AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
371 
1868 .] 
fled. When the bulbs-are received, lose no time 
in pmnting them. They may be in separate beds, 
or in clumps in the borders. Deeply spade 
the soil, -which is all the better if sandy, or 
trench it, working in a plenty of old cow manure, 
and plant, the distance apart and the depth be¬ 
ing governed by the size of the bulb. Hya- 
cintlis may be put 8 inches apart and 4 inches 
deep; tulips a little less. Crocuses should be 2 
inches deep and about the same apart, Lilies, 
according to their size, one to two feet apart, 
and four inches deep. The bed when planted 
will be a little above the general surface, but 
will settle during the winter. When the ground 
is about to freeze, throw a covering of strawy 
manure or other litter, over the bed, which is lobe 
left until spring. Besides the bulbs enumerated 
above, the Scillas, Snow-drops, Bulbocodium, 
Narcissus, Jonquils, and hardy Gladioluses, are 
to be similarly treated, and to be planted at a 
depth proportioned to their size. These bulbs 
may be grown in pots, but they must not be 
hurried. To get them to bloom well the bulbs 
must be well rooted before the bud pushes to 
any great extent; to this end they must be kept 
'dark and cool, but beyond the reach of frost. 
Prepare a light, rich soil of good loam and cow 
manure, and if not light, add sand. Place an inch 
or so of broken crock in the bottom of the pot, 
and put in the soil and pot the bulbs, which in 
the case of Hyacinths and Polyanthus need not 
be more than half covered. Place the pots in 
a cool, dark cellar, or make a rough frame of 
boards to contain them, and cover with several 
inches of coal ashes or tan. It is safe to invert 
a small flower-pot over each bulb, before put¬ 
ting on the ashes or tan. The object of this 
is to prevent breaking the bud in uncovering, 
in case it should have started. In about six 
weeks the pots may be brought into a warm 
room. The bulbs may also be grown in boxes. 
Laurels and Hollies from the Woods. 
The past summer we saw in the grounds of 
Mr. A. S. Puller, Ridgewood, N. J., some re¬ 
markably successful attempts at transplanting 
Laurels or Hal mi as. Plants four or five feet 
high, taken from the woods this spring, were 
-.making a vigorous growth. As Mr. Fuller is 
<one of those who have no horticultural secrets, 
■we learned how it was done, but as the treat¬ 
ment was original with him, it was proper 
courtesy to allow him to make it known. As 
he has published his method in the Horticultur¬ 
al Recorder, we feel at liberty to commend it 
to our readers. In early spring the plants are 
taken up with as little injury to the roots as 
possible, and every branch is cut back about 
half its length; they are set out, and if dry 
weather comes on a mulch is put over the roots. 
This treatment removes all the foliage from the 
plant and leaves a most unpromising looking 
stick. Have patience and the stick will “break” 
in an astonishing manner, and put forth an 
abundance of shoots which will form a good 
head by autumn, and probably flower the next 
year. The Laurel (Kalmia latifolia ), one of the 
most beautiful of the broad-leaved evergreens 
is rare in cultivation—the uncertainty attending 
the removal of good sized shrubs having dis¬ 
couraged planters from the attempt. True, 
plants may be had at the nurseries, and import¬ 
ed at that, but they are so small that one must 
wait many years before they get large enough to 
be enjoyed. In looking over some manuscript 
of the late Wm. N. White, of Georgia, we find 
that he had hit upon the same treatment for our 
native Holly (Ilex op'aca). He states that by 
removing all the leaves the plants may be 
got out with success. A. holly hedge would 
be both a barrier and an ornament; the slow 
growth of the plants raised from seed and the 
difficulty of removing large ones in the ordina¬ 
ry way, have deprived us of the services of a 
plant that every lover of hedges has wished 
to use. We hope that our friends in the 
Southern States where the Holly abounds, will 
try this treatment and report the results. 
Horticultural Wonders. 
It seems that we are not the only editors who 
fire asked to explain phenomena which have no 
existence. The editor of the London Journal 
of Horticulture received such minute ac¬ 
counts of a remarkable freak of nature, a 
cluster of apples growing on a plum tree, that 
he made arrangements to go a hundred and 
fifty miles to see it. Before he started he heard 
from another correspondent, who had investi¬ 
gated the matter by means of a ladder, and 
found that a branch of shrivelled apples had 
caught in the plum tree or had been placed 
there by design. These wonders are easily un¬ 
ravelled by one who does not want to be de¬ 
ceived. Near Lake George, a remarkable tree 
is pointed out to travelers, the stage stopping to 
let the passengers see the phenomenon of a tree 
half elm and half maple. Any one of ordinary 
perception can see that two seedlings started 
side by side, and crowded one another so close¬ 
ly as to apparently form one trunk. The appli¬ 
cation of proper force would show that there is 
not the slightest union between them. A large 
gall has appeared on the grape vines in unusual 
abundance this year. It is an inch or more in 
diameter, and looks not unlike a small green 
apple. Upon being cut open it shows the grubs 
of the insect which made it nicely encased. 
