38 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 20 
I A A 4k A A 4 
; Ruralisms ; 
Poisonous Shrubs. —A friend in New 
York asks: 
Are the poisonous properties of the Rhus 
family in Poison ivy and Poison sumach, 
found also in Rhus Cotinus? We admire 
the tree (page 786), but would like to know 
whether we run the risk of being laid up 
for two weeks every year, before we ad¬ 
mit it to our grounds. 
Tke Smoke tree, or Purple fringe, 
classified by some botanists as Rhus 
Cotinus, and by others as Cotinus Co¬ 
tinus, is as free from poisonous proper¬ 
ties as an oak or maple. Many other 
species of Rhus are free from irritating 
qualities, and some are also useful for 
ornamental planting. 
Acalypha Sanderi was recently dis¬ 
cussed in Ruralisms, but I think it did not 
particularly mention what temperature 
the plant required. We were under the 
impression that it was not a stove plant, 
and ordered a supply, and placed them on 
arrival in a greenhouse, where the night 
temperature is about 50 degrees. They 
were all dead within 24 hours. We are in¬ 
formed by an expert grower that it will not 
succeed under a night temperature of 65 de¬ 
grees. The general complaint among our cus¬ 
tomers is: “We can’t do anything with hot¬ 
house plants,” and as the Winter tempera¬ 
ture of the average living room not heat¬ 
ed by steam, will hardly run over 50 de¬ 
grees, it would seem as though the Acaly¬ 
pha, when taken from its stove house to 
the living room, would promptly die and 
thus bring disappointment to those who had 
read such glowing descriptions of it. If 
the editor of Ruralisms has grown it at a 
lower temperature than 65 degrees we 
should be glad to know how it behaves 
under such conditions. f. c. c. 
In the Trial Grounds greenhouse a 
from one to three small ears of a very 
white corn, which is converted into a 
beautiful floury meal when ground. It 
seems to contain less oil than other va¬ 
rieties of maize, but cannot be used as a 
substitute for flour in bread-making, as 
it does not contain enough gluten to 
form a loaf. We have witnessed several 
careful attempts to make bread from 
this corn, and all failed. The husks are 
very thick and adherent, making the 
crop hard to harvest. About 10 years 
ago we crossed the Flour corn with a 
sweet corn, and got a productive inter¬ 
mediate variety with an excellent table 
quality. It made very sweet and leafy 
forage, and was pronounced more resist¬ 
ant to drought than any sweet corn 
tested by one of our experiment stations. 
It sported so wildly, however, that at¬ 
tempts to fix it were abandoned. 
The Buttercup Oxalis, the trade 
name given to very strong bulbs of 
Oxalis cernua lutea, grown in Bermuda, 
is just now one of the most brilliant 
and attractive of window plants. The 
clear yellow flowers are produced in end¬ 
less profusion, and are very sweetly 
scented when fully expanded in the sun¬ 
light, without which they will not open. 
The Buttercup makes such a mass of 
foliage and bloom that it is likely to 
tumble over and drape the sides of the 
pots, rendering them well adapted for 
brackets and baskets. Plant three bulbs 
in a six-inch pot or basket in October. 
Water sparingly until growth starts, and 
then place in the sunniest place obtain¬ 
able, and with reasonable care they 
should be in full bloom by the end of 
Decern oer, and continue in full vigor 
until Spring, when they may be allowed 
to ripen up gradually. Keep perfectly 
dry in the soil in which they have grown 
CELASTRUS SCANDENS ; COMMON BITTERSWEET. Fig. 15. 
young plant of Acalypha Sanderi has 
been growing finely since early Septem¬ 
ber in a position where the night tem¬ 
perature will hardly average 50 degrees, 
and occasionally falls to 40. It is shel¬ 
tered from ventilator drafts, however, 
and has the advantage of almost unob¬ 
structed sunlight and a temperature of 
about 70 degrees on clear days. We 
have seen it growing well in many other 
houses, and in no instance was there any 
special attempt to keep it in high tem¬ 
perature, except when rooting cuttings 
in the propagating bench. This Acaly¬ 
pha is a native of New Guinea, and not 
of the Philippines, as has been stated, 
but despite its tropical origin, it seems 
to thrive fairly well under about the 
same conditions as the Coleus. The long 
plush-like racemes of bloom are produced 
only on the pistillate or female plants, 
the male plant bearing rather incon¬ 
spicuous blossoms. There seems to be 
no reason why our correspondent’s 
plants should have perished so quickly, 
unless they had been frosted during 
transit. We would not recommend it as 
a window plant, unless it can be kept 
reasonably warm. 
