forating the wood. This puncture is round, 
and the epidermis is raised a trifle. Around 
the puncture is a dark ring, appearing, under 
a stronger lens, to consist of a number of cells, 
irregularly filled with dark, reddish-brown 
matter. The whole has strikingly the appear¬ 
ance of a bark pierced by some insect, which it 
sucked and left for auother spot. This could 
only have been done by a hemipterous insect. 
. . . There are several small hemiptera—Cic- 
adellina and others—that could have done it.” 
Dr. G. W. Harlow, of the Bussey Institute, 
Mass., says of it. ... “ On examining the 
specimens of the raspberry canes Bent, I ex¬ 
pected to find the fungus not uncommon on 
Raspberries; namely’, Aschochyta pallor. A 
microscopic examination, however, although 
showing the mycelium of some fungus, did not 
give auy evidence of the presence of the par¬ 
ticular species expected. The impression 
derived from examining the stems, was that 
the trouble was not originally produced by a 
fungus. . . . The specimens sent me were 
not in the proper state to decide the matter 
absolutely, but it seems probable that the 
trouble originated in the stiug of some insect. 
Whether in a later stage the fuugus, Aschoehy- 
ta pallor, may not be developed, is still an open 
question. . . . The existence of the disease 
has not yet been called to my attention by 
Raspberry growers of this region, but it may 
hereafter turn up near Boston.” 
Prof. Chas. H. Peek, State Museum of Natu¬ 
ral History, Albany, N. Y., writes : "I have no 
doubt the affection of the raspberry canes is 
fungoid in its character. I find fuugoid fila¬ 
ments in the spots, and in some of them there 
are minute brown or blackish dots, scarcely 
visible to the naked eye, 
That the berries carry well and will stand a 
good deal of rough handling without spoiling, 
I know from personal experience. In a tem¬ 
perature of 101“' in the shade I picked a quart 
basket full of ripe berries, covered it with paper 
and tied it up. This basket I took with me on a 
carriage ride of several miles, then by rail to 
New York, through the city in a street-car, on 
another railroad trip of thirty-five miles, and 
on another wagon ride. The basket was then 
kept in a warm room and not opened until 
two days afterwards, when the berries were 
found to be in good eatable condition. 
Messrs. Williams' Boil is a stiff clay, appar¬ 
ently not very favorable for the best develop¬ 
ment of Raspberries, and the plants, growing 
on the ridge of a slight elevation, seemed to 
have had no more than ordinary cultivation— 
rather less. They have never received winter 
protection, and from the fact that half-hardy 
kinds — Hudson River, Antwerp, Brinckle’s 
Orange, and even Brandywine and Highland 
Hardy—are winter-killed on these grounds, I 
should consider this new variety entirely hardy. 
If the “Montclair ” Raspberry will succeed 
elsewhere as well as in its native place, the 
Messrs. Williams stand a fair chance of mak¬ 
ing as valuable an addition to the list of Rasp¬ 
berries as they have given to that of Black¬ 
berries. with the introduction of the far-famed 
Kittatinny. F. M. Hexamer. 
[Reference is made elsewhere to how the 
Montclair has stood the past, winter. We are 
glad that Dr. Hexamer so nearly repeats our 
owu impressions, as stated last year.— Eds.] 
glass. Very few trees are yet bearing in Cali¬ 
fornia. We send herewith one specimen of 
the largest dried Persimmon received—the 
‘Hyakume.’” 
cool house, and some Crotons I purchased 
came to grief. But all the plants usually raised 
in window gardening, did well with us. Yel¬ 
low Jessamine flowered, Begonias, too, have 
been full of blossom, while Sweet Alyssutn, 
lifted in the fall, has been white all winter, and 
not the least of our floral treasures have been 
plants and cuttings sent us from the Rural 
Grounds.” , 
CUCUMBER CULTURE, 
Although the cucumber is pronounced by 
physicians to be very unhealthy, yet it is very 
generally cultivated; aud, iu fact, no kitchen 
garden can be complete without it. It usually 
sells for a good price in market, aud I, for one, 
am very fond of it, especially iu the form of 
pickles, if these are put up as they should be. 
