Satsuma Again

Almost an ignoramus in regard to oranges, and without any intention of disputing Dr. Phelps' conclusions respecting this Japanese variety on page 431, July Garden, I yet wish to inquire if he refers to the Satsuma as budded on Citris trifoliata stock, or as grown on its own roots. And others may succeed so well that they do want more than a half-dozen Satsumas in their groves; R. D. Hoyl, of Bay View, had a very profitable crop last season, and it was a photograph of one of his Satsumas on trifoliata stock which was used for making the illustration on page 269, which tree had 625 fruits on it - rather more than half a box! Dr. Phelps may be on the wrong tack. - J. H. McF., Penna.

A Sensible Query

"Why grow rare and costly flowers - rare because they rarely flower - when the garden can be filled with beautiful subjects all the time at a moderate cost ?" Why give a dollar for a plant that will bear only half a dozen flowers in a season, when the same dollar will buy seeds sufficient to plant an acre, and the acre will be carpeted with far more beautiful flowers the entire summer ? Why not look with as much delight upon the bountiful gifts that all can enjoy as upon those that can be seen only by the few, because of their cost ? Why not value a plant in proportion to the flowers it yields, as we value a tree because of the fruit it bears rather than because of its barrenness ? Let us grow pansies and nasturtiums rather than plants that are too selfish to bloom or shed perfume. - C. L. A.

Sensitive Briar

The "Saw briar" or "Sensitive rose," is a wild plant which I have long admired for its beauty, perfume and oddity. It grows wild in the blackjack timber about Thayer, Neosho county, Kansas, blooming early and late. The plant grows about a foot high, and its stems are armed with small thorns which quickly deface the farmer's pantaloons about as high as the knees. It has a delightful perfume, which we compared to cologne in our pioneer days. The Color and texture of the blossom is much like that of the brightest thistle, and it is as round as a marble. The leaves close when touched by the hand. - James H. Ferriss.

[The sensitive briar, a specimen of which Mr. Ferriss sends us, is Schrankia uncinata, one of the Leguminosae, and allied to the true sensitive-plant. The plant grows wild from Virginia and Florida to Kansas and Texas].

A Serious Rose Pest

"A serious insect pest is at present creating great havoc among the rose bushes by burrowing into the buds, and, in fact, frequently removing all of the flower, with the exception of the enveloping calyx. In some of the cases coming under my observation this injury is confined to a part only of the buds; but in many cases, all of the buds are either seriously injured or entirely destroyed." The insect is considered to be the same as the apple and peach fruit-borer, Lithophane antennata. Attracting the moths to lights at night and placing crude carbolic acid near the bushes to repel them are the most feasible preventives yet suggested. Thorough sprayings of Paris green, London purple and white hellebore did not dispatch the larvae.