April 
116 THE CULTIVATOR.. 
a shade. Fine seeds must be protected from the scorching 
rays of the sun, till they have obtained sufficient foothold- 
A friend is very successful with such seeds, by screen¬ 
ing them, after sown, with small boxes open at the 
bottom and top, across which a piece of fine muslin is 
stretched, like a sieve. Light is thus admitted, the 
drying of winds is prevented, the hot solar rays are much 
softened, and insects excluded. This treatment will 
ensure success with many delicate seeds where ordinary 
modes would fail. 
The watering of common soils, by rain or by artifi¬ 
cial meaps, soon forms a thin crust on the surface, un¬ 
less such soils are of the lightest character, and delicate 
young plants cannot push through it. The difficulty is 
obviated by the substitution of peat or fine mould, sifted 
over the surface when the seeds are sown. 
Dr. Lindley says, “ When the acorn falls, it has no 
power of wrigling into a hole in the ground, and when 
the ehickweed scatters its tiny seeds, they lie and grow 
where they fall.” This eminent horticulturist describes 
a method which can hardly fail with any seeds of tempe¬ 
rate climates, which retain vitality. First, provide a 
good soil, fine and dry; smooth the surface; sift over it 
a coat of fine mould or peat if the seeds are very small; 
or mix them with the same material before sowing, if 
excessively minute.’ Then press the whole surface 
gently and evenly. Next sprinkle over the surface some 
coarse moss, previously soaked in boiling water to kill 
insects or eggs, and with the superabundant water 
pressed out. Cover the whole with a common garden 
pot, and lay a tile on the hole. The seeds are then 
planted—the moss answering the purpose of the scat¬ 
tered forest leaves in nature, and the pot supplying the 
shade. 
Then, judging from a daily inspection by looking un¬ 
der the pot and moss coating,—open the hole in the 
pot when the seeds begin to grow; the next day, per¬ 
haps, remove a part of the moss; the next, raise the pot 
hv a stone under its edge; then gradually raise the pot 
higher, remove the rest of the moss, and finally take the 
pot away. 
One caution should be added for those who plant large 
seeds encased in a dry shell, as for instance the horse- 
chestnut. In the wild state they drop as soon as ripe 
into moist mould where they remain till germination 
commences. If packed up and kept dry a few weeks, 
they will scarcely ever grow. No difficulty of this kind 
will however occur if they are packed in moderately 
moist muck from the woods as soon as mature. T. 
HORTICULTURAL GLEANINGS. 
[Condensed from 11 The Horticulturist ” and other works ■] 
Six Best Apples. —B. V. French, of Braintree, 
Mass., who has probably given as much attention to the 
culture and examination of the different varieties of the 
apple, as any other person in the state, has given the 
following list of such varieties as stand first for produc¬ 
tiveness, fair habit of growth, adaptation to the climate, 
and fine quality, and affording a succession in ripening: 
Early Harvest, Porter , Fameuse, Rhode Island Green¬ 
ing, White Seeknofarther, and Baldwin. 
Fine Market Pear. —The Vicar of Winkfield is 
remarkably distinguished for its large, fair, and hand¬ 
some form, and for its extraordinary productiveness; and 
though only of second rate flavor, it must prove a valua¬ 
ble market variety. Though spoken of as u middle” or 
autumn variety in u Downing’s Pomological Gossip,” it 
is evidently an early winter fruit, which must increase 
its value for distant transportation. Hovey, in his Maga¬ 
zine, speaks of a tree of this variety in the grounds of 
O. Johnson, of Lynn, as being “ literally loaded, and the 
branches so heavy as to require propping up to prevent 
their breaking from the weight of the fruit—the tree has 
borne abundantly every year since it first began.” 
The Madeleine Pear, or Citron des Carmes, was 
stated last year by the Committee of the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society, to be the best of any of its sea¬ 
son, among all the numerous new varieties. Among the 
numerous localities where this pear has been well tried, 
we never heard of but one where it did not prove valua¬ 
ble, and that was at Auburn, Cayuga Co., N. Y. It 
sometimes rots at the core, which may be prevented by 
ripening in the house; and where it does not prove fine, 
its quality may doubtless be much improved in this way. 
The Jargonelle, so liable to core rotting, is greatly im¬ 
proved by ripening in this manner, as well as nearly all 
other pears. 
The best two Strawberries, adapted to extensive 
culture for market, are, according to the opinion of A. 
J. Downing, Hovey’s Seedling and Black Prince. 
Select Varieties of Roses —Dr. Yalk, of Flush¬ 
ing, who has much knowledgof Roses, gives select lists 
in the Horticulturist, from T. Rivers, the greatest Eng. 
lish rose culturist, which may greatly assist those in 
selection, who are not familiar with the one or two 
thousand varieties, offered for sale by nurserymen:— 
The six sweetest— Prince Albert, Crimson Perpetual, 
Common Moss, Old Cabbage, Crested Provence, & Riego. 
Six finest large varieties;— La Reine, William Jesse , 
Souvenir de la Malmaison, Calypso, Brennus, and Che- 
nedole- —two hybrid perpetuals, one Bourbon, and three 
hybrid Chinas. 
Six most vigorous growing— Charles Duval, Chenb- 
dole, Elise Mercceur, Great Western. Hortensia, and 
Paul P err as— five Hybrid Bourbons, and one Hybrid 
China. 
Six earliest large roses— Blairie, No. 2. Fulgens, 
George 4th. Magna Rosa, Ne plus ultra, and Triomphe 
d’Angiers —all hybrid Chinas. 
Six earliest small roses— Burgundy , Chinese Sweet 
Brier, Persian Yellow, Rose de Meaux, Moss Pompone , 
and Sponge’s Rose. 
Six finest forms— Boule d’Anteuil , Coupe d'Hebe , 
Kean, La Voluptu, Rose Devigne. and Triomphe de 
Jaussens. 
Plants in the shade. —J. Jay Smith, of Philadel¬ 
phia, gives the following list of plants which thrive well 
under the shade of trees:—All Rhododendrons and Kal- 
mias, English Ivy, Ilex aquifolium, and I. opaca, Acuba 
japonica, Box, Yew, Mezereon, Privet, Red Dogwood 
Snowberry, common Juniper , Lily of the Valley, Peri¬ 
winkle, Saxifraga umbrosa, Monarda didyma, Anemone 
pennsylvanica. The same cultivator, having been re¬ 
markably successful in the cultivation of the rose, at¬ 
tributes his success to a remark he had seen on their 
management, that they require “ to have their feet kept 
dry;”*—that is a deep and well drained subsoil. 
Cultivating Fruit Trees. —So great is the loss 
resulting from stunted and diseased growth, occasioned 
by neglected cultivation, that an intelligent cultivator 
gave it as his opinion, that “ if nine-tenths of our or¬ 
chards should be cut down, and the labor and cultivation 
which they receive be expended on the remaining tenth, 
more and better fruit would be raised.” 
The Roxbury and Putnam Russets. —A. J. Dow¬ 
ning, after a careful examination of specimens, of the 
latter, from the original Putnam orchard in Ohio; of 
the former from Roxbury and Dorchester; and of both 
from other sources; as well as comparing the growth of 
the trees,—has fully concluded that these celebrated va¬ 
rieties are identical. ' 
Failure of Fruit.— Dr. Barratt, of Middletown, 
Ct., says that a series of observations, have led him to 
the contusion, that continued or heavy rains, at the time 
the trees are in full flower, often causes a failure of the 
crop, when this failure can be ascribed to nothing else, 
the rain washing away the pollen, and preventing the 
fertilization of the germs. T. 
