4i4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
May IS, 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
A Dandelion Fight. —That most ag¬ 
gressive old-world plant, the common 
dandelion, long naturalized in the older 
settled parts of North America, has won 
its way westward with such vigor as to 
become an insufferable nuisance in the 
opinion of the Governor of Kansas, who 
recently issued a proclamation calling on 
the good citizens of Topeka to arise in 
their might and devote a day to the erad¬ 
ication of the pest from their lawns, lots 
and dooryards, that the useful and pleas¬ 
ing grasses have a chance to exist. The 
programme was carried out with spirit, 
not the least efficient “rooter” being the 
Governor himself, who headed the army 
of State officials, clerks and employees in 
their attack on the pest as entrenched in 
the Capitol grounds or about the execu¬ 
tive offices, and according to local reports, 
resulted in the temporary discomfiture of 
the enemy at the cost of a mighty wave 
of backache, impartially distributed among 
the active workers. This is well as far 
as it goes, but to measurably reduce the 
dandelion pest needs more than one day’s 
work in the year. Many a weary eastern 
housewife slaves for weeks in the busy 
Spring to rid her dooryard of the 
persistent interloper and with most indif¬ 
ferent success, unless she is particularly 
careful to cut the roots so deep they can 
never grow again. Merely cutting off tiie 
crowns tends to increase rather than di¬ 
minish the nuisance, as the root stock 
readily sprouts again, sending up instead 
several shoots in the manner of docks, 
horseradish and other associated peren¬ 
nials. To give the plant its quietus one 
must go down several inches where the 
root thins to the size of a quill. Fair suc¬ 
cess may be had where the crown only is 
cut out by dropping a small crystal of 
copper sulphate on the cut surface of the 
root remaining in the soil, as the corrosive 
action ensures speedy death. Most dan¬ 
delion cutters and lawn improvers sus¬ 
pect their labors in digging out the in¬ 
truder are in vain, and their doubts are 
not removed by a bulletin bearing on the 
subject lately issued by one of the exper¬ 
iment stations, showing by test and illus¬ 
trations just how the dandelion makes 
its fight. Every child knows by direct ob¬ 
servation that the innumerable plumy 
seeds are borne everywhere by the wind, 
and that the golden flower heads, lying 
at first so low that scythe, or mower 
passes them without harm, quickly rise on 
their hollow, quill-like stems between cut¬ 
tings to scatter to best advantage their 
rapidly-maturing seeds. The dandelion 
comes to stay wherever the soil is suffi¬ 
ciently rich and firm, and may only be 
kept under reasonable control by very fre¬ 
quent cutting and heavy rolling, or in¬ 
terminable hand-work. 
Why Try to Exterminate It?—E ven 
if the extermination of dandelions in a 
given locality were not hopeless why try 
to accomplish it? The plant has both 
beauty and utility. Tons of the leaves, 
both wild and cultivated, are used in early 
Spring as pot herbs or salad, and most 
toothsome and welcome it is when prop¬ 
erly prepared; the extract of the root and 
juice of flower stalk are thought to have 
value as medicine, and the ground dried 
root has even b&en used as a tolerable 
substitute for coffee. Of the attractive¬ 
ness of the bloom, there can be no doubt. 
Attentively considered, it will be seen that 
it is a model of symmetry. One might 
almost call it the one perfect flower. 
Nothing could be added or taken away 
without marring it. The only trouble is 
that it is far too common and unvariable. 
One is exactly like another, except in size 
or stage of development. A subscriber of 
The R. N.-Y. offered through our pages 
some years ago a reward of $5 for the 
first specimen of a white dandelion bloom 
sent him, but though much interest was 
manifested in the offer he- was never 
called on to pay the reward. Nearly all 
wild plants bearing colored flowers have 
an occasional white-flowered sport, or va¬ 
riety, but the common dandelion appears 
to he an exception, the orange-yellow 
shade appearing invariably in all healthy 
specimens. But if the blooms are uni¬ 
form in character the leaves are exceed¬ 
ingly variable in form, size and even habit 
of growth, scarcely any two wild plants 
having them just alike. Advantage is 
taken of this variability to select types for 
culture, resulting in several highly im¬ 
proved varieties, most of which originated 
in France, where dandelion is a highly 
esteemed salad vegetable. The best for 
garden culture is probably the new Im¬ 
proved Thick-leaved, seeds of which are 
usually offered for 40 cents the ounce, 
containing about 38,000 seeds. We' have 
grown this variety and find it early, ex¬ 
ceedingly productive of large, upright 
thick leaves, of good flavor when bleached 
under pots or A-shaped shelters of boards, 
put on as growth begins. When cooked 
as “greens” in the unbleached state their 
thickness and solidity is shown by not 
“boiling away” like the thinner wild ones. 
