extent of space, or a great length of time, to grow this plant to perfection; indeed, it blooms freely in a small state at every period of the year: and the colored bracts are so persistent, that the plant retains its brightness of coloring for a great length of time. In habit it is an erect-growing under-shrub, with subcordate or spoon-shaped acuminate leaves five to nine inches long; the stem is clothed with egg-shaped stipules; the peduncles are slender and thread-like, bearing two small green bracts and two large cordate denticulate floral leaves of a bright pink color. Within these are the male and female flowers, of a pale yellow color. This is a highly ornamental plant, which may be grown to a large and grand specimen for the stove, or flowered in a small state for the decoration of the table. As it can be flowered at any season, it may added to the list of select winter-flowering plants; for, at this season of the year, its gray bracts will be of far greater value than at any other time. As a winter-flowering plant, it will need the stove; yet it may certainly be grown and flowered successfully with only warm greenhouse-treatment, as, though a stove-plant, it happens to be well adapted for what is termed cool treatment.

To the Editor of "Tilton's Journal: "

IN the Journal for February, your correspondent "Robert Watt" refers to the unusually large number of vines that died in the winter of 1868, giving as his opinion, that such loss was caused by the houses not having sufficient ventilation. I have under my charge two vineries; both are fitted with hot-water pipes; one is used for forcing, the other as a late-house: the vines were pruned in the fall of 1867, and looked as well for a crop of fruit in 1868 as they had done for fourteen years. The borders were covered as they had been with leaves from the woods, and meadow-hay. I began to force in January, 1868; the buds swelled and burst well, but were slow; they made from fifteen to eighteen inches of young wood. About this time (last of March) the late-house was started, and bursting into leaf; there was a succession of cold rain-storms, which, with the melted snow, penetrated through the covering of the border. It is my opinion that so much cold snow-water killed the young feeding roots. The vines began to die, shoot after shoot, till within a few feet of the sill. The houses were both opened on every pleasant day. I let heat enough into the late-house to keep the pipes from freezing: so that there was not more than ten or fifteen degrees of frost in the house all winter.

If my conclusion is correct, the only safety there is for us, is to have the border covered with close-fitting shutters, that can be removed in the summer. The vines in the forcing-house alluded to above were taken out, the border renewed, and young vines planted.

I have been expecting that this subject would have been taken up by some abler pen than mine: it is a subject of some importance to grape-growers, and I hope others will give their experience, so that we may find the true cause of the unusual loss of vines in grape-houses in the winter of 1867 and 1868. As soon as the weather became warm and settled, the vines in the late-house started from spurs on the lower part of the cane, and made a strong growth.

WHITINSVILLE, April, 1869.

George Cruickshanks.

HOW TO TURF A CROQUET-Lawn.

- At the present day, when a good croquet-lawn is as necessary an appendage to a house in the country as a bowling-green was in the last century, the question is often asked, Which is the best way to turf it? The easiest and commonest one is to pare off the grass from a wayside waste, or a common, or a sheep-walk on the hills, and lay it down. Another is to clean the ground, and sow it with grass-seeds. A third is to use the turf that is found growing on the spot, where a piece of the park or a paddock is enclosed, or to take some from an adjoining pasture-field. Now, where I have seen the first plan adopted, that of laying down turf from a common, there has been for the first following summer a very fair lawn; but, in the course of time, the seeds of plantains, dandelions, thistles, and other weeds, have sprung up, and stifled the grass. The second plan — that of laying it down with seeds — is undoubtedly the best for an ordinary lawn; but where the proprietor cannot wait for two or three years, but is desirous to play on it in a few months, this is not advisable. On the whole, I am inclined - upon, I allow, a very limited experience — to prefer the third plan, — that of using the turf we find on the ground or in the immediate neighborhood. If this is pared off thin, the coarse, long-rooted plants, such as docks, cow-parsnips, thistles, and dandelions, will be cut off, and can be easily picked out and burnt, and their remains forked out in digging the ground and levelling it; while the real grasses and clovers will remain uninjured, and with rolling, mowing, and a liberal dressing of ashes, form an excellent croquet-lawn by the next summer. I have known people go

to a great expense to cart down turf from the top of a hill, and the money thrown away. The delicate aira and festuca, as soon as they were transplanted to the richer mould below, have dwindled and disappeared; and plantains, that were small and unnoticed before, have usurped their place, and covered the ground like a scab.

As croquet is becoming more and more a man's game, and is played with heavier mallets, a much larger lawn is now required for it than when it was regarded as merely a pastime for young ladies and children, and when any little corner of the garden was good enough for it. -Gardener's Chronicle.

