HORTICULTURAL ITEMS. 
Pbar blight has, in several instances, been 
arrested in affected trees by syringing them 
with a weak solution of potash, and it has 
proved a preventive when applied to the 
healthy trees. Let all urchardists try this 
remedy and report their success to the Rural. 
****** Lilinm aimnum, the bcautilul 
Golden Lily of Japan, will, in its native wilds, 
sometimes attain a bight of twelve feci, and 
bear as rnauy as a hundred and seventy-five 
flowers ou a single stem. * * * * All len¬ 
der plants that have been used for bedding or 
otherwise have been out-of-doors during the 
summer, should now be housed before they 
are nipped by frost. ***** At Ade¬ 
laide, flout b Asiralia, is a botanical garden 
containing S.5U0 rare plants, besides the culi¬ 
nary plants iu common cultivation. * * * * 
Label carefully all bulbs and roots that are 
now taken up to be wintered in the greenhouse 
or in the collar. * * * * The Salisburia 
adiantilolia, or Ginkgo tree, which here gener¬ 
ally grows as a shrub, attains a highl of some 
forty or fifty feet in Cniua and Japan, and 
sometimes eveu a hundred leet. * * * * 
Do not remove nuy leaves from cuttings that 
easily wither, but Jet all remain and bury the 
tao or three lower ones under the saud in the 
cutting bed. This will assisL iu keeping the 
cutting fresh till it has struck roots. * * * * 
Last winter sun-dried peaches sold at from 
seven iooght cents per pouud, while evapora¬ 
ted peaches sold at from JO to 40 ceuts. Let lruit 
growers note this and reek to make the most 
of their crops. * * * * Many hardy an¬ 
nuals may be sown in the fail when they will 
bioom earlier than if sown in the spring. 
Among these are Pausies, Sweet Alysurn 
Mignonette, Portulaea, Nemopbila and China 
Pinks. * * * * Suoug-growiug Grape¬ 
vines should be allowed ample space ou which 
to spread. The Concord, for instance, has 
proved, in sevei’al cases, to give more fruit ou 
a given area when the vines wore twenty 
to twenty-four feet apart than at a dis¬ 
tance of twelve feet. ***** To 
prevent the red spider from gaining foot¬ 
hold on the bouse plants during the winter, 
syringe them freely with clean water. A dry, 
hot atmosphere is especially conducive to the 
spread of the pest, ff the use of the syringe 
is uot convenient, dip iho top of the plants a 
couple of times a week in a tub of water hold- 
jug a little lime in*solution. ***** Now 
is the time to give the celery a final blanching 
by heaping up the soil around the plants. 
* * * * If uot already done, it is high 
time to paint the greenhouse or conservatory, 
to repair the sashes, and to see that the heat¬ 
ing apparatus is iu order, so that all may be 
ready for the winter. * * * * Tuberoses 
that are still blooming at the approach of 
frost, can readily be lifted, planted iu pots 
and transferred to the house where they may 
continue iu bloom for several weeks 
JLonntitaral 
FLORICULTURAL JOTTINGS. 
WILLIAM FALCONER. 
A Ladies’ Garden Club.— The ladies of 
Garden Street—which hounds our garden on 
the west side— have got up a club, which they 
eall the Gardeu Club. Their object is to assist 
one another in horticultural knowledge, by 
relating their experience regarding the cul¬ 
tivation of out door and window plants, ex¬ 
perimenting with "new” things, aucl clubbing 
together for the purchase of seeds and garden¬ 
ing periodicals. They meet once a week at 
some member’s house when horticultural topics 
are diseussei within, and the gardeu examined 
without. 
What's in a name ?—The cut-leaved variety 
of our Western prairie Dock is called Sil- 
phiurn terebiuihaeeum var. pinuatitidum; the 
Russian Daisy of our borders, Chrysautbemum 
Tchehatehewii; an annual composite we grow. 
AeliropapuUB fcsebkuhrioides; the Climbing 
Hydrangea, Schizoph ragma hydraugeoides ; 
our wild, White-Hinged Orchis, Dabenaria 
blephariglottis; and a common window-basket 
plant, Chioropkjtum Sternbergianum. 