My mode of culture Is to dig out good-sized 
BLUNT’S WHITE PROLIFIC CORN 
holes, six feet apart each way, and place about 
one peck of well-rotted manure in each ; then 
fill up somewhat higher thau the original sur¬ 
face, so that after the dirt settles, it will be 
about level with, the surrounding ground, and 
plant eight or ten seeds in each hill. If very 
dry, I give them a sprinkling each evening 
after sunset, before they come up as well as 
through the season, for they are plants which 
require considerable moisture. I hoe often, 
and after daugcr from the striped bug is passed, 
thin to four plants iu a hill. 
The striped bug, Diabrotica vittala. 
We copy the following article from the 
Weekly New York Sun because we desire to 
make a comment or so : 
“ Blunt’s Prolific Corn.— Quite a little 
breeze has of late spruug up among the seeds¬ 
men of this city over the above-named corn. 
It seems to have been pretty widely distributed 
by the Agricultural Departmcntsome two years 
since, and was well thought of, especially by 
the farmers of New Jersey, a number of whom 
had a good crop of it the past season. One 
farmer in Bergen County wrote to his favorite 
agricultural paper, describing this new corn, 
but at the same time was feeding it out to his 
stock, never dreaming that it was worth more 
than other varieties for seed. (1) But when 
his letter appeared in print, the editor of a 
rival sheet bought up the remaining stock of 
this corn, and sold the greater part to one of 
our seedsmen (2) as a new, valuable, and very 
scarce variety. The latter party announces: 
“ 1 We have been fortunate in securing from 
the origiuator his entire stock of the above 
and then proceeds to name the price, ranging 
from 75 cents per pound by mail to §10 per 
bushel by express. Of course, this announce¬ 
ment of a new variety of corn of such great 
value made all the other seedsmen a little 
uneasy, as it was evident that a brisk demand 
would follow so much talk about the merits of 
this new sort. But after a little inquiry, they 
discovered that there was more than one farmer 
in New Jersey, and probably elsewhere, who 
had cultivated Blunt's prolific corn, and had a 
limited supply on hand 
seems to 
be a natural enemy of the cucumber, and 
against him I have tried all sorts of remedies 
which I have seen recommended. Boxes with 
thin cloth tacked over the top, are effectual 
preventives, but if one has many hills, devices 
of this sort are expensive. The last season I 
kept vines free from bugs by the use of ashes 
and kerosene. 1 moistened the ashes with kero¬ 
sene aud applied a handful to the center of 
each hill. It seemed to spread too strong an 
odor for them, and they beat a retreat. After 
commencing to bear, we look them over every 
day aud gather some for pickles, saving a few 
of the earliest and most perfect ones for seed, 
aud when they are ripe we pick them off and 
place them iu the suu a few days ; then the 
seed is taken out, washed clean, dried and put 
in paper bags for the next spring’s planting. 
Clifton. 
THE JAPAN PERSIMMON OR KAKI-(Dios 
pyros Kaki.) 
These do not occur 
in all the spots, from which circumstance I 
infer that some of the spots are sterile ; that 
is, they do not perfect the spores of the fun¬ 
gus, but are, nevertheless, as injurious to the 
plant. The blackish dots produce spores, and 
from their character I should refer them to the 
genus Phouia—one species of which has proved 
injurious to Grapes, and another to garden 
Lobelias. . . . Until I can learn more of 
the disease, the only remedy I can suggest is 
the obvious one of cutting up and burning all 
the affected canes, so as to prevent the spread 
of the disease. If this be done before the spores 
mature aud are disseminated, it may have this 
effect. 
“ But there is auother point on which we need 
light. Do the spores lodge in the canes, and 
germinate aud peuetrate their tissues? or do 
they fall on the ground, and, when a young 
shoot is first pushing its way to the light and 
comes in contact with them, do they then enter 
it and live in its tissues until it is fully devel¬ 
oped, and then burst forth ? I suspect the 
latter is the case with the raspberry rust, and 
that it can be overcome only by rooting up 
the whole plant. This caue fuugus may be 
different, but by watching it to see if it is con¬ 
fined to the same tuft or cluster of caues from 
year to year, the question can be settled. 
Those fungi that live in the inner tissues of 
plants are difficult to deal with except by de¬ 
stroying the plaut with the fungus; for exter¬ 
nal applications cannot reach them. In ease 
of external growers, like mildew, the sulphur 
remedy is available.’' 
The nature of the disease and the best rem¬ 
edy therefor will be further investigated by 
each of these gentlemen, and doubtless by other 
experts also ; and we shall continue from time 
to time to inform our readers of any fresh dis¬ 
coveries in that connection. 
