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THE LuESTHER T. MERTZ LIBR/iRY
THE NEW YORK COTTlNiCAL GARDEN
^^
THE
HOKTICULTUEIST,
AND
JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE
DEVOTED TO
HORTICULTURE, LANDSCAPE GARDENING, RURAL ARCHITECTURE, BOTANY,
POMOLOGY, ENTOMOLOGY, RURAL ECONOMY, &c.
Edited by A. J. DOWNING,
ACTHOR OF " LANDSCAPE GAKDKNIXG,'?," DESIGNS FOR COTTAGE RE3IDENXES," " FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES
OF AMERICA," "COUNTRY HOUSES," ETC., ETC.
Vol. V. — July to December, 1850
ALBANY:
PUBLISHED BY LUTHER TUCKER.
BOSTON — JOSEPH BRECK AND CO., NO. 51 NORTH MARKET-STREET.
NEW-YORK — M. H. NEWMAN AND CO., 199 BROADWAY.
PHILADELPHIA — W. B. ZIEBER.
0 ^ -■
;^^fe4
THB
JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE.
Vol. V.
JULY, 1850.
No 1.
No ONE pretencJs that we have as yet either
a national architecture or national music in
America ; unless our Yankee clap-board house
be taken as a specimen of tlie first, and " old
Susannah" of the second, fine art. But there
is, on the other hand, perhaps, no country
where there is more building or more " mu-
sicianing," such as they are, at the present
moment. And as a perfect taste in the
arts is no more to be expected in a young
nation, mainly occupied with the practical
wants of life, than a knowledge of geometry
is in an infant school, we are content with the
large promise that we find in ilie present, and
confidently look forward for fulfilment to the
future.
In almost every other country, a few land-
lords own the land, which a great many
tenants live upon and cultivate. Hence the
general interest in building is confined to a
comparatively small class, improvements are
made in a solid and substantial way, and but
little change takes place from one generation
to another in the style of the dwelling and
the manner of living.
But in this country we are, comparativel}^
all landlords. In the country, especially, a
large part of the rural population own the
land they cultivate, and build their own hou-
ses. Hence it is a matter of no little mo-
VOL. V. 1
ment to them, to avail themselves of every
possible improvement in the manner of con-
structing their dwellings, so as to secure the
largest amount of comfort, convenience, and
beauty, for the moderate sum which an Ameri-
can landholder has to spend. While the rural
proprietors of the other continent are often
content to live in the same houses, and with
the same inconveniences as their forefathers,
no one in our time and country, who has any
of the national spirit of progress in him, i^
satisfied unless, in building a new house, ho
has some of the " modern improvements" in it.
This is a good sign of the times ; and when
we see it coupled vsdth another, viz., the great
desire to make the dwelling agreeable and
ornamental, as well as comfortable, we think
there is abundant reason to hope, so far as
the country is concerned, that something like
a national taste will come in due time.
What the popular taste in building seems
to us to require, just now, is not so much
impulse as right direction. There are num-
berless persons who have determined, in
building their new home in the country, that
they " will have something pretty ;" but pre-
cisely what character it shall have, and whe-
ther there is any character, beyond that of a
" pretty cottage" or a " splendid house," is
' not perhaps very clear to their miud.s.
10
A FEW WORDS ON RURAL ARCHITECTURE.
We do not make this statement to find
fault with the condition of things ; far from it.
We see too much good in the newly awakened
taste for the Beautiful, to criticise severely its
want of intelligence as to the exact course it
should take to achieve its object — or perhaps
its want of definiteness as to what that object
is — beyond providing an agreeable home.
But we allude to it to show that, with a little
direction, the popular taste now awakened in
this particular department, may develop itself
in such a manner as to produce the most sa-
tisfactory and beautiful results.
Fifteen years ago, there was but one idea
relating to a house in the country. It must
be a Grecian temple. Whether 20 feet or
200 feet front, it must have its columns and
portico. There might be comfortable rooms
behind them or not ; that was a matter which
tlie severe taste of the classical builder could
not stoop to consider. The roof might be
so flat that there was no space for comforta-
ble servant's bed-rooms, or the attic so hot
that the second story was uninhabitable in a
mid-summer's day. But of what consequence
was that, if the portico were copied from the
Temple of Theseus, or the columns were
miniature imitations in wood of those of Jupi-
ter Olympius '
We have made a great step onward in that
short fifteen years. There is, to be sure, a
fashion now in building houses in the country —
almost as prevalent and despotic as its pseudo-
classical predecessor, but it is a far more ra-
tional and sensible one, and though likely to
produce the same unsatisfactory effect of aU
other fashions — that is to substitute sameness
and monotony for tasteful individuality, yet
we gladly accept it as the next step onward.
We allude, of course, to the Gothic or
English cottage, with steep roofs and high
gables, — just now the ambition of almost
«very person building in the country. There
are, indeed, few things so beautiful as a cot-
tage of this kind, well designed and tastefully
placed. There is nothing, all the world over,
so truly rural and so unmistakeably country-
like as this very cottage, which has been de-
veloped in so much perfection in the rural
lanes and amidst the picturesque lights and
shadows of an English landscape. And for
this reason, because it is essentially rural and
country-like, we gladly welcome its general
naturalization, (with the needful variation of
the veranda, &c., demanded by our climate,)
as the type of most of our country dwell-
ings.
But it is time to enter a protest against the
absolute and indiscriminate employment of
the Gothic cottage in every site and situation
in the country — whether appropriate or inap-
propriate— whether suited to the grounds or
the life of those who are to inhabit it, or the
contrary.
We have endeavored, in our work on
" Country Houses," just issued from the
press, to show that rural architecture has
more significance and a deeper meaning than
merely to afl"ord a " pretty cottage," or a
" handsome house," for him who can afford to
pay for it. We believe not only that a house
may have an absolute beauty of its own,
growing out of its architecture, but that it
may have a relative beauty no less interest-
ing, which arises from its expressing the life
and occupation of those who build or inhabit
it. In other words, we think the home of
every family, possessed of character, may be
made to express that character, and will be
most beautiful (supposing the character good,)
when in addition to architectural beauty it
unites this significance or individuality.
We have not the space to go into detail
on this subject here ; and to do so would
only be repeating what we have already said
in the work in question. But the most casual
reader will understand from our suggestion,
that if a man's house can be made to express
EXPERIMENTS IN HORTICULTURE.
11
tte )3cst traits of his character, it is undenia-
ble that a large source of beauty and interest
is always lost by those who copy each other's
homes without reflection, even though they
may be copying the most faultless cottage
ornee.
We would have the cottage, the farm-
house, and the larger country house, all
marked by a somewhat distinctive character
of their own, so far as relates to making them
eomplete and individual of their kind; and
believing as we do, that the beauty and
force of every true man's life or occupation
depend largely on his pursuing it frankly,
honestly, and openly, with all the individuality
of his character, we would have his house and
home help to give significance to, and dignify
that daily life and occupation, by harmonizing
with them. For this reason, we think the
farmer errs when he copies the filagree work
of the retired citizen's cottage, instead of
showing that rustic strength and solidity in
his house which are its true elements of inte-
rest and beauty. For this reason, we think
he who builds a simple and modest cottage in
the country, fails in attaining that which he
aims at by copying, as nearly as his means
will permit, the parlors, folding doors, and
showy furniture of the newest house he has
seen in town.
We will not do more at present than throw
out these suggestions, in the hope that those
about to build in the country will reflect that
an entirely satisfactory house is one in which
there are not only pretty forms and details,
but one which has some meaning in its beauty,
considered in relation to their own position,
character and daily lives.
EXPERIMENTS IN HORTICULTURE, NO. IV— GRAPES.
BY B., POUGHKEEPSIE, N. Y.
For the last ten years, I have had under cul-
tivation from three hundred to five hundred
grapevines. They comprised about twenty
varieties originally, but have dwindled down
to three, viz., the Catawba, Isabella and El-
sinburgh. I still retain specimens of the
best foreign grapes ; but it is labor lost to at-
tempt to produce fruit from them, in any
quantity, in the open ground. The Cataw-
ba I esteem most highly, especially for wine.
The Isabella is preferred by many as a dessert
fruit, although my taste Inclines to the former.
The Elsinburgh makes a good wine, and is the
most hardy of them all. Indeed, this last
was the only variety which passed unscathed
through the excessively cold winter of 1848-9.
Without attempting to detail the various
modes of iilanting and training which have
been tried, I will merely state that which has
proved most satisfactory. Take vines one or
two years old, in the spring, and plant them
in rows running north and south ; the rows to
be six feet apart, and the vines eight feet
apart in the row. Within a year or two, at
your leisure, prepare posts with bottoms of
locust and tops of pine fence railing, seven
and a half feet in length, and set one equi-dis-
tant between every two vines in the rows, so
that they will stand five and a half feet in
height. Then procure galvanised wire. No.
12 or 13, and having bored five small holes
through each post at distances of eleven inches,
pass the wire through, draw it tight and fasten
each end. The upper wire is to rest on the
top of the posts, and be fiistened by staples.
Then paint your posts, and brace those at the
extremities of the rows, to enable them to
bear the weight, and you will have the fouu-
12
EXPERIMENTS IN HORTICULTURE.
dation of a vineyard -whicli will endure for at
least one generation,
I planted one hundred vines in this manner
several. years ago, and I am satisfied that I
cannot improve upon the mode. The dis-
tance is ample, as it gives forty-eight feet sur-
face for the roots of each vine, and nearly the
same space of trellis for the fruit. The wire,
being galvanised, will not rust ; it makes no
shade, and affords a convenient support for
the tendrils to cling to. The rows, running
north and south, give a fair proportion of sun
to each side. The bottom of the posts are
made of locust, for the sake of durability, and
the tops of pine, for the sake of convenience
in attaching the wires, and are painted to pre-
serve them and improve the appearance. A
considerable saving of expense can be made
by fainting the wire white, which can be
done very rapidly by taking a coil and spread-
ing it over a paling, or stick thrust through
it, and applying the paint with an ordinary
brush. The paint Avill preserve the wire
many years.
Having thus planted my vineyard, I first
proceed to train from each vine two horizon-
tal arms along the lowest wire. At the next
autumnal pruning these arms are shortened
to four feet in length, and are always thus
kept between two posts. After tliis I train
from each arm four upright shoots gradually,
from year to year, until they reach the top-
most wire, — cutting in to one or two eyes the
alternate shoots in alternate years. No rule
can be laid down on this subject, as to the
precise degrees of progression from year to
year, as it depends much upon the vigor of
each vine. The common error is to leave too
much wood. It is an easy matter to cover
one hundred square feet with a vine five years
old ; but it is perfectly certain that if properly
confined to one quarter that space, it will
produce a much more valuable crop of grapes.
I have no doubt that a vigorous Catawba vine
can be profitably confined to forty square feet
of trellis for thirty years or more.
In regard to pruning, which is the great
art in the cultivation of this fruit, I have re-
cently modified my views, and am gradually
changing my practice. I find that the old
notion, that spring pruning would cause vinos
to bleed to death, is entirely incorrect. I
have pruned freely during the mouth of May
of this year, as well as formerly, without the
slightest Injury. The advantage gained, is
that you can prune after your fruit buds open,
and show how many bunches of grapes they can
produce. You can then cut down to the pro-
per number of bunches for the strength of your
vine, which is the true principle of pruning.
My general practice for the last five years
has been to prune in November, and lay down
the vines and partly cover them with earth or
litter. This last precaution is taken to pre-
vent the winter from pruning them a second
time. For I had, on one or two occasions,
lost nearly all the fruit buds between the
knife and the frost.
The importance of severe pruning to insure
first rate fruit, cannot be too strongly urged.
A vine, even of the hardiest sort, if left to
itself, will soon become worthless. An ex-
periment was tried by a near neighbor, at my
suggestion, a few years ago, upon a young
Isabella vine of great beauty and vigor. It
was trained upon an arbor, and in June
showed two hundred bunches of fruit. The
grapes continued to grow and look as well as
mine, until the middle of July, when they
began to fail. The result, in short, was that
not a single bunch of grapes ripened, and for
a year or two after the vine showed but small
signs of life ; and after a lapse of about seven
years, and having been headed down to re-
cruit its energies, it has not yet recovered
from the shock. The only safe rule that I
can adopt, is to direct my gardener to prune
very closely in the fall, and then follow him
EXPERIMENTS IX HORTICULTURE.
13
next spring, and cut out onc-Iialf of the ej'es
he has left.
In regard to preparing and manuring the
ground, my experience does not accord with
the rules laid down in the books. I have
tried deep trenching, bones, sods, &c., ac-
cording to the most approved directions ; but
I have not yet perceived the slightest benefi-
cial results. On the contrary, my best grapes
come from an ordinary soil of about one foot
in depth, kept well manured by street sweep-
ings, which I deem a specific manure for all
kinds of fruit. The explanation may, per-
haps, be found in the fact that my soil is a
heavy loam with a clay subsoil, into which it
is not beneficial for grape roots to penetrate.
At all events, mine do best near the surface.
My strongest growing vines have been very
heavily manured with coal ashes.
Two years ago my Catawba grapes were
much injured by the rot. In the autumn I
covered the ground with ground plaster, at
the rate of five pounds to a vine, and have
not since been troubled in that way.
Last year I made a great variety of ex-
periments in wine pressing, — beginning with
cherries, and ending with quinces. Among
the rest, I pressed about a ton of grapes,
which yielded about six gallons to the hun-
dred pounds. The modus operandi was sub-
stantially the same as that so well described
by Mr. Longworth in a recent number of the
Horticulturist, except that my grapes were
not separated from the stems, and we added
one and a half pounds of loaf sugar to a gal-
lon of juice.
It does not, perhaps, become me to say
much in regard to the quality of the wine ;
firstly, because I do not profess to be a judge —
of wine, I mean ; secondly, because I could
not be deemed an impartial one. All I shall
say is, that according to the taste of those
who have tried the Catawba, it is considered
as good, and quite as pure, as any foreign
wines brought to this market. If, however
I can find an express to forward a basket, the
editor shall have an opportunity of testing the
the matter in propria persona.
Poughkecpsie, June, 1S50.
Our correspondent's article is full of excel-
lent practical suggestions, based, as usual, on
actual experience. We hope it will lead
others to favor us with their views on vine-
yards, wliich are becoming a somewhat im-
portant branch of agriculture. We agree
with B. entirely as to the main principles he
deduces from his own experiments, viz., that
upright trellises, frames or poles, are the best
supports for the vines ; that the latter should
be confined to a very moderate space and se-
verely pruned ; and that none but native
grapes as yet have proved of much value in the
vineyard.
He states very correctly that it is owing to
the nature of his soil that trenching, ordina-
rily of the greatest value to the vine, has
proved of little benefit with him. If some-
thing could be mingled with the subsoil, at
the time of trenching it, to render it light
and permeable by the air and roots, trenching
would undoubtedly prove beneficial. Hence
the great value of coal ashes for vines in a
heavy soil, though they are nearly useless in
sandy ground.
The samples of wine which our correspond-
ent so obligingly sent us, we received in ex-
cellent condition. They were pure and sound,
and some of them, (especially the Catawba,)
of excellent quality. But from the amount
of sugar per gallon added to the must, they
are all sioeet wines, which we think inferior
to the dry wines made on the Ohio from the
same grapes. Now light dry wines, like
Claret and Hock, (the natural product of the
Catawba, &c.,) require little or no sugar ; and
they cost less, and are more wholesome than
sweet wines, like Muscatel, Malaga, &c. Ed.
NEUMANN ON RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS.
Perhaps the best work on propagating
plants by this means, is a little volume pub-
lished in Paris, entitled " Notions sur I'art de
faire les Boutures," by M. Neumann, the
well known chief of the hot-house department
of the Garden of Plants. We shall give in
our succeeding numbers, commencing with
the following article, a translation of the most
important part of this little work, so useful to
the plant cultivator.
No. I. GrENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. —
The Creator has willed that plants should
multiply themselves by their seeds ; but man,
still more to increase the riches of the vege-
table kingdom, as if he found himself in too
narrow a compass, incessantly assists Nature,
whether he evokes the mysteries of artificial
fecundation, or propagates species by grafts,
layers, or cuttings. This last method of pro-
pagation has arrived at such importance in
our days, that I have thought it my duty to
to state the nature of the proceedings which
practice, and a long study of the numerous
plants intrusted to my care, have suggested
to me. A cutting, properly speaking, is a
part of a plant which, being detached, is
placed in the ground, where, under the influ-
ence of different circumstances, it ought to
develop itself, and produce an individual simi-
lar to the parent plant. Monocotyledonous
plants will only strike by cuttings from their
branches ; but dycotyledonous plants offer for
propagation, so to speak, all the parts which
compose them — roots, branches, trunks, or
portions of them, herbaceous shoots, and
leaves. With but few exceptions plants struck
by cuttings demand constant attention ; a
temperature and moisture proportioned to the
nature of the subject are the conditions which
ought especially to engage the attention of
the operator ; for the principal precaution is,
to secure the cuttings at the same time from
rotting and drying. With this end in view
v.-e keep them in media of equal temperature
and moistui-e ; we prevent evaporation of the
soil, and arrest the perspiration of the cut-
tings. Plants which are soft-wooded, or have
vp'f^ i:>llular tissue, such as Malvaceae, Ge-
raniacese, Solanaceae, and others, take root
more easily, and demand less precaution, than
the delicate, resinous, milky, hard and dry-
wooded species. Cuttings of the greater part
of the hardy ornamental plants suited to the
climate of Paris, will strike in the open air, if
they are protected from winds and currents o£
hot air. Others are struck in pots upon ex-
hausted hot-beds, or in a pit not much raised
and ventilated. Finally, cuttings of exotics,
able to grow only under the influence of a
heat which reminds them of the conditions
among which they naturally live, strike root
in glass-houses made on purpose, or are
placed, agreeably to their nature, either in a
hot-house or green-house.
No. II. Soil proper for Cuttings. —
Different sorts of trees do not root equally
well in all soils. There are some cuttings
which can scarcely be made to succeed in
saline earth, while others succeed in it very
well. The soils considered the best foi-
striking cuttings in the open air, are those
which are free, sandy, and soft to the touch ;
of Fontenay-aux-Iloses, for example, of C la-
mart, or of Massy. Tamarix elegans and T.
germanica prosper in a soil rich in saltpetre ;
but the Giugko and Poplars cannot strike in
it ; these last succeed at Fontenay-aux-Iloses.
Cuttings made in glass-houses generally re-
quire to be planted in earth mixed with peat
in preference to any other, but varied ac-
cording to the nature of the plant. What-
ever composition we use, we must take care
not to employ it too dry or too moist ; in the
first case, the earth not being able to sustain
itself in a convenient manner around the cut-
ting, the latter fulls or is displaced when we
wish to water it; in the second case, the
earth being too compact, it hinders the forma-
tion of roots ; Nature makes vain efforts, and
the cutting suffers, decays, and dies, in spite
of its disposition to vegetate.
No. III. Cuttings in the Open Air. —
All our deciduous trees, and many evergreens,
may be struck from cuttings in the open air,
by the same process as that employed in the
Colonies, if requisite care be taken. Thus in
our Colonies, where there are no glass-houses
for propagation, nor bell-glasses, I made cut-
I tings entirely in the open air, in a bed shaded
RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS.
15
with straw ; these cuttings wore watered at
random every day, taking no other precaution
than that of not disturbing their roots. This
simple method, the only one, it may be said,
in use in our Colonies, is far from offering the
difficulties which present themselves under the
latitude of Paris, to secure the striking of the
cuttings of plants foreign to - our climate.
Here, in order to insure success, we take
shoots and branches in full vegetation. In
the Colonics, the gardener always chooses in
preference the wood which has finished its
growth. With us, on the contrary, there are
plants whose cuttings in our glass-houses do
not root uidess they are quite soft, and just
before the wood begins to assume its natural
colour; such are Semecarpus anacardium,
Swietenia mahogaoi. Euphoria lit-chi, &e.
These cuttings cannot bear exposure to the
air, even for a moment. They must be
planted the moment they are taken off, and
covered by a bell-glass. However, this treat-
ment will not succeed with milky, gummy, or
resinous plants, such as Yahea
Araucaria, Euphorbia,
&c., whose cuttings, if
placed in the earth as
soon as they are ta-
ken off, seldom root,
but almost always rot.
Such cuttings secrete
from their wounds a
peculiar matter, which ^^
must be discharged %
before they arc plant- 1^
ed. For this purpose ^^^5==
I put them upside
down in pots ; I then fill the pots with rather
moist earth, without pressing it in, leaving
the wound alone uncovered. I leave them 24
or 36 hours, and sometimes more, in this po-
sition, until the superabundant matter which
they contain is thrown off. I then wash the
wound with a sponge, and the cutting takes
root more or loss easily, in proportion as the
wound is clean. I know no tree from which
we may make cuttings in the open air, with
herbaceous shoots, without a bell-glass ; but
those herbaceous plants which have some ap-
pearance of wood, such as the Pelargonium,
Geranium, Cineraria, and Calceolaria may be
made to strike without heat, and under the
shade of a wall. These cuttings are shaded
with straw mats duiing the day ; however.
they always succeed best in a cool frame. In
order to make the plants which I have just
named strike by cuttings, we commonly take
the extremities of the branches after flower-
ing. The soil which suits them best is peat
mixed with well rotted animal or vegetable
mould. Among Roses, the China, being the
hardiest, is propagated by cuttings in peat
soil, with wood one year old ; the other sorts
strike in a hot-house, and under a bell-glass,
for which purpose choice should be made of
herbaceous shoots, taken from plants which
have themselves been kept in a green-house.
No. IV. Cuttings upon exhausted
Hot-beds. — There are some plants which
cannot be multiplied effectually in the open
ground, and which require a mild and uni-
form heat, in a still atmosphere, liking, how-
ever, a little light, which should be given
1. — Propagaling H>
them night and morning. The temperature
which suits such plants when under propaga-
tion, is that which is found under the glass
of an exhausted hot-bed. After we have per-
mitted this bed to lose its greatest heat, we
put over it a low frame ; the pots containing
the cuttings are then plunged in the soil of
this bed. In this way we successfully propa-
gate Diosmas, Fuchsias, Heaths, single Ca-
mellias intended for grafting on, and similar
plants.
No. V. Cuttings in Propagating Hou-
ses.— But the exhausted hot-bed is suited
only to a limited number of species of plants.
Many plants, even oranges, would not find
there a heat sufficient to enable them to make
roots. Plants whose nature it is to grow
16
RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS.
under the influence of a high temperature, are
struck in propagating houses bxiilt on purpose,
in which an equal temperature is maintained
day and night. This indispensable condition,
which has always been an object of great
care among gardeners, has now become much
more easy to fulfil, in consequence of the use
of hot-water pipes. The flooring of the frame
under which the hot-water pipes pass, is
covered to the depth of 4 or 6 inches with
sand or tan ; the pots for cuttings, which are
plunged in it, are subjected to a heat of from
30° to 35° Cent. (87° to 98° Fahr.) for cut-
tings of such plants as, from the difiiculty of
striking them, require a high temperature, as
for example Xanthochymus, Myristica, Guaya-
cum, Diospyros, Mangifera, &c. Annexed is
the section of a glass-house for propagation,
such as I should recommend for strildng cut-
tings in. Two pits, AA, are placed on each
side of the principal walk B ; CC are two
walks all round, for the use of the gardeners.
The flooring of the pits ought to be covered
with sand or tan 4 or 6 inches thick, before
receiving the cutting pots. Hot-water pipes
pass under these floors and heat the material
in which the pots are placed, as well as the
pots themselves, and then discharge their heat
into the air of the house by means of trap-
doors placed on hinges, and opening on each
side of the pits ; by which we may regulate
the surrounding temperature of the house.
The dimensions of such a house would vary
according to circumstances ; we must only
bear in mind that the cuttings ought to be as
near the glass of the house as possible. The
plan of this house, as here figured, represents
an interior 4 yards wide, of which l^- yard is
employed for the walks ; but if the house to
be constructed is to be narrower — 3 yards
wide, for example — a single walk in the mid-
dle might be managed. In a well-constructed
propagating house we may strike cuttings all
the year round.
No. VI. Pots for Cuttings. — The pots
which we choose for cuttings are about 3.|
inches wide at the top ; we prefer pots with
small bottoms, so that when we turn them up
to ascertain if the cutting has rooted, there is
nothing to stop the ball from coming out. I
submitted to the Horticultural Society of
Paris, some time ago, a model of a cutting-
pot which has since been common. I am
)^lad to have made it known, because it has
contributed to the
success of this part
of horticultural sci-
ence, which is now
so generally appre-
ciated. Fig 2, A,
is an earthen pot,
2 J — 32 in. broad,
and 21 — 2^ in. high
Fig. 'i.— Pots for Cuttings.
_ , in the bottom there is
a hole as in a common pot ; this opening must
not be obstructed by a crock, as is the cus-
tom, but we invert inside a little pot, whose
bottom ought to be level with the earth in
the pot, as in the cut. This little pet is to
receive the heat. The hot effluvium of the
tan, or the heat developed by the hot-water
pipes, enters the hole of the earthen pot,
lodges in the pot which is inverted, and keeps
the cuttings, which are planted circularly
around it, in the condition most favorable to
their vegetation ; this arrangement presents
also a real advantage, viz., that the roots of
cuttings do not force themselves one on the
other, as in the old methods ; they may easily
be separated afterwards.
No. VII. Bell-glasses for Cuttings.
— The green bell-glasses called Melon bell-
glasses are generally used for propagation-
IU!\J^\JI\jf
Fig. 3.— A Melon Bel'-slass.
but recent and repeated trials, and frequent
observation, have given the preference to the
use of blue and violet coloured glasses, as
being more favorable for the striking of cut-
tings. I give here the forms of the glasses
used in the green-houses of the INIuseum of
Natural History. Fig. 3 is a Melon bell-
glass ; it is useful, inasmuch as it serves to
cover a good many little pots, and also for
Rose-cuttings. Latterly other bell-glasses
called angular {a facettes) have been in use,
constructed in the same manner as hand-
glasses ; they are made of three difl"erent sizes,
RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS.
17
an advantage which the Melon-glasses have
not, nearly all of them being blown of the
same diameter. Fig. 4 is a long cylinder, in-
tended to receive cuttings of large size. Fig.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.
5 is a wide but low cylinder, imder which
you can place cuttings of small size, such as
Heaths, Leschenaultias, Epacris, &c.
When it is required to propagate a delicate
and valuable plant, the striking of the cuttings
will be more certain, if we place each sepa-
rately under a single glass with a flat head,
as in Fig. 6, and wliich corresponds in height
to the length of the cutting. This glass
should be placed upon tlie pot in such a man-
ner that it excludes all conununication with
the exterior air ; this may be done by not
leaving any empty space between the glass
and the edge of the pot.
It is to be remembered, that when we pro-
pagate under bell-glasses, we must always
proportion the size of the cylinders to the
quantity of the cuttings, and their strength :
thus, a small cutting should not be covered
by a large glass ; and in this last it will not
grow so well alone as when there are many
others. The process of striking cuttings seems
to be certain in proportion to the smallncss
of the space in which they are to grow.
No. VIII. Cuttings of Monocotyle-
dons.— We have thought till now that cut-
tings of Monocotyledons were very difficult,
if not impossible, to strike. I am convinced,
from observations and repeated trials, that
plants of this numerous class are among the
most easy to multiply by cuttings of the
branches. Experience has taught me that
these branches of Monocotylcdonous plants
should be takcn^ from wood of one year old or
less, and that they root as well when they are
5 or 6 years old ; but herbaceous cuttings, as
well as cuttings of roots, never succeed ;
which is the more remarkable, because in
Dycotyledons the contrary is the case. I
successfully multiply from cuttings of branch-
es, Dracaena, Freycinetia, Vanilla, and many
others.
Cuttings of Monocotyledons should be
made with all their leaves, for it takes some
time to replace these if they are cut off; how-
ever, there are some species whose Ion leaves
are difficult to place under glasses. We may
remedy this inconvenience by turning the
leaves back along the stalk, a position which
we maintain by tying them as may be requi-
site, as is shown in Fig. 7. Cuttings disposed
in this manner seldom rot.
FifT- 7. — Branch of Dracrna urn- , ,,, .
brnculifera prepared for a cut- \ '// 'j
tins-
Fig. 8.
The operation consists in cutting away, for
abort l-5th of an inch from their point of
attacliment, the leaves at the bottom of the
cutting, all the length of the portion which is
to be buried. It is not always necessary to
take the extremities of branches for cuttinga
of this sort. If cut into pieces they succeed
nearly equally well ; it is thus that I multi-
ply the Vanilla, in cutting the branch into
pieces having two eyes each, as would be the
case if the accompanying branch were divided
at E, Fig. 8, keeping as near as possible to
the point of attachment of the leaf, and taking
care not to hurt the shoot in its axil. Fig.
8, VI shows the lower end of a stalk from
which the leaf has been cut, and the appear-
ance of such a cutting when it is rooting.
No. IX. Cuttings of Dicotyledons. —
I have always had reason to think that there
is not a Dicotyledonous plant which may not
be multiplied by cuttings, either of the roota
or stems ; by herbaceous shoots, or even by
detached leaves.
18
RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS.
Cuttings by Roots. — Cuttings by roots,
although long known, are not generally used
by our better horticulturists ; this mode,
however, seems sufficiently efficacious to fix
the attention of those who study the art of
multiplication. I have several times had oc-
casion to mention the case of Dais Cotinifolia.
The roots of this plant, cut into small pieces,
and spread on the earth of a pot in a hot-
house, gave as many young plants as there
were pieces of the root. I do not doubt that
we may succeed in making cuttings of the
soft wood of the Dais equally well ; but I
have never succeeded with the branches when
the wood is hard.
I have already said that Paulownia impe-
rialis may be struck from herbaceous cuttings
produced in a green-house ; the manner of
striking cuttings of the root of this tree is not
less easy. Portions of the roots which vary
in diameter from ^ to | of an inch, and in
length from 1 to 2J inch, take root well.
The month of March is the most favorable
time for striking these cuttings ; for in Febru-
ary they often rot, and the greatest care is
necessary to save them. The first seed Pau-
lownia which I sowed having only produced
me one individual, I perceived that this plant
when kept in the pot produced so few buds as
to deprive me of all hope of multiplying it
quickly. This led me to try cuttings from
the roots, which perfectly succeeded, as the
innumerable plants now seen in the nurse-
ries sufficiently prove. The shoots of a Pau-
lownia, struck from
root cuttings, came
out round the root,
as is seen in Fig. 9,
N.; this method of
proceeding gives us
the facility of split-
ting the roots into
several pieces, which,
separately, strike as
well as an entire root,
Fig. 9, 0. When
the shoots, which are
developed upon the
root, have attained a
length of an inch, or Fig. O.—Cutihtgs ofaPavlmcnia
an inch and a quar- imjmxaus.
ter, we cut them above the two first leaves
which appear ; the detached portions are the
cuttings, which are placed in a propagating
pot, just sufficient to keep them upright,
taking especial care that the earth is not too
dry. When the cuttings have once taken
root, and attained some vigor, we cut off the
head, which we again place in the earth ;
thus we obtain two plants from the cuttings,
both of which will form trees. During this
time the root of the Paulownia gives other
buds, which are subjected to tlie same opera-
tion ; but it is useful, in order to draw the
sap, to allow a bud to remain upon it, which
at a later period, if left to itself, forms a
stronger plant than the others.
As soon as we perceive that the last cut-
tings of which I have just spoken have taken
root, we place them in a larger pot, and these
pots ai-e placed in the green-house, in a spot
the least exposed to currents of air ; the
young plants will flag a little, but they soon
recover. When they have begun to vege-
tate, we take them from the green-house and
put them in a half shaded cold frame, where
a little air is allowed to enter if the sun is
too hot ; we thus accustom the Paulownia to
support the rays of the sun and the action of
the air ; and, as soon as we think the cut-
tings sufficiently strong, we plant them in
the open ground. All these successive opera-
tions take place so quickly, that a cutting
made in March, and which is 4 inches high
when it is first planted in the open air, at-
tains by the following autumn the height of
1 foot or more, supposing that it has been
planted in a soil suitable to its nature, and
has been sufficiently watered.
No. X. There are other plants whose
roots send out, contrary to the Paulownia,
their buds upon the cut itself; this is re-
marked in Madura aurantiaca. Fig. 10.
They are formed between the wood and the
bark by an innumerable number of exceed-
ingly minute bulbs, which turn green and
produce the buds. The ciittings of this
plant strike very easily in the open air, fol-
lowing the same method of proceeding as in
Paulownia ; the large end of the root must be
placed even with the earth or nearly so.
The Cydonia japonica is only multiplied by
layers. The difficulty which this method
offers for striking has not permitted this
plant, up to the present time, to be as much
distributed in ornamental gardens as it ought
to be. But if we strike from the roots, re-
sults will be obtained much better and expe-
RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS.
19
Fig. W.—Cuttinss of
Madura aiirantiaca.
ditlously. If we cut the
roots the size of a pen, into
pieces 2 or 2^ inches long,
and plant them upright, we
shall have the same year as
many plants as there were
pieces planted. These cut-
tings should be made in
the open air, along a bor-
der or strip of peat, with-
out any other covering than
the soil where they are to
grow. If we plant them
vertically, we should cover
them very slightly with
earth ; and at the first watering the cut will
be uncovered. If we place them horizontally,
they should be covered with eai'th about one-
sixteenth of an inch deep. This last method
succeeds equally well, but it is less certain
than the first.
I have here mentioned these few species
only to show what advantage we may derive
from the method of multiplying dycotyledo-
nous plants by cuttings of the roots ; the
good results which I have just pointed out
will encourage, I hope, other attempts of the
same nature to be made upon other plants,
whose multiplication upon hot-beds has been
attended by little or no result.
At the time when I was about to send the
present treatise to the press, I discovered a
new fact in corroboration of what I have stated,
and I feel obliged to publish it. During the
last six years, I have many times tried to
strike an Araucaria from cuttings of the roots ;
up to this time, I had had no satisfactory re-
sults, but to-day, 10th May, 1844, 1 perceive
that the cuttings of the roots of Araucaria
Cunninghami, | inch in diameter, and about
2 1 to 3 inches long, planted in October,
1843, are at last sending forth shoots. I at-
tribute my failure up to this time, to the pre-
sence of the glasses with which I covered the
cuttings : the concentration of air charged
with an excess of moisture makes them perish.
In the first place, the pots which contained
the roots, were, in October last, plunged into
tan still impregnated with a gentle heat ;
pei'ceiving in March that the earth in the pots
was decomposed, I changed it, without being
able to distinguish the least sign of vegeta-
tion on the cuttings. The pots were then
placed upon a bench and exposed to a mode-
rate temperature ; in April these pots were
placed upon a warm bed of tan ; and it was
this, doubtless, which, to ray great surprise,
a month afterwards, excited vegetation.
All cultivators who know how to manage
the Araucaria will, perhaps, doubt the truth
of this phenomenon ; but if they are willing
to convince themselves by testimony of their
eyes, I shall be happy to present them with
a palpable proof. The realisation of this re-
markable experiment, which nobody, I be-
lieve, has before made known, will, I hope,
become a fact of great importance both in
horticulture and agriculture.
If, as I have reason to believe will be the
case, this mode of cuttings by roots succeeds
as well upon all the species of the beautiful
fiimily of Coniferae, the new Pines of the
Himalaya and of other countries, which would
for a long time have remauied scarce, may
soon be propagated with certainty ; and I
dare affirm, that the plants raised from cut-
tings of the roots will form trees as well con-
stituted as those produced from seeds. I am
going to follow up my experiments upon
Araucaria excclsa, being nearly certain at the
outset that I shall obtain the same results as
I did upon Araucaria Cunninghami. The
autumn docs not seem to me the best season for
this sort of operation, it ought to succeed best
in spring ; a close observation teaches us this.
There are some plants which are always
kept so nuich the more scarce, as it has been
impossible to multiply them even by the last
process ; such, for example, as Ilalesia dip-
tera, of which I have never been able to save
a single layer once detached from its parent
plant, notwithstanding these layers have been
well rooted, and under the constant care of
the operator. Likewise, we have never ob-
tained a result of the grafts of Halesia dip-
tera made on tetraptera. However, I have
reason to believe that cuttings of the roots
will strike. The stock of Halesia diptera
which exists in the Jardin des Plantes, be-
gins to give fertile seeds. Let us hope that
soon we shall be able to obtain from some in-
dividuals seed of this beautiful shrub.
EFFECTS OF LOCALITY ON TEMPERATURE.
BY VARDLEY TAYLOR, LOUDON CO., VA.
In the last number of the third volume of
the Horticulturist, is a short communication
from James Grant, Davenport, Iowa, giving
some account of the cold weather in the pre-
vious winter. Mr. Grant considers it as
disproving the opinion of a former writer,
that peach blossoms are always killed when
the thermometer is 14° below zero. He says
" the trees protected by our bluffs will have
as much fruit as they can hold. For days,
during the winter, the thermometer was 20°
below zero. The preservation of our trees
was probably owing to deep snows and uni-
form cold weather." There are so many
modifying influences, in respect to cold wea-
ther, caused by difference of elevation and
exposure, either east or west, the presence of
large borders of water, protection by bluffs,
or other elevations, &c., that it is difficult to
calculate the effect of cold on blossom buds,
until ascertained by actual results. Were a
series of observations made on such occur-
rences, in different sections of our widely ex-
tended country, giving minutely the situatiop,
difference of elevation of places, and of all
other circumstances bearing upon the sub-
ject, with the effects in each case, much in-
formation might be elicited ; and that branch
of meteorology would not only be better un-
derstood, but the probable effect of different
localities for particidar fruit trees be ascer-
tained with more certainty.
With this view, I propose furnishing for the
pages of the Horticulturist, our experience of
the cold of last winter, with a theory of its
effects, corroborated by our previous experi-
ence. This district of country is peculiarly
liable to great changes of temperature, situated
as we are in the first valley between the two
first ranges of mountains above tide-water,
with the Blue Ridge — that great feature in
the Apalachian system of mountains of the
Atlantic slope — on the west, and one of its
spurs — the Catoctin mountains — on the east.
This valley has an elevation of from 4 to 600
feet above tide-water, while the mountains
rise from 2 to 600 feet above the valley.
Such difference of elevation is frequently
marked by great difference of temperature,
even at the same time. The peaches are
often killed by the frosts of spring or the cold
of winter, in the lower grounds, while on
high situations or on the mountains, they arc
rarely injured by either. Indeed, in some
places a crop may be calculated on with per-
haps as much certainty as in any part of our
country, where frosts are liable to injure
them at all. When the N. W. winds pre-
vail, they bring the air of the Alleghany
mountains to us, modified, it is true, by mix-
ing with the air of the valley over which it
passes, but still often in winter exceeding
cold. A prevalence of south or southeast-
erly wind in a little time will bring the warm
air of the Atlantic or of the Gulf of Mexico,
and produce an opposite extreme. Hence,
the variations of temperature here are often
great. But the thermometer never falls ae
low in high windy weather, unpleasant as it
is, as it does in calm weather, after a snow
has fallen. Last winter the snow fell to the
depth of several inches, and the clouds pass-
ed off without wind, and it continued calm
for several days, when one morning the ther-
mometer indicated 14 ° below zero, and it is
probable, from the effect produced, had it been
ascertained in our lowest valleys, it would
have been much lower. My orchard has a
EFFECTS OF LOCALITY ON TEMPERATURE.
21
difference of elevation of about 80 feet, and tlie
peach trees on the lower part did not produce
hardly a single blossom, while trees on the
highest ground had a good supply of bloom.
The small branches of many on the low ground
are killed, and even some of the apple trees
there are injured, as if by the extreme cold
weather. The heart cherries, though on high-
er ground, have suffered ; some of their blos-
som buds remain undeveloped, and even where
the bloom was considerable, there are very
cherries to be seen. The morello cherries do
not seem to be injured, and the apple trees
had a heavy bloom. They are all much later
than usual ; the peach did not come into full
bloom before the 25th of last month, about
three weeks behind the usual time. On all
high situations in this vicinity, the peaches
promise a full crop, while in all low ones, no
blossoms were seen.
After examining the effects, the theory
seems to be this : When the ground is covered
with snow, so as to prevent any radiation of
heat from the surface, and the air is perfectly
still, the caloric in the air [i. e., the warmer
strata of air,] will rise higher and leave the
the cold air in the valleys below. This being
continued for several days, must produce a
great degree of cold there. But had tliere
have been any wind, this separation of the air
into colder and warmer strata, would not have
taken place near the surface of the earth, for
it would all have been mixed up, and have re-
sulted in a uniformity of temperature in all
places alike.
In the winter of '34-'5, we had a snow
here near eighteen inches deep ; the ground
was not frozen when it fell, and it continued
calm weather, without any wind, for near a
week, when one morning the thermometer in
low situations fell to 20° below zero, a de-
gree of cold never witnessed here by ma-
ny of us before. The peach trees suffered
(Severely ; many of them were almost killed ;
nearly all the smaller branches were destroy-
ed, and in low situations they only put out
shoots, when they did, far back on the larger
branches. In this case a surprising difference
of temperature was exhibited on different le-
vels. While the thermometer in the valley
near the west side of Catoctin mountain in-
dicated 20° below zero, one at Mt. Gilead,
on the mountain perhaps 200 feet above, and
only a few miles distant, was only down to
zero. And the different effects upon the peach
trees in this instance, in the two extremes of
level, would seem to confirm such a difference
of temperature, for on the mountains they
were but little injured.
Another remarkable instance of the same
principle, occurred here in the spring of '34.
Between the 13th and 17th of the 5th month
(May) of that year, we had a succession of
frosts that froze the ground of nights, and
fqjrmed ice of the thickness of window glass.
The forest trees were out in leaf, many of
them nearly full grown, and with young shoots
six or eight inches long, and the peaches were
as large as ripe currants. A destruction of
fruit was the consequence for that season, and
the effect on the forests in some instances was
remarkable. I noticed a few days afterwards,
in a small valley or ravine near Alexandria,
that in the bottom of the valley, and up the
sides of the hills to a certain level, the young
leaves and shoots were entirely killed, and
looked as if scorched by the fire, while above
that level they were still alive. This level,
in looking up the valley, as there was consid-
erable size to it, reached the bottom of it, and
was visible no further, while down the valley
it passed along the sides of the hills some dis-
tance from their base, and exhibited the fact
of many trees that stood below the level of
this line, having the leaves and shoots entire-
ly killed on the lower limbs, while those on
the higher branches were still alive.
It would seem from the above facts, that a
22
THE ZINFINDAL GRAPE— THE CURCULIO.
temperature of 14° below zero was sufficient
to destroy the blossom buds of the peach, for
the situation of the thermometer was some
distance -below the line of level where the
blossoms were general. And perhaps were the
difference of elevation noted in the communi-
cation alluded to from Iowa, it might account
for so low a temperature not destroying the
peach buds there, particularly if the weather
was calm. We have noted here, even in sum-
mer, that two thermometers, one situated about
40 feet above the other and less than 100
yards apart, both equally exposed, would in-
dicate a difference of 5 or 6°; the lower one
would show that much cooler temperature in
the morning, while at noon it would show that
much warmer, than the other.
I remain thy friend,
Yardley Taylor
Loudon Co., Va., 5th mo., 1S50.
THE ZINFINDAL GRAPE— THE CURCULIO.
BY G. GABRIEL, NEAV-HAVEN, CONN.
In the June Horticulturist, page 568, I am
represented to have stated, with two other
gentlemen, that the Zinfindal grape is better
adapted to out-door culture in Connecticut
than the Isabella. This is a mistake. •I
have never entertained such an opinion.
I have cultivated it several years in a cold-
house grapery, where it does well. I have
also seen it cultivated in the open air in this
city several years. It needs protection in
the winter, like the Miller's Burgundy, and
the fruit grows in a similar compact manner.
In the grapery, it requires severe thinning.
Mr. Allen recommends taking out eight of
every ten berries, which, however, I think, is
rather more than I have done. A grape
requiring so much attention, would be a
source of disappointment if recommended for
general cultivation.