The Sorrel Tree.— This handsome shrub 
or tree (Oxydeudrum arboreum) is found wild 
In rich woods iu Pennsylvania to Ohio and 
southwards along the Alleghauies, where it 
grows from 13 to 40 feet high. It is not gen¬ 
erally considered very hardy so far north as 
Boston, hut in the gardeu here are several 
hushes of it, some in open places and others 
in shrubbery clumps, and they grow unscathed. 
About the middle of July every brauchlet is 
terminated by a loose panicle of one-sided 
racemes of white flowers, that last in fair con¬ 
dition into August. The leaves, too, assume a 
goid-and-erimson coloring iu the autumn. Not¬ 
withstanding the highly ornamental character 
of this plaut, it is hardly ever found in private 
gardens; indeed, only a few nurserymen have 
specimens for sale. Prof. Sargent tells me that 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SEPT.20 
at the Arnold Arboretum they have found it 
ratber difficult to propagate—the seedlings &ie 
off unaccountably. 
Japanese Ivy on Tomb-stones. —Ampelopsis 
tricuspidata is being extensively planted here¬ 
about, and although it is one of :he best and 
most appropriate vines for covering buildings, 
fences, old stumps or auy thing it can cling to, 
there is certainly u limit to its use. It is not. with¬ 
out a feeling of deep regret I see it extensively 
used in our cemeteries to cover head-stones and 
monuments. The “ Ivy” is planted at the back 
of the head-stones and encouraged to cover 
them all but the lettering in front, and eveu 
costly aud elaborately-carved monuments are 
being ru Jilessly buried iu the same fashion. 
And the lot-owners only are to blame for this 
sacrilege—I will not eall it by a milder nutne. 
Common Virgin’s Bower. —This lovely Cle¬ 
matis now iu all its glory, draping trees, and 
spreading over bushes, banks and rocks, is a 
common wild plant, to be sure, but there are 
few more comely garden ones. It grows 
readily from transplanted roots, layers, and 
seeds, and for festooning old stumps, fences, 
and trellises it is admirably adapted. The naked¬ 
ness of some of our country homes is hardly 
in conformity with this progressive age, aud 
this is the more to he regretted when we know 
our woods aud waysides teem with plants as 
fitly suited to adorn a palace garden as to 
enrich a farmer's yard. The Climbing Jlemp- 
weed, Ground-Nut, Trumpet-Creeper. Climbing 
Fumitory, aud Wild Balsam-Apple, are good 
examples of common, wild but ornamental 
vines. 
Some Variegated Bedding Plants.— Mr. 
Farquhar, head gardener at Forest Hills Ceme¬ 
tery, considers the variegated Stevia the best 
of variegated bedding pluuts. It flourishes in 
open, suuuy places, and hears any amount of 
pinching with impunity. The variegated 
Sweet Alyssum is almost as good in its way. 
The variegated German “Ivy” and the variega¬ 
ted Chrysanthemum he commends for slightly 
shaded places, but says that with him they have 
proved useless for suuuy exposures. He has 
given up growing Gentaurea caudidissima, 
because it sometimes damps off very badly. 
But when he lived at Providence, he found this 
silvery plant both good aud reliable. 
A Butterflv Flower-Bed. —Near the rock¬ 
ery in Forest Hills Cemetery is a carpet flower¬ 
bed, tbe ground work being mostly composed 
of Mexican Cotyledons, aud on which, iu em¬ 
broidery fashion, is defined a large and beau¬ 
tiful butterfly, tbe horns, eyes, long body, aud 
expanded spotted wings, all beiug handsomely 
and truthfully delineated with such plauts as 
Alleruaulheras, Cotyledons, House-leeks, Cac¬ 
tuses, and the like. 
