1885 
MEW-YOBKER. 
lowed to stand until pin-holes appear in the 
lumps when cut with a sharp knife. It has 
formerly been supposed that this pin-hole ap¬ 
pearance was found only in floating curds, or 
those made from tainted milk and closely ap¬ 
proaching this condition; but I have good 
authority for sayiug that any curd, however 
sweet the milk from which it in made, will have 
the pin-holes in the lumps, if allowed to staud 
long enough for the lactic fermentation to 
get sufficiently advanced; but I do not give 
this of my own knowledge, although I believe 
it will be found to be true. It is safe, how¬ 
ever, to lot the lactic acid develop before put¬ 
ting the curd to press; but this development 
of acid must take place after the whey is 
drawn, and never in the whey, if the beat re¬ 
sults are aimed at. This will guard against 
some of the evils of improper curing-rooms, 
which are the rule throughout the country. 
More attention should be paid to constructing 
curing-rooms so that the temperature will be 
perfectly under control. The range ought 
not to be more than five degrees, and 10 de¬ 
grees is the extreme limit that should be 
tolerated. The temperature for curing whole 
milk cheese should be 66 to 70 degrees. The 
curing for the first 10 days should be at 65 
degrees; after that the temperature may 
range a little higher, up to 70 degrees, and 
finally, perhaps, 75 degrees. Skimmed-milk 
cheese works slower and requires a higher 
temperature; from 75 to 80 degrees will do 
very well; but, all the same, the temperature 
should bo controllable and kept even and 
steady. The importance of good rennet and 
proper curing is underrated by the cheese- 
makers of the country. They are too care¬ 
less about these things, and in too much of a 
hurry, both in the operations of making and 
in marketing thoir cheese. A great reform lies 
in this direction. 
RITUALISMS. 
I hive good reason to know that there are 
many people all over the couutry who do not 
know that the Chrysanthemum and what old- 
fashioned people call the Artemisia are one 
and the same plant. My correspondence 
shows this clearly. At the first large show of 
Chrysanthemums at the American Institute 
Fair, I was amused by being frequently asked 
by country people if the plants were not the 
same; aud one old lady was so sure of it that 
she remarked to her companion, “ Why, 
they’re nothing but our old Artetnisias, only 
they're bigger aud handsomer.” The old lady 
was right about their heiug "bigger and hand¬ 
somer." The Rural family is constantly in¬ 
creasing in all parts of the country, and among 
both the old and the new members there will, 
doubtless, be some who will be glad to learn 
that the Chrysanthemum and the old garden 
Artemisia are identical. Chrysanthemum is 
a rather hard word for some people to pro- 
nouuce or remember, and there would be no 
objection to the shorter aud more musical 
Artemisia as the common name of the Chrys¬ 
anthemum, only that it properly belongs to 
quite another plant. Some people are begin¬ 
ning to call them "Chrysea” for short; but 
this is horrid. Let us have something better. 
Who will suggest it? I have a name to propose. 
* m w 
The editor says that all his seedling peas 
are weevil-oaten. The fact is much to be re¬ 
gretted, but there seems to be uo help for it. 
Going back about 40 yours, when 1 first be¬ 
came acquainted with the pea weevil, 1 have 
never since that time seen American grown 
peas that were not infested with the weevil, 
some more and some less. The pea weevil has 
even led to lawsuits within my kuowledge; 
aud many years ago, I was iustrumcutal in 
keeping a suit out of court, by simply proving 
that the peas would grow. Suits of a similar 
kind might always bo kept out of court by 
placing the matter in the hands of a competent 
referee, with a great saving to temper and 
pockets of all concerned, except, of course, the 
lawyers. I sow weevil euten peas thicker than 
I do others. 1 know that the vitality of the 
plant iB impaired, but to what extent 1 am un¬ 
able to say. [Five years ago or more, we 
made careful comparative tests. About 50 
per eeut. will grow, but of these, 25 per cent, 
will make feeble plants.— Eds,] 
* v * 
Mr. Falconer, in the Garden, speaking of the 
cactus, says, "The necessity of lime rubbish 
and pounded brick-bats in the soil, as so often 
recommended in old books, iB simply non¬ 
sense." Having made pets of cactio for 
more than 40 years, 1 feel somewhat at liberty 
to say that 1 entirely agree with him. 1 will 
add, too, that this is not the only nonsense that 
is written about these grotesque,yet interesting 
and beautiful plants. Having been fighting 
on a certain line of operations for a good many 
years, it is pleasant to have somebody step to 
the front and help you. 