STATICE HOLFORDI PROPAGATION. — It is propagated by cuttings, the side crowns being taken off close to the stem, and with a sort of heel. The base of the cutting is pared smooth with a sharp knife, and a few of the leaves are trimmed off to admit of its being placed in the soil. The cutting-pot should be well drained, filled to within an inch of the rim with sandy peat, and then to the rim with sand; and the cutting should be inserted in the centre. It is well to place the cutting-pot in one of a larger size, and to fill the interval between the two with small crocks to near the top, and the remainder of the space with silver sand. The rims of both pots should be level. That will allow of a bell-glass being placed over the cutting, and resting on the sand between the pots. Give a gentle watering, and plunge in a bottom-heat of from 75° to 80°, and a corresponding top-heat; being careful not to make the soil very wet, but yet to keep it moist. Shade from bright sun, take off the bell-glass occasionally, and, after wiping it dry, replace it. When the cutting begins to grow, tilt the glass a little

on one side, and by degrees remove it. The best plants of statice are obtained from seed; such being more free in growth, and less liable to die off, than plants from cuttings.

THE following article on figs, which we abridge from "The Florist," gives much information about a fruit which receives too little attention:

A SELECTION of Choice Figs. — Variety is especially required in a collection of figs, in order that the fig-house may furnish fruits suitable and agreeable at all times and to all tastes. There is to be found amongst figs abundance of variety, whether we judge by size, color, flavor, hardiness, fruitfulness, or season of ripening. I propose to give a selection of the most prominent varieties, having regard to the foregoing points.

Size. — Some figs are very large, while others are very small; and some prefer the one, some the other. Grosse Verte and Brunswick are the two largest figs we have fruited here. I have seen very large fruits of Castle Kennedy exhibited; but I have not yet fruited this variety. Black Provence, Trois Récoltes, and De Lipari, are the smallest.

Color. Some figs are in appearance more tempting than others. There is a great range of color amongst them; some being so pale that they are termed white, others so dark that they are called black. There are, however, none either white or black. One of the palest-colored figs is De la Madeleine, which is of a clear pale yellow; another is the White Marseilles, which is pale green. Col de Signora Nera, Bourjassotte Noire, and Black Provence, are good examples of the dark-colored varieties, - dark violet they may be called. Of greenfruited sorts, the most striking is D'Agen and Grosse Verte; of tawny brown, Turkey, Brunswick, and De l'Archipel; and, lastly, the striped-fruited fig (Figue Panachée), which is really very handsome, being beautifully striped with deep green and pale yellow.

Taste, or Flavor. - This is always a ticklish subject, taste being so varied, and varying so much, - one's own individual taste, that is; one day liking one thing, the next day something else, just as our health, or perhaps our temper, may stand affected. Some prefer what they term mildness in the flavor of fruits : this to me is mawkish insipidity. I prefer briskness in figs, - sugary lusciousness, which is found in well-ripened fruit of such varieties as Col de Signora Blanca, Col de Signora Nera, Grosse Verte, Bourjassotte Grise, and sometimes, although not quite so constantly, in White Ischia and Black Provence. Again: figs themselves vary much in flavor, according to the situation or conditions under which they may be growing. Herein lies the charm of growing a number of varieties in the same house. Some of the higher-flavored sorts require great heat and bright sunshine to bring them up to full perfection. It may happen that these conditions cannot be fulfilled: the weather may be dull and sunless, and more heat may be required than can be given conveniently. Then some of the second-rate sorts will surpass them in flavor. The little White Ischia is very fickle in this respect: the fruits of to-day are excellent, those of three days hence watery and tasteless. Bourjassotte Grise is the most constantly

good variety under all conditions that I have found. second, although it is never very rich.

White Marseilles comes

Hardiness. This is a point of the utmost importance. It is exceedingly important to discover what are the varieties most suitable for cultivation in the open air in this country. I have not yet had time to prove much in this respect. The county of Sussex, as is well known, is famed for its fig-trees. In the gardens at Arundel Castle, the White Marseilles, called there White Geneva, succeeds admirably as an open standard. I have eaten some exceedingly good

fruit of that variety grown on these trees: and I am told, that, in some of the warmest seasons, they ripen off two crops of fruit; but this is rather unusual. The Black or Blue Ischia is the next hardiest variety that has been proved; then, on walls,. Lee's Perpetual.or Brown Turkey; and, lastly, the Brunswick. These four constitute the whole of the stock of hardy figs I have met with suited for open-air cultivation. It must be borne in mind that our seasons are far too short to allow of the fig producing more than the first crop of fruit. Almost all the fruits that ripen out of doors in this country are produced on the shoots of the former season's growth: therefore I think all varieties that produce their crop in this manner will prove suitable for open-air cultivation. I know of only two others that are possessed of this property of "first bearing" (as it is called in fig countries), which I can recommend for cultivating in the open air: they are Grosse Monstrueuse de Lipari and De la Madeleine, both of which bear a good first crop, and very rarely the second.