I am pleased to notice so many turning
their attention to the curculio. I am confi-
dent it will have to surrender its claim on the
plum. Indeed, it would be humiliating to
our superiority — standing at the head of ani-
mal creation — should the united pomological
forces of the country allow the ravages of
this little impertinent to continue. I am
trying several experiments this season, more
simple and easy than the one I reported to
you last autumn, of which, if successful, I
will send you some notice in due time.
My experiments at present are based upon
this simple theory, viz., that the curculio is
endowed with sufficient reason or instinct to
provide, like other animals, for the continu-
ance of its race, and will deposit its eggs only
where its young may reach the ground and
make their way into it.* If this be true,
paving, iron shavings, or a cloth suspended
from stakes under the tree, or anything else
that will prevent the young from entering
the ground, will determine the curculio not
to lay its eggs there. A gentleman told me
not long since that he had plum trees stand-
ing by the side of water, the branches of
which hung partly over the water and partly
over the dry ground, and that the fruit over
the water was never attacked by the curculio,
while that over the dry ground was ; so that
those not liking the other remedies may use
* Any of your readers may call to mind other insects that
show the same sort of intelliffence. Why does the clumsy
parent of the canker worm climb from the eround fifly or a
hundred feet, to the ends of the branches of ihe loftiest elms,
to lay its efftts? Why, plandy. that its young- may be where
youn": and'tender leaves first appear. Who has tailed lo no-
tice the ingeimity of the honey-bee, building iu comb just in
that most capacious, and yet most compact form, demonstrated
by science to be the most perfect? The forecast ai\d cou-
trivance of many insects elicit our admiration aud wonder.
CRITIQUE ON THE MAY HORTICULTURIST.
23
water, if tliey can. It is not a very nume-
rous army to contend with ; a large portion
jiiust perish from the egg to the perfect in-
sect. Judge Darling, (an experienced en-
tomologist,) used to say they deposited about
thirty eggs each. Where their marks are
numerous, they themselves are but seldom
seen, I believe their eggs are deposited
during the day, as I have several times caught
them in this business. These eggs may be
destroyed, i. e., the punctures cut out, with
any pointed instrument, and the plum will
heal and mature. G. Gabriel.
New-Haven, June, 1850.
CRITIQUE ON THE MAY HORTICULTURIST.
BY JEFFREYS, NEW-YORK.
Your Leader. — A Spring Gossip. — Why,
my dear sir, you must have been dreaming
when you wrote that mild, flowery, sun-shiny
article ! for that venerable personage, " the
oldest inhabitant," never saw such a spring
before. How it may be in your own " High-
land garden," I know not ; but with us in
the city, and so far as I have ventured to
to poke my nose into the country, the weather
has been a perfect budget of abominations for
gardeners and farmers. Even the great Horse
Chestnuts, in the church yard of old Trinity,
whose roots luxuriate deep among the human
dust below, are hardly in full leaf, (May 20,)
to say nothing of the Elms and the Maples,
tJie Limes and the Catalpas ; while Thorbum,
and all the other Hyacinth and flower deal-
ers, are fretting and fuming at the " extr 'or-
dinary cold season," while shivering over their
unoccupied counters. However, I shall soon
venture out into the fields — even if with great
coat and mittens — for the summer won't post-
pone its arrival, whether warm weather does
or not. But thus far there has been no "po-
etry" in the season, if it exists "in the soul."
Even in the latter case, I can't feel it as yet.
If I did, I would make an eff'ort to echo some
of your bird-throated warblings.
Fruit. Culture at the South. — Why, my
good Doctor Phillips, will you so misun-
understand me ? I simply mean to say, that
every locality, as a general rule, will origi-
nate, from its proper seeds, its own best (on
all accounts) productions — be they fruits,
grains, or vegetables. And so I think is the
weight of proof, not that I object to introdu-
cing the better kinds from other localities,
when the desired standard of excellence does
not -exist at home, provided they may become
acclimated and naturalized to answer the pur-
poses ; but I would encourage by all means
the production from seed of the best varieties,
which under all circumstances can be depend-
ed on for domestic use. Meantime, cultivate
the good kinds from abroad that you can suc-
cessfully.
Hints for raising Seedling Pears. — I wish
that some of our American pomologists would
go into a systematic plan of producing new
fruits, as Mr. Walker suggests. Something
might thus be grown, if not superior to the
excellent new varieties already originated here,
at least proving that the thing may be done
by desigti as well as by accident, as most val-
uable kinds have already originated.
A fetv words to beginners. — I have no per-
sonal acquaintance with Mr. Beeciier ; but I
never saw an article of his on the garden, or
its fruits, but was worth a year's subscription
to any paper which such an article adorned.
He is here, as always, to the point exactly.
Of all things, do I love to hear people talk
24
CRITIQUE ON THE MAY HORTICULTURIST.
straight out, as they mean. Each word of
this extract will be felt as living truth by ev-
ery real gardener in the land. Why, it would
tire me -to tell you, and you to hear me, of the
thousand and one duplicate, triplicate sup-
plies of plants, and shrubs, and flowers, that
I have yearly given away — (I like to give
away things that I can well spare, to those
who will care for them) — until my patience
was exhausted, to those negligent, gossipping
people, who are eternally begging and never
caring for whatever they get. No ; this is
not charity. I have begged things myself —
now and then ; but I always feel ashamed to
do it, for fear some mishap might occur to
them ; while there are your regular, systema-
tic beggars — and folks M'ho profess to be some-
body, too — that are a pest to all good neigh-
borhoods. But Mr. Beecher has given the
whole story so well that I'll not add another
word.
The YeUoivs caused by an insect. — If Miss
Morris be in error in her suggestions of the
"insect causing the yellows," we will thank
her for her keen observations in entomology.
Would that many others of our lady cultiva-
tors would spend their leisure hours in speer-
ing the ills our fruits are heir to, and give us
the results of their discoveries. A new and
valuable fund of knowledge would thas be
opened to us. I trust her graceful pen will
be often found among your pages.
The Poetry of Trees. — Welcome, heai'ty
old Christopher ! The "banks and braes
of bonny Doon," the " castled crags," or the
Highland locks which immortalize his beloved
Scotland, are as familiar to him as the clus-
tered beauties of his own retired cottage
grounds at Villeray ; and all, as native to the
discourse of his charming pen as the lectures
from his professor's desk in Edinburgh, or the
Nodes Ambrosiana from his chair editorial in
Blackwood.
What a mine of wealth, in all that associates
a country with what is bright, and beautiful,
and classic, and interesting, is such a man as
John Wilson ! Perhaps no 'other land can
boast two men, who have, coupled with ac-
quirements and productions of the highest
order in their several callings, shed such a
halo over the several characters of their coun-
try, as Sir Walter Scott and Professor WU-
son. And now, that you have given this most
beautiful " Rhapsody " of the latter, it would,
at a fitting time, be equally edifying to reprint,
in part, or in whole — for it is too long for a
single number — Sir Walter's admirable es-
say alluded to by the Professor. Although
not, perhaps, of general application throughout
our country, it is full of valuable suggestions
to all tree-planters, and would be read with
surpassing interest by many of your sub-
scribers.
Design for an octagon house. — "There is
nothing new under the sun I" said the wisest
of men. But Solomon, we venture to say,
had never then seen an octagon villa. If he
had, I have little doubt it would have been the
subject of a special chapter in the ifecords of
his wisdom!
The story is told of a spectator at the feats
of an eastern juggler, that when, on the ac-
cidental explosion of one of his pyrotechnics
the audience were blown out of the building,
the poor fellow looked up in utter dismay
from amid the rubbish aroudd him, and asked
what was to be the next part of the perform-
ance. This octagon, I take it, is one in the
series of building performances. I sha'nt
talk about this house.
Overgrown catalogues. — This article was
written in London, but would be equally ap-
plicable, were it written at Boston, New- York,
or Philadelphia. Let any one take up a great
many of the printed catalogues and advertise
ments of an American nurseryman, and he
would require a special interpreter to select
the kernel of wheat from the bushel of chaff
CRITIQUE ON THE MAY HORTICULTURIST.
25
there presented Mm. I am not disposed to
be too severe upon the good proprietors of
many of our popular nurseries, who seem to
be thus actuated by a vain spirit of rivalry,
but I fancy that if called upon to furnish spe-
cimens of all the choice and various samples
advertised, they would be sadly puzzled to
give the originals. Some rare stories might
be told of these matters, if the various appli-
cants for fruits, plants, and flowers, would but
tell their experience.
I wish that the whole fraternity of nursery-
men in our country would read and apply the
advice of this article ; and then, instead of
an array of sounding names, which tend only
to bewilder and mislead the uninitiated, our
practical fruit proprietors could rely on some-
thing tangible and to the purpose, for their
wants ; for I now venture to say, that nearly,
if not quite one-half of the articles sent from
them prove nearly worthless, or have to be
reworked by the cultivator, before he can de-
rive any benefit from them. This shoa^be
a subject of action in your next pomological
congress ; and it only requires a little moral
courage and independence to reform what is
fast getting to be a crying abuse in our fruit
propagation. The public will, most certainly,
respond to it, and the nurserymen Avill as cer-
tainly find their account in it.
Agricultural im-provements. — I have known
a man pay fifty guineas for one of Morland's
horse pictures, or Landscer's cattle pieces, to
hang up in his hall or parlor, that had no
more true knowledge in the originals from
which they were painted, than an Esquimaux
Indian has of growing pineapples. Of this
class is 7wt Lewis Gr. Morris. He loves
not only the 'pictures of fine cattle, to adorn
his dwelling, but is enthusiastically fond of
the animals themselves — to keep and propa-
gate them in all their purity and excellence,
as well as to embellish his park and lawns
with such living ornaments.
Vol. v. 2
I am very thankful that you have inserted
this notice in the Horticulturist, as it has
given me an opportunity to touch a subject
that I should hardly have ventured to intro-
duce by itself into your paper. But it Is one
as intimately connected with the furnishings
of a complete genteel country residence, as
any other — more so, in fact, than almost any
beyond the immediate decorations of the plea-
sure grounds and buildings, because of its
great utility, in example to the country at
large, as well as the beautiful Ywvag pictures
that nothing else will supply.
In Great Britain, where they understa?id
these things — where they are educated to it —
where every accide?it of fortune does not as-
sume to give law, and tone, and sanction to
taste and fashion in country life and residence
— this matter is carried out as it should be.
There, no genteel country establishment, where
any considerable number of acres are embrac-
ed, is complete without its Southdown, Lei-
cester, or Cotswold Sheep ; its Shorthorn,
i^^n, or Alderney Cattle, to crop the grass
in its lawns and parks, and give those delight-
ful living touches, without which the land-
scape is bare and wanting. But how many
in this country, amid all the extravagant out-
lay, worse than useless in many cases, have
the taste and discrimination to do it? Henry
Clay of Ashland, Dan'l Webster of Marsh-
field, have done so, and ma.^ other gentlemen
of less note, but perhaps ot more wealth, and
others of less, have done so, and in this have
shown their true taste and patriotism, a source
of pleasure and gratification to themselves as
great as any other ; but as a rule, we Ameri-
cans are the veriest clod-hoppers in existence,
in our skill and knowledge of many varieties
of fine domestic animals. And yet, those
gentlemen are often the subject of ridicule for
their vulgar predilection (!) in thus indulging
an exalted taste, to the " 'cuter" multitude
who affect a superior appreciation of gentility!
26
DESIGN FOR A RURAL SCHOOL-HOUSE.
Nor are our American women — yes, John
QuiNCY Adams says " women" — a whit be-
hind our men, in their squeamish notions of
country gentility, who would probably die of
a thick shoe, if obliged to wear one ! In a
past paper, you gave an extract from the late
Mr. CoLMAN, in the portrait of an English
Duchess, in country life. How many such —
bating the high birth, breeding, and education
of the English women — can be counted among
our aristocratic country residents ? and all,
the effect of a mistaken notion in education —
artificial, unnatural, and most wretchedly mis-
judged. The thing is all wrong in both sexes,
and so I fear it must remain, for reasons which
I may give hereafter.
I will close this by an illustration : A young
gentleman — he would dislike to be called less
— the son of a wealthy man, who had furnish-
ed him with a five hundred acre farm, and
was then erecting upon it a house to cost 25
or 30,000 dollars, and in the construction of
which his builder could have cheated him five
thousand, and he be none the wiser for ^\ at
the suggestion of a friend, went to purchase
of a neighboring resident a few choice, high-
bred sheep, to put upon his lawn. Their value
was ten to twenty dollars each ; and yet this
gentleman, who intended to furnish his house
with costly furniture and statuary, for which
unlimited orders, as to cost, were sent abroad,
higgled at three cents a head in the price for
the sheep, when the owner of them — and
really beautiful animals they were — had al-
ready offered them for two-thirds of their worth!
Great country, this — and " extensive people,"
some that live in it I Strain at the gnat, and
so forth, and so forth !
Horticultural Criticism Criticised. — Three
mortal pages of closely printed brevier type !
Well, that will do. " The sargeant read me
the chapter about Nimrod, the mighty hunter,
the night before my christening, and a mightj
aisevient it was, to listen to any thing from
the Book!" Thus discoursed Betty Flan-
NEGAN HoLLiSTER to Natty Bumppo, be-
fore the bar-room fire in Cooper's "Pioneers:"
and I trust that Mr. Leuchars, having
no\.- taken his revenge, feels a little " aise-
ment." If he is gratified, I am — certainly.
Jeffreys.
July, 1850.
DESIGN FOR A RURAL SCHOOL-HOUSE.
In a previous volume of this journal, we have
endeavored to poitJt out the many advantages
that would result from an increased attention
to the design and arrangement of coimtry
school-houses.
Barnard's School Architecture, a most use-
ful and valuable work, adapted to the United
States, which has already found a large cir-
culation, is doing much towards enlightening
the public mind on all points relating to this
subject. Not a school district in America
should be without this work ; and we are glad
to find that Jas. S. Wadsworth, Esq., of
Geneseo, so well known for his liberality and
sagacity on all matters connected with popular
education, has caused a large number of
copies to be distributed in the various school
districts of the state of New- York.
The district school-house, which ought to
teach youth lessons of order and beauty, as
well as the " fundamental branches" usually
taught there, is perhaps the only public build-
ing in the country which exhibits utter neg-
lect. In New-England, this reproach is fast
passing away, and public school-houses, ad-
mirably designed, well arranged, warmed,
RURAL SCHOOL HOUSE.
•]
SI
I '
1
■ ■
1 > ■
H ' 1
i i
■ ' i
1 1
m — 1
I 1
1 1
'Hurt: July t!»0.
ZINFINDAL GRAPE.
27
ventilated, and fitted up in an excellent man-
ner, are to be found in the neighborhood of many
of the larger towns. Boston is in the ad-
vance in this matter ; and we hope it is a
" notion," that will rapidly spread to other
parts of the country.
The FRONTISPIECE for this number is a
reduced copy from a design in a beautiful
quarto volume, on schools and school-houses,
by H. E. Kendall, Esq., architect, lately
published in London. It represents a small
school-house, in a style admirably suited to
harmonize with rural scenery. It is built of
stone, at a cost of £270, but might with pro-
priety, in this country, be built of wood for
about half that amount. "We offer it as
a study for those interested in this sub-
ject.
The work in question contains fine designs,
beautifully executed, and of much architec-
tural merit. In most of them the house of
the school-master or mistress adjoins, or forms
part of the same building which contains the
school, — an arrangement which not only in-
creases the importance and good effect of the
building, but adds very materially to the fa-
cility of preserving the school and all its sur-
roundings in the best possible order.
ZINFINDAL GRAPE— THE CURL IN THE PEACH LEAF.
BY CHARLES ROBINSON, NEW-IIAVEN.
Dear Sir : I notice that in the Horticultur-
ist for the present month, (p. 568,) you speak
of the ZinfindM grape, as being endorsed by
the late President and Secretary of our Hor-
ticultural Society, as " better for open cul-
ture than the Isabella."
If such were the case, it is passing strange
that the fact should not not have transpired
here. Surely, when inquiry has been for
years constantly made here, as elsewhere, for
a grape such as your readers have reason to
believe that to be, it will require hard knock-
ing to induce me to believe that our President
has been all this time cultivating just such a
fruit, and while we, his associates in horticul-
ture and pomology, have met with him semi-
monthly, for the purpose of testing the quali-
ty of fruits and for consultation and inquiry
upon this precise general subject, that not a
whisper should have been heard from him in-
dicative of so high an estimation of that fruit.
Not even a suggestion that It was at all com-
parable in its general properties for open cul-
ture to the variety so extensively disseminated
among us.
That our Secretary, Mr. Gabriel, did not
thus misrepresent that fruit, I am assured
from his own lips. In fact, he has never cul-
tivated it except under glass, and there I think
but one year. At the convention he did not
speak of it at all, in reference to open to open
culture. Probably Doct. Munson was also
misunderstood by the reporter.
Unfortunately, cultivators are too often In-
duced by overdrawn descriptions to incur large
expense and much trouble and care in the
purchase and rearing of articles, which, after
the salesman has made his full profit, result
only in disappointment. Such unfortunate
misdirection of effort is too apt to induce an
inveterate disgust for all suggestions out of
the beaten track.
Too often, indeed, persons of a sanguine tem-
perament are impressed with an idea that a
certain article, or some particular remedy, or
it may be some peculiar mode of culture, is
28"
CURL IN THE PEACH LEAF.
the "very best in tte world." And forthwith
a flaming article appears, describing, perchance,
as a real occurrence, and as the result of ac-
tual experience, a successful experiment, which
in truth had its existence only in the imagi-
tion of the writer.
All such off-hand suggestions and endorse-
ments need cautious scrutiny, aijd the culti-
vator will do well to bring his own common
sense to bear upon each particular case, and
to determine for himself, by careful compari-
son and analogy, whether, after all, it is safe
and expedient for him to enter upon the
proposed speculation.
Last year, I could have endorsed, with the
most confident belief, your remark in your
work on Fruit Trees, p. 468, that the ziirl of
the leaf on the peach tree was caused by a
minute aphis. In truth, there is a peculiar
eurl which is caused in that manner ; but the
true curl or rather cockle of the leaf is a very
different affair.
I have some fifteen peach trees, which, for
three seasons have been regularly shortened
in, and are now exceedingly thrifty and vigor-
ous. I looked them all over this spring, for
the express purpose, and could not find on any
one of them a branch or even a twig injured
in the least by the winter. They are indeed all
I could wish, except the curl, which appears
upon them all. They bloomed freely, and
have set their fruit just in proportion to the
absence of the curl.
So far as I observed last year, the aphis
appeared on every leaf that was curled.
They were, however, all destroyed with soap
and suds. This spring, not an aphis could be
found by the closest and most careful inspec-
tion, until long after the curl had inanifested
itself to the fullest extent, and then only on
a few detached leaves, which indicated their
presence by their peculiar and very different
appearance. The cockle was perfectly evi-
dent upon the very first appearance of the
leaves even as they burst from the bud, and
could not have been induced by the action of
any insect, except while in the bud itself, and
before it opens.
From the most careful and thorough exam-
ination, I am satisfied that the injury is done
while the leaf is folded in the bud, and that
it is affected by an insect.
What that insect is, I have not been able
to discover. Indeed, the idea did not occur to
me until after the buds were expanded, nor
am I sure of a remedy, or rather preventive,
but I have a notion that next year (Deo vo-
lenti) my trees will be free from the difiiculty.
Where the bodies of peach trees are occa-
sionally covered with soap and potash so libe-
rally that it rims down upon the ground around
them, can the worm obtain access to the roots?
I think not. Not one has appeared upon my
trees for the last two years.
For the application to the bodies of trees,
the black " whale oil soap" is the most effec-
tual, doubtless because it is made with potash.
Even that is benefitted for that purpose, by
the addition of more potash, but for use upon
roses and other tender shrubs, to destroy the
white fly, aphides, slugs, and worms, that
which is of a light color is preferable. Being-
finished with salt, it is less caustic, and the
suds may be used much stronger. I have
used it for years, so strong as to kill worms,
upon all my plants, without the slightest in-
jury to any of them, except the Harrison
rose. That has a decided antipathy to any
such application. That alone needs to be syr-
inged with suds in the evening and water the
next morning.
Permit me to say, that my suggestions in
your April No. respecting the use of char-
coal for purifying cisterns have since that time
been extensively adopted in this city, and with
uniform and the most gratifying success. The
finer the charcoal, (in fact, the nearer it is to
dust,) the better. It will of course need to
PRACTICAL HINTS.
29
be repeated. Indeed it would be strange if
so small a proportion as one pint to a hogs-
head would render water sweet for a very long
time, particularly when impurities to a certain
extent are continually flowing in.
Charles Robinson.
New Haven, June 20, 1850.
We confess ourselves a little puzzled about
the Zinfindal grape, and wan't to hear what
Dr. MuNSON will say. Mr. Parsons is re-
ported in the Proceedings -of the Fruit Grow-
ers' Convention as stating that this variety
" succeeded perfectly well in the open air" —
and Dr. M. as saying that there was " no dif-
ficulty with it out of doors." We were so
much struck with these remarks at the time
the discussion was going on, that we conjec-
tured there must be some error about the va-
riety— when one of these gentlemen — we can-
not remember which — pointed out specimens
then on the exhibition tables — which were
certainly the true Zinfindal. Ed.
PRACTICAL HINTS.
BY AN OLD DIGGER.
If you are going to water a favorite plant,
that is sufi"ering by drouth, don't take the
trouble to sprinkle three or four quarts of wa-
ter upon the top of the ground, over the roots,
every day. It is only "an aggrawation," as
Mr. Weller said, when he drank off a glass
of very small beer. The thing to be done
in such a case is, to take off the top soil near-
ly down to the roots — make a little trench or
ditch to prevent the water running away, and
then drench the roots with water. Put on as
much as the ground will readily swallow.
Then wait half an hour, till it is well settled,
and put the loose soil back again. To make
good thorough work of it, finish all by mulch-
ing the surface — that is, covering it with hay,
grass, litter of spent tan, or whatever refuse
of that sort you can lay your hands on. One
or two such waterings will carry a doubtful
subject through a six weeks' drouth, and will
cost you a vast deal less, both of labor and
water, than the daily sprinkling system, which
is the common practice.
Almost every body, now-a-days, has a grape
vine — either Isabella or Catawba ; but not
one half of us ever get a good crop of grapes.
The difficulty, when the seasons are long
enough, is pretty much all owing to the igno
ranee of pruning — for pruning is to a grape
vine what a pond is to young ducks, some-
thing not to be done without. The two great
mistakes, in pruning hardy grapes, is not cut-
ting away enough wood in the winter-pruning,
and cutting away too much in felie summer-prun-
ing. If you wish to have your vine thrive
and well open to the sun, prune it as clean in
February or IMarch as you please. If you
wish to stunt and diminish the size of your
crop of grapes by one half, delay summer-
pruning till they are as large as marrow-fat
peas, and then make slashing work of it. Of
course, in this way you will take off about a
third of all the young leaves and give a check
to the plant, like the jog on a rail-road
made by throwing a locomotive off the track.
But you have " let the sun in to the grapes,"
and the grapes will thank you for it, by grow-
ing about half as fast and two thirds as large,
as they would have done if you had shorten-
ed the shoots ten days earlier and taken off
about half as much. The grape leaf likes the
hottest sun — but nature hangs the clusters of
fruit under the shade of the foliage, and if
you won't take the hint from her, she will set
30
PAVING TO PREVENT THE CURCULIO.
you to thiiiklng why your vines " turn out so
poorly." If you find that your soil is poor, and
if the crop does not set and swell-off proper-
ly, give .them a good dose of soap-suds or li-
quid manure at the roots once a week. Grape
vines are cormorants, and if you want large
and fine fruit, you must give them no homoe-
opathic doses of manure.
If I had " a call " to preach a sermon on
gardening, I should take this for my text : Stir
the soil. It's not an uncommon thing for
people to admit the fact that nothing was
made in vain ; but nevertheless they will put
in for an exception or two. "I should like to
know what weeds were made for !" What for?
Why, to force you to keep hoeing and digging
in order to stir the soil and make it light and
mellow. " But why ?" Because the roots
of plants must have air, and if the surface of
the ground were never stirred — as for the
most part it never would by lazy people, but
for the weeds that must be cut up — it would
become so hard and close, in many cases, that
fresh supplies of air would never get to the
roots. " But," the grumbler will say, " how
do you get along with the fact that plants in
a wild state, grow and flourish, though the soil
is not stirred?" But the cases are, by no
means, the same. Wild plants grow from year
to year in the same spot, and there is a yearly
deposit of leaves, stalks, and vegetable matter
upon the surface of the ground, which keeps it
light and open, so that the air can easily get to
the roots. This is not at all the case in common
soil, where the plants are scattered and the
surface is bare, so that it " bakes and becomes
hard " with the rain. On this account, the
good gardener is always up and stirring his
soil, and on this account all the little imple-
ments— ploughs, hoes, cultivators, and hand
ploughs, are things not to be done without by
the raiser of good crops. If you have any
doubts remaining, try the experiment for your-
self, the first spell of hot, dry weather. Take
50 hills of corn or a couple of beds of vege-
tables, and loosen up the soil about the roots
very often — as often as it becomes a little
hard. Directly along side, for the sake of
fair play, leave as many hills or beds of the
same crop, with little or no stirring. I won't
waste room in saying what the result will be,
but if it don't open your e3'es to the import-
ance of not putting your roots on a short al-
lowance of air, then set me down for an un-
profitable
Old Digger.
1^
PAVING TO PREVENT THE CURCULIO.
BY L. A. SPALDING, LOCKPORT, N. Y.
A. J. Downing, Esq. — Dear Sir : In page
62 of 4th vol. Horticulturist, is a communica-
tion made by me on the subject of paving as
a prevention to the curculio, in which I allud-
ed to the experience of Lyman A. Spauld-
ING, Etiq., of Lockport. That communica-
tion called out considerable discussion, pro
and con, but the question appears as far from
settlement as ever. In the last January num-
ber, page 315, your correspondent Jeffreys
wished me to obtain further information from
Mr. Spalding on the subject ; and as I met
him a few days since, he obligingly promised to
write his whole practice, with the results touch-
ing this curculio question, which he has kindly
done. I forward it to you for publication. I
will further add, that Mr. Spalding is an
eminently practical man, and little given to
PAVING TO PREVENT THE CURCULIO.
31
mere theorizing. I know of no more reliable
authority than him. Yours, truly,
Lewis F. Allen.
Black Rork, June 6, 1850.
Dear Friend : The following statement will
phow she effect of paving under apricot and
plum trees, which was the subject of our last
conversation.
In the spring of 1834 T set out several rows
of plum, peach, cherry, and apricot trees,
twenty feet apart, and the trees ten feet apart
in the row. My apricots are on plum stocks.
Up to 1846, I had not a single fair crop of
apricots from any of my trees. Some varie-
ties of plums bore — the egg plum did not have
but two fair crops in that time. At any rate,
I was discouraged in trying to raise apricots
and plums.
On a lot on Main-street in this village,
where I resided from 1823 to 1835, I had an
apricot tree, near the garden fence, outside of
which was the side-walk of the street, and in-
side wais a brick walk leading to the rear of
the garden. This tree bore uniformly fine
crops to maturity, until it was destroyed about
four 3'ears ago. I was puzzled to account for
the fact, that my trees at my present residence
should not bear to maturity, with all my pains of
thumping and destroying the curculio, picking
up and feeding the fallen fruit to the hogs —
while the tree on my old place hung full. In
1846 I saw a statement that to pave under
apricots, plums, and nectarines, would prevent
the ravages of the curculio. This gave me a
clue at once to the wherefore of the bearing
of my apricot on my old place — and I resolv-
ed to at once pave under my trees. In the
spring of 1846 I spread leeched ashes under
my apricots and plums, and paved all my ap-
ricots and part of my plums. Those paved
bore abundant and fine crops to maturity, in
1846, '47, '48 and '49, while the egg plums,
which were not paved under till the spring of
1849, for fourteen years had but two good
crops. In 1849 I paved under them, (the egg
plums,) and they bore a fine crop. They are
in one of the rows, and I know of no reason
why they should not bear, but because they
were not paved. They were bearing trees
when set in 1834, and have ever been thrifty
— the fruit uniformly falling off before maturi-
ty, excepting as stated.
I have a fine nectarine which always hangs
full of green fruit, and it never yet produced
a ripe nectarine — this was set out in 1835 in
a row of peaches, and is not paved. I have
this spring spread a coat of leeched ashes un-
der it and paved it. It hangs very full, and
I have no doubt I shall have a fine crop of
ripe nectarines.
I usually sweep up the fallen fruit and feed
to the hogs — about one-third of my apricots
are stung and drop, but more remain on the
tree than I usually allow to ripen. Every
year since I paved, ray apricots are loaded
with ripe fruit. I sprinkle salt freely on the
pavement to destroy the grass and weeds
which spring up between the edges of the flat
stones I used, and to fertilize the ground.
Persons may theorize as much as they please
— but I have the fullest confidence, that pav-
ing must produce the same results every where.
I have neighbors who attempt to raise plums
and apricots without paving, and complain of
losing their fruit; and fruit falling from my trees
show, that the curculio exists here in great
abundance. It is not the absence of the in-
sect that saves my fruit, but in my opinion its
instinct, which leads it away from paved trees,
because the chance of reproduction is destroy-
ed and its labor of love lost. Its darling mag-
got cannot burrow in the ground under the
the paved trees. Be it instinct, or desire to
perpetuate the race, or what it may, I know
that since I paved, I have fine apricots and a
great abundance of them — at a season, too,
when such fruit is a great luxury. The sur-
32
THE PEACH AND NECTARINE MYSTERY.
plus commands a large price in our market,
and pays better than any other fruit. The
expense of paving is more than liquidated the
first year. Hard brick, flat stones, or even
cobble stones would do the job. Salt destroys
the weeds and grass. Leached wood ashes,
two or three inches thick, on which to lay the
paving, is important, as being a substance in
which no maggot would burrow, in dodging
the stone or brick.
A friend recently informed me that he cut
down his nectarine trees, because the fruit
uniformly fell off. INIany have given up try-
ing to raise the apricot for the same reason,
and the plum, too, is growing into disfavor
from the same cause. If this certain remedy
were known and applied, what a vast addition
to the comfort and pockets of our people
would result ! Very respectfully,
L. A. Spalding.
Lockport, N. Y; 6th 7no. Ut, 1850.
I would mention that my pavements are
nine to ten feet wide, and run lengthwise of
the row. L. A. S.
EVIDENCE ON THE PEACH AND NECTARINE MYSTERY.
BY J. BINGHAM, HUDSON, N. Y.
Wonders will never cease, until ignorance is
lost in knowledge, and knowledge lost, if it
can be, in intuition.
In 1841, Mr. Charles Tompkins, of this
city, planted in the yard back of his ware-
room in Warren-street, a peach stone, from
which has grown a tree twenty feet high. It
has produced fruit regularly every season since
it began to bear, of the large delicious free-
stone kind.
Some three years ago, " come peach time,"
Mr, T. gave a peach of this tree, weighing 14
ounces, to his friend and neighbor, Mr. Bu-
chanan, a Scotchman. And the latter.
Scotchman-like, gave it to Mr. Duncan
Hood, a countryman of his, occupying some
nursery grounds in the vicinity. Mr. Hood,
gave it to his children to eat, taking care to
preserve the stone for planting. This stone
he opened, and found it a double one, con-
taining two kernels. He closed the stone and
planted it near his own dwelling. Here he
lives, "the monarch of all he surveys," with-
in his enclosure of four acres — an illustration
of what a single-handed man can do, exercis-
ing talent with industry and frugality rarely
equalled, seldom surpassed.
And now the interest of the tale com-
mences.
Yesterday, I saw the product of that one
stone, in two trees, near ten feet high, twin-
like, standing side by side, but each bearing
different fruit from its companion, friend, neigh-
bor and relative — one bearing Nectarines and
the other Peaches !
Mr. Buchanan first made the discovery, I
believe, the same day ; for I found him there ;
having drawn Mr. Hood's attention to the
mystery, which yet remains unsolved. We
are in a quandary. Can you enlighten us ?
J. Bingham.
Hudson, N. Y., Wth June, 1850.
We are obliged to our correspondent for
giving another evidence of the identity of spe-
cies between the peach and the nectarine. He
has not, probably, seen the discussion on this
subject published in our first volume. The
nectarine is considered, by botanists, only a
variety of the peach, and not a distinct spe-
cies— hence, though nectarine stones usually
AN ESSAY ON FLOWERS.
33
produce nectarine trees, and peaches, peach
trees — yet it occasionally happens that necta-
rine seedlings return back to the original form,
the peach — and on the other hand, as in this
case, the peach sports by seed with the necta-
rine variety. The French call all nectarines
" smooth peaches" — piches lisses. There are
cases on record, in the Transactions of the
Horticultural Society of London, of both
peaches and nectarines growing naturally
on the different branches of the same tree.
Our friend Mr. LoNGWORTii of Cincin-
nati, who flatly denies the possibility of such
a thing as a peach stone producing a nec-
tarine tree, is, we think, bound to pay a
visit to the "twins" at Hudson.
AN ESSAY ON FLOWERS,
BY II. T. TUCKERMAN, NEW- YORK.
[With Mr. Tuckerman's obliging permis-
sion, we copy from his last volume, — " The
Optimist," — the following charming Essay on
Flowers. Mr. Tuckerman's refined and cul-
tivated taste in the arts and his love of nature
are admirably displayed in it, and we have
rarely met with any thing on the subject at
once so full of poetical fragrance and scholar-
ly culture. Ed.]
Floral apostles! that in dewy splendor
AVeep witlioiit woe, ami blush without a crime,
O may I deeply learn and ne'er surrender
Your lore sublime. IIokace Smith.
■I attended church on a fine day of midsum-
mer, in one of the most beautiful \ illagcs of
New England. The structure, though ex-
ternally attractive, from its retired situation
and the pleasant grove that surrounded it,
like most places of worship in the country,
had a very bare and unhallowed aspect with-
in. The formal divisions of the pews, the
superfluity of white paint, and the absence of
anything venerable, either in form or hue,
made it agreeable to turn the eyes from the
thinly scattered congregation and faded pulpit
drapery, to the open window, against which a
noble linden lightly tossed its sprays, and
through which stole in a delicious breeze, that
made the leaves of the hymn-books flutter, a
response to that sylvan whispering, which had
in it more of devotional music than the
screeching bass-viol and unchastened voices
that soon drowned all other sounds. In re-
verting to tlie scene more immediately adja-
cent, however, I suddenly beheld a vase of
flowers on the communion-table. They were
most inartificially and tastefully arranged ;
the brilliant tints judiciously lalended, the
shadowy green naturally disposed, and the
base of the jar which contained them wreathed
with trailing blossoms. The sight of this
vase of flowers was like enchantment. It
seemed to fill that forlorn church with its
presence. It spoke of nature, of beauty, of
truth, more eloquently than the service. It
atoned for the meagre altar, the homely edi-
fice, and the imgariiished pew. It seemed to
embody and typify the externals of worship
with sacramental chalice, baptismal cup, and
odorous censer.
Science and sentiment have rather formal-
ized than illustrated the association of flowers :
the one by its rigid nomenclature, and the
other by an arbitrary language, profane the
ideal charms of the floral kingdom. It is
pleasant to regard these graceful denizens of
the garden and forest, in the spirit of that
fine hymn of Horace Smith's which celebrates
their beautiful significance. Instead of look-
ing at them through the microscopic lens of
mere curiosity, or according to the fanciful
and hackneyed alphabet that Floral dictiona-
ries suggest, let us note their influence as
symbols and memorials. To analyse the
charm of flowers, is like dissecting music ; it
is one of those things which it is far better to
enjoy than to attempt to understand. In ob-
serving the relation of flowers to life and
character, I have often been tempted to be-
lieve that a subtle and occult magnetism per-
vaded their atmosphere ; that inscriptions of
34
AN ESSAY ON FLOWERS.
wisdom covered their leaves ; and that each
petal, stem, and leaf, was the divining rod
or scroll that held an invisible truth.
Viewed abstractly, one of the peculiar at-
tractions of flowers is the fact that they seem
a gratuitous development of beauty; "they
toil not, neither do they spin." In almost
every other instance in nature, the beautiful
is only incidental to the useful ; but flowers
have the objectless, spontaneous luxury of
existence that belongs to childhood. They
typify most eloquently the benign intent of
the universe ; and by gratifying, through the
senses, the instinct of beauty, vindicate the
poetry of life with a divine sanction. Their
fragility is another secret charm. A vague
feeling that the bright hue is soon to wither
and the rich odor to exhale, awakens in the
mind, unconsciously, that interest which alone
attaches to the idea of decay. These two
ideas — that of the gratuitous ofiering of na-
ture in the advent of flowers, the benison
their presence seems to convey, and the
thought of their brief duration — invest flowers
with a moral significance that renders their
beauty more touching, and, as it were, nearer
to humanity, than any other species of mate-
rial loveliness. The infinite variety of form,
the exquisite combination of tints, the diver-
sity of habits, and odorous luxuries they
boast, it would require an elaborate treatise
to unfold. We may obtain an idea of the
perfection and individuality of their forms by
considering their suggestiveness. Scarcely a
tasteful fabric meets the eye, from the rich
brocade of a past age to the gay prints of to-
day, that owes not its pleasing design to some
flower. Not an ancient urn or modern cup
of porcelain or silver, but illustrates in its
shape, and the embossed or painted sides,
how truly beautiful is art when it follows
strictly these eternal models of grace and
adaptation. Even architecture, as Ruskin
justly indicates, is chiefly indebted to the
same source, not only in the minute decora-
tions of a frieze, but in the acanthus that ter-
minates a column, and the leaf-like pointing
of an arch, A skilful horticulturist will ex-
hibit the most delicate shades of fragrance in
different species of the rose, until a novice
cannot but realise to what a miraculous extent
the most refined enjoyment in nature may be
sublimated and modified ; and the same thing
is practicable as regards both hue and form.
The spirit of beauty, in no other inanimate
embodiment, comes so near the heart. Flow-
ers are related to all the offiees and relations
of human life. They bound the sacrificial
victim of the ancients ; and, from the earliest
times, have been woven into garlands for the
victor, trembled in the hair of the bride and
cheered the invalid's solitude. They have
been ever offered at the shrine of beauty, and
claimed as the pledges of love, nor ceased to
adorn the banquet or be scattered over the
grave. Thus domesticated, even without in-
trinsic beauty, and exclusive of any appeal to
taste, flowers are blended in the memories of
the least poetical with scenes of unwonted de-
light, keen emotion, and profound sorrow.
Hence they have a language for each, not re-
cognised in any alphabet, and their incense is
allied with the issues of destin3\ McGregor's
foot was more firmly planted, because upon
upon his "native heather;" the Syrian, in
the Jardin des Plants, wept as he clasped his
country's palm-tree ; Keats said, in his last
illness, that he felt the daisies growing over
him ; and one who, even in renowned matu-
rity, had wandered little from the singleness
of childhood, declared he could never see a
marigold without his mouth's watering at the
idea of those swimming in the broth Simple
Susan prepared for her mother, in Miss Edge-
worth's little story. There is no end to the
caressing allusions of Petrarch to the violet
and the laurel, so identified with the dress
and name of his beloved. Indeed, we might
scan biography and the poets for years, and
continually find new evidences of the familiar
and endearing relation of flowers to senti-
ment. Each of the latter have celebrated
some favorite of the race in their choicest
numbers ; and the very names of Ophelia and
Perdita are fragrant with the flowers that
Shakspeare, with the rarest and most appo-
site grace, has entwined with their history.
The Venetian painters must have studied
colour in the hues of flowers ; for the bril-
liant, distinct, and warm tone of their works
affects the spectator exactly as these rainbow
gems ; especially when they strike the eye
in an isolated position, or surrounded by dim
umbrage. Nor is this effect confined to the
domesticated flowers ; for the richest and
most delicate gradations of tint occur among
uncultivated and indigenous plants — such as
the lobelia of the swamp, the saffron of the
AN ESSAY ON FLOWERS.
35
meadow, and the nameless variety of prairie
blossoms. There are few more curious sub-
jects of speculation than the modns operandi
by which such an infinite diversity of colours
are obtained from the same apparent source.
This is an exquisite secret of nature's labo-
ratory. The physiology of plants has been
successfully investigated ; and it is interest-
ing to consider that the vitality of flowers is
much the same as our own as regards its pro-
cess, though so different in kind. They have
affinities of sensibility ; they germinate and
fructify ; but the elements they assimilate are
more subtle than those which sustain animal
organization ; yet sun, earth, and air nourish
them according to a nutritive principle not
unlike that by which our frames are sustained.
The reciprocal action between vegetable and
organic life, and their respective absorption
and diffusion of gases, is one of the most
beautiful expositions of science. But the in-
stinct of flowers is not less curious ; some
fold their leaves at the approach of a storm,
and others open and shut at particular hours,
so that botanists have rejoiced in floral dials
and barometers. Their relation to sight and
smell is very obvious ; but that to touch is
less regarded, and yet it is extraordinary
how the feel of almost every known fabric
can be realized by the contact of leaves.
Where the touch is sensitive, experiments of
this kind may be tried, much to the anmse-
ment of the sportive ; for many leaves, if un-
perceived, and at the same tinie subject to an
exquisite touch, give the sensation of animal,
insect, and even mineral substances, indicating
how intricately modified are the proportions
of fibre, down, juice, and enamel in their
composition.
In their associations, however, flowers are
quite independent, both of rare qualities and
peculiar beauty. Almost all great men have
loved rural seclusion, and have had their fa-
vorite villa, island, arbor, or garden-walk. In
Switzerland, Germany, and, indeed, every-
where on the continent, these places, conse-
crated by the partiality or endeared by the
memory of genius, are shrines for the travel-
ler. Such are Clarens, Vaucluse, and Coppe.
Lamartine's tenderness for Milly, his child-
hood's home, as exhibited in his late writings,
illustrates a sentiment common to all imagi-
native and affectionate men; but it is ob-
servable that sometimes these charmed spots
boast no remarkable floral attractions, often
only sufficient to make them rural ; a grove
of pines, a small vineyard, a picturesque view,
and not infrequently a single tree — like the
famous old elm at Northampton, amid whose
gigantic branches Dr. Edwards, who wrote
the celebrated treatise on the Will, was ac-
customed to sit and meditate ; — any truly
natural object redolent of verdure and shade,
is enough. And the hedges of England, the
moors of Scotland, the terrace-gardens of
Italy, the scrambling, prickly-pear fences of
Sicily, and the orchards of America, are at-
tractive to the natives of each country, on the
same principle. It is the beautiful distinc-
tion of flowers that, gathered into magnificent
horticultural shows or hidden in lonely nooks,
they alike address the sense of beauty, so
that a little sprig of forget-me-nots may ex-
cite a world of sentiment, and one scarlet ge-
ranium irradiate an entire dwelling.
Flowei-s not only have their phenomena,
but their legends. The latter are usually
based upon some idea of a sympathetic cha-
racter, as that which transforms Daphne into
a laurel, and changes the pale hue of a flower
to crimson or purple at the occurrence of
human shame or misfortune. Even venera-
tion is excited by the mysterious natural his-
tory of some flowers, or the idea they sym-
bolize. Thus the aloe, that blossoms once in
a century, and the night-blooming Cereus,
which keeps vigil when all other flowers
sleep ; and the Passion-flower, in which tlie
Catliolics behold the tokens of our Saviour's
agony, have a kind of solemn attraction for
the eye and fancy.
There is no little revelation of character in
floral preferences. It accords with the hu-
manity of Burns that he should celebrate the
familiar daisy ; with the delicate ori.':anization
of Shelley that a sensitive plant should win
his muse ; and with Bryant's genuine Obser-
vation of nature that he dedicates a little
poem to an inelegant and neglected gentian.
