1888 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
4<7 
WHEAT NOTES. 
DO YOU SOW A RED OR A WHITE 
WHEAT? WHY? 
ANSWERS. 
FROM IRVING D. COOK. 
Nearly every year since the weevil ravaged 
the wheat fields of Western New York, I 
have grown almost exclusively some of the 
red varieties of winter wheat. Although 
larger yields of the Clawson (the favorite 
white variety) are sometimes grown, I am 
convinced that for our average yield, one 
year with another, the red varieties on my 
farm are the most profitable, for the follow¬ 
ing reasons: They are less liable to be winter- 
killed ; they weigh more pounds to the bushel, 
and they usually command a higher price for 
flouring purposes. A prom'sing new variety 
called the Yates County Amber, is just being 
introduced among the farmers of Genesee 
county, yielding the last season, in nearly 
every instance, 30 or more bushels per acre. 
Genesee County, N. Y. 
FROM PROFESSOR SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
We sow both red and white wheats. As a 
rule, red wheats are hardier, less susceptible 
to injury from insect enemies, and thus more 
likely to give a fair return on lands some¬ 
what worn. The price of red wheat is fre¬ 
quently more than that of white. When this 
is true, it would be a reason for sowing the 
former. Red wheat can usually be sown 
earlier than white. On good, fertile wheat 
land I would ordinarily sow white wheat, in 
this latitude, from Sept. 10 to 20th. For 
earlier or later sowing I would prefer red. 
Michigan Agricultural College. 
FROM HERBERT ROOT. 
Here in North Dakota we sow only amber- 
colored hard Spring wheat, because, 1, it 
makes the best Hour in the world; 2, we can 
grow it, and but few others can; 8, it brings 
the highest price; 4, it out-yields all other 
wheat with us. 
Valley City, North Dakota. 
FROM O. C. HOWE. 
I sow both white and red wheat upon my 
farm. I sow white wheat upon stubble 
ground because I think it less liable to be hurt 
by the fly. In the main, red is best, because 
the price does not fluctuate,as has been the case 
with that for white wheat. Formerly when 
white wheat was generally raised, the buyers 
did not want it; and now that but little is 
raised the price is two cents above that for 
No. 2 red. 
Berrien County, Michigan. 
FROM S. B. HOEFGEN. 
We sow red wheat almost exclusively, 
because the red varieties are generally con¬ 
sidered more hardy and reliable. The buyers 
formerly paid more for white than for red 
wheat; but now no difference is made in the 
price, and that perhaps has had something to 
do with the great decrease in the area of 
white wheat. 
Crawfordsville, Ind. 
FROM PROF. A. J. COOK. 
I sow white wheat. As the years go by 
there is no essential difference in the price. 
Sometimes the wtiite wheat sells for more 
than the red sorts; then again the red kinds 
fetch most. In my neighborhood the Clawson 
has done better than any other wheat ever 
brought in the country. Hence I sow Clawson. 
Shiawassee County, Michigan. 
from H. cox. 
I sow red wheat, because the first consider¬ 
ation in a wheat is earliuess, then come stiff¬ 
ness of straw to make it staud well, and pro¬ 
ductiveness. Millers seem to prefer it for the 
new process of flour making. We find the 
above qualities in our best red wheats. 
Kalamazoo County, Michigan. 
FROM J. C. STRIBLING. 
I sow a small-grained, rouud, plump winter 
wheat. It is the earliest and hardiest, conse¬ 
quently it is less liable to rust, while it weighs 
more and gives more good flour per bushel 
than the white varieties. Some years whites 
do better, but my 30 years' experience with 
different varieties convinces me that wheat of 
the red sort described is the most profitable 
and reliable here for a term of years. 
Anderson County, S. C. 
FROM JONATHAN TALCOTT. 
I sow a white wheat without beards, be¬ 
cause I like the product better than that of a 
red wheat. I like a white-wheat bran far 
better for feed than a red-wheat bran, and the 
women of the house like the flour better. 
Rome, N. Y. 
FROM A. L. CROSBY. 
I sow a red wheat (Fultz) because it stands 
up better, is hardier, yields better, sells bet¬ 
ter, cures better, and is better in every way 
than any white wheat 1 know of. 
