460 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
unusual with pansies in hot months. The 
flowers are well up above the leaves, upon 
strong stems, and of good shape and texture, 
perfectly white except a small orange-colored 
eye. The fringe at the base of the side petals 
is pure white, and by its different texture from 
the petals themselves, increases the beauty of 
the flowers. The flowers from which the draw¬ 
ing was made, were quite an inch and three- 
fourths across. This variety comes true from 
seed, which the plant produces freely. Almost 
every grower of flowers is fond of pansies, and 
will regard a fine white one with favor, and it 
will no doubt be a valuable pansy for forcing. 
After examining specimens of the plant, 
Messrs. Peter Henderson & Co. secured the 
whole stock of the seeds of this novelty. 
More New Grapes. 
For several years there has been but little ex¬ 
citement about new grapes; but this season 
there are several new ones offered, and we 
know of still others that are being thoroughly 
tested before placing them before the public. 
THE LADY 
is the name of a new white grape, offered by 
Mr. George W. Campbell, of Delaware, Ohio. 
We have had an opportunity to test the fruit, 
and were much pleased with its quality. It is 
so much better than the Martha that it must 
entirely supersede that variety; indeed, to those 
not very critical in their judgment of grapes, 
this would rank among the best. Mr. C. has 
been careful to test this variety for five years 
before bringing it out, and, knowing his long 
experience with grapes and his caution in 
forming an opinion, we are quite willing to 
accept the following, which he writes in a pri¬ 
vate note: “ It has been perfectly healthy, both 
in vine and fruit. It endured the winter of 
1872 and 1873, when the thermometer fell to 
32° below zero, uninjured and wholly unpro¬ 
tected, being apparently the hardiest vine I ever 
had. * * * It ripens earlier than the Hartford, 
Ives, or any other popular early grape.” The 
Lady is a seedling of the Concord, and ripens 
two weeks before its parent—and two weeks 
in the ripening, in many localities, decides be¬ 
tween grapes and no grapes. Mr. C. says that 
upon the old vines the bunch and berry equal 
those of the Concord in size. The sample sent 
us was somewhat smaller; color, a pleasing light 
yellowish green, with a bloom, the berries hang¬ 
ing well to the cluster. Mr. C. states, that it 
keeps better after being picked, and that the 
skin, though thin, is more tenacious than that of 
the Concord, and the fruit consequently bears 
handling better. The popular taste prefers 
white grapes, and people will pay a much high¬ 
er price for a white variety than for dark col¬ 
ored ones of much better quality. Should 
this, as a white grape, prove the equal of the 
Concord, as a black variety, Mr. Campbell will 
be entitled to the thanks of fruit growers for 
introducing it. 
THE BRIDGETON, 
is a new variety, offered by Messrs. Chase 
Brothers & Woodward, of Rochester, N. Y. It 
is a handsome black variety, grown from the 
seed of Concord, crossed with Diana Ham¬ 
burgh. These gentlemen say : “ It appears to 
combine the hardiness and rapidity of growth, 
and vitality of the Concord, with the superior 
•quality and beauty of Diana Hamburgh. 
Having thick, large foliage, it is enabled to 
withstand the heat of summer, and to escape 
mildew, being in perfect health at the close of 
the growing season, it exhibits extreme hardi¬ 
ness, and successfully endures the cold.” The 
fruit, to judge from the specimen sent us, is 
one of excellent quality, and we hope to be 
able to give a report hereafter from personal 
experience with the vine. 
THE WHITEHALL 
would seem a misnomer for a black grape, did 
we not know that it was so called because it 
originated at Whitehall, N. Y. This is put be¬ 
fore the public by Merrell & Coleman, Nursery¬ 
men, Geneva, N. Y., who claim for it great 
earliness, with vigor and hardiness. It ripens 
at Geneva, from August 20th, to September 
1st. The fruit, which has the general appear¬ 
ance of the-Isabella, is quite distinct in quality, 
and has a flavor which has been likened to 
that of an ox-lieart cherry. The bunch sent us 
impressed us favorably with its merits; a por¬ 
tion of the cluster was left in the box in which 
it came, and at the time at which we write— 
the first week in November—the grapes, though 
shrivelled, show no signs of decay, and are 
still eatable, which indicates that the White¬ 
hall promises to be a good keeper. 
Unhealthy Plants—The Remedy. 
BY PETER HENDERSON. 
Whenever plants begin to drop their leaves, 
it is certain that their health has been injured 
either by over-potting, over-watering, over¬ 
heating, by too much cold, or by applying 
such stimulants as guano, or by some other 
means having destroyed the fine rootlets by 
which the plant feeds, and induced disease that 
may lead to death. The case is not usually im¬ 
portant enough to call in a “ plant doctor,” so 
the amateur begins to treat the patient, and the 
practice is in all probability not unlike that of 
many of our household physicians who apply 
a remedy that increases the disease. Having 
already destroyed the, so to speak, nutritive 
organs of the plant, the stomach is gorged with 
food by applying water, or with medicine, by 
applying guano or some patent ‘ ‘ plant food.” 
