4886 
§ 
Rural of Marcli 27. We tried this treatment 
and cured the horse, so that we feel like rec¬ 
ommending it to all. e. m. 
Fairmount, Kans. 
Slje Smtwljfrfr. 
“ISN’T HE A BEAUTY ?” 
WE are somewhat inclined to the opinion that 
our readers will at once decide in the negative 
when they glance at the little porker shown at 
Fig. 303, page 603. There is very little “pure 
blood” about him. He is a decided “scrub.” 
He is evidently pretty well able to make his 
wants known, for his mouth and lungs are 
finely developed. His head is the largest part 
of him, But if you all object, to his personal 
appearance, the English laborer, who holds 
him up for insj>ection, will prove a very active 
minority. To him the little fellow is surely a 
“beauty,” and no one shall ever say one word 
against him. The true pleasure of pig-keep¬ 
ing does not come to the breeder who can show 
his well-filled pens of shapely animals. The 
poor man who nails up a few boards in one 
corner of the garden and places his little friend 
therein, knows the true pleasure of pork mak¬ 
ing. “Handsome is that, handsome does” ap¬ 
plies to pigs as wel I ns to men. The small 
porker in the picture will be an important 
member of the family, There is much de¬ 
pending upon him. He has taken the respon¬ 
sibility of providing much of the meat for the 
next Winter. There will be sorrow in the 
family when he comes to be killed. The chil¬ 
dren, especially, will feel that they have lost a 
good friend The pig has been driven out of 
polite society. - ne is obliged to endure a great, 
deal of censure—much of it un just.. He has 
his place in romance and poetry if people 
would only give him a chauee. In one of 
Mrs. Cook’s admirable stories a pig brings 
about a wedding. The pig jumps out of his 
pen and frightens the heroine of the story, a 
maiden lady of somewhat uncertain age. She 
rushes for help, and straightway the hero 
marches upon the scene. The pig overturns 
this geutleman, and stretches him upon the 
ground with a broken leg. The lady could 
uot do otherwise thau have her wounded 
knight brought into her house to lie eared for. 
The sequel of the story is easily reached. 
|) 01110 logical. 
SIMON’S PLUM.— (Ib'unus Simonii.) 
A little tree of this new and singular plum 
was received from Ellwauger & Barry, Roch¬ 
ester, N. Y., in October, 1NS4. It is uow 10 
feet high, with a stem 2 j inches in diameter, 
though it grows in the center of a lasl of per¬ 
ennial phloxes, lilies, otc., which, during the 
growing season, shade the entire stem (or 
trunk) from the sun. The tree during the 
Winter may be said to occupy a northern ex¬ 
posure. It has never been injured in any way. 
It bore one plum (if plum it. may bo called) the 
past season, which was plucked August 8. The 
shape aud appearance were more those of a 
good-sized crab apple than of a plum. The 
color was a dull, dark red, with lighter shades 
here mid there. The suture was obscure; the 
skin hard. It was eaten, after sitting for its 
portrait, shown at .Fig. 389, August 12. The 
Fig. 389. 
flesh, which clings to the stone somewhat, is 
thick aud of the consistency of a firm plum, 
with a distinct peach-pit flavor, though by no 
means disagreeable. The pit is corrugated 
like that of the peach. The pit is shown with 
a half section at Fig. 890. 
PRUNUS SIMONII. 
PROF. J. L. BUDD. 
The Rural says: “Tell us what you know 
of Primus Simonii.” I do this willingly at 
this time, as interested propagators are quot¬ 
ing, in circulars, detached sentences I have 
writteu in regard to it without putting in the 
qualifying words, which should go with new 
things yet under trial. 
I first met with it in beat ing in the Valley 
of the Moselle, in Eastern France, where it 
was introduced from ‘Northwest China by 
Simon Louis, of Metz, through his brother-in- 
law, Eugene Simon, when he was French 
Fig. 390. 
