62 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
An Ornamental Evergreen 
BT AL FRESCO. 
I am an advocate for the planting of orna¬ 
mental evergreens in suburban gardens; and 
as evidence of this fact, state that I have 
eighteen species in cultivation around my resi¬ 
dence, and still find ample room for bedding 
and other plants. In selecting them I studied 
their adaptability (as regards ultimate growth) 
to each locality, as well as variety in outline, 
tint, and habit. Evergreens are at all times 
beautiful objects, giving variety during the 
summer months, and in winter lending a charm 
to the otherwise dreary and desolate garden. 
When flowering plants have been robbed of 
their jewels and the tinted autumnal leaves 
have passed away with the Indian summer, we 
have nothing left to please the eye save ever¬ 
greens. In planting evergreen trees and shrubs, 
adaptability, hardiness, and variety in tint and 
outline should be studied so as to produce a 
pleasing effect, and thereby avoid the sameness 
so often visible in villa gardens, where good taste 
is frequently outraged by the planting of Nor¬ 
way spruces and Arbor Vitaes informal rows 
like a file of grenadiers at drill. No evergreen 
in my small collection has given me so much 
satisfaction as the “ Thuja aurea var purpurea- 
marginata." This appears to be a hardy vari¬ 
ety from seed, and I have reason-to believe not 
generally known or duly appreciated. During 
a rummage in a small and neglected nursery I 
found several plants nearly covered by rampant 
growing weeds. Upon inquiring the name I 
received the one given above. The only satis¬ 
faction I could obtain regarding its origin was 
that “ the plants had been purchased at a nur¬ 
sery.” After considerable discussion the owner 
consented to part with two plants for a trifle, 
and they are now great favorites with xa 
In spring the young wood becomes tinted 
with bright yellow, which gradually changes to 
a light green by the middle of August. In au¬ 
tumn as the maple leaves assume their beauti¬ 
ful hues the bright green of the Arbor Vitae 
gives place to a purple tint which gradually 
changes to a deep purple by mid-winter. At 
the present time (Dec. 24th) the trees are at¬ 
tractive objects, more especially when the sun 
is shining and the earth is covered with snow. 
I inclose a small branch, and I have to request 
that our good friend the editor will give his 
opinion regarding its value as an ornamental 
plant. It is a rapid grower with erect branches 
like the old Chinese Arbor Vitae. With regard 
to its hardiness I need but refer to the fact that 
my largest specimen occupies a very exposed 
situation, and last winter escaped uninjured, 
but its next door neighbor, the Thuja borealis , 
was nearly destroyed by the frost, and is linger¬ 
ing out a miserable existence. 
[The specimens sent by our correspondent, 
who lives a short distance north of Philadel¬ 
phia, are certainly very marked and distinct, 
and apparently a variety of the Chinese Arbor 
Vitae {Biota) rather than a Thuja. We do not 
find the name in any European or American 
catalogue at hand. It is certainly deserving 
of propagation.— Ed.] 
The Cultivation of Currants. 
We were not aware, until a recent visit to 
Green’s Farms in Connecticut, that the cultiva¬ 
tion of the currant filled so large a place among 
the small fruits. Here it is made a specialty by 
several of the fruit-growers, and is found to 
pay better than any other of the small fruits. 
The varieties relied upon for the main crop are 
j the Versailles and the Cherry. The plants are 
i grown from cuttings. These are taken from 
the present year’s growth, cut into pieces six 
inches long, and planted in drills about 16 
inches apart and four inches apart in the drill. 
The soil is made rich, kept clean by frequent 
cultivation, and these cuttings make strong 
roots and throw up a stem from one to two feet 
high the first season. A part of the profit of 
the business lies in the sales of cuttings and 
bushes, which are sold at -wholesale, the cut¬ 
tings at $3 per M., and the plants at $30 per M. 
In making a plantation, the young plants are 
set in rows five feet apart and four feet in the 
row. The plants are set in rich soil, and kept 
clean by frequent cultivation through the en¬ 
tire season. They are allowed to throw out side- 
slioots and to grow in the bush form. They 
receive no trimming except the annual cutting 
back for the supply of wood for the market. 
Some of the plantations are made in the pear 
orchard, in line with the trees and in rows be¬ 
tween ; and where the ground is rich enough 
they bear quite abundantly in the shade. A 
small crop is looked for the third year. A full 
crop is from one to two tons to the acre, which 
brings three or four hundred dollars, according 
to the state of the market. The demand for 
the wood and plants among nurserymen is so 
lively, that these pay quite as well as the fruit. 