Now the remedy is nearly akin to what is a 
good one when the animal digestion is de¬ 
ranged—give it no more food until it re-acts. 
We must then, if the roots of the plant have 
been injured from any of the above named 
causes, let the soil in which it is potted become 
nearly dry; then remove the plant from the 
pot, take the ball of soil in which the roots 
have been enveloped, and crush it between the 
hands just enough to allow all the sour outer 
crust of the ball of earth to be shaken off; then 
re-pot in rather dry soil (composed of any fresh 
soil mixed with equal bulk of leaf-mold or 
street sweepings), using a new fiower-pot, or 
having thoroughly washed the old one, so that 
the moisture can freely evaporate through the 
pores. Be careful not to over-feed the sick 
plant. Let the pot be only large enough to 
admit of not more than an inch of soil between 
the pot and ball of roots. After re-potting, 
give it water enough to settle the soil, and do 
not apply any more until the plant has be¬ 
gun to grow, unless indeed the atmosphere is 
so dry that the moisture has entirely evaporated 
from the soil, then of course water must be 
given, or the patient may die from the opposite 
cause—starvation. The danger to be avoided 
is in all probability that which brought on the 
sickness, namely: saturation of the soil by too 
much water. Other causes may induce sick¬ 
ness to plants, such as an escape of gas in Ihe 
apartment, or smoke from a flue in the green¬ 
house, but in all eases, when the leaves fall 
from a plant, withhold water, and if there is 
reason to believe that the soil has been poison¬ 
ed by gas, or soddened with moisture, shake it 
from the roots as before advised, and re-pot in 
a fresh flower-pot. Many years ago, when I 
used smoke-flues in my greenhouses, some kind¬ 
ling wood, carelessly thrown on the top of one 
of them, ignited, and the smoke caused the 
leaves of every plant to drop. There were 
some 3,000 plants, mostly Tea-Roses,, in the 
greenhouse ; it would have been too much of a 
job to re-pot all, but by withholding water for 
some ten days, until they started a new growth 
again, very few plants were injured. 
Preserving Flowers—Winter Bouquets. 
In former articles were described the methods 
of preserving flowers by fumigating with sul¬ 
phur and by drying in sand, and it was advised 
to simply dry the “ everlasting ” flowers and 
grasses for future use. To our own taste a 
bouquet of everlasting flowers, made up in 
their natural colors, just as they were dried, is 
a pleasing object, and so is a bouquet of grasses 
that have been dried in the shade and which 
are more to be admired for .eir grace of form 
than for their color, although this presents a 
considerable variety in different shades of green 
and straw color, according to the age of grasses 
at the time of collecting them, and the care 
with which they were dried. Yet many per¬ 
sons are not content with these simple things 
in their natural state; everlasting flowers with 
staring colors not their own .nd grasses of 
every hue from bright yellow to black(!) are 
imported and sold, and persons who have seen 
these wish to imitate them. Of course tastes 
differ. Ours is to have bouquets as natural as 
possible; others wish them quite unlike any¬ 
thing that nature ever made. We do not assert 
that we are right and others are wrong, but we 
can assure those who are content to take the 
everlastings and grasses just as they grow, 
will save themselves a great deal of trouble. 
We have had numerous inquiries about 
CRYSTALIZING GRASSES, 
and this is perhaps one of the simplest methods 
of treating them, as they are not given unna¬ 
tural colors, and if properly done, resemble 
something in nature; almost every winter we 
have one or two mornings, when every tree- 
twig, and every bit of dead grass is hung with 
ice-crystals, and is resplendent in the rising 
sun. This effect can be very well imitated by 
depositing crystals of alum upon the dried 
grasses. A year or so ago, one of those per¬ 
sons who write upon all possible subjects, and 
get their articles published in papers waich 
know no better, gaye directions for crystalizing 
grasses which must have disappointed every 
one who tried it. It was to make a solution of 
alum in boiling water in a stone jar, and sus¬ 
pend the grasses above the solution! Nothing 
could be more thoroughly absurd than this; 
the writer could as well expect to satisfy hunger 
by looking in at the window of a restaurant, 
as to get alum crystals on grasses in this way. 
Here was a physical impossibility gravely writ¬ 
ten out for the guidance of other people. Much 
of the hack writing for papers is after this 
style. To deposit alum upon grasses, or to 
crystallize them as it is called, one should know 
the principles upon which the operation de¬ 
pends, in order to be able to modify it to meet 
