327 
MAY 22 THE BUBAL J4EW-Y0BKEB. 
largest growers of root crops for stock feeding 
in the United States. In one respect his appli¬ 
cation of fertilizers is different from any we 
have heard of in our country. Before planting, 
he manures the land well with stable dung, then 
when the crop gets three to four inches high, 
he mixes 100 pounds of blood guano wirh 200 
pounds of fine bone dust aud 400 pouuds of 
coarse salt, and spreads this amount of mix¬ 
ture, broadcast, per acre. The salt is refuse, 
and costs only $3 per ton in New York City. 
After spreading the above compost, it is plowed 
in lightly with a horse cultivator running be¬ 
tween the rows of roots. Mr. Crnzier learned 
this method in Scotland. One would suppose 
as his farm is oniy a few miles from the ocean, 
salt would be of little benefit, but he finds it 
not only good for roots but also for wheat. 
Jjloritidtitral. 
GARDEN FLOWERS IN MAY. 
WILLIAM FALCONER. 
The wealth of blossoms everywhere appar¬ 
ent during the month of May. is far too great 
for reference in one article ; heuce I will con¬ 
fine mvEelf to a few of the prettiest arnoug the 
hardy plants, and which are now (8th) in 
bloom: 
Phloxes. —Moss Pinks, white, red, pink and 
crimson, are solid carpets of flowers, and they 
luxuriate in open, dry, sunny spots where little 
else will grow. They are at home running 
wild in the grass or scrambling among stones, 
aud are capital thiogs for coveriug sunny 
banks. Their evergreen nature renders them 
cheerful in winter, aud they are very hardy. 
Other vernal Phloxes,like rc-ptans and amoena, 
are showy and profuse and excellent garden 
plants. 
Candytuft.— The evergreen Candytufts are 
desirable border plants, and, according to 
kind, are from now until July a snowy mass; 
these will be succeeded by annuals of various 
hues—white, lilac and purple. Their relative, 
Arabia albida, or Rock Cress, ha9 been a mass 
of white since a fortnight; and the Aubrietias, 
mossy clumps of purple aud lilac The Rock 
Cress is very hardy aud easily growu, so are 
the Aubrietias, only they prefer less sun heat 
than they sometimes get with us in summer. 
Pinks. —It is too soon for Pinks yet, but 
their friends, the Chickweeds, are advancing 
in force. There are some fair Cera6tiums; but 
C. lomcutoBum, a dense wooly-leaved one, is 
one of the best, though not always reliable. 
Stellaria Ilolostea, a common European wood 
plant, is one of the very finest hardy plants I 
know of. (hown in masses in sunny places, it 
iB now a carpet of green checkered with open¬ 
ing buds that, in a week, will expand to snow¬ 
bank denseness. 
Saxifrages,— The large-leaved section, as 
Crassifolia and Cordifolia, are well suited to 
our gardens, aud bear massive pinkish-purple 
flower buuches in April aud May; they arc 
evergreens, but rather coarse. 8. ligulata, 
from the Himalayas, is earlier and prettier. S. 
ciliata, from the same place aud as early, is 
not so reliably hardy. S. pel lata, the Califor¬ 
nia Umbrella-plant, from rough ai,d naked 
root-stocks has sent up many ample piuk bou¬ 
quets, handsome whiie they last, hut in a week 
they will be gone to be immediately succeeded 
by leaves two to four feet high and like great, 
green umbrellas. It loves a wet place, and 
will even grow in water. Our Virginia and 
Alleghany Saxifrages are also in flower. The 
mossy Europeans do not thrive here as ordi¬ 
nary garden plants. 
Globe Flowers. —The European and Asiatic 
Trollius are Handsome garden plants, with yel¬ 
low aud orange flowers, and nearly allied to 
the pretty spring Adonis which is now past its 
best. The Marsh Marigolds, single and double, 
too, are very showy ; they like a damp or wet 
place. 
Anemones. —The woods are aglow with wind 
flower6 ; these, together with the purple, rose, 
and double-flowered varieties of the same, are 
good garden plants when they get a little sum¬ 
mer shade. The double red Anemone fulgens 
is better suited for frames than open borders. 