The chief enemies are the currant-worm and 
the borer. The worm is easily destroyed by 
the timely application of white hellebore. No 
time is lost in using this remedy when the 
enemy makes its appearance. Carbolic soap 
is also used with good results, and is a much 
cheaper remedy. About a pound is dissolved 
in five gallons of water, and the liquid is applied 
by a portable force-pump. Every worm is de¬ 
stroyed that the liquid touches. The shoots 
in which the borer makes his appearance are 
immediately cut away, and these remedies keep 
the plantations remarkably clean and thrifty. 
The sales from three acres on one of the fruit 
farms was five and a half tons, at an average 
price of twelve and a half cents a pound, net, 
or $1375. They are packed in nice fruit boxes 
and sent to the New York and Boston markets. 
The fertilizers mostly relied upon after the 
thorough preparation of the soil are bone-dust, 
superphosphate of lime, and leached ashes. 
These are not applied in very large quantities. 
Much dependence is placed upon thorough cul¬ 
tivation and the timely application of remedies 
for insects. Some of these plantations have 
been in bearing for ten years, and are appar¬ 
ently in as good condition as ever. By the 
removal of old wood and the application of 
fertilizers they may be indefinitely continued. 
It is found to be very much less trouble to take 
care of currants than of strawberries; they are 
more easily picked, reach market in good con¬ 
dition, and keep better. The demand for them 
is quite rapidly increasing. It is a popular crop 
with the growers and the sugar dealers. 
Connecticut. 
lotes from the Pines. 
The Balance of Things is beautifully ob¬ 
served in nature. One of the most charming 
as well as instructive books I ever read was 
one by Dumas and Boussingault, the translated 
title of which reads, “ The Physical Balance of 
Organic Nature.” A translation of it was pub¬ 
lished in this country many years ago, and it is 
one of the works which ought always to be 
kept in print. It shows in the most graphic 
manner the relations of plants and animals to 
one another and of both to the earth and the 
air. In the natural state of things the balance 
between plant and animal life, and the relations 
both have upon the earth upon which they live 
and the air which surrounds them, are most 
admirably adjusted, as are the effects of the 
carnivorous animals upon those which live 
upon vegetables. In our cultivation we break 
up the natural balance. We raise an excess of 
certain plants, and the insects that live upon 
such plants increase to a wonderful extent; 
we kill off insect-eating birds, and complain 
that insects destroy our- crops. We destroy 
every snake we meet and shoot every owl upon 
sight, and look about for remedies for trees 
and shrubs that have been gnawed by mice and 
rabbits. In our cultivation we have undertaken 
to supplant nature in producing better crops of 
better plants than would naturally grow, and 
we must accept the rest as the natural conse¬ 
quence. We put thousands of plants all of one 
kind in a field, and we must expect that the 
insects that feed upon these plants will congre¬ 
gate there, and if we are so foolish as to kill 
snakes it is only a natural consequence that 
mice abound. This remembrance of the excel¬ 
lent work of Dumas and Boussingault was 
brought up by my attempt to cultivate 
some choice 
Exotic Aquatic Plants in a tank in my 
greenhouse. I had planted out the beautiful 
New Holland Aponogeton distachyum, Limno- 
charts Humboldtii from Central America, the 
blue Water-lily, Nymphxza ccerulea, from 
Egypt, and other choice things. The plants 
grew finely, and some were coming into bloom, 
when I discovered, to my dismay, that the 
water was alive with “ wrigglers,” as the larvae 
of the mosquito are called. The plants were 
very desirable, but the larvae, however interest¬ 
ing they might be as animals presenting the 
remarkable phenomenon of breathing through 
their tails, were so many torments in prospect. 
I had complied with a part of the conditions 
of a natural pond. I had my plants, soil, and 
water. We are accustomed to think that mos¬ 
quitoes are of no use. This is a mistake. They 
play an important part in preserving the bal¬ 
ance of nature. It is not the sole mission of 
this most useful insect to disturb one’s sleep 
and to inflict unpleasant stings. These are only 
incidents in the generally beneficial career of 
the whole race of mosquitoes. Possibly one 
out of ten thousand mosquitoes reaches perfec¬ 
tion and seeks human society, while 9,999 be¬ 
fore they emerge from the state of wrigglers 
fulfill their destiny as food for fishes. Why, 
one man in the State of New York raises wrig¬ 
glers by the quart as the best possible food for 
his young trout. In my case there was but one 
remedy, and that was 
Fish. —So I made a call upon Mr. Greenwood, 
the dealer in aquaria in College Place, who 
fitted me out with some sticklebacks and other 
small fry, which at once gorged themselves on 
“wrigglers,” and in a short time cleared them out 
entirely. In some city, Boston I think it was, 
the water suddenly became bad and undrink¬ 
able. An investigation showed that the trouble 
was due to minute aquatic animals, and that the 
fish of all kinds were carefully kept out of the 
reservoirs by means of fine gratings. Fish 
were admitted, and the balance of nature being 
restored the trouble ceased. Among 
Winter-Blooming Pelargoniums or Gera- 
