7io 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Optoher 10 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
A Desthuctivk Storm. —A gale of ur- 
RKual violence, accompanied by loss of 
life on land and sea, passed over the 
Rural Grounds September 10, the wind 
attaining a velocity of over 75 miles an 
hour. The buildings were injured to 
some extent, all tree fruits brought to 
the groiind, and a number of vigorous 
young trial trees uprooted or broken 
off even when strongly staked. A tre¬ 
mendous rainfall preceded the maximum 
wind pressure, softening the soil so that 
roots of exposed trees were pulled out 
bodily. 3ome of the prostrate trees 
may be replaced without serious injury, 
others are too badly wrecked to thrive. 
Similar conditions prevail along the en¬ 
tire coast line of New Jersey and south¬ 
ern Long Island, hut did not extend in 
full severity very far inland. The losses 
in exposed orchards in the track of the 
storm are very considerable, many trees 
being destroyed and over 75 per cent 
of the fruit blown off. The apples and 
pears are not generally mature enough 
to keep well, even though not badly 
bruised on account of the soft condition 
of the rain-soaked soil. The markets 
and cider mills are so glutted with this 
windfall fruit that they decline to receive 
any more. Uni)runed Kieffer pears as a 
rule carried their fruits better than those 
well cut back. These pears are generally 
small this year, and the willowy 
branches of the unpruned trees offered 
less resistance to the violent wind. 
A Sai.t Rai.x.— The Rural Grounds 
are several miles from the ocean, but 
in the height of the gale, when the foli¬ 
age was lashed to its limit of endurance, 
several swirls of perceptibly salt rain 
came down. This unusual feature prob¬ 
ably resulted from the spray being 
caught up from the distant surf. The 
effect is now noticeable in the* entire 
killing of leaves on the windward side 
of trees, shrubs and hedges. They are 
completely blackened where not torn 
away. Leaves showing no bruises are as 
effectually blighted on the exposed side 
of the plants as the torn ones, while on 
the leeward they are still green and 
reasonably sound. It would appear that 
the violent agitation of the foliage on 
the windward side caused a greater pen¬ 
etration of salt, resulting in the death 
of the tissues. As the fruit buds for 
next season are well developed it will be 
interesting to note any possible differ¬ 
ence in the behavior next year of the 
sections of trees carrying fair foliage 
now and the portions thus prematurely 
stripped. The Autumn landscapes will 
he shorn of their glory on account of the 
predominance of dead foliage, and il will 
take several years to replace the los,: 
trees, but we feel that results might have 
been much more serious. 
Grow Your Ci.EM.vris Puaxts Fro.m' 
Skuo.—T he disheartening behavior of 
propagated plants of the choice large 
flowering varieties of Clematis makes it 
worth while to grow these beautiful 
hardy climbers from seed, which are 
now maturing in fair quantity on estab¬ 
lished plants. Many of the newer hy¬ 
brids are quite sterile, but old plants of 
the Jackmani type usually ripen fine 
seed clusters. Clematis seeds as a rule 
are tediously slow of germination, but if 
gathered as soon as they turn brown 
and harden and sown at once in 
pots or boxes of light soil, many 
will dome up the following Summer 
and grow, with good care, strong 
enough to plant out by August or 
September. The seeds may also be 
ummediately stratified in moist sand, 
kept in a damp, cool place and sown 
in Spring, but germination by this 
method is usually somewhat delayed. 
Excellent seeds may also be had from r.":- 
liable seedsmen, but as they are usually 
very dry it is well to soak them at least 
24 hours in tepid water before planting. 
Good seeds saved from fine collections 
are offerd at 10 to 15 cents a packet. 
These dry seeds under the best of treat¬ 
ment sometimes lie dormant several 
years. The seed pots or boxes containing 
them should not be discarded until quite 
certain no more will grow. They are 
best kept in a cool, damp place over 
Winter. Occasional light freezing of 
soil seems to favor germination the fol¬ 
lowing season. When the seedlings have 
made their second leaves they should be 
carefully transplanted to small pots and 
planted out where they are to remain in 
early Fall. The strongest may open a 
flower or two the same season, others 
will not bloom until the second or third 
year. Considerable diversity of form 
and color is to be expected in Clematis 
seedlings, and few will quite equal their 
Tnarents, hut all are generally worth 
growing, if one has space for them. 