It is in harmony with the English idiosjTi-
crasy and church attachments of Southey,
that his most charming minor poem is in
praise of the holly, the symbol of a Christian
and national festival ; and no poet but Crabbe
would descend to so homely a vegetable pro-
duct as kelp. There is no flower more pecu-
liar in its beauty and growth than the water-
lily; accordingly, Coleridge, with his meta-
36
AN ESSAY ON FLOWERS.
physical tendency to seize on rare and im-
pressive analogies, has drawn a comparison
from this flower which strikes me as one of
the most poetical as well as felicitous in
modern literature. Speakin ; of the zest for
new truth felt by those ali-eady well instructed,
as compared with the indifferent mental ap-
petite of the ignorant, he says, " The water-
lily, in the midst of waters, opens its leaves
and expands its petals at the first pattering
of the shower, and rejoices in the rain-drops
with a quicker sympathy than the parched
shrub in the sandy desert." The dreamy,
half sensuous, and half ideal nature of Ten-
nyson, is naturally attracted by the SAveet
ravishment innate in the breath and juices of
some flowers. He is fitted keenly to appre-
ciate the luxurious indolence and fanciful ec-
stasy thus induced ; and, therefore, one of
the most effective and original of his poems is
" The Lotus Eaters." Moore's famous im-
age of the sunflower is a constant bone of
contention between horticulturists and poets ;
the former asserting that it does not turn
round with the luminary it is supposed to
adore, but is as fixed on its stalk as any other
flower ; and the latter declaring that the
metaphor " se tion e vero, e be?i travato.''^
Few plants are more graceful or versatile
in contour than the fern. One can scarcely
pass a group without recalling that line of
Scott, which so aptly describes the utter lull
of the air :
" There is uo breeze upon the fern, no ripple on the lake."
And what figure of rhetoric better suggests
the caprice of woman than that which has
almost become proverbial since it was incor-
porated in his spirited verse :
" variable as the shade
By the light, quivering; aspen made!"
Goldsmith's sympathy with the rural and
human is associated intimately with the haw"-
thorn, " for whispering lovers made." Rose-
mary has been more emblematic of remem-
brance, since it was so offered by the " fair
Ophelia ;" and Heart's-ease is consecrated by
the splendid compliment to " the virgin throned
by the "West," to which it is indebted for the
name of "love-in-idleness." The epicurean
utilitarianism of Leigh Hunt recognised " com-
fort" in the feel of a geranium leaf; and who
that has read with appreciation Miss Barrett's
fine poem, elaborating the beautiful sentiment
of the Bible, " He giveth his beloved sleep,"
can see a poppy, that gorgeous emblem of the
drowsy god, without a benisou on the thought-
ful lyrist ? ^ I think that the yellow broom
must have originally flourished in lonely pla-
ces. For hours, I followed a mule-path in
the most deserted part of Sicily, cheerful with
its blossoms, whose rich yet delicate odor
embalmed the air ; hence the significance of
Shakspeare's allusion to this flower, "which
the dismissed bachelor loves, being lass-lorn."
Campbell must have had an oppressive sense
of the poisonous horror of night-shade, from
his reference to it, in the protest against
scepticism, as the natural companion of dis-
may. I have always thought the thistle an
apposite symbol, not only of Scotland, but of
her martyred queen — "its fragrant down set
round with thorns, and rifled by the bee."
One of the most popular tales of the day —
"Picciola" — is based upon the interest which
a single flower may excite when it is the sole
companion of a prisoner ; and the favor this
little romance has enjoyed, proves how natu-
ral is the sentiment it unfolds. The most
severely religious minds, however indifferent
to art or scener.y, are not infrequently alive
to this feeling ; the constant allusion to flow-
ers, in a metaphorical way, in the Scriptures ;
the rich poetical meaning attached to them in
the East ; the lily that always appears in pic-
tures of the Annunciation ; the palm-leaves
strewed in our Saviour's path ; the crown
of thorns woven for his brow, and his declara-
tion of the field lilies, " that Solomon in all
his glory was not arrayed like one of them"
— indicating that his pure eyes had momen-
tarily rested on their familiar beauty — lend to
such persons a hallowed sense of their at-
tractiveness. There is yet another reason for
this exception to a prosaic view of what is
merely charming in itself, which those dis-
posed to bigotry make in favor of flowers. It
is that they symbolize immortality. No com-
mon figure of speech is more impressive to
the peasant than that which bids him see a
" type of resurrection and second birth," in
the germination of the seed, its growth, de-
velopment, and blossoming. Again, too, there
are the associations of childhood, whose first
and most innocent acquisitions were gathered
flowers, emblems of its own exuberance, offer-
ings of its primitive love. I imagine the
sense of colour — now regarded as a separate
AN ESSAY ON FLOWERS.
37
and very unequally distributed faculty — is
one of the earliest developed ; it explains the
intense gratification even of an infant at the
sight of a tulip ; and there is reason to be-
lieve that the hues of flowers are the most
vivid tokens of enjoyment that greet the
dawning mind.
The orientals, adepts in voluptuous ease,
place vases of flowers around their fountains ;
and, as they lie upon divans, their eyes close,
in the refreshing siesta, with these radiant
sentinels for the last image to blend with their
dreams, and their odor to mingle with tike
misty spray and cheer their waking. The
Greek maidens dropped flowers from their
windows on those that passed, to indicate
their scorn, praise, or love. One of the
poetic touches which redeem the frugal lot of
the grisettes, is the habit they indulge of
keeping a box of mignonette on their window-
sills. You may see them at dawn bending
over it, to sprinkle the roots or enjoy the per-
fume. In Tuscany and the Neapolitan ter-
ritory, peasants wear gay flowers in their
hats ; while the more grave people of the in-
tervening country rarely so adorn themselves.
I was struck, at the wedding of an American
in France, to sec the servants, tearful at part-
ing with their mistress, decorating the inte-
rior of her carriage with white flowers. There
is something, however, very artificial in the
dry ivimorfels, here and there dyed black, for
sale at the gates of Pere la Chaise, and
bought by the humbler class of mourners to
hang on the crosses that mark the graves of
kindred. Our own rural cemeteries are
teaching a better lesson. The culture of
flowers on such domains, is not only in excel-
lent taste, but, when judiciously selected and
arranged, a grateful memorial. At Monaco,
a town in Italy, a few years since, the body
of a young child was covered with flowers,
according to the custom of the place ; and
when sought for the purpose of interment, it
was found sitting up and playing with the
flowers — an aff"ecting and beautiful evidence
of the ignorance of death chai-acteristic of that
spotless age.
Fashion seldom interferes with nature with-
out diminishing her grace and efficiency. It
denudes the masculine face of the beard, its
distinctive feature ; substitutes for the har-
monious movement of the chaste and blithe-
some dance, the angular caprices of the polka ;
clips and squares the picturesque in land-
scape into formalized proportions ; and con-
demns half the world to an unattractive and
inconvenient costume. Even flowers seem
profaned by its touch ; there is something
morbid in their breath when exhaled pro-
fusely in gorgeous saloons and ostentatiously
displayed at a heartless banquet; and wisely
as the florist may adjust them into bouquets,
they are so firmly entwined and intricately
massed together, as often to resemble mosaic.
We turn often from the most costly speci-
men of this appanage of the ball and opera,
with a feeling of relief to the single white
rosebud on a maiden's breast, or the light
jasmin wreath on her brow. The quantity
and showy combination of the flowers, espe-
cially the heated atmosphere and common-
place gabble of the scene, and often the Avanfc
of correspondence between the person who so
consciously hold^ the bouquet in her gloved
hand and the sweet nature it represents, rob
the flowers of their legitimate claim. In-
deed, like all truly beautiful things, they de-
mand the appropriate as a sphere. The east
wind, in Boston, on the last national holiday,
and the grave faces of the children, to say
nothing of the idea that approbativeness and
acquisitiveness were the organs mainly called
in play in their little overworked brahis, ut-
terly dispelled all genuine romance and grate-
ful illusion frem the floral procession. Some-
thing analogous in character, atmosphere, and
occasion, is needed to render the ministry of
flowers affecting and complete.
We instinctively identify our acquaintan-
ces with flowers. The meek and dependent
are as lilies of the valley, and, like them,
need the broad and verdant shield of affec-
tionate nurture ; sycophants are parasites ;
exuberant and glowing beauty and feeling are
more like the damask rose than anything in
nature ; the irritable annoy us like nettles ;
the proud emulate the crown imperial ; the
graceful are lithe as vine-sprays ; the loving
wind around our hearts like tendrils ; and the
cheerful brighten the dim background of life
like the scarlet blossoms of the woodbine.
Not a flower in the cornucopia of the floral
goddess but hath its similitude and its votary.
The boy's first miracle is to press the seed-
vessels of the balsamine till it snaps at his
touch ; or shouts, as he runs from bed to the
garden, at the sight of the rich chalice of the
38
AN ESSAY ON FLOWERS.
morning-glory, planted by his own little hand,
that has opened while he slept. The clover's
pink globe, and the deep crimson bloom of
the sumac ; the exquisite scent of the locust,
and the" auspicious blooming of the lilac ; the
hood-like purple of the fox-glove, and the
dainty tint of the sweet pea, stir, whenever
they re-appear, those dormant memories of
early and unalloyed consciousness, which
" neither man nor boy,
Nor all that is at enmity with joy,
Call utterly abolish or destroy."
Thus, from the first, perverted mortal, thou
wert indebted to flowers ; — as a wayward ur-
chin, loitering on the way to school, thou
whistled shrilly against the edge of a grass-
blade, held a butter-cup to the chin of thy
little comrade, or puffed away the feathery
seed-blossom of the dandelion to ascertain if
thy secret wish would be consummated ; as a
youth, with quivering pulses and flushed
brow, thou wert not ashamed to seek the
choicest flowers as interpreters of thy feelings
towards one before whom thy words were
tremulous, yet fond ; and in thy prime, when
positive knowledge and accurate deduction
constituted thy felicity, it was, or might have
been, to thee a rational pastime to study the
botanical relations, laws, and habits of these
poetic effusions of the earth ; causing them to
gratify thee through analysis, as they once
did through sentiment. And "in that Indian
summer of the soul," that descends on frosty
age, how do flowers serve as the magic con-
necting bond that unites senility and child-
hood ! The eye of age softens as it beholds
the shower of blossoms from the fruit-trees,
thinks of its own flowery day, and is thankful
for a serene maturity. Thus have flowers an
utterance everywhere and always ; the wild
columbine, on its thread-like stem, that hangs
on the stony cliff; the fungus, that swells
from the mouldering trunk of gigantic forest
trees ; the tropical exotics of the stuffo, that
almost bewilder in their strange beauty ; and
the buds that open beneath Alpine snows, ad-
dress our sense of adventure, of wonder, and
of gentleness, in quiet, yet persuasive ap-
peals, that sometimes we cannot choose but
heed.
The fondness of the Dutch for tulips, It
may be conjectured, is partly owing to the
flatness of their country, as well as its allu-
vial soil ; the absence of picturesque variety
in form inducing a craving for the most vivid
sensations from colour. Perhaps the com-
pactness and neat growth of bulbous roots, so
adapted to their cleanly and well-arranged
domicils, somewhat accounts for the exquisite
degree of cultivation to which they bring this
species of flowers. It is one characteristic
advantage of such natural ornaments, that a
few well selected, or even one in a room, or
in the midst of a grass-plat, will diffuse re-
freshment and excite imagination. Thus the
flowers that cluster on the roofs of Genoa,
and the little knot of violets imbedded in ge-
ranium leaves dispensed by the flower-girls in
Tuscany, are more pleasing than if the dis-
play were greater. On revisiting a city of
the latter state, after years of absence, as I
followed the lagging porter who carried my
luggage, in the twilight of early morning, I
was startled by a cordial exclamation, " Ben
ior7iato, O ben tomato signore!" and look-
ing down a narrow street, I saw the flower-
girl from whom I had so long ago been ac-
customed to purchase, gaily advancing with a
bouquet. It was a welcome such as awaits
the traveller in few countries, and one which
touched the heart with cheerful augury.
There is, indeed, something in flowers re-
dolent of hope and suggestive of amity. Their
very universality renders them eloquent of
greeting. The fair, maternal bosom of Ti-
tian's Flora has a significance beyond that
Avhich artists recognise ; it proclaims Nature
as a beneficent parent, lavishly dispensing the
flowers that strew life's rugged path, with
sweet monitions and grateful refreshment.
How, in the season of vivid emotion, has the
unexpected sight of a pale crocus bursting
from the mould in early spring, the teeming
odor of a magnolia tossed on a summer breeze,
or the green flakes of a larch, powdered with
snowy crystal in the winter sun, kindled the
very frame with a kind of mysterious delight !
There is to the poetical sense, a ravishing
prophecy and winsome intimation in flowers,
that now and then, from the influence of
mood or circumstance, re-asserts itself like
the reminiscence of childhood or the spell of
love. Then we realize that they are the sur-
vivors of our lost paradise, the types of what
is spontaneous, inspiring, and unprofaned in
life and humanity, the harbingers of a blissful
futurity. It was, therefore, in a rational as
well as a fanciful spirit, that trees were con-
AN ESSAY ON FLOWERS.
39
secratetl into eralalems and auguries ; that the
willow, in its meek flexibility, was made the
insignia of desertion ; the cypress, in its
solemn and dense foliage, of death ; the en-
during amaranth, of immortality ; and the
classic shaped, and bright green leaves of the
laurel, of fame. — Not only in their native
traits, but in their almost sympathetic habits,
flowers come near our affections. How pa-
tiently the ivy binds the disjointed stones of
a ruined edifice, and the moss creeps over the
grey and time-stained roots and rocks, as if
to cover their decay, and relieve their sterility!
With what a wreathing protection clusters
the woodbine round the humble porch ! The
field flowers, some one has truly said, smile
up to us as children to the face of a father ;
and the seeds of those destined for birds, fly
on innumerable wings of down, to germinate
the more abundantly. The warm hues of the
dahlia would be oppressive in any other sea-
son than autumn ; and the glitter of the
ocean's strand is chastened by the gay weeds,
whose variegated tints are freshened by every
wave that dies along the beach. Even this
herbal, the repository of memorials gleaned
from hallowed scenes, or treasured as the
fragile trophies of joys as fragile, " strikes the
electric chain" of imagination and memory
with a deeper vibration than a sketch-book or
a diary. That little cluster of thin, pale
green leaves, with a shade of delicate brown
at the edges (called by the Italians the Hair
of Venus,) which clings to the page as if
painted on its surface, once hung from the
dark, rocky wall of the remarkable cavern in
Syracuse, called the Ear of Dionysius ; and
as I look upon it, the deserted bay, crumbling
tombs, and wreck-strewn camjiagiia of that
ancient site are vividly before me ; even the
flavor of the Hybla honey, and the echo of
the mule's tramp, return to my senses. This
weed, so common in shape and hue that it
needs a reminiscence to justify its preservation,
was plucked as I stood tip-toe on the edge of
a gondola, and held fast to old Antonio's
shoulder, while he checked his oar beneath
the Bridge of Sighs, and I snatched it from
the interstices of the arch. The piazza of
San Marco, the Adriatic glowing with the
flush of sunset, the lonely canals, and all the
grey quietude of Venice, are conjured by the
withered memento, "as at the touch of an
enchanter's wand." More costly acquisitions
have yielded less zest in the winning than this
slender yellow flower, which, evading the
jealous watchfulness of the guard at Pom-
peii, I gathered to assure myself thenceforth
that I had actually walked the streets of the
buried city. How venerable seems this bunch
of grass and flowers that drew its sustenance
from the loamy walls of the Coliseum ; and
with how marvellous a freshness do I call up
the medieval architecture, exquisite campa-
nile, and mountain boundaries of Florence,
beholding again the anemone purloined, on a
fine Sabbath morning, in the gardens of the
Boboli I I cannot see this cassia blossom
without feeling a certain impulsion to monas-
tic life, as I think of the kind friars, the no-
ble organ, lava-heaped confines and soothing
retirement of the Benedictine convent, at Ca-
tania, whence I bore it as the memento of one
of those white days in the traveller's experi-
ence, that atone for a thousand discomforts.
Pleasant was the summer evening, at Messi-
na, when, in one of the palaces that line the
marina, we kept gay vigil in order to wit-
ness the blooming of this faded Cereus ; and
high beat the pulses of an entranced multi-
tude on the night this faded nosegay was
pressed to the lips of Amina, in that last
sce7ia, when her voice quivered with uncon-
trollable feeling, and carolled the " Ah ! non
givnge'' in tones of such pathetic delight as
brought a tear to the sternest eye. I will
not throw away this rusty-looking japonica,
but keep it as a talisman to guard me from
the fascination of heartless beauty, reflecting
on the character of the brilliant , in
whose dark hair it rested during the last ball
of her triumphant season, that bewitching
face displaying every phase of expression,
while not one look was inspired by a soul,
any more than this flower, in its graceful
prime, was imbued with fragrance. Far dif-
ferent is the association that endears the
scarlet honeysuckle and white holyhock be-
side it. Through peaceful hours that over-
flowed with unuttered tenderness, and an
ecstatic sense of geniality and recognition, I
watched beside one I loved ; the humming-
bird and the bee sipping the nectar from their
chalices, and compared the luxurious pastime
with my own. Nor will I cease to treasure
this orange-blossom given me by the dark-
eyed Palermitan, in the grove of her father's
domain, when the air was filled with the odor
40
AN ESSAY ON FLOWERS.
of tlie sweet south, and musical with the far-
off chime of the vesper-bells. The scent of
this grape blossom is associated with the hos-
pitality of a villa below Fiesole ; and that
heliotrope makes me think of a fair invalid
with whom I wandered among the ilexes of a
palace-garden, in whose grassy walks the
vanilla flower grew profusely, I saved the
reedy leaf that is stitched to the opposite
page, as one of the countless proofs of the
thoughtful care of my motherly hostess at
. She stuck it in my window on Palm
Sunday. When gleaned in a field near Luc-
ca, this little flax-blossom held a dew-drop,
and looked like the tearful blue eye of a
child. Arid as it is, the pink, star-like flower
beneath whispers of romance. At a pic-nic,
a friend of mine who has an extreme impa-
tience of tenter-hooks, determined to have his
position with a certain fair one defined, as,
after some encouragement, she seemed half
inclined for another. With true feminine
tact she avoided an interview, though they
constantly met. I believe she either could
not decide between the two, or hat^d to give
up my friend. He laughingly proposed, while
we were resting in a meadow, to make his
favorite a sybil, and handed her a knot of
these starry flowers, to pluck the leaves one
by one, and reveal the hearts of the company,
according to a familiar game. When the
time came to apply the test to her own senti-
ments, she was "s^sibly embarrassed. He fixed
his calm eyes upon her face, and I, knowing
at once his delicacy and his superstition, felt
that this was a crisis. The lovely creature's
voice trembled, when, half petulantly, and
with visible disappointment, she plucked away
the last leaf, which proved her only his well-
wisher. The omen was accepted, and my
friend soon had
" a roufflier task in hand
Than lo drive liking lo the name of love."
Flowers are the most unobjectionable and
welcome of gifts. There is a delicacy in se-
lecting an ofi"ering, whether of gratitude, kind-
ness, or affection, that sometimes puzzles a
considerate mind ; but where any such hesi-
tancy occurs, we can turn to flowers with
complacency. Nature furnishes them, and
all her beautiful products may bravely chal-
lenge fastidiousness. No human being not
utterly perverted, can scorn flowers : nor can
they be offered, even to the spoiled child of for-
tune, without an implied compliment to taste.
The fairest of Eve's daughters, and the proudest
scion of nobility, as well as the village beauty,
the most gifted and least cultivated — provided
either imagination or heart exists — must feel
gratified at such a tribute, whether from de-
pendent or equal, new acquaintance or faith-
ful lover. Like all spontaneous attractions,
that of flowers gives them immunity from or-
dinary rules. They are so lovely and so frail,
that, like children, they bespeak indulgence
ere they offend. Of all material things, they
excite the most chivalric sentiment ; and
hence, are given and received, scattered and
woven, cultivated and gathered, worn and
won, with a more generous and refined spirit
than any other ornaments. They are radiant
hieroglyphics sculptured on the earth's bo-
som ; perhaps the legacy of angels, but cer-
tainly oveiffowing with messages of love that
are apart from the work-day scenes and pro-
saic atmosphere of common life, and allied to
better moments ; to the sweet episodes of ex-
istence, to the promises of love, and the
memories of youth : and hence they are con-
secrated, and like " the quality of mer-
cy," bless " him that gives and her that
takes.''
The Stanwick Nectarine. — An extraordi-
nary sale took place in London, on the I5tli of
May last, of the first plants of a new necta-
rine bearing this name, and wiiich having re-
ceived the praise of the severest judges, and the
highest authorities in England, cannot wc think
but be the finest fruit of its class yet known.
The following account of this fruit from the
pen of Dr. Lindley, appeared in the Garden-
ers' Chronicle.
The original nectarine tree of this variety is
in the possession of the Duke of Northumber-
tAND, at whose seat at Stanwick, it has borne
fruit for several years, and from which it de-
rives its name. The Duke received it from the
late Mr. Barker, of Suosdia, in Syria, a gen-
tleman whose attention had long been turned to
the cultivation of tlie finest fruits of the East,
in the hope that ihey might be valuable in his
native country. It was his anxious desire, tiiat
such as proved to be adapted to the climate
of the United Kingdom, might be immediately
disseminated; and the sale now announced is in
furtherance of his benevolent design. In sur-
rendering his property in it to the public, the
Duke of Northumberland has resolved that
the proceeds, after paying the expenses of pro-
pagation, etc., should be tranferred to a friend
in aid of the Benevolent Institution for the Re-
lief of Infirm Gardeners. The sale will take
place on the anniversary of the Institution, and
the purchasers will have the satisfaction of
knowing that in this instance they may contri-
bute materially to its funds, while at the same
time they are conmlting their personal inter-
ests.
In excellence, the Stanwick Nectarine is as
far beyond all other nectarines as a Green ffage
plum is beyond ail other plums. Beyond this,
praise cannot reach. It may, nevertheless, be
as well to repeat, on the present occasion,
what we stated sometime since, when the hi
orn.
6— 7.17.6— Messrs. Hurel & McMuUeii.
7— 8.18.6— Messrs. Veilch, Exeter.
8— 7.17.6— Mr Turner. Slouch.
9— 4.14.9— J. H Barchard. Esq., Putney Heath.
10— .■).1.3.6— do. do. do.
11 — 5.15.6 — Mr. Ingram, sardener to her Majesty.
12 — 4.14.6— Messr.*. Vouell. Great Yarmoulli.
13 — 7.17.6 — Mr. Gaines. Baltersea.
14— 9. 9.0— The Earl of Derby.
15— 5. 5.0— H. Ilanbury. Esq.
16 — 8.18.6 — Messrs. Lee, Harrimersmith.
17— 7. 7.0— S. Rucker, Esq., Wandsworth.
18 — 6.16.0 — Messrs. Lucombe, Prince &, Co.
19— 4. 4.0— The Earl of Harrington.
20— 2. 2 0— Mr. Denton.
21 — 6. 0.0 — Messrs. Henderson.
22— 7. 7.0— Mr. Gaines.
2-3— 6. 6.0— Mr. Glendennin?, Turnhain Green.
24— 5.15.6— Messrs. lOiight & Perry, Kings Road.
£164.17.0
24 small nectarine trees sold at about $S20,
averaging more than $30 a-piece! The buy-
ers, as many of our readers will see, are chief-
42
FOREIGN NOTICES.
jy nurserymen, who will set about propagating
the sort — but as the earliest time at which they
can offer young trees will be in the autumn of
1851 — the next sale for the charity fund from
the Duke of Northumberland's stock, will
probably bring pretty large prices also j though
Mr. Rivers announces that' he expects to have
500 plants ready for that sale, which is to take
place early this autumn. We trust some of our
enterprising nurserymen will secure a plant or
two. Ed.
Great Sale of Short-Horn Cattle. — We
received the following interesting account of Mr.
Bates' sale of stock, which attracted so much at-
tention in England, too late for our last number.
It will be seen that our friends Messrs. Morris and
Becar have secured some of the most desirable
animals for this country. Mr. Morris is looking
very closely into the condition and breeding of the
best herds in Great Britain, with a view to im-
proving his own at Mount Fordham. Westchester
CO., N. Y.—Ed.
My Dear Sir — The great Bates sale took
place yesterday. It was a sight which England
never has, nor ever will see again, as to the ex-
tent and quality of the herd. The attendance was
from three to five thousand persons, from almost
all parts of the world. The average price was
about 63 guineas, the highest 205, and the lowest
price for sound animals 30 guineas. Mr. Col-
lings' sale reached higher prices I believe, but it
was when this country was in a more properous
state than it now is, and the terms of sale must
have been more liberal than these. Mr. Bates'
heirs and executors are in chancery, and all busi-
ness done through a receiver, who made the terms
half cash down, and balance on delivery of the
animals, which was to take place five or six days,
at furthest, from the day of sale ; the risk of the
animals, immediately on being struck down, was
to be borne by the purchaser.
I purchased three head, and Noel J. Becar,
Esq., of Long Island, whose acquaintance I made
on board the steamer, purchased four head.
I did not make my purchases until I had exam-
ined all the herds of any note in the counties of
Yorkshire and Durham, which is the finest short-
horned section in the world; and even then I did
not make my final selection until I had re-examin-
ed Mr. Bates' herd several times, and the only
animals I bid for I purchased. If I can get a
complete list of the sale before the time of mail-
ing this I will enclose it to you, but I am fearful
that even this will not be in time for the steamer
of to-morrow. I remain yours, respectfully, L.
G. Morris. Kirk Leavington, Yorkshire, May 10.
Steam Cullure. — " Have you heard," says a
writer in " Chambers' Edinburgh Journal," " what
the Recueil of the Societe Polytechnique" says
about a new mode of turning waste steam to ac-
count ? The proprietor of a factory took it into
his head to introduce his waste steam under the
roots of Pine-apple plants; and such was the com-
bined effect of heat and moisture that a magnifi-
cent crop of ripe fruit was the speedy result, and
of a much finer flavor than usual, owing to the
growing part of the plant having been daily ex-
posed to the open air."
This is a subject to which we gladly direct at-
tention, for we have long felt convinced that the
true places for forced vegetables and fruits of all
kinds are near fixed steam engines, whose waste
steam will supply all the heat that is required,
without the cost of a farthing for fuel. While
glass was dear this was a suggestion which it
would have answered no good purpose to have
made; but now that timber is cheap, glass about
one-sixth of its former price, and that bricks may
be expected to fall 50 per cent., it is evident that
we want no Lisbon for early peas, or New-Provi-
dence for Pine-apples, or even Penzance for winter
broccoli, but that all such produce may be grown
cheaper, and as well or much better in every
manufacturing town.
As matters are now arranged the heat belong-
ing to the waste water of steam engines is utterly
lost, instead of being economised, and applied to
the production of food, or luxuries, in both the
animal and vegetable kingdom. There is no con-
ceivable reason why ponds should not be warmed,
and made to produce magnificent marketable fish,
bred beneath the foliage of water lilies and other
beautiful aquatics of hot countries, while the ponds
themselves impart a gentle warmth to the neigh-
boring soil, teeming with early kidney beans, early
lettuces, early asparagus, early salads, green
peas in March; peaches, plums, and apricots in
May, with grapes and Pine-apples at all seasons.
To effect this, little labor is wanted, no great ele-
vation of roof, no wide span, involving costly
rafters of timber or metal ; but a series of low
span-roofed pits, half sunk in the earth, to save
materials. In such places the waste water would
give warmth and moisture ; the moisture might be
regulated by various cheap mechanical contri-
vances ; and by the application of a little steam
power the atmosphere of such places could be
kept in any degree of agitation that might be re-
quired for the healthiness of the vegetation. In
short, summer breezes might blow, at the com-
mand of a screw, even though the external air
was that of Iceland at Christmas.
The difficulty that gardeners experience with
forced crops arises from the impossibility of venti-
lating them — from the difficulty of keeping the
earth, in which the roots grow, warm without
over-heating — the air, in which the leaves grow,
dry without withering — and in maintaining a pro-
per temperature without such a consumption of
labor and fuel as render the charges to a consumer
such as to excessively limit all sales. At the side
of manufactories all such difficulties vanish. The
power which works the looms and the spinning-
FOREIGN NOTICES.
43^
wheels will also work the houses in which plants
are grown for market, without the effort being
felt, and with little aid from manual labor. Ca-
nadian timber cut at the sawmills, duty free
bricks, glass at 4d. a square foot, a little engi-
neer's work, and a clever gardener, will furnish
all the rest.
Suppose that a tank made of bricks, lined with
inch Canadian planks, and six feet wide, were
caused to enclose a given area; that the tanks
were surrounded by twelve feet beds separated by
pathways from the outside walls, and that the
area enclosed by the tank were divided into six
feet beds accessible by narrow sunken paths. It
is evident that by a series of ridge and furrow
roofs any such area may be perfectly covered
over; and it is equally evident that, by some me-
chanical contrivance, such for instance as Hur-
ward's screw of Jones and Clark's rack and
quadrant, the whole of such roofs could be opened
or closed at pleasure, without the least difficulty.
The water from such roofs might be carried off
through hollow brick supports, upon which the
wall plats might be made to rest ; and if the soil
were dry enough, the whole structure, except the
roof, might be sunk, so as to avoid the cost of
thick outside walls, and to retain the heat extri-
cated from the tanks. Head-room for working
under might be obtained by excavation, and the
earth so excavated would make the raised beds,
which would be necessary in order to bring the
crops close to the light. It is probable that air-
heat enough for most crops would be obtained
by this arrangement alone; but if it were other-
wise, glazed pipes could be adapted laterally to
the tanks, and made to convey more heated water
to any place in which it could be required. In
the same way subterranean irrigation might be
effected; and in short every apjjlication of heat
and water of which a gardener has need.
In such buildings plants would be grown as in
the open fields, beds of radishes and spring onions
in the coldest parts, beds of strawberries in others
somewhat warmer; seakale and rhubarb in cham-
bers under the footpaths; lettuces, endives, and
all sorts of winter salads in the same (juarters
with radishes and spring onions; Pine-apples in
the warmest parts; vines on the rafters, at such a
distance as not to ovorshadow the crops beneath
them; peaches and nectarines and apricots, with
figs, plums, cherries, raspberries, and the like, in
dwarf orchards apart, with the same crops be-
neath them as in the open fields. All this might
happen in winter; in May the glass roof might be
wholly removed, and the ground cropped as a
market garden, with this great advantage that
stil! there would be an advance upon the seasons,
and that the genial warmth of the tanks and un-
der-ground channels of heat would give to English
crops an excellence now only known in the sun-
heated soil of southern countries. The experi-
ments upon out-of-doors cultivation of the Pine-
apple in summer, so cleverly tried at Bicton by
Mr. Barnes, the gardener to Lady Kolle, have
conclusively established the fact that Pine-apples
thus produced are infinitely better in flavor than
such as are nursed in a common hot-house. It is
probable that they would not cost much more than
cabbages; and at all events that if sold at the
price of the wretched things called West Indian
Pine-apples, they would yield a great return to
the grower.
In this way quite a new description of market
gardening would spring up, a new employment
for labor be discovered, and a new field for the
profitable investment of capital. When carried
out, Paris and Berlin and Brussels may be sup-
plied with forced fruits and vegetables from Man-
chester, and new elements of national competition
be thus introduced, by which all may largely
benefit.
This kind of gardening is not, however, pre-
cisely what the writer in Chambers' has referred
to. The subject of his remarks is gardening
without protection of any sort, by aid of earth
heat alone; quite a distinct question, to which we
may address ourselves next week. Gard. Chron.
Grape- Vines in a Green house. — In looking
over a mass of letters, before consigning them
to the waste paper repository, I stumbled upon a
statement of our editor's, that "vines, &c., grown
in a green-house will come under your depart-
ment." If I had not thus afresh been reminded
of my duty it would have been no great matter
for regret, as those who wished for information
could easily find what was suitable to themselves
in the statements of that veteran authority who
provides over the fruit department. As some,
however, might imagine that what was said re-
specting the forcing of vines could have but a re-
mote reference to those growing in a greenhouse,
which might be said to be gently assisted rather
than forced, we shall at times advert to a few
prominent points, and the first of these shall be
the
Pruning. — It has been said that the donkey first
taught the art of pruning the vine; man being
merely an imitator, after seeing the effect of that
very wise but much abused, and nicknamed stupid
animal, cropping the points of the young shoots.
Be this as it may one thing is certain, that seem-
ingly trifling facts when reasoned upon evolve
great principles. Even in countries where the
vine is a native, climbing the rock and festooning
the tree, pruning is resorted to; and how much
more is it necessary under our glass roofs, where
the concentration of the greatest possible vigour
and fertility in the smallest possible space is the
chief object aimed at. When once the matter is
thoroughly understood, the process of preparing
for pruning by disbudding in summer will become
the chief subject for consideration. The whole
ofothe phytological questions involved in such a
44
FOREIGN NOTICES.
system we couW not now find room for, though the
unfoklinjT of them would shed a light over many
directions that, to the uninitiated, seem obscure
and contradictory.
This pruning is best performed in the autumn,
when the leaves are fast losing their green color,
for then, though there will be little assimilation
of fresh matter, yet the slow vital action still con-
tinued will swell and distend the parts retained,
much more than it that action had been extend-
ed over the whole of the branches, and more es-
pecially if these branches to be cut away had been
gradually deprived of their buds, though the
leaves had been allowed to remain. The leaves
on the stem, or parts left, should be allowed to
hang until they drop or become yellow. Shortly
after being cut, whether upon the alternate rod
or the spurrinc system (the last being the best for
a green-house.) the shoots may with propriety be
unfastened Irom the roof, and trained horizontally
along the front inside; the advantages of which
will be the enabling the plants on the stage to re-
ceive the whole of the light from tlie roof unob-
structed, the preventing the necessity of getting
among the plants for picking up fallen vine leaves,
the keeping of the vines more cool if much fire is
needed during the winter, and the ensuring a
more equal breaking of the buds in the spring
from the whole of the stem being placed in a simi-
lar temperature.
Now, says one of our friends, this is all very
well, though rather tantalising to some of us;
for there, now, are my vines that were nei-
ther disbudded in summer nor pruned in autumn,
bnt they are safe enough yet. because no more
tire has been used than to exclude frost. But
there is my kind neighbor, Mr. Meanwcll, who
was resolved to give me the go-bye this sea-
son, and astonish my family as well as his own
with his early geraniums, fuchsias, &c. ; but
he forgot that the heat he gave to his flowers
would accelerate his unpruned vines, and now
he is in a pretty quandary, for his vines are
all upon the move, and his favorite Sweet-water
has pushed nearly half an inch ; and when he tried
to prune them, the cutting of the smallest shooi
brought such a flow of sap, that — fearful it would
act like a small syphon when employed to empty
a wine barrel — he had recourse for stopjiing it to
plasters of pitch, resin and wax; all of which
evils might have been avoided if we had been re-
peatedly told to cut vines " in the autumn."
In all such matters we hold two principles: the
first is, that apologies and beraoanings for evils
and derelictions of duty will not rectify the mat-
ter; the second is, that it is better to attempt to
remedy what is wrong late than never. To our
friend, therefore, we say, prune your vines direct-
ly before the sap is in motion, and keep the house
as cool as you can for several days afterwards.
To his neighbor we say, let pruning alone. Some
wise men would say, prune by all means, and let
the vines bleed if they will ; the expanding shoots
will soon monopolise the juices that are left- we
think not so lightly of wasting these juices.
When the vine is fully in leaf it may be cut then
with impunity, so far as bleeding is concerned;
because the double processes of assimilation of
fresh matter and the perspiration from the leaves
will leave no unappropriated fluid to bleed. Thin
and prune these vines when they are in leaf, and
let them alone until then. No! here there would
be a waste of energy ; fertile vigor would be dis-
persed over many channels, to be afterwards dis-
carded, instead of being concentrated upon a few
that were destined to be retained. Besides, the
check given to the reciprocal action between the
roots and the branches would cause a considerable
time to elapse before the branches left would re-
ceive more nourishment, in consequence of the oth-
ers being removed. What is to be done then?
Simply and quietly go over the vines when the
buds are fiom a quarter to half an inch in length,
or even more, and with the thumb or fore-finger
quickly rub olf all the buds upon the wood which
you resolve ultimately to remove, and no bleeding
will ensue. Mind, you must not cut them off
close to the wood from whence they issue, or you
miiht as well cut otf the shoot at once. Any
time after the plant is in full leaf you may remove
the disbudded parts, which will often present dif-
ferent appearances; generally, if very long, most
of them will be dead, some will be somewhat
alive, though not increased in size, and in a few
there will be a little exudation of cambium mat-
ter from the liber, or inner bark, where the bud
was rubbed off.
By this means, therefore, the resources, of the
plant are pretty well as much husbanded and di-
rected into defined and desired channels, as if
pruning had taken place in the autumn. The
buds left will be invigorated, though at first they
will not be able to monopolise all the sap that
supplied the others. Hence, for some time the
sap will rise into the disbudded part, and descend
again when the stimulus is removed, until the
greater expansion of the buds left monopolise it
entirely. A similar operation you may see, in
working rapidly the handle of a pump, where the
bore of the tube is larger than the delivering jet.
The water will rise above the jet; bnt that would
not be the case if the jet was larger in size. The
rising sap, therefore, may be made to flow up-
wards, downwards and horizontally, to where
there are vents for its reception; and where none
exist in the shape of buds and branches, it will
make them for itself, by stimulating the organis-
able matter stored during the previous season.
Its general course, however, is upward, and,
therefore, in the vine the largest buds are gene-
rally formed near the points of shoots, a matter of
great importance, so far as budding and pruning
are concerned ; but that will enter more into sum-
mer management than what is necessary to be at-
FOREIGN NOTICES.
45
tended to now. The matters referred to, are as
important in other plants as in the vine, though
they may not show mismanagement so quickly.
Much evil has been done by two classes of phyto-
logists contending with each other — one asserting,
that it is the swelling of the buds tliat causes the
ascent of the sap; the other asserling, that it is
the rise of the sap that causes the buds to swell
and expand. Before the principles of pruning can
be well understood, these contradictions must be
harmonised. And they may be perfectly so, for
both are right. The expanding of the buds, and
the rising of the sap, are each in turns relative
and CO- relative cause and consequence to the oth-
er. No wonder though wise men smile at us,
when from looking at a fact from diflTcrent points
of view, we squabble as lustily about it as those
clever fellows who were within a little of cudgel-
ling each other, because about the chameleon's
color they could not agree. R. Fish, in Cottage
Gardener.
Woolen Rags as Manure. — Many of our
readers are old enough to remember the ridi-
cule with which the proposition to use bone-
dust as a manure was received by the cultiva-
tors of the soil; and they must have heard, as
we often have heard, the contemptuous qucrj-,
" What! old knife-handles good for manure?"
That ignorant prejudice has passed away; but
another equally erroneous may arise in the mind
of some of our readers, when they find that
WOOLEN rags as a manure are the subject of
our piesent observations. We are led to make
these by two letters from very diflTerent parts of
England; one asking, "Why the Kentish hop-
growers turn woolen rags into the soil of their
hop-gardens?" and the other, which may serve
in part to answer the query, is from Mr. James
Derham, of Wrington, near Bristol. He
says:
"What do you think of woolen rags for ma-
nure? In the lower part of this county (about
Crewkernc) cultivators attach great import-
ance to them. There are a great many field-
gardens there, and an immense quantity of on-
ions are raised in the neighborhood. No one
thinks of sowing unless he has dug in woolen
shreds. These are collected all over the coun-
ty, and sold at so much per ewt. I was round
there the other day (March) and saw many
wagon-loads of them; and in one or two in-
stances I saw them plowing them in for corn
{oats?). They tell me they put no manure. be-
sides; and if this really is a good thing, how
very easy for many persons to accumulate a
stock. I have a large heap myself, and should
be glad to know your opinion as to the use of
them. I have thought if they were first soak-
ed for some days in liquid manure, it would im-
prove them . Would they not do to apply to fruit
trees in that state?"
Soaking the rags in liquid manure would be
a very good mode of apj)lying the latter, and
there is no doubt they would do well in combi-
nation ; for the litjuid manure would be for the
immediate use of the plant, while the rags, be-
ing slow in decomposing, would serve it during
the after stages of growth. They would do
better for fruit trees without being so soaked,
for these trees, except when growing in very
poor soil, require no stimulating like that af-
forded by liquid manure.
Woolen rags are by themselves, however, a
good manure; and the willy dust, and other
woolen refuse, so abundant in the great cloth-
iery districts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and
Yorkshire, come within the designation of
woolen rags; and as they slowly decompose in
the soil, they all give out food highly useful to
plants. During decomposition they produce
ammonia and other matters soluble in water,
every hundred parts being composed, like fea-
thers, hair, &c. , of about 50 parts carbon or
charcoal, 7 parts hydrogen, 17 [larts nitrogen,
24 parts oxygen and sulphur, and 2 parts sa-
line matters. These last contain carbonate of
potash, muriate of potash, acetate of potash
and lime, all of which are salts, or bases of
salts, useful to cultivated vegetables.
We can quote many practical authorities as
to the value of woolen rags as a fertilizer. Mr.
R. Slack, paper-maker, of Hayfield, Derby-
shire, has used them for many years. He finds
them good for potatoes; and adds, " for hay
grass I have nothing that will produce so good
a crop, spread upon the land in January, and
raked off in April."*
Mr. J. M. Paine, writing in 1848, says that
he had long been in the habit of using fifty tons
yearly, paying for them in London from fifty to
eighty shillings per ton; the dearest being
those containing the most wool. Before put
ting on the land, they are cut into very small
pieces, (two inches square being the largest,)
and from one ton to half a ton per acre are suf-
ficient. He finds them most beneficial to hops
and turnips.
They are not so good when used mixed with
lime; for although this decomposes them faster
than when they are left to themselves, yet by
such treatment the ammonia is driven off, in
which their most active power is comprised.
We believe that the best mode of applying
woolen rags to the soil is to mix them previous-
ly with the super-phosphate of lime, made from
bones. This contains sulphate of lime also,
which will fix the ammonia of the rags as they
decompose, and the phosphate of lime is a sa-
line manure, in which the rags are deficient.
Mr. Cuthbert Johnson, in his excellent vol-
ume on "Fertilizers," says, that "woolen rags
♦ Our OM'ii experience tells us that woolen rags are raosi
useful to potatoes, straivberries, aiui raspberries.
46'
FOREIGN NOTICES.
are a very durable manure, remaining dissolv-
incr in the soil, and forming elastic and soluble
manures for the service of plants, for periods
varying from two years on heavy clays, such as
those of tJie Kentish hop-grounds of the Weald
of Kent, to three or four years on the light
chalky soils on the valley of the Kennet in
Berkshire. Of these rags, the consumption by
the Berkshire and Oxfordshire farmers, but es-
pecially by the Kentish hop growers, is very con-
siderable. I am informed by an extensive dealer
in these rags, (Mr. Hart, White Lion-street,
Bishopgate,) that 20,000 tons, at the least,
are annually consumed by the farmers of the
south of England. Mr. Ellis, of Barming,
Kent, purchased annually between four and five
hundred tons, almost exclusively for his hop-
grounds. The cottager, even, is interested in
these facts, for every shred of an old woolen
garment is available lor his garden — is an ad-
mirable manure for his potatoe ground; or, if
he has not a garden, the collectors of rags, who
gather for the large dealers, will readily give
him a farthing per pound for all he can collect.
Cottage Gardener.
Management of Pear Trees. — The practice
of what is termed root pruning has of late years
attracted a good deal of notice. Root pruning is,
however, no modern discovery. It has been fol-
lowed less or more for a century, and perhaps
even longer ; but the system of docking the roots,
and dwarfing trees, is somewhat new in this coun-
try, although well understood in the Celestial
Empire. The result of this practice has been the
production of stunted, bark-bound trees, the fruit
from which partakes more of the character of the
wood of the tree than that which we desire to find
in a plump, well-grown Pear. I therefore take
this opportunity of cautioning my amateur readers
on a point which, to my personal knowledge, has
sadly misled many of them. It may be stated,
and in fact recognised as an axiom, that unless
a tree is in a kindly growing condition, the fruit
will at all times be inferior. Let it not be infer-
red from this that I mean over-luxuriance ; in that
case wood alone will be made.
Pears should be generously used when they are
first planted; the ground should be in good heart,
and manured near the surface. If in the course
of a few years the trees indicate a tendency to
produce more wood than is desirable either as re-
spect.* the fruitfulness of the trees, or out-growing
the limits originally assigned them; then can-
tiouslv examine the roots, and carefully curtail
their exuberance, but this should be done by de-
grees, and the month of August should be prefer-
red to any other for the operation.
