A Chance For The "Novelty" Makers

Professor Bailey recently showed the writer a curious instance of the peculiarities of grafting. A tomato vine had been grafted on a potato stalk. The tomato vine was bearing fruit and probably the potato plant will develop tubers. What a great chance here for some of our benevolent plant sellers! Let them advertise a "wonderful discovery," and tell people bow to grow tomatoes and potatoes on the same plant without fear of bugs or blight. Thousands of people would pay well for the "great secret." Do you not believe it ? - Rural New- Yorker.

Chemical Aid To Fruit Growing

The beneficial effect of sulphate of iron or green copperas in fruit growing has been brought before the Societe Naitonale d'Horticulture de France by M. Venteclaye, who has tested its properties in a garden at Argenteuil on very meagre, chalky soil. The fruit trees, despite all his efforts, were not productive, and he conceived the idea of introducing iron into the soil. At first he tried iron water, but it was a troublesome process. Having used sulphate of iron for destroying a fly on some of his apple trees, he observed that these trees were more vigorous than the others, and therefore adopted the following treatment: Sulphate of iron is dissolved in water, and the solution, highly diluted, is applied to the soil during the month of March, and, if the trees are very poorly, again in July. Since he began this treatment the orchard has improved. - Horticultural Times.

And leave the cities void.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Chicago Horticulture

The Chicago Society, of which we spoke in the last issue (p. 620), has been incorporated as the Cook County Horticultural and Agricultural Society. The officers are as follows : John N. Young, president; Andrew Dunning, vice president ; Robert Clark, secretary and treasurer. The directors are F. R. Crandon, Evanston ; Andrew Dunning, Dunning Station ; John Ure, Argyle Park ; Robert Clark, J. A. Mason and Rufus Hall. Chicago. It is proposed to hold a flower show this fall.

Chicory

I would feel much obliged if any of your readers could tell me the methods of growing, drying, roasting and grinding, and generally the best method of disposing of a crop of chicory. It seems to do well here. - Fred. D. Cooper. Souris, Mass. - Chicory is a very easy crop to grow. Although a perennial, it is treated as an annual In fact, the culture does not differ, if roots are wanted, from that of the parsnip or salsify. By fall the roots will be an inch or inch and a-half in diameter, and will weigh from 6 to 12 oz. The roots are cut into thin slices, roasted, and then ground. The Brunswick and Magdeburg are the best sorts for root production. For leaf-salads, for which Chicory is much grown, these sorts and several others are good.

Chinquapin (Castanta Pumila)

This is a small tree or shrub found mainly in the southern states, growing usually ten or twelve feet high, or in favorable localities sometimes reaching forty feet. It is well adapted to sterile soils, and on this account it has been introduced upon certain arid plains in France and Germany, where it has been found to thrive better than any other shrub or tree.

The fruits, which are produced singly in the burs, are smaller than chestnuts, and of better flavor, but even more subject to the attack of the worm. Scalding is a good remedy for worms, both in chinquapins and chestnuts.

A dwarf variety of chinquapin is known, which on poor soils bears fruit when no more than a foot in height.