This has been sufficient foundation for the story 
of a hybrid between the apple and the grape. 
A vine growing over an apple tree happened to 
have these galls, and without investigation peo¬ 
ple who ought to know better, promulgated the 
wonder of a hybrid of the apple and the grape. 
An Enemy to the Wistaria. 
Early in July we found that the Wistarias 
had been attacked by some insect which cut 
the leaves and turn¬ 
ed over a flap, as 
shown in figure 1. 
Upon returning after 
an absence from 
home of a few 
weeks, we found the 
vines almost entirely 
stripped of foliage, 
and upon examining 
the few remaining 
leaves, we found our 
enemy much grown 
and snugly hidden 
in a shelter made 
by drawing two or 
three leaves together 
by means of strong 
silken threads. Ref¬ 
erence was had to 
Fig. 1.— wistaria leaf. Harris’ Insects, and 
it was found that we probably had to do with the 
Tityrus Skipper. (Eudamns Tityrus of Fabri- 
cius; Gonoloba Tityrus of Doubleday.) The lar¬ 
va, fig. 2, is about 2 inches long, of a yellow¬ 
2.—CATERPILLAR. 
ish green, with darker transverse markings, and 
a chocolate colored head, upon which are two 
large yellow spots looking like enormous eyes. 
The caterpillars are 
not seen by day, as 
they remain quietly 
housed, but they are 
active enough after 
dark, and one, by 
examining the vines 
with a light, will see the leaves disappear¬ 
ing at a most alarming rate. The caterpillar 
transforms to a chrysalis either on the vine or 
in some secure place, and in the following sum¬ 
mer appears as a very active butterfly, which 
is from 2 to 2 h inches across, with brown wings. 
The first pair of wings has a semitransparent 
band across them, and the second pair is mark¬ 
ed with a broad silvery band on the underside. 
This insect is described by Harris as being par¬ 
ticularly destructive to the Locust. There arc 
other nearly related species which have similar 
habits, and ours cannot be absolutely identified 
until we hatch the butterfly. As the larvae are 
so perfectly sheltered it is not likely that any 
applications would destroy it. It fortunately 
manifests its presence before much damage is 
done, and can readily be disposed of by going 
over the vines and pinching the leaves wherc- 
ever they are folded, as shown in figure 1. 
A Rose with Single and Double Flowers. 
A correspondent sends us a drawing and an 
account of a rose-bush, one portion of which 
produces single and the other double flowers. 
This is an instance—by no means rare—of what 
the gardeners term a “sport,” and what Mr. 
Darwin in his work on “ Variation of Animals 
and Plants Under Domestication,” calls “Bud 
Variation.” In this remarkable work are col¬ 
lected numerous cases of this kind, and the sub¬ 
ject is discussed at length. That plants vary 
from seeds is well known to every one; a bud 
is in a manner an individual embryo plant, a 
highly developed seed, so to speak. The bud 
can be removed from the parent plant and be 
inserted in another and grow, and in some in¬ 
stances it will grow, if put into the soil, like a 
seed. The branch produced from a bud sometimes 
produces a growth quite different from the plant 
from which it springs, and presents distinct 
characters, which may be perpetuated by cut¬ 
tings. In this way some of the choice florist’s 
varieties have been obtained with the rose and 
many other plants., A white moss-rose has 
produced a red one, and a moss-rose has, by 
bud variation, given roses totally^ destitute of 
“ mossiness.” The well-known rose Saffrano, 
in this way produced the more beautiful Isa¬ 
bella Sprunt. We have given instances in these 
pages of some remarkable variations in grapes, 
and some of the beautifully variegated Pelar¬ 
goniums are sports from other varieties. Peach 
trees have produced-nectarines, and certain 
branches of cherry trees have borne fruit ripen¬ 
ing much later than the rest on the tree. These 
things are not common, but sufficiently frequent 
to be of value to the florist and pomologist, and 
we hope our readers will communicate any 
such instances as fall under their observation. 
Boxes For Protection. —A box made by 
tacking boards together, open at both ends, and 
of a liiglit proportioned to the plant to be cover¬ 
ed is often useful to protect tender things in win¬ 
ter. It is put over the plant and the open spaces 
filled with salt hay or other elastic material. 
