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[From the Monthly Visitor.]
NEVER SAY FAIL.
When exposed on the world all cheerless and
lorn,
Bbould adversity rudely assail.
And tho’ the Bweet angel of peace mav have
gone.
I would charge thee, “Sever say fail!”
Would reason say fail? 'tie an ignoble thought:
Should sorrows encompass thee quite.
Then, think of the battles that heroes have
fought,
And despair will vanish from sight.
Nay, never say fail—’tis a maxim for all—
A potent specific 'gainst fear—
It severs the gyves of despondency's thrall.
And quelle the old demon of care.
If thou wilt examine the records of old,
Thou'lt find it the motto of sages :
For thee, as an aid, 'twill explore and unfold
The wisdom of heaven’s bright pages.
*
Through region's of fancy thou with it may
soar, •
Or nde as a spirit the gale ;
Thou with it can burrow the quarry of lore—
None but cravens ever say “fail f”
Let not ten ors appal, nor trials dismav.
If thou would’st to glory attain ;
Swerve not, nor falter, nor grow faint by the
way—
The ascent is steep to her sane.
Fame’s tall Doric temple, by Jove rear'd on
high.
Thou mavest its pinnacle Beale,
Or in light inscribo on the scroll of the skv
, Thy name, “if thou’lt never say fail.”
Norfolk, Va. g, g, p.
Horticultural.
[From the Farmer & Gardener.]
ALL ABOUT GERANIUMS.
Editor Farmer and Gardener:
I have several tine, vigorous and
healthy looking double geraniums, but
the flowers never eotne to perfection.
They open only partially, and then dry
up. Why is it, and what can I do to
remedy it? Does the Pelargonium
die every year after flowering? If
not how should they be managed after
the flowering season is over. I had
several fine ones last year, and after
the flowering season was over, they
commenced dropping their leaves, and
finally died out. Mks. V.
Rome , <Ja.
Doubtless your Double Geraniums
*•• • A.Ov ttb&l LaUiVl .K'll Id LHC
them in open ground and the evil will
be remedied.
Pelargoniums are shrubby perennials
—with proper care they can be kept
in good blooming condition for several
years, although yearling plants are
preferable. When their flowering sea
son is past, say July, the strongest
branches must be cut back to within
one or two inches of the main stent,
and the weaker remove entirely. Re
potting is indispensable at the time of,
cutting back. Use a soil composed of
part leaf mould and part rich garden
soil, with a small proportion of well
sifted decomposed cow manure. Keep
the plants shaded until the new growth
appears, then plunge the pots in the ;
ground in a partially shaded place and
leave them until Fall. Should they
have made much growth at that time ,
the end of the shoots can be pinched
in, but not touched again after that
time. Keep the plants in a moderate
ly warm temperature during Winter,
and avoid forcing their growth. If the
plants seem crowded in the pots, a
shift in a larger size may be advisable
at the beginning of Winter. But
plants must remain in a dormant state
from Fall until February or March,
when the Spring growth commences.
Most varieties of Pelargoniums can be
made to bloom nearly all Summer by j
cutting off the flowers so soon as they !
begin to fade; by preventing seed to !
form,the flowering period is lengthened. !
ROOTING GERANIUM CUTTINGS. |
Editor Farmer and Gardener :
Will you please answer through the j
F. & G the following question:
Which is the best way to root gera ;
ilium cuttings ? E. 11. j
Meridian, Miss.
This depends somewhat upon the :
time of the year. When plants are j
grown under glass and the wood is ]
BANNER OF THE SOUTH AND PLANTERS’,JOURNAL.
tender, cuttings can be readily struck
at any time from Fall until May—pro
viding that the temperature is not al
lowed to fall below 45°. During that
period you can use ordinary flower pots j
place some pieces of pots at bottom
for drainage; use pure sand and if
practicable plunge the pot in a hot bed
where there is bottom heat. In a week
or ten days the cuttings will be suffi
ciently rooted to pot off singly. For
the Summer we prefer the mud propa
gation. This comists in using clean
sand and keeping i well soaked with
water. Place the pot in full sunlight,
the winner the weather the better.