For two j’cars past this plant has been ad¬ 
vertised in this country, and is now for sale by 
leading nurserymen. What is it good for? 
A trustworthy answer may now be given, since 
some of the best varieties have fruited iu this 
country. 
The fruit of the largest varieties, when ripe, 
is about the 6ize of the Acme tomato, though 
not so flattened “ at the poles." In other 
words, it is deeper from the stem vertically 
through, aud not so wide. The color is much 
like that of the tomato—in some varieties red, 
in others yellow. 
When not fully ripe it is very “puckery,” 
and in 6ouie varieties even the ripe fruit is 
astringent. In Japan this astringency is re¬ 
moved by packing iu tubs of bran, a method 
of packing with the details of which we are 
not familiar. The flavor of the best sorts is 
sweet, and, from all we can learn, somewhat 
insipid rather than delicious. 
A reduction of prices 
(3) followed among rival seedsmen, and the 
first drop was from §10 to $8; aud then a third 
party offered it for §4 a bushel, at which figure 
it will probably remain for this season. The 
variety is certainly a very promising oue, es¬ 
pecially for the Middle and Northern States. 
The graiu is very white aud slightly indented, 
and the ears of medium size and well filled. It 
is claimed that ou good, rich soils, each stalk 
will bear from four to six ears, and in some in¬ 
stances double this number, a hundred bushels 
per acre being but a moderate yield.” 
(1) Mr. Blunt described his corn in the Rural 
New-Yorker of January 11, some time before 
the letter above referred to appeared in the 
“favorite journal of a farmer iu Bergen Co." 
W r e, at that time, knew very little of Mr. Blunt. 
As his article to us made several statements re¬ 
specting the yield of his corn, which we could 
scarcely credit, those statements were elided. 
Had we known him then as well as we now 
know him, bis article would have appeared in 
print as it was written. 
(2) We secured of Mr. Blunt his entire stock 
for one of our New York seedsmen, only stipu¬ 
lating with the latter that we should be pro¬ 
vided (at cost) with a sufficient amount to sup¬ 
ply tlie demands of our free distribution of it 
among our subscribers. As it is our invariable 
rule never to sell seeds or plants, the bill was 
presented to, and paid by this N. Y. seed 
firm. (3) As regards the reduction in price from 
§10 to §4 per bushel (if such is the ease), we 
have only to say that we are confident the sup¬ 
ply of the genuine variety in the bauds of any 
one person is necessarily small aud that we 
should greatly prefer to procure seed from Mr. 
Blunt's stock direct. 
A WINTER’S EXPERIENCE WITH A 
CHEAP GREEN-HOUSE. 
Last season Mrs. Annie L. Jack gave in these 
pages a description of a cheap green-house 
she had built. Being a new venture it was 
impossible at the time to foretell how the 
little winter-garden would 6tand the rigor of 
a Canadian winter with the slight amount of 
fire heat she intended to give it. But now 
that spriug suushine furnishes quite sufficient 
heat, and the trouble is to keep the place cool 
without a fire, she gives our readers the fol¬ 
lowing account of her winter’s experience: 
“ We had built this 6mall leau-toat the south 
side of the kitchen, aud opened a door from 
there into it. A small office stove and the heat 
from the cooking stove have been amply suf- 
ficent to keep therein an even temperature, as 
all the chips and small bits of wood were used 
in the day-time and a fire of small coal put on 
about five o'clock in the afternoon in cold 
weather. The consequence has been that we 
have had fine, thrifty plants, and a constant 
succession of bloom, all winter, the Chinese 
Primroses, Geraniums and others of that 
klud doing well in a cool bin at a distauce 
i from the fire, while our Heliotropes and Calla 
Lilies blossomed just above the fire, aud a 
| stand, all the length with five rows of shelves, 
gave extra heat and light to plants that needed 
them. Roses, red, yellow, and white, the rich 
Marfeschal Niel, and the ruddy James Spruut 
with many other sorts, have been a delight to 
us in many ways, while we have enjoyed the 
pleasure of giving away thirty-six bouquets 
during the long dreary winter. 
All the girls aud boys of the household owu 
plants and have enjoyed their bloomiug, while 
at the time of birth-days among themselves or 
their little neighbors, they have delighted iu 
giving away a pretty blossoming plaut. 