The most important point in the management
of Pear trees hinges on the summer pruning ; many
imagine that when the trees are planted there is
nothing more to be done, except picking the fruit.
This notion has converted some little gardens into
little forests. During summer let the superfluous
shoots be stopped back to within 3 inches of the '
old bearing wood, broken off rather than cut.
This will cause flower buds to be formed at the
base of the shoots so treated. The projecting
part can be removed in autumn or winter close to
the fruit buds; by following this mode of treat-
ment the trees will be kept within a limited space,
and their productiveness secured. Gardeners'
Ckron ....
Continuous Blooming Roses. — I am prepa-
ring to give your readers a descriptive list of a
few roses which I have called continuous bloo-
ming; but in truth none can be more so than
the two which may be found in front of many
hundred English cottages, and known as the
common and crimson China. If the cultivators
will but take the pains to remove the flowers
as they fade, and prevent the seed-pods from
swelling, they will not fail. I have been try-
ing them on standards with varied success, be-
cause I have found that a frost which does not
injure a plant on a wall or house front cuts off
many of the youug buds on the head of a stan-
dard. I have many standard Chinas of differ-
ent varieties, and somecalled Noisettes, a score
or two of which more or less partake of the
character of the old China; but as they have
only blossomed one season, I am not satisfied
that I have seen enough to justify a positive
opinion. I will merely say that among the
nearest approach to m)' desideratum, and at all
events much longer in bloom than many others,
I may mention first the Noisette Feilenburg,
flowering from the end of June to the end of
November, in a strong clay soil, seven miles
north of London. This is bright crimson, flow-
ers double and small, joints short as the crim-
son China, and it has stood out three winters
in a bleak situation, without protection of any
kind, on ground but poorly drained. I will look
over my notes, and give a few more, that even
the first year of planting give promise of cov-
ering very close when fully established. I ob-
serve this rose is noticed elsewhere, but all the
florists together cannot say too much of it, and
those who want a few cannot do better than
order Feilenburg, and as many more as they
i require "of the same habit and season." lb.
Massachusetts Agricultural School. — The
Legislature of our sister state has placed the sub-
ject of an agricultural school in the hands of the
following commissioners, who are to draw up a
plan, etc.: Marshall P. Wilder of Dorchester,
Edward Hitchcock of Amherst, Thos. E. Pay-
son of Rowley, Samuel E. Eliott of Boston,
and Eli Warren of Upton.
This is an admirable board, and we are heartily
glad to find the name of Hon. M. P. Wilder,
President of the Mass. Senate, at its head. Col.
Wilder unites, perhaps more completly than any
man in Massachusetts, a thorough knowledge of
what an agricultural school should be, with that
indomitable perseverance and energy which ena-
ble him to develop a good idea into an existing
fact. It is not enough to recommend plans to le-
gislative bodies, (as the commission in this state
found last winter.) There rnust be a champion
of steel ready to answer all objections and demol-
ish all opponents. For the very good reason that
we think Col. W. such a man, do we congratulate
the state on the excellent selection made by the
governor.
President Hitchcock, of Amherst who is now
abroad, will, we learn, undertake to investigate
thoroughly the condition and management of ag-
ricultural schools in Europe.
Clinton Point Vinery. — In reading our ac-
count of this vinery, of which we gave a plate
and description in our last volume, many good
cultivators were astonished at the magnificent
crop produced by vines actually of but one year's
growth in the borders, and not a few predicted
that the vines had been permitted to bear too large
a crop, and would therefore be greatly injured by
it.
We confess that observation in similar cases
would have led us to entertain the same opinion.
But Mr. Van Rfnsselaer has convinced us that
we were in error. The condition of the vinery is
most admirable. The vines are not only strong
and healthy, but have set a very fine crop — the
bunches unusually large and perfect. Any culti-
vator may judge for himself of the satisfactory
condition of the vinery by the following statistics:
The nnmber of vines in the house is 54 ; number
of bunches cut the first thinning 864 ; number of
bunches cut the second thinning 684; number of
bunches left on the fifty-four vines 590. It must
be remembered that these are partly trellis vines,
and are not all trained to the rafters.
It by no means follows from this result, that all
vineries may be allowed to produce fruit heavily
the second season after they are planted. But we
think Mr. Van Rensselaer has conclusively pro-
ved that a large crop of the finest grapes may, if
the border is very thoroughly prepared, as in this
case, be grown without the slightest injury to the
vines. Indeed, give the grape plenty of food, and
one may do almost anything with it.
Burr's Strawberries — I perceive that "Burr's
new Pine" strawberry is described bj' Mr. Hunts-
man and by Mr. Prince, in the third volume of the
Horticulturist, pages 67 and 70, as a '^pistillate"
variety. Last spring, I obtained a few plants of
that sort, in connection with one of my neighbors,
from Mr. Ernst, of Cincinnati, and I find that at
least three-fourths of the blossoms are perfect, or
hermaphrodite. I enclose a specimen, hoping that
your experience can inform me whether they are
genuine or not.
When in London in March last, I procured some
plants of the "British Queen," which is the straw-
berry of Covent Garden, but they died on the pas-
sage. Can you inform me where I can obtain
them in this country? Yours, truly. B. Pough-
keepsie, N. Y., May 18, 1850.
We had some of the same plants from Mr.
Ernst last spring, and Mr. E. has made an error in
disseminating them, which, of course, he will take
pleasure in rectifying. The true " Burr's new
Pine" is pistillate, and has been extensively sent
out to various parts of the Middle States by the
nurserymen at Rochester. We have seen plants
from Elwanger & Barry and Bissell & Hook-
er, blossoming in various gardens lately, and all
correct.
Some of our readers, who have the British
Queen for sale, will oblige us by answering our
correspondent through our columns. Ed.
Burr's New Pine Strawberry. — We have
just received from Mr. Ernst, a letter stating
48
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
that he had. to his great mortification, discovered
the error referred to, and had promptly returned
the amount paid hi in by his correspondents here
and at Poughkeepsie. Mr. Ernst informs us that
he fell into error, in this case, not from want of
care, but from the very desire he had to put the
genuineness of the plants beyond a doubt — for he
procured the plants referred to from Mr. Burr
himself. We have before us a letter from Mr.
Burr to Mr. E.. in which Mr. Burr deplores the
mistake, and attributes it to the fact that the per-
son to whom he delegated the task took up plants
from a part of a bed where they had run logeiher.
We will take occasion here to say, that though
mistakes will sometimes inevitably occur in com-
mercial establishments, from the necessity of pro-
pogaling so large a variety — amateurs, who cul-
tivate but small collections, when they undertake
to send out a new or remarkable sort, have less
apology for inaccuracies, — and they are held the
more responsible, when the new variety is one
originated by themselves. We have in our gar-
den a case in point. A j-ear ago a correspondent
in Washington sent us, as a fresent, a new climb-
ing rose of reputed wonderful beauty, the flowers
"yellow, striped with brown." Plants were not
to be had at the time less than $25 each ! We
therefore gave a little special attention to the val-
uable present, took off our hat to it (mentally) as
we walked by it, and conjured up the vision of
clusters of yellow roses with brown stripes that
would burst upon us the following June. Well,
June is here, and the rose — the wonderful rose, is
— a poor, common, semi-double Ayrsliire ! If our
correspondent were here to see it, we are not sure
that he would turn into a "pillar of salt," but we
think he would be more dumb than a pillar of ro-
ses.
Albany & Rensselaer Horticultural Soci-
ety.— The first exhibition of this Society for the
present year, took place on the 18th of June.
Owing to the uncommon backwardness of tlie sea-
son, several articles, especially strawberries and
roses, were not sufficiently advanced to make a
large display ; and it was, therefore, deemed ex-
pedient to omit the awards on fruits, and adjourn
the competition in that department until the 27th.
In several classes of flowers, also, there were no
awards, for want of competition, and in all such
the competition was kept open for the 27ih; on
that day the show of strawberries was very large
and fine — acknowledged by ail to be superior in
extent and quality to any they had before seen.
It comprehended all the most esteemed varieties
known. The first premium for the best and most
extensive collection, was awarded to Luther
Tucker, who showed twenty-three varieties; and
the second to John S. Goold. who showed nine va-
rieties. The first premium for the best and finest
flavored varietj', was awarded to B. B. Kirtland,
for Burrh New Pine; and the second premium to
E. C. McIntosh, for Hovey's Seedling.
Among other varieties which received high
commendation, were Royal Scarlet, Burr's Mam-
molh, Burr's Columbus , (very prolific,) Ross Pha-
nix, and Old Hudson.
There was a very handsome show of roses and
other flowers, and a very good display of vegeta-
bles, considering the backwardness of the season.
Some fine specimens of early cherries were exhi-
bited J but they required several days more to
bring them to a state in which they could be fair-
ly appreciated.
Fruit CuLTrRE in the West. — I am doing
something towards supplying this region with
good fiuit — with, however, but little profit to my-
self, owing principall)' to our changeable climate,
(Lat. 39^^" 20', Long. 94° 33' 30")— this being the
most westward village in the United States. I
know something of the manner of cultivating ia
the valley of the Mohawk, but after five years'
trial here, have not succeeded.
I recently became a subscriber to your invalua-
ble periodical, in which I discover many of the
causes operating to my disadvantage — one of the
prominent is our hot summer sun. Many of my
weaker apple trees make quite a curve the reverse
to the 2 o'clock tun. Will whitewashing counter-
act this, as well as the premature moving of the
sap in the wmter ? — if so, will stucco wash do?
[Try white-wash, with about one-third wood ashes
added to it. Better plant your orchards on the
north sides of hills in all cases — if your district is
hilly. Ed.] Another prominent source of evil
arises from dry summers, usually followed by wet
growing autumns, having the appearance of spring,
often extending to the verge of winter — producing
immature growth of wood. The first symptom of
trouble after such a season, is the bursting of the
bark at the surface of the thriftier varieties of ap-
ple trees, upon the first slight frosts. This, bow-
ever, 1 remedy by wounding the bark at the sur-
face, in most any manner, during the summer, so
to produce a cicatrix, or run the knife spirally
around the tree from the surface six inches up-
wards. But this does not remedy the evil whol-
ly, for if a severe winter follows, the heartwood
becomes doted, with all the bad results following
in its train. I practice mostly root grafting. Hovr
can I check the growth of my trees in time to
mature their wood ? [By root pruning, or laying
the roots partially bear. Ed.] I have a hearty,
thrifty, growing variety of apple, a native, that
appears to resist all vicissitudes — will it do to
u>e it as a stock for the more delicate varieties ?
If so, at what height should they be worked ?
[No matter what height. Ed.] In giving you
an idea of the eccentricity of our climate, I will
state that I once saw apple trees in bloom on tha
26th March, which produced an abundant crop
without interruption of frost. But at this date
we have severe frosts, night after night, and no
more appearance of spring than a raonlh since.
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
49
This operates severely upon the California emi-
orat^ts, who are conjjregaTed here by thousands,
waitinj;; for grass. The fall of '45 continued un-
til about the I8th Dec. pleasant and warm, the
thermometer frequently at 75°, which it was on
the 16th, and on the 20lh 6° below 0 ! Similar
changes often take place during the winter. I
shall keep a weather table, and if you can make
it serviceable, I will send you the result. [Will
be glad to see it.] Yours, respectfully, F.
Hawn. Weston_ Mo., Jpril 11, 1850.
P. S. The soil on which my nursery is situated
is a strong limestone, producing 50 bushels of corn
per acre with little labor, and rolling. The ori-
ginal growth of timber was Hackberry, White
Hickory, Walnut, Elm, Linn, and different Oaks,
but no White Oak.
After a continued severe winter, or an open
winter with severe weather after, the roots
of many of the apple trees are mostly killed, par-
ticularly the fibres. F. H.
licsTON HoRT. Society. — Dear Sir : I was
much gratified with half an hour passed in the
exhibiiion room last Saturday, and made a few
rough notes, which I send you for publication.
In the first place, those floral giants, the Tree
poenias, had a grand time of it, and the show of
them by various contributors was larger than ever
before seen in this state, and as I presume in the
United States. Among the contributors of this
most brixom and altogether most magnificent of
spring flowering shrubs, were Messrs. Breck &
Co., Cabot, Wilder, and Hovey & Co. By far
the largest collection was from Col. Wilder, who
presented 80 flowers in 16 varieties. The most
distinct varieties were P. rosea superba, alba ple-
na Belgique, Newmanii, Hissieina, Grand Duke
of Baden, Le Soleil, Imperafrice, Josephine, Wal-
nerii, rubra splendens, ocuilata, and Heldii.
Mr. Breck showed a superb specimen of IVista-
ria sinensis. The novelties that attracted most
attention were Mr. Barnes' new French Verbe-
nas, and Col. Wilder'^; seedling Calceolarias.
The Verbenas were Iphigene and Reine de Jour,
both remarkably fine and distinct — superior to Ro-
binson's Defiance. The Calceolarias from Haw-
thorn Grove were exquisitely beautiful — or rather
most delicately grotesque, for they resembled clus-
ters of delicately spotted tropical insects, half-
poised in the air, as much as flowers.
The show of flowers and shrubs was fine, and
of Hawthorns and Azaleas the variety was par-
ticularly rich. These were chiefly from Messrs.
HovEY, Breck, and Kenrick. Miss Russell
and Miss Kenrick contributed some boqueis en
corbeiile, charmingly arranged.
Mr. Allen, of Salem, as usual, carried off the
prizes for forced fruits. There were 17 dishes of
ripe grapes from his vineries, on the tables, four
varieties of large well-ripened cherries, besides
figs, nectarines, and peaches. Some remarkably
large and fine clusters of Black Hamburgh grapes
from Mr. Bigelow of Brighton, were much prais^
cd. Yours, ^ Looker-on in Boston. June 10,
1850.
Strawberries. — Mr. Downing — A fortnight
since my gardener produced quite a sensation
among the juveniles of the household, by appris-
ing us that from a large and thrifty bed of straw-
berries, (Hovey's Seedlings,) then in full bloom,
we should not gather one berry. And sure enough,
upon investigation all the plants were pistillates —
when I directed him to transplant from a distant
bed of other varieties, some stamanate plants, and
place them carefully among the Hovey's Seed-
lings— and the result is an abundant show of fruit.
The effects oi' this horticultural wedlock will not
surprise you, though it may interest some of
your readers. Evelyn. Dutchess Co., N. Y.,
June, 1850.
On the Virtues of Spent Tan-Bahk to thb
Horticulturist and Florist.-- -Although averse
to repeat thrice told tales, or to recapitulate w'hat
I have for the past twenty years both written and
orally advised horticultural friends, respecting the
the many virtues of spent tan, I am induced, the
more from your note appended to Mr. Cleve-
land's article, to make a farther record of my
experience with that article, especially as it is so
generally condemned, ignorantly, as a dangerous
if not an useless substance in the garden. On
the contrary I believe, and practice' has satisfied
me, that where it can be readily procured, it is
a grand auxiliary and highly to be prized.
In detailing you the following experiments, I
beg leave to say, they are all from my own prac-
tice and observation.
1st. A ton of spent tan, plowed or spaded un-
der, and well comminuted with a stiff clay soil, in
the fall of the year, will render such a spot fit for
gardening purposes, sooner and better than ten
tons of sand. It creates permeability, friability,
and warmth, and decomposes, when thus covered,
in the course of two or three years, giving great
fertility to the soil. A stifl' clay should have ton
or fifteen per cent of fresh tan spaded to the depth
of a foot or more, repeating the dose for a season
or two. On such a spot, with other of course
proper manures, I have had a fine garden, yield-
ing such crops of asparagus, beets, carrots, &o.,
&c., as rarely to be found on sand or gravel soils.
As a mulching for strawberry beds, it has no
equal. Put it on two or three inches thick. It
warms the ground and prevents the plant heaving
during the thawings of winter; and withal, it is
the cleanest and sweetest article for the berries to
lie upon — besides keeping the weeds down. The
runners readily strike through it. Some use savr-
dust or turners' chips, which do tolerably well, but
are not at all equal to spent tan.
As a mulching for dwarf pear trees, the goose-
berry, and other fruit trees or shrubbery, it is cap-
50
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
ital, as retaining both heat and moisture for a
long period. Where it cannot be obtained, the in-
verted grass sod stands I think next best.
For mulching vine-borders. I have used it many
years, and endorse fully Mr. Cleveland's trial
with it. ' But there are other virtues possessed by
it, which I think are as yet but little known, —
among which the power it possesses of drawing
new roots, and giving new vitality to dried and
apparently dead trees, such, for instance, as have
been recently imported, or otherwise long out of
the soil. The roots and tops being properly prun-
ed, bury them nearly in a horizontal position in a
bed of fresh tan, [fresh? does not our correspond-
ent mean spent tan? Ed.] having a small admix-
ture of clean sand, a portion of the tops only be-
ing left out. Should the tan be rather dry, wet it
once well with rather hot water, and in ten to
twenty days, I have found pear trees, roses, ca-
melias, rhododendrons, and other shrubs, not only
to have made beautiful roots, but the latent and
apparently dead buds bursting and completely re-
juvenated. The careful cultivator, however, will
not fail at that point to watch them, that they
may be suitably planted and shaded, &c., &c.;
otherwise exhaustion and depletion must necessa-
rily follow.
In my green-house I have a table of tan six in-
ches deep, for placing pots on, it being sweeter
and free from mouldiness, and is withal vastly
neater and better than any other material for such
purpose. In this bed I have been astonished to
see how rapidly roots will pass the bottom of
the pots, and wander among the tan. A Passiflo-
ra in a season rambled ten feet, throwing up fine
shoots, ready for potting. A Chasselas Fontain-
bleau grape in front of the house, with rods touch-
ing the damp table, sent roots into the tan, which
were potted off and bore the following season.
Indeed, either tender or hardy plants seem to de-
light and readily take root in it. And as a mate-
rial for sticking cuttings, when slightly mixed
with sand, or as a drainage for pot culture, I know
nothing better. W. R. Coppock, Long Sight
fjlace, Buffalo, N. i.
Remarks. — Tan bark is likely to become popu-
lar in gardening, judging from the advocates it
finds. We know little of its direct value, but
we believe it will be found excellent for mulching
— one of the greatest means of good cultivation
in this climate. Tan, fresh from the pits, we
know will injure some plants.
Professor Mapes, in his excellent Working
Farmer, has the following note to the point —
which explains why tan-bark is so well adapted
to grape-vines and strawberries: —
"We observe that Mr. Cleveland has made a
single experiment in the application of spent tan
bark about the roots of an Isabella grape, and
cautiously recommends it. We know the caution
of Mr.C. renders his recommendations always de-
fendable, but he need not fear recommending the
use of tan bark for grape-vines, or for any thing
else that requires tannic acid. Both grapes and
strawberries contain a trace of tannic acid, and
we last year applied a solution of bark liquor to
our strawberry beds with marked advantage."
Hardiness of Plants in New Jersey. —
Agreeably to the wish you expressed in the May
number of the Horticulturist, for information as
to the hardiness of newly introduced trees and
shrubs, I send you a list of a few things — prin-
cipally pines — which have proved perfectly hardy
the past winter:
Abies kutrow,
douglasii,
Picea pindrow,
welbiana,
altissima,
acutissima,
cembra,
geraudiana,
pinaster,
pinea,
pyrenaica,
taurica,
morinda,
I could send a larger list of pines, but thougnt
it unnecessary to send any but the more recent-
ly introduced ones. Plumbago larpenta has
stood out with a slight protection. The flower
buds of the Paulownia imperialis have been
completely killed with us, although the winter
was more mild than usual. Respectfully yours,
Jas. Goldie, Gardener to R. L. Colt, Esq.,
Paterson, N. J., May, 1850.
Cedrus africanus,
deodara,
Juniperus excelsa.
hiberniese.
sueciaea,
Cupressus elegans,
torulosa,
Araucaria imbricala,
Mahonia acquifolium,
Euoiiymusjapoiiica,
Spirea prunifolia, pi.,
Forsylhia viridissiraa.
Vineries. — I wish to solicit the attention
of those of your readers who contemplate erect-
ing vineries, or who feel interested in the culti-
vation of house grapes, to a few descriptive re-
marks on the Vineries of Wm. Niblo, Esq.,
situated at Yorkville, (on 84th St., New-York,)
near the East river.
I visited these houses a few days ago, and I
certainly did not regret having paid this visit,
for I never saw vines in a more healthy, vigor-
ous condition than these are in at the present
time.
Mr. NiBLO erected these houses some six
years agoj there are four of them, besides a
handsome conservatory which adjoins the man-
sion. The latter is well stocked with fine large
Rhododendrons, Camellias, Acacias, &c. There
are about 2,000 feet of glass in these houses;
they are built in a very neat and substantial
manner, well supplied with water, &c., &c.
Three of the vineries range parallel with each
other, and are each sixty feet in length, with
span roofs ; and the fourth is a " lean-to," with
an excellent propagating house at the back,
and is 50 feet long.
Rather more than two years ago Mr. N. en-
gaged the services of Mr. Galbraith, (his
present gardener,) who is well known as one of
our most successful cultivators of this delicious
fruit, to take charge of his houses. When Mr.
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
51
G. assumed this charge, he found the vines in a
very bad state; although planted four years,
they had not then matured a single bunch of
fruit. Mr. G. soon discovered of course the
effects of bad soil, bad culture, or something or
other wrong about them, and as, like a sound
reasoiier, he usually goes back from effect to
cause, he thought the most expeditious, and most
certain vrny to discover the cause was to dive
I at the root of the matter, and to the roots he
went, with spade in hand, and dug them all up,
every vine; this was in April, 1848. He found
that the roots of most of the vines had rotted
half away, and all of them were in a sickly un-
healthy state, chiefly for the want of proper
drainage to the borders. He immediately went
to work, drained the borders well, got a suita-
bly prepared compost, and after shortening-in
the roots well, he replaced them again in the
new border.
One of the houses had been occupied during the
winter with green-house plants, and the tem-
peratuie necessary to keep the plants from free-
zing, had started the vines into growth, and
when the operation above described was per-
formed on the roots, some of the young shoots
were from three to four feet in length, and had
showed some bunches of fruit ; notwithstanding
this, they were so managed that not a single
leaf flagged, and those bunches were ripened
the same summer. Last year they produced a
fair crop, and this year they can be seen in full
fruit. Owing to the very severe weather we
had a few weeks ago, Mr. G. informed us that
it was w'ith great difficulty that he could keep
the temperature sutficifintly high in the span
roof houses to "set" the Muscats; but how-
ever, they now look as promising as most of the
others. The house "No. 4 " was planted with
young vines, 17th April, 1848. Last year they
were allowed to bear a few clusters, and now
they are literally covered with fruit from the
bottom, half way up to the rafters.
I have been induced to send you this commu-
nication, partly from having witnessed and
heard of so much disappointment and so man}'
failures in house vine culture. These failures
generally occur in this way: — A gentleman
makes up his mind to build a vinery, he puts
one up, sends somewhere or other for his vines,
gets as many varieties as he can, perhaps a
diflTerent sort for each rafter; the border is
made — i. e. the soil is scouped a foot deep proba-
bly, and two or three wide, and what is thought
to be a rich and suitable compost is put in its
place. The border is perhaps never examined
as to whether it requires drainage, or whether
the subsoil is of too porous a nature. Well,
the vines are planted thus, and probably in a
year or two they may show some fruit, and in
all probability some of them marked at the bot-
tom of the rafters "Black Hamburgh," or
"Muscat of Alexandria," will prove to be
something else not better perhaps than the com-
mon Isabella of the garden. [Our correspond-
ent presents a picture of a very low state of
knowledge in vine culture, which we hope is not
drawn from the life, as that culture is usually
seen on New-York island. On the whole we
think the management of vineries is well under-
stood in this country, and there are hundreds,
especially about Boston and Philadelphia, where
foreign grapes are grown in the highest perfec-
tion. Ed.]
I will close these few remarks by saying,
drain (if required) and well prepare your bor-
ders, procure from a respectable nursery, or
some other reliable source, a few only of the
best and well known varieties, (as there are
not more than 6 or 8 sorts that are worth house
room.) employ a skilful practical man to take
care of them, and then I think we shall not
hear of so much chagrin and disappointment in
this department of horticulture. Respectfully
yours, Vitis. New- York, May 15, 1850.
Native Botany. — I was much disappointed
on my arrival in this country to find that compa-
ratively few of its inhabitants look into its indi-
genous floral beauty; few penetrate the woods to
observe the lovely grandeur of Flora's territory.
A few days ago I found in a wood, in the vicini-
ty of this city, Philadelphia, what to me was a
rich treat, having been more accustomed to pluck
the weeds which are to be met with in the British
Isles. I first observed in flower on the 21st of
April, Sangvinaria canadensis or Blood root. —
This plant presents a pleasing appearance, and is
quite abundant. It has marked medical proper-
lies, varying from the quantity exhibited — of the
order Ranvncvlacea, or Crowfoot tribe. I ob-
served Ranunculus hirsutus and rhomboidea; also
Caltha palustris and Thalictum anemonoides, the
latter a very singular species, and likely to mislead
the novice in Botany. The Hepalicas are still
in flower. I found a white variety growing along-
side the blue. Podophyllum peltatum will flower
in a few days. This is known as the " May ap-
pie," has a sub-acid fruit which is eatable and is
called Wild Lemon also. The other portions of the
plant are cathartic. Isopyrum fumanoides is also
here a very delicate plant, just showing its little
cluster of flower buds. The Claytonia virginica
(order Portulacece) is in full flower, and in great
abundance. Also Chrysospleneum or Golden
saxifrage, easily overlooked, but not less curious
on this account. The Saxifraga alba is in fine
condition for specimens. All who admire and
would preserve specimens of Nature's more deli-
cate offspring should be stirring now; the flowers
are fast unfolding and must be transferred to the
Herbarium, for they will not linger long. Once
there, we may view their shadow but the essence
fades. Yours, &c., Hortophilus. Jlpril 22.
52
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
Insect on the Gbape Vine. — " The Horti-
culturist" has for some time past afforded me
much pleasure and instruction. The work was
recommended to me by Hon. S. Young, of Balls-
ton, wliflse enthusiasm in the cultivation of trees
and flowers may be known to you.
The communications and inquiries received by
you and published in the Horticulturist, constitute
a very interesting part of the work, and the infor-
mation sought and the subject of this communica-
tion may be useful to others.
Upon a recent examination of my hardy grape
vines, which for some time previous, had given
great promise of an abundant crop, to my great
disappointment and mortification I discovered that
the buds upon many of the vines had been almost
entirely destroyed. At first I supposed " Jack
Frost" some still night had touched them with his
icy finger. I consulted my daily record of the
thermometer and fotind that we had not had frost
to injure them. I suspected at once that an ene-
my, heretofore unknown and unseen, had trespass-
ed uj)on my rights. Upon more careful examina-
tion, I found that the buds had been bored, and
the centre part was missing. I have a large
number of grape vines, some of which for many
years have produced large crops, and I had never
before discovered such an attack upon them. I
resolved to hunt up the enemy. At length I
caught him busy at his trade — a small green bug.
I send you a. pair of the rascals. Do you know
him? I presume they will reach you alive and
kicking. They are quick on the wing and have
locomotive power not only on foot, but by a pecu-
liar jerk, somewhat after the manner of the
" snapping bug," so called. Can you inform me
how and when to guard my vines from their at-
tack? They are found in pairs. I noticed that
the young vines had not been attacked, and also
that the buds upon branches of the old vines which
rested upon or near the ground had escaped. —
The Isabella had suffered more than other vines.
If you can give me any information in regard to
this new entmy to the vine in your June number, I
shall be thankful. I am truly yours, &c., Thomas
M. Howell.
Answer. — The insect reached us alive. It is
the grape-vine flea-beetle (Haltica chalybea )
We have never seen this species in a living state
before, nor have we seen its ravages, but the in-
sect (a small glossy, greenish-blue beetle, about
three-twentieths of an inch long.) is accurately
described by David Thomas, in the 26th vol. of
Sitliman's Journal of Science, and also noticed in
Harris' Treatise on Insects. It appeared in great
quantities in Cayugo co., N. Y., according to Mr.
T. in 1831, and the same season was seen in
great numbers in New-Haven, Conn., doing, in
both places, great mischief by eating out tlie cen-
tre of the buds and destroying them. The habits
of the insects are not yet perfectly understood.
Mr. Thomas thinks it undergoes its ffnal trans-
formation in the ground, coming out to attack the
buds in May. The beetle lays its eggs on the
vine. These change to •' small chestnut-colored,
smooth worms," that feed on the leaves of the
vine in summer and pass the winter in a larva
state, in the ground, coming out perfect beetles in
the spring.
Assuming this to be correct, the best remedy i»
to destroy the insect when in the worm state j it ia
found upon the leaves in summer, by syringing
the leaves with tobacco water. Next, look over
the vines carefully in March, or before the least
vegetation commences in the spring — strip off all.
the old or loose bark and white-wash the entire
plant (winch of course has been previously prun-
ed,) buds and all, with a mixture of white-wasl^
and sulphur — a pound of the latter to a pail-full,
of the former. This will deter the insect from
boring the buds. Next to this we should say
dusting the buds with powdered lime, while the
dew is upon them in the morning would be the
best remedy. This is recommended by Harris.
Of course the most effectual way of getting rid of
the pest is to destroy it in the worm state, with
tobacco water. — Ed.
Practical School for Gardeners. — In your
leading article in the April No. of the Horticultu-
rist, you express your regret at the non-existence
of a practical school for gardeners, wherein their
knowledge of European gardening might be re-
modeled to suit the climate. You go on to say,_
that the difficulty of getting foreign gardeners to
enter this school would be removed by the readi-
ness with which they could get from 50 to $100 a
year more than they do at present, after spending
1 year there, and having its certificate to produce.
I assure you that to the uninitiated your suggest
tion looks well on paper — but men like me, who
have spent ten summers here, and knovk^ something
of the liberality of American employers generally,
would not be caught by the golden vision you hold
out. I am personally acquainted with a dozen
gardeners who live with some of the first mer-
chants in New York city — they give their em-
ployers entire satisfaction, and yet $30 per month
(and many of them only $25) is the most any of
these gentlemen will pay — while these same mer-
chants pay the porters in their stores from 35 to
$40 per month for the very scientific process of
sweeping out the store and nailing up a packing
box. There is an intimate friend of mine who
gave up the trade last summer, and is now getting
$35 per mouth in a hardware store in Maiden
Lane, N. Y. Would it not be better for a gar-
dener to be in the New York police at $600 per
year than live with one of your aristocratic neigh-
bors on the banks of the Hudson for 300 or $360
per year? I mention these facts to show at what
a discount the science of gardening is at, in these
United States. In a country like this, where the
chances of doing better are so numerous, it would
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
53
.be absurd to suppose that practical jrardeners
coming to this country would spend a year in your
.preparatory garden. How is it, Mr. Editor, that
our enterprising American young men never try
to become gardeners? The answer is quite sim-
ple— the wages tiiey would get when they had
acquired a knowledge of the profession, do not
come exactly up to their ideas of making money,
and any thing that your genuine Yankee don't
make money at, there is no use in Europeans try-
ing. The science of gardening is left to us Eu-
ropeans, and very often Americans, whom we
have taught the little they know, turn round and
be our critics. I think I can show that your la-
ment about the scarcity of srood gardeners among
us is imaginary. How is it that our leading com-
mercial gardeners never have any difficulty in get-
ting first class men? The reason is obvious — they
know how to appreciate talent. The rivalry of
trade compels them to employ the best gardeners,
which they do, and pay them in round numbers
just doulile the wages per year that your aristo-
cratic neighbors pay their men. Then take our
liberal and enterprising amateurs — Caleb Cope
and James Dundas of Piiiladeiphia, Mr. Cush-
ING and Col. Perkins of Boston, and Mr. Becar
of New York — have they any difficulty in procur-
ing first rate men? A visit to their places will
answer the question. These gentlemen pay the
very highest wages, and furnish tlieir gardeners
with every facility for displaying tiieir talents.
Now, Mr. Editor, these gentlemen find as good
gardeners as they want, (all Europeans.) Their
science has been all acquired without passing
through your preparatory garden, and I see noth-
ing in the way of every employer in the country
to go and do likewise. To an intelligent gardener
a residence of two years in our climate gives him
a thorough knowledge of how to proceed. It
matters not where you place a scientific gardener
— whether at Cape Cod or the Cape of Good
Hope — whether in a moist climate or a dry one —
he will very soon learn how to combat the diffi-
culties that surround him, the theory being the
same. All he has to do is to shape his practice
to the climate.
That the country is flooded with half gardeners
I will readily admit, but who has called them into
existence ? It is the parsimonious employers,
with whom the greatest qualification they can
produce is, that they will work cheap. My object
in writing this communication, was to show that
there are plenty of good gardeners in this coun-
try, and that the backward state of horticulture on
this continent is to be attributed more to the illib-
erality of the employers than to a want of scienti-
fic knowledge among the gardeners; and a visit to
the gentlemen's places that I have quoted proves
the truth of Sam Patch's assertion, " that some
things can be done as well as others." Your ap-
peal for help to the Mass. Horticultural Society, I
think will be made in vain — the funds of that in-
stitution, although ample, seem to be jnst enough
to divide in prizes among its own members. Re-
spectfully yours, John Qui nn. Ida Farm, Troy^
N. Y., June 19, 1850.
Answer. Mr. John Quinn has our thanks for
the way he shows his colors and manages his guns,
though he comes rather sharply into action.
We happen, fortunately, to know Mr. Quinn,
and have seen what he can do with his proper
weapons — in other words, that he is an excellent
gardener. The best answer, therefore, to the po-
sition he takes, that really good gardeners cannot
be found in this country, is to be drawn from the
man himself — for we believe he has had higher
wages for the past five years, by nearly one half,
than the majority of gardeners get in this coun-
try— and solely because he is such a gardener as
we would have our school send out.
We quite agree with him in his complaint that
more than half the employers will not give a good
gardener fair wages.* But this is owing to two
causes — first, that the emplovers do not know
what a good gardener is, and second, that there
are hundreds of professedly good gardeners in
America, who are almost good-for-nothing — but
who offer to work cheap — and until there is some
way of determining the value of what is offered,
it is clear that those who are ignorant of it will
be taken in. Hence, again, the utility of our pro-
posed school. No doubt an able, clever man will
quickly adapt himself to the climate — but as we
happen to have had such in our own employment,
and have lost many valuable plants while they were
busy in this kind of adaptation, we think it would
be better to have them ac(juire this at public cost.
The reason why commercial establishments, nur-
series and the like, get the best gardeners, is that
they send out to like establishments abroad and
receive men of certified character. Few private
individuals can do this, and have to take garden-
ers on their own showing. The school for garden-
ers would therefore benefit employers by sending
out men with reliable testimonials, and would
gradually raise the wages of competent garden-
ers, by forcing those who only call themselves
such, to fall back into the ranks of day laborers.
Ed.
Common Names of Wiid Plants. — I know
not how the Horticulturist would flourish without
the monthly spice of your untiring correspondent
Jeffreys. It is true, he sometimes seasons our
dishes with assafcetida, and sometimes with rose-
water, but then there is an air of honesty, ear-
nestness, and sometimes of enthusaism about him,
that every body likes. Besides, he seems to be
an universal savant, for neither yourself nor your
scores of correspondents can start a subject on
*The difference between being a porter in a store at 35 or ?40
per month, and having to pay the increased expenses of life in-a
city, and having a ranch less sum in the country, with perhaps
a house and garden free, must be taken into account. It i>
not what a man gets, but what he can save, that makes tik
profit.
54
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
•which he is not ready to say at least a few words.
As a general rule, too, his suggestions are much
to the purpose, having often, to my mind, been
the means of introducing new ideas and improved
methods. It is true, that when his critique, on
the subject of deep growing roots, left me to the
tender mercies of Dr. Stevens, I did not think he
had got to the root of that matter; but now, when
bethinks " I deserve a gold medal," for having
talked up to the mark about Indigenous Flowers,
I cannot but admire his taste and knowledge.
Such is human nature.
And now for his suggestion of giving the com-
mon names of my indigenous list. I think this is
a timely as well as a reasonable hint, and there-
fore, as far as the plants have common names,
shall give them, and I hope in season for the next
number. Where there are several species, the
name of the genus will perhaps be sufficient.
Liatris — Gay-feather.
Leptaiidria — Culver'' s physic.
Lygodium — Cltnibing Fern.
Mimulus — Monkey Flower.
Myricn — Bay berry.
Nymphfea — Poiid Lily.
Osmunda — Floicering Fern.
Priuos — i'potted Alder.
Pyrol a — Winter-green .
Rhodora — Canadian Rhodora.
Rhododendron — Sicamp-pvk.
Salix conifera — Cone-bearing
Willow.
Staphylea — Bladder-nut.
Spirsea — Hard-hack.
Sarraeenia — Side-saddle fotcer.
Sagitlaria — Arrovj-head.
Solidago odora — Sweet golden-
rod.
Typliia — Cat^s-tail.
Thaliclrum — Meadow-rue.
Triosteum — Fetter root.
TnlUum—TriUittm.
Teplirosia — Cat-gut.
Vcrbascum — Moth mvllein.
Viola — Bird''sfoot violet.
Virburnum — Maple-leaved virb.
Arrmc-wood.
Vicia cracca — Tufted vetch.
Ac oras — Sweet-flag.
Acer — Maple.
Aristolochia — Snake-root.
Apocynum — Dog's bane.
Aquilegia — Columbine.
Actaea — Bane-berry.
Arbulus — Bear-berry.
Asclepias — Milkiveed.
Aster — Star-flmier.
Coplis — Goldthread.
Calllia — Cou-slip.
C ornus — Dog-wood.
Clematis — Virgin's botcer.
Convalaria — Solomon's seal.
Clethra — Siceet pepper.
Ceaiiothus — Jersey tea.
Cypripedium — Ladies' slipper.
Dirca — Leather wood,
Epilobium — Willmv-herb.
Equisetum — Scouring-rush.
Gentiaiia — Soapirort gentian.
Gerardia — Yellow Gerard ia.
Hamameljs — Witch hazle.
Habenaria — Orchis.
Hepatica — Liverwort.
Kalmia — Laurel.
Liliutn — Yellmv and red Lily.
Lysimachia — Loose stripe.
Xiudwegia — Seed-box.
Lobelia — Cardinal floicer.
I might extend this list quite readily by extract-
ing from that of Mr. Grkene, of Boston, publish-
ed in your May number. He has added several
fine specimens, and among them Calypso Ameru
cana, Sabbatia chlorloides, Panax quinquefolia,
all of which I should like to have by way of ex-
change. Yours truly, /. L. Comstock. Hart-
ford, June 6, 1850.
Notes on Grape Culture. — Notwithstanding
all that has been written and is daily appearing
on the culture of the grapevine here, there is a
lack of information as to its general management
every where around us ; as well with people of
high practical pretensions as with the mechanic
and farmer. It is for the latter, and not for pro-
ficients that I venture to become a contributor to
your Journal. I shall not refer to any of the
modes adopted in scientific works and extensive
vineyards, but to that which is seen every where
at the mechanic's cottage and the farm-house.
Our people all plant grapes for two essential ob-
jects, viz: Shade and fruit; but ere many years
elapse the vines become stunted and feeble, the
fruit shanks and shrivels, and nothing but shade
can be obtained. The cause of this may be justly
attributed to two prevailing evils, want of proper
manure and bad manag^ement.
The great relish every body has for this fruit
in our warm climate, not unfrequently induces the
majority of our people to forfeit quality for quan-
tity. In endeavoring to achieve this object they
seldom cut out any but the extreme tops of the
branches in the winter pruning, while in summer
every eye is left to bear shoots, and every shoot
to ripen all the fruit it shows. In this confused
state they become, by the end of summer, a com-
plete mass of worthless, ill-flavored fruit, and
useless, half-ripened branches. Others boast of
treating theirs something more scientifically, in
attempting to prune on the spur system, but with
equally bad results.
The manner in which it is performed, almost
without exception, being this; the main branches
being once established, they keep shortening the
young shoots, year after year, till in a single spur
there are several years wood, looking more like so
many antlers than any thing else.
This is one of the principle causes of shanking
and shriveling, and the older those spurs are the
more will those diseases increase; hence the ne-
cessity of making a proper reserve in the summer
dressing, and the sooner it will be now attended
to the better. There is little or no difficulty in
selecting a due suppl)' of young shoots at this
season. Those nearest the main branches should
be prefered ; if growing from the main branch so
much the better, for it is such that always bear
the largest and best fruit. All superabundant and
useless branches should be cut away ; even your
favorite old spurs can be cut now with as much
safety as in the fall (besides gaining a season's
growth,) tying the young shoots to their places
to become the bearing wood of the next year, and
nipping all laterals they produce above the first
eye, and not cutting these laterals entirely away
as too many do.
This is a point seemingly but little understood,
and to which I would like to call special atten-
tion, for this reason, that when the laterals are
cut clear away the principal eye will soon break
again, and exhaust itself in the production of use-
less branches. After a few years of this injudici-
ous treatment it will be denounced as a barren
and worthless variety, and the plant vender of
whom it was purchased, will get his share of the
blame.
Those wishing information on the manure best
suiting the vine can consult the articles on special
manures in the Horticulturist. Fidelius.
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
5^
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
Pkuning Young Trees. — i Canada Nursery-
man, (Toronto.) We prefer early summer pruning
for all young trees like those you refer to. The
branches then heal over rapidly, without attention.
You may prune with safety at any season if you
apply to the wojnci the shellac mixture given in
our Fruits and Fruit Trees; otherwise the wounds
(except in early summer,) are liable to decay,
especially in a northern climate.
Linden Trees. — Two Subscribers, Boston. —
The spotted leaves of this tree like those you sent
us we have seen before. They appear to us to
be affected by a disease of the cuticle or outer
covering of the leaf — owing, as we think, to some
defect in the soil, as we have never observed it in
deep, rich soils, which this tree prefers. The best
remedy is to dig a trench two feet deep and as
wide as you can afford, around the outside of the
ball of roots, and fill it with rich soil — rather re-
tentive of moisture, with a little salt sprinkled
through it — say at the rate of half a peck to a
trench for a tree 15 feet high. The autumn is
the best time to do this.
Pear Blight.—/. W. J. (Philadelphia.) We
think the foliage you sent us discolored by a spe-
cies of fungus — perhaps induced to fix itself upon
them by a diseased condition of the trees. Slack
fresh lime with brine, mix it with about fi\-e times
its bulk of soil, and let it lie for a fortnight, then
apply it as a top dressing to the roots at the rate
of half a peck of lime to a small tree just begin-
ing to bear, and half a bushel to a full-grown or
old tree.
Grape Vine.— Jf. L. S. (Geneva, N. Y.)—
You should have cut your vine down to one
strong bud (or rubbed off all the others,) when
you planted it. It will answer now if you let but
one shoot grow to each rafter, pinching off all the
others.
Elm Tree Insects. — H. A. Wright, (New-
port.) The insect which infects your elm trees is
we presume the canker worm. To prevent their
attacking the trees they should have a belt or
girth of coarse canvass or cloth closely wound
round their trunks, and smeared with fluid india-
rubber. To make it fluid burn a pair of old over-
shoes over a gallipot or pan, (into which it will
fall drop by drop before a very hot fire.) where it
will remain fluid. It is so sticky that the insects
in crawling on the trunk will be caught and cap-
tured.
Raspberries. — W. W. (Salem, Mass.) Your
crop has failed for two years past because the
plants have been so long on the same soil that
they have exhausted it. Make a fresh plantation
in another part of your garden — trenching in a
little plaster and a plentiful dressing of ashes be-
fore hand.
Chinese Wistaria.— X. V. Z. (Buffalo.) No
plant is more easily propagated. Take down
some of the long shoots of the present year's wood
immediately — bury a portion midway between the
root and end under the surface, wounding the
bark here and there a little with the knile when
covered with the soil, and they will root finely by
next November. July is the best month for mak-
ing layers of roses or any hardy shrubs.
Rhododendrons. — 4 Beginner, (Newark, N.