Cuttings must be frequently examined
and so soon as showing roots potted off
or they will decay. This method is
only successful during warm and clear
weather; should the weather be cloudy
the cuttings will damp off.
SEEDLING GERANIUMS.
Editor Farmer d? Gardener.
I enclose a specimen of the flowers
and leaf of a seedling Zonale Gerani
um, that I have raised from seed of a
crimson one but I think must have
been impregnated with polle% from a
delicate pink one I bad by it. The
plant is very thrifty and has had bunch
es of blooms with quite a fine head of
florets, which are quite large and
showy. Now the question is, is it a
common or uncommon one; and if I
have succeeded in raising a distinct
variety? Mrs. S. A. 11.
Ged ir Kegs, Eorida.
The specimen shows a very good
color, a light carmine, but the size o
florets is deficient: Zonale Geraniums
are divided in two sections as regards
shape of flower, the Zonale proper
with flowers whose petals are round
and form a circular floret, and the nose
gay section whose petals are narrow
and long, the two upper being separ
ated from the lower ones by an open
space: in the latter section are found
the largest heads of dowel's,; this sec
tion is very prolific in blooms and well
adapted for bedding. The original
type of the Zonale Geranium produces
scarlet flowers, but by skillful cultiva
tion fora long series of years, number
j less varieties have been produced which
| range in color from scarlet to crimson,
j pink or salmon to white, with all inter
| mediate shades. The original type has
| been modified to such an extent that
j variation in colors rather than identity
, seems to be the rule in growing plants
from seed. Your plant is not without
| a parallel in color, hut although perfect
lon that point it must also combine
compactness of head, size, as well as
; large number of florets, to bring it
: within the requirements of a good va
j riety. Os these latter points we are
I unable to judge without seeing a
plant growing or a full description of
habit of growth. The latter must be I
compact, foliage large and well mark j
ed, trusses of flowers numerous and
sufficiently well thrown above the:
leaves so as not to crowd them.
BRITISH QUEEN STRAWBERRY
j Editor Farmd and Gardener :
j Last year I brought over from Ire
land .50 plants of the “British Queen
j Strawberry," and succeeded in getting
j enough runners to plant out a bed that
Winter.
| The plants bloomed this Spring and
| gave line promise of fruit, but not a
: berry has appeared. The fruit does
| not swell. I think the plants are stain
inate, but the most extraordinary thing
I is that they came from a bed that fruit
! ed heavily the other side of the water.
Will you be pleased to give me your
views as to what I ought to do. Or
is it worth while to cultivate them any
longer. * J. W. B. *
■Jacksonville, Ala.
We cannot account for the failure of
the fruit not setting as the flowers of
that variety are perfect, unless you have
a spurious kind for the true one. All
the European strawberries have perfect
flowers, even the varieties derived from
the Fine family, whereas many of
the American varieties of this type
have imperfect blooms. The British
Queen ranks still in England and France
among the select varieties, but in our
hot climate it does not find the humid
atmosphere it requires, and the product
is consequently very limited and infe
rior in size.
It the flowers are staininate, as you
state, the failure can only be accounted
for by the influence of climate; and in
any case we are of the opinion that
the culture of this variety will not re
munerate you. Better take the Wil
son's Albany, which we see, from good
reports, succeeds well in your locality.
THE CIIAYOTE OF MEXICO.
At the meeting of the New York
Farmers Club (American Institute), of
April 23d last, Dr. C. Naphegyi made an
address upon the Chayote plant- or bread
fruit of Mexico, and the Chairman, N. C.
Ely, Es«p, appointed as a committee to re
ceive and test the plants seven horticultur
ists from different parts of the United
States. We lender our thanks to Chairman
Ely for the compliment in adding our name
to the committee.
From (he descriptions of this plant, as
given at length by Dr. Naphegyi, we are in
clined to believe this to be an old ac
quaintance of our gardens, where it is
known as Vegetable pear, Mango, Mirliton
(in Louisiana), and by botanists as Sechium
ednle.
