1872.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
61 
The Horned-Poppies. 
Here and there in waste places, especially 
near the sea-coast, is found, though rarely, the 
Horned-Poppy, Glaucium luteum. It forms a 
large tuft of bluish-green cut leaves, 
and bears yellow, poppy-like flow¬ 
ers which are succeeded by narrow 
pods six to ten inches long. The 
shape of these pods has suggested 
the popular name. The plant has 
a yellow juice. We do not recol¬ 
lect to have seen this plant in cul¬ 
tivation, but with the present taste 
for striking foliage, it would no 
doubt be admitted. Another spe¬ 
cies, from Southern Europe, Glau¬ 
cium corniculatum, was introduced 
by Olm Brothers, of Springfield, 
Mass., a year or two ago. We had 
it last year, and certainly never saw 
anything finer in its way. It forms 
a dense tuft, over a foot across, 
of beautifully-cut Acanthus - like 
leaves, which are of a most charm¬ 
ing silver-gray color. It is highly 
ornamental, whether grown as 
single specimens or as an edging- 
plant to a flower-bed. With this, 
as with many other plants grown 
for the beauty of their foliage only, 
the flower-stalks should be cut off 
as soon as they appear. In its 
wild state it is an annual, but by 
preventing it from flowering it 
may be made biennial, as it is per¬ 
fectly hardy. There is no beauty 
in the flowers, and if the plant is 
allowed to bloom it becomes irreg¬ 
ular and ragged. When used 
for edging, well-established plants 
should be employed, and these can 
only be had of a proper size by start¬ 
ing them early in the greenhouse or liot-bed, 
low-leaved Pigweed, but as we call only the 
coarser Amaranths Pigweeds, we will not be 
too literal, especially as some of the Amaranths 
are highly ornamental. This new plant comes 
from the- Philippine Islands, where it was di§- 
The Willow-leaved Amaranth. 
Amarantlius salicifolius. 
Each season has its horticultural sensations, 
and the weather 
can not be more 
certainly fore¬ 
cast from the ad¬ 
mirable Govern¬ 
ment reports, 
than can the as¬ 
pect of the hor¬ 
ticultural hori¬ 
zon for 1872 be 
foretold by the 
inspection of the 
advertiseme n t s 
in the English 
journals for the 
last months of 
1871. The deluge 
of wonderful 
peas, marvelous 
turnips, and un¬ 
heard of pota¬ 
toes, comes as 
sure as the fall 
rains, and then 
we have a 
sprinkling here 
and there of new flowers. The latest sensa¬ 
tion is the new Amaranth, Amarantlius sali¬ 
cifolius. A literal translation would be Wil- 
willow-leaved amabanth.— (Amarantlius salicifolius.) 
covered by the late J. G. Yietch. The plant 
is from two to three feet high, with leaves 
five to seven inches in length, and one fourth 
of an inch wide. The graceful fountain-like 
habit of the plant is shown in the engrav¬ 
ing. The color of the leaves in the young state 
noBKED poppy.—( Glaucium corniculatum.) 
is a bronzy green, which, as the plant grows 
older, turns to a bright orange-red color. This 
novelty is spoken of in high terms by the Eng¬ 
lish papers, and it has attracted great attention 
and received prizes at several horticultural 
shows. The Gardeners’ Chronicle expresses 
doubts as to its being an Amarantlius, but we 
can hardly suppose that such eminent plants. 
men as the Messrs. Vietcli would 
send it out with this name unless 
they felt sure of its correctness. 
How Varieties are Improved. 
Mr. Lane, of Vermont, who has 
been so successful with his sugar- 
beet culture, sends us an account 
of his processes. He commenced 
12 years ago, selecting for seed the 
best six beets of those that ap¬ 
proached nearest to the particular 
type he wished to produce. From 
the crop raised from this seed the 
best six were again selected; and 
so on until the present time, when 
he claims to have produced his 
ideal “ of a good beet to raise for 
the dairy—a beet that for uni¬ 
formity of shape, color, solidity, 
quality, size, and yield is not ex¬ 
celled by any beet or mangold 
that is raised in this country. 
The largest beets raised the past 
season in our vicinity weighed 19 
to 21 lbs.” The specimens exhib¬ 
ited by Mr. Lane at the time of de¬ 
livering his address weighed re¬ 
spectively 6 lbs. and 10 lbs. Grown 
at 18 in. x 30 in. spaces, roots 
averaging 6 lbs. would make a crop 
of nearly thirty-five tons per acre; 
roots averaging 10 lbs. would 
make fifty-eight tons per acre. 
Mr. Lane has also made experi¬ 
ments of the same character with 
onions; and he thinks that instead 
of trying to get better vegetables by produc¬ 
ing new varieties, if we would improve the 
best old varieties, we would attain more uni¬ 
formity and better quality. He thinks he can 
take the Peachblow potato, and by selecting a 
few specimens for seed the nearest the type he 
wishes to pro¬ 
duce, continuing 
this selection for 
10 or 12 years, 
“producePeach- 
blows either 
round or oblong, 
white or peach- 
in color, 
and uniform in 
either of these 
characteristics.” 
The same is true 
of other vegeta- 
bles besides 
roots; tomatoes 
and Indian corn 
are examples in 
which we can 
most strikingly 
see the good re¬ 
sults of selec¬ 
tion. So with 
flowers. By 
choosing for 
seed those speci¬ 
mens only that present desirable characters we 
can each year improve upon their beauty. Many 
varieties will deteriorate without this care. 