Catonsville, Md. 
FROM O. T. BATTLES. 
But little wheat is raised in this county. 
Red wheat is grown here principally. I have 
sown Fultz wheat for about seven years and 
think it superior to any of the new kinds, it 
being hardier and not so liable to winter-kill, 
and also being a good yielder. The county 
mills consider it equal to white, at least the 
roller mills will give as much flour in ex¬ 
change, and when it is sold in the Cleveland 
market the difference in price is but one cent 
per bushel. Wheat In this vicinity will not 
be over half a crop, but on higher lands far¬ 
ther back the prospects are good for a f ull 
crop. 
South Euclid. 
THE OLEASTER AND PEA-TREE 
FAMILIES. 
PROFESSOR J. L. BUDD. 
THE OLEASTER FAMILY. 
In nearly all parts of our country the 
silvery-leaved shrubs and trees have their 
uses for certain positions on the lawn, and 
among those really hardy at the West, and in 
the “ Cold North,” the oleasters, and some of 
their near relatives, take the lead in beauty 
of foliage and rare fragrance of flowers. 
With my office perfumed with a vase of the 
blossoms the idea occurs that a few notes on 
the best species may encourage their propaga¬ 
tion and dissemination. 
Eleagnus angustifolia. — The East 
European form of this is hardy everywhere 
in the Northwest. It is an erect grower and 
attains a hight of 30 feet or more, with a fine 
spread of top. The few larger specimens we 
have in Iowa have proven objects of interest 
in winter and summer, as not only the leaves 
and fruits are silvery, but the buds and young 
branches as well. The flowers of the Eastern 
form are perfect, and more fragrant than 
those of Eleag nus hortensis, and the fruit 
has no show of the red spoken of by Loudon 
and Hemsley. 
Eleagnus argentea.— Although native 
to the banks of the Upper Missouri, this fine 
shrub is rarely seen In the West. Although 
it is difficult to excel it on the score of beauty 
and oddity of foliage, its habit of sprouting 
is against it as a shrub. Hence it should be 
propagated by budding or grafting on E. an¬ 
gustifolia. In Europe I saw many specimens 
of it growing in this way. Worked at a 
hight of four to five feet, it forms a handsome 
rounded head that can be seen from afar. 
Eleagnus m acrophylla.— This is a shrub¬ 
by oriental species with glistening silver foli¬ 
age. Its fruit is also said to be more nearly 
edible than that of the other temperate-zone 
species. It is a sprouter and will give the 
best satisfaction when top-worked. 
Eleagnus longipes is not really hardy 
here. It is killed back more or less each win¬ 
ter, yet the lower limbs are always full of 
the peculiar fruit. 
Hippoph.e Sibirica.— The Sea Buckthorn 
of West Europe fails to endure our sum¬ 
mers or winters; but that of Southwest Si¬ 
beria is all right up to the 43d parallel in 
Iowa. It makes a very handsome silvery- 
leaved shrub very little given to sprouting. 
It may also unite with the Angustifolia in 
top-working as it is a near relative. 
Shepherdia argentea.— This is known 
as "Buffalo Berry” on the Upper Missouri, 
where the banks are covered with the pretty 
combination of the silvery leaves with the 
loads of red berries in late summer and early 
autumn. As it is strictly dioecious, and the 
fruit is a leading essential in the beauty of 
the large shrubs, for ornamental planting it 
should be planted in clumps of three or four. 
In certain positions on the lawn such a clump 
is very attractive. 
THE PEA-TREE FAMILY. 
The larger form of the caragana (Caragana 
Arborescens) has proven useful for screens, 
and as an ornamental tree of small size north 
of the 43d parallel at the West; but farther 
south its beauty of foliage is impaired by the 
summer neat. Some of the more beautiful 
d warf species are,ho wever, from the hotter and 
drier portions of East Europe and North-cen¬ 
tral Asia,and they will endure great summer 
heat and aridity of air, as well as the lowest 
winter temperatures. As the best of them 
are given to sprouting, they should be worked 
by budding or grafting on stocks of C. arbo¬ 
rescens. With a view to encouraging their 
propagation in this way East and West, I 
will note three or four of the species now load¬ 
ed with the rich, deep golden clusters of 
blossoms, to be followed soon by the peculiar 
little colored pods. 