This vegetable, although known since the
beginning of this century, having been in
troduced here by refugees from San Do
mingo, is still but little disseminated, and is
considered valuable only as a curiosity.
The following is the substance of the ad
dress referred to :
Dr. C. Naphegyi, having been invited by
a unanimous vote of the Club to address
them upon the chayote plant, or bread
fruit, of Mexico, read as follows :
Some time ago I had the honor of a call
from Chief Justice Charles P. Daly, and
while drawing Ids attention to the chayote
plant, lie |)roni(Koi^ - Eo Flint: it before the
notice of yourCmn; slid 1
tcred to have now the opportunity to
demonstrate to you this most interesting
plant, which for many years during my
rambles through South America, and es
pecially during my long residence in Mexico,
lias engaged my interest to such a degree
that as soon as I arrived in New York, and
having had the opportunity to build myself
a conservatory, 1 made it my object to have
this plant imported with the view to intro
duce it into this country and procure its
propagation. The bread tree, which is
known lo naturalists under the botanical
name of “rima,” is one of those vegetables
which nations possessing colonies in the
torrid zone transport with difficulty to their
lands; but in Central America, although
“rima” does not abound, there is a fruit
similar to it, namely, the “chayote,” which
is a rare and admirable production of natnr ,
and is mentioned already by Fra Clyvijero,
the historian, who accompanied Fernando
1 Cortez in his expedition to Mexico. The
fruit is formed in the shape of an egg, about
six inches in diameter, more or less; the skin
is of a strong consistency, and covered with
thorns; there are also some classes which
have no thorns. Tiie interior is composed
of a juicy pulp, in the centre of which is
the kernel, elliptic in form, and about one
. inch in diameter. The plant is curious, not
only on account of its fruit and beauty, hut
also for the means provided by nature for
its propagation. When boiled, it closely
| resembles the rima, or bread fruit, and while
growing may be compared to a species of
! pumpkin, presenting a beautiful aspect, the
i sprouts extending to a length of many yards,
j which, when trained in a horizontal posi
tion, completely cover the bed so as to form
an imiKiuetralde harrier to water, as the
leaves, which arc in abundance, form a roof
after I lie manner of tiles. The plant pos-
sesses the prerogative of not only fructify
ing in warm climates, lmt also in the North,
and when once planted sprouts every year
over the bed, or climbs trees which may be
in its vicinity. On all the knots of the
plant there shoot out fiores which enable the
vine to cling to the object which sustains it
in an elevated ixisition, while, when it does
not meet with tins object, it forms a spiral
line which it winds around itself, and thus I
furnishes an evidence that nature destined
it to form a support for the buds, which are
easily broken. The chayote is a plant
which may he characterized as hydroptacal.
If a sprout be cut immediately a large por
tion of the juice is to be seen running down
which is not the case, however, in dry
situations, which proves that this plant re
quires a humid soil to grow witii vigor aud
extend its sprouts to a large circumference,
[he chayote is preferable to the rima or
bread tree, because the first year it is planted
it fructifies, which is not the ease with the
rima, which being a tree does not bear fruit
until after a certain period of time corres
ponding to that which nature has assigned
to fructify. The “rima” produces fruit I
solely, while the chayote, after having j
given an abundance of fruit, gives at the
same time a quantity of roots which make
good flour for bread, and a fecula appro
priate for making starch. The roots are
tuberous, and from the principal ones, which
are those which sprout annually, there ex
tend others, formed like potatoes, from one
to two feet in length and from three to four
inches in diameter. These roots propagate
in circles of from three to four or even
sometimes six yards (or eighteen feet)
around the central or principal roots. From
the extreme ends of these roots sprout a
filament nearly the twentieth part of an inch
in diameter, from the extreme end of which
again grow other roots, and so on to the
above-mentioned distance. These secondary
roots are those which serve for food, be
cause it would ruin the utility of the plant
to touch the principal roots in respect to the
propagation for the ensuing year. Is there
another plant in creation which produces
fruit and during the same year roots which
man can thus use to advantage? I have
known by experience that one single chay
ote plant lias given eighty fruits and some
five fanegas or bushels of roots, and con
tinue producing for the term of seven
yearn. If this plant is admirable as an ali
mentary production it is much more so in
its mode of propagation, and is probably
the only instance to he found in the vege
table kingdom where the fruit is planted
with the seed. The mode of planting is the
following: Tiie fruit is taken in the month
of October and placed in a hot-house or sus
pended on a wall in a room of at least 00
degrees. In November the germ commences
to sprout, and increases according to the
quantity of juice contained in the fruit. In
such a situation the stem grows from a half
to three-quarters of a yard in length until
the beginning of May, when the fruit with
its branch is then planted in soft, humid
ground, taking care that, the sprouts are not
injured. This short description which 1
have given of this wondrous production of
nature is merely for the purpose of
bringing into notice its utility to the North,
and affording an opportunity to make ex
periments as to the use to which it may be
best applied. In conclusion I will call your
attention to one of the curious properties of
this plant, and that is its cooling influence
upon the system while partaking of it after
a long and fatiguing walk in the sun, and it
lias been said by those who have so experi
mented that a certain degree of cold was
felt coursing through their frames.
