746 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
mv 4 
fully, and justified its European high reputa¬ 
tion, and it proved quite hardy. Who else 
has got it? _ 
Dianthub. —Surely Lyman Candee, p. 650, 
is somewhat mixed up about bis dianthus? 
He tells usabout ‘‘first, flakes or carnations;” 
“second, bizarres or diantlius; * “third pico 
tees;’’ “fourth, the pink,” and admits that 
they “are all of the same germs.” Yes, Mr. 
Candee, and of the same species, too, and 
each and every one of thorn is as truly a dian- 
thus as is the “bizarre,” and all are forms of 
Diautbus Caryophyllus, and whatever fixed 
varietal difference there may be between 
thorn, is not natural but due to artificial cul- 
t.ivation. True, the general term “ pink” is 
applied to plants of other genera besides dian- 
thus. and to many species of diantbus besides 
Caryophyllus; but the significance of Mr. 
Candee’s note has no application to t hem. 
The Two-colored Bihdk-koot Violet 
(Viola pedata bicolor).—Last, Fall 1 got five 
dollars’ worth (50 plants) of this lovely violet. 
1 wanted them for forcing for cut flowers. 
Half of them 1 planted out in a cold-frame, 
and the other half 1 potted off into four and 
five-inch pots, und plunged them in the same 
frame. In January I brought the potted 
plants into my carnation house, and set them 
ou a shelf near the glass. They grew and 
blossomed beautifully, and a few of them 
proved to be the South* rn or long-stemmed 
variety. Made up into little bunch bouquets 
of 25 to 50 dowers each, and surrounded with 
leaves, us you would surround ordinary frag¬ 
rant violets, they are pretty and distinct, and 
worth growing as cut flowers for private use; 
but 1 would not recommend them for market; 
and they keep on blooming for several weeks. 
For house or conservatory decoration I recom¬ 
mend them to all. Plants in four-inch pots 
with good rosettes of leaves, and 10 to 50 
flowers open at once on each, make very 
pretty specimens. Even the wild form, so 
common everywhere, makes a charming win¬ 
ter pot plant. In May 1 turned them out of 
their pots, and planted them in an open cold- 
frame shaded till the middle of the afternoon, 
and in company with begonias, myosotis, and 
wall flowers. About the end of July they be¬ 
gan to grow freely, and in August were fully 
in bloom. 
Promised Novelties.— Among roses we 
are promised a crimson La France and a white 
Catherine Merrnet. The owners assure me 
that these are decided in color. We can all 
imagine what acceptable desiderata two such 
roses would be. Among lilies there will be a 
white Superbum. I have seen this In bloom. 
It is not a pure white, but by far the whitest 
form I have ever seen. The Red-flowering 
Dogwood will soon be ready for the market. 
It is a red-blooming variety of Cornus florida, 
and as vigorous as the normal form. 1 have 
two plants of It, and they grow strongly. 
Their foliage is darker-tinted than that of the 
white-blooming one. Pruuus Pissardii is a 
shrub with colored leaves in the way of the 
Purple-leaved Barberry, Beech or Filbert; 
but its leaves hold their color throughout 
the Summer better than do those of any of 
the Japanese Maples or above plants. It is 
hardy here. The golden-leavtul Pinus Masso- 
niana, of which we have the two parent 
plants, will be distributed as soon as propaga¬ 
tors can get, up a stock of it. Our plants are 
2y feet high and feet across, and very 
dense, notwithstanding the fact that we have 
given 100 cions for grafting. It is the most 
beautiful golden-leaved conifer that I know 
of, perfectly hardy here, and survives year 
after year unprotected and without, a blemish, 
while its relative, the Bun-ray Pine, growing 
alongside of it, is sometimes injured by the 
Winter. It is in Winter thut it is most beau¬ 
tiful und golden; in Summer it assumes a 
greenish hue. william falconer. 
Queens Co., N. Y. 
[This Golden leaved Pine has proven hardy 
at the Rural Grounds. Our plant was set five 
years ago. Prunus Pissardii is illustrated in 
the R. N.-Y. else w Here in this issue.— Kds.] 
fctunil topics. 
experiment ©rounds* of the $ural 
$etv-|}orher. 
A NEW PURPLE-LEAVED PLUM.—THE HARDY 
CATALPA.—NE PLUS ULTRA CORN. 
