AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[October, 
French gardeners think so much of the plant, 
that they sow the seeds early under glass, in 
order to get the flowers much sooner than they 
would if they sowed in the open border. 
Using Concentrated Fertilizers in 
Gardening. 
ET PETEK HENDERSON. 
Whatever kind of concentrated fertilizer 
may be used, I find it well repays the labor to 
prepare it in the following manner: to every 
bushel of fertilizer add three bushels of either 
leaf-mold (from the woods), well pulverized 
muck, sweepings from a paved street, or—in 
the absence of either of the above—common 
garden soil. In every case the material em¬ 
ployed must be as dry as it is possible to pro¬ 
cure it. When guano is used, be careful to 
have it thoroughly pulverized and broken up 
before mixing with the other ingredients. The 
fertilizer must be well mixed with the soil or 
mold used by turning it at least twice. This 
mixing should be done in winter, or early 
spring, and the material be packed away in 
barrels in a dry place for at least a month be¬ 
fore using it. The main object of this operation 
is for the better separation and division of the 
fertilizer, so that when applied, it can be more 
regularly distributed over the land; besides 
this, no doubt the fertilizing qualities of the 
leaf-mold or other substance are developed by 
this treatment. Experiment has shown that this 
method of using concentrated fertilizers of 
nearly all kinds, materially increases their value. 
One of the most successful market gardeners 
in our neighborhood, has adopted this method 
for years, and in extensive experiments with 
different kinds of fertilizers, with and without 
being mixed, finds a saving of quite one-third 
in quantity in thus treating them. He finds 
that 1,200 lbs. of guano, mixed with two tons 
of garden soil, and sown over the surface after 
plowing, and then harrowed in, is equal to 
2,000 lbs. of guano used without mixing. 
We have ourselves experimented with guano, 
blood and bone, and bone flour, with nearly 
like results, and as a top dressing for grass, we 
think the advantage of mixing is even more 
marked. When fertilizers are applied to corn, 
potatoes, tomatoes, etc., in hills or.drills, it is 
not only more economical to mix in this man¬ 
ner, but much safer in inexperienced hands; for 
when any strong fertilizer is used pure, injury 
is often done to the roots by their coming in 
contact with it in too great quantity in the raw 
state, owing to imperfect mixing in the hill or 
drill, while, if composted as advised above, the 
danger is much less. Wc are often asked as to 
the quantity to be applied to different garden 
crops. Taking guano as a basis, we would 
recommend for all vegetable crops, if earliness 
and good qualify are desired, the use of not 
less than 1,200 lbs. per acre, mixed with two 
tons of either of the materials recommended. 
This quantity is used broadcast by sowing on 
the ground after plowing, and deeply and 
thoroughly harrowing in. When applied in hills 
or drills, from 100 to 300 lbs. should be used 
to the acre, according to the distance of these 
apart, mixing with soil, etc., as already directed. 
In regard to wjaich of the fertilizers is most 
desirable, we find but little difference, provided 
each is pure. Guano at $80 per ton, is rela¬ 
tively as cheap as blood and bone fertilizer at 
$65; bone flour at $50, or superphosphate at 
$40; for in the lowe-r priced articles we find we 
are obliged to increase the quantity to obtain 
the same results, so that the cost is nearly alike 
which ever be used. The all important point 
is the purity of the article, a matter that few 
working farmers or gardeners ever attempt to 
decide except by the results in culture, hence 
we advise each one who has been using a fer¬ 
tilizer that has proved satisfactory, to experi¬ 
ment but lightly with another until the new ar¬ 
ticle has proved its merits. The competition 
in the manufacture of articles so much in use 
as fertilizers, has in many instances forced 
down prices below the point at which they can 
be produced in a pure state, hence the wide 
spread adulteration with “salt cake,” “plas¬ 
ter,” and other articles utterly worthless but to 
make weight. Next in meanness to the quack 
that extracts money from a poor consumptive 
for his vile nostrums, is the man who compels 
the poor farmer or gardener, may be a thousand 
miles away struggling for an existence, to pay 
freight on the sand mixed with his guano, or 
the plaster in his bone dust. In this relation I 
am reminded of a retribution that fell on the 
“ Sands of Life man,” who figured so con- 
spiciously a few years ago in Hew York. The 
advertisement of this philanthropic gentleman 
it will be remembered, was that “A retired 
clergyman whose Sands of Life had nearly run 
out,” would for a consideration tell how the 
“ running out ” could be stopped in others. A 
kind hearted fellow in Illinois, deeply sym¬ 
pathizing with the old gentleman on account 
of his loss of “ sand,” sent him by express—but 
forgot to prepay—a thousand pounds of the 
article! It is reported that the “ retired clergy¬ 
man ” on opening the box, expressed himself 
in a manner not only ungrateful, but utterly 
unclerical. We counsel no vengeance, but if 
some of these sand-mixing guano men could 
have the sand sifted out by their victims with 
compound interest added, and returned to them 
under the fostering care of an express company, 
it would be but even handed justice. 