C. grandiflora. —Some specimens top- 
worked four years ago on the Arborescens, 
have attracted more attention than any trees 
on the grounds. Each forms a beautifully 
rounded, pendent head, and the large, bright 
yellow, pea-shaped flowers form a handsome 
contrast with the lighter green, acacia-like 
foliage. 
C. redowskii. —This forms a contrast to 
the above, as the foliage is different in shade 
and the leaves have but two pairs of ovate, 
smooth leaflets. It is a very profuse bloomer. 
C. spinosa. —This is another varied form 
with singular spiny branches. Its clusters of 
bright yellow flowers, and its after crop of 
peculiar pods have a singular appearance 
among the thorns and handsome little leaflets. 
C. fruticosa. —This is prized as a shrub in 
East Europe, and is now warmly praised by 
some of our Eastern growers. But it will be 
prized still more when it is headed four feet 
from the ground on the Arborescens. The four 
named above are perhaps as desirable as any 
for top working, yet those who wish varied 
shades of foliage, habit of growth, and shape, 
size, and season of flower, will equally prize 
C. microphylla, C. arenaria, C. pyginae, C. 
frutescens, and C. Chamlagu. While it is 
true that these dwarf caraganas will prove 
most valuable where the shrub and orna¬ 
mental tree test is restricted by trying cli¬ 
mate, yet their peculiar foliage and flowers 
will give some of them a place over a large 
part of our country. 
Ames, Iowa. 
Womans Work. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
A BIT OF NATURE. 
T HE most charming of all gardens are 
those which give the impression of a 
‘‘naturall wildernesse,” to use Lord Bacon’s 
words—where Art is subservient to Nature, 
and indeed the art itself is Nature. A wild 
garden, where both native and foreign hardy 
plants are allowed to grow at their own sweet 
will, with just enough training to render 
them effective, compared with formal bed¬ 
ding-out, is as a sonsie country maid com¬ 
pared with Miss Flora MacFlimsey. It is a 
sign that good taste is on the increase nowa¬ 
days that such graceful, natural arrange¬ 
ment is superseding the old-time horrors of 
carpet-bedding. 
One of the prettiest natural gardens the 
writer recollects consisted of a little nook sur¬ 
rounding a tiny pond. It was an irregular 
bit of water, with 
“ Many a fairy foreland, set 
With willow, weed and mallow." 
The pond itself was filled with water-lilies 
and duckweed, the latter being present with¬ 
out leave. Duckweed can only be compared 
with the obtrusive "pusley” described in 
“My Summer in a Garden;” it takes up its 
quarters without any invitation whatever, 
and makes itself so much at home that the 
gentle water-lilies positively feel as if they 
were intruding. It can only be endured, like 
chilblains; though it may be kept in check to 
some extent, there is no cure, when it once 
gains a foothold—except filling up the pond. 
But this is a digression. 
All around the edge of this pond aquatic 
and semi-aquatic plants were arranged—the 
blue Pontederia, frail looking Arrow-head, 
Golden Club, with its orange spike, and tufts 
of rushes. Beyond this was a wide border, 
backed by a natural bank overgrown with 
pink bindweed and wild clematis. This bor¬ 
der was filled with a little of everything. 
The soil was rich peat and leaf-mold, which 
formed excellent nutriment for great clumps 
of native ferns. Mingled with the ferns were 
native orchids, Lady’s Slippers, Snakemouth, 
Ladies’ Traces, and Preacher-in-the-pulpit. 
The gorgeous foliage of caladiums rivaled the 
orchid blooms with their glowing colors, and 
everything looked, not as if it had been plant¬ 
ed, but as if it just grew there. This sounds 
a very simple bit of a garden, and so it was; 
but it was most charming—a bit of ideal hor¬ 
ticulture. 
One may arrange a garden of this style en¬ 
tirely with native plants; though in such a 
ca-e some unappreciative Goth is pretty sure 
to vex the soul of the gardener by dubbing 
them “weeds.” When it can be arranged, a 
rock border is charming, only don’t build 
one of those mausoleum-cairns of stones, 
with here a plant and there a plant, sticking 
up among the rocks, the whole being describ¬ 
ed by many misguided people as a “rockery.” 