Prunus Pissardii.— Hitherto we have re¬ 
garded the Purple Hazel, the Purple Beech 
and the Purple Birch as the best of purple¬ 
leaved plauts iu cultivation—the best.because, 
though losing much of their peculiar color 
during the summer months, they still retaiu 
enough of it to mark them from green-foliaged 
plants. We have now the new plum Prunus 
Pissardii, which, more than any of the above, 
retains the purple color of its leaves during 
Hardy Catalpa during the past season was 
in its fullest bloom on June 20, while 
the other was only in bud. The latter 
began to bloom not until June 29, and it 
was in the bight of its bloom not until July 3. 
Here, then, we have a decided difference. 
Again, the buds and flowers of the Hardy 
Catalpa are larger, as shown in our 
carefully prepared engravings (Fig. 418 
as compared with Fig. 419, p. 710), while the 
peduncles and pedicels are longer and more 
spreading. The leaveg, also, present marked 
differences; those of the Common being more 
downy upon the under side, more like those 
of the Mullein—Verbascnm Thapsus—while 
the upper surface is loss glossy and of a 
RED BEITIGHE1MER APPLE. (From Nature.) Fig. 414. Bee page 717.) 
the entire season. Our specimen, received 
from Eliwanger & Barry last March, is six 
feet high. The old wood is of a grayish color 
—the new of a deep purple. In Spring the 
leaves are of a lively purplish-rose, which 
changes to a deep purplish-green in Summer, 
much like the leaves of the Purple Beech; but 
the newer shoots, which are all the while push- 
ing,are,as we have said,Of a bright rosy -purple, 
so thut the foliage is constantly beautiful, as 
seen in Fig. 416, page 715. As we write (Oct. 
15) the entire foliage is a dark reddish purple 
more pronunced than that of any other tree in 
these grounds. Our experience is too brief to 
enable us to speak of the habit of this little 
tree: but we should judge that with judicious 
pruning it might be made to assume a com¬ 
pact head, though perhaps by nature a some¬ 
what spreading, pyramidal form would suit 
it best. 
Our engravings, except that of the fruit, are 
from our own specimen. The fruit (Fig. 417, 
page 715) is sketched from a colored plate in 
the lievue Horticule. of a recent date, from 
specimens furnished by M. Carrifere, of Mon- 
treuil, France. It is said to come from the 
Myrobolau Plum, as seeds of the Pissardii 
revert, to that species It has fruited iu this 
country also, with P. J. Berckmaus, of Au¬ 
gusta, Ga. Bui the fruit, though of u showy 
red color, is not of sufficient value to make 
the cultivation of the tree desirable for the 
fruit alone. We shall, of course, keep our 
readers well informed as to the value of this 
lighter green. They average smaller also, 
less acuminate and less varied in form. The 
odor of the leaves, when crushed, somewhat 
resembliDg that of the Ailanthus, somewhat 
that of Burdock, is very disagreeable, while 
the leaves of the Hardy Catalpa give scarcely 
any odor whatever. The fruit of the Hardy 
kind ripens two weeks in advance of the 
other, and while of about the same length 
(one foot) it is thicker. Readers of the R.N.-Y. 
should all feel interested In this Hardy Cat- 
alpa, since the growth is very rapid and the 
wood extremely durable. 
Nk Plus Ultra Sweet Corn. —In the R. 
N,-Y. of Nov. 25, 1882, we presented p. por¬ 
trait of the Ne Plus Ultra Sweet Corn, and an 
account of its yield, etc., the preceding season 
at the Rural Grounds. We credited W. Atlce 
£1 )t Pouitnj l)artr. 
BREEDS AND THEIR CHARACTERIS¬ 
TICS. 
HENRY HALES. 
CROSSES. 
The introduction of gigantic Asiatic poul¬ 
try produced a great change for the better in 
our poultry-yards. The little, spare, bony 
fowls we ouee called poultry, are now almost 
forgotten; for one or other of the improved 
breeds has left its impress on onr poultry from 
Maine to California; but the greatest im¬ 
provement for general use lies in the new 
breeds produced by crossing the Asiatics with 
our small, non-sitting birds to produce a per¬ 
manent breed that will hatch their own young, 
make fair table-birds, mature early and be fail- 
layers. This has been tried in the Plymouth 
Rocks, with a fair degree of success; I say a 
fair degree, as I urn not as well pleased as some 
people are with fowls of this breed as now bred, 
and here are my reasons: too much import¬ 
ance has been attached to size; this brings out 
the Asiatic feature, and the production of 
heavy, clumsy birds is encouraged at the ex¬ 
pense of laying qualities, as 1 am certain the 
smallest Plymouth Rock* lay the best; they 
partake more of the Dominique characteris¬ 
tic in being prolific layers. 