* v * 
Speaking of eactm, reminds me that I 
have now in bloom a plant of Phyllocactus 
Laloyi, said to be a hybrid, and which came to 
me from Germany through Dr. Kuuz& The 
flowers are very large, comparing in size with 
the large flowering, night-blooming Cerei, the 
petals measuring from five to five and-a-half 
inches in length. The color of the petals is 
salmon red, the filaments carmine, aud the 
anthers and stigmas white. The stigmas are 
very long, measuring three-quarters of an 
inch. It is a very imposing flower. The plant 
is a strong grower, and is more productive of 
flowers than any Phyllocactus 1 have ever 
grow n. 
* * * 
I have another Phyllocactus in bloom, a 
wild plant, the identity of which I cannot 
learn from any authorities I have at hand, 
but which I suppose to be an undescribed 
species. It is here that I miss the co-opera¬ 
tion of my old frieud.the late Dr. Engelmann, 
who was the best of all authorities on this 
family of plants. The color of this flower Is 
a bright rose, a little deeper in hue than Ph. 
speciosus, but three or four times as large. 
The filaments, anthers, aud stigmas are all 
white. The flowers are very beautiful. Tho 
plant is a rampant grower, being quite six 
feet high. It is a good bloomer. 
* * * 
The Editor says he had Maguolia Lennei 
and M. Soulangeana in bloom on March 2Dtb, 
at the Rural Grounds. It is now May 14th, 
and in Westchester County, N. Y., about the 
same distance from New York city, the buds 
of M. Boulangeanu, etc., are showing two or 
three inches of color, but no flowers are yet 
expanded. These comparisons are very in¬ 
teresting. Cau we not have more of them 
from other parts of the couutry, with date 
and place? The magnolias here have not been 
injured by the Winter, as far as I have seen. 
It is somewhat different with rhododeudrons 
and azaleas, some of which are quite dead 
and others badly injured. 
* * * 
There is a tendency on the part of some 
of the agricultural press to sanction the use 
of words in a sense the very opposite to their 
proper meaning, for which there is no suf¬ 
ficient excuse. For example, a spicy and 
excellent little journal published iu another 
State, calls a certain implement a "Potato 
Sprouter." Now the implement is used to de¬ 
stroy or remove the sprouts from the potatoes, 
aud not to make potatoes sprout or grow, as 
the umiie would lead us to suppose. The im¬ 
plement was doubtless so named by the 
inventor; but it should come within an 
editor’s duty to correct such a misapplication 
of words. Tne propriety of rubbing off the 
sprouts of the potato may be seriously ques¬ 
tioned. I never do It. A little lower down, 
on the same page, there is a "Potato Fur- 
rower;” and this may pass, though it is 
awkward, as it is not intended to furrow 
potatoes, but to make furrows for them. I 
could multiply such examples from other 
quarters. Let us all learn, as far as possible, 
to call things by right names. 
* * * 
The Editor advises us, iu plauting budded 
roses, to set them deep euough to cover the 
buds. This is excellent advice; but, unfortu¬ 
nately, it can not always be followed without 
insuring the death of the plants. For exam¬ 
ple, the budded roses 1 lost last Winter were 
budded from eight to twelve inches high, and 
the plants were two or three years old when I 
got them. They could not have been planted 
deep enough to cover the buds. There are 
four classes of budded roses: standards, half 
standards, quarter standards, and low-budded, 
(withiu a few inches of the ground). The last 
may and should be plauted, as the Editor ad¬ 
vises, deep enough to cover the buds. It was 
to these, of course, that he alluded, though 
some might not understand him without a 
little explanation. hohtiuola. 
flarintlluml. 
RAYS. 
Chrysanthemums.— Although I grow some 
hundreds of kinds, 1 cannot well say which is 
the best half dozen, as so mauy are good. 
Mad. Dosgrauges, white; Elaine, white; Ad¬ 
miration, silvery rose; Glorie Rayonnaute, 
rosy-lilac, quilled; Julius Seharff, violet ama¬ 
ranth, and M. Plunchenau, silvery mauve, 
are capital varieties and most copious. From 
half-a-dozen of these kinds you cau got more 
good flowers lit to cut, than from a score of 
many other varieties. J uliiu Schurff, Elaine, 
M. Plaucheuau and Glorie Rayonnaute yielded 
me more cut flowers, iu proportion to the 
number of plants, than did any other four 
kinds I grew. 