J.) You will find it not difficult to cultivate those
plants if you will choose a shady border on the
north side of a fence or in the shade of trees ;
though in the latter case the roots must be cut off
the trees or they will exhaust the soil too much.
If your soil is heavy mix peat earth well decom-
posed, and coal ashes with it.
Budding. — W. Thompson, (Clinton co., N.
Y.) The plum fails usually because it is left too
late. It should be inoculated the first moment the
buds begin to be firm — which with you will be about
the fourth of July. Roses should be budded im-
mediately.
Cape Jasmines. — 4 Lady in New-England. —
Your plants are sickly because they have not the
right soil. Send into the woods, get a basket full
of the rich mould under the decaying leaves, and
mix it with about a third white sand and a hand-
ful or two of fine charcoal, and shake off a good
deal of the old soil from the roots and repot them in
this compost. They should be kept in summer in
a half.shaded spot.
PE.A.CH 1 rees. — W. Mayer, (New- York.) —
Your peach trees have the yellows, and the bettor
thing would be to dig them up and burn them.
Get a fresh stock from some district of the coun-
try where the trees are sound and healthy. The
seedlings from the stone this spring will be fit to
bud in September.
Cherry Seedling?. — W., (Chicago.) If you
wish to be sure of the vegetating of the cherry
stones next spring you must sow them directly
after they are gathered. Plant them in drills,
like peas, about an inch deep, and cover the sur-
face of the ground with hay, straw, litter, tan-
bark, or whatever other mulching is most conve-
niently obtained. Seedlings from Morello (pie
cherries,) do not make good stocks for working on.
The black Mazzard or " common Black English
cherry" is preferred.
Carnations. — M. T., (Baltimore.) MaKe
the layers as soon as possible after the flowers
have faded ; and in order to secure their forming
an abundance of roots you should water them
every evening. Cover the surface of the soil with
a little new-mown hay to keep it cool.
Brcgmansia.— /. P. W., (New-York.) The
plant you describe as the double white Datura, is
known as the Brugmansia Knightii — and, grown
in a large tub or turned out in a rich border in
summer, is one of the most showy of exotic
shrubs. It is easily obtained of the principal flo-
rists and grows readily from cuttings.
Native Grapes. — Vitis, (New-Bedford.) We
56
PENNSYLVANIA HORT. SOCIETY.
are familiar ^ith tne native white grape you
speak ol'. It is the Early Fox grape, and though
reddish amber color in the sun, is pale green in the
shade. But few berries are borne in a cluster.
We assure you this grope is too " foxy" in its
flavor, and has too firm a pulp to be tolerated by
good judges. It however, makes a delicious
jelly.
PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The stated meeting of this society was held in the Chinese
Saloon on Tuesday evening, June 18, 1S50. The president iii
the chair.
Premiums awarded on the occasion were, — by the cotrimit-
tee on plauls and flowers,— pinks, for the hest six. to William
Hobson. Hot-house plants— for the best three specimens, to
James Bisset, nardener to James Dundas ; for the second best,
lo Maurice Fiini. G reea-house plants— for the best three spe-
cimens, to Maurice Film. Collection of plants in pols— lor
the best, to James Bisset; for the second best, to Maurice
Finn; for the third best, lo Wm. Burnley, foreman to John
Sherwood. Desi<;n of cut flower*— for the best, to Maurice
Finn; for the second best, lo Ben Daniels. Basket of cut
flowers- for the best, to Ben Daniels; for the best bouquet
of indigenous flowers, to Robert Kilviiigtoii. And special pre-
miums', for a very large display of cut roses, three dollars, to
Robert Buist; for two beautiful bouquet designs, three dol-
lars, to Patrick Gallagher, gardener to Miss Gratz; for a
handsome basket of indigenous flowers, two dollars, to Mrs
Dr. Coleman, of Pemberton, N. J.
By the committee on fruits. Grapes— for the best three
bunches, of a black varietv (Black Hamburg,) to Ben Daniels,
gardener to C. Cope ; for the best three bunches of a white
variety, to F'd'k tV'oU". gardener to Mrs. Gamlies, Montgome-
ry county Strawberries— for the best two quarts of a named
variety, (Hovey's Seedlin?,) to Robert Lovelace, gardener to
Mr Warne, Fraiikford ; for the second best ditto, (Hovey's
Seedling.) to Anthony Feheii; for the third best, (Moyameii-
eiiio-,) to Mr. Page, Burliiisftou, N. J. Cherries— for the best
three pounds. (May Duke,) to Isaac B. Baxter; for the third
best, (Early Richmond,) to Wm. Hobson. And a special
premium of five dollars lo Ben Daniels, for eight varieties of
grapes, three of peaches, and one of nectarines. The com-
mittee recommend to the notice of the meeting the following
varieties of strawberries, viz., Methven Scarlet, Baltimore,
CuehiiiiT, and six seedlings by Dr. Brinckle.
By the commillee on veiretables. For the best display by a
commercial sardcner, to Anlhony Fehen ; for the best di.splay
by an amateur gardener, to Ben Daniels, gardener to C. Cope ;
for the second best display, to P. Gallagher, gardener lo Miss
Gratz.
The corresponding secretary reported a communication, re-
ceived from Dr. J. A. Kennicott, of Illinois, in acknowledg-
ment for his election as an honorary and corresponding mem-
ber.
Objects Shown.— Ptan««—By Ben Daniels, gardener to
Caleb Cope, Stauhopea grandiflora, Ceropegia elegans, Brug-
mansia Knightii. Mimulus cardinalis, Scutellaria VeiUenaltii,
Rasselliajuucea, Lanlana crocea, Acropea I,oddiesii, Justicia
carnea, Achimenes longiflora, A. patens, Cuphea platycen-
tra, oncidium sp., Fuchsia Napoleon, Hero, Lady Sale, Chau-
verii and Mirabilis.
By James Bisset, gardener to James Dundas, jEschynan-
thus Bosceanus, Zygopetalon, 6 Cuphea platycentra, 3 Achime-
nes sp , 8 Calceolaria;, 8 Verbence, 6 Fuchsiae, Mathiola and
8 Viote.
By Maurice Fitm gardener to John Lambert, Pentas car-
nea, Ixora ro.sea, Gloxinia rubra, G. arborea, G. seedlings,
Rondeletia speciosa, Hoya carnosa, Gnaphalium orieiitalis,
Brugmansia floribunda. Calceolaria meteor, C. rugosa, C.
seedlings, Hydrangeae, Fuchsia Chauverii, F. exoniensis, F.
rosea alba, F. fulgens, F. mirabilis, Correlina, Pttuma, Pe-
largonias. Rosae and CinerarisE.
By John Sherwood's foreman, Cestrum aurantiacum. Fuch-
sia magnificent, F. beauty supreme, F. flavescens, F. cottom of the
standard B, is a nut and adjusting screw, W,
to which the slip of bass wood is attached ; a
plate of brass is screwed to the top of the
wood, and is fastened by a pin to the lever
E ; from this lever a silk thread is carried
around the pulley L, in a spiral groove ; the
axis of this pulley passes a dial plate and car-
ries an index. At N is a vessel of water,
having a proper supply pipe leading to it, the
water being retained at a uniform level by the
waste pipe P, and connected with the water
in the small vessel I, by a syj'hon. The re-
spective length of the legs of the syphon is
immaterial, as the flow of the water depends
upon the relative level of the surface of the
water in the resei'voir, and that in the cup ;
both legs being immersed, the syphon re-
mains constantly filled with water.
To put the instrument in operation, let the
apartment be kept at its mean temperature,
and at the degree of moisture rec{uired, both
of the vessels and the syphon being filled
with water. After the instrument has been
exposed to this atmosphere a short time, turn
the screw at W until the orifice in the vessel
I is level with the top of the waste pipe P ;
then turn the pully L, and set the index at
zero. The instrument being thus adjusted,
if the air becomes more dry the slip of wood
contracts, the small cup descends, and water
flows into it from the stationary reservoir ;
the water then escapes from the orifice in the
side of the cup, falls into a funnel, and thence
into a pipe, which, when the insti'ument is
used in green-houses, conveys the water to
evaporating pans placed upon the flues, or to
a horizontal pipe, having openings at its up-
per surface at suitable intervals, from which
the water falls at any point desired. As the
water thus discharged evaporates, the sur-
rounding air is moistened, the wood is ex-
panded, and when it attains its original
length, the orifice in the cup is again raised
to the level of the surface of the water in the
reservoir, and the flow of the water ceases.
If, from any cause, the air should become too
moist, the only efiect produced is, that the
cup continues to rise, and a small C|uantily o^
water flows back to the large reservoir.
If, by accident, the air should become very
dry, the further contraction of the wood
causes a larger quantity of water to issue
from the cuj) than is due to this change in the
hygrometric state of the air, the discharge
being accele7-ated as the difference of level
between the two surfaces increases ; thus the
return of the air towards its normal condition
is the most rapid at the time when it is of the
most importance that the moisture should be
restored. The same degree of moisture may
be made to discharge a greater or less quan-
tity of water, by moving the fulcrum of
the horizontal \e\ev to the right or to the
left.
The opening and closing of valves and stop-
cocks is attended with nuich friction, but in
this instrument, it will be observed that the
water flows through the syphon with a very
small amount of friction, and that little power
is required to depress the cup. This plan
may, therefore, be used to advantage in many
instruments in which the motive power is
small, the weight of the water discharged
being applied to produce more extended or
more fitrcible movements.
f John M. Baciielder.
Boston, ilfajy 22, 1S50.
ON RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS.*
BY M. NEUMANN, PARIS
No. XI. Cuttings by Pieces of the
Trunk. — This mode of multiplication, which
I first published seven years ago, is now in
use in all countries. I employed, for the first
time, Cycas circinalis, which was then rare in
Fig. 11. — Section of the trunk of Cycas circinalis..
green-houses. For this purpose I cut some
slips, or slices, l.\ inches or 2 inches thick;
I then left them freely exposed to heat for
four or five days, to dry them ; then I ]ilantcd
them in pots of suitable size, which I placed
covered with a bell-glass, upon a hot-bed.
These slices are not long before they emit
roots, and show shoots between the scales ;
(fig. 11.) When all these were formed, I de-
tached them, in order to make cuttings, which
developed themselves as well as the plant
which served to make the cuttings'. I did not
then doubt that, in dividing these slices of
Cycas like the roots of Paulownia, I should
obtain the same results ; I then cut them
into several pieces {d c, fig. 11,) each of
which gave me a new plant. The head of
the Cycas (a,) which I had cut to obtain the
slices, was planted after having been exposed
to the air of the stove for three weeks ; I did
not expect any result from it, because it was
so young ; but, in the following year, I per-
ceived that this head had taken root, and it
soon produced shoots which showed them-
selves in the same manner as the parts before
cut. It is generally one year before these
cuttings take root. Perhaps we shall be able
some day to obtain plants of Cycas by striking
the scales with which this plant is provided.
Peg Cuttings.— The easiest and simplest
of all cuttings is known under the name of
peg cutting ; it is that generally used for^ml-
tiplying trees which grow near wa-
ter, such as Osiers, Poplars, &c. ^
For this purpose we employ branch-
es of a certain strength, and we cut
the lower end to a point, as in fig.
12 ; we then force it into a hole in
the ground previously made by a
stake, or, which is preferable, into
a hole larger than the cutting, and
which we then fill with earth, press-
ing it down as soon as the cutting is put in
its place. Everybody knows that cuttings
root more easily in a light soil than in one
too compact ; it is for this reason that I ad-
vise tins last method. I ought here to no-
tice, among the Poplars, P. heterophylla and
P. argentea, which take root from cuttings
with difficulty. They are, therefore, better
grafted on P. Caroliniana, to -^^
which they have more analogy.
Cuttings of the Trunk,
— This species of propagation
is the same as peg cuttings
made with stronger branches ;
I mention it separately here,
in order to call to mind that
we may make cuttings of trees o
of considerable size, (fig. 13.) /l\'^'
Anybody may have seen on)! '
the borders of rivers, where
Willows are cultivated, the
stems of such trees sharpened,
and forced into the soil to keep
together the beds ; these Wil-
lows root freely, and often live for a long
* Continued from page 19.
Fig. 13.
64
RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS.
Fig:. 14 — Heel-cutlivg
of Gustavia aiigitsta.
time, although they may have been injured
hy the vinleiice used in jdaiiting them. There
is in the possession of M. Jacques, at Neuilly,
a specimen of Sophora japonica which took
root in this manner.
No. XII. Cuttings with a Heel. —
This method, called cutting with a heel, is
well known ; it consists in carefully raising
up a branch (see fig. 14,) in
such a manner that the wood
wdiich unites it to the prin-
cipal stem is detached with
the cutting ; this wood has
the advantage of exciting the
development of the roots.
The branches which are thus
cut ought to be two or three
years old ; the roots come
out better from this wood
than from one year old shoots.
Such cuttings are made the
length of three or four e3'es,
of which two or three are
buried, and one is always left above ground.
Cuttings by Branches. — The evergreens
which we cultivate in the open air ma}' be
multiplied by cuttings, if we choose the
branches of the preceding year at the time
when the sap begins to rise. The month of
March seems to me the best for the climate
of Paris. The Abies Deodara, which I intro-
duced into France some years ago, and which
resists the severity of our winters so well,
may be multiplied perfectly by cuttings of its
branches.
The instrument with which
the branch intended to be put
into the earth is cut, ought to
be so sharp that the wound
presents no raggedness ; it is
usually cut rather a little be-
low the petiole than above it ;
if this operation has been well
performed, the base of the pe-
tiole ought to remain after the
cutting, as is shown in fig. 15 ;
the same branch cut into seve-
ral portions, following the same
plan, forms as many cuttings
as there are pieces. The leaves which might
hinder the planting of the cutting are cut at
one-twentieth or one-sixteenth of an inch from
the base of the petiole.
There are certain plants, as the Clusia, for
example, W'hose leaves we do not cut off.
Buds are often formed in the axils, which
pierce the earth and develop themselves in
the air. It has been said, and some persons
still say, that such cuttings never form fine
trees ; this idea seems to me erroneous, and,
in defence of what I say, I shall quote the
examples of Araucaria excelsa and Cunuing-
hami, which, raised from cuttings, cannot be
distinguished from plants raised from seeds ;
Poplars, Abies lanceolata, &c., are in the
same ease.
It is not, however, an indifferent matter,
whether such or such a branch is taken for
striking ; there are some trees which, when
lateral branches are operated on, only give
lateral branches, and never form ar head ;
such are Araucarias, Abies, Proteas, some
species of Leguminous and other trees ; but
if we detach the head of these plants to make
a cutting, we obtain a plant in every respect
similar to that produced from a seed of the
same species.
However there are some species of trees
whose cuttings made from lateral branches
will produce, under the callus, when arrived
at a certain strength, a true shoot which will
not be long in showing itself, and will one
day form a plant having the same appearance
as that which a cutting made from the head
would have produced. Physiology teaches
us that the callus which is formed at the base
of a cutting is nothing more than a successive
collection of a multitude of small bladders or
nipples, which are white when they are formed
under the earth, and take their proper green
colour as soon as they are exposed to the
light : these bladders
are easily seen by the
naked eye.
When they are suf-
ficiently collected to
give birth to a new
being, the bud then
developes itself, and
the tree begins to
grow ; such is the ef-
fect which is remai-k-
ed in the cuttings of
Abies lanceolata, Gin-
ko biloba, and many
others.
Fig. 16 gives anp.^^g_^^^^.^,^^^^.^^^^
idea of this phenome- ceoiata.
CRITIQUE ON THE JUNE HORTICULTURIST.
65
non ; dis a lateral branch struck from a cut-
ting, e is the callus, c a branch sprung from
an adventitious bud and destined to become
a tree which, to be well formed, ought to be
produced upon the cellular matter of the cal-
lus and not upon the stem of the cutting ;
this last ought to be cut the moment that the
shoot which it has brought to light is a little
developed.
Some years ago I was advised to put a lat-
eral branch of Araucaria excelsa into the
ground ; I was told that I should obtain
along this branch adventitious buds which
would form heads ; I tried it, and never
obtained a satisfactory result, nor have I
ever been able to find at any horticulturists
a single fact in defence of the specula-
tion.
CRITIQUE ON THE JUNE HORTICULTURIST.
BV JI:;FFREYi!, NEAV-YORK.
Your Leader. — Our Country Villages. —
All very well, and rightly said — the IMassa-
ehusetts part, in particular. They do under-
stand things better there, as a state, in the
way of living clean and comfortable about
their houses and grounds, than in any other
state of the union. From Pittsfield to Na-
hant, in its entire length, or from Northficld
down the Connecticut valley to Long IMea-
dow, in its full breadth, and through all its
river com-ses, from the Ilnu^atnnic in tlie west
to the Merrimack in the cast, are the loveli-
est villages tliat live, and though barren, hard
and rugged be the soil of IMassachusetts, " it
is a land of beauty and of grandeur" — beauti-
ful in its soft, sunny spots of cultivation and
embellishments — grand in its mountains, riv-
ers, valleys, capes, and ocean. But your
regular villages ! they are 7iot in Massachu-
setts. In all their beauty throughout the
state — T mean the old ones, for they are by
far the prettiest — those ancient villages are
laid out on the cow-path system of pilgrim
times ; no parks, but a " green ;" a wimpling
brook or a babbling river, with broad elms
and willows clustered over its silvery bed, to
screen it from the fierce glare of the sun ; a
stretch of luxuriant meadow ; a gentle hill or
a rocky ledge now and then upon its outskirts ;
mountains in the distance ; in its heart the
neatest churches and school houses ; and
spreading out upon its winding streets, the
sweetest homes, the fairest lawns, the choicest
gardens, and the grandest trees in the uni-
verse ! Witness Stockljridge, Northampton,
Lancaster, and a hundred others, to say noth-
ing of the delicious places round aliout Bos-
ton ; which, by the way, are losing half their
beauty and rurality in the starch and macca-
roni atmosphere which the city emigration
has brought into them. Why, if you want to
know the superiority of such winding streets,
just recollect back a few years ago, when we
were boys, and bring to mind the pleasant old
roads crooking out in various ways from
Greenwich-street, Broadway, and the Bowery,
in this goodly city of Gotham, which thread-
ed out all over the island, between old mossy
stone walls, with wild-briar hedges overgrown;
ledges of high rock ; the occasional market
garden, and low perched cottage enclosed ;
and now and then the hospitable looking,
broad-porched old mansion of the Stuyve-
sants, the Grades, the Bays, the Schermer-
horns, or the Le Roys, with their long ave-
nues of horse chestnuts, and elms, and Eng-
lish cherries, and box, and arbor vitEe. And
now where are they ? Gone, alas, forever ,
but that was country — rural; one could smell
it, and feel it, as he coursed, or drove, or
walked those pleasant lanes and bye-roads.
And such, among such lands elsewhere, should
66
CRITIQUE ON THE JUNE HORTICULTURIST.
be country residences now. I have known a
man to spend a thousand dollars in blasting
away a great cluster of rock, and turning off
a delicious and chrystal brook from his lawn,
where the same rock and the same brook, with
ten dollars worth of vines and shrubbery
planted about them, were worth, in rural ef-
fect, all the frippery put together, which he
had built there at an expense of ten thousand.
Strange that people going into the country for
a summer's stay, can't be content with the
country alone, but make themselves and all
about them miserable, because in their fool-
ish pride, they will take the city and its
nonsense along with them ! Why, my good
friends, the very object of getting into the
country at all, is to ruralize — to repose — to
keep off the dust, and suffocation, and tur-
moil, and pestilence of the city — to pick the
wild huckleberries and blackberries, and eat
them in your bread and milk, and make pies
and puddings of them ; to feed your ducks
and chickens, and enjoy your fruits and gar-
dens ; and better than all, to turn the child-
ren out into the lawn, or the paddock — to
catch the pony and ride bare-back if they
choose to, scampering boys and girls together
over the pasture ! Then let the governess be
dismissed for a summer's visit to her own
friends. She will be all the fresher and more
elastic in spirit for the next winter's cam-
paign with the young daughters, who, in
their buoyant romping over the fields, will
expand their chests and dilate their lungs —
•all the stouter for Mesdames "VValtz-enwack
and Polka-lair to exercise their ingenuity up-
on, in torturing and compressing them into the
fashionable wasp dimension when they " come
out." And if your summer retreat be in a
farming neighborhood, turn the boys for a few
weeks into the district school with the farm-
ers' children. Let them play ball, trundle
hoops, fly kites, run foot races, pitch quoits.
Farmers' boys are usually smart at such play,
and if yours should beat them in the games,
'twould be a trophy in their caps. Let them
swim in the river too, fish for dace and chubs
in the brook, or bob for eels in the mill-pond.
All these will do your boys no harm — even if
in wrestling with the other youngsters they
tear their jackets, and dirty their faces in their
rough play. Ten to one, these same tow-
headed farmers' boys will one day sail your
ships, be the partners of your sons in busi-
ness, or mayhap, marry your daughters, and
you like them all the better that their whole-
some stamina was acquired in the pure air of
a country life.
Aye, and put yourselves at once on good
terms with your quiet country neighbors. Al-
though they be plain people, they possess kind
hearts and many virtues, and will do you
many a good turn ; and as you treat them,
will you, in their estimation, be " the best
kind of city folks," or mere "stick-ups." How
many pleasant, social afternoon and evening
visits do sensible people in their summer so-
journings make among their farmer neighbors,
who impart, in their own way, quite as much
instruction and pleasure as is given in return
by those who profess to be better informed !
And again, I have known even very good sort
of city folks, when i7i the city, wonderfully
fretted at the rudeness of their country neigh-
bors, because they would not at first sight
submit to their own arrogant pretensions of a
higher gentility, and in their intercourse ac-
knowledge a superior caste in their new neigh-
bors, which they were utter strangers to, and
had, most properly, never been taught to ad-
mire ; thus making themselves wretched be-
cause of a sheer misunderstanding of human
nature.
But the age of poetry is gone, and I sup-
pose with the new fashions and the rail-roads,
we are hereafter to have, in the new city-vil-
lages which are to be built upon them for sum-
mer resort, rectangular streets, and fancy hou-
CRITIQUE ON THE JUNE HORTICULTURIST.
67
ses stuck up like the " four and twenty fid-
dlers all in a row," on fifty-foot lots, as you
say, and looking for all the world as nice and
uniform as a shop-keeper's shelves with their
shining wares so spruce and gingerly upon
them. Well, I suppose the people like it,
and there is no other way but to let them suf-
fer— for enjoy them they cannot; that is alto-
gether out of the question ; and as some folks
take a great deal of comfort in being misera-
ble, why, let them do as they like. You may
talk, my good sir — and I am glad to hear you
— as long as you please, but such people don't
read you ; and if they did, three out of four
could not understand what you meant.
Plough Notes from the West. — I hope Dr.
Kennicott will preach a little good sense into
the people on the subject of substituting good
fruits for apothecary shops, as articles of diet.
No subject will better bear handling.
As to your farmer schools, Dootor, you've
got to hannner more tact into our farmers'
heads than they have yet shown, either in le-
gislation or election, before you'll work them
up to a right understanding of their own in-
terests. The demagogues and politicians have
had it all their own w^ay thus far, and so they
are like to have it for a long while to come,
unless somebod.y wakes up suddenly.
As to the " Bureau," Gen. Taylor has
shown his proper estimate of the importance
of intelligent agriculture, in proposing it, and
Mr. EwiNG his correct appreciation of the
true interests of the country in enforcing the
measure, to Congress. But who supposes
that the present Congress — the most fruitful
in abortions yet seen — will do any thing for
any interest beyond their own aggrandizement
or the gratification of their own selfish objects?
— No, answer.
A Letter to Ladies in Toim. —
'• To tliee, my Flower, wliose breath was given
By milder genii,"
it may beunembarrassing that I am not a young
man, persuasive and accomplished, instead of
a gouty grandfather, merging into the " sear
and yellow leaf;" for there would be a brisk
chance of a proposal, and, in answer, most
likely a — refusal, as soon after I could car-
ry my spruce figure into New England, as eti-
quette Avould permit. But such contingency
past, I can only express my pleasure to find
one of the gentler sex — God bless them all !
— " coming over to Macedonia to help us."
The first music of the song-sparrow in spring,
or the rich melody of the summer oriole, is
not more welcome — and oh, how sweet the7j
are! — than such heart-stirring notes in the
Horticulturist. Write again, and often, my
charming friend. Your auditory " is legion."
And such a field no missionary — I speak it
with reverence — this side the Caffrce country,
has for his gathering.
Coal Cinders for Pear Trees. — " Keep it
before the people," as tlie politicians say.
What is continually around us, is the last
thing we see, or think of. Now here are not
only hundreds but thousands t)f loads of cin-
ders and ashes dumped daily into the rivers
from our goodly city, as well as from most of
the great towns all over the country, thrown
away or buried, that would feed all the pear
trees in cultivation, while thousands of dollars
are annually spent to get rid of them, when
but a trifle more expense would put them to
excellent use. Do keep stirring up these ev-
ery-day subjects, and show the public that the
enriching material which they so expensively
seek, is a perpetual nuisance under their feet
and noses.
The Good Effects of Mulching. — I am go-
ing to tell you a story about mulching, by
and by, if I live — provided present prospects
don't blast before that time — that will en-
lighten somebody, and probably no one more
than myself. I've tried an experiment in
that way the past spring, which will settle the
virtues of this doctrine most thoroughly.
68
CRITIQUE ON THE JUNE HORTICULTURIST.
Tan-hark for Mulching. — Any thing, Mr.
Cleveland might as well have added. How
many thousand loads of this invaluable mate-
rial do we see daily rot tine in unsightly heaps
around the country, that would be worth a
fortune if applied about the roots of all sorts
of trees, shrubs, and a great many vegeta-
bles. To strawberries, tan-bark is the best
mulching possible, for it keeps them moist and
clean — two important requisites. I hope the
the public will appreciate these valuable
notes.
I thank iNIr. C. for his kind sentiments to-
ward myself ; but as I have continued my idle
remarks without the hope of applause or the
dread of censure, I trust I may survive the
peevishness of the discontented.
Design for a Gothic Country House., with
an elevation and plan. As it is said to be but
a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, so
backward it is but a step from the ridiculous
to the sensible. The house in this number is
a good one — substantial, plain, diiiuified —
very much so, in all three qualities.
I have said much abovit houses — perhaps
too much ; but as examples are placed before
me, the spirit moves, and I must needs go on.
And fii-st, a few words in general. lago said,
'■ Men should be what they seem ;" and why
not houses ? Our national propensity for im-
itation has led a gi-eat many builders not only
of houses but of churches and other public
structures, to copy the stout presentiment of
baronial castles, halls, temples, and rotundas,
tis they exist in Europe, without the slightest
conception of the absence of a corresponding
fitness of things or circumstances in ovir own
country to meet such structures. If we have
the immediate means to erect them, we cannot
transmit the hereditary wealth to perpetuate
and maintain them in our posterity; nor, if so,
have we the institutions which teach us to
venerate and preserve them ; nor a substantial
public taste to approve them. Yet our vanity
and ostentation urge us on to the tinsel coun-
terfeit of what, in its original, is truly grand
and magnificent, to attain the temporary pos-
session of what, among those entitled to judge,
must only render its builder and occupant, in
such character, contemptible.
The nobility and hereditary aristocracy of
Europe, with their immense landed estates,
and numerous tenantry, from whose labors
they draw an immense annual revenue, may,
with great propriety — as they view things —
indulge in the luxury of extended mansions,
halls, or castles. Indeed, it is proper for
them so to do. The soil of the realm is theirs
— and they are, either by absolute right or
courtesy, its legislators and masters. All the
pomp and circumstance which they assume,
they can and do maintain, as the same pomp
and circumstance — according to the times —
has been maintained through many centuries
past, by their sires ; and they can perpetuate
it to their own descendants in like manner
that it was perpetuated to themselves. All
such is the law of the land. Things are not
so here. The millionaire of to-day, two
chances to one, is the son of a " nobody" of
yesterday — of parents " poor, but honest,"
and whose only inheritance was their good
counsel and their blessing. The wealth which
he amasses, by the fortuitous chances of life,
may be squandered or lost by his immediate
descendants ; or, by a remarkable vein of for-
tune, may be perpetuated with a due quantity
of saving ancestral brain, to a generation or
two beyond. But the castle building million-
aire in America has no capital but his money,
on which to figure in his new habitation.
True, he may buy a large landed estate ; he
may squander a hundred thousand dollars, in
filling his house with costly pictures, and sta-
tuary, and furniture ; he may roll in his cha-
riot, and be attended by his out-riders ; and
in the excess of his afi"ected gentility, may
" not dine till next day;" but he must do it
CRITIQUE ON THE JUNE HORTICULTURIST.
69
alone ; or if not alone, he must surround him-
self with sycophants and parasites ; for he can
have no sympathy and companionship from the
truly worthy among his countrymen on such
pretense of mere wealth and ostentation alone.
They tell a story of Davy Crockett, who repre-
sented a mountain district of Tennessee in Con-
gress, during the Presidency of Gen. Jackson,
that wlien he had returned, after the first ses-
sion, to his constituents, at a log rolling, where
Davy was present, a large nundjer of his
friends liad assendjled, who wei-e curious to
know something of life in Washington.
Among other things, said Davy, " the com-
mon work-folks get their dinner ahout noon,
as we do ; the store-keepers eat about one or
two o'clock; Congressmen and office-holders
dine at three to four ; the cabinet and foreign
ministers dine at different hours — some at
five, six or seven o'clock, as may be." "All
very well," remarked his constituents, "but
we want to know when Old Hickory gets
his dinner." " Oh! that is altogether anoth-
er thing," said Davy ; " General Jackson
don't dine till next day !" The race of such
a man is short. " Out, brief candle," is his
history, so far as the " establishment" is con-
cerned, and there is an end of his consequence.
It therefore befits an American citizen to
build such a house as he can, if necessary,
dispose of without great sacrifice, or that shall
not distress his family after him to maintain
it. The old adage, that " fools build palaces
and wise men live in them," is as true now as
when first uttered, and no where has the pro-
verb been so repeatedly verified as in the
neighborhood of our large American towns.
The grand old homes of the English barons
and squires were what they purported to be.
There was " donjon keep and turret wall," as
well as " moated court, and bower, and hall,"
a fitness of things to time, and place, and life,
in the ruder times we so daintily affect to im-
itate in the building, altogether out of place
and keeping with any thing which we have in
the present day. The massive and imposing style
of country residences of the olden time, is now
absurdly mocked in our country in all sorts of
ways. The stately old castle of unhammered
stone, grey in weather-stained age, is counter-
feited in its entire complexion, in modern brick,
stucco, and paint ; with inside furniture and
trimmings to match. The substantial, hard-
burnt, russet bricks of the olden time, are here
imitated in wood, lath, and plaster ; which,
after three, four, or five years acquaintance
with the weather, becomes as ragged and bat-
tered with the frosts and rains upon its sides
as a sheep afilieted with the scab ; and so on
to the end of the chapter — a tawdry, untutor-
ed affectation of what one cannot reach, and
what, if he could, would only make him more
ridiculous.
The plan of the house in your frontispiece,
is, in the main, a very good one, and may be
made entii-ely so by trifling alteration. The
entrance porch, however, is not a sufficiently
prominent feature in the design — that always
should stand out a chief feature in a country
house — as a mark of welcome, of hospitality.
It is, besides, too far from the centre of the
elevation ; it would appear better at the room
A, and in such arrangement better accommo-
date the interior passage from the dining hall
to the parlor — which, by the way, is not light-
ed at all — a great defect — unless it be from
above. A passage should also be made from
the inner passage or hall to the kitchen or
servants' room, that the front door bell or-
knocker may be answered without going
thi'ough the dining hall — a serious interrup-
tion when the family are at meals. There is
one grand feature in this hovise that I ad-
mire— the huge outer chimney towering up
the gable end from the dining hall. Wliat a
grand wide place for a blazing wood fire, at
thanksgiving, or christmas, or wedding time,
or any other social time, with a back-log and
70
CULTURE OF GERANIUMS.
fore-stick of good hickory or maple wood,
drivingj in its glowing heat, your guests aiid
family into a wide circle round the room, and
lighting it up with such a cheerful, welcome
radiance, as will put modern gas and sperma-
ceti out of countenance — no sviell about it,
but the delicious odor of the sweet exuding
sap. Ah, my good sir, it is a very capital
house I
But why so large a landed estate, and stone
so very plenty, to permit such a house to one
who wants it ? I see no such great require-
ments in these particulars. Rough stones are
cheap — unhammered they should be ; and the
house is certainly not a very large one — a
good house, indeed, Mr. Downing. I wish some
person would build one like it, with the alte-
rations I have suggested. I would go a good
way to see it.
Whitewashijig. — The curculio again ! the
pestilent rascal ! I hope some plan is to be
ascertained among them all to stop their rav-
ages. We'll wait a little longer, and see what
this last cure will amount to.
Cream Hill Vindicated. — I feared as much.
"A pretty free sort of a country this," said
Teague, just after landing, " that a jintleman
can't say and do what he plazes, without such
a patter about his ears, and a threat of the
bilboes." One thing we have gained, howev-
er. Cream Hill has produced Ijoth poetry
and eloquence in its " vindication," and I
trust the effort of its vindicator, at a descrip-
tion of its fair proportions, has not "wrenched"
him so sadly as a "nothing" else might have
done.
I thank your correspondent, however, most
heartily, that in vindicating his favorite "hill,"
he has thus valiantly come up to my aid in il-
lustrating the genus "Imitatii," through his
signature "Fe?-eYas" — a name some thousand
years or more in date, and applied by odd
scores and more of pamphleteers and scrib-
blers every year from the Romans down. No
"imitation" in this, my good friend — none,
whatever.
Thus, Mr. Editor, terminates my random
seribblings on your now past volume of the
Horticulturist. That I have profited any one,
I may well doubt ; that I have amused now
and then a reader, is possible ; and if I have
done no harm, I shall be, at least, content.
My pen will now take its rest in the quiet re-
pose of my farm, and among the society of my
peaceful, rustic neighbors. Whether its labors
will again revisit your pages, is a question of
little moment, I presume, with yourself or your
readers. That, time and tide must deter-
mine. Jeffreys.
ON THE CULTURE OF GERANIUMS.
BY WM. CHORLTON, STATEN ISLAND.
The Pelargonium (Geranium,) is not only one
of the most splendid, but to the florist one of
the most useful genera. So superb is the in-
florescence of some, so unsurpassedly rich the
scent, and so delicate and handsome the foli-
age of other kinds, that no collection of plants,
however small, can be said to be complete
without a due selection of this favorite of
Flora. From the time of our great-grand-
mothers, it has been a justly popular plant.
The old "Horse Shoe" and "Ivy Leaf,"
were once seen in every cottage window, and
were looked upon as a part of the family by
all, from the old grandmother, who put on
her spectacles to watch its unfolding leaves,
to the smallest child, who stood tiptoe on buf-
CULTURE OF GERANIUMS.
71
fet to peep into the window, and though the
gorgeous flowers of the new hybridized varie-
ties, have in a great measure driven these
and many other old veterans nearly out of
the field ; yet all are deservedly admired.
While too much praise cannot he given to
such men as Beck, Lyne, Thurtell,
GrARTH, GrAINES, and a few others, for their
perseverance and ardor in bringing this genus
to what is acknowledged, in a floricultural
view to be perfection, yet it is much to be
regretted that so many of the old and ori-
ginally introduced species should have sunk
into oblivion. There were in many of them
forms as attractive, and colours equally bril-
liant as the new sorts ; and though the flow-
ers were not so large, the perfume of the
leaves of many species amply compensated for
this apparent deficiency. The florist, liaving
now arrived at his own standard of perfection
in this case, has become satiated, and looks
around for fresh novelties upon which to try
his skill ; yet he cannot relin((uish his old fa-
vorite, and he is now working at what he
pleases to call a foncy class of Pelargoniums,
several beautiful varieties of which are now
before the public ; but I am inclined to
think, that in the long run he will again get
into the same strain of flowers, for twenty
years ago there were many varieties which
are not unlike what he is now operating upon ;
and as form and brilliance are instinctive
feelings with him, I see no chance of other
results.
The geographical range of the genus may
be said to be limited, being confined to the
southern hemisphere, and, with a few excep-
tions, to the Cape of Good Hope, from which
place have been brought upwards of two
hundred species and sub-species. It belongs
to the class Monadelphia, and forms the or-
der Heptandria of the sexual, and to the or-
der Geraniaceae, of the natural system of bota-
ny. By authors, it is reduced into many sub-
divisions, owing to its multiplicity, for con-
venience in ascertaining distinctions, and re-
ferring more readily to individual species.
In culture, the more hei'baceous and succu-
lent kinds, as bicoloi', tricolor, carnosuvi, &c.,
require in winter a moderately warm tempe-
rature, say 50° by night, and 60° to 70° with
sunlight. The more robust sorts, such as
Zonall, the scarlet, and all the fine show
kinds, will do well with less heat, although all
of them do not like too much cold, and par-
ticularly sharp winds ; l»ut abundance of air
should be given at every favorable opportu-
nity. The whole family should be placed as
near the glass as possible ; without wliich
precaution they will grow weak and sappy,
and the blooming will be very nmch deterio-
rated. "Where proper convenience cannot be
had, the scarlets (such as Tom Thumb, etc.,)
may be taken up about the middle of Octo-
ber, and the roots covered with sandy loam
in a cool dry cellar, free from frost, and taken
out in early spring before they have pushed
much growth. If too soon td jilant in the
open ground, they must be \)\\i into pots in a
cool room, where there is light, and seldom
watered, only giving barelj' enough of that
element to support life till the weather is suf-
ficiently open, when they may be planted into
the flower borders, and will soon recover and
make a fine display all the summer. But
where there is sufiicient room in a green-
house, if placed near the glass, they will con-
tinue to bloom all the winter, and amply re-
pay for the room they occupy.
The culture of this genus is so simple that
it is matter of surprise to me that we see so
many ill grown and straggling specimens even,
in some of our best places. It appears as if
there were a determined intention to make
the most lovely of Flora's gifts hideous. I
am sure there is room for great improvement,
and hope we shall see it. A well grown Pe-
largonium should not have its stems in sight,
72
CULTURE OF GERANIUMS.
but covered by its ample leaves over the pot
edo-e ; its heii;ht ouo-ht not to exceed the
breadth, including the top of the bundles of
flowers. A plant of this form is always
pleasing, and certainly far preferable to the
naked scarecroivs we too often see.
The whole tribe may be propagated from
cuttings, portions of the root, or seed. The
most common method is by cuttings or slips,
which should be performed as follows : When
the plants have done flowering, cut them
down so as to leave only three or four eyes
of the present season's growth, and select for
the cuttings any portions which are hard and
•woody. These may be cut into lengths of
four joints each, — reserving the three upper
leaves, but cutting away the lower ones.
Then smooth off the lower part of the stem
to just below the lower joint. Any shoots
that have not flowered, and retain their crown
of leaves, may also be cut in the same way
and not topped. Choose as cool a place as
possible, and shaded from the sun's rays, i^ut
into a frame placed there a few inches of sand
or sandy loam, make it moderately firm, and
insert the cxittings four inches apart, being
careful not to put them deeper than the lower
joint, or they will be subject to damp off.
Give a moderate watering to settle the earth
close about them, and leave the frame open
till the leaves are dry, when put on the glass,
and be careful to give air in close damp
weather, particularly at night. "When it is
not requisite to propagate every portion of
any variety, it is better to throw away the
" cutting-down" branches, and wait till the
plants have grown four or five joints. By
this time the w^eather will be cooler ; besides,
the slips will be in a much better state for
striking. In this case, thin out the superflu-
ous shoots, place them in a frame as above,
or in the hot-house, either singly, into three,
or four, or five, into five-inch pots. In about
three weeks, they will be sufficiently rooted
when they may be planted out singly into
four-inch pots if robust growers, but weak
growers into smaller ones.
Propagation by roots may be perform-
ed by cutting the roots into pieces, from half
an inch to three inches long, and planting
them about an inch apart into pots or boxes,
placing them in an oblique position, leaving
that end cut from nearest to the stock level
with the top of the soil, or very little below
it. Put them in a gentle hot-bed, when they
will soon begin to grow. The process is
best performed early in the season, immedi-
ately before the plants begin to grow, as the
roots then contain most organizable matter,
and success is more certain. If performed
through the summer mouths, the hot-bed may
be dispensed with. This plan is most useful
in propagating the more succulent and tender
species. As some of them are rather impatient
of the kiiife, and the cutting apt to rot, it is
also serviceable in the other kinds when
speedy increase is the object ; but cuttings of
the latter make better plants.
Propagation from Seed. — This method
is practiced for the production of new varie-
ties, and also to perpetuate the more tender
and delicate species. In the former case, it
is time thrown away unless due care is taken
in impregnating the parents, which should be
allowed to bloom in an apartment where no
other of the same family is located, but the
two plants between which the cross is desira-
ble. Air should be freely given, or the em-
bryo seeds will not swell or come to perfec-
tion. They may be sown as soon as ripe.
When the first rough leaf is expanded, they
may be potted ofl^ singly into three-inch pots ;
place them in the shade for a few days, and
keep them in the house till they get strong
enough to bear the open air. Remove into
larger pots as occasion requires, They will
flower the following season, when all that are
worthless may be thrown out.
CULTURE OF GERANIUMS.
73
To cultivate the Pelargonium well in pots,
a moderately rich soil is required. Take for
the free growing kinds the top three inches,
(grass included,) of a free loam pasture,
mixed up with one-third well rotted horse or
cow manure, and one-sixth rotted leaves,
which have lain together twelve months. Do
not riddle or sift it, but break the larger
lumps with the back of the spade. When
potting, after putting in the bottom of the
pots an inch or two of crocks, lay some of the
decayed turfy and lumpy parts, and fill up
with the finer portion ; by so doing, the su-
perfluous water can drain away and prevent
the soil from becoming sodden. For the weak
and tender growing species, use equal por-
tions of peat, leaf mould, fresh loam and sand.
When the plants have clone flowering, cut
them down as above mentioned, place them
in a shady place in the open air, and turn the
pots on their sides for two or three days, only
allowing sufficient moisture to sustain life.
This will prevent bleeding, which sometimes
takes place, and the escaping sap from run-
ning down the branches, which rots them.
When they have grown an inch or two long,
they may be turned out of the pets, and the
old soil shaken from the roots, and all de-
cayed parts cut away. Shorten-in the healthy
roots a little, and re-pot in the same sized
pot — using the above compost ; but if much
diseased reduce the size of the pot, and use
fresh, turfy, free loam, without any manure
until the plant again becomes healthy ; re-
place them in the shade for eight or ten days,
and place boards or other substitutes under
the pots to prevent the ingress of worms ;
they may afterwards be placed in an open
situation till about the middle of October,
when they are to be removed into larger pots,
which will serve for blooming in. If fine and
abundant bloom is an object, never pot a Pe-
largonium in spring ; the plant is thereby
thrown into an undue luxuriant state, and the
Vol. v. 5
flowers small and few. I again repeat, avoid
sharp winds, but admit air freely at every
favorable opportunity ; be careful of drip from
the roof, and do not water overhead. Care
in these points will help away the spot, which
sometimes commits such ravages in this tribe.
About the middle of February, examine all
over, and thin out any superfluous or weak
shoots, leaving four or five of the strongest.
Provide a quantity of small stakes, and ar-
range them equidistant, according to the num-
ber of branches round the inner rim of the
pot, slanting outwards ; tie the shoots down,
one to each stake ; be careful that they do not
break off" at the base, as this is easily done.
It is well to run the ties through to the op-
posite branch before bringing down, which
will prevent the base of both opening too
wide, when the head may be brought down
as low as required without danger. Top the
end of V. ach, which will cause them to throw
off" side sh( ots and render the jdants bushy.