Such arrangements are often built merely as 
an irregular pile of stones, with a top-dress¬ 
ing of soil put on with the last layer. And 
then people wonder why their plants don’t 
grow 1 If you examine rock-growing plants 
in their native habitat, you usually find 
that the fissures in which they grow widen as 
they descend, and consequently the plants 
have an unfailing supply of moisture and 
nourishment at the root. Reverse this, put a 
plant in a shallow fissure which soon diminish¬ 
es to nothing, and] it is not strange that it 
“dwindles, peaks, and pines.” This is the 
usual rockery, and very melancholy is its 
general effect. It is so often inappropriately 
planted, too—fancy red geraniums growing 
on a pile of rocks, and yet we often see this 
favorite plant so misused. First and tore- 
most, a rockery or informal border should 
give the idea of permanence, and for this 
reason hardy herbaceous plants should be 
chosen. 
“There’s fennel for you, and columbines,” 
and the latter is one of the showiest plants for 
a rock border. There is the wild columbine, 
miscalled honeysuckle, with its gay red and 
yellow flowers, livening the rugged Palisades: 
there is the more dainty Rocky Mountain col¬ 
umbine, blue and white, and the lovely 
golden columbine from Arizona—all hardy, 
and all native Americans. Then for early 
spring there i3 
** The coy anemone, that ne’er uncloses, 
Her lips until they’re blown on by the wind.” 
Most of the anemones are of mountain 
birth, and they all find a congenial home 
among the rocks. The scarlet Anemone 
fulgens is the most gorgeous flower 
of early spring, while the bright yel¬ 
low Ranunculus-flowered anemone forms 
a glorious contrast. Then there is the pale 
purple or blue Pasque Flower, which bright¬ 
ens the plains of the Northwest; all form de¬ 
sirable tenants for a semi-wild border. 
The bonnie Blue Bells are charming enough 
to find a place in every garden, and most of 
them are admirable in a rockery. They are 
real mountain-dwellers for the most part; 
they cover the slopes of the Carpathians, and 
lift up their innocent faces by snowy slopes 
of Mt. Cenis. 
Assuredly one may arrange a hardy garden 
permanently with an overflowing measure of 
success, as far as beauty goes, and with little 
trouble and less expense. The arrangement 
must never be formal or stiff: natural un¬ 
studied grace 
“ Doth more bewitch me than when art 
Is too precise In every part.” 
It may be a home of grandmother’s flowers 
—perennial phloxes, Sweet Williams, yellow 
Day lilies and Love-in-a-mist, Corn-flowers 
and pin’s, and Love-lies-bleeding, tangles of 
hardy roses and clumps of Flower de Luce. 
I think Lord Bacon’s idea for a wild garden 
could not be improved upon. He says: 
“ Trees I would have none in it, but some 
Thickets, made only of Sweet Briar and 
Honney-suckle, and some] Wilde Vine 
amongst; and the ground set with Violets, 
Strawbeiv'ies, and Prime-Roses. For these 
are sweet, and prosper in the shade. And 
these to be in the Heath, and here and there 
—not in any order. I like also little Heaps in 
the Nature of Mole-hils, (such as are in Wilde 
Heaths) to be set, some with Wilde Thyme, 
some with Pincks; some with Germander, 
that gives a good flower to the eye; some 
with Periwinckle; some with Violets; some 
with Strawberries; some with Cowslips; some 
with Daisies; some with Red Roses; some with 
Lillium convallium; some with Sweet 
Williams Red; some with Beare’s Foot, and 
the like Low Flowers, being withal, sweet 
and comely.” 
This is the very ideal .of a ^natural garden. 
Who, after reading it, could call Bacon a 
dry and musty old philosopher? It is a 
model one should bear in mind when estab¬ 
lishing a hardy border—a veritable joy for¬ 
ever to all flower-loving women. 
OUTINGS IN NEW ENGLAND. 
NO. X. 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
TT7'E consumed a,full[half of our second 
V Y New England outing .time,] k inJpro- 
louged stops on our way to the Massachusetts 
