, and the other, called 
the descending axis, growing downward, Into the 
ground, and forming the roots. 
This disposition ot the plants to grow In opposite 
directions Is marked from the start, and contin¬ 
ues through Its whole lire. *A.s soon as germination 
begins the stem end ot the embryo turns upward 
in search of light and free air, while the root end 
as porslsteutly avoids the light, and buries Itself 
deeper and deeper in the moist and nourishing 
bosom ol mother earth. This fact. I accidentally 
discovered while a boy. l had planted some horse- 
chestnuts lu my garden, and being anxious to 
have them grow they were often dug up to ascer¬ 
tain how they were progressing. At last 1 found 
that several of them had gemmated, hut the 
sprouts were all pointing Upward. This, 1 t hought 
was a mistake, as I had the Idea that the roots 
must be lormed first ; how else could the plant 
grow? Accordingly I turned them all round so 
that the germs pointed directly downwards, and I 
felt proud when 1 had made this correction, lor It 
would have been a dreadful mistake it the young 
chestnuts should form their root s In the air, or else 
have no roots. But how great was my surprise 
when three days later I again dug up the nuts ana 
found that the sprouts which 1 had so carefully 
turned were again pointing upward, having grown 
nearly three-quarters of the way round the nuts, 
while a. root end, which bad made Its appearance 
on each germ, was with equal zeal striving down¬ 
ward. l then concluded lo let them have their 
own way about It. 
It Is said above that, the nourishment needed by 
the young plant till It Is able to shift for Itself, 
Is taken from the seed. This nourishment con¬ 
sists, principally, of starch and Is either stored 
In the embryo Itself, that is, In the cotyledons, or 
around It. When It 13 stored In the cotyledons 
these become greatly thickened as may be seen in 
the germinating bean and to still better advan¬ 
tage lu the pea and horse-chestnut. When the 
nourishment for the young plant is stored around 
the embryo, the seed-leaves arc thin and get a 
green color as soon they are above ground. 
Two of the most Important divisions ot flower¬ 
ing plants are formed upon the number of seed- 
leaves found In the seed. One division has 
but one seed-leaf and is therefore called Mono- 
cotyledonous, that Is, one cotyledon. To this divi¬ 
sion belong all the grasses. Palms and Lilies. The 
other division has two seed-leaves and Is therefore 
called iJtcoiylrdouous, meaning two cotyledons. 
To this division belong our forest trees, the bean, 
pea, melon and a multitude of other plants. The 
pine trees have more than two cotyledons, and 
are called Polycotyiedonous, 
It will be interesting tor young botanists to 
watch the germination of their garden seeds, and 
learn which plants have one cotyledon and which 
have mure than one. Moreover, some plants raise 
their cotyledons above ground, like the bean and 
the meton, but. others keep their cotyledons below 
ground and only shoot up the young stems with 
leaves quite like all the succeeding ones that are 
formed on the plant. The pea is an example of 
this. It la easy to Insert the finger In the ground 
and lift the whole embryo plant Just as It peeps 
Into appearance, aud then examine It, carefully for 
all the parts that have been mentioned. Kind the 
ascending and the descending axis, aud the cotyle¬ 
dons; ascertain how many there are of the hitter, 
whether they are large or small, and It they remain 
In the ground or are raised on the ascending stem. 
Nothing Is more convincing or belter remembered 
than what one sees with his own eyes. 
1 could continue to apeak about the young plant 
much longer, but this talk Is already long enough, 
and we have got the plant I airly under way iroin 
the seed. In the next talk on botany we will fol¬ 
low the descending axis, learn about the develop¬ 
ment of the roots and examine some of the most 
important forms of these. 
LETTERS PROM THE COUSINS. 
Dear Uncle I want to write to you and thank 
you for the seeds which 1 received some time ago. I 
wrote you a letter some time since which very 
likely you did not receive, although It was directed 
to you. 1 think that some one else at the Kdkal 
office must, have seen and coveted It. Anyway I 
was a little surprised to find my poor letter in the 
place of honor at lire head of the reports from 
“Everywhere.” I am looking forward to consid¬ 
erable trouble with vermin this season, as they 
were so plentiful last year. It was necessary for 
me to examine my corn every day or two and 1 
kept my squashes free from bugs by scattering 
lime and wood ashes plentifully over them, but 
al ter 1 had tossed up my hat and crowed, I found 
that most of the'vinos were turning yellow, and 
1 was disgusted to find that numerous worms had 
got the inside track, by tunneling within the vines 
nearly their whole length. The best way to treat 
Smllax Is to take up the bulbs and keep them dry 
for a couple of months in the summer, and set them 
lu fresh earth In the fall. I will say nothing about 
the weather for fear of seeing my letter In • 1 Every¬ 
where,” otherwise I would write you three or four 
^sheets beside this, but perhaps It would be aa dry 
as many reports are. I believe the rest of what 
I have to write I will say next time. 
Suffolk Co., Mass. C. A. Butter worth. 