The European Pasque Flower and Nuttall'a 
form of it, are both good and seasonable gar¬ 
den favorites. The Rue Anemones and tha 
pretty little Isopyrum bilernatum, from the 
West, are much like common wind flowers, 
hut larger aud more copious. 
Primroses. —In a shady rookery English 
Primroses are us vigorous and floriferous as 
If at home in a Kentish wood or Surrey glade, 
and beside them in equal thrift are growing 
PolyauthuseB and other single and double gar¬ 
den Primroses. The Cashmere Primrose, u 
new species from Asia, is equally hardy, and 
unfolds its globular heads of lilac blossoms 
while the other sorts are still unresurrected. 
It is not the cold of winter that destroys these 
gems in our gardens, but the summer’s heat 
and drought, muggy, warm weather succeed¬ 
ing drenching rains, and exposure to sunshine 
in winter. 
Iri8es.— A great many varieties of the com¬ 
mon dwarf Iris are now in bloom; also the 
pretty I. cri.tata and a few other species. 
They will soon be succeeded by larger aud more 
6howy kinds. Most of the bulbous Irises are 
past. All are accommodating garden plants. 
Tulips. —These iu gaudy array are at their 
best, or in open warm places nearly dope with. I 
The variously streaked sorts so common of J 
old, are losing favor, and “seifs,” that is those 
of one color only, becoming fashionable. The 
species are as beautiful as the varieties, aud 
perhaps T. Greigi, a species with large, glow¬ 
ing red, cup-shaped flowers with dark spots 
at the base of the petals, and brown-spotted 
leaves, is the handsomest of all. Tulip blos¬ 
soms are of various forms as well as of many 
colors; some are cup-shaped, others open and 
reflexed, some, like Acuminata, have long, 
narrow-pointed flower leaves, which in others, 
like the Parrot Tulip, are very ragged. They 
are excellent garden plants, and if in good 
soil and left undisturbed, they increase yearly 
in vigor.and Dumber. 
Daffodils and Jonquils.— These are good 
and desirable plants. In good, moist earth 
they are quite at home. There is an immense 
variety of these Narcissuses, and all the cheap 
ones are hardy, free-flowering and well worth 
growing. 
Dickntras.—D. spectabilis is one of our 
very finest gaiden plants; it is usually knowu 
as Bleeding-Heart. A young lady at our Cam¬ 
bridge high school says—she “gue66es there 
are more bleeding hearts among the boys at 
her school than there are in the borders at 
the Botanic Garden.” But there are other 
pretty Dicentras, like D. eximia that lasts 
the year throughout; D. Cucullaria that 
blossoms in the spring and dies; and many 
kinds of Corydalis, which are near of kin to 
the last—as O. aurea, nobilis, tuberosa, and 
the like. 
Other Beauties.— But these do not com¬ 
prise a tithe of the beauties* of this May-day : 
The creeping Forget-me-not is wandering 
all over the rockery, and many kinds of white, 
yellow and blue American Violets are scat¬ 
tered, like weeds, among the stones. Viola 
cornuta and 6ome of its varieties are quite 
handsome, and though uot here, as in Europe, 
applicable for bedding purposes, are quite 
showy in a moist border. Last year's Pansies 
have scattered seedlings hither and thither, 
but all poorer than their parents; hence we 
must get our Pansies by selection, care and, 
if possible, frame culture. Lady-loves, har¬ 
bingers of spring, are lovely weeds. Epimedi- 
ums from Japan, white, red, purple and lilac, 
are handsome iu the borders, where, too, the 
spring Orobus is a cushion of purple, aud 
Doronicum Caucasicum, a mass of showy yel¬ 
low. The Doga-tooth Violets of American 
and European origin and of many colors, 
white, yellow, rose and purple, aud with plain 
or variegated leaves, though past their best, 
are still in profusion in the rockeries aud wild 
places, and borders of Periwinkle (“ myrtle”) 
are studded over blue or white. Clumps of Bell- 
worts luxuriate in wood-like places. Spring 
Beaaly is at home in the same situations, and 
Helonias bulluta has reared aloft its rose- 
knobbed drumsticks by thespriDg. Trilliums, 
white and purple, plain-leaved aud mottled, 
are blooming among the bushes and rocks, in 
company with a host of other pretty wild 
flowers. 
fomologiral. 