Seedling Chrysanthemums.— This Spring 
I got a small packet of Thorpe’s choicest seed, 
and have raised therefrom 114 plants. I have 
now planted them out and expect most of 
them to blossom iu the Fall. Among them I 
do not expect to find anything so good as 
Ceres or Elaine, or more than two or three 
worth perpetuating. Those of us who are ac¬ 
customed to raise geraniums, carnations, and 
other florists’ flowers from seed, kuow well 
how seldom we find among our floral children 
prettier faces than in their parents. But 
chrysanthemum seeds germinate as surely and 
readily as do onions, and the young plants, if 
well fed ami cared for, grow as vigorously 
the first season as do those raised from slips 
or cuttings. And from seeds, is such an easy 
way to get up a stock of plants, and the work 
so interesting and expectations so sanguine, I 
commeud it to your readers. 
Flowers for the Fall.— Coleuses, ger¬ 
aniums, aud other bedding plants retain their 
beauty till cold weather destroys them in the 
Fall. But not so DrumraondPhlox, mignon¬ 
ette, poppies, Clarkias, godetias, and many 
other annuals, even Scarlet Salvius begin to 
look shabby before October sets in. Now, we 
can help matters a good deal. Put in a sowing 
now of Drummond Phlox, miguonette, dwarf 
petunias, meteor marigolds, candytuft, snap¬ 
dragon, zinnias, aud dwarf nasturtiums; prick 
off, transplant, and water as needed, andl thiuk 
you will be pleased with the freshness of your 
plants in the Fail. Even dahlias sown in June, 
blossom in September. 
Gladiolil — Plant a few every week till 
the middle of July, and you will have a suc¬ 
cession of flowers till frost sets in. 
Irises. —Mulch with mauura or other come- 
at-able material, and give a heavy soaking of 
water now, and again in dry weather, if you 
want to have Tuempfer’s iris, one of the grand¬ 
est flowers known, in full perfection. 
A Fine Lady Washington Geranium — 
Madame Thibaut is, in my opinion, the most 
beautiful aud desirable of its race. It is vigor¬ 
ous and copious, and its flowers, which are 
bright rose and white, are borne in bouquet 
bunches. I grow some of the best of the old 
varieties, also the cream of the new ones, and, 
all points considered, I regard Madame Thi¬ 
baut as the best of all, and, next, Flambeau, 
whose flowers are crimson and scarlet. 
Big-Flowered Fuchsias.— Pheuomenal is 
the largest-flowered fuchsia 1 know of. Its 
flowers are very double, red aud violet blue, 
massive, and almost globular in form. The 
largest double white-flowered fuchsia is Mad. 
J. Chretien; its flowers are coral red on the 
outside and white on the inside These fuch¬ 
sias are just as easy to raise, aud blossom as 
youug, as any others. 
Hybrid Gibkaltek Candytuft. —This is 
not quite hardy out-of-doors, but perfectly so 
in cold-frame treatment. It is a free aud 
robust grower, and easily raised from seeds 
or cuttings. Under cold-frame treatment, it 
blossoms ia April and May. Its flowers are 
white to rose-purple, in full, stout heads, and 
produced in the greatest profusion. I grow 
it, the fragrant and other candytufts, but in 
its season, it alone is the one that is called for. 
Wall-flowers. —I have a large lot of 
these in blossom in a cold-frame, aud now in 
gayest bloom; but the flowers are so much 
perforated and destroyed by a little beetle, as 
to be almost useless for cut-flower work. The 
little depredator flies off on the least disturb¬ 
ance, and treats with scorn my buehaeh bel¬ 
lows. But wall-flowers are so pleasantly fra¬ 
grant and old-fashioned that most people love 
them, aud want to have them. Plants raised 
from seed sown now will blossom next Spring. 
Stock Gilly-flowers.— We all are famil¬ 
iar with the beauty aud sweetness of these, 
but many are unacquainted with their bright¬ 
ness aud profusion in April to June. For these 
early flowers, I use Emperor, Hromptou and 
Intermediate; sow them in July, grow them 
in pots plunged outside till before Winter sets 
iu, when I plunge them in a well-wrapped 
cold-frame. In early Spriug, I repot a few, 
aud introduce them to the greenhouse for 
early flowers; of the remainder, l plant out 
some iu a frame; and in April, the balance in 
a warm border, and all of them bloom most 
lavishly. Tho reason why I keep them in pots 
during their early life, Is because in this way 
they are under complete control so far as lift¬ 
ing, shifting or transplanting is concerned. I 
have now 200 plants iu bloom. 
Polyanthuses.— I have 180 square feet of 
cold-frame filled with these; they are now in 
full bloom, and lovely. I raised them from 
seeds sown last Spring. Protected from the 
parching winds aud suuslnnc of Summer and 
the fierce winds of Winter, they are hardy; 
but love most the protection afforded by a 
cold-frame. The flowers of no two plants 
are alike, but all are pretty. Wheu they have 
done blooming—end of May—I shall lift and 
remove them to a cool, shady place and heel 
them in; but will not divide them till next 
Fall, when I shall again lift, and divide and 
replant in a cold frame, as before. They are 
among the easiest of plants to raise. 