Notes from the Pines. 
Here is Trouble ! and I am the cause 
thereof. Moreover it is a lady who is in trouble, 
all through following my advice. Still I sup¬ 
pose this is what those who try to enlighten 
the world by appearing in print must expect. 
Every now and then I have received, through 
the courtesy of the editor, a letter of thanks, 
from some reader who has been helped by my 
“ notes,” but here is—well, if it were not from 
a lady, I should call it a “ blowing up.” It is, 
however, more in sorrow than in anger, and 
the case is not past remedy. The lady, who 
writes from Otsego Co., N. Y., says : 
“ I consider you the proper person upon whom 
to bestow my wrath, for did you not by your 
enticing representations, induce me to procure 
Aquilegia ccerulea, from the Rocky Mountains ! 
the queen of the Columbines, verily the queen 
of all herbaceous plants ! I received mine from 
-last fall, and early in the spring it was the 
first to show itself. Patiently and longingly I 
waited and watched its growth, as it developed 
its green bud, as it opened fully its green flower 
—as finally it changed its green for a dingy pur¬ 
ple-pink. Ho spurs at all. People exclaimed, 1 
‘what a vile weed!’ In mercy tell me is my l 
plant the true mrulea, or what is the matter? 
It is a dire disappointment to me.” 
If I were to recommend the little Brittany 
cow as a nice pet animal for a small family, 
and some one should order one and get a tall, 
lank, Texan instead, with horns so spreading 
that the barn-door must be widened, would it 
be right to blame me rather than the cattle | 
dealer ? The Rocky Mountain Columbine is all 
right, my description of it was not over-drawn, 
and the only trouble seems to be with fee 
dealer, who sent something else. How if I am 
to be held responsible for the mistakes of seeds¬ 
men’s and florist’s clerks all over the country, 
I may as well give up horticulture, and not 
write another “ note.” The disappointment she 
expresses shows her to be a true lover of flow¬ 
ers, and if she will be patient for a while, I 
will try at the proper season to send her a plant 
of the true thing .... Some time ago I wrote 
that I was experimenting in 
Carpeting beneath Shrubs, with the 
double object of improving the appearance, 
and by occupying the soil, to avoid the neces¬ 
sity for weeding. There are several low green- 
howse plants which will spread rapidly, and 
answer well for beds of greenhouse shrubs that 
are set out temporarily, but in the regular 
shrubbery we require something permanent. 
Cerastium Biebersteinii and C. tomentosum were 
not very successful, but they were planted 
where the shrubbery was the densest, and I 
have hopes of them if used where they can 
get more light. My most thorough success is 
with the moneywort, Lysimachia nummularia , 
the little trailer so much used for hanging bas¬ 
kets. Where this was set in sufficient quanti¬ 
ties in the spring of last year, it now covers 
the soil with the densest possible mat of foliage; 
it covers so closely that not an inch of soil is to 
be seen, and no weed dares dispute possession. 
This answers the purpose so completely in one 
part of my shrubbery, that I shall extend it 
to others. There is as much difference be¬ 
tween the appearance of a shrub-border with 
the earth so carpeted, and one with it bare, save 
for weeds, as there is between a carpeted and 
an uncarpeted room. I have also tried the so- 
called variegated moneywort, this is of a bright 
greenish yellow when grown under glass, but 
in the open ground it only shows its variegation 
in a dull sickly look, and the plant has nothing 
like the vigor of the ordinary kind. I am so 
much pleased with my experiments that I shall 
continue them with other plants, and report in 
due time. .. There are some plants of no especial 
merit, that become very popular, and others 
which are really good, that fail of appreciation 
In this latter class I regard 
Sedum: spectabile, which you figured when 
it came out, several years ago, as 8. Fabaria, 
under which incorrect name it is still to be 
found in collections. It makes a dense clump 
of stems, some 16 or 18 inches high, each one 
of which produces a broad cluster of purplish- 
rosy flowers, and as their clusters are numerous 
and close together, they make a broad sheet of 
bloom over the whole top of the clump. 
One of its best qualities is the lateness of its 
flowering; it comes along in September, 
a time when flowers are none too numerous, 
especially those with delicate tints. I suppose 
the reason why this plant has not been better 
appreciated, is that its habit and foliage are 
much like those of the old Orpine or Live-for¬ 
ever, (8. Telephium) which has escaped from 
gardens, and has become a weed in many 
places. The showy sedum is propagated with 
the utmost ease by division of the clump, or by 
cuttings of the stems, and I know of nothing 
that is more pleasing in its season than a clump 
of this .... In our 
Fancy beds, sometimes a plant will fail; I 
made a bed with Coleus Verschaffeltii, Achyran- 
Vies aureo-reticulata, A. Lindenii\ and Gnapha- 
lium lanatum mriegatum. For some reason 
the Gnaphalium did not grow well; it remained 