Minister at Pekin. Mr. Louis seemed to place 
quite a high estimate on its fruit for culinary 
use, especially for growing in sections where 
the peach failed to do well. After ascertain¬ 
ing that the tree endured the Summers aud 
V inters of Iowa about as well as the Chicka- 
saw Plums, ami after tasting its peach-flavored 
sauce, I naturally recommended it for trial, 
and published Mr. Louis’s estimate of its value. 
But this was followed by the positive assur¬ 
ance that it would not lie apt to be worth grow¬ 
ing in sections where the peach, nectarine, or 
the best apricots succeed moderately well. I 
said then, and believe now. that on the north¬ 
ern borders of the peach belt it is worthy of 
trial, as it comes ue&rer to the peach and nec¬ 
tarine in flavor, when cooked, than any variety 
of the plum I have ever met with. 
Some good botanists of Europe agree with 
the writer in the opinion that in tree, flower, 
and fruit it comes nearer to the almond and 
peach than to the plum family, ami that 
crosses with it of both peach and plum may 
bring interesting ami valuable results, Aside 
from its possible value for fruit, I may add 
that it makes a neat-foliaged, pyramidal tree 
for the lawn or walk border. 
Ames, Iowa. 
from p. j. berckmans. 
I have not fruited Primus Simonii, but have 
a row of tile trees planted in an orchard, aud 
now two years old. The trees are of erect aud 
compact habit, almost like Lombardy Pop¬ 
lars. Foliage luxuriant and bright green. 
The trees are of rapid growth. 
Augusta, Ga. 
FROM ELLWANGER a BARRY. 
n _ 
The Pruuus Simonii is a novelty—quite dis¬ 
tinct in tree and fruit. It is quite as much 
peach as plum. Our tree is bearing, aud youug 
nursery trees have borne. 
Rochester, N. Y. 
ijinliaiiiiirat. 
THE POPULAR GARDEN. 
WILLIAM FALCONER. 
By this I mean a farmer’s yard or small city 
lot, just such a gardeu as anybody may have, 
aud which should lie ornamental and useful. 
If it is very small, don't crowd it up with trees, 
but set out some trees along the street in front 
of your property .for shade. You can have 
vines on your fences and up the pillars of the 
piazza. If the garden is very small, you may 
need it all in culinary crops, but even then you 
can have lots of flowers along the edges of the 
pathways ami around the house. If of fairly 
good size, have trees, shrubs, flowers and a 
lawn and kitchen garden. Keep your trees 
pretty much together in bolts ami clumps; or 
if isolated, iu the vicinity of each other. Keep 
shrubs iu the same way. Don’t cut up 
your lawns much. Have an open, smooth 
piece of lawn in frout.of the house big enough 
for a croquet or play grouud. Avoid many 
flower beds. Round, oval aud obloug-square 
are the bast forms. It is easier to cut out a 
flower bed in the sod than it is to fill it with 
handsome plants and keep it full all Summer. 
Never cut out flower beds in the middle of a 
lawn, but rather towards the outer-edge of the 
lawn or near the walks. 
The Fence should be neat, strong and effi¬ 
cient; it may be a rail, wire or picket fence, a 
stone wall or anything else equally well 
adapted for the purpose, comely, and consis¬ 
tent with its surroundings and oue’s means. 
Let the gate also be neat, strong and service¬ 
able, and always in good repair aud working 
condition. 
The Walks. —Don’t have many. Let all 
you have be needed and so disposed as to be 
‘‘short-cuts” to the points you wish to reach, be 
it the front gate, the back gate or barn. 
While gently curved walks are pleasant to look 
upon, meaningless “wiggles” are absurd. 
Remove an obstruction rather than “wiggle” 
around it. 
The Surface of the Land should be even. 
Reduce the bumps, fillup the holes, and make 
even the puckered surface. You may retain 
the rolling, wavy nature of the land. 
Drainage. — If the land is heavy, low, 
springy or mucky, it will need under-drain¬ 
ing. Also make provision for readily drain¬ 
ing off surface moisture, which otherwise would 
be apt to collect into pools in Winter or after 
a heavy shower in Summer. 