Night-Blooming Plants. —We all know 
about the Night-blooming Cereuses, the irag- 
rant F.vening “ Jessamines,” aud the showy 
Evening Primroses; but it is uot generally 
known that the long-flowered tobacco-plant— 
Nicotiaua uoctiflora—and others of its class are 
among the brightest aud most profuse of even¬ 
ing floweis. Their color is w’liite. 
Hardy Plants from Seed.— if the seeds of 
such hardy herbaceous plants as Larkspur, 
Columbines, Bellflowers, and Peutstemons be 
sown as soon as they are ripe, we get nice lit¬ 
tle plants before winter sets in, and many of 
them, too, will blossom the next summer, Iu 
fact, the fresher seed is, the more readily will 
it germinate. 
Biennials. —Canterbury Bells, Wallflowers, 
Sweet Williams, Antirrhinums, Ceniranthus 
ruber. Hollyhocks, and other biennials, if not 
already up and growing, should be sown at 
once. If not sown before this time, tbe Wall ¬ 
flowers and Sweet Williams will uot be likely 
to blossom till the year after next; of the 
Hollyhocks and Canterbury Bells a few, but not 
all. will blossom; but no matter whether the 
Ceniranthus and Antirrhinums be sown now or 
in the spring time, they will bloom anyway. 
The Chinese Yam. —Dioscorea Batatas, the 
Chinese Yam or “ Cinnamon Vine,” as it is 
often called, is one of the Lest vines I have 
tried for high aud dry exposures. The yams 
bury themselves so deeply in the earth as in a 
measure to escape the evil of drought. At any 
i ate. we are growing it this year in one of the 
driest spots of the gardeu, at the base of a 
wall, and where all other vines, except Hops, 
Mignonette Vine, and Rumex sagittrufolius 
have almost refused to grow, and in point of 
thriftiuess the yarn vines surpass all others 
but the Hop which, though taller, is spoiled by 
insect pests,—the Y’ams are not.. 
Notes from Mount Auburn. —Mr. Collins, 
the head gardener at Mouut Auburn Cemetery, 
considers Bijou the best of the white-leaved 
Pelargoniums for bedding purposes, the white 
is so deep and pure, and the plaut stands the 
sun so well. Next to it he prefers P. picturatum, 
but. its while is much duller. Madam Voucher 
is his favorite wbite-floweriug kind; he has it 
mixed with Asa Gray, agood. pinkish one, with 
fine effect. General Grant is the infallible 
scarlet, but P. orbiculatum, for free flowering 
and stocky growth, is preferable ; besides it 
does not “ draw ’’ so muck as the General when 
grown in a shady place. Master Christine is a 
profuse and useful pink sort with large trusses, 
but Miss Gertrude is the maiu-Btay in this 
class. Happy Thought, not much appreciated 
at one time, is redeeming itself in a somewhat 
shady place. Madame Thibout eclipses every¬ 
thing iu the way of a double pink; the habit 
is stocky, the trusses many and ample, aud the 
flowers large. 1 could refer to many other new 
kiuds—most commendable ones too—but I do 
not know how to spell their French names. 
Besides Pelargoniums, among 
“ White-leaved” Plant* 
Mr. Collins speaks highly of Santoliua iucana; 
it grows freely, and he can cut it as much ashe 
chooses, but it is rather hard to get a hasty 
stock of it. He also highly praises the 
variegated Stevia and Sweet Alyssum ; Leuco- 
pliyton Browni; a little wiry plaut. that hates to 
be watered overhead ; the variegated Solan urn 
capsicastrum—if the potato beetles would only’ 
let it alone, last year they ate It nearly all up 
but this year, so far, they have not interfered 
with it—both kinds of variegated Sage and the 
sun-loving variegated Mesembryanthemum 
cordifolium. Ophiopogon spieatus.with creamy 
variegated leaves and spikes of violet blossoms, 
was very pretty in a shady place, and it can be 
safely wintered in a cold-frame. 
Coleuses multicolor and pietus arc hardly 
to my liking among bedding plants ; they are 
neither branchy nor bright enough. Altcr- 
uanthera paronyehioides major is the bright¬ 
est of plants ; it is bright all the time, whereas 
the other kinds do not assume tlieir fiery hue 
till August. Mr. C. finds it harder to winter 
it than the others. 