Dear Uncle Mark 1 received the seeds, and I 
am very thankful for them. It snowed here on 
Saturday night, the lTth ult., two inches deep In 
some places As I live In Colorado, which Is a dry 
country, we have to Irrigate, which Is a great- deal 
ot trouble, for sometimes the ditches overflow and 
flood the gardens a nd do a great deal of damage 
In one night. Last year we had a very handsome 
garden, but we had any amount of trouble; for 
once on a bright day some of the seeds In boxes 
were put out to get some air, and a shower came 
up, and as they were put under the edge of tbe 
roof so as not to burn up tn the sun, the rain 
dripped upon them and nearly ruined them. At 
another time we set the boxes in an unfinished 
room because It was cool aud moist there, and the 
rats are the top3 of some of the plants. We were 
sometimes almost discouraged, but when our 
beautiful Phlox and dear little J’anstes and all 
the rest bloomed all summer long, we felt well 
paid for our trouble. It will be so pleasant to 
think that so many of the cousins living so far 
apart, will have flowers alike next summer. 
Your affectionate niece, Mara* Netti e Blount. 
Larimer Co, Colorado. 
Uncle Mark -.—Many thanks for the seeds you 
sent me. I planted about half of my China Pink 
seed In the hot-bed and have between 30 and 40 
plants up and looking nicely. We have several 
kinds of plants in blossom now, among them, three 
varieties of double Petunia, Chinese Primrose, 
Heliotrope, Geraniums, Sweet Alyssum, and 
others. We have a Heliotrope raised from seed 
last spring, which Is five feet high, and is covered 
with buds and blossoms; the flrst bunch that blos¬ 
somed was seven Inches long and five Inches wide. 
My Callas, two yearn old last fall, had four bios 
soms last winter and has two this winter be¬ 
sides a bud that did not open because the 
plant was changed from a cool room Into a 
warmer one. We water It with hot soap suds. 
I warn, to tell the cousins how to treat Balsams: 
when they begin to branch out pinch off all but 
the main stem; the flowers are nicer and the seeds 
will be better, Emm a. hunt, 
Cuyahogo Co, O. 
Dear Uncle Mark:— I have read the cousins’ 
letters with much interest for some time, and 
thought l would like to be a member of the Hor¬ 
ticultural Club. Will you please put down my 
name on the list, l am very fond of Dowel's. My 
auntie and 1 take all the care of ours. We have 
not, as yet, a very large variety. 1 have to walk 
over a mile to schooL We have a most excellent 
teacher and a good attendance. I love to go to 
school, aud am getting along very fast in my 
studies. My eldest sister Is a musician, in vaca¬ 
tion I take music lessons; but when I am going to 
school 1 do not have time to do that, and attend to 
my studies too. Papa has not taken the Rural 
very long, but likes It very much. But 1 must 
close. Good-bye. With lots of love to the cousins, 
and also to yourself, I remain your affectionate 
friend. Winifred Stevens. 
Dorchester Co., Maryland. 
Uncle Mark and Memheus of toe Horticul¬ 
tural Clur:—I want to ask the same question 
that one or two others have asked: why don’t 
more of you write? Although this Is my first, 
if it Is not rejected I shall probably write again. 
Have any of you sent lor the system of short-hand 
writing advertised In tbe Rural? I have and am 
learning it as fast as I can. I had a strawberry 
bed last year, and did all the work and sold a few 
berries. I expect to have a good many this year. 
Well, I must close or Uncle Mark will not let me 
'In this time, or any other. I shall try my hand at 
grafting this spring. Your cousin, 
Factory Point, Vt. Wallace. 
Damns. 
BRIEFLETS. 
Earlt Amber Cane seed germinates freely, 
but grows very slowly for several weeks. It 
is not easily distinguished at this stage from 
grass, and it is of importance that tbe land 
should be kept clean_Plant Nasturtiums— 
beautiful as flowers or vines, useful for their 
leaves aud fruit aa salad aud piekles.... A beau¬ 
tiful sweet, of a most peculiar flavor, the Lon¬ 
don Farmer tells us, is-made for the dessert by 
candying tbe leaf stalk In a green stute of that 
most noble and ri|?lit regal herb, Angelica_ 
Have you ever tried SUver-IInll buckwheat? 
. . .Every garden should have a little patch of 
sweet and medicinal herbs, such as Angelica, 
Anise, Sweet Fennel, Rosemary, Rue, Hore- 
hound, Wormwood, Thyme, Sage, Caraway, 
Basil, Laveuder, Saffron, Marjoram, llyssojr, 
etc_RoseB need the richest soil—and it 
should be deep. Cow manure is excellent for 
them_A Minister of Agriculture la what the 
Loudon Farmer has askedfor, and maybe now 
expected as tbe first-fruits of the Liberals, as 
an overdue debt that will be paid to please aud 
conciliate the British agricultural interests.... 
