102 
[Mahcii. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST., 
Orientale, the Prince's Feather, or Ragged-Sail¬ 
or, a tall species with rather coarse foliage and 
drooping spikes of rose colored flowers, is often 
seen in the humbler attempts at gardening, in 
company with Sunflowers, Love-lies-bleeding, 
and other similarly coarse and weedy plants. 
We have for some years known a species 
which is really worth cultivating, but which 
does not seem to be much disseminated—the 
Polygonum cuspidatum , a native of Japan. It is 
a perfectly hardy perennial, which throws up 
branching stems three or four feet high, bearing 
large oval leaves, which are long-pointed at the 
apex,—hence the name cuspidatum. The small 
white flowers are in little clusters in the axils of 
the leaves, and are succeeded by the fruit, or 
seeds, which being of a pale rose color are more 
showy than the flowers themselves. Though the 
flowers individually are small, they are produced 
in such abundance and have such a graceful 
droop that the plant is quite showy in flower 
and fruit, and its effect is heightened by the red¬ 
dish color of the stems. The plant increases 
very rapidly, and soon forms a large clump; in¬ 
deed this is its greatest fault, and one which unfits 
it for use in small borders. It is very effective 
for planting where there is plenty of room, and 
it will grow in any soil and situation, even under 
the shade of trees. It blooms in July and Au¬ 
gust, and continues for a long time. There 
is a variegated leaved form which is rather 
curious, but the variegation is not constant. 
•-- - -. 
Laying out an Orchard. 
When trees are set equidistant in parallel 
rows, the land is not laid off to the best advan¬ 
tage. The plan is modified by making the trees 
in one row alternate with those in the next, a 
method to which the term quincunx is applied. 
Warder differs from others in his description of 
quincunx, which he says “is constituted by one 
central tree surrounded by six, and all equi¬ 
distant.” This is planting in hexagons, and 
Fig. 1. —PLAN OF THE ORCHARD. 
while we regret that Warder should have given 
to it a name that is likely to lead to confusion, 
we quite agree with him that it is the plan upon 
which the greatest number of trees can be set 
upon an acre and all be at equal distances. If 
the trees are to be 20 
feet apart, his direc- 
tions are to lay off par¬ 
allel lines 17 feet 4 
inches apart, by stakes 
or by marking furrows. 
Crossing these lines, at 
right angles with them, 
are drawn others, 10 
feet apart. The trees are set at every alternate 
intersection of the cross marks with the longitu¬ 
dinal ones. The accompanying diagram, fig. 
1, will show the arrangement, and it will be 
seen that each tree is at the corner of an equi¬ 
lateral triangle, and is also at the centre of a 
hexagon, formed by six other equidistant trees. 
Mr. Nathaniel Hill, Pleasant Hill, Ohio, has 
another way of arriving at the same result. He 
uses a triangular wooden frame as a guide. The 
frame, fig. 2, is made of two strips of plank 
placed so as to form two sides of a triangle of 
the required length, and provided with a cross 
piece to keep it in shape. In laying off an or¬ 
chard, but one straight line has to be marked for 
a base line and the distances for the first row 
O o’ 
Fig. 3. —PLANTING GUIDE. 
staked out upon this. By placing the two arms 
of the frame at the stakes of the first row, the 
places for the trees in the second row are in¬ 
dicated by the point of the frame, and so on. 
Mr. H. sets his trees 30 feet apart, and though 
it requires three men to move the frame, lie 
thinks it less trouble and more accurate than 
any other method. Whatever plan may be pre¬ 
ferred for laying out the orchard, it is best to 
mark the position of every tree by a stake before 
commencing to plant. In this way all inaccu¬ 
racies may be remedied with much less trouble 
than after the trees have been set. Some years 
ago we figured a planting guide, the use of which 
will insure the placing of the tree in the precise 
position occupied by the stake. It is a board, 8 
feet long, fig. 3, with a hole at each end and a 
notch in the middle. Lay this on the ground 
with the notch at the stake, drive a pin into the 
ground through each hole, and lift the board off, 
leaving the pins in the ground. The stake may 
be removed, the hole made; when the board is 
placed again on the pins the notch accurately in¬ 
dicates where the trunk of the tree should stand. 
Market Gardening around Philadelphia— 
What Vegetables are Grown. 
PY HENRY A. DREER. 
[In response to a request for a list of the seeds 
in demand by the Philadelphia Market Gar¬ 
deners, Mr. Dreer communicates the following. 
Where the varieties differ from those popular 
with growers for the New York markets, we 
add those preferred by the latter, in brackets. 
The list in this way will present at a glance the 
varieties approved by the two largest market 
gardening communities in the country. —Eds.] 
