f 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
tested it, we imported a quantity of the seeds 
the past spring, sowed them, and have saved 
the seeds for this Distribution. The vines, 
growing about four feet high, are remarkably 
vigorous aud prolific, and the peas ripen 
throughout a longer period than those of any 
other variety we have ever cultivated. One of 
our engravings is copied from the catalogue of 
Messrs. Carter & Co. (Loudon), the produce) s; 
the other shows the pod and pea as we raised 
them. It may be that in rich soil their size 
would more nearly approximate the foreign 
portrait; but, like most other trade pictures, 
it is probably much overdrawn. As shown by 
our engraving, however, the pod is very large 
and is entirely filled by the peas, which average 
larger than any other peas we have ever seen. 
They are somewhat wriukled and said to be of 
the first quality. As these peas, even by the 
producers, are not yet offered in large quanti¬ 
ties, we needed both all we could import and 
all we could raise for our subscribers. Hence 
we did not cook any of them, and can only 
state " What Others Say,” as to their quality. 
If offered at all by the trade in this country 
next season, they mu6t necessarily be offered 
at a very high price, since in England they are 
at present held at $30 per bushel at wholesale. 
Green peas are everywhere Justly esteemed as 
among the most delicious of vegetables, and 
we offer the Telephone merely as a new variety 
that may prove of superior excellence. It may 
prove in this climate an entire failure. Only a 
comprehensive trial eau determine its value. 
The quantity of seeds of this which we shall 
send out will probably be small—not over 25 
to each subscriber. 
Mold's Ennobled OaU. 
Little need be said of this variety which 
seems to be an improvement of the Black Tar- 
taiian. Mr. Mold is au English farmer who 
has devoted years to the improvement of wheat 
aud oats. Of six new varieties of oats which 
were sown upon six-fortieths of an acre (33 
feet square to each), at the Rural’s farm, this 
variety yielded most. We have not yet meas¬ 
ured the. yield but believe it to be at the rate of 
at least 86 bushels peracre. The engraving of 
the straw and panicle is of a selected plant. 
BeblTs Aqnllegln. 
In our last regular distribution, we scut out 
a crossed Aquilegia of our own, as far as it 
went. Wo now offer seeds of au Aquilegia, 
the origin of which is in part explained in the 
accompanying letter from Mr. Bebb. It bears 
the largest flower of any variety or species we 
have ever seen, the petals being yellow—some¬ 
times white aud the sepals rose or a light 
bluish-purple. The engraving is from life. 
By accident a bag of seeds of A. crysautha 
was emptied into our supply of the Bebb seeds. 
But they are well “mixed” so that a large 
proportion will be found to be of the latter 
sort: 
Fountaindale. Ill. 
Dear Sir: — I did not produce the supposed 
hybrid Aquilegia of which you have received 
seeds from Mr. Falconer aud Prof. Sargent. 
Soon after Mr. E. Hall, of Athens, Menard 
Co., Ills., returned from his botanical excur¬ 
sion to the mountains of Colorado, in 1862, he 
sent me three young plants, seedlings of A. 
eserulea—I cannot 6ay positively that these 
were xaised from Rocky Mountain seed--hut 
that is my strong impression. I believe that 
sufficient time bad not elapsed since Mr. Hall’s 
return, to enable him to have produced the 
seeds on his own grounds from which the 
plants were grown that he sent me. Two of 
the plants were A. coerulea pure—the other the 
peculiar ouc, of which I scut a root to Dr. 
Gray, (aud came very near killing the origiual 
plant in making the separation.) I have this 
Aquilegia growing in a rock work, aud last 
season a number of secdliugs came up which I 
left uudislurbcd. A few of them have flowered 
—no two being just alike, nor any of them 
like the parent. One has yellowish petals aud 
pink sepals. Yours truly, M. 8 . Bebb. 
Mngtiolin Seeds. 
We propose to send to subscribers seeds of 
the following Magnolias : Lennei (see cut), 
Soulangeana, Frasori, acumiuata, glauca aud 
Umbrella. It is not difficult to procure seeds 
of the last three or four, but the others bear 
seed sparingly aud they are necessarily very 
hard to obtain in quantities large enough for 
our purpose. 
Magnolia Lennei originated some years 
ago In Italy, and is probably a hybrid between 
M. Conspicua aud purpurea. Of all the Japau 
or China species, this is the showiest and with 
us, the hardieBt. The trees will often bloom 
when but two years old from graft. The flow¬ 
ers are very large—at least six inches across— 
of a deep rosy-purple outside and nearly white 
within. It blooms in this climate about the 
latter part of April—(our drawing was made 
May 17, when the tree was half covered with 
flowers) and then, very often again in August. 