Now, if it be true that all objects in a
room manifest the same degree of heat, is it
not strange that this sensation is ex
perienced upon partaking of this fruit ? To
test this an experiment was tried with a
thermometer one being placed in a room
and another inserted in a chayote, the fol
lowing being the result obtained: The
thermometer placed in the room showed 15
degrees; that in the chayote, 12j; at nine
o’clock at night the first, 14J; tie seep-.
i»>. 'i
contradiction to what naturalists assert, that
all bodies in a determinate atmosphere re
ceive an equal degree of heat, and I am con
vinced by this experiment that the cold
manifested by the chayote is not apparent,
hut real. It presents also another curious
feature, and that is that when the fruit is
flavored with sugar, in a few days it changes
from sweet to sour, while the surface is
covered witii microscopic plants. Prepared
with vinegar it may present other pheno
mena. Os what substances is it composed ?
After concluding his written remarks,
Dr. Naphegyi made some interesting state
ments concerning tiie jalap root and other
plants, and said that lie had no interest to
serve, no money to make in any way out of
this matter, hut had an ambition to he the
introducer of this plant into this country,
and if the Chairman would appoint a com
mittee of such gentlemen as would make
careful trial of it, he would present each one
or more plants.
Sources cf Fertility.— The sources of
fertility to the farm are the refuse of the
crops which they bear, modified by the
farm stock, and preserved and judiciously
applied by the husbandman. There is not
a vegetable matter grown upon the farm, he
it considered never so useless or obnoxious,
hut will, after it has served ordinary useful
purposes, impart fertility to the soil, and
contribute to tiie growth of anew genera
tion of plants, if it is judiciously husbanded
and applied. There is not an animal sub
stance, be it solid, liquid, or gaseous—be it
bone, horn, hair, urine, wood or flesh, or
the gases which are generated by the de
composition of these matters—but, with
like care and skill, may be converted into
new vegetable, and afterward into new ani
mal matters. To economize and apply ail
these fertilizing materials is the province
and the duty of tire husbandman.
To Reduce Bones to Meal. —A writer in
the Horticulturist says he buys bones of the
butcher at a dollar the hundred pounds, and
considers them the cheapest fertilizer he
can obtain. He transforms them into meal
by the following simple and effective
process: I have a large water-tight hogs
head standing out doors, near the kitchen-
In the Spring I cover the bottom about six
inches deep with dry soil. On this I put a
layer of bones about the same depth, and
cover them entirely with unleached ashes,
on these another layer of hones, then ashes’
and so on until tiie hogshead is full. I
leave it, then exposed to the sun and rain
all Summer and Winter until the next
Spring. Then, on removing the contents of
the hogshead, I find nearly all the bones so
soft that they will crumble to powder under
a very slight pressure, and, mixed with the
ashes and the soil, they give a nice little
pile of most valuable manure, ready- for
immediate use. Any cf the bones not suf
ficiently subdued I return to the hogshead
again for another twelve months’ slumber.