Nierembkrgia filieaulis and gracilis are 
profuse and dense little lilac cushions. Old 
plauts lifted and potted this mouth, may be 
had in flower in the house all winter long. 
Gaura Lindheimeri in borders, beds aud vases, 
is an appropriate subject; the old roots may 
be safely wintered in a cold-frame, or the 
plant may be treated as an annual. 
Mr. C, grows the Pampas Grass in tubs, 
wintering the plauts iu a “cool” greenhouse, 
aud transporting them out-of-doors iu summer, 
when they are liberally treated to manure 
waterings. Specimens in two-feet tubs are 
now showiug 14 spikes apiece. 
The Eulalia Japoniea, variagatod aud zebra¬ 
leaved, are among the most ornamental of 
hardy grasses, and their flowers, which appear 
in September, if cut and dried for winter bou¬ 
quets, become very pretty aud flossy. 
Abed of Fieht Pokers (TritornaUvaria) 
is very gay, aud survived, unscathed, the last 
winter, where they are now. Instead of cover¬ 
ing over their crowns with boxes or half-bar¬ 
rels, as he used to, Mr. C., last fall, twisted 
their leaves into a solid, thatch-like knot, 
w hich rested over tbe crown, aud thus led off 
the water; this, added to a general heavy 
mulching of tree leaves, was protection 
enough, the plants awaking from their bed 
in spring as freshly and soundly as if they had 
been wintered in a pit or frame. 
Rosebugs and Whale Oil Soap.—“ I never 
kuew rosebugs to be more numerous and de¬ 
structive thau they were here this summer.” 
This from Mr. Collins: “You see that bed of 
Hydrangeas there:—well,iu the early part of the 
season I thought the rosebugs would have 
eaten them all up, so one afternoon I dissolved 
about two pounds of wbale-oil soap in a tub 
of water, and gave the bushes a thorough 
syringing and—would you believe it?—it was 
like butter to their bread, the bugs grew fatter 
aud multiplied!” 
Cake for the Fair.— Some years ago I 
lived in a froutier State. We were about to 
Lave an agricultural fair, and were straining 
every effort to contribute lo the exhibition aud 
its visitors’ provision. A neighboring lady was 
busy making cuke for tbe fair, and as I hap¬ 
pened to drop in at the time, I noticed how 
she did it. Many of the ladies out there chew 
snuff, which is uot to their credit, and so did 
Mrs. T. It was a fancy cake, with a heavy 
frosting all over it, and to make the snowy 
coating more ornamental, the lady, with a 
small cane tube, blew a series of flower-like 
scrolls over its surface. And, oil horror of 
horrors! the snuff went scattering in the 
suow, like pepper iu broth. I ate no cake at 
that fair. 
Maukandla Soandens, or Lophospermum, 
as many botanists still call it, my neighbor, 
Mrs. Needam, has a large specimen of 
that she plants out in a border in the summer¬ 
time, and now it has grown to be a vigorous 
vine, thickly covered with purple fox-glove¬ 
like flowers. In fall she cuts away most of 
the vines, lifts and pots the root, and then 
stores it in the cellar till spriug. This she bus 
successfully practiced for several years. It is 
easily propagated by means of cuttings or 
seeds. It keeps iu blossom all summer long. 
—-- 
NEW SEEDLING COLEUSES. 
Mb. H. W. Hales, of Ridgewood, N. J.. 
sends us specimen leaves of seven varieties 
of new Coleuses. Some of them are worthy 
of the attention, of fanciers of this plant 5 but 
others are totally eclipsed by older and well- 
known varieties. One of the best of these 
new candidates for favor, as near as we can 
judge from a few leaves, is Sensation. The 
leaf is small, coarsely serrate, and the edges 
fringed with a not very sharply defined zone 
of bright yellow, which gradually shades into 
scarlet purple, and finally green near the base 
of the blade. Ridgewood Gem is the name 
of another good variety. The leaves of this 
are medium to large, not deeply serrated, and 
the ground color is green dappled with yellow 
and a few velvet brown spots. Zebra is very 
similar to the last, I he leaves arc a little 
smaller, have less yellow, and the blotches of 
deep velvet aro larger. Fantasie, Queen of 
May and Starlight are others of some promise. 