FRUITS IN MINNESOTA. 
Apples. —The list of large Apples that can 
be grown in this State is very short. The Tet¬ 
ofsky, Duchess of Oldenburg, and Wealthy are 
the only oneB recommended for general culti¬ 
vation by our State Horticultural Society. 
Some others, like the Haas and Alexander, do 
well in some localities, but cannot be relied 
on. The Tetofsky and Duchess are already 
well known, and the Wealthy Is becoming so. 
ThiB is a seedling which Mr. Gideon, of Lake 
Minnetonka, its originator, claims is a cross 
belweeu the Crab and some large Apple. That 
ll has some Crab about it, is evident from the 
fact that some trees grown from the seeds of 
the Wealthy, bear only small crabs. It is a 
very valuable Apple for our State, in fact, for 
the entire North. The tree is a fine, vigorous 
grower aud seems as hardy as most of the Crabs, 
and the fruit is large, of fine color and quality, 
and will keep till mid winter. What we are most 
seeking is an Apple equally hardy and good 
that will keep till spring; and we think we 
shall find it by and by, as every fruit grower 
in the State is tryiug for it. Of the Crabs we 
have a fine variety, ripening from the first of 
August till spring. The Early Strawberry [We 
do not know of a Crab of this Dame. —Eds ] is 
the earliest and among the best. As an eating 
apple it is equal to the Tetofsky. Then follow 
the Transcendent, Hyslop, Orange(?), Bryer’s 
Beauty, Meader’s Winter, Minnesota and 
some others. And most of these are excellent 
for eating as well as cooking. 
Plums. —With the tame Plums we can do 
nothing ; and many of the native Plums from 
States south of us, like the Miner and Lombard, 
and I might add, the Weaver and Wild Goose, 
utterly fail. These latter, perhaps, should be 
further tried, though I have no confidence in 
them. Some of our native Plums are very 
fine. 
Cherries. —The Early Richmond and Kent¬ 
ish Cherries try hard to stand our severe 
winters, and sometimes make quite a success, 
Pears. — I have one Pear tree, Clapp’s Favor¬ 
ite, on Mountain Ash roots, which I 6et in my 
grounds, as a graft, the spring before the 
“ hard winter of ’72 aud ’73,” which has never 
been killed down. The Flemish Beauty was 
top-killed lor several years, but has stood the 
past five winters. On the whole, we cannot 
depend on growing Pears. 
The Smajll Fruit9 all do well, except 
Blackberries. The Doolittle does the best of 
any of the Black Caps, and the Turner and 
Philadelphia of the Reds. The Wilson is the 
chief Strawberry, but the Charles Downing is 
Increasing in favor, and some ot the best of 
the new seedlings are being tried. Of Cur¬ 
rants, the Red Dutch, Victoria, White Grape 
and Black Naples, are all that can be desired. 
While we cannot grow a great variety of fruit, 
what we do grow are the best of their kinds. 
I speak of the open prairie in the center of 
the State. In the southern and eastern parts 
of Minnesota on the Mississippi, some va¬ 
rieties succeed, that fail here. 
Meeker Co„ Minn. O. W. Fuller. 
Cherry and Pear Trees for the Lawn. 
I wish Mr. Williams would add to his ex¬ 
cellent article in the Rural of May S, on cherry 
trees,alist of such as grow up of the handsomest 
shape and largest size; also, the same of pear 
trees ; for these, in one respect, are more orna¬ 
mental than Cherries, because, iu addition to 
their lovely blossoms in spring, they show 
such an abnndauce of rich, luscious fruit from 
July on to November. 
All along the north side of Long Island, 
iu Westchester county, and I daresay in other 
localities, cherry trees may be seen of a girth 
of nine to ten feet, and perhaps more around 
the trunk several feet above the ground, and 
35 to probably even 59 feet in bight. I know 
. trees of the grand appearance of a medinm- 
sized Oak, and at a little distance from them, 
they might be taken for such. 