Another new breed, from Asiatic crossing, 
which promise* much if the “American 
Standard of Excellence” does not insist too 
much on size, is tho Wyandotte. This is an 
Asiatic cross on the Hamburg, which is too 
small a fowl to be very useful in itself; but 
in this new form, we have a comely, clean¬ 
looking, closely-feathered, small and flat- 
combed, yellow-legged, early feathering and 
maturing, strong breed, which do their own 
hatching, and are quiet, peaceable birds, but 
we should keep them down to a fair size, or 
we may as well breed pure Asiatics, and lose 
the flue laying characteristics of the Ham- 
burgs, which is a great feature with fowls of 
that breed, though their egg* are small. The 
Wyandotte eggs are not large, hut they are 
of a fair marketable size, which the Uamburgs’ 
are not. What we gain in this breed is a 
hardier and larger bird thun the Hamburg, 
conjoining the laying and other qualities 
enumerated above. 
Another cross which attracted much atten¬ 
tion at the New York Fanciers’ Exhibition 
last Winter, was one between tne Dorking 
and Langshan. The offspring were immense 
birds. Both parents helong to large breeds; 
but the Langshan is hardier than the Dorking, 
and the offspring of the two matures very 
much earlier for Bpring chickens than birds of 
either ancestral breed. 
farm topics. 
Fig. 415. 
promising novelty, as we watch its behavior 
from season to season. 
Catalpa SpkCiosa.— First and last a great 
deal has been said as to the differences between 
the Hardy or Western Catalpa (Speciosai and 
Catalpa bignoniodes. Some regard them as 
distinct species; others as only distinct varie¬ 
ties, while some deny that there is auy differ¬ 
ence whatever. Having here both trees 
growing within 50 yards of each other, we 
have been led to observe them carefully dur¬ 
ing several years past. Both are hardy here, 
but duriDg one Winter the tips of the smaller 
branches of the Common Catalpa (as we may 
call it for short) were killed, while those of 
the Hardy Catalpa were uninjured. The 
Burpee & Co., of Philadelphia, Pa., as the 
introducers. We now find that it was named 
and introduced by Thorburu & Co. of N. Y, 
in 1S80. The ears average seven inches in 
length, tapering decidedly toward the tip 
and somewhat towards the butt. The plants, 
in good soil, average seven feet in bight, and 
often bear three good ears each, Tbe silk is 
purple, the husks sometimes of a dark color; 
the kernels are deep and set in irregular 
rows; the cob is very small and reddish in the 
middle. In quality, unless we except tne 
Black Mexican, as it is called, we know of no 
better table corn, though it will appear that 
it is not in all respects suitable as a popular 
market variety. 
SCABBY POTATOES. 
G. W., Rock Falls, Ill., Heuds us a small 
box of potatoes just as they were dug from 
the field, to show us the “scab” as it exists in 
that neighborhood. He says: “You will no¬ 
tice that the Early Ohio is injured more than 
tbe Beauty of Hebron These potatoes are a 
fair sample of hundreds of acres, as they ap¬ 
pear iu the fields on rich or poor ground. 
Some of the fields are prairie that has never 
been manured, except by pasturing. Now, 
there cannot be found a farmer or market 
gardener within five miles of this place who 
cannot describe the appearance of the disease 
and its progress. At least all whom I have 
questioned say that it begins as soon as the 
tubers are as large as hickory nuts, aud has 
the appearance of a whitish mold or powder, 
as if land plaster had been sprinkled over the 
young tubers. Afterward the mold turns 
dark and will not wash off, and small spots 
on the potato rise up and flually crack open, 
aud thus holes are made in the skin. What¬ 
ever may be the cause of the disease, it is 
simply a waste of time to tiriug the wretched 
wire-worm, whose head may have been found 
in one of these holes, into the question at all. 
The farmers about here are mostly Eastern 
men who know what wire worms are, aud 
they all *ay that they very’ rarely see a wire- 
worm here, while white grubs are very numer¬ 
ous. Last year I saw a very few wire-worms 
ou my place; but this season 1 have not been 
able to find one. Now does anybody think a 
market gardener could have his crop of po¬ 
tatoes ruined by wire-worms and not be able 
to find one worm on his place?' 
Remarks —This is precisely the “scab” 
with which our potatoes of the Rural 
Grounds are affected, and which we believe 
there to be the work of tbe Julus or brown, 
hard, ringy myriapod, called by American 
entomologists the False Wire-worm. One of 
these was found alive in the potatoes sent, 
and there were evidences of many.— Eds. 