The Mark Lane Express says that Mr. Thorn¬ 
ton has said some very plain thi'>gs to Short¬ 
horn breeders, boldly declaring that a pedi¬ 
gree Bhould be something more than a string 
of names, lie doeB not believe in a return to 
fancy prices. If fancy prices do not return, 
fancy breeding will soon become a thing of the 
past. The Mark Lane Express would hail 
such a result with great pleasure, not because 
it wishes to see the aristocracy tire of breed¬ 
ing Short-horns, but because they have bred 
them in an artificial manner to the detriment 
of the Short-horn breed of cattle. . . 
CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL EXPERI¬ 
MENT STATION. 
BULLETIN 41.— MAY 1, 1880. 
FETILIZER ANALTSES. 
385.—New York stable manure, sold by II. 
A. Peck, First Avenue cor. Thirty-eighth St., 
New York, sampled and sent March 30, by 
John H. Jennings, Greens Farms, from cargo 
purchased by him. 
Moisture. 69.295 
Organic Mutter*. 19-772 
Potash.633 
Soda.146 
Lillie.742 
MaKUcaia.288 
Oxide of Iron aud Alumina.554 
Phosphoric acid.670 
Chlorine-.lie 
Sulphuric acid.156 
Sand and Insoluble matter. 7.426 
Carbonic acid.209 
100.00 
* Containing-0.118 Ammonia anti 0.693 total Nitrogen- 
This has very nearly the same composition 
as the sample of New York stable manure ana¬ 
lyzed in 1873 for tbe Board of Agriculture; the 
results published in report of Board for that 
year, p. 350. This, however, contains about 
nine per cent, less of moisture and insoluble 
substances and the proportions of fertilizing 
matters are correspondingly greater. The coat 
of this article was six ceuts per “ bushel” of 
about 40 quarts. Mr. Jennings stales that sev¬ 
eral buudred small cargoes of 50 to 75 tons 
each are bought at Greens Farms every year. 
The cargoes are unloaded on the shore where 
wanted. 
804.—Cotton-seed meal, sold by Smith, 
Northam <fc Robinson, Hartford. Sampled 
and sent by R. E. Pinney, Suflield. 
305.—Strictly pure bone, sold by H. J. Baker 
& Co , New York. Sampled and sent by J. H. 
Jennings, Greens Farms. 
394 
395 
Nitrogen. 
Phosphoric Acid. 
Potash.. 
. 7.20 
4.08 
. 3.33 
. 2.11 
22.72 
Estimated value. 
.$37.95 
$43.62 
Coat. 
In 10 ton lots, t In New York ? 
.$25.00* 
$32.00t 
8. W. J OHN80N, Director. 
—- 
catalogues, etc., received. 
The Relations of Railroads to the Pub¬ 
lic. —This pamphlet of 18 pages is a statement 
on the above momentous subject, prepared by 
Mr. F. B. Thurber, of this city, in reply to in¬ 
quiries submitted to him by the Chief of the 
Bureau of Statistics, at Washington, I). C. Mr* 
Thurber has long been one of the moat persist¬ 
ent and strenuous opponents of the unfair and 
oppressive freigh discrimination practiced by 
railroads, aud in this work his views aud rea¬ 
sons therefor are forcibly aud succinctly ex¬ 
pressed. 
Fourteenth Annual Report of tbe North¬ 
western Dairymen’s Association, with ad¬ 
dresses aud discussions at the Annual meeting 
ill Harvard, Ill., Feb. 10, 11 and 13, 1880. This 
report, of 110 pages, contains a lurge fuud of 
information of interest aud great use to all en¬ 
gaged in any department of the dairy business. 
Copies can be obtained of R. P. McGlincy, Sec¬ 
retary, Elgiu, Ill., price 80 cents, including 
postage, and we urge every one of our readers 
interested in thiB industry to send for one. 
Transactions of the Nebraska State Board 
of Agriculture from Sept., 1870, to Sept., 1870. 
This volume, of 350 pages, contains in the first 
200 pages, a great deal of useful and instruc¬ 
tive information with regard to the agriculture 
of this vigorous young State, while the remain¬ 
ing 150 pages are devoted to its horticultural 
progress and advantages. Duniul H. Wheeler, 
See., Plattsmouth, Neb. 
Pork Packing at the West.— This pamph¬ 
let, of 33 pages, by CharleB B. Murray, Editor 
of the Cincinnati Price Current, presents a 
complete and reliable history of the pork-pack- 
ing operations at the West aud elsewhere in the 
United States for the year ending March 1st, 
1880, together wilh other facts Intimately con¬ 
nected with the business. 
Quarterly Report of the Chief of the Bu¬ 
reau of Statistics, Treasury Department, rela¬ 
tive to imports, exports, immigration and 
navigation, etc., of the United Stares for the 
three months eudiug June SO, 1879. Joseph 
Niinmo, Jr., Chief of Bureau. 
Proceedings of the New Jersey State 
Hort. Society at its annual meeting, held at 
New Brunswick, Jan. 15th and 10th. 1879, E. 
Williams, Recording See. 
Department of Agriculture Special Re¬ 
port—No. 23—upon the condition of crops aud 
live stock for April, 1880. 
Thirty-eighth Annual Report of the trans¬ 
actions of the Queens County (N. Y.) Agrieul- 
*ral Society for 1880. 
