188 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, .. 
Weeding and Thinning. 
An excess of seed—at least of all the smaller 
kinds—is usually planted. Aside from the diffi¬ 
culty of sowing just the quantity needed to fur¬ 
nish the required plants, there are good reasons 
for the practice. With plants that are 
feeble at their first start, like carrots, a 
quantity of seed is needed to break 
through the weight of soil and insure a 
fair stand. When the plants are fairly 
up, then comes thinning, or, as the English 
call it, singling. How much soil each 
particular plant requires we do not know 
with precision, but doubtless most of our 
roots are allowed to stand too thick. 
The larger the leaves of the plant the 
farther apart the roots should be. Onions, 
with slender leaves, may be crowded, 
wdiile beets do better grown far apart. It 
must be recollected that the development 
of the root depends entirely upon the 
amount of healthy, active leaf surface. 
But our intention was to impress the 
importance of attending to this matter 
of weeding and thinning early. What¬ 
ever tool or machine may be found use¬ 
ful for cleaning between the rows, there 
is a certain amount of work that must be 
done in the row itself. For this no ma¬ 
chine has yet superseded the hand. The 
Work must be done as soon as the plants 
have made a few “rough leaves,” !, e., 
those beyond the seed leaves. There have 
been -weeding hooks and weeding chairs, 
and other contrivances to facilitate the 
operation, but the best way is to go down 
on the knees astride the row, and work 
with both hands, thinning, and removing 
every weed, no matter how small. The 
operation of hand weeding may be fa¬ 
cilitated by the proper use of the hoe; 
in working between the rows, the plants in the 
rows, weeds and all, are cut out at intervals, so 
as to leave little clumps or hills at proper 
distances. The amount of hand Aveeding is 
thus reduced, as the work is confined to these 
little hills. Do it early, for weeds grow as fast 
as the crops, and in a cold 
rain seem to grow much 
faster and get ahead of the 
crops and choke them. As 
soon as the plants are large 
enough to handle, go at 
them; delays are dangerous. 
Onions and carrots especial¬ 
ly,need the earliest attention. 
A Curious Herbaceous 
Plakt — Trictrtis. — Last 
summer Mr. Eugene A. Bau¬ 
man, the well-known Land¬ 
scape Gardener and Florist 
of Rahway, N. J., sent us a 
specimen of a plant under 
the name of Tricyrtis pilosa; 
we had seen the same 
thing in Mr. Peter Hender¬ 
son’s collection, called T. 
yrandiflora. It was such a 
weird, peculiar looking flow¬ 
er that we had the engrav¬ 
ing made which is here pre¬ 
sented. The plant grows some two feet high, 
with hairy, light-green, strongly ribbed leaves, 
from the axils of which appear these singular 
looking flowers, which are white, copiously 
spotted with purple. While Ve cannot com¬ 
mend the plant as “ beautiful ” in the popular 
sense, yet it is striking and curious in its ap¬ 
pearance, and deserves a place in a collection 
of rare herbaceous plants. The genus Tricyrtis 
is a small one, and from Japan and Repaid. 
Botanically it would be placed in one section of 
the Lily Family, near our native Uvularia. 
A Variety of the Sweet Gum Tree. 
The Liquidambar, Bilsted, or Sweet Gum, (Li- 
quidambar Styraciflua ), is one of the finest 
among our native deciduous trees, and we have 
often called attention to its merits as a valuable 
A VARIETY OF THE SWEET GUM TREE. 
but much neglected tree for ornamental pur¬ 
poses. Last autumn we saw in the grounds of 
Mr. Joseph Longwortli, near Cincinnati, a vari¬ 
ety of this tree, of a very marked character. 
The specimen was, we believe, found growing 
wild by Mr. L.,who introduced it to his grounds, 
where it is in company with a remarkably fine 
collection of trees. The leaves in this speci¬ 
men, instead of being of the five-pointed star 
shape, proper to the species, have only three 
prominent points, with one or two smaller ones, 
and are of the shape given in the engrav¬ 
ing. The leaf-stalks, or petioles, are very 
long and slender, which gives to the fo¬ 
liage a peculiarly graceful and airy ap¬ 
pearance. We could not learn whether 
the tree had yet borne fruit, but it would 
be very interesting to ascertain if this 
peculiarity will perpetuate itself, or the 
seedlings return to the original form. We 
hope that Mr. Longwortli will see that 
so remarkable a variety as this is propa¬ 
gated and distributed, and would suggest 
Lonywortlm as a suitable name for it. 
How to Transplant Evergreens. 
All things considered, May is the best 
month for transplanting the majority of 
evergreens. While we have seen a screen 
of Norway Spruces successfully set in 
August, it was under such favorable 
circumstances as are not likely to occur 
to many, and we should not, from this 
one instance, advise summer planting. 
Just when the buds are swelling is the 
time when the tree seems mostTeadily to 
recover from the shock of transplanting. 
Evergreens, as a general thing, do not 
seem to have the recuperative power of 
deciduous trees; they do not go into so 
complete a rest, and do not apparently 
awake with such renewed vigor. A well 
drained, not over rich soil suits the ma¬ 
jority of these trees the best; let the soil 
be light, and use no manure. If the spot 
is very poor, make an excavation and get 
some good pasture soil to supply the 
place of that removed. The nurseryman must 
do his part of the work well, or no care on the 
part of the planter will save the trees. The 
roots must be kept from drying, either by a prop¬ 
er supply of damp moss, a puddling of clay, or 
both. Some of the dealers in 3 r oung trees are 
very successful in packing, 
by making the roots into a 
ball with clay; this is, of 
course, to be soaked off be¬ 
fore the trees are planted. 
Do not insist on large trees, 
especially if they are to come 
from a considerable distance. 
In planting, spread the roots 
well, and carefully cover 
with fresh soil. Do not plant 
too deeply, but allow for the 
settling of the newly moved 
earth, so that the tree shall 
stand no lower than it did 
in the nursery. Large stones 
over the roots are better 
than stakes, but stake if 
need be. During the sum¬ 
mer do not let the weeds 
grow around the tree nor 
allow the grass to encroach 
upon it; keep a clear, open, 
well-cultivated space all 
around the tree. Much dis¬ 
appointment often results from buying native 
evergreen trees. These, especially Arbor Vita's, 
sometimes succeed as well as nursery trees, but 
with Hemlocks and the more delicate ones, it is 
different. These should be put on trial one year, 
planting in a naturally or artificially shaded place. 