Soil. —Make the best of whatever it may 
be. To begin with, subsoil it all over, but re¬ 
member to keep the subsoil in the bottom and 
the surface soil at the top. If the soil is 
heavy, good drainage, a thorough breaking 
up and addition of sand, ashes, decayed stable 
manure or other light material will greatly 
lighten it; if light or sandy, a good addition 
of clay, heavy loam, muck or rotted cow ma¬ 
nure will help it much. 
Sod. —After the ground has been drained, 
well broken up and pulverized, firmed and 
smoothed, sow to grass, using clean Red 
Top, or Blue Grass or an equal mixture of 
both. Sow after the first good rain in Sep¬ 
tember, or in Spring just as soon as the 
ground is mellow. Roll or tread the surface 
evenly and firmly after sowing and raking in. 
Enriching the Land.—A t the first prep¬ 
aration of the land you may incorporate into 
the soil all the rotted manure you want to, and 
mix it well with tne earth ; but after that, 
whatever is given as a dressing to lawns or 
nourishment to trees and shrubs let it be giv¬ 
en as a mulching, and whatever to flowers or 
culinary vegetable crops let it be plowed, dug 
or forked into the soil, but always kept near 
the surface. 
Planting Trees. — After fencing, road 
making and preparing the ground are com¬ 
pleted, planting is in order. Now look to the 
future. Know what trees you like best, what 
sorts you need and why you need them, and 
b« sure that your selection is the best that can 
be made for the purpose; then go ahead and 
plant your trees. Plant the large ones to¬ 
wards the outer boundary of your lot, and 
don’t crowd them arouud your house or dot 
them all over your ground. 
Landscape Effect. —Talking of landscape 
gardening iu a city lot of a few rods or the 
farmer’s ordinary garden patch seems to me 
to bo so much twaddle. In parks and private 
gardens of several acres landscape effect must 
be considered, and in these cases landscape 
architects, as Olmsted, Lee or Miller, are en¬ 
gaged, or should be, to plau and lay out the 
place, and afterwards professional gardeners 
should be employed to take care of it. The 
popular garden should always lie subservient 
to our means, convenience and taste; of course 
we must try to make it as pretty as we can. 
Kind OF Treks.— Sugar and Norway Ma¬ 
ples for shade; Australian Pine and White 
Spruce for shelter; Yellow-Wood, Red-Bud, 
Paul’s Thorn, Silver Bell aud Chinese Mag¬ 
nolia for beautiful blossoms; the Fern-leaved 
Weeping Birch and Weeping Deciduous Cy¬ 
press for elegance; the Golden Oak aud 
River’s Purple Beech for color in foliage; the 
Fastigiate Oak aud Chinese Cypress for col¬ 
umnar form; and the Colorado Blue Spruce, 
Norelman’s Fir, Douglas Fir, Red Piue aud 
dense White Piue as evergreens. But this is 
not a tithe of the available and desirable 
species. 
Avoid Trees that don’t thrive in your 
neighborhood or are much subject to insect 
pests. Elms are robbers of the soil; horse- 
chestnuts drop their leaves early; and catal- 
pas are very rnussy. 
Shrubs. —Thuuberg's, Van Houtte’s aud 
Fortune’s Spiraeas, Japan Quince, Japanese 
Diervilla, Persian Lilac, large-flowered and 
fragrant mock-oranges, deciduous azaleas, 
African aud Chinese tamarixes, deutzias, 
snowballs, rose acacias, roses of sorts, althaeas 
chaste tree, golden hyperieum and Large- 
flowered Panieled Hydrangea 
V ines. — Chinese W istaria, clematises, 
akebia, honeysuckle, roses, Trumpet Vine 
Virginia Creepers, Pipe Vine, Climbing Wax- 
work.Silk Vine and Japanese Ivy (Ampelopsis). 