The Brazilian Flour Corn.— Several 
years ago, perhaps in 1881 or 1882, you sent 
out a white corn which I believe is called 
Flour corn. Did it pop like pop corn? I 
have an ear of white corn which, when 
popped, forms very large grains. It is fine 
for popping. The ear is about eight inches 
or a foot long, looks very much like a large 
ear of white corn, but is smaller in diam¬ 
eter. I succeeded in crossing two different 
varieties of pop corn last Summer. I had 
a variety which was very hard to shell, 
and one that was too easy and had sharp 
points on the grains. The result of cross¬ 
ing is very encouraging, for I have obtained 
corn which shells more easily, and the 
grains are not so sharp. It pops very 
nicelv, and the ears are of good size. Is 
there a book on pop-corn growing pub¬ 
lished? If so, please give the price if pos¬ 
sible. 
Warren Co., O. G. a. d. 
The variety sent out was the Brazil¬ 
ian Flour corn, still catalogued by some 
seedsmen. In our experience it neither 
popped nor did anything else that was 
specially useful. It is a late-ripening 
variety with tall leafy stalks setting 
until desired to plant again the succeed¬ 
ing Fall. 
HARDY CLIMBING SHRUBS. 
Part I. 
Hardy climbers form a very useful 
group of plants, particularly adapted to 
country use, for covering walls, veran¬ 
das, arbors, etc. They are not grown 
to the extent their merit and usefulness 
deserve. The list of varieties suitable 
for planting in exposed situations is not 
large, and we mention only those of 
tested reliability. 
Actinidia polygama, the Strangle 
vine of The R. N.-Y. (pages 450, 498 and 
530, 1899). So much has been said in 
favor of this extraordinarily vigorous 
Japanese vine in former numbers, that 
we can add little more. In all cases 
where there are dead or dying trees, or 
slender structures of any kind to be rap¬ 
idly covered, the Strangle vine is the 
most desirable of all climbers on account 
of its extremely rapid growth and dense, 
healthy, green foliage, but as it only 
climbs by twining, it is not adapted for 
walls. Its strong woody coils will com¬ 
press and eventually kill living trees, 
and it is too exuberant for verandas or 
trellises near the house. We have never 
heard of the Actinidia fruiting in this 
country, though two varieties are grown 
in Japan, one having round and the 
other long fruits, which are said to be 
about the size of a small plum. They 
are edible, possessing a very pleasant 
flavor. 
Akebia quinata. —Another distinct 
and handsome Japanese climber, less 
rapid in growth than the Actinidia, but 
eventually reaches a large size. The 
foliage is prettily divided and very hand¬ 
some, and the very odd chocolate-purple 
flowers are sweet-scented and very pro¬ 
fusely produced in the Spring. Like the 
Strangle vine, it rarely fruits in this 
country, although botn staminate and 
pistillate flowers are freely borne on the 
same vine. In the case of the Actinidia, 
they are produced on separate plants, 
and it is possible that fruit may form 
when the blooms are properly fertilized. 
The berries of Akebia are said to be 
quite ornamental, but are not considered 
edible. The Arboretum at Ottawa, Can¬ 
ada, reports both the Actinidia and 
Akebia as only half-hardy in that lo¬ 
cality. We have never heara of these 
vines winterkilling in the Middle or New 
England States. 