Skrih.inos Mik’h He.vlthier. —If it 
were not for the all-prevalent “Clematis 
disease” few would think about this 
long-winded seed proi)agation, but the 
constant and annoying loss of costly 
budded or grafted plants by this blight¬ 
ing collar rot, whether caused by worm 
or microbe, is enough to discourage the 
most ardent Clematis fancier. Seed¬ 
lings are not immune from the disease, 
but are so generally resistant, probably 
from the vigor of their natural root sys¬ 
tem, that they may be planted without 
hesitation where budded or cutting 
plants have died out. We have on the 
Rural Grounds seedlings quite equaling 
the best named kinds grown from deal¬ 
ers’ seeds as well as those of our own 
saving. Some have been blooming pro¬ 
fusely for six years and show no sign 
of weakness. Scarcely 10 per cent of 
the propagated plants purchased for 
trial lived through the first season and 
only a solitary specimen has survived 
the fourth year. Jackmani. rich_ purple, 
Anderson, Henryi, cream white, M. 
Koster, rosy carmine, and Mme. Baron 
Veillard, light rose, are naturally vig¬ 
orous growers and as likely to resist 
disease as any, if plants free from infec¬ 
tion could be had with reasonable cer¬ 
tainty. 
Coc'CiNEA Hybrids Vioorous and 
Heaetjiy. —The foregoing remarks apply 
only to the large-flowered hybrids of 
C. florida, C. caerulea, C. lanuginosa and 
other closely allied species. An enter¬ 
prising English grower some years ago 
made successful crosses between our 
beautiful native C. coccinea and Star of 
India, a favorite show variety, combin¬ 
ing the best points of the respective 
parents in a remarkable manner. We 
have grown Countess of Onslow, violet 
purple with crimson band through each 
petal, and Duchess of York, pale pink 
and rose, for the last four years, and 
find them, hardy, vigorous, exceedingly 
prolific in bloom and so far resistant to 
disease of any kind. They are herbace¬ 
ous in character, dying to the ground 
each Winter, but make a strong growth 
in midsummer, sending iip canes eight 
to 12 feet high, covered vith blooms 
from June until October. The flowers 
have great substance, and last several 
days when cut and placed in water. 
They do not open as widely as the large 
hybrids, but remain somewhat campanu- 
late in form. The foliage is very dense 
and quite similar in form to that of C. 
coccinea. Varieties of (his section are 
still rather expensive, being offered at 
$1 each, but they form a pleasing ad¬ 
dition to any collection of hardy climb¬ 
ers. Countess of Onslow makes a great 
show of seeds, none of which has ever 
germinated under our treatment. Seeds 
of Coccinea hybrids were quoted by sev¬ 
eral dealers a season or two ago, but on 
trial here they declined to grow. We 
are inclined to think that viable seeds 
are sparingly if at all produced by these 
varieties, and have little doubt purchas¬ 
ers of the seeds were generally disap¬ 
pointed in results. 
Cee.matis Lvteorifolta Duraxdi.— 
Another resistant large-flowered variety, 
of great merit, has been produced by 
using C. integrifolia, a dwarf herbaceous 
species producing deep blue flowers in 
July. It is offered under the name of C. 
integrifolia Durandi, which will in time 
be shortened to C. Durandi. The hybrid 
is a hardy, rapid-growing vine, reach¬ 
ing six to 10 feet in a season, covered 
at all times with large rich blue flowers, 
quite equal to Jackmani in form and 
size. The foliage is entire, thick and 
leathery. It is claimed to be immune 
to the disease, and is in every way de¬ 
sirable. Plants now cost about 75 
cents each. It is quite sterile, the seed 
embryos never reaching full size, and is 
propagated by cuttings of wood grown 
under glass. Our specimen has bloomed 
beautifully all Summer, but does not 
appear as if it would ever be likely to 
climb high. It is evidently partly or 
entirely herbaceous, like its parent G. 
integrifolia. w. v. f. 
mcBEsrm 
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SP4 
COUROrsJ. CUT THIS O UT, 
P. S. EUSTIS, Passenger Traffic Manager, 
86G 
C. B. & Q- Ry. Co., Chicago. 
Please send me your printed matter regard¬ 
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about the low-priced tickets. 