Nothing further is required but occasionally
fumigating with tobacco when the green fly
(A]ihis) appears — careful watering, and tying
the branches as growth proceeds. There is
no occasion for a display of sticks, merely
sufficient to prevent the plants from breaking
down. When spring growth commences, oc-
casionally (say once a week,) give a little
weak solution of guano, (about one pound to
twenty gallons water,) or liquid drainings from
a dunghill. Where both are at hand, it is
better to use each alternately. Always use
these liquid manures in a dear state ; for if
nmddy, they clog up the soil and prevent the
air from percolating, thereby rendering the
whole mass " sodden and sour." To ensure
success, the plants must be kept near to the
glass, have air abundantly supplied, and,
when growing freely, they must never be al-
lowed to droop for want of water. Without
care in the latter case, the leaves will turn
yellow, and the whole plant will present a
74
CULTURE OF GERANIUMS.
withered appearance. Remember that plants,
and particularly the Pelargonium, are " tell
tales" in this respect, and are sure to expose
netrligence. In this climate, with right ma-
nagement, these plants grow very vigorously,
and are correspondingly succulent ; and if the
syringe is used too freely, " spot" and rot is
the consequence. If the house is dry, and
heated by brick flues, it is much better to
damp the side walls and floor so as to produce
a genial atmosphere. As fcir as my experi-
ence goes, I would say never use the syringe
in this case. Although it is so essentially
requisite for the Pelargonium when growing
freely in England, observation teaches me
diff"erently here. When the plants begin to
open their blooms, the under side of the
glass should be coated over with a mixture of
whiting and glue, which will readily wash off
when required. This is better than canvass
blinds, as they produce too much shade, and
make the plants grow weak, and the blooms
small and deficient in colour.
I cannot too much deprecate the common
practice of huddling these plants altogether
in a corner during the winter and spring
months in small pots, and when the weather
opens, turning such scrubby things into the
flower borders, in rich soil, where they stand
like a boy upon stilts, for a while, opening a
few meagre flowers ; and when the roots find
their way out from their former cramped
up abode, the tops grow with over-luxuriance,
and if there is any bloom at all produced, it
is small and scanty. If it is desirable to
have them in the flower garden, turn out
healthy plants with good roots into very poor
soil, and mulch the top, and very different
results will be obtained ; but as most plant
houses are thinned out about the time when
they begin to flower, I see no reason why
they may not be left inside where the flowers
will expand in perfection ; and wdiat would
otlerwise be an empty space becomes an or-
namental feature. Of course, this does not
apply to the scarlets, or the strong growing,
winter flowering roots.
Criterion of a perfect Show Pelar-
gonium.— The plant should be of bushy
habit, vigorous, but not rampant growth,
and disposed to flower freely. The leaves, a
glossy dark green, flrm in substance, and well
supported by the petiole. The flower stems
strong, and sufficiently long to elevate the
bundles of flowers above the foliage. The
bunches should contain from five to nine
flowers, of a thick velvety substance, bright
and distinct in colour, the outline forming a
perfect circle ; the petals a little cupped, but
not so much as to prevent free expansion,
with a clear white bottom, — the two upper
ones having a decided blotch of a brilliant
maroon colour, showing a clear edge of the
ground colour ; the outer surface perfectly
free from indentation or waviness. The fancy
varieties may have the blotch over the whole
of the top petals, or likewise in the centre of
each of the lower ones, or merely a penciling.
The ground colours tolerated in the former
class are white, pink or rose, crimson, purple
and scarlet ; in the latter, brilliance and dis-
tinctness of any shade.
The annexed list contains a few of those
most worthy of cultivation ; and though some
of them are not of the newest, they are never-
theless of the best quality. I may here men-
tion that all the newest are not the best,
though some of them are perfection itself:
White.
Alpha, (Walker's.)
Aiexandriiia.
Camilla, (Wilson's.)
Chaplel, (Lyiie's.)
Eiiclianlress., (AVilson's.)
Imosene. (liViic's.)
Pearl. (Drurv's )
Queen of Sli'eba, (Wilson's.)
Witch, (Garth's.)
Puih or Light Rose.
Aerial, (Foster's.)
Amelia, (Hovle's.)
Beauty of Clapliam, (Saun-
der's.)
Constellation, (Garth's.)
Euclid, (Walker's.)
Hebe's Lip, (Beck's.)
King: of S^axony, (T,yne's.)
Merry Monarch, (I,yne's.)
Modesty. (Lyne's )
Sir J. NeM'ton, (Wilson's.)
Rosy Red or Scarlet.
Alladin, (Lyne's.)
Auffusta. (iloyle's.)
Comte d'Orsay.
Duchess of Sutherland,
(Gaines'.)
Duchess of Leicester,
(Gaines' )
Duke of Cornwall. (Lyne's.)
Kin? of Saxony, (Gaines'.)
Mars. (Garth's'.)
The Cid, (Foster's.)
FRUIT TREES FOR THE SOUTH.
75
Crimson.
Aekbar, (Gauies'.)
Ardeiis, (Foster's.)
Brilisli Hero, (Noyes'.)
Gigantic, (Hancock's.)
Mount Etna, (Hoyle s.)
Hybla, (Foster's.)
Mogul, (Gaines'.)
Pompev, (Hovlf's.)
Pluto, (Tliurtell's.)
Crion.
Rising Sun, (Gaines'.)
Sunrise, (Lyne's.)
Standard of Perfection, (Nich-
ols'.)
Purple.
Agrippina, (Caltleugh's.)
Con.-ervative, (Garth's. )
Negress, (Garth's.)
Sir'R. Peel, (Foster's.)
Sullau, (Garth's.)
Fancy.
Anais, (Foster's.)
Aurora, (Beck's.)
Beauty, (Foster's.)
Beauty of Wallhamstow,
(Pamplin's.)
Beaufort Cliief
Gipsey, (Foster's.)
John.
Jessie, (Foster's.)
Jewess, (Foster's.)
liady Flora
Oddity.
Painted Lady.
Sidonia.
Splenii.
Trafalgar.
Tricolor.
Fuique.
Victoria.
I am yours, most respectfully,
Wm. Chorlton,
Gardener to J. C. Green, Esq., Staten Islanc
FRUIT TREES FOR THE SOUTH.
BY W. A. WHITFIELD, SHELBY, MISS.
Mr. Editor : — I hope I shall be pardoned
in differing from the opinion of Dr. Philips,
of Edwards, respecting the adaptability of
northern fruits to every portion of the south.
Jeffreys is right, so far as this region is
concerned, and I should be tempted to tender
him my thanks, but that I find myself in the
condition of the Iri.shman who discovered the
mud-hole himself. I feel confident that Dr.
Philips has not learned the result of various
attempts to raise fine northern peaches in this
vicinity. We have no use fur the varieties
mentioned in his article on page 403, includ-
ing his favtirite Elmira. Nature has given us
an atmosphere in which no foreign peach tree
ever yet tried has proved itself profitable.
Along the gulf and lake region of ^lississip-
pi, within the last eight years, more than 30,-
000 dollars have been expended in procuring,
planting and cultivating peach trees brought
from northern states, and from the interior re-
gion of Mississippi — many from the immedi-
ate vicinity of Dr. Philips himself, in the
Vicksburg gardens — including 54 varieties,
upon every kind of soil; clay, clay-loam, sand,
sandy-loam, flint and ferruginous gi-avels, al-
luvial and primitive, new and old, poor and
fertile, naturally so and made so by art, limed
and unlimed, with the trees pruned and un-
pruned, cultivated and in grass — and all — all,
without one solitary exception, have failed.
utterly failed, to the no small discomfiture of
those who had built castles in the air ujion
the proceeds of fine northern peaches sold in
the neighboring market at sis dollars per do-
zen. Thus, sir, the work of seven or eight
years — trees mammoth in size, are being con-
tinually hewed down, to give place to the
more profitable seedling of the country.
The history of all foreign* trees is the
same. First year — If the tree has formed
fruit buds l)efore its removal, and has suffi-
cient root with a favorable spring, it will ma-
ture tolerably well two, three or half a dozen
peaches, well flavored and of medium size.
Time of blooming, from middle of February
till middle of March ; makes extraordinary
growth.
Second year — Blooms from six weeks to
two months later — sets well, but without
leaves to pi-otect the fraits from the burning
suns of May — it all drops ofi". I have seen a
few hold on for two weeks after the time of
ripening at Vicksburg — 200 miles north of
this — but what was there a fine, luscious
peach, four inches in diameter, is here a mi--;-
erable drivel, from the size of your thumb to
an inch in diameter. We ought not to expect
fruit here the middle of June, from trees
which will not bloom until the first of May.
I believe, however, Mr. Editor, our coun -
* Foreign distinguished from Creole.
76
NOTES ON CHERRIES.
try is well adapted to the growing of fine
peaches. We only want the proper varieties.
Where can we get them from ? We must
raise them from seed. We have the Creole
peach here — some well flavored and of good
color, but Liliputian in size ; with others
large enough to please the eye of the giant of
Brobdignag, but coarse and ill flavored. I
should like very much, to get seeds from sev-
eral northern orchards. I want choice seeds.
I believe in like producing like. From whom
can I get ? I should like to procure cherry
and plum stones, also.
One word about grape vines. I found no
difficulty in grafting them early in the sprin .
3Iy plan is, to cut ofi" in the winter, and cleft
graft ; or in very large stocks, I split only the
bark of the stock, and sloping my graft, press
it in, and secure with a small thread. If it
bleeds, wrap all for a short distance with old
cotton rags, above and below the wound ; ap-
ply the wax quite warm, so as to make the
whole air tight. One of my finest vines this
year, was one from accident left without wax
or ties. A second one has a fine bunch of
grapes. Yours, very respectfully,
W. A. Whitfield.
Shelby, Bay of St. Louis, Miss., June 15, 1850.
NOTES ON CHERRIES.
T. Eeine Hortense. — A French cherry,
of considerable reputation, lately introduced
into this country. It has fruited here this
year, and is quite a distinct variety. It be-
longs to the Duke class of cherries, but ripens
about the height of the cherry season. The
flavor is slightly sub-acid, like the May Duke.
This variety is remarkable for its long and
slender stalk, (measuring a little more than
2^ inches in length,) and the oval shape of
the fruit. The skin is pale red and semi-
trausparent — the suture distinctly marked by
a dark line, without any depression ; the flesh
tender, juicy, and of agreeable flavor ; and
the stone (unless the fruit is very ripe) ad-
lieres to the stalk. The pit is also of a long-
ovjtl figure. This variety will, we think, be
n)ore valuable at the west, from its hardiness,
joined to other good qualities, than here,
where all the other sorts flourish so well.
II. Roberts' Bed Heart. — In our work
on Fruits, we have not done justice to this
cherry, which originated in Salem, Mass. It
is remarkable for productiveness, for good
flavor, and for uniformly bearing a good crop.
The following is an accurate description of the
fruit :
A heart cherry : fruit of
medium size, and roundish
heart shape ; skin of a pale
amber ground, but nearly
overspread with pale red,
mottled with deeper red, and
with some pale amber specks.
Suture quite distinct. Flesh
white, juicy, sweet, and well
flavored. Stalk long and
slender, set in a depression
of moderate depth. A very
prolific bearer. Ripens last
of June.
III. Champagne. — A
. , -in 1 Fi?- 17.— Roberts^ Red
new variety, raised irom seed Heart.
by Mr. C. Downing, of Newburgh. It is a
very distinct variety ; and after waiting four
years to satisfy ourselves of the constancy of
its good qualities, we do not hesitate to say
that it will prove one of the most valuable
standard cherries. It is neither very large
nor strikingly handsome ; but it has the great
CRIST'S MOLE TRAP.
77
merits of being very hardy, a great and regu-
lar bearer, and of withstanding all the vicis-
situdes of rotting and blight, which destroy
many tine cherries about the time of ripening.
In flavor, the Champagne is peculiar, — nei-
ther quite sweet or sour, but that lively min-
gling of the two which suggested its name.
It should be remarked, however, that the
fruit is not ripe when
it first appears so ; but
should be allowed to
hang on the tree, (as it
will without rotting,'
until perfectly matur-
ed, when it is very
sprightly and excel-
lent ; and is preferred
by many who have tast-
ed it to all other cher-
ries.
The Champagne cher-
ry has the excellent Fig."is:==cv^»;p«gn<: c/,.m/.
habits, as regards health and productiveness,
of Downer's Red ; one of the best of cherries
for general culture in the United States — pro-
bably because it originated in this country.
In other words, while a person may have a
tree of either Champagne or Downer's cher-
ries, and be certain of a large crop of valua-
ble fruit every season, he may not gather
50 cherries from a tree of many of the Heart
or Bigarreau cherries per annum fur many
years, — either by reason of the frosts in spring,
or damp weather at the time of ripening.
Fruit of medium size, roundish heart-shape,
but always slightly angular or one-sided.
Colour lively brick red, inclining to pink — a
little paler on the shaded side. Stalk of
moderate length and size, inserted in a rather
flat, shallow depression. Flesh amber colour-
ed, of a lively rich flavor — a mingling of su-
gar and acid — something between Downer's
Late and a Duke cherry. A most abundant
bearer, and ripens very imiformly, maturing
about the 20th of June, and hanging a long
while on the tree.
IV. Downing's Red Cheek. — This cher-
ry, also raised in the establishment of our
brother, some years ago, and described in our
work on Fruits, proves to be one of the most
beautiful and delicious of its class. It is far
handsomer as well as more tender and sweet
than the Bigarreau or Grafiion, which it some-
what resembles ; and it will, we think, sup-
plant that variety, when its merits are more
generally known.
A DESCRIPTION OF CRIST S MOLE TRAP.
BY J. B., NAZARETH, PA.
This newly invented trap consists of a frame,
composed of two uprights, a a, about 22 inch-
es high, joined by a top board, h — the whole
fastened on a foot or base cC c. ^ is a heavy
piece of scantling or block, which by means
of grooves is guided along the uprights up
and down. In the lower part of the block
are inserted a number of sharp steel pins,
about seven inches long in the clear. In the
part C, of the foot-board, is attached a small
piece of thin board in the manner of a pedal
of a piano forte, which, when the trap is set,
crosses the passage of the mole, /"is a wood-
en latch, suspended by a wire from the cross
piece of the frame, and terminating with a
wire hook, g, at the lower end, somewhat
flattened. In the upper part of the latch is
cut a notch or shoulder, (z,) as a rest for the
pin block when the trap is set.
Set the trap lengthwise over the passage
THE CALCEOLARIA.
draw the block up and fasten it by tbe wire
hook, /.-, to prevent accident co the trapper ;
h
Fiff. 19.— CWif'i Mole Trap.
place the apparatus over the passage of the
mole in such a manner that when the block
falls it will come exactly in the middle of the
passage. The ground under the trap in the
passage should be taken out, and the bottom
levelled, and the sides padded and made hard.
The ground taken out should be freed from
obstructions, and placed again loose in the
passage; but before this is done, the block
should be tried if it operates well, and falls
right in the passage. Then hang the hook
of the latch into a similar hook, projecting
upwards from the pedal, so that they may
separate upon the slightest touch, by the lift-
ing of the ground on either side by the mole,
which in an instant brings down the block
and pierces the animal through. J. B.
Nazareth, Pa., June 21, 18.50.
THE CALCEOLARIA— ITS VARIETIES AND CULTURE.
BY GEORGE GLEXNV.*
[As this exceedingly pretty and unique ge-
nus is just beginning to attract general atten-
tion in the United States, we give the follow-
ing article, from the best authority in Eng-
land, regarding its culture. To those who
cannot get plants, we may remark that num-
berless varieties of Calceolarias may be raised
from a single paper of the seeds, now to be
had of the principal seedsmen ; and there are
few more beautiful ornaments to the green-
house, from April to mid-summer, than the
many varieties so obtained. We have had
a number of beautiful specimens sent us in
April by that distinguished amateur, Mr.
Becar of Brooklyn, N. Y., which have been
in bloom for two months or more. Ed.]
Some species of the Calceolaria have been
cultivated for years in the English gardens,
]put their elevation to the dignity of a florist's
flower is of comparatively recent date. Messrs.
Young and Penny have the doubtful credit
of making the first move in hybridizing some
* From the London llorlieultural Magazine.
of opposite characters ; and Mr. Clroom made
early progress in collecting and selling some
of the most remarkable. It is most likely
that the work of hybridizing, as it is called,
Fig. 20. — The Calceolaria.
was going on simultaneously in several places,
for there were many very singular, and, look-
ing as we always do at the habit of plants, we
may say beautiful varieties, offered about the
same period, retaining all the shrubby proper-
ties, and possessing many brilliant colours.
THE CALCEOLARIA.
79
Perhaps the worst thing that ever occurred
ia the progress of this plant towards perfec-
tion, was the awarding of prizes to herbace-
ous varieties, as well as shrubby khids ; for
it induced people to grow both, and led to a
degeneration of both. Wg have always main-
tained that the shrubby ones only deserve
tlie distinction of florists' flowers ; and it is
now difficult to find, even among those ho-
nored with prizes, anything like a good habit
of jilant. Tlie hcrbacecus varieties give us
the largest flowers ; and the captivatiou of
size with peojde who do not study all the pro-
perties of plants, led too many to encourage
the herbaceous kinds for that property only.
Mr. Green, gardener to Sir Edmund Antro-
bus, was the first and most successful exhi-
bitor of this elegant subject ; and the enor-
mous flowers on some of his herbaceous va-
rieties, comj letely riveted the attention of
those whose taste, or want of taste, induced
them to value flowers by measure. Mr.
Green, so far as our observations went, was
as completely in advance with calceolarias, as
Mr. Thom|ison of Tver was Avith pansies ; and
a spirit of emulation led others to buy his
best sorts, and set to work with seedlings
themselves. It is well known in the floricul-
tural world, that our standard of excellence
is a perfectly round flower, on a completely
shrubby plant ; and the novelties are now
principally estimated by that standard, though
there is much to do before it can be obtained,
even should it ever be accomjdished. Still,
as herbaceous varieties, and the plants par-
taking of that habit, afi"ord the largest blooms,
it is difficult to make many judges pay suffi-
cient attention to the superior merit of shrub-
by plants. The colours and the markings of
the calceolaria are becoming exceedingly nu-
merous ; and, within the last two years, they
have been diverted from their general charac-
teristic in an extraordinary manner, and from
speckles and blotches of all forms and sizes,
they have produced blossoms with stripes like
a carnation, ramifying from the hollow which
is at the top, like rays from a centre, to the
outer edge. The chief blemishes of these
have been a dulness and indefiniteness in their
colours and stripes. Nevertheless, there is no
doubt, like all other subjects taken up in
earnest, they will be improved; they have,
too, the prevailing fault of deep notches in
the outline. The herbaceous kinds are what
florists technically call "miffy," a term de-
noting easily killed or damaged by mis-
management. The shrubby ones are more
hardy and easily managed. We succeeded
well for some years by the following treat-
ment :
Soil. — The compost we used was clean
hazel loam, which, when ordinarily damp, but
not wet, we could squeeze into a mass, and
lay it down on the potting table without
breaking, but which a pressure of the finger
would crumble again readily. To two parts
of this, we put one of leaf mould, one of
mould formed by a rotten melon bed of stable
dung, and one of Wimbledon peat — this being
merely lumps of half decomposed wiry fibre
and sandy earth, was rubbed through a coarse
sieve, such as would let horse beans through.
The loam, and dung, and leaf mould were
sifted through the same sieve, and the whole
well amalgamated, and often turned for some
time. It should be mentioned, perhaps, that
all these should be measured after the}' have
been passed through the sieve, for one of
them may have, and the peat especially, a
good deal left behind, which would, of course,
considerably aff"ect the proportions. This soil
is not too retentive of moisture ; and then re-
quires that all plants grown in it should be
very carefully watched and watered. When
the soil is required for repotting large plants,
or to grow them with very large shifts from
small to large pots, the sieve used may be
coarser, large enough in the mesh to let a
marble through. Some cultivators were using
at the same time, and with equal success, three
instead of two parts of loam ; but very much
depends on the (luality of the loam, which,
if heavier or of a more tenacious character
than we have mentioned, should be rather
lessened in quantity.
Choice of Plants. — As there is no me-
thod of choosing plants ecjual to that of se-
lecting those in bloom, the following points
should be attended to as much as possible.
First, that the plant be of shrubby habit, the
stems oeing woody and well clothed with foli-
age, branching well, and forming a bushy
shrub on a small scale. Secondly, that the
flower stems should not rise too high al ove
the foliage, for it would be desirable that no
bare stalks should be seen between the leafy
shrub and the flowers. Thirdly, that the
flowers should .have footstalks of such length
80
THE CALCEOLARIA.
as to display the bloom to advantage, without
being crowded or too far apart. Fourthly,
that the" flowers should be smooth and full,
like a small distended bladder, not flattened,
nor indented like a melon, perfectly round in
the outline, whichever way it is viewed.
Fifthly, that the colors should be bright or
dense, which gives richness; that any marks
or blotches should be well defined, and the
ground color as good at the back as the front.
Sixthly, that so far as is consistent with these
points, the largest flowers should be chosen.
But with regard to the roundness and freedom
from indenture, so large a majority of the
present varieties are deficient in these re-
spects, that all we can do is to pick those
which are the most round and least indented,
and be satisfied with those that are the near-
est to the standard we require. This selec-
tion should be made without regard to names
or price, for, like the varieties of many other
subjects, the dearest are not by any means al-
ways the best. If, however, we desire plants
before they bloom, the onl}^ points we can
choose are those which relate to the habit of
the plant, which, if handsome when small will
rarely grow worse as it increases in size. We
may consult the last published authority for
the best names, or take the recommendation
of a respectable florist, (and we ought never
to deal with any other,) for the number we
require, first letting him perfectly understand
the points we wish to secure. Nor must we
be disappointed if the collection contain some
which approach our standard at a very hum-
ble distance. The Garden Almanac for 1847
gives us a list of the best new ones : — Mas-
terpiece, Puissant, Julia, Emperor, Oscar,
Lord Hardinge, Marmion, Marquetry, Match-
less, Orlando, and Plant's Carnation stripes,
and there is no doubt they are the best exhi-
bited ; but some of them are mentioned for
their color, some for their habits, some for
their form, and some for their novelty. There
are older ones which equal them, such as the
Mr. Kinghorn's best half dozen, and Mr.
Standish's best three or four, which may be
had, as well by that distinction, as by their
names. These plants, obtained early in the
spring, will be best retained in their pots un-
til their fibres reach the side ; or if, on exam-
ining them, their balls are at all full of roots,
they should be at once sifted.
Repotting or Shifting. — Procure pots
one or two sizes larger than those the plants
are in ; for instance, if they are in the pots
called large sixties, they maybe shifted either
to the size called forty-eights, or the next
size, called thirty-twos. We, for the sake of
their taking less room, prefer only one size
larger, and should use forty-eights. Give the
new pots some broken potsherds or crocks at
the bottom, say an inch or inch and a half
deep ; then put enough compost in the pot to
bring the ball even with the top of the pot
without pressing. If the roots have grown
about the crocks in the original pot, do not
disturb them to hurt the roots ; but when the
ball is turned out, rub off the soil from the
top surface a little, but not enough to disturb
the fibres ; then set it in the centre of the pot
into which it is to be placed, press it down a
little into the soil already there, so that the
collar of the plant is just below the level of
the top edge of the pot ; with the hand fill up
the vacancy all round, shaking it gently down
by knocking the bottom of the pot down on
the potting table or bench, and, if necessary,
gently pressing it down at the sides, by a piece
of stick of a proper thickness, not to touch the
fibres which are round the outside of the ball;
then, placing a little of the compost on the
top, which should be about as high as the
edge of the pot, finishes the operation.
The plant should be placed in a cold pit, or
even a common garden frame, on a dry bot-
tom, impervious to wet, so that the water that
runs through the pots will not soak into the
ground, but run off altogether; and they
should be covered with the lights close for
two or three days, being first watered gently,
but thoroughly, to settle the earth to the
roots. If the frame be like those for the cul-
ture of ordinary melons and cucumbers, only
one board thick, it will be as well to heap up
earth all round, like a bank, providing, how-
ever, by some means, for the running ofi" of
the superabundant water ; and the greatest
care must be taken to cover them from frost
and cold winds, with matting or transparent
cloths ; for the plant, though half-hardy, will
be easily damaged with frost, if in a growing
state, and cannot be too carefully guarded
against it, although it requires no heat. Ma-
ny who have a green-house, place them on
some of the shelves, in preference to growing
them in pits ; but, where there is so much
space, there is more danger of frost, unless
THE CALCEOLARIA.
81
artificial heat be given in hard weather ; and
the Calceolaria does not thrive so well, nor
grow so handsome in heat ; they are apt to
draw, and it is the very last plant that should
be at all drawn, on account of its spoiling the
habit and aj)pearance, and weakening the
flower stems. It is necessary to keep them
near the glass, and it is almost impossil)le to
have them too near. Besides, plants in frames
or pits are so well under the eye, and we can
see so much better v ''en they require water.
Watering and (Iiving Air. — Although
the Calceolaria is, with cai-e, among the easi-
est managed subjects, that care must not be
withheld, for it is the most liable to dam-
age by the least neglect. Too much water
will damp them off cjuickly ; too little Avill
destroy them, or hand them over to the red
spider, which almost instantaneously attacks
an unhealthy plant. The compost should ne-
ver become dry, and, except when the plants
are growing rapidly, not too often watered ;
there is never, or at any rate, there is rarely,
sufficient attention paid to this important
operation. It is almost destructive to omit
watering one hour longer than the time they
ought to have it. In mild weather the lights
should be taken off; and this is the time
when, if the weather be dry, the moisture
rapidly passes off and requires renewal. On
the other hand, in cloudy or dull, though mild
weather, the moisture may be retained for a
long time. It should never be thought too
much trouble to turn out a plant, to examine
the state of the soil and the roots. The great-
est danger of suffering from wet is in the
winter and early spring months. The greatest
danger of suffering from want of water is
after the spring growth commences in earnest,
and the flower stems begin their work ; for
the plant takes up a good deal of moisture,
and the roots get near the side of the pot.
If the weather be very foggy or damp, the
frames are better covered up with the glasses
quite close, but not darkened with mats or
cloth, unless there is frost, or danger of it.
The frames should not be opened in windy
weather, unless the air be mild. In the S] ring
months, if there be a genial shower, the lights
may be removed, that the plants may have the
benefit of it. One precaution is very neces-
sary in the application of water ; it always
ought to bo of fully equal temperature with
the atmosphere ; and, if it be not so naturally,
which is seldom the case, unless it be exposed
to the sun in shallow vessels, it ought to be
made so by putting a little warm water into
the water-pot, so as to raise the tempera-
ture a little. Water kept in a heated house
would do ; but there is no way so simple as to
put a little heated water to the cjuantity you
are using. Many plants suffer greatly from
the chill given by pump and other cold water,
when they are sending forth their young
growth.
Shading. — As the warm days advance, the
full power of the sun would be injurious to the
plants, and rapidly dry up and heat the soil
in the pots. To prevent this, a thin or trans-
parent cloth should be used, that will not ex-
clude the light, but yet keep off the power of
the sun ; as the plants however want air. (he
glasses should be propped up at all four cor-
ners, with blocks of wood, or bricks, or flower
pots, or some other contrivance which will al-
low the air to pass freely over all the plants ;
and the shading is only to be continued in the
strongest heat of the day. At morning and
evening, when the power is not great, they
may have the benefit of it with the glasses off,
until the period when the color of the flowers
begins to show, when they must be still more
carefully protected against the sun.
Treatment to the Time of Blooming.
— In the spring, when the plants begin to grow,
the pots rapidly fill with roots, and it will be
necessary to examine them, by turning out
the balls of two or three occasionally, to see
how far they may require shifting to larger
pots, from 48s to 32s. The operation has to
be performed in a manner precisely similar
to that of the first shift from 60s to 48s, and
they must be treated in all respects the same.
In a comparatively short time even these will
be filled with roots ; if the plants, from their
size, require one shift more, the state of the
roots must be examined as before recom-
mended, and the shifting will be just the same
as well as the treatment afterwards. As the
stems rise for bloom they may require support,
but proper habited plants will not, unless they
are drawn up. If, however, for the purpose
of traveling or for exhibition, tying up be-
comes necessary, it should be done with very
slight twigs of osier, with the bark on, and
as soon as the flowers begin to swell and take
their places in their bunches : the twig should
reach above the flowers and be tied loosely,
82
THE CALCEOLARIA.
for the stems would grow, and if confined,
would be bent, unless the tie were loose enough
to slip up with the growth. As the blooms
develope themselves, it is the fashion to put
the plants in a house, but shading and plenty
of air must be attended to as usual, and plenty
of water must be given. According to the size
of the plants, so must the pots be increased
in size as fast as the roots fill up the old ones;
and a continuance of watering, giving air, and
shading will bring them to perfection.
Seeds and Seedlings.— The plants des-
tined for seeding should be placed toge-
ther in the open ground, or in a pit which
can be altogether uncovered when necessary.
If it be intended to fertilize one particvilar
kind with another, take a camel's hair pencil,
to collect the dust of the one, and brush the
pistil of the other with the camel's hair pencil,
and the dust will stick to the female organ of
the plant ; but it is far better to place such as
are considered good together in one place, and
let them fertilize themselves. Cover them
against excessive rains, because they are im-
favorable to the seeding of any thing, but in
an ordinary season they will seed plentifully ;
and all that is necessary is to place none for
seed that have not any distinct characters, and
very desirable ones, so that any kind of mix-
ture may bring two good properties together in
one flower, which are at the beginning in two
separate ones. The seed must be gathered
carefully as it approaches ripeness, and the
pods be placed in a paper under cover, where
it will not be prematurely laid by in a damp
or unripe state. It is better to gather it before
it actually turns brown, because it ri]3ens as
Avell for a week on the stems cut off, when
once it is full grown, as it would on the plant.
When once dried well, it may be sowed in
pans or boxes, or large-mouthed pots, thinly
and evenly, and be placed in the green-house,
or in the pit, and covered with a bell glass
luitil it comes up ; providing at all times for
sufiicient moisture to prevent the seed from
drying again after having swelled. It should
also be shaded from the heat of the sun. Upon
the whole, the seed, when sown, would be better
in a green-house, covered however, with a hand
or bell glass, and kept merely a little moistened
by watering with a very fine rose or a patent
syringe, for the water should fall in very fine
pai tides like dew, as the seed would be dis-
placed by it. When the seeds come up they
should be carefully shaded, and the glass
should be taken ofl' by day, and put on again
at night. A simple and effective shade is to
merely cover the side of the glass next the sun
with a piece of paper ; it keeps oiF the bright
and burning heat without materially affecting
the light. When the plants fairly set off grow-
ing, the bell or hand glass may be removed
altogether ; and as soon as the plants are large
enough to handle, they may be pricked out, in
wide-mouthed pots, an inch apart, beginning
a row close to the edge and working inwards ;
a pot will hold a good many plants this way.
After a very gentle watering with a fine rose or
syringe, they should be covered with a glass
and placed within sight near the window in
the green-house or in the pit ; the glass must
be kept over them until they have fairly estab-
lished themselves, when it may be taken off,
and they may grow until they pretty well
touch each other. When they have become
strong, and the foliage nearly covers the pot,
they may be placed one each in the large 60
size pots, and be set in a frame, and after wa-
tering them, to settle the compost about their
roots, they may be shut up close for a day of
two; they must be now shaded from the
violent heat of the sun for a while, but when
they have once got hold again, and established
their roots, all the care required is to see
they are well and frequently watered in hot
weather. They will show their habits very
early, and if we were growing them we should
throw away all that showed they were her-
baceous, for to say the truth, we do not value
them more than we should a single pink or a
double pol3'anthus. If the pots fill with roots
towards the winter time, the changing to
larger ones had better be deferred to the period
at which they begin to grow again, as they
can hardl}^ be kept better than at rest during
the severe weather, if there be any. As the
early spring approaches, they may be all shif-
ted into 48 sized pots ; or if there are more
than can be conveniently grown in pots, they
may be held back, or a portion of the least
promising habits may be held back, to bed
out or put in the borders. The treatment, in
short, of the seedling plants when once thej
have been raised, up to the filling of the small
pots, may be assimilated to that already given
for other plants.
Selecting from Seedlings. — We can-
not do better than refer the reader back to
THE CALCEOLARIA.
83
the instructions for the choice of plants when
in flower ; for as he would pick from the
stock of others for his own garden, so ought
he to select from the stock of seedlings such
as are worth cultivation, and throw or give all
the rest away. Indeed, as the flowers come
out, all that are good for nothing should be
cast out the instant they are discovered, that
they may not spoil the seed of the better ones
by inoculation.
Treatment op Plants after bloom. —
The branches should be cut back a little into
form, the useless or thin wiry shoots cut out,
the i»lants cleansed, the top surface of the com-
post stirred and thrown out, and a fresh top-
dressing put on. They may stand in their
frames, receiving pretty nearly all the
weather, except the most violent of the rains
and east winds, until September, when they
must be deprived of more wet than is absolutely
necessary, and be secured against frost. As
the plants enlarge, they will require other
pots, but they may enjoy a period of com-
parative rest from the end of October till they
make a fresh move in the early spring ;
however, plants of good shrubby habits do
not actually stop growing at all. Before they
are shut up for the winter, the surface should
be stirred, the loose mould shook oif, and the
pots filled up level ; they will scarcely want
watering all the winter, unless it be unusually
bright and warm.
Spring Shifting. — The established plants
and seedlings alike require to be removed to
larger pots as soon as there are any symptoms
of nuxking new growth, that is, jjresuming the
pots are full of fibres, or at least tliat these
have reached the side. The sized pots in which
they are to be placed must depend on the size
they are removed from ; from 60s to 48s, from
48s to 32s, from 32s to 24s, from 24s to IGs,
and 16s to 12s, which is large enough to car-
ry a very handsome, well-grown specimen.
The mode of shifting has been described.
Cuttings. — In going over all the plants,
to see that there are no useless shoots left on,
many will be found that may be removed, by
merely breaking them ofi" from the base ; very
small ones will answer all the purposes of pro-
pagation. Those who require many will grow
a few plants pretty hard after blooming, to in-
duce shoots on purpose to take ofi", but any
small pieces will strike readily in the ordinary
compost, with a quarter of an inch of silver
sand at top. The cuttings must be put in so
as to touch the compost, but not to go into it,
and the sand will always protect them from the
air by working down close every time it is
watered. They should be covered Avith a bell
glass, that touches all around the inside of the
edge of the pot ; but as most cuttings strike
more readily when placed close round the
edge, so as to touch the pot, it is better to fill
a pot with cuttings all round the edge, and to
place this pot inside another, with a good
inch of room all round ; the bell glass resting
upon the soil, which must be filled in between
the two pots. The object of the glass is to
exclude drafts of air, and prevent evaporation
from taking place too rapidly. A slight
bottom heat will facilitate the striking, but
the glass nuist be wiped dry inside every day,
and the soil kept moist, for if once the cut-
tings become dry, they would stand a poor
chance of recovering. In a few weeks the
cuttings will begin to grow, which is a pretty
sa"e indication of their having struck, and
when they have acquired some strength of
root, they may be potted off" carefully, one in
each pot, which nuiy be the smallest or thumb
pot, or the first recognized size, small 60s.
They should be closed up in a frame a day
or tv.o, and flien submitted to the treatment
already described for plants brought in, which,
with some varieties, are rarely more than a
struck cutting in the first separate pot.
The kinds to select. — A very minute
descrij.tion of each separate variety would
have a great degree of sameness ; for the va-
riety is occasioned by the different shapes of the
spots as much as anytliing. ^Ve thei'efore give
a list of the sorts we should buy to begin with,
and sliould then be content to take in addition
any tliat appeared better in blooming time, but
none that were worse : —
Lady Anne Charteris, Professor "\Vilson,
Duchess of Sutherland, Kinghornii, Lady
Blantyre, Celebration, Lady Constable, Stan-
dishii. Masterpiece, Puissant, Julia, Emperor,
Oscar, Lord Hardinge, Marmion, JMarqnetry,
Matchless, Orlando, and Plant's Carnation
Stripes ; which last is a singular strain, en-
tirely run away from all the others.
The Properties of the Calceolaria.
— The plant should be shrubby ; the halat
bushy ; the wood strong ; the foliage thick
and dark green.
The flower-stem should be short and strong;
84
FOREIGN NOTICES.
and the foot-stalks of the blooms classic, and
brandling well away from each other, to form
a rich mass of flowers without crowding.
The individual flower depends entirely on
the form of the purse ; it should be a perfect
round hollow ball ; the orifice and calyx can-
not be too small, nor the flower too large.
The color should be very dense; whether
the marking be a spot in the middle, or stripes,
or blotches, it should be well defined ; the
ground should be all one color, whether white,
straw, sulphur, yellow, or any other color
The color of a self should be brilliant, and
all over of the same actual shade ; dark flow-
ers with pale edges, or clouded and indefinite
colors, are bad and unfit for show.
The bloom should form one handsome
bunch of pendent flowers, commencing where
the foliage leaves ofl"; the flower-stem should
not be seen between the foliage and the flow-
er, which latter should hang gracefully', and
be close to each other ; the branches of the
flower-stems holding them so as to form a
handsome spreading surfac-e.
The Market Gardens Round London, by
James Cuthill, Florist, Camberwell. — Covent
Garden, the head market of this great metropo-
lis, has long been celebrated for the finest fruits,
vegetables, and flowers in the world, being dif-
ferent now from the time when the poor German
gardener settled on a piece of land near the Mon-
ster public house. Chelsea, on the lands of the
Westminster family. This man bought dung
where he could find it, and put it on his ground.
The landlord brought an action against him;
"but," says the landlord, " as you are an indus-
trious man, I shall forgive you if you will promijse
me never to poison my land any more, by putting
such filthy stuff" on it." The market gardenei-s
round London from time to time have been stimu-
lated by receiving large prices for their articles,
from living in the vicinity of such wealth. It
being the head-quarters of the government of this
mighty empire of a hundred millions of people, can
it be doubted that the most extravagant prices
could be obtained in Covent Garden market? For
dung the carter is allowed 2s. 6d. for a single
load, and for waggons 5s, I have known many
coachmen in the Mews at the west end, that were
obliged to give those carters 6d., 9d., and Is., to
clear the manure away. These men have long
hours; but between wages, which are from 15s.
to 20s. weekly, and the buying of manure, their
wages sometimes reach 30s. per week. A coun-
try person will hardly believe me when I tell him
that nine cart and waggon loads of vegetables
have been brought by one grower, the celebrated
Messrs. Fitch, of Fulham, off their 100 acres of
land, and all sold in Covent Garden by Mr. Fitch
by 9 o'clock in the same morning. Those men
once sent in a four-horse waggon of scarlet Ten-
weeks Stock, ail pulled up by the roots, and in
full bloom; they were sold by 7 o'clock in the
morning, an.d fetched 301.; but it did not pay the
expenses, and was discontinued another year.
Sixty pounds have been obtained for an acre of
cabbages, and upwards of 1001. for an acre of
rhubarb, and more for asparagus, 1401. for an
acre of white Cos lettuce, 1501. for an acre of
strawberries, 84c. I have myself taken 301. for
15 rods of ground of early potatoes in the open
ground, managed as I have directed in my pam-
phlet: 10s. for a cucumber, and 20s. for a melon,
2s. an ounce for forced strawberries, and 25s. for
forced grapes per pound. I have also taken 6s. a
pound for early strawberries, in the open ground,
upon early borders. The above prices seem high,
but the expenses are enormous. Mr. Fitch, of
Fulham, has told me that his 100 acres have
some years cost him, everj-thing included, very
nearly 40001. The above prices cannot any longer
be maintained ; an immense change has taken
place since free trade and railroads have been in-
troduced.
The change is fearful upon the old market gar-
deners— thej- cannot understand it. They little
think how many fresh market gardens have sprung
up in all directions, and along the lines of rail-
ways— land at 30s. an acre instead of 101., labor
low, railway carriage cheap, and everything else
in proportion. And again, all those families that
used to consume the London grown article, now
have their own garden produce sent bj' railvvav.
They little think, also, that railways and steam-
boats are continually emptying London on the
Sundavs. and all other times, by the tens of thou-
FOREIGN NOTICES.
85
sands, to eat the fruits and vegetables of country
gardens. Tliat was not the case a few years
back. However hard it may be for those near
London who are high rented and most severely
taxed, yet it is a great and decided change for the
general benefit of mankind. Railroads have given
one great advantage in the early spring to the
London growers. Having the climate in their
favor, they send a great deal of their vegeta-
bles northwards — as early potatoes, peas, French
beans, cauliflowers, rhubarb, melons, cucumbers,
and other finer sorts of fruits and vegetables.
The foreign articles do not hurt our markets in
the vegetable line, because being grown in a
warmer climate, they come in long before we do,
and bv the time our early potatoes, cauliflowers,
peas, French beans, &c., are in, the foreigners'
early crop is over, or at least it would not pay
them to contend against us, unless in cucumbers,
and they are bad. As for Dutch melons, no one
of refined taste will eat them. The foreign grow-
ers have hurt our fruit trade to an immense de-
gree— such as apples, pears, plums, cherries,
apricots, &c. As for Dutch grapes, they look
beautiful, but are tough, and tliree seasons out of
four tasteless. The middle classes in and round
London cannot afford themselves strawberries
more than a few timeS; and that only vvlicn a
great crop is in full bearing. When a (jottie is
sold by the cultivators at Gd., the weight of which
is three-qnarlers of a pound, tlie grower gels
only 3d., and after paying 4d. for the potlle, and
101. an acre, with all other expenses, the straw-
berry grower is but poorly paid. Much more
could be said about the market gardening of Lon-
don; but the conclusion wo must come to is, that
it consists in continual dunging, trenching, dig-
ging, sowing, hoeing, planting, taking the pro-
duce to market, bringing home money and dung,
paying for labor, taxes, and breakage. I shall
not disregard skill altogether, but dung is the
very founlaiu-licad — it is the gold in a half-formed
state; and from the immense profits returned, it
stimulates to the use of still more manure, till at
last the ground is almost a hot-bed. The crops
are no sooner planted than they find their food at
once, and their growth is rapid and fine. This
will explain why a London gardener can get up
acres of turnips where farmers fail. Rotation,
no doubt, is good in all crops where the land
is poor, but as I have grown potatoes these
ten years upon the same ground, and every year
the crop increases, I for one care little about ro-
tation.
The market gardeners of London could bring
the early produce in mucli sooner by forming beds,
the perpendicular part facing the north, the bed
sloping to the south, as I have practiced myself
years ago in a stiff" soil, and light, too; and with
the protection of glass over these beds, as recom-
mended in the Gardeners' Chronicle for peaches,
apricots, and nectarines, they might almost bid
defiance to the foreign grower. With the assis-
tance of glass and the slopes together, they would
certainly be equal to the gardens round Paris.
Without protection of glass we can prolong fruits
and vegetables out of doors without any loss, but
what is most wanted is early fruits and vegeta-
bles at a cheap rate, which can only be effected
by some cheap process such as has been recom-
mended above. I am about to publish a pamphlet
on twelve of the leading and most useful plants
and vegetables. I have proposed an entirely new-
plan of growing asparagus and sea-kale, and if
carried out properly, the million will partake of
those most delicious vegetables which at present
they never taste. Jlbrid^ed from the Maidstone
Journal for the Gardeners' Chronicle.
Brewing at Home. — Though an admirer of
teetotallers, and always recommending, when
practicable, the habit of drinking cold water, still,
as there are some people who cannot work with-
out the assistance of a glass of beer, and many
others Vf ho fancy they cannot do so, I, therefore,
think neither time nor space will be wasted if I
make a few remarks on " brewing at home."
I dare say such a sentence will frighten many,
and they will immediately exclaim, " Brew at
home, impossible ! I have neither coppers, cool-
ers, mash-tubs, nor any of the hundred-and-one
articles necessary for such an operation." Never
mind, do not throw obstacles in our path, but read,
learn, and practice ! I must, however, tell yau at
starting, that it will cause extra trouble to the
wife; but I am very sure there are few, if anv,
amongst the " wives and daughters of old Eng-
land" who will grudge a little exertion when once
they feel that by so exerting themselves they will
benefit their husbands, children, and, consequently,
themselves. And now let us see wherein the be-
nefit of brewing at home lies.