Hardy Perennials.— Tulips, poet’s nar¬ 
cissus, old-fashioned daffodils, wake robin 
Lily-of-the-Valley, irises, lilies of all kinds, 
yellow and white day-lilies, Soloman’s Seal, 
fraxinella, pneonies. Double-flowering Fern- 
leaved Spiraea, panieled gypsophila, Lance- 
leaved Coreopsis, evergreen candytuft, pent- 
steruous. moss-pinks and late phloxes, lark¬ 
spurs, double-flowering varieties of feverfew, 
butterfly weed, bee balm, yuccas, David’s 
Clematis, bell-flowers, double white achillea, 
yellow anthemis, pink showy sedum, Japan¬ 
ese anemones and mist flower. Also Sweet 
Williams, hollyhocks, Canterbury Bells and 
pansies. 
S!)f tHtmjartr. 
NIAGARA GRAPE SEEDLINGS. 
Niagara Grape seedlings from the Rural 
Distribution; all white; absence of food 
ness, valuable as a parent of new va rieties . 
As the Rural distributed among its read¬ 
ers a large quantity of seeds of this variety, 
it may be of some interest to know what may 
lie expected to result from this distribution. I 
had planted some seeds of the Niagara before 
they were sent out by the Rural. Some of 
the seedlings made rather weak and slender 
growth, with foliage of a wild and peculiar 
type somewhat resembling currant leaves and 
suggestive of the Rupestris species. None of 
them has shown indications of fruiting. The 
larger number of the seedlings, however, have 
the general character, both in growth and 
foliage, of the Niagara, and so far every one 
that has borne, has produced a white grape, 
showing that the variety has a very strong 
individuality which impresses itself upon its 
progeny. And although there are marked 
differences in the seedlings, both in shape of 
berries, flavor, and time of ripening, the most 
remarkable characteristic of all that have 
fruited here, has been an entireabsence of either 
“foxy” taste or odor, which are so prominent in 
the Niagara. hetber this is due to some acci¬ 
dental cross-fertilization with another varietv, 
or to a natural amelioration, it is impossible to 
say; but the result certainly promises improve¬ 
ment. The clusters of all—it being the third 
year from planting out, and the flrst year of 
bearing—were quite small. The earliest one 
bore a large, oval, lemon-yellow berry ripen¬ 
ing last of August, three weeks before Niag¬ 
ara was equally mature. Othere ripened in 
succession; the most of them with the Niag¬ 
ara about the same time. I have seen Niag¬ 
ara seedlings from two other sources this sea- 
sou; and these were also white. It now ap¬ 
peal's as though the Niagara may be valuable 
as the parent of new varieties of real value; 
as I have so far seen none that were inferior 
to it, while several seem to better in quality, 
and promising well as to growth and habit of 
vine. If seedlings generally prove as good as 
those I have seen, we have reason to expect 
some valuable improvement as the result of 
the Rural’s distribution, and,I am free to con¬ 
fess. beyond any anticipations both when I 
planted seeds myself or when the seed were 
sent out from the Rural Office. 
Delaware, Ohio. geo. \v. camuhell. 
[We are glad to receive the above from Sec¬ 
retary Campbell. It will be remembered that 
the seedling of Niagara sent to us by Dr. 
Greenleaf was white, free from foxiness and 
of better quality than the Niagara.— Eds.] 
Bagging Grapes. — Iu my experiments 
with ripening grapes, I find long-shaped bags 
convenient. Slit each corner of the mouth 
of the bag, aud apply so the vine will occupy 
the slits: tie a string around the mouth of the 
Img above the vine. That will protect the 
stem aud the cluster from frost, aud the grapes 
will ripen to perfection. e. b. c. 
Parma, Mich. 
iWiscdlancmts. 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED. 
Prussian Agriculture. — Consul J. E. 
Potter sends to the State Department an ac¬ 
count of the farming systems employed in the 
various German States. Not much can be 
learned by the American farmer of the Ger¬ 
man farmer except, perhaps, a lesson in the 
strict economy which the latter is obliged to 
practice. Families of seven are readily sup- 
ported on farms of 10 acres in Germany. An 
instance is given where a 10-acre farmer 
made a better living than one who owned 20 
acres adjoining him. The smaller farm sup¬ 
ported one horse, two cows and seven pigs. 
The barn was so large^that it seemed all out of 