ANGRY WORDS.
Angry words are lightly spoken
In a rash and thougtless hour;
Brightest links of life are broken
By their deep, insidious power.
Hearts inspired by warmest feeling
Ne’er before by anger stirred,
Oft are rent past human healing
By a single angry word.
Poison drops of care and sorrow,
Bitter poison drops are they,
Weaving for the coming morrow,
Saddest memories of to-day,
Angry words, O let them never
From the tongue unbridled slip ;
May the heart's best impulse ever
Check them, ere they soil the lip.
•
Love is much too pure and holy,
Friendship is too sacred far
For a moment’s reckless folly,
Thus to desolate and mar."
Angry words are lightly spoken,
Bitter thoughts are rashly stirred,
Brightest links in life are broken
By a single angry word.
Btate House Unroofed by a Thunder
Shower.
[Special telegram to the Charleston News.]
Columbia, May 16. The thunder
storm which passed over this city
at eleven o’clock last night was more
severe than was known at the time.
Considerable damage was done, many
fences and some twenty or more trees
were blown down. The roof of one
house was blown off, and fell on Clifford
Cooper, who was in bed at the time, in
flicting injuries that will probably prove
fatal. Some houses had twenty or
thirty lights broken by branches and
trees being blown against them. A pro
vidential visitation occurred at the State
House. About forty-five feet in length
and most of the width of the roof of
the west wing was blown away, and the
heavy timbers, boards and debris
went through into the hall of
the House of Representatives, caus
ing a complete ruin of twenty or more
desks, as many chairs, and the gorgeous
carpet. The seats formerly occupied by
Mobley, Byas, McDaniel, Jamison, and
several others of the noisy members,
were completely destroyed, and those
brilliant lights of the Legislature could
not have escaped death had they been
in their seats at the time. The damage
is estimated at from eight to twelve
thousand dollhrs. The Sihithem and
Atlantic telegraph office w \so visited
by lightning, which melts tamber of
the wires, which, ?V Ved
/ at
. . m. ' kfi
mscivniiy. - \
There is no change in prospects of the
Treasury. Leading Republicans and
the soundest of the members of the
Legislature are doing all they can to
prevent an extra session. It is under
stood that the call lacks but two signa
tures of members of the House. The
members of the Senate are not so free
m signing the call. The crops have
been severely damaged six miles from
the city by a hail storm.
Encouragement to Manufacturers in
Mississippi. —During the recent session
the Legislature of the State of Missis
sippi enacted a law, the intent of which
is to encourage the introduction of ma
chinery and the establishment oi fac
tories in that State.
Tiie law provides that all manufactur
ing companies established in that State
for the manufacture of cotton and woolen
goods, or yarns or fabres composed of
those or any other materials, and for the
making of all kinds of machinery and
implements of husbandry necessary for
the cultivation of the soil, etc., whose
capital stock shall not be less titan ten
thousand dollars, paid in, shall be en
titled to have all taxes to which they
may be subject for tho period of ten
years appropriated and set apart to be
used for the payment of the debts and
liabilities tliat any of these companies
may have incurred in any legitimate wav
The law provides also that whenever
the profits of any of these companies
shall enable it to pay to its stockholders
an annual dividend of four percent
upon its capital stock, over and above
its liabilities, the appropriation of the
taxes shall cease.— New Orleans Pica
yune.
A Huge Rattlesnake. —ln Bruns
wick county, North Carolina, on the
plantation of Dr. J. D. Bellamy, a young
man, Alex Smith, on Monday last, shot
and killed a rattlesnake over six feet
long, nineteen inches in circumference,
and which had eighteen rattles and two
buttons. He had been a source of no
little terror to the community in that
section, and the intelligence that his
snakeship had been killed was received
with quite a feeling of satisfaction.
Lexington, May 17.—Bazaine won the
first race ; time, 1:45* and 1:42. Frog
Town won the second ; time, 3:07 the
fastest recorded by three-quarters of a
second.
Ottawa, May 17.—The bill regarding
the Washington treaty passed to a
second reading, and is practically ratified
by Canada.
3