Certain kinds of pear trees in a favorable 
soil attain an equal size; and both may be 
made a beautiful adornment of the lawn. 
When in full bloom suchlargetree are scarcely 
less showy and magnificent than the Magnolia; 
for although their flowers are so very much 
smaller, the great abundance of them makes 
up a mass quite equal In appearance to the 
large ones — at least, a short distance off. 
[But they do not last half so long.—Eds.) 
In the vicinity of Detroit, and I believe also 
on the west bank of the Niagara River above 
the Falls, pear trees may be seeu 69 feet high, 
and still bearing fruit, although planted by 
French settlers two centuries ago or more. 
There is one sort of Cherry at present little 
known among us, called the Dyehouse, which 
is particularly ornamental for the lawn. Those 
I have, grow up in the shape of a hay cock, 
with long, pendant branches reaching nearly 
to the ground, like the Weeping Willow. The 
hight of mine at present 13 only seven to ten 
feet. In richer ground they would doubtless 
have grown much larger by this time, as I pro¬ 
cured them from Kentucky, and set them out 
iu the spring of 1871. 
The merit of this sort of Cherry, aside from 
its being ornamental, consists in its hardiness, 
growing fairly in a poor soil, and producing 
annually an abundance of fruit which in 
size and flavor is much like the common pie 
cherry. When fally ripe, it is tender, juicy, 
and slightly spicy ; and although too tart for 
the taste of some, for my own part, I am very 
fond of it. Another great merit—the birds are 
rather shy of this fruit. A. b. a. 
^tbotintltaral. 
HOWTO GROW AN OSAGE ORANGE HEDGE. 
JAMES HOGG. 
There are two methods of raising the Osage 
Orange, one from seeds and the other from 
cuttings of the root. The tree is diceceous; that 
is, some of the plants are male, bearing only 
staminate flowers, while others bear pistillate 
flowers and seeds, but both are alike available 
for hedge purposes. Each fruit produces a 
large number of seeds, about 5,000 of them fill- 
iag a quart measure. The tree is closely re¬ 
lated to the Mulberry, and its large orange- 
shaped berry is an aggregation of numerous 
seeds with their pulpy adherent matter closely 
compressed together and adherent. 
It will not do to sow the oranges or fruits in 
the soil in their natural state, as it would be a 
great waste of seed and the plants would come 
up in thick clusters. The proper way is to buy 
the seeds of 6ome of our lead Log seedsmen who 
have them by the bushel. The seed is mainly 
procured in Texas or Arkansas, aud is ob¬ 
tained by washing the ripe fruits in water 
until all the pulp is washed away; the seeds are 
then dried and are ready for market- The seed 
Bhould be sown either in autumn or spring, 
choosing a good piece of well mauured garden 
soil, well spaded and pulverized. Open drills 
with a hoe—as you would for peas—from six 
to eight inches apart, sow the seeds about two 
inches apart and cover them about an iuch and 
* a half deep. When sown in the autumn, they 
will not make their appearance until next 
spring, When the plauts are up. all they need 
is an occasional hoeing or stirring of the 
grouud and to be kept carefully clean of weeds. 
If the soil is very strong and rieh, they may be 
suitable for transplanting after one year’s 
growth, but they generally require two years’ 
growth for this purpose. 
The best season for planting hedges is as 
early in the spring as the ground is mellow 
enough to work well. Spring planting in our 
northern latitudes is to guard agaiust the heav¬ 
ing out of the youug plants by the coming out 
of the frost at the breaking up of winter. 
Southward, where this does not occur, autumn 
planting succeeds very well. 
The line of fence or hedge should be laid out 
aud plowed and finely pulverized two or three 
feet wide; then stretch a liue for any conve¬ 
nient distance and dig out a trench eight or 
ten inches deep, keepiug its upright or firm 
bank next the line; then on tha opposite side 
dig another trench six inches from the first 
line, and iu these two trenches set the young 
plauts twelve inches apart, breaking joint in 
the second row with those of the first line; that 
1 s, set the plants of the second row midway of 
TIG. 172.— SEE FIRST PAGE. 
