1883 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
127 
-whole stock worthless. The florist refused 
to pay the bill for the seeds, and was sued by 
the seedsmen. The case recently came up 
in London, the florist making a counter 
claim for damages. The jury in this case 
■decided that the florist need not pay for his 
.seeds, but that the seedsmen should compen¬ 
sate him for his loss by paying him $350. 
This decision will cause much surprise among 
our seed dealers, as it is contrary to those 
that have been made in the courts of this 
•country, as well as in those of France. 
The Spring Adonis. 
One great excellence of the hardy perennial 
flowers is their permanence. We are accus¬ 
tomed to look for their appearance 
each spring on the same spot they 
occupied last year; they seem to 
belong to the place and to the sea¬ 
son, and we have for them an at¬ 
tachment which it is not possible 
to feel towards the short-lived 
plants. If we were to look in its 
place and not find our clump of 
Spring Adonis, it would seem as if 
there was something wrong about 
the season. This plant comes from 
the mountains of Europe, belongs 
to the large and varied crowfoot 
f ami ly, and is own cousin to the 
buttercups. Quite early in May its 
stems, bearing numerous finely cut 
leaves of a light, but lively green, 
push their way up to the light. In 
good soil these stems are a foot 
high, and each bears one large 
flower which is often four inches 
across. It is not constant in its 
number of petals ; these vary from 
10 to 20, and give the flower a very 
luxuriant appearance. The color 
is yellow, not that flaunting, self- 
asserting yellow not rare among 
midsummer flowers, but a mild, 
somewhat delicate tint, becoming 
to one of the finest flowers of 
spring. While it will survive and 
he pleasing in a poor soil, it is only 
when it is planted in a rich border 
that it is seen in its full glory, and 
in the beauty of both flower and 
foliage, shows that it may justly 
bear the title of “ Queen of the 
Buttercup tribe.” As its seeds are very slow 
to germinate, often remaining in the ground 
a year before the plant starts, it is best 
propagated by division of the roots. 
Substitutes for Kaias.—Hoeing, and 
the frequent stirring of the surface of the 
soil, are good substitutes for rain. Those 
parts of the garden that are most frequently 
cultivated show the best results. It is prob¬ 
able that corn, watermelons, tomatoes, Lima 
beans, and cabbage, and possibly other plants, 
if well started, in good, deep soil, may go 
-through a two-months’ drouth without very 
serious damage. A deep, well-manured soil, 
suffers much less than a shallow soil. Sub¬ 
soiling and manure are to a certain extent 
substitutes for rain. Moisture comes from 
below. Underdraining is also a safeguard 
against drouth. The course of the drains in 
the garden can easily be marked in a dry sea¬ 
son, by the ranker growth of vegetation 
above them. Irrigation, in many parts of 
the North, will pay. The soil, if well pre¬ 
pared, could use, to good advantage, twice 
the quantity of water it receives from rains 
during the dry months of summer. 
Root Pruning. 
The root pruning of fruit trees is of 
service after they have been growing rapidly 
for several years. They may annually make 
an abundant growth of wood without bear¬ 
ing any fruit. Some young trees come into 
bearing early, and such have no need of root 
pruning, but they rather require a thinning 
of the fruit so that the tree may not injure 
its vitality by overbearing. Some pear trees, 
like the Bartlett, are dwarfed by excessive 
bearing in early life, and never recover. 
Other varieties of the apple and pear that 
come late into bearing may have their roots 
pruned, and thus secure earlier fruit than 
would be possible without it. The trees 
should always be in vigorous condition to 
warrant the root pruning. The operation 
consists in digging a trench around the tree, 
a spade wide, cutting off all the roots that 
are met with, doing the pruning with a sharp 
spade, aided, when necessary, by the use of a 
knife. The trench is then to be filled, but 
not with the soil that was taken out, but 
with fresh pasture soil, or well-enriched soil 
from the surface of the orchard. The sev¬ 
ered roots will soon form numerous fibres 
in the new soil, and finding nourishment 
close at home, will not wander in search of 
it. It is a well-known fact that whatever 
threatens the life of a tree has a tendency to 
throw it into bearing. The shock caused by 
the removal of the roots usually has this effect, 
and the trees often bear the next year. The 
distance from the trunk at which the roots 
should be cut will depend somewhat upon the 
THE spring adonis (Adonis vernalis), 
size of the tree and the object the pruner has 
in view. If the object be to dwarf the tree, 
it should be nearer the bole than when 
fruitfulness is desired. It is better to cut the 
roots not not more than one-third of the cir¬ 
cumference in a single season, as we gradu¬ 
ally reduce the top in grafting. Root prun¬ 
ing, as above described, is to be used with 
caution, and only as a medicine. 
A Cheap and Convenient Hot-bed. 
BY PICKET. 
Hot-beds, with manure as the heating ma¬ 
terial, are often very unsatisfactory. Green¬ 
houses are costly. Window-boxes in the 
house are but little better than cold frames 
outside. The amateur finds it easy enough 
to obtain top heat, but bottom heat is the 
main requisite in the propagation of plants 
and germination of delicate seeds, and how 
to secure it is the puzzle. The market gar¬ 
deners at the West use fire hot-beds. I use a 
1 mp as a fruitful source of heat. The 
engraving herewith given shows the device. 
Procure a sash of the size the propagating 
house is to be. Make a box to fit the sash, 
12 inches deep in front, and 16 or 18 at back. 
Six inches above the bottom, put in a “ false 
bottom.” Sheet-iron resting on cross-bars of 
wood is best, though half-inch boards will 
answer. On this place three or four inches 
of soil. A hole six or eight inches square is 
made in the bottom of the box, and below 
this is fitted a second box about 12 inches 
square, and with a door in front. Near the 
bottom of the door are three or four half-inch 
air-holes, fitted with a slide. A kerosene 
lamp is placed inside this box, air is admitted 
by moving the slide, and the heat passes up 
into the air chamber under the earth, and 
escapes through the small holes'a, a, (one at 
each end of the box), with slides over them 
by which to regulate the escape of heat. 
Set the box in the warmest and sunniest 
place, put a thermometer inside, under the 
glass, and it is ready for use. Be careful not 
to set the box on fire by turning on too much 
heat. If desired, a portion of the heated air 
may be admitted into the upper chamber, 
under the sash, by placing a small tube in one 
corner. This would only be necessary to 
protect the plants in frosty weather, and 
great caution must be exercised. This hot¬ 
bed is convenient, clean, and, with a little 
practice, most easily managed. 
For starting cuttings and delicate seeds, it 
can hardly be excelled. If the box is very 
large, two lamps may be necessary; but one 
lamp will supply a great deal of heat. A 
small metal guard should be placed over the 
top of the chimney and a short distance 
above it, to distribute the heat and prevent 
burning the plants directly over the lamp. 