The door into the kitchen is always open ex¬ 
cept when that apartment is to be swept; then 
the door is carefully closed to exclude duet. It 
was a very pleasant hit of summer iu which to 
work, or sit with a book or a frieud, and if one 
of the children seemed to need quiet, or com¬ 
plained of some slight ailment, the usual pre¬ 
scription has been to seud the ailiug oue to our 
Italy to sit iu the sunshine that seemed to 
make summer all the time on that side of the 
house. Even little two-year-old walks about 
there without doing auy mischief and regular- 
ly admires his own plants, and telle us which 
is “my flower.” Such a greenhouse is a luxu¬ 
ry many can attaiu, aud in early spring is use¬ 
ful for raising cuttings, and seedlings, while 
lettuce, cress and radishes supply salad, that 
cannot then be otherwise raised. Perhaps the 
money it cost, might have bought us other 
luxuries, hut that is a matter of taste, aud I 
am satisfied with its success. Of course, one 
need not expect to keep stove plants in such a 
AN EXPERT’S OPINION OF THE MONT. 
CLAIR RASPBERRY. 
The following correspondence with regard 
to this new Raspberry will doubtless be of in¬ 
terest to many of our readers : 
Croton, N. J. 
Dr. F. M. Hexamer—Dear Sir: I saw the 
seedling Raspberry of Messrs. Williams, of 
Montclair, this season, aud was favorably im¬ 
pressed with it. I learned from them that you 
had jbeen to see it also, and I would like, as 
the Rural New-Yorker has described aud 
illustrated it, to have you give its readers your 
impression in regard to it, being a disinterested 
aud competent authority. W. W. Ward. 
New Castle, Westchester Co., N. Y. 
I have seen this seedling Raspberry—now 
named Montclair, I think—at the nursery of 
Messrs. E. & J. G. Williams, Montclair, N. J. 
At the time of my visit the bight of the bear¬ 
ing season was already over; but, neverthe¬ 
less, the long rows of Btroug, upright canes, 
covered with large, dark-green leaves, and 
literally loaded down with large berries, were 
a sight to behold. The main character and 
appearance of the plaut aud fruit are much 
like those of the Philadelphia, only more vig¬ 
orous and larger, and even more productive. 
Ou closer examination, however, the berries 
are fouud to be finer-grained, more conically 
shaped aud firmer. In color there is hardly 
auy difference between the two varieties. In 
quality the Montclair is, although not equal to 
the foreign varieties, decidedly more sprightly 
and aromatic than the Philadelphia. 
CARROT CULTURE 
The carrot prefers a light, sandy loam of 
medium fertility. A good coat of manure ap¬ 
plied to the soil the previous year, will prove 
of advantage; but if it is manured the same 
season, it should he with guauo after the crop 
is up. 
A» a Garden Crop. 
For garden culture the earliest crop should 
be sowu as soou as the grouud is fit to work. 
Late crops for winter use can be sowu auy 
time before the middle of Juue. The seed 
should be soaked a couple of days in water, 
aud immediately afterwards mixed with a small 
quantity of ashes or plaster. This will pre¬ 
vent the seed from adhering together and it 
eau then he sowu more eveDly. Sow iu rows 
fifteen inches apart and cover the seed with 
about half nu inch of soil. Later, the youug 
plants should be thinned to three inches apart 
iu the row. Cultivate diligently, and remove 
all weeds from the rows. The carrot crop is 
PERSIMMON “HYAKUME.” 
The Kaki will not perfect its fruit in this 
climate; that is, in a climate similar to that of 
New York City. The latitude of Washington 
will probably prove its northern fruit limit. 
We have lately received from Mr. Charles 
Shinn, the obliging editor of the California 
Horticulturist, a small box of dried Japan Per¬ 
simmons, of the largest of which, called “ Hy¬ 
akume,” we have made a correct copy. These 
remind us, iu flavor, both of the fig and the 
date, though they are inferior to either. In 
appearance one might easily mistake them for 
figs. The flesh, however, is tougher, and the 
seeds, as large as dimes, are flat and as hard as 
stones. Mr. Shinu writes us : “ The Persim- 
rnous were from a box of dried fruit recently 
received from Japan. They should have been 
in very much the state of the ordinary Smyrna 
dried figs sold iu all of our markets —were 
they so? The fresh fruit ia, of course, not 
ripe at this season (April 3d) unless under 