Columbines. — Aren’t they pretty? You 
may have the double white and the double 
blue, and some with flowers streaked and pen¬ 
ciled like a fancy snapdragon, but no mat¬ 
ter, if you want the cream of the gems you 
cannot have it in a streaked or doubie flower. 
Get Aquilegia (the botanical name) Sibirica, 
blue and yellow; A. glandulosa jucuuda (it is 
sometimes called A. g.vera),blue aud white; A. 
Olyrnpica, blue and white, large and lovely; 
A. coerulea, blue aud white; A. ccerulea alba 
loften called A. Jamesii) white; A. trnneata 
(often called A.Californica) red, and A. ehry- 
santha, yellow, and the latest blooming of 
all. If you will sow these uow, you can have 
blooming plants next Summer; but if you de¬ 
lay sowing till Fall, you will have to wait for 
a year more before they will flower. If your 
seedsman has not got them, order them 
through him; he can get them for you. These 
species are quite hardy. 
Nicotiana Affinis.— Yes, "Horticola,” it 
is a capital garden plant, but some folks— 
friend Allen of the Floral Cabinet, for in¬ 
stance—do not like it. But there are other 
tobacco plants of the same style of growth— 
among those not weeds, N. suaveolens, which 
is not uncommon in cultivation, is not unlike 
it. I became interested in N. affinis in 1881 
(Rural, page 564), grew and flowered it in 
1882 (Rural, page 408), and again called at¬ 
tention to it in the Rural (page 114) in 1888, 
when I mentioned it as a tender perennial As 
a window plant. Miss Nellie Mason, of Ray¬ 
mond Street, Cambridge, grew it in 1882-83, 
and quite successfully so far as keeping it 
alive aud fresh, but it did not blossom before 
Spring. It was an out-door summer-grown 
plant, however. I am not in sympathy with 
any attempt to keep over as perennials some¬ 
what tender plants that, treated as annuals, 
are as easily raised and brought to as full 
floral, perfection in oue season as are petunias 
or Drummond Phlox. And there are many 
such plants, verbenas, Grandiflorum Lark¬ 
spurs, Salvia spleudens, Cardinal Mimulus 
and Red Valerian, for instauce. 
Imported Budded Roses.— Last Spring 
(1“.84> we imported a lot of 50 varieties of hy¬ 
brid remontant roses from Veitoh of London. 
They were budded ou the Manetti. They had 
suffered a little before getting here, and we 
lost a few at first. 1 cut them hard back, 
planted them out in good ground and mulched 
them; they' grew more or less strong, all 
flowered and several u ado large, fine bushes. 
I left them undisturbed and without further 
protection over winter, but before Winter set 
in I headed them back well, as I wauted the 
wood for cuttings. Now, 1 find that all that 
were alive last Fall are liviug still; a few got 
hurt a little, but not more, proportionately, 
tlnu is the case among our roses on their own 
roots. Nevertheless, iu the case of roses that 
flourish ou their own roots, I much prefer 
them iu this way. william falconer. 
Queens Co., N. Y. 
farm cs, 
BINDING TWINE. WHAT IS IT? 
The self-binding reaper, cutting, binding, 
aud delivering the bundles ready for shock¬ 
ing, thus, iu heavy grain, saving the labor of 
at least five men and relieving the farmer's 
•wife of tho heavy work of feeding so much 
extra help, ranks as a labor-saver second to 
none. By its use what was really the most 
trying and dreaded work of the year is now 
a mere pastime. One of the little things on 
which depend important results was the pro¬ 
viding of the proper material for biudlug the 
grain; tiist wire was used, and while this held 
the bundles in a splendid manner, the pres¬ 
ence of the wire was aftersvard a great draw¬ 
back; pieces got mixed with the grain, aud 
with the straw, thus injuring the quality of 
each. Twines made of hemp aud jute were 
tried, and they decayed quickly in wet 
weather, aud the grass-hoppers delighted in 
eating them, and thus making bad work. The 
twine now used, aud which gives perfect satis¬ 
faction, is made of Manilla and Sisal, equal 
parts. 
Mauilla is, beyond all comparison, the 
strongest of the fiber plants. It is a native of 
Luzon, the largest of the Phiilipiue Islands, a 
group lying in the tropics south and east of 
Asia, it is one of the Musas of the same 
family to which the bauana belongs, which it 
much resembles. It grows readily from seed, 
and also from suckers, aud when cut down, 
like all the banana class, it readily sprouts 
from the same root; and as it matures in 
three years, and con be grown iu any tropical 