Philadelphia lias long been noted for its 
superior markets, and particularly for the pro¬ 
fusion and quality of the vegetables found in 
them. The market gardeners of Philadelphia 
are a thrifty, industrious, and honest class of 
people, not much given to “book learning,” but 
intelligent enough to know what pays best to 
grow, and how to grow it. That portion of the 
city known as the “Neck,” (being the strip of 
land below the built-up portion of the city lying 
between the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers,) 
lias from time immemorial been occupied as 
“ Truck Farms;” and here many of thedescend- 
ents of the original settlers, (Swedes and Ger¬ 
mans) still live, although the march of improve¬ 
ment is rapidly encroaching upon them, and 
has already driven many of them to other local¬ 
ities around the city. 
In no one thing are our gardeners more 
fastidious than in the selection of their seeds. 
They want the best , and are willing to pay for 
them; they are great sceptics, and slow to ex¬ 
periment with new sorts, preferring well tested, 
old varieties. They are also very careful in saving 
many of their own seeds, and have a strong 
prejudice against many of the imported varieties. 
The following is a list of the leading kinds 
grown by them for the Philadelphia market. 
Asparagus. — Lcslier's Mammoth ; to grow to 
perfection must be planted four to five feet apart. 
[Giant; more depends upon the cultivation 
than upon the variety.] 
Beans. —Dwarf or snap ; for early, Early Mo¬ 
hawk ; for general crop and late planting, the 
Valentine , which we consider the best. [Early 
Valentine for early, and Refugee for late.] 
Beans. —Pole or running. Large Lima for 
shelling, and Giant Wax for a snap bean. The 
latter is popular in our markets, but the sup¬ 
ply has not yet been equal to the demand. 
Beet. —The EarBassano , known as the 
“ Early White Beet,” is superseded by the 
Simon's Early Red Turnip Beet. It is quite as 
early, much better shaped, dark colored, and is 
the most extensively grown of any, not only for 
early, but in later planting for late use. The 
TIalf-long Blood, known also as the “Baltimore 
Beet,” is also largely grown. [Short-top Round, 
Early Blood Turnip, Long Smooth Blood .] 
Cabbage. — Large Early York, Early Wake¬ 
field, Early Winningstadt, and Early Flat Butch, 
follow in succession ; the Large Early York is, 
however, the leading sort. These varieties are 
sown in September and wintered in cold frames. 
The Philadelphia Brumhead and Flat Butch 
are sown in the spring. Of these our gardeners 
will use no other but home-grown seed, they 
have been so often deceived in imported seed. 
[Early Wakefield, Jersey grown seed, preferred 
for early; Flat Brumhead, Late Bergen, and 
Brumhead Savoy for late.] 
Cauliflower. —Early Paris, Le Normand, 
and Walcheren. [Early Erfurt for early; Thor- 
burn's Nonpareil for late.] 
Carrot. — Early Shorthorn, Scarlet Horn , 
Long Orange. 
Celery. — Turner's Lncomparable Bicarfi and 
White Solid. Philadelphia growth is preferred ; 
the imported seed is apt to produce hollow 
stalks. [Dwarf sorts usually grown under the 
names of Neic Bwarf, Lncomparable Bicarfi 
Early Bicarfi White Solid, etc.\ 
Corn Salad is very extensively grown for 
early spring use. It is sown in September, and 
covered in the winter withasprinkling of straw. 
Corn, Indian. — Adams' Early, only salable 
until the Eight-rowed Sugar and Evergreen appear 
in market; the former being hardy can be plant¬ 
ed much earlier than the others. [Early Barling.'] 
Cucumber. — Early White Spined, for salad, 
and the Long Green, for pickles. 
Egg Plant. — Large Round Purple (prickly 
stem) is preferred. [New York Purple.] 
Endive. — Green Curled is the popular sort. 
Kohlrabi. — Early White Vienna, and for 
late, the Large White. 
Kale or' Borecole. —The Bwarf German 
and Scotch are sown in the fall, and slightly 
covered during the winter for early greens. 
Leek. — Large Flag and Large Musselburgh. 
Lettuce. —For early heading, the Early Cab¬ 
bage and Brown Butch-, later use, Royal Cabbage 
and Curled Lndia-liead. The latter the best for 
early summer use. [Early Simpson, a variety 
of the Curled Silesian, preferred for early.] 
Melons, Musk, are principally grown in New 
Jersey for our market. The leading kinds are 
Jenny Lind for early; Netted Citron, Pine-apple, 
Nutmeg, Turks-cap arid Persian for later, and 
follow in the order in which they are named. 
Melons, Water, are also grown in New 
Jersey. The favorite variety is the Mountain 