On Hie whole, of the innumerable sports aud 
seedlings of this plant, we know of none that 
surpasses Fascination, a variety of recent in¬ 
troduction. 
Jirlii Girons. 
A GOOD WORD FOR ALFALFA. 
I have grown Alfalfa successfully as a for¬ 
age plant bore, three miles east of the Rocky 
Mountains, both on the plains aud on dry up¬ 
land. I have 43 aereB seeded with it. I mow 
it three times, and think if I did not pasture it 
late in the spring with sheep, I could cut it 
lour times in a season. I came here in 1874, 
from the Genessee Valley, western New York, 
in search of relief from asthma, aud found 
here what I sought, as I am now never 
troubled with the ailment. The seasons here 
are of about the same length as at my old 
home. Our winters here, however, are much 
more mild, still we have some severe cold 
spells ; so that I cannot see why Alfalfa should 
not thrive as well in the neighborhood of 
Rochester, N. Y., as it certainly does here. It 
will produce more forage than any plant I 
ever knew, growing the second crop over 
feet high in 30 days. It is, I think, stronger 
aud more nutritious than clover for hay, and 
invaluable for soiling, It should be sown 
where it may remain permanently, as it is not 
killed, like red clover, simply by plowing it 
under; for, after pipwing, it will come right 
up again aud grow vigorously. A part of 
mine has been already cut twice this sea¬ 
son, and I am now growing the third crop. 
Thirty aerfis I have mowed only once, and the 
seeond ci op of this I am now allowing to go 
to seed. 1 think it will produce about six tons 
of hay a season per acre. About 20 pounds of 
seed per acre are the proper quantity, aud it 
should be sown on wheat in spring, the same 
as red clover, like which it should he always 
treated to a great extent. Its roots penetrate 
very deep aud it will last, without reseeding, 
fifty years or perhaps more, according to ex¬ 
perience in California. If sown in wheat, it 
will grow just like red clover, and will be clip¬ 
ped in the butt euds of wheat wheu harvested, 
and produce good fall feed thereafter, aud 
may be cut three times tbe following season. 
If sown on ground well prepared for it and 
slightly harrowed or bushed in from about 
the first to the thirtieth of April, according to 
the locality aud season, it can be mowed twice 
the first year. Stock of every kind like it 
much either as pasture, for soiling or for hay. 
If sowed ou grass ground, it will do well. I 
have some that was accidentally scattered on 
blue-grass and buffalo-grass sod that never 
was plowed, and of this the seeond crop this 
season is over two feet high to-day, and going 
to seed. I consider Alfalfa one of the most 
profitable forage plants now known, after an 
experience with it of four seasons, including 
the present one. J- s. 
Fort Collins, Colorado, 
$ann Grronomu. 
SUBSOIL PLOWING. 
F. A. OULLEY. 
The subsoil plow is used to loosen up the 
subsoil without throwing It up on tbe surface. 
It is drawn by auother team after the ordiuary 
plow, running in the bottom of the open fur¬ 
row, aud merely lifts the soil, letting it fall 
back in the bottom of the furrow. The next 
furrow is turned over ou top of this loosened 
soil by the first plow as it comes around again. 
Trench plowing is merely deep plowing, 
turning over the soil as deep as the plow will 
run, or sometimes using one plow after anoth¬ 
er, turning the soil from the bottom ol tbe fur¬ 
row up ou top. 
Deep plowing, trench plowing and subsoil¬ 
ing are by many supposed to mean the same 
thing, hence this explanation. 
Whether it will pay to use the subsoil plow 
or not, can only be told sometimes by an actual 
trial. It will seldom or never pay to subsoil 
plow a light sand, a loose gravelly soli, or 
where the subsoil is wet and heavy. Experience 