This improved garden sort has as great 
tendency to escape and naturalize itself as 
the wild one, and plants may be identified 
wherever found, for at least several gen¬ 
erations, by their thick, shapely tuft of 
upright leaves and the rather late bloom¬ 
ing habit, giving a longer season for cut¬ 
ting. The desirability of dandelion as a 
vegetable, and its ornamental character 
as a wild flower, dotting everywhere the 
meadows and pastures, does not, however, 
give it place on the lawn, where nothing 
is wanted but the greenest of grasses, and 
the knife-to-root fight with it might be 
commendable if there were chance of real 
success. The backaching experience of 
the Kansas Governor, the tired housewife 
and of the gangs of laborers employed by 
our eastern capitalists on their Summer 
estates shows that it is an almost hopeless 
plant to contend with by manual means. 
If you want to keep dandelions down— 
you can’t keep it out—clip your lawn 
twice a week in the growing season and 
roll heavily enough to bruise the crowns, 
which will check their growth and at the 
same time benefit the grass. 
The common dandelion is known among 
botanists and in medicine by the name of 
Taraxacum officinale. Another species, 
T. erythrospermum, with finely cut fob- 
age, smaller sulphur-colored flowers and 
reddish seeds, is sparingly naturalized in 
a few localities in the East. Tt has not 
risen to the dignity of a lawn pest. The 
numerous other Taraxacums, mostly na¬ 
tives of northern Asia, arc so' variable 
that they form first-class puzzles for bot¬ 
anists. 
The Reddest Tea Rose.— Deep red 
colors are rare among roses of the Tea- 
scented class, so rare, in fact, that they 
may scarcely be said to exist, as the two 
most strongly marked examples, Marion 
Dingee and Princesse de Sagan, are almost 
devoid of the characteristic fragrance, but 
though probably containing Bengal or 
China rose blood, are classed as Teas and 
are otherwise quite typical in habit, 
growth and constant profusion of bloom. 
They are well adapted for pot culture and 
Summer bedding, but need housing or 
especially thorough protection if left out 
over Winter. Marion Dingee is deep, 
rather dark crimson, while Princesse de 
Sagan has buds and blooms of brilliant 
velvety crimson approaching scarlet in its 
intensity. Blooms in natural size are 
shown in Fig. 195, page 411. They are 
borne in the utmost profusion singly and 
in loose clusters at all times during 
growth. The buds are very beautiful, and 
the open flowers, such as shown in the 
engraving, hold their color until the petals 
fail. This variety has dark, tough foli¬ 
age, which possesses the merit of being al¬ 
most mildew-proof—a great advantage in 
humid climates. One of the largest rose 
growers in this country says lie never 
knew the foliage to be harmed by mil¬ 
dew—the infestation, when present, scarce¬ 
ly spreads from its minute point of 
origin and dies out without noticeable in¬ 
jury instead of covering leaf and twig as 
in too many other varieties. Although 
introduced from France in 1887, it is not 
widely known or generally catalogued in 
this country. It has been long grown 
and is highly prized on the Rural Grounds. 
Marion Dingee is of American origin, and 
is an excellent variety, but scarcely as 
pleasing in bloom or as resistant to mil¬ 
dew as the foreign kind. w. v. F. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you’ll get a quick reply and 
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E. C 
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DISTRIBUTE 
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IN DUST FORM 
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saving Fruit and Vegetable Crops when other 
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NO WATER TO HAUL 
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Arsenate 
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