(We count to-day, Aug. 2,15 buds, six of which 
are showing the petals.) The leaves are firm 
and leathery, of au obovato shape, acuminate 
at both ends aud about eight inches in length, 
and generally suffused with a bronze color. 
The trees grow rapidly-*-four-year old plants 
being eight feet in hight. Ouis have never 
been injured by frost. 
M. Soulangeana is probably of the same 
parentage as Lenndi. Its appearance is much 
the same except that the outside of the flowers 
is purple only at the base. It is not so hardy, 
however, aud, therefore less floriferous. 
M. Fraseri, the Ear-leaved Umbrella-tree is 
found in Virginia and Kentucky, along the 
Alicghauies and southward, tbongh but spar¬ 
ingly. This blooms in June bearing yellowish 
flowers, aud sometimes again in autumn. It 
forms a small tree aud is therefore well adapt¬ 
ed to small lawns. The seeds are always 
scarce. 
M. Acuminata. —This is a native of many 
States of the Union aud attains to a size of 
100 feet or more in hight. Thus, it is well 
adapted to grounds of large extent. This tree, 
however, may be cut back from year to year, 
much to its improvement in compactness, sym¬ 
metry and size of leaf. The flowers appear in 
June—are of a pale greenish-yellow color with 
a slight fragrance. The fruit, about three or 
four inches long, resembles a cucumber— 
hence the name of Cucumber-tree. It gives 
the stock to uurserymen upon which most of 
the other species of Magnolia are worked. 
M. glauca. —This is the Sweet Bay and is 
nearly evergreen here and, like M. graudiflora, 
completely so in the South. It forms at best a 
email tree and licars wax-like white flowers, 
three inches broad, that perfume the air for 
miles about the swamps in which they bloom. 
It is found wild from Massachusetts to Florida 
near the coast, and though growing wild in 
THE TELEPHONE PEA—FROM LIFE. 
daiup places, it thrives in any garden soil not 
too sandy and dry. 
M. Umbrella or Tripetala.— We should 
prefer Tripetala us the specific name, siuce It 
bears no resemblauce to au umbrella, that ever 
we could discover. It is found in Penn., Va. 
and Ky. According to Dr. Gray, the leaves are 
sometimes three feet in length—we have often 
seen them at least two. It begins to bloom the 
middle of May, aud eoutiuucs through June. 
The flowers are large, loose, perishable with no 
fragrance. The fruit, however, is ornamental, 
being of a rose color four or live inches long, 
and of an ovoid-oblong shape. It is a very 
hardy species, grows to the hight of 20 feet or 
more, and, if encouraged to branch low, forms 
in connection with small-leaved deciduous or 
evergreen trees, an object of striking beauty. 
It grows very readily from seeds, and, what is 
unusual among the Magnolia family, trans¬ 
plants easily. 
We have a seedling of M. Soulangeaua that 
was three years old last winter. The seed was 
planted in a four-inch pot where it germinated 
in a few weeks, and was planted out in the 
open ground the following spring where it has 
since remained. It is uow six feet high. The 
Evergreen Maguolia of the South is plauted 
everywhere, and is everywhere esteemed one of 
the most beautiful trees that grow. But the 
Magnolias we have mentioned, though not 
evergreen, should find a place, in every lawn, 
in the door yard of every farmer, in the garden 
of all who value our finest shrubs and trees. 
We hope that our “Distribution ” may effec¬ 
tually assist to that end. 
AhfeB Sibirica. 
This tree which is as yet unknown in this 
country, except to a few arboriculturists and 
nurserymen, is destined, wc believe, to become 
one of the most valuable evergreens in culti¬ 
vation. Young trees in general appearance 
resemble the Balsam Fir. but the leaves are 
longer aud darker, the habit more compact; 
they do not grou* so fast, and, what is of the 
utmost importance, are among the hardiest 
conifers known. Those who know of the good 
qualities of the Siberian Spruce, would never 
again plant the popular Norway Spruce, Eu¬ 
ropean or Balsam Fir, as ornaments about 
their homes. Even young plants are entirely 
hardy. While with us the Norway Spruce, 
Nordmann’s Fir, Silver Fir and the Austrian 
Pine have been injured by winter’s winds and 
frosts, this has never lost a leaf. From all 
that we can learn, it is not, either, liable 
to a loss of its lower foliage which reuders 
the Firs and Spruces above-named such un¬ 
gainly objects after they have become 10 or 
15 years of age. Of Abies Sibirica. Mr. Josiah 
Iloopes in his standard “ Book of Evergreens,” 
says: •• It, is au Asiatic speeies. from the moun¬ 
tains of Siberia and Altai, where it is found in 
large numbers, and forms whole forests of the 
richest, darkest verdure, reaching to au eleva¬ 
tion of from 2,000 to 5,000 feet. It generally 
grows from 25 to 50 feet in hight, and is re¬ 
markably dense and compact in growth. We 
have found this species exceedingly hardy in 
all soils and situations, even when quite youug, 
and do not hesitate to recommend it for gen¬ 
eral cultivation as one of the best of the smaller 
class of conifers.” 