In the first place it increases your comforts,
in the second place it saves time, and thiidly it
saves money — three very material points; but
still, more than this, it removes many tempta-
tions out of a man's path. The habit of going to
a public house, if only for one glass of beer, has
been the occasion of many an after pang, many a
heavy heart. That constant habit of even fetch-
ing your beer from the public house must waste
much time, even if not tempted to drink it in the
house instead of at home. Very often a child is
sent to fetch it, and thus the young mind becomes
early habituated to the sound of oaths and jests
which every parent ought so carefully to screen
their children from hearing; for who can tell the
misery which arises from early acquaintance with
vice? Early impressions take deep root, whether
good or evil, and our hearts being so prone to sin,
the evil habit which is imbibed with our early
youth is more difficult to eradicate than the
good ; therefore, how studiously should each pa-
rent watch over the soul's welfare of his child,
86
FOREIGN NOTICES.
and not place him in scenes where he knows
" sins a.bound."
I am sure, as I said before, when this is taken
into consideration, trouble will not be withheld,
but many will willingly try a plan which is likely
lo place temptation a little farther from their
threshhold.
I will now tell you the articles necessary for
brewing at home. Every cottage owns a large
saucepan — one that holds about three gallons is a
good size J this will answer the purpose of a cop-
per. A tub will be the utensil for working the
beer in; and if you cannot conveniently buy a
small mash-tub, bore a hole in the bottom of a
pail to allow the liquor to run slowly through.
These three things are all that are really neces-
sary; and now, as to the materials of the beer.
Those who have been accustomed to drink brew-
er's beer will not, perhaps, at first like the pure
malt and hops; their taste, however, will soon
improve; or if not, the}- will find by adding to
every two bushels of malt the following ingredi-
ents, they will obtain beer very similar to what
they have always drunk: — " 31bs. su^ar, boiled up
once in a very little water, with one pennyworth
of coriander seed, and one pennyworth of capsi-
cum.'" Malt must be carefully chosen, the amber
coloured is the best. It should not be ground,
but merel)' crushed. Hops should be new; when
good, they have a yellowish green colour. Soft
water should be used,,. if possible, for brewing;
and every article must be most scrupulously clean.
I will suppose you wish to brew six gallons of
beer, and for that quantity you must have a pot
which will contain four gallons of water. Have
read}- in your mash-tub one peck of crushed malt
(be careful to have the hole in the tub stopped.)
When the water nearly bolls, pour it on to the
malt, stir it well for ten minutes, cover the pail
over with a thick sack or piece of wood, and
place it by the fire for two hours. Hold the pail
over the tub, draw out the peg, and let the liquor
run. Stop the hole again, and add to the malt
two gallons more of nearly boiling water, cover
as before, and set by the fire for an hour. Put
the first strained liquor into the copper or pot,
and add four ounces of good hops ; boil for twenty
minutes; strain it into a tub; return the hops to
the pot, and add the second addition of wort,
which has been standing by the fire; boil this
half an hour; strain and cool this as you did the
first; when lukewarm mix them together, and
stir in | of a pint of yeast. Skim it frequently
during the day, and when it has stood twenty-four
hours in the tub, put it into a cask; leave the
bung-hole open as long as any yeast rises, but
when the fermentation is over, hammer the bung
tightly in, and leave it for a week, by the end of
which it will be fit for use.
One of the chief points in brewing is to attend
to the proper heat the water has before it is pour-
ed on the malt. If it is too hot, it contracts the
maltr and prevents the full flavor from appearing;
the proper temperature is 180°, but as a thermo-
meter is not a likely appendage to a cottage wall,
the hand must be depended upon. You should
just be able to draw your hand quickly through
the water without experiencing pain.
There are several other methods of making
beer, such as with potatoes, mangold wurtzel,
and sugar, but I will reserve these for some fu-
ture occasion, mj' present object being to tempt
the cottager's wife to brew her husband's glass
of beer. At the present time it will prove most
economical, malt being cheap, and brewer's beer
remaining at the same price. London Cottage
Gard.
Working Gardens. — Resuming our observa-
tions upon the light afforded to gardening by oth-
er sciences, we will commence by observing that
the benefits derived from keeping the roots of plants
near the surface of the soil are more apparent in
fruit trees and other perennials ihan in our annual
crops, inasmuch as that the roots of trees being
thus kept within the influence of the solar rays,
always vegetate earU', and ripen well their young
wood. The quantity of oxygen absorbed by the
roots of growing plants, is very large; being, in
the instances of the radish, carrot, and others,
not less than their own bulk in the course of twen-
ty-four hours.
Digging, hoeing, and trenching, are the practi-
ces emploA'cd for facilitating the access of the air
to the roots of plants, by rendering the texture of
the soil loose and easily permeable.
Very few people ever consider in detail the ex-
penditure of labor required from the garden labo-
rer when digging. It is a labor above all others
calling into exercise the muscles of the human
frame; and how great is the amount of this exer-
cise, may be estimated from the followinnd think we give it a fair trial. Bisscll
£f Hooker. Rochester, A'. Y.
Sale of Short-hohns — We earnestly hope
that our country gentlemen who wish to embel-
lish their farms, parks, or lawns with beautiful
cattle and sheej), will direct their attention to
the splendid animals belonging to Mr. Sheafe,
at High ClifT, near New-Hamburgh, Dutchess
county, which are to be sold on Thursday, the
29th of this month (August.) As ornaments
to the grounds of a mansion, nothing can add
more beauty, grace, or value than fine animals;
and without them, such grounds are incomplete
in all these requisites.
Mr. Sheafe himself is an amateur in farming,
and stock-breeding, and has spared neither
j)ains nor expense to obtain a fine stock ; and
intending to sj)end a few years in Europe,
where he now is, offers his stock for sale. No
better opprirtnnity will soon be presented for ci-
ther country gentlemen or practical farmers to
obtain fine Short-horn cattle, or South-down
Slieep than is here opened. *
Burr's New Pine Stawrekry. — As the lov-
ers of good fruits are all interested in having the
new kinds which arc highly recommended, tested as
to their flavor, productiveness, and good (jualitiesfor
gneral cultivation, I will give you the results of my
experience in thecultivation of Burr's New Pine
Strawberry , for the last two seasons, in the latitude
of Hartford, Conn. I had but a few plants in April
1849, l)Ut by taking special care, they produced
plants sufTieicnt to make a large bed in 1850. The}'
have been remarkably productive, generally ave-
raging fifteen strawberries to each fruit stalk, and
of large size, though not so large as Hovey's
seedling. In flavor they were delicious, and deci-
dedly superior to any Strawberry I have ever cul-
tivated, though I have eighteen or twenty diflTerent
kinds of the choicest. My plants were covered
during the winter with a little straw, not because
I deemed it necessary, but to be on the safe side,
and none of them were injured by the cold. Jl
Connecticut Subscriber .
Striped Bugs on Melons, Cucumbers, &e. —
I hear great complaints of the destruction of vines
by the striped bug, and have frequently suflered
in the same way, and have tried numerous meth-
ods recommended from different sources, but the
only effectual remedy under all circumstances, is
the following — Take 4 pieces of boards about 2
feet long and 7 to 10 in width, nail the ends to-
gether and put around the hill of vines, and no
striped bug will ever be found inside (if not there
when the box is put on.) Three or four short
boards put around the hill and kept there with
wooden pins will answer the purpose eijually well.
This season the bugs had destroyed more than
half my vines before I put my boxes on. I then
])lanted the vacant hills inside the boxes; not a
bug came on the vines after that, until I supposed
the young vines (last planted) were strong enough
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
99
to defy the bugr.. when I remoTed the boxes, and
thev were immediately attacked again, and I was
oblised to replace the boxes. I have tried this for
several years, and can safely recommend it as a
perfect protection.
In this section onions are suffering from maggots
or a small while worm that is found in the bulb of
the voung onion which destroys them. We have
been troubled in this way for the last three years.
Can anv of vour subscribers tell us of a remedy.
John W'. Bailey. Ptatt^burgh, July 11th, 1850.
The Stobm of July 5th. — The atmosphere
2ave but slight indications of rain until five o'clock
P. M., when a dark cloud arose slowly from the
N. W., attended with thunder. After rising
something like 30°, the progress of this cloud
seemed to be to the north and east, until it spread
over the northern sky to about 20° of the zenith.
In this position, and at about 8 o'clock, it began
to appear somewhat broken by seams, running
from east to west and from X. W. to S. E. Dur-
ing the time this cloud was gathering, and ex-
tending itself over the northern skv, another rose
in the west, and for a while passed south, mainly
hanging south and west. From this cloud bril-
liant sheets of lightning were issuins. and passins
southwesterly from TJ o'clock until the clr^uds
united at ^ past nine, while, during the interval,
occasional chains of the fluid, with almost fright-
ful glare, passed off in the same direction.
At eight o'clock, it was evident that these two
clouds were making a proximity, and their union,
it was presaged, would result in a powerful
storm. As they approached, the voice of the
thunder was less frequent than when the clouds
first issued from their birthplace in the western
sky; but the lightning in the north, like that in
the south, was vivid and grand beyond our de-
scription. Broad sheets following each other from ;
east to west, in so rapid succession as to keep the
sky and the earth illuminated, with an occasional
chain. — glowing with the heat of a furnace, — de-
scribing the serpent's crooked path, and spittinjr
fire in its rapid descent, passed off to the north
of the valley, as if to vent its spite on the rugsed
hills that surround it.
A few minutes after nine, a breeze sprung up
from the northwest, which brought the clouds to
a speedy union. And as the nuptials of the storm '
were celebrating in mid-heaven, the lamps which
had illuminated the pathway of the movins clouds,
one after another rapidly went out. and then, the
thunder spake the nuptial ceremony with sublime
and fearful voice, rolling in its majesty from south
to north through the whole extent of the thickly
veiled canopy. Alternate flashes preceded each
impressive sentence, with light so brilliant that,
at one moment, every object of earth, within
range of vision, was as visible as though the full
glare of the noonda\- sun-beam fell upon them, and
the next they were shrouded in darkness so deep I
that no mortal eye could penetrate it. The wind
had passed away, and all was settled into the
calm of a summer evening now, when these fire-
works of the skies, which threw so contemptibly
into the shade all efforts of imitation which hu-
man invention had designed, and human industry
executed only one brief day before, to the aston-
ishment and admiration of wondering multitudes,
were giving their most noble and impressive af-
terpieces. Ah, how frail is man, in his most
mighty creations, and how deficient is art, in her
most noble triumphs, when placed in comparison
with nature, drawn out by natures God ! The
evening previous, thousands had left their quiet
homes, to minule in the inconveniences of the
crowd, to see the short lived rocket shoot through
the air, and witness other feats of art, both beau-
tiful and brilliant. But who saw these illuminate
the mountain, spread out the landscape in all the
perfection of noonday, and r^eal the colour of the
sleeping flower, as nature did when the storm was
hanging over it ? And what was that cannon's
booming, momentary voice, compared with the
hoarse angry roar of the thunder, as it went bel-
lowing throuah the sky? Yet, of the thousands
who went away to witness the one, how few saw
anvthins but gloom, and sadness, and fear in the
other, while in the safety and quiet of their own
homes. Oh, how long will the propensities of
mortals be such that the inferior, dear-bought,
and far fetched, will be preferred to the sublime,
the beautiful, and home-born, that lie strewn
around their every-day paths !
But to the storm. As may be supposed, so
dark a cloud, and so much lightning, and con-
siderable thunder, could not pass away without
some rain. When we saw the two ciouds ap-
proaching each other, and making a gathering
point over us, we anticipated a deluge. Xor in
this were we mistaken. It began to rain slightly
about 9 o'clock, but soon ceased, to commence in
earnest at half past ten, and continue until four
the next morning — the most of the time falling in
torrents, which deluged the fields, raised the
streams to overflowing, and washed the roads to
an extent which has not been before witnessed for
vears; and all this without much effect in cooling
or purifyins the atmosphere. Yours truly, W.
Bacon. Richmond, Mass., July, 1850.
A Visit to the CorxTRY Seat of J. W,
Whitney. Esq. — His country establishment is
situated three miles north of the city of Rochester,
on the Rochester and Charlotte plank road, lead-
ing to Lake Ontario and the mouth of the Gene-
see river.
It was the season for cherries and strawberries,
and we found rich collections of both, including
all the newest varieties. Mr W. has turned his
attention to the cultivation of fruits on an exten-
sive scale. His peach orchard covers many acres.
The trees appear luxuriant and fruitful. He has
100
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
all the popular sorts, which ripen in succession.
His apple- orchards are. likewise, extensive.
One young orchard, planted from root-grafted and
budded trees, principally of excellent keeping
sorts. A second orchard, — an old one, headed
down, and top-grafted with such sorts as the
Melon, Spy, Bourassa, St. Lawrence, Early and
Late Strawberry, Yellow Bellflower, Ribston Pip-
pin, Pomnie Gris, Fameuse, &c. — all promi^^ing
magnificent heads, having been last year judi-
ciously pruned, which put them at once into fruit-
bearing spurs.
The collection of pears here is of rare and
( hoice sorts, and the trees are making a thrifty,
short-jointed growth, which is the shield against
blight, canker, or cracked bark. The soil would
be by some nurserymen considered too light for
the well doing of this delicious fruit; still there is
no indication of a want of those element?, which
constitute a good pear soil.
The large share of attention devoted to fruits
here, occasions no neglect of the ornamenlal
grounds; for the collection is enriched with every
new and fine tree, plant, and shrub, as soon as it
can be pronounced to be an acquisition. We
found here the following specimens: Cedrus Li-
banii, Cedrus deodara, Abies excelsa, Abies ame-
ricana alba, Abies americana nigra. Picea bal-
samea, Pinus sylvestris, Pinus pinaster, Thuya
occidentalis. Juniperus virginiana, Paulownia im-
perialis, Salisburia aidentifolia, Magnolia macro-
phyllum, Taxus hibernicus, Taxus boccata, and
many others too numerous to mention, besides a
large collection of choice shrubs, herbaceous plants,
Hyacinths and Tulips.
Mr. W. has commenced making Pyrus japonica
and English Yew hedges, and has the finest spe-
cimen of a privet hedge I have seen, running the
whole length of the avenue leading to his gardener's
cottage. It is cut square on top, and is four feet
high, two feet broad, and a perfect mass of lively
green the whole season. C. J. Ryan. Greece,
Monroe counly, July 3, 1850.
Chester County (Pa.) Hort. Society. —
Pursuant to previous notice, the Chester Coun-
ty Horticultural Society held in its Hall, in
West Chester, Pa., on the 14th and loth days
of June, a general exhibition of Horticultural
productions, in connection with Manufactures,
the Mechanic Arts, the Fine Arts, Fancy Work,
&e.
The Hall of the Society was not as exten-
sively decorated as it is at the autumnal exhibi-
tions ; yet there were sufficient floral ornaments,
independent of specimens deposited, to render
its appearance highly interesting.
The pyramids of flowers, the moss-covered
vases, and baskets crowned with the richest
treasures that Flora at this season dispenses
with so liberal a hand, the sweet scented bou-
quets for the hand and the mantle, and the
rich, rare and interesting collection of roses,
Calceolarias, Torenias, Fusehias, and other or-
namental plants of the garden and hot house,
skilfully arranged along the tables that extend-
ed the length of the Hall, presented a most in-
teresting and agreeable appearance to the eye,
and loaded thb air with a bahnj' fragrance.
The backwardness of the season prevented a
very extensive exhibition of fruits and vegeta-
bles, yet on the tables were displayed some
beautiful specimens of strawberries, cherries,
grapes, peache?, nectarines, potatoes, peas,
onions, beets and gooseberries, most of them
grown in the open air, though some of them
were the productions of the hot-house.
The committee regret to say that the manu-
facturers and mechanics of the countj' did not
exhibit as great an interest in displaj'ing the
products of their skill and ingenuity as was de-
sirable, yet such of them as did deposit speci-
mens in the exiiibition, sent them of materials
and workmanship of the most creditable kind.
In this department the diplay of a lage assort-
ment of carpets, of rich and beautiful patterns
and excellent texture, was the most striking
feature; and we are sure there were few pre-
sent who had any idea that Chester county
could produce an article so excellent in every
essential quality as was to be found in the arti-
cle alluded to. The coach and harness work,
the agricultural implements, the marble work
and other articles showed a high degree of skill
and taste, and we are glad to learn that the ex-
hibition was the means of bringing these
branches of industry so prominently and favor-
ably to the notice of our citizens, that several
sales were made and orders given to the arti-
ficers for more of the products of their work-
manship.
We have little doubt this branch will be pro-
perly represented at the next exhibition of the
kind the society may hold.
The committee were well pleased to see a
great many productions in the Fine Arts, em-
broidery, worsted work and fancy work, the
fruits of the leisure hours of the artists who ex-
ecuted them. To the ladies, the exhibition is
in.debted for its chief charms. Their taste and
skill contributed most of the Floral designs,
and their contributions in silk, worsted, embroi-
dery, paper flowers, &c., &c., added greatly to
the interest of the occasion.
The lounges, chairs, ottomans, foot-stools,
lamp screens, fire screens, table covers, cover-
lids, counterpanes, knitting, netting and other
similar articles, wrought by their patience and
industry, were beautiful in design, rich in co-
loring, and arranged and executed with great
neatness and propriety, and to their liberal de-
posits in this department may be attributed a
large share of the enjoyment realized by the
visitors.
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
101
The comniitfee also take pleasure in alluding
here to a bust moddled in clay, one of the first
attempts of a young gentleman of this county,
that displays the presence of a rare talent in
that most elevated and most diflicult walk of
the Fine Arts, and which only requires culti-
vation to render its possessor distinguished
amongst the artists of the land.
A beautiful jet from the fountain in the cen-
tre of the Hall, falling into and overflowing its
urn, served to keep the atmosphere of the room
at a pleasant temperature, and the gentle music
of the falling waters, mingled with sweet airs
from some fine pianos, and the lively notes of
several cage birds, served to add to the interest
of the whole. Report of Com. of Pub.
The Prairie Rose — Rosa rubifolia. — This
rose in its native state, grows wild over the whole
western country, being very luxuriant in its growth,
and covering the prairies, particularly in Ohio, Il-
linois, Indiana, Michigan, &c. &c. In Maryland,
Pennsylvania and the western States, in fact
wherever it is indigenious, it is known by the name
of the Prairie Rose, and why it should be called
Michigan Rose more than Ohio or Indiana Rose, I
cannot see the propriety. Knowing the history of
the double varieties of this rose, perhaps it may
not be unacceptable at this time to your readers.
Mrs. Hannah Levering of Baltimore, Md., hav-
ing removed to Lancaster, Ohio, forwarded seeds
of the wild Prairie Rose to Mr. Samuel Feast,
an eminent florist of Baltimore, who planted the
same, and after they had vegetated, permitted a
few to climb over a bed of Noisette roses. The
blossoms of the Prairie became (many of them)
impregnated from the pollen of the Noisettes. The
seeds from the Prairie roses were carefully gath-
ered and planted, and from the many seedlings,
the following new varieties were produced, all
fine double roses:
1. Beauty or Queen of Prairies. — Large
beautiful deep pink, very double, exquisite form,
frequently with a white stripe. This is the so
called Double Michigan, prevalent in your city.
2. Perpetual Pink. — Pink, changing to pur-
ple, very double, flowers several times during the
season, large clusters.
3. Baltimore Belle. — Blooming in large clus-
ters, full double, light blush, with a deeper centre.
This rose possesses a valuable character, different
from the other two, being as fragrant as a Tea
rose. These are all vigorous climbers.
Since the above have been produced, Mr. Joshua
Pierce, of Washington city, D. C, procured a
number of seeds of the single Praine rose, and
planted them with reference to a hedge, a portion
of them growing contiguous to a number of rose
bushes of the old Maidens' Blush, and running over
them. Seeds of these were again taken and plant-
ed, and from many hundreds, he had the pleasure
of sendinfiT out the following beautiful double climb-
ing roses, of the same character as the three above
described, raised by Mr. Feast, and vying with
them in beauty, some even excelling them, and
a number of them being quite fragrant:
I. Pride of Washington. — Very dark rose,
very fine form, cupped, full double, resembling
Jane, blooms in clusters of about 20 flowers, habit
vigorous and good.
2. Anna Maria. — Pink with rosy centre, cupped,
and full double, beautiful large clusters 20 to 30
flowers, quite distinct from any of the others.
3. Eva Corrinne. — Flowers large, very deli-
cate blush, with beautiful carmine or rose centre,
globular and very double, clusters medium size
from 10 to 20 flowers, rather compact, foliage
medium, habit vigorous and very erect. This is
the most delicate of all the Prairie roses, and its clus-
ters of blush flowers, with their deep centre, which
are perfectly globular and quite fragrant, entitle it
to a prominent place in every garden. It blooms
quite late.
4. Miss Gunnell. — Elegant delicate blush or
buff", full double, clusters large, from 25 to 30, fo-
liage large, habit vigorous, one of the very best,
quite unique for the delicate tint of its flowers.
5. Ranunculiflora. — Pale blush, very hand-
some, full double clusters large. 25 to 30 flowers,
slightly fragrant, and blooms rather late.
ti. Virginia Lass. — Splendid blush, in large
clusters, full double.
7. Mrs. Hovev. — Splendid white, very double
and beautiful, large clusters, the only double white
Prairie rose: the flowers of this variety are larger
than all the rest, and decidedly the best of the 12
seedlings; it is of supurb habit, with splendid deep
green foliage, and as it is a pure white, it is the
greatest acquisition which yet has been made to
the double Prairies.
8. Jane. — Flowers medium size, of a beautiful
lilac rose, imbricated and very double, clusters
large and compact, 25 to 30 flowers, habit strong
and vigorous.
9. President. — Blush with rosette in the mid-
dle, compact, and very double, 15 to 20 in a clus-
ter— habit vigorous and good. This is the latest
flowering variety.
10. Triumphant. — Deep brilliant rose, imbri-
cated, very double and fine, clusters large, 20 to
30 flowers, foliage large and handsome, bright
green, deeply and sharply serrated. This variety
is remarkable for its ample and beautiful foliage,
as well as its deep and brilliant rosy flowers.
II. Linn^an Hill Beauty. — Pale blush, very
fine indeed, much admired — clusters large and full
double.
12. Mrs. Pierce. — Not yet bloomed for us, and
therefore cannot describe it. These 12 are Mr.
Pierce's seedlings, and all very handsome. We
have fine specimens of all on our grounds, and can
exhibit, small bushes only 2 feet high, and 2 ft.
wide, with 36 clusters of roses, some numbering
as high as 40 in a cluster.
102
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
To the above list of Double Prairies, may be
added, the Kentucky Multiflora — it is of the same
character," and a great climber — blooms very late
— full double, and in large clusters. Flowers
splendid deep rose.
Thus, Mr. Editor, you will perceive there are
double prairie roses of almost every hue; and who
would not possess themselves of such rare beauties.
We have procured these roses at great expense,
and will offer all the above for sale this fall and
next spring.
The active partner will take much pleasure in
showMng any of the above or other varieties of
roses or plants to all persons wishing to examine
them. He can at all times be found upon the
grounds, or at his residence nearly opposite that
of V. W. Smith, Esq.
While writing on running roses, perhaps I may
as well describe a new double yellow fragrant
climbing rose, of which we are the proprietors,
and which we think of letting go out next spring.
This is a new seedling. In its character of
growth, it i-esembles the double Michigan, putting
up shoots from 18 to 20 feet in a season. The
foliage is of the largest size and deepest green —
the flowers pure yellow, and uncommonly largo,
and no tea rose can exceed it in fragrance. Chro-
matella and Solfaterre in their growing habits will
bear no comparison — neither will Lamarque, and
the flowers of each of the above are much lighter
in colour, as well as much smaller. Neither Chro-
matella, nor Solfaterre possess any fragrance —
nor does Lamarque comparatively speaking. We
consider this rose the greatest acquisition of all the
new running roses, and it is the only one of this ro-
bust, fragrant character, on record, either in
America or Europe. A. Fahnestock. Syracuse
Journal.
Dr. Kikktland's Seedling Cherries. — Men-
tion has several times been made in our columns of
a number of new and valuable cherries produced
from seed within a few years past by Dr. Kirtland
of Cleveland, and in our paper of Nov. 1, 1847,
descriptions are given [from the Horticulturist]
of seven of the most promising of these seedlings.
Since that time several others have been fairly
tested, and found valuable, but no description of
them has yet been published.
Besides the large number of seedlings — some
forty or more — Dr. K. has a large collection of
the approved known and named kinds, so that his
collection of cherries, now in bearing, probably
exceeds that of any individual in the West, and is
not excelled by man}' in the eastern States. It is
proper to remark, that his soil is quite sandy, with
a mixture of shade and gravel, which seems to be
highly favorable for this fruit, and it is not prebable
that the varieties would produce as much and as
good fruit if removed to a clayey or otherwise unfa-
vorable soil.
At the time of our visit the past month we find
the early cherries all in find eating condition ;
among these are three of the seedlings described
in 1847, to wit: Roekport Biggarreau, Doctor and
Cleveland Biggorreau. The Roekport was not
quite as large or well flavored this year, as usual,
we were informed, [and in fact this might be
said of nearly all cherries, owing we suppose to
the drouth,] but it was very fine. The trees of
Doctor and Cleveland Biggarreau were complete-
ly loaded down with the rich tempting fruits. The
former tho' small or medium in size is very sweet
and rich; the latter very closely resembles the
Yellow Spanish, except in its earlier maturity,
and perhaps being more productive. " Kirtlands's
Mary," " Ohio Beauty," and " Elliott's Favorite"
were not ripe, but their appearance was exceed-
ingly fine, especially of " Kirtland's Mary."
Among the numbers of seedlings which have
not been named or described as yet, we noted
'• No. 10," a beautiful light red yellow cherry, of
large size, very sweet and high flavour ; and we
were imagining, how pleasant it would be to have
a large tree in full bearing, that we might gather
and eat at our leisure, when the Doctor drew us
along, tasting of one and another, until we came
to a black cherry, " No. 4." Tliis is a splendid
fruit for gardens or orchards; it is nearly as large
as the Black Tartarian, with similar outward ap-
pearance, but the flesh is more firm and perhaps a
little richer. From this we passed 1o " No. K."
a seedling much resembling the Early White Heart,
but ripening a few days later. " No. 31" is a
black cherry of medium size, good but not yet of
size and quality to commend ; this is its fir.st year
of bearing, and it will probably improve. " No.
52," is a fruit above medium size, of a fine, clear,
redor amber yellow mottled with red, as grown in
sun or shade, of a waxany, glossy character, flesh
slightly tinged with red, tender and juicy, first
year's fruiting, promises fine. '• No. B. B." is a
cherry of medium size, somewhat resembling the
American Amber, very sweet, juicy and good
flavor; this also fruited for the first time this year,
and was not quite ripe when we saw it. •' No.
N." is a cherry much resembling Black Eagle,
but ripens earlier, and we should judge, would
prove valuable. " No. 30;" this was fully ripe,
and for a small tree and its first fruits, we think
it promises much. It is a black cherry, something
like Knight's Early Black, juicy, sweet and rich,
and ripening with the Early White Heart. " No.
A.A." promisedto be a fine black cherry ; it was not
ripe, and so we might say of many more of which
the Doctor with his wonted courtesy called our
attention, but getting tired, we put up our note
book, with merely adding, that we never saw a
tree more abundantly loaded than was the Late
Biggareau, but as the fruit was only about half
ripe, we could say nothing of it. As we were
wending our way towards the house, the Doctor
called our attention again, and directed us to a
seedling tree near his house, the fruit of which
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
103
was unripe, but which had fruit two seasons pre-
vious, and j)roved so fine that he had propagated
it, and Mr. Elliott had named it " Delicate."
Mr. Elliott being almost daily examining these
cherries, with the Doctor by his side, and making
his notes, the public may safely count upon having
introduced to their notice only such as are really
deserving.
We will only add that the cherry known about
Columbus as the'' German May Duke," has been
decided by Dr. Kirtland, and also by Mr. Downing,
we believe, to be identical with the " Early Purple
Guigne" of the books and foreign catalogues. It
is one of the very best cherries known, but it is
said to be rather hard to propagate. Ohio Cult.
Effects of Moisture ok Fruits. — Lieut.
Maury, of the National Observatory, Wash-
ington City, has made a valuable communica-
tion to the Southern Planter, on the subject —
" How the National Observatory is subserving
the interests of the Farmer as well as the Mari-
ner"— from which we take the following:
My investigations show — always supposing
the soil be there — that cotton, sugar, coffee,
rice and tobacco and indigo, with spices, drugs
and balsams of infinite variety and great value
may be grown from the mouth of the Amazon
all the way up to the base of the Andes — and
they point to the valley of tliat river and its
tributaries as one of prodigious capacities —
of productive capacities as far exceeding those
of our great and greatly boasted Mississippi
valley, as this exceeds that of the Hudson. The
valley of the Amazon is rich, wide and fruitful
beyond measure.
These investigations also indicate what, up-
on inquiry I learn is the case: that there is a
wet and dry side to the Alleghany Mountains,
— that in some parts of the range, the eastern,
and in others the western side is the dry side.
Good grapes, I am sure, will grow on these dry
sides, and it is probable that they would make
good wines.
Wc know how pow^erfuHy the presence of
abundant moisture in the atmosphere affects the
flavor of our delicate fruits; at certain stages
of the crop a few days of rainy weather will
destroy the flavor of the strawberrj', the peach,
etc. ; and we know that the grape requires sun-
shine and dry air to perfect its secretions.
The finest grapes in the world are grown in
the valley of the Caspian sea, where Humboldt
tells us the air is so pure that the most finely
polished steel may be exposed in the open air
for days and days without having its lustre tar-
nished. This is but another expression for a
low dew-point, or a dry atmosphere. There
the evaporation and precipitation , as in our val-
ley of the great Salt Lake, are exactly equal.
Though there may be here and there under
the mountains of Georgia, the Carolinas, Vir-
ginia, Tennessee, &c., small districts adapted
to the production of wine, these charts " of the
winds and currents of the sea," indicate that
there is on this continent a large district, the
climate — for I know nothing of soils — of which
is admirably adapted to the culture of the grape.
That climate is in Northwestern Texas and the
regions thereabouts.
i may be excused from mentioning another
discovery with regard to the culture of the
peach and other fruits to which I have been led
by some experiments with the thermometer on
a fleece of wool.
I procured a bit of tanned sheep skin with the
wool on, placed it with the woolly side up, in
a bucket as though I intended it for a hen's nest ;
I then put a thermometer in it with the bulb
in the bottom of the nest; and set it out in the
open air.
This thermometer, of certain clear nights in
August, when the thermometer on the outside
of the nest and also in the open air stood at 7o°,
and when that in the nest during the day had
ranged as high as 150°, was found to stand at
42°.
This explained to ine the reason of our find-
ing in the low lands and bottoms the earliest
signs of frosts in autumn, and the latest in
spring.
These are the places therefore which in clear
weather, when radiation is active, are the hot-
test in the day and the coolest in the night.
And if vou plant the peach there, they will
force its blossoms in the day, and nip them with
their frosts at night.
Now, on the hill tops and sides, the weather
is cooler in the day, and warmer in the night
when radiation is active — consequently the hill
tops and sides will not force the buds so soon,
nor make frost, nor kill the fruit when the
bottoms will ; and therefore the hill tops and
sides, not the bottoms, are the jjlaces for or-
chards.
There is a ridge about Washington upon
which the peaches seldom fail, when failure is
common to orchards planted a short distance
from it on either side.
Travelling last summer through the beautiful
valley of Wyoming, I noticed near Wilkesbarre,
that with fine mountain ridges close at hand,
the apple orchards were all in the river bottoms
— the worst possible place for them — and on in-
quiry was told — what I knew would be said
without asking — that it was a poor fruit country.
The best fruit-growing height for each dis-
trict must be determined by actual experiment ;
and I have no doubt if the farmers of Wyoming
valley would cut down their fruit trees in the
river bottoms, and plant an orchard reaching
from near the base to the top of the surround-
ing hills, they would discover the best apple
growing elevation ; and planting orchards at
that pitch, they would probably be rewarded
with fine fruit.
PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The stated meeting for July occurred on Tuesday evening,
16tli instant, iu the Chinese Saloon. Br. Wm. D. Brinckle m
the chair.
The display on this occasion was unusually rich in fruits —
grapes especially; one large table being entirely covered
with dishes contahiing that fruit alone — a most templing
sight. The contributors were. Judge Kane's gardener, who
presented four very large bunches of Black Hamburg; Tho-
mas O'Brien, gardjner at Eden Hall, six bunches of Black
Hamburg, three of Red Chasselas, three of Sweet Water,
three of White Chasselas, and three of While Fronlignan;
Frederick Wolf, gardener to S. AV. Gambes, Montgomery
county, three of Malaga, and three of Chasselas — very large;
Ben Daniels, gardener to the president, tliree bunches of Black
Hamburg, and three of Reine de Nice ; James Dundas' gar-
dener, three of Black Hamburg. Among tlie other fruits
might be noticed remarkably large and fine flavored Moor-
pai-k apricots, from Laurence Shuster's garden; and excel-
lent specimens of the same variety t"rom Mr. Dundas' garden;
also a large dish of good fruit from David Cook's Norristown
grounds. Mrs. John B. Smith exhiliited apricots, pears, and
two kiiids of gooseberries. James Bisset, gardener to James
Dundas, presented a dish of very handsome Red Roman nec-
tarines; Jacob Shedaker, fine Miser or Mirabelle plum; Rob't
Buist, pears of the Madeleine and Doyenne d'Ele varieties;
John Perkins, of Moorestown, N. J., apples — the Yellow Har-
vest, Yellow Juneating, and AVoolman's Early Harvest; A.
W. Roe, of Woodbury, N. J., Bough apples, and Morello
cherries ; Dr. Brinckle, seedling raspberries, of the President
Cope and Orange varieties.
Of plants, there were five collections. In Peter McKen-
zie's. there were, worthy of note, nine new and most beauti-
ful Fuchsias, Torenia asiatica, and Verbena.s. In Mr. Dun-
das', five Achimenes grandiflora, ten Fuchsias in variety,
Campanula nobilis. very fine specimen of Hydrangea japoni-
ca, Lilium lancefolium, Oucidium papilio, and other air
plants. Among those from C. Cope's garden, tour Stephano-
tis fioribundus, Vermica Lindleyana, Cacti in variety, and
Fuchsias. In John Lambert's were Pentas carnea, Cuphea
platycenlra. Calceolarias and Fuchsias; and in Jno. Sher-
wood's were six choice Fuchsias, Justicia carnea. Double
flowering Myrtle, six Verbenas, &c. &;c. The designs and
bouquets were handsome. Among the vegetables there ■were
many well grown specimens, by Anthony Felten, Maurice
Finn, gardener to John Lambert, and Ben Daniels, gardener
to our president.
Premiums were awarded as follows :
At the intermediate meeting, July 2d. By the committee
on plants and flowers. Picotees— for the best six varieties, to
Ben Daniels, gardener to Caleb Cope. Seedling Picotee — for
the best American, to J. J. Jennings. The committee noted
a display of Seedling Phloxes and Petunias, by Tho. Meehan,
gardener.
By the committee on fruits. Currants— for the best 2 quarts
red, and for the best 2 quarts of white, to John. J. Jennings;
for the best black, to Maurice Finn, gardener to John Lam-
bert. Gooseberries — for the best quart, to Ben Daniels — for
the Amber; for the second be.^t, to Jno. J. Jeimings. The
committee were much gratified with specimens of seedling
raspberries, grown hy Dr. Brinckle, consisting of eight varie-
ties of much merit.
On tlie present occasion, by the committee on plants and
flowers. Cacti — tor the best six plants in bloom, in pots, to
Ben Daniels, gardener to Caleb Cope. Ijilies — for tlie best
two specimens in bloom, to Wm. Burnley, foreman to Jno.
Sherwood. Hot-house plants — for the best grown three varie-
ties, and for the second best diito, to James Bisset, gardener to
Jas. Dundas. Green-house plants — for the best grown and
finest flowered, to James Bisset ; for the second best ditto, to
Ben Daniels. Plants in pots — for the best and most interesting-
collection, to Maurice Finn, gardener to John Lambert; for
the second be.st, to James Bisset; for the third best, to Wm.
Burnley. Design of cut flowers — for the second best, to Ben
Daniels. Basket of cut flowers — for the best, to Maurice
Finn; for the second best ditto, to Ben Daniels. Basket of
indigenous flowers, to Robert Kilvington. And a special pre-
mium to Mrs. Dr. Coleman, of Pemberton, N. J., of one dol-
lar, for a beautiful basket of indigenous plants.
By the committee on fruits. Grapes — for the best three
bunches of a black variety — Black Hamburg — to Tho. S.
Blair, gardener to Judge Kane ; for the second best ditto —
Black Hamburg— to Tho O'Brien, gardener at Eden Hall ;
for the best of a white variety — Malaga — to Frederick AVolf,
gardener to S. W. Gambes, Montgomery county; for the se-
cond best — Reine de Nice — to Ben Daniels. Apricots— lor
the best twelve specimens — the Moorpark — to John A. Goeh-
ring, gardener to L. Shuster, Spring Garden; for the second
best — the Moorpark — to James Bisset. Nectarines — for the
best six specimens — Red Roman — to James Bisset. Pears —
for the best^the Madeleine — to Isaac B. B;»xter; for the se-
cond best — the English Jargonelle. Apples — for tlie best —
the Yellow Harvest — for the second best — tlie A'ellow Junea-
ting— to John Perkins. Plums — for the best — the Miser or
Mirabelle — to Jacob Shedaker. And special premiums — for
Morello cherries, one dollar, to A. W. Roe, AVoodbury, N. J.
For one quart of gooseberries — the AA'hitesmitli — one dollar,
to Mr. J. B. Smith; also to Ben Daniels of two dollars, for
Black Hamburg grapes, and another of two Dollars lor AA'hite
Chasselas, to Tho. O'Brien. The committee would also no-
tice a few specimens of very fine seedling gooseberries, ex-
hibited by Dr. Brinckle, and raised by him of the Orange end
President Cope varieties. They also mention that Isaac B.
Baxter exhibited, ad interim, very fine gooseberries; some
measuring three inches in circunifereiioe.
By the committee on vegetables. For the best display by a
commercial gardener, to Anthony Felten ; for the best dis-
play by an amateur, to Maurice Finn; and for the second
best, to Ben Daniels.
The treasurer reported his semi-annual statement of ac-
counts.
The amendment to the by-laws proposed at last meeting
was adopted, by which the whole of the commiriees will be
appointed in February; and the existing committees will con-
tinue until successors are appointed.
An intcresthig communication from corresponding member,
Dr. J. A. Keimicott, on horticultural subjects, was read.
The premium schedules of the Delaware Hort. Society, tlie
New-Haven Co. Society, and Chester Co. Society, were re-
ported as being received.
Members Elected. — Joseph T. Johns, Michael Magee, and
Charles Harbert. Adjourned. Tho. P. Jamks,
Recording Secretary.
JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE.
Vol. V.
SEPTEMBER, 1850.
No. 3.
September is the month for the great horti-
cultural shows all over the Union ; and it
seems to us, therefore, a fitting time to in-
dulge in a few comments on the influence of
these shows upon the state of horticulture
generally.
These annual exhibitions of the choicest
products of the garden, are certainly most
beautiful and interesting in themselves, and
most useful in begetting a popular taste for
horticulture. Numberless are the examples
where men are fairly astonished into the en-
joyments of gardening, by having the wealth
of the soil thus suddenly displayed under their
eyes, just as in the olden times an uncontrolla-
ble passion for wealth was begotten by the
occasional exhibition of the treasures of gold
and silver, made to poor mortals by the genii
of the mountains. And many a sluggard, who
would otherwise be contented with the most
indifferent crops of apples and potatoes, is
roused into becoming a good cultivator, by
finding at the exhibition, that his neighbors
are raising delicious fruits, and greatly im-
proved vegetables, from the same soil as that
which — because he is behind the times — only
gives him pie-apples and drum-head cabbages.
So far, then, as awakening a taste and ex-
citing the spirit of emulation, Avhieh begets
good cultivation, goes, our horticultural socie-
Vol, v. 7
ties have done and are doing a great deal of
good. But for twenty or thirty years, the
most prominent of them have been working
on precisely this platform, without apparently
the least desire of reaching a higher level, or
a more extended sphere of usefulness. Per-
haps we ought partially to except the Massa-
chusetts society, which has, by the publica-
tion of a series of its Transactions, aimed at
a wider range ; but still not all that could be
desired from so influential an institution.
To confine ourselves to the more immediate
subject of the annual exhibitions — the great
defect there, is in the small amount of practi-
cal information which they convey to the
minds of those who visit them for instruction ;
for it must be remembered, that in this coun-
try three-fourths of all the gardens are not
cultivated by educated and competent garden-
ers, but by the proprietors, with perhaps the
assistance of a gardener who is little more
than a day laborer. Now let us suppose the
owner of a small garden of this kind, who has
just commenced operations (and the exam-
ples are numberless,) visits the annual show
of one of our largest and oldest horticultural
societies. He finds there a large display of
fruits, flowers and vegetables. The variety
of new fruit is indeed astonishing — especially
the show in Boston, where he may find three
106
THE HORTICULTURAL SHOWS.
or four hundred sorts of pears, all labelled,
and carefully placed on the tables. Some are
very large and beautiful ; others, fine looking
but not so attractive ; and others so positively
indifferent and ugly in their coats and com-
plexions, that, except to serve as a foil to the
others, he is at a loss to know what brought
them Into such good company.
To so much information as may be got by
the eye, our visitor, in common with all others,
is indeed fully welcome. But in the case of
fruits, at least, every good cultivator knows
that there are optical delusions, phantasmago-
rias, and painted cheats, which, when put to
the only true test — that of the sense of taste —
show plainly that there are other sodom-ap-
ples, besides those on the borders of a certain
sea in Asia. There is, to be sure, a " testing
committee" in all these societies ; but our
novice has not the passport to the private
room, where they hold their sittings ; and
their information, which is of a genuine and
substantial kind, is all free-masonry, so far as
he is concerned. All that he is allowed to
do, is to walk round the tables and admire
the fine forms and proportions of the fruits,
learn that this pear and that bunch of grapes
were raised by Mr. A., or Mr. B., and see that
they are really handsome looking specimens.
It is true, that by seeking the personal
acquaintance of Messrs. A. or B., and asking
a variety of questions as regards quality and
culture, our novice may learn much ; and it
is well known, that in this kind of intercourse
which takes place at the exhibitions, a great
deal of useful information is actually given
and acquired — far more than is directly dis-
seminated in any way by the society. But,
on the other hand, not one person in ten, of
all the thousands who take advantage of the
three days annual exhibition, have, or can
readily obtain that personal acquaintance with
the exhibitors, which would enable them to
obtain such information.
In every society there are, again, some
members who are in advance of the others in
making successful experiments, or in raising
specimens of extraordinary size and excel-
lence. They are in possession of information
which they would cheerfully impart, and
which, perhaps, they have imparted to many
of the members. But as they are not always
men who write for the press, and as their
neighboring cultivators already know all about
their practices, the society thinks it of little
or no importance that the numerous assembly
which throngs its exhibition rooms — among
which are many novices, anxious to learn,
(and who would learn fastest with the proofs
of successful culture before their eyes,) should
know anything about it, beyond the fact that
they have made " a glorious exhibition."
We visited, for instance, two years ago, the
triennial exhibition of the Massachusetts so-
ciety, and saw a great many surpassingly fine
specimens. Among other remarkable things
were pears of extraordinary size, beauty, and
excellence, from Plymouth, — a bleak and in-
hospitable climate for gardening, — yet whose
active cultivators had unquestionably suc-
ceeded in growing pears far more successfully
than others equally skilful in more sheltered
and apparently more advantageous sites in
the interior of the state. There were the
facts before our eyes, but the explanation we
could not get for a long while. Some one or two
individuals in the same climate, and with the
same soil as their neighbors, had also succeed-
ed in producing Seekel pears, of the size of
the Doyenne or Virgalieu, without any loss
of flavor ; and all that we could learn about
it was, that it was done by high manuring, —
but in what way, and what fertilizers were
used, no one was present to tell.
Now, let us suppose that at one of these
exhibitions, the society — instead of being deaf
and dumb, while exhibiting its charms to the
admiring multitude of amateurs — should take
RURAL LIFE.