Ampelopis quinquefolia, Vitis quin- 
quefolia of some, American ivy or 
Virginia creeper. This well-known 
native climber, the “five-fingered ivy” 
of every schoolboy, is a thorough¬ 
ly satisfactory vine for shading ve¬ 
randas and covering walls where 
wire netting or som« support is fur¬ 
nished, as the young growth is rather 
slow about attaching itseli to smooth 
surfaces. It is widely distributed, and 
fair plants may usually be collected in 
any rocky woouland, or well-rooted 
specimens can be procured from any or¬ 
namental nursery. The foliage of the 
Virginia creeper colors brilliantly in the 
Fall. A. Veitchii, Japan creeper, Boston 
ivy, is now becoming so well known that 
an extended description is needless. The 
numerous leaves are smaller than those 
of the American species, and overlap one 
another like tiles on a roof, forming a 
dense sheet of green, almost impene¬ 
trable to storms. It clings to walls, and 
even painted surfaces, with the greatest 
tenacity. It is specially useful for orna¬ 
menting brick and stone walls, where ft 
can creep flat against the surface, and 
does not adapt itself so well to a trellis. 
The leaves change to crimson in the 
Fall, and hang on a long time. The 
young plants should have some protec¬ 
tion the first Winter, after which they 
are entirely hardy. Can be grown easily 
from seeds. 
Celastrus scandens, common bitter¬ 
sweet or Staff tree, Climbing waxwork, 
is worthy of a place wherever old fences, 
stumps or rocks require covering. The 
bittersweet has large, handsome, glossy 
foliage, the small yellow flowers are 
followed by very brilliant clusters of 
fruit, the scarlet seeds and orange cap¬ 
sules remaining in perfection throughout 
most of the Winter. See Fig. 15. 
Seed Potatoes.— At the recent annual 
meeting of the State Board of Agriculture 
of Massachusetts, in his essay on market 
gardening, Mr. Kinney advised the selec¬ 
tion of seed potatoes from the most pro¬ 
ductive hills, as they were harvested. Mr 
Hersey, a member of the Board, said that 
he had, in former years, pursued that 
method, and had always grown more pota¬ 
toes to the acre than his neighbors. Some 
one advised him to try seed grown in the 
northern part of Maine, which he did by 
planting alternate hills of each. The seed 
which he bought produced one-third more 
than that which he raised on his own farm. 
Both speakers enforced the importance of 
keeping the seed cold and dormant until 
the season of planting. 
Young Girls 
How easy it is for young 
girls to go into the * ‘decline. ’ * 
They eat less and less, become 
paler and paler and can 
harldy drag through the day. 
They are on the steady down¬ 
ward course. Iron does them 
no good; strychnine and bit¬ 
ters all fail. They need a food 
that will nourish them better, 
and a medicine that will cor¬ 
rect their disease. 
Scott’s Emulsion 
is both of these, elegantly and per¬ 
manently combined. The Cod-Liver 
Oil makes the blood richer, and 
this gives better color to the face. 
The hypophosphites of lime and 
soda act as a strong tonic to the 
nerves. Soon the weight increases, 
the digestion improves and health 
returns. 
At all druggists ; 50 c. and $ 1 . 00 . 
SCOTT & BOWNE, Chemists, New York. 
SHOEMAKER’S 
BOOK on 
POULTRY 
and Almanac for 1 900, two colors, 160 pages, 
110 illustrations of Fowls, Incubators, Brooders, 
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grams with full descriptions of Poultry houses. 
All about Incubators,Brooders and thoroughbred 
Fowls, with lowest prices. Price only 15 cents. 
C. C. SHOEMAKER, Box 893, FREEPORT, ILt. 
Nothing Under the Sun 
will Make Hens Lay and keep them In 
healthy condition all the year ’round, like 
BANNER EGG FOOD 
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WINTER EGGSthekst 
It’s merely a question of proper food. Green 
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Mann’s New Bone Cutters the OI1 ^ nal 
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Mann’s Clover Cutters are the 
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Mass. 
Hand Bone, Shell, and 
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Daisy Bone Cutter. Power Mills. 
__r- Circular and testimonials Free. 
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$ 4,000 
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