Fruitfulness. As a general rule, the smallest varieties are the most prolific. Of these, White Ischia, Black Provence, and Eil de Perdrix, bear fruit as profusely as an ordinary gooseberry-bush. Some others, again, although they may never seem so laden with fruit at any one time, yet, through bearing continuously, produce an immense quantity during the course of the season. Of these the most prominent are, perhaps, Brown Turkey or Lee's Perpetual, and White Marseilles.

Season of ripening. — In order to keep up a rich and varied supply of the choicest fruits, the varieties must be selected according to their various seasons of ripening, so as to avoid a glut at one time, succeeded by a scarcity. When a house is devoted to the cultivation of the fig in pots, and the collection is limited to, say, fifty plants, the following is my selection of varieties; and these will (supposing them to be started in March) keep up an almost continuous supply of ripe fruit from the end of June to Christmas. They are put into groups, showing how they will give a supply of fruit for each month. July. - White Marseilles, De la Madeleine, Grosse Monstrueuse de Lipari, and Lee's Perpetual. August. - White Marseilles, Lee's Perpetual, Versailles, De Lipari. September. — White Ischia, Grosse Violette de Bourdeaux, Black Provence, Grosse Verte, Bourjassotte Grise, Col de Signora Blanca, De l'Archipel, and the second crop of White Marseilles and Lee's Perpetual. October.-White Ischia, Black Provence, Grosse Verte, Bourjassotte Grise, Col de Signora Blanca, and Col de Signora Nera. November.— White Ischia, Grosse Verte, Lee's Perpetual, D'Agen. December. White Ischia, and D'Agen, which is the latest of all. A. F. Barron.

CHISWICK.

VOL. V.

47

PLUMS. The Chickasaw. In the April number, I see an inquiry whether the Chickasaw Plum is hardy enough to stand our winters at the North. In February, 1868, while at the meeting of the Northern Illinois Horticultural Society at Freeport, I saw the Chickasaw trees in the gentleman's garden where I was stopping; and he said they were quite hardy in that latitude, 42° 20′; that they were abundant bearers, fruit large, not very good quality, but answered a very good purpose for cooking, preserving, &c. ; not infested with the curculio. This last quality may be from its toughness, or peculiar flavor of the skin. The following spring, I sent to Mr. D. Wilmot Scott of Galena, Ill., and got some Chickasaws, also some of the Miner plum-trees, which originated near Galena.

Two years ago this spring, my friend Charles Hovey of Minneapolis sent me a native plum of Minnesota, which he said they were cultivating in that Northern country. Some of these latter are now (May 5) blooming very full.

In these three varieties, I do not expect any thing but a second-rate culinary fruit. Twenty-five years ago, we could go out in our native wild-plum thickets about here, and find some varieties quite palatable.

The great object with our plums is, to protect them from the curculio. Capt. James Matthews of Knoxville, Io., the worthy president of our State Horticultural Society, has succeeded in protecting his plums from the curculio, by jarring the trees a few days after the insects begin their attack, and getting them all down upon the ground; then carefully spreading all the surface of the ground over, turning the surface all to the bottom of the spading, and patting it down smoothly with the back of the spade, leaving no holes for the insects to crawl out, and they are prisoners for life. This he has successfully done for several years, and done it upon alternate trees in the row, saving a full crop on the trees thus treated, and losing all the crop on the trees not so treated.

Others, I believe, have been successful by spreading a coat of fresh horsemanure under the plum-trees about the time of blooming, and letting it remain until after fruiting.

I have ten plum-trees of choice varieties, young and thrifty, full of bloom now, which I intend to enclose with a pig-pen fence, and put in a flock of pigs to wean, trusting them to keep their yard clear of curculios.

The hog is a very good gleaner of insects. I have large apple-orchards, in which I sow clover after the trees come into bearing, then turn in hogs to pasture on the clover, and eat the early fallen apples, nearly all of which contain worms. Before I turned the hogs into my orchards, the canker-worm appeared; but I have not seen any since. I do not know that the hogs will protect an orchard from the canker-worm; but I believe if there are hogs enough, and they are fed with corn or other grain under the trees, they would protect them from the canker-worm. Some one said in "The New-York Farmers' Club " when we sent them a box of very beautiful Iowa apples, last winter, that they used to raise fine and fair fruit down East, when the country was new, and free from insects. My friends, we are by no means free from insects here at the West. The truth is, we can beat the East on beautiful fruit, and have always done it, at fruit exhibitions. Suel Foster.

MUSCATINE, Io.