107
it Into its head to speak ! Would not the ef-
fect upon the audience be far more agreeable
and instructive. This severe abstract address
to the eye and the imagination, may do for
poets and artists, but not for such realists
and practical demonstrators as most horticul-
turists are. Suppose, for instance, that com-
petent committees are appointed sometime
before the exhibition, who shall carefully scan
the whole collection, and label, with the au-
thoritative stamp of the society, a dozen —
more or less — varieties of each class of fruits,
*' good," " very good," " besi ;" (the now es-
tablished classification of American Pomolo-
gy,) letting it be understood that all sorts not
so labelled were either not sufficiently proved,
or if proved, were of no value for the palate.
Suppose that whenever the committee should
be satisfied that any remarkably fine objects
in exhibition had been raised by a method of
decided merit, not generally known, that such
method should be very concisely stated in
printed letters on a card accompanying the
specimens. Suppose that a crop of vegeta-
bles, raised upon common soil, which owed its
superior fertility solely to having been made
deep, should have stamped upon the label the
words — " grown in trenched soiL" Suppose
the exhibitor of a certain fruit, which he is
able to produce in abundance and with faci-
lity, should be (willingly) cross-questioned till
the secret should be ascertained to lie in his
soil, or in paving under his trees, or in using
lime as a manure, etc., and such fact or facts
should be concisely and legibly expressed and
exhibited along with the fruit ; let us suppose
such an exhibition, where valuable informa-
tion should be made public in this manner,
where, in short, the society should not only
make its usual display, but disseminate "use-
ful knowledge," and we think it cannot be
denied that the utility of such an institution
would soon be felt to be far wider and deeper
than any existing at the present moment in
the United States.
"We offer these remarks as suggestions only,
to the officers of the different societies. It is
easy to see that, a beginning once made in
this direction, a new system would arise, and
new plans of direction would be formed, that
would soon lead directly to fresh experiments
and more careful and scientific modes of cul-
ture. The advantage to the progress of hor-
ticulture would be two-fold. First, in every
society cultivators would spring up who would
exhibit remarkable specimens, which would be
doubly instructive as the result of well di-
rected skill, and not of chance, (as at present ;)
and second, there would be a gradual record
and accumulation of facts in each society,
which, when made public, would tend vastly to
the progress of the art all over the Union ; since
every art, the progress in which depends on ex-
perimental knowledge, can make but little real
advance, while the knowledge of successful
experiments is confined to a few practitioners.
RANDOM THOUGHTS ON RURAL LIFE.
BY C. L. D., NEW-JERSEY
I THINK it was Judge Parsons, of whom
the anecdote is told, that while waiting for
man, and, in a few minutes' conversation, im-
parted to each so many useful hints in regard
liis dinner at a country tavern, when on a 1 to his art, that when the two afterwards com-
journey, he strolled into a blacksmith's shop, pared notes respecting the stranger, each was
and from thence to that of some other trades- | lositive he must be a member of his particular
108
RURAL LIFE.
craft. The caj^acity of acqi;iring and retain-
ing such universal information, is certainly
very desirable ; yet it is so rare as to excite
astonishment when it exists naturally, and so
difficult of attainment that most men who at-
tempt it become mere smatterers, without a
real knowledge of anything ; which last are
always the greatest bores, as the former are
the most entertaining companions.
The great mass of the human race would
do well to confine their energies to one chan-
nel ; and yet, when we consider the endless
variety of subjects which might naturally ex-
cite the wonder and curiosity of every one at
first sight, we can but be surprised not only
at the great ignoi'ance, but at the indifference,
of those who are constantly brought in con-
tact with them. In nothing is this apathy
more remarkable than in regard to the won-
ders of the natural world.
The wonders and mysteries of the life and
growth of trees and plants, are enough to fur-
nish subjects of study and reflection for a life
time ; yet in nine-tenths of the human race,
they excite less interest than the last new
toy, or trick, whose operation is based upon
well known principles, or whose mystery we
know to be only a jugglery.
The grapevine, which covers the arbor in
which I write, is fed with materials offensive
to the senses, and which would be destructive
to health and comfort if left to spread their
poison in the air ; but being buried in the
earth, within reach of the roots of this vine,
they are transformed into luxuriant foliage, —
blossoms of most delicate fragrance, and fruit
of most luscious flavor ; and then after a pe-
riod of apparent death, the wonderful process
is renewed, and so it goes on year after year
for a life time. If the wealth of the universe
were offered for its performance, human power
could not accomplish this transformation.
Human knowledge cannot explain, human
imagination cannot conceive, how it is brought
about ; and yet, for one man, who ever feels
any surprise or curiosity at sight of such an
object, you shall find a thousand who are as-
tonished at the working of a steam engine,
and ten thousand who are mystified and awe
struck with the " Rochester knockings."
But to come down to simpler matters.
To one who is practically engaged in the cul-
ture of the soil, it is amusing to observe how
little is known of the subject by those whot
are otherwise occupied. Thousands of worthy
and intelligent inhabitants of our cities, whose
means enable them to provide their tables
daily with the best fruits and vegetables of
the season, know nothing more of the history
of the articles which minister so largely to
their comfort, than that they are to be found,
ripe or green as the case may be, in certain
shops and stalls about the city.
For the most part, it is probable that no
thought of their previous existence ever enters
their minds ; and yet the fact is not without
interest, that the vegetables now smoking on
the board, were yesterday growing in a field
perhaps a hundred miles off, and for months
have been an object of care and interest to
some one who planted and reared them ; that
their perfection is the result of scientific re-
search and careful experiments, conducted for
a long series of years.
And to come closer home — how large a
portion of the people who live in the country,
and even of those who are actually engaged
in the culture of the soil, are not only utterly
ignorant of the nature of the plants they cul-
tivate, the functions of the different parts, and
the conditions of their existence and health,
but have never even felt any curiosity on the
subject, — in short, have never thought of it;
and yet therein consists the true charm of the
farmer's like — the life whose delights have
been so often set forth by poets, good and
bad, and have caused such oft repeated disap-
pointments to rurally disposed cockneys.
RURAL LIFE.
109
To hlin who has the taste to seek and
search into the wonders and beauties, which
every vegetable in daily use contains in the
principle of its existence, the life of the culti-
vator of the soil can never be dull or insipid,
though it be passed in seclusion. As the cul-
ture of the soil must always be the occupa-
tion of the great mass of the human race, it is
wisely and bountifully ordered by Providence
that " the earth shall yield her fruits," on
such simple conditions as to repuire but slight
exertion of intellectual power ; and we ac-
cordingly find, from time immemorial, that a
large portion of the agricultural population is
composed of very ignorant people. " How
can he get wisdom that holdeth the plough,
and glorieth in the goad ; that driveth oxen
and is occupied in their labors, and whose
talk is of bullocks ? He giveth his mind to
make furrows, and is dilligent to give the
kine fodder,"
These words were written two thousand
years ago ; and though the common school
system is somewhat improved since then — to
say nothing of the equivocal blessings of cheap
literature — there is still a large class of til-
lers of the soil to whom they may justly be
applied. Early habit has inured them to
hard labor and rough fare ; and their wants
being but little above those of their own cat-
tle, their state of existence is not very dif-
ferent. They plough, and sow, and reap, as
their fathers have done before them, and look
with suspicious eye on any innovation upon
«stablished customs.
On the other hand, the philosopher who de-
Tights to fathom the mysteries of the natural
^orld, finds in the culture of the soil an end-
less field for scientific research, whilst he also
finds that the increased returns which result
from the application of the principles he dis-
covers, enable him to surround himself with
many more of the comforts of life, which to
him are necessaries, than the clown who could
not appreciate if he had them. The position
of such a man, I take to be one of the highest
and most dignified, as it is the most natural,
in which man can be placed ; and though there
are few whose natural capacities, or whose
opportunities of acquirement enable them to
reach the highest standard in this character,
yet there are thousands of hardy sons of the
soil scattered over the length and breadth of
our land, who, without other means of improve-
ment than are within the reach of all, have
yet raised themselves so far above the clown-
ish stupidity of the class I first named, as to
command the respect of all whose respect is
worth having. In every rural community
may be found representatives of this class, —
men who read, and digest what they read, —
men who think for themselves, and in whose
conversation the wisest may find pleasure and
instruction. They are not men to put them-
selves forward ; but he who seeks, will find
them enjoying the comforts and fighting the
battles of life in comparative seclusion, but
with none the less earnestness. They are
practical philosophers, though perhaps they
know it not themselves, and are noiselessly
pursuing such a natural mode of life as many
a social reformer is endeavoring to bring
about with a vast amount of cumbersome ma-
chinery. They feel no want of other sources
of happiness than are within their reach ; for
their taste for pure and simple pleasures has
not been vitiated by the stimulants of fashion,
or the excitement of speculation.
The man whose life has been passed in the
din and turmoil of the city, looks often with
longing eyes to the quiet repose of the coun-
try, and fancies that he too would be happy
in such rural scenes. Perhaps the memory
of a childish home among the hills, to whose
tranquility he would fain return, adds a gild-
ing to the picture ; but how often, on attempt-
ing to realise his dream, does he find that h(
has grasped a shadow ; and yet, it is not th(^
110
BUILDINGS FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES.
picture which is false — it is himself who is
changed. His tree of life has struck deep
root into a far different soil, and it will not
hear transplanting. The prevalence of the
desire is evidence of the excellence of the ob-
ject, which preserves its loveliness of appear-
ance, even to him who has lost the power of
securing it.
It is a good omen for our country that 3
sense of the advantages of such a life is
spreading among our people. With an in-
creasing love of the beauties of nature, will
come a higher perception of those of art, a
more just sense of M'hat constitutes the true
value of wealth, and a wider spread know-
ledge of the true objects of existence.
BUILDINGS FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES,
[FROM THE LONDON IIORT. MAGAZINE.}
As many persons are deterred from building
green-houses and conservatories by the ex-
pense, or rather the supposed expense of their
erection, it ought to be generally known that
by going a proper way to work there is hardly
an excuse for being without these luxuries,
(for such we deem them,) in any moderate
garden. It is true that those persons who
set themselves up as builders of such con-
cerns, and who would make it appear that
there is something peculiar that takes them
out of the ordinary builder's business, do
charge very exorliitantly for all kinds of hor-
ticultural buildings ; and where money ap-
pears to be no oliject, they do not forget to
throw a good deal of cost into certain features
which are no improvements, and which add
no single advantage to the concern. By
adopting circular forms and domes, by arrang-
ing designs so as to cause irregular cutting
for the glass, by bringing in subjects out of
the usual size, and using material that is diffi-
cult to procure or work, it is very easy to
swell the cost of anything; and it becomes
simply a question of a great expenditure or
none, for the party who wishes to build ; and
often ends in their declining altogether to have
anything of the kind erected.
Let us, then, see how ecomomieally we can
build a green-house and a conservatory, and
we will reduce the thing to lines and figures,
so that our readers may add the cost of carry-
ing material, and of the labor on the spot, to
put them together, and so see how much it
would cost them ; or they may find builders
on the spot, to complete the whole, without
having any portion from London.
There are to be had many carpenters who
BUILDINGS FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES.
Ill
are clever at sucli work, and who will execute
the woodwork of any of these buildings at one
shilling per foot. Suppose, therefore, we cal-
culate that a lean-to green-house, Fig. 19, has
Fig. 19.
three feet of woodwork upright in front, and
two six-feet lights from back to front, and
three feet six inches wide, and that there be
ten of these lights side by side to make the
length of the house, which would then be
thirty-seven feet. Suppose the tops are sloped
so as to give us ten feet for the depth of the
house, there would then be, three times 37
feet, (111) for the upright front, and twelve
times 37 feet (444) for the roof, and say sixty
feet for each end (120.) The doors will add
about 20 feet. We now get at the total num-
ber of feet, which is 695, Mhich number of
shillings, thirty-four pounds fifteen shillings
gives us the carpenter's work. We will
reckon the glazing of the roof, or 444 feet, at
4^d. — eight pounds three shillings and two-
pence, and the rest of the glass, 231 at 8^. —
seven pounds fourteen shillings. There would
be wanting the price of the bricklayer's work
only to complete this building, this depending
a little upon the price of the material in the
locality, for sometimes the distance the bricks
have to be drawn makes a good deal of differ-
ence ; but the height of the brickwork, say
eighteen inches in the ground, and two feet
six out of the ground, together four feet,
with the ends fifty-seven feet in length. This
should be nine-inch work : say it will cost ten
pounds, making sixty pounds, and under
sixty-one. The heating of a house like this
would require a conical boiler, say three
pounds ; and eighty feet of pipe, at eighteen
pence, six pounds ; and fixing, say two pounds
more. Here, then, is a first rate range of
green-houses, thirty-seven feet long and
ten feet Avide, for about seventy pounds,
as handsome as it can be built, and all
complete.* A conservatory. Fig. 20, the
same length and double the width, and
with glass to the bottom, maybe reckoned
at double the sum, and no one could doubt
of the effective appearance of this style of
building for both. The annexed sketches
of a green-house and conservatory will
give an idea of the buildings alluded to in the
foregoing notice. The prices mentioned are
quite the outside, and include all the fasten-
ings, hinges, and necessary means of heating.
The filling up of the inside is so completely a
matter of taste, that it is impossible to say
what would be the cost, until the intended
plan is known. The best way to fit up a
green-house is with a table or rack in front,
two feet wide, and shelves the form of the
roof at the other side of the path. Fig. 21.
The conservatories may be fitted rather
differently, for the object there is to make it
a sort of winter garden. There should be a
broad walk all round, laid with the finest
binding gravel. The centre should be pre-
pared for planting, and the borders should be
glass, which is the most neat and elegant, as
well as lasting of all borders. As the glass
of the windows reach to within a trifle of the
ground, there may be a rack or shelf one foot
wide even with the bottom of the glass. Un-
der this rack should be placed the hot water
pipes for heating, a gutter being formed just
below the si;rface to make room for them.
This shelf or rack is to hold pots of blooming
plants, with which it should be kept supplied.
* The cost would be about the same price liere. if substan-
tially built ; that is, at about SflO per foot, or $370 for the
whole. Ed.
112
BUILDINGS FOR HORTIOULTURAL PURPOSES.
The ties which are necessary ?cross the roof,
and pillars which are usually placed at given
distances, are so many useful supports for
climbing plants, and the centre bed should be
planted with much more regard to after-effect
than any we have seen, for even that at the
horticultural society is crowded with coarse,
worthless subjects, which are damaging or
banishing altogether much better things. A
section of the conservatory would be some-
thing like Fig. 22. The path round might be
of marble or Portland stone, but it is better
to have it like the principal gravel walks ;
and with regard to the planting, the middle
Fig. 22.
should have the tallest subjects, not at the
moment they are planted, perhaps, but those
which are naturally tallest, and which are
sure to go up. Camellia japonica, a few of
the choicest kinds ; Azalea indica according
to tlicir habit, the tallest in the middle.
Nearly all the hard wooded plants of the Cape
will do well, but a choice should be made of
those that will be most effective.
The conservatory is used by many as a
common green-house, and the plants in pots
are crowded into It for the winter ; but the
luxury of the conservatory is absent altogether,
unless it is heated as a winter garden. The
centre should be dug like a border, and some
plants should be put out as if they were
shrubs in the open ground ; others may be
plunged in pots for the sake of their bloom
while in flower, and be removed for others
as they pass their bloom ; but the conserva-
tory should be supplied by means of other
houses and pits with plants coming into per-
fection, and removable when their beauty has
gone. By this means it may be kept one
mass of flowers the whole year round, and
especially grand and imposing during the
■winter months, when the Camellia japonica,
with its random flowers, begins lighting up the
houses which even without forcing, but with a
little management, can be produced flowering
in abundance. All other early spring subjects
can be hastened to bloom in winter ; and sum-
mer flowering plants can be easily forwarded
to bloom in spring. There are some things,
however, so beautiful in themselves in all
their stages, that they deserve a place in the
conservatory, as permanent plants, and may
be planted out in the centre beds to remain.
Of these the Camellia japonica is one of the
most striking, and three or four of the best
kinds should be selected. The Azalea indica,
Hovea Celsi, and a few others known to suc-
ceed well in such situations, should be planted
out ; and there are some few climbing plants
worthy of a place in the very best selections.
This, however, only explains the reason for
some of the provisions made in a proper con-
servatory ; our notions are that span build-
ings should have ties, and these ties may be
made subservient to our purposes, for climb-
ing plants look best when allowed to run
across the roof, as it were, and hang, as they
will, in festoons, and their ends form complete
receivers of flowers. The style and the build
of those erections must depend a good deal
on their situations, and the places adjoining :
several of the sketches are given to show how
they may be viewed. There is a method, too,
of heating them, somewhat different to that
which we have mentioned. For instance, a
gutter may be made under the floor, if it is
wished to conceal the pipes, or the gutter
may be made waterproof and covered with
iron plates, and this could be used as a tank,
and the water flow round the house in them,
instead of in pipes. But we know of nothing
better than pipes, and should always use them
in preference.
To go from the consideration of these to
other buildings. We have to mention that as
the top lights constitute the principal expense
in pits and frames, stoves, and propagating
houses, they may be had for fetching at less
than a shilling per foot, glazed complete and
primed. Who would be without plenty of
glass ? The stove is important. It should,
in a small establishment, be made to answer
for anything of the stove kind, though many
people are so prejudiced against this general
treatment of all plants. These may be con-
trived in the same building, placed in the
different degrees of heat that may be formed,
or rather made, in the same house. There
BUILDINGS FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES.
113
can be always found appropriate places for
different things ; and it is worth while to keep
also different degrees of dampness by artificial
means. In the stove or hot-house, Mr. Penns'
system for circulating the air is the most ad-
visable plan for heating the house. Tliis
plan consists of giving off the heated air at the
lowest portion of the house, that it may spread
up the roof, and, as it falls, returning under
the floor or false bottom to the place where
Fig. 23.
the fires continue to heat it as it passes
from time to time, by which means a rapid
uninterrupted circulation is kept up, and
greatly contributes to the health of the plants.
The section of a hot-hou.se upon this plan
would be .something like Fig. 2.3.
On a large scale, this would be a most
effective plan, for there is nothing more simple,
and when one of the pits constructed on this
plan is clo.sed, the circulation of air is re-
markably strong : holes are left, through which
air may be admitted at pleasure j but it is not
often required. The brick-work in the stoAC
is more expensive than in a green-house or
conservatory, and the false bottom under
^vhieh the cooled air passes from the back to
the front™, rather increases the labor ; but in
houses in which the tan pits are built, they
would form an obstacle to the free circulation
of air, if it were not for a grating at the back
to let it down under the floor as it cools, and
another grating under the pipes to let the
cooled air coiue up again between them to be
warmed again. The wood-work and glazing
of a stove is no more than that of a green-
house, and the build is much the same, except
that the house should be deeper from back to
frrnt. The operation of the boiler and pipes
is very simple, and may be understood from
the foregoing diagram (Fig. 24,) for, turn and
twi.st the pipes as you may, all that is re-
quired, is, that one end goes out at the
top of the boiler, and the other end returns
in at the bottom of the boiler. Thus the
Fig. 25.
boiler is like two inverted flower-pots, one
less than the other, and the water is between
the inner one which holds the fire, and the
outer one which is exposed. The fuel is put
in at top and shut down. The fuel is pro-
vided for in the fixing. This boiler would
feed hundreds of feet of pipe, and it is ])er-
haps the simplest and best of the many jilans
for heating horticultural buildings ; due re-
gard being had to the capacity and the eco-
nomy of the thing, for both are objects worthy
of attention. It is easily managed, for when
the fire is lighted well, the aperture may be
filled to the top and covered over, the regu-
lator of the flue being so far closed as to allow
of slow steady combustion. If a tank for hot
water is preferred to tan in the interior pit,
the tank may be made about eight inches
deep, or from that to ten, the top must be
closed with large slates, cemented together,
leaving only one aperture to open at pleasure ;
this may be heated by sending the usual iron
pipes through the tank ; on the top of this
tank may be placed a foot of tan or soil, or any
other medium in which to plunge pots, or
plant whatever is to be grown. The top of
one (Fig. 25,) is open to show the pipes, the
Fig. 26.
other (Fig. 26,) closed, to show the slates ; but
the water in the tank may come direct from
114
BUILDINGS FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES.
the boilei', in which case the circulation takes
place in the boiler; a partition, such as is
shown (Fig. 27,) facilitates the circulation
greatly, though it would act without any par-
tition, but the circulation would not be so
Fig. 27.
direct and complete. The adoption of a tank
for bottom heat does not render the usual ones
a bit less necessary for the regulation of the
atmosphere of the house. In the manage-
ment of these pipes, there is a choice of allow-
ing the pipes to go through the tank and
heating the tank water by those means, or the
water may be fairly discharged into the tank
from the pipes, and after circulating in the
tank, going out again through the returning
pipes : in this case, the tank would be thus —
Fig. 28.
(Fig. 28.) Although only one pipe is repre-
sented, it can be doubled and trebled ^yithout
affecting the main plan, and the saving of
tan in the pit will be a considerable object,
especially in localities that require it to be
drawn any distance, for the cartage is fre-
quently a good deal more costly than the
material itself. We should always set our
faces against any of the complicated systems
for headng houses. The more all operations
can be simplified the better, and changes are
Fig. 29.
always bad, if the plan in operation answers
the purpose at all well. The construction of
ordinary plant preservers, admits of great
variety, because there may be every degree
of heat and coolness ; from the brick-built pit
that is without any means of heating, to the
necessary heat for stove plants, and there is
scarcely any description of erection upon
which there is so much money wasted ; and
this expenditure is often the result of collusion
between interested persons. Builders too often
induce those who can influence masters to
have very useless things built, and it has been
greatly encouraged by the garden newspapers,
recommending one ridiculous contrivance after
another, much to the disadvantage of the
gardeners who have the management of the
concerns, and who no sooner get used to the
things they have, than they are called upon
to adopt something else no better — perhaps no
worse, but nevertheless not a little expensive.
A range of pits three feet high at the back,
and fifteen or eighteen inches high in front,
six feet from back to front — the glass and
wood work of such a pit would be little ex-
pense, for the glass ought to be small, and the
whole might be comprised in a shilling a foot,
or three pounds every ten feet of length ;
ranges of pits of this description (Fig. 29,)
will preserve heaths and hard wooded plants,
with good covering, against frost, without any
artificial heat, and they are the most useful
of all the subsidiary buildings in a garden.
If it be desirable, or necessary to preserve
the surplus of stove plants, a single row of
iron pipe, back and front, heated from any
boiler, will answer the piirpose; and if to
preserve orchideous plants, the only addi-
tional precaution required, will be to provide
the moist atmosphere ; but a pit of this kind,
without much moisture, will be excellent as a
resting place for those not intended to grow
for a while. Camellias do well in such pits,
without any fire heat, and only require to be
closed and covered during the hardest frosts.
Several ranges of such pits adapted to the
plants they are to hold, may be erected in an
appropriate place in front of each other; as,
however, some require only cucumbers, and
cannot obtain stable dung, one of the pits
should be heated upon the tank system, like
that already proposed for heating the centre
pit of a stove : the construction in this case
must be the same, and it will be well to carry
out the plan of the hollow or Mse bottom for
the circulation of air, for that will always be
found an acquisition where it can be done
conveniently. It is only necessary to obtain
additional height for the room taken up by
BUILDINGS FOR HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES.
115
tlie deptli of the tank ; many, however, prefer
for pits, dung heat ; in this case, tlie wall of
the pit must be perforated with holes, or ra-
ther must be built with holes, leading to a
hollow chamber, over which the bed is formed,
and outside the wall must be a second wall,
and a trench between them (Fig. 30,) or there
are others who have archways leading to the
chamber, and thrust the dung into it, raking
it out and putttng a hot supply whenever the
other gets too cold, so as to allow the heat of
the bed to decline too much ; many, however,
will do more with a common hot-bed and
garden frame, than others can do with all the
.Expensive contrivances of modern buildings,
and this may be called the most unpretending
and useful of all garden constructions. AVe
believe we have gone through all the abso-
lutely necessary buildings for a garden, for
one or other of these may be used for peach,
cherry, or fig houses, forcing house, or by
whatever other name they may be called.
The stove is fit for a pinery. The same con-
trivance in lower pits will do for succession
plants. The form of the green-house, with ap-
propriate means of heating, will do for grapes,
and if we make any other particular altera-
tion, it would be in favor of orchideous
Fig. 31.
plants, but even here, we should deviate but
little from the ordinary stove, except by mak-
ing shelves and places whereon to hang the
various contrivances to hold the plants, for
when they are in flower, the conservatory
should be their place, and when not in flower,
there need be no great pains taken to render
the house commodious for visitors, unless,
indeed, there be what may be called a show
orchideous house, in which case the paths
may be wider, and an open tank of water, not
to be heated, except by the natural warmth
of the place. This house, however, might be
made a sort of stove conservatory, and if so,
there may be any fanciful flower adopted that
may suit the taste of the owner. We, however,
do not profess to find a hundred plans for
structures, on which no tM-o persons' tastes
would be indulged alike, and therefore leave
this part of the subject for others, for each
one will give a diff'crent opinion, and furnish
a diff"erent design.
As a protection for plants on walls, without
heat, one of the most simple plans is to use
the lights of a common pit placed in a sloping
position (Fig. 31,) and for a great preserva-
tion against the filling frosts, a coping should
be always built on the wall. The lights may
be placed close together, side by side, to ex-
tend the range as far as may be desirable, and
the ends may be closed with mats. As a
protection for climbing jilants that are a lit-
tle tender, it is very efiicacious, for the coping
prevents the heavy rains from trickling down
the wall ; and there is nothing more fatal to
half-hardy plants that are nailed against a
wall, tlian wet in winter. The upper portion
of the glass rests under the coping, so that no
wet can get behind it. We have seen it re-
commended to place the entire fi-ame against
the wall, and the lights put on the frames.
Of course, in such case, the small front of the
frame is placed upwards. This is purely
theoretical ; no man could reduce it to
" practice without finding out that the wood
work could not be put close to the wall,
unless all the stems of the trees or plants
are nobbed into the wood work, nor would
the wood work of the back, which is to
be next the ground, lay even unless the
border were level (which is not so in one
of twenty places,) or as it were, propped
to a level ; again, the plan would be use-
less if the boder had any other plants on it ;
again, wooden frames for lights are rarely
more than six feet from back to front, so that
all above six feet high would be exposed.
The plan may do on paper, but not in prac-
tice. The lights of pits are, for the most
part, from seven to nine feet long ; and in all
gardens there should be as much uniformity
in the size of the lights as possible. All
116
A COUNTRY RESIDENCE IN THE ELIZABETHAN STYLE.
wooden frames for hot-beds should be five and
a half to six feet long, and three and a half
wide. All pits should be from seven and a
half to nine feet, by four, to four and a half
wide ; but it saves immense trouble to have
all the pit lights of the same dimensions ;
they are more handy to stow away, it matters
not where they are used, and it is proper
always to have a few spare ones. In using
these lights against a wall, no matter whether
one or a dozen be required, the ends have
simply to be matted to keep out the cold ;
and whether there be six feet or sixty thus
protected, there are but the two ends to mat.
There are several considerations against using
the wood framing ; among these, the flat top
being exposed, the rain Avill run in somewhere,
for there is nothing to keep it out ; in the
next place, the glass is too far from the plants.
The advantage of using the light only is that
it can be placed nearly upright if necessary,
or sloping out ; and in very severe winters mats
can be used all over them, and be easily kept
In their places ; not so if they project like a
frame. If it be proposed to have framing on
purpose, why, we might as well build a green-
house at once. Our diagram gives a very
good idea of what we propose, both as to the
coping and the glass ; a slate coping, is all
that need be put. This material is no Aveight
for the wall, will easily fasten, and although
much has been said for and against copings to
Walls, it is one of those instances of contro-
versy in which one or both parties look but to
one side of the question. One says the trees
on a wall ought to have all the rain, and the
coping is only good in winter ; but all things
under artificial treatment require to be ma-
naged consistently all through. AVe all know
walls are a great protection to fruit trees, as
well as other plants ; but they have their
evils as well as their benefit, unless we coun-
teract them. The trees on a wall require the
nourishment of the rains from which they are
shielded, because when the wind is blowing
from the back, the ram never touches them ;
but if we, by artificial treatment, deprive a
plant of any particular advantage, it is our
business to supply it. Wall fruit trees, under
proper management, have the advantage of
moisture over their foliage, when they want it
only, and thus escape an excess of wet which
those unprotected do not. This moisture is
supplied by syringes, and not one gardener in
two takes the trouble to give it them. Syr-
inging is one of the most efficacious opera-
tions imaginable ; nothing keeps a plant so
clear of vermin ; nothing disturbs the pests
of the walls so much. The fineness or coarse-
ness of the holes through which the water is
forced determines the force with which it can
be thrown against the trees. Before the buds
open at all, it cannot be too strong, for the
use of it then is to clean the stems, and wash
out the dirt and vermin or eggs that may be
behind them. When the growth is young
and tender, it can hardy be too fine, for al-
though driven with as much force as we can
from the engine, there is no weight in such
small particles to damage the young growth.
Now the syringing under glass becomes still
more necessary, so also does it under a coping,
for as neither the rains sloping from the back,
nor the downright rains can reach the plant,
it would lose the necessary moisture alto-
gether, if not artificially supplied. Pegs may
be driven into the ground to prevent the light
from slipping outwards, or a narrow board
with a ledge for them to rest on, and when it is
necessary to remove the lights, there will be no
vestiges of the temporary protection remaining.
The coping to the walls is found very beneficial
to many half hardy and tender climbing plants,
and is never detrimental to anything.
A COUNTRY RESIDENCE IN THE ELIZABETHAN STYLE.
We copy from Brown's Domestic Architec-
ture— an English work, very little known
here — the pleasant, comfortable-looking, coun-
try house, /which makes our frontispiece.
It is designed in that later kind of Gothic,
which some architects call the Tudor, and
others the Elizabethan style.
Our object in placing it before such of our
readers as are interested in rural architecture,
is mainly to point out its beauties and defects,
TUDOR SUBURBAN RESIDENCE.
PRINCIPAL TLOOa.
[HORT. ><>pi. l->
MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
117
as affording instruction to those who are en-
gaged in studying plans preparatory to building.
There is, then, much that is pleasing in the
exterior of this house. As regards symmetry,
proportion, solidity, dignity, and a certain ex-
pression of substantial and refined comfort, it
has claims upon our admiration. The ar-
rangement of the first floor is simple and
good ; and the position of the kitchen offices,
in a separate wing, partly concealed by shrub-
bery plantations, is excellent.
On the other hand, there is a great archi-
tectural deficiency in the composition of the
roof, and sky outline of the elevation. We
would both remedy this in a good degree, and
improve the internal comfort and beauty, by
placing the ehinmeys in the partition walls,
exactly opposite the places in the })rincipal
rooms where they now stand. This would
bring out the chimney tops towards the mid-
dle of the roof, instead of upon the outside
walls ; and as they would of course bC'Carried
up six or eight feet above the ridge, they
would give central and p3ramidal height to
the middle of the pile, where it is now squatty
and meagre. In other words, it would im-
prove the exterior composition. To such a
country house as this, a veranda is an indis-
pensable appendage in this country, though
not essentially necessary in England. We
wovdd therefore add it to that side of the li-
brary and drawing-room where the chimneys
now stand in the plan. Those chimneys or
fireplaces being moved, as we have already
suggested, to the opposite side of the rooms,
a coui)le of broad windows, opening down to
the floor of the veranda, should occupy their
places, which would greatly improve the as-
pect of the rooms themselves.
The oriel window, which projects over the
front porch, has a petty, cockneyish air, quite
out of keeping with the rest of the front. By
turning back to the frontispiece of our No-
vember number, 1849, the reader will see
an oriel window correctly designed, which
would greatly improve the facade of this
house.
The staircase is both handsome and easy, —
the hall in which it is placed being 14 feet
wide, so as to give space enough for those
broad landings and low steps which we rarely
sec, except in first class houses.
Altogether, this design might be remodel-
led so as to make a very satisfactory country
house for the United States, with a few alte-
rations like those we have suggested.
MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
My Dear Sir : — As, after looking at some
constellation in a summer night, one remem-
bers most vividly its largest and most potent
star, so, from amid a constellation of fine
country seats, I can write you to-day only
of my visit to one, but that, one which for its
pecidiar extent, overtops all the rest — War-
wick Castle.
Warwick Castle, indeed, combines in itself
perhaps more of romantic and feudal interest
than any actual residence in Europe, and for
this very reason, because it unit.\s in itself the
miracle of exhibiting at the same moment hoar
antiquity, and the actual vivid present, having
been held and maintained from first to last by
the same family. In most of the magnificent
country seats of England, it is rather vast
extent and enormous expense which impresses
one. If they are new, they are sometimes
overloaded with elaborate details ;* if old, they
*I,ike Eton Ha!I, near Liverpool, perhaps visited hj more
Amcricuiis than any other seat— though the architecture is
meretricious, and the wliole place as wanting in sfeiutiue taste
as it is abounding in evidences of immense wealth. Warwick
Castle bears, to an American, the same relation to all mo-
dern castles that the veritable Noah's ark. if it could be found
still in full preservation, would to a model made by an inge-
nious antiquarian.
118
MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
are often modernised in so tasteless a manner
as to destroy all sentiment of antiquity. Plate
glass windows ill accord with antique case-
ments, and Paris furniture and upholstery are
not in keeping with apartments of the time
of Elizabeth.
In Warwick Castle and all that belongs
to it, I found none of this. All was entire
harmony, and I lingered within and about it,
enjoying its absolute perfection, as if the whole
were only conjured up by an enchanter's spell,
and would soon dissolve into thin air. And
yet, on the contrary, I knew that here was a
building which is more than nine hundred
years old ; which has been the residence of
successive generations of the same family for
centuries ; which was the fortress of that
mightiest of English subjects, Warwick,
"the great king-maker," (who boasted that
he had deposed three English sovereigns and
placed three in their vacant throne,) which,
long before the discovery of iVmerica, was the
scene of wild jarring and haughty chivalry,
bloody prowess — yes, and of gentle love and
sweet affections, but which, as if defying time,
is still a castle, as real in its character as a
feudal stronghold, and yet as complete a ba-
ronial residence, as the imagination can con-
ceive. To an American, whose country is but
two hundred years old, the bridging over such
a vast chasm of time by the domestic memo-
rials of a single family, when, as in this case,
that family has so made its mark upon the
early annals of his own race, there is some-
thing approaches the sublime.
The small town of Warwick, a quaint old
place, which still bears abundant traces of its
Saxon origin, is situated nearly in the centre
of England, and lies on one side of the castle,
to which it is a mere dependency. It is pla-
ced on a rising hill or knoll, the castle occu-
pying the highest part, though mostly con-
cealed from the town by thick plantations.
Around the other sides of the castle flows the
Avon, a lovely stream, whose poetical fame
has not belied its native charms ; and beyond
it stretch away the broad lands which belong
to the castle.
The finest approach for the stranger is from
the pretty town of Leamington, about two
miles east of Warwick. At a turn, a few
hundred rods distant from the castle, the road
crosses the Avon by a wide bridge with a mossy
stone balustrade, and here, looking upward,
" Bosomed high in lufled trees.
Towers and baulements he sees."
The banks of the stream are finely fringed
with foliage ; beyond them are larger trees ;
upon the rising ground in the rear grow lofty
and venerable chestnuts, oaks, and elms ; and
over this superb foreground, rises up, grand
and colossal, the huge pile of grey stone, soft-
ened by the effects of time, and the rich
masses of climbers that hang like floating
drapery about it. For a few moments you
lose sight of it, and the carriage suddenly
stops before a high embattled wall, where the
porter answers the knock by slowly unfold-
ing the massive iron gates of the portal.
Driving through this gateway you wind through
a deep cut in the solid rock, almost hidden by
the masses of ivy that hang along its sides,
and in a few moments find yourself directly
before the entrance front of the castle. Who-
ever designed this front, made up as it is of
lofty towers and irregular wall, must have
been a poet as well as architect, for its com-
position and details struck me as having the
proportions and congruity of a fine scene in
nature, which we feel is not to be measured
and defined by the ordinary rules of art. And
as it rose up before me, hoary and venerable,
yet solid and complete, I could have believed
that it was rather a magnificent effort of na-
ture than any work of mere tools and masonry.
In the central tower opened another iron
gate, and driving through a deep stone arch-
way, I found myself in the midst of a large
open space of nearly a couple of acres, car-
MR. DOWMNG'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
119
peted with the finest turf, dotted with groups
of aged trees and shrubs, and surrounded on
all sides by the castle walls. This is the inner
court-yard of the castle. Around it, forming
four sides, are grouped in the most picturesque
and majestic manner, the varied forms and
outlines of the vast pile, partly hidden by the
rich drapery of ivy and old mossy trees. On
the most sheltered side of the circular walk
which surrounds this court-yard, among many
fine evergreens, I noticed two giant Arbutuses
(a shrub which I have vainly attempted to
acclimatize in the northern States,) more than
thirty feet high, with trunks a couple of feet
in diameter, the growth of more than 200
years.
On the south side of this court lies the
principal mass of the castle, affording an un-
broken suite of rooms 333 long. At the north-
east, Cassar's tower, built in Saxon times, —
the oldest part of the whole edifice, whose ex-
act date is unknown — which rises dark, gloomy
and venerable, above all the rest ; while at
the south-east stands the tower built by the
great Warwick — broader and more massive,
and partly hidden by huge chestnuts. The
other sides are not inhabited, but still remain
as originally built, — a vast mass of walls with
embattled parapets broken by towers with
loopholes and positions for defence — but with
their sternness and severity broken by the
tender drapery of vines and shrubs, and the
luxuriant beauty of the richest verdure.
In the centre of the south side of this noble
court-yard, you enter the castle by a few
steps. Passing through the entrance hall, you
reach the great hall, vast, baronial and mag-
nificent— the floor paved with marble — and
the roof carved in oak. Along the sides,
which are pannelled in dark cedar, are hung
the armor and the weapons of every age since
the first erection of the castle. I was shown
the leather shirt, with its blood-stains black-
enpf" bv time, worn by an ancestor of the
present carl, who was slain at the battle of
Litchfield, and many other curious and pow-
erful weapons used by the great warriors of
the family through a course of centuries.
On either side of this hall, to the right and
left, in a straight line, extend the continuous
suite of apartments. The first on the right
is the anti-drawing-room, the walls crimson
and gold ; next, the cedar drawing-room — the
walls richly wainscoted with wood of the ce-
dar of Lebanon ; third, the great drawing-
room, finely proportioned and quite perfect in
tone — its walls delicate apple-green, relieved
by a little pure white, and enriched with gild-
ing ; next. Queen Anne's state bedroom, with
a superb state bed presented to the then Earl
of Warwick, by that queen, being antique,
with tapestry, and decorated with a fine full
length picture of Queen Anne ; and beyond
this a cabinet filled with the choicest speci-
mens of ancient Venetian art and workman-
ship. Behind the hall is the chapel, and on
the left the suite is continued in tha same
manner as on the right. Of course a good
deal of the furniture has been removed from
time to time, and large portions of the interi-
or have been restored by the present earl.
But this has been done with such admirable
taste that there is nothing which disturbs the
unity of the whole. The furniture is all of
dark wood, old cabinets richly inlaid with
brass, old carved oaken couches, or those rich
mosaic tables which were brought to England
in the palmy days of the Italian states.
Everything looks old, genuine and original.
The apartments were hung with very choice
pictures by Van Dyck, Titia and Rubens —
among which I noticed a magnificent head
of Cromwell, and another of Queen Mary,
that riveted my attention — the former by its
expression of the powerful self-centered soul,
and the latter by the crushed and broken-
hearted pensiveness of the countenance — for
it was Mary at 40, just before her death —
120
MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
still beautiful and noble, but with the marks
in her features of that suffering which alone
reveals to us the depth of the soul.
Not to weary you with the interior of what
is only the first floor of the castle, let me take
you to one of the range of large, deep, sunny
windows which lights the whole of this suite
of apartments on their southern side. Each
window is arched overhead and wainscoted on
the side, and as the walls of the castle are 10
to 12 feet thick, each window above 8 feet
wide, it forms almost a little room or closet
by itself. And from these windows how
beautiful the landscape ! Although we enter-
ed these apartments by only a few steps from
the level of the court-yard, yet on looking
from these windows I found myself more than
60 feet above the Avon, which almost washes
the base of the castle walls on this side, wind-
ing about in the most graceful curve, and lo-
sing itself in the distance among groups of
aged elms. On this side of the castle, be-
yond the Avon, stretches away the park of
about a thousand acres. As far as the eye
reaches it is a beautiful English landscape,
of fresh turf and fine groups of trees — and
beyond it, for several miles, lie the rich farm
lands of the Warwick estate. There are few
pictures more lovely than such a rural scene,
and perhaps its quietness and serenity, Were
enhanced by contrast with the sombre gran-
deur of the feudal court-yard where I first
entered.
Passing through a gate in the castle wall,
I entered the pleasure grounds, and saw in the
orangery or gr^n-house, the celebrated War-
wick vase — the giant among vases. It is a
magnificent mass of marble, weighing 8 tons,
of beautiful proportions, of which reduced
copies are now familiar to us all over the
world. It was brought from the temple of
Vesta, and is larger than I had been led to
believe, holding nearly two hogsheads. It is
also rather more globular in form, and more
delicate in detail than one would suppose from
the copies.
In the pleasure grounds my admiration was
riveted by the " cedar walk" — a fine avenue
of cedars of Lebanon — that noblest of ever-
greens— some sixty feet high, a tree which in
its stately symmetry and gi-eat longevity,
seemed a worthy companion of this princely
castle. But even the cedar of Lebanon is
too short lived, for the two oldest trees which
stand almost close to the southern walls of the
castle, and which are computed to be about
five hundred years old — gigantic and venera-
ble in appearance — have lately lost several of
their finest branches, and are evidently fast
going to decay. It was striking to me to
see, on the other hand, how much the hoary
aspect of the outer walls of the castle were
heightened by the various beautiful vines and
climbers intermingled with harebells, daisies
and the like, which had sprung up of them-
selves on the crevices of the mighty walls that
overhang the Avon, and sustained by the
moisture of its perennial waters, were allowed
to grow and flower without molestation, though
everything else that hastens the decay of the
building is jealously guarded against.
If anything more were wanting to heighten
the romantic interest of this place, it would be
found in the relics which are kept, partly in
in the castle, and partly in the apartments at
the outer portal, of the famous Grey, Earl
OF Warwick, who lived in Saxon times,
and whose history and exploits heretofore al-
ways seemed as fabulous to me as those of
Blue-Beard himself. Still, here is his sword,
an enormous weapon six feet long, which it
requires both hands to lift, his breast-plate
weighing fifty-two pounds, and his helmet se-
ven pounds. The size of these, (and their
genuineness is beyond dispute,) shows that he
must have been a man whose gigantic stature
almost warrants the belief in the miracles of
valor which he performed in battle — as an
MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
121
enormous iron " porridge pot " of singular
clumsy antique form which holds 102 gallons,
does any amount of credulity as to the diges-
tive powers necessary to sustain the Colussus
who slew all the dragons of his day.
While I was at Warwick, I ascended on a
fine moonlight evening, the top of the highest
tower, commanding the whole panorama of
feudal castle, tributary town, and lovely land-
scape. It would be vain to attempt to de-
scribe the powerful emotions that such a scene
and its many associations, under such circum-
stances, awakened within me ; but I turned
my face at last, westward, toward my native
land, and with uplifted eyes thanked the good
God, that, though to England, the country of
my ancestors, it had been given to show the
growth of man in his highest developmont of
class or noble, to America has been reserved
the greater blessing of solving for the world
the true problem of all humanity — that of the
abolition of all castes, and the recognition rif
the divine rights of every human soul.
This neighborhood is c(jually beautiful to
the eye of the picturesque or the agricultural
tourist. I was shown farms on the Warwick
estate which are let out to tenants at over £2
per acre — and everywhere the richness of the
grain-fields gave evidence both of high culti-
vation and excellent soil. The chief differ-
ence, after all, between an English rural land-
scape and one in the older and better cultiva-