In reply to a letter of ours, that worthy 
veteran nurseryman, Robert Douglas, of Wau¬ 
kegan. His., says: *■ Abies Sibirica germinates 
as well as au.v Silver Fir. We have them stand¬ 
ing side by side, and it is all that could be de¬ 
sired only, as you know, it is a slow grower. 
We prize this tree so highly, that we sowed 20 
pounds of its seeds this spring. It is one of the 
three Conifers able to endure the climate of St. 
Petersburg."' Wc have nut space to present to 
the reader all that may be said in its favor. It 
must suffice to say that we are glad of the 
opportunity wo have embraced of distributing 
so valuable an evergreen ; as we confidently 
believe that, years hence, it will prove itself 
one of the most valuable and permanent addi¬ 
tions which have ever been made to decorative 
grounds. Our seed is imported from St. Peters¬ 
burg, and has been, through an esteemed 
friend, saved specially for us. The engraving 
represents perfectly a twig of life size, 
cut off from our specimen Aug. 1st. 
Penlstenions. 
Among the many species of hardy 
perennials now coining into fashion, 
there is no more showy genus than that 
of Peutstemou. There are about seventy- 
five species found in the United States, 
and it is safe to say that ninety per cent, 
of them at least are worthy of cultivation, 
which is somewhat remarkable consider¬ 
ing the size of the genus. Among the 
best speeies adapted for geueral cultiva¬ 
tion, we will meutiou P. graudittoius, P. 
Murrayanus, P. Cobtea aud its variety 
purpureus, P. seeundiflorus. P. Torreyi, 
P. venustus. P. glaber, P, Menziesii, P. 
RichardSoui, etc. The last two are shrubby 
species, aud they have all proved hardy 
in the latitude of New York City without 
a particle of protection, and would un¬ 
doubtedly prove equally hardy much 
further north. There are a number of 
Mexican species in general cultivation in 
Europe and Ameiiea as greenhouse or 
bedding plants, but they arc not hardy 
enough to withstand our winters, and so 
are not adapted to general cultivation 
like the hardy sorts. The Mexicau spe¬ 
cies above referred to are P. Hartwegii, 
and P. campannlatus, and these have 
given us the many beautiful hybrids so 
common in greenhouses ; they have large 
showy flowers two inches or more in 
length, bloom from July to October, and 
vary in color from white to deep crim¬ 
son. Very little attempt has been made 
thus far to hybridize our hardy sorts, but 
from what has thus far been obtained 
from crossing P. grandiflorus with P. 
Murrayanus, we are led to believe that 
as fine aud showy varieties may be ob¬ 
tained from the hardy species as from 
the teuder ones. P. grandiflorus is 
found in a wild State from Wisconsin, 
southward to Kansas. It grows from one 
to three feethigh,and produces large lilac- 
purple flowers one aud a-half to two 
inches long in June and July. P. Mur- 
rayanus is from Eastern Texas, and similar 
in habit and growth to P grandiflorus. but the 
flowers are deep scarlet, and not as broad as in 
that species. From crossing these last two 
species a well-known horticulturistand botanist 
has obtained an almost endless variety 
colors, many of them exquisitely fine and 
showy, and we have secured the entire stock of 
seeds for this distribution. The flowers most 
resemble P. Murrayanus in form, but their color¬ 
ing is very different as they vary from deep 
scarlet to almost pure white. Their poriod of 
blooming lasts from early in Jnne until about 
the 10th of July, and nothing in the way of 
hardy plants will attract more attention than 
these hybrid Pentstcmons. They are readily 
grown from seeds; these may be planted in 
open boxes in the open ground in October, 
covering the seeds one-eight of an Inch with 
fine mold, and then placing the boxes in 
fruit of aristolochia sipho. 
somewhat shaded spot, and when freezing 
weather comes covering with au inch or two 
of leaves to preveut too frequent thawings and 
freezings. They are also readily grown if 
planted in March or April in pots or boxes 
placed in a warm sunny window. As soon as 
the plants have shown their second leaves they 
ought to be transplanted to other boxe6. and 
then, as the weather becomes settled should be 
set in any ordinary garden soil, planting 
eighteen to twenty-four inches apart. They 
TWIG OF ABIES SIBIRICA. 
will not flower until the second year, but their 
great beauty will amply repay all waiting. 
They should be protected by covering with 
coarse litter or leaves in autumn, and will then 
continue blooming year after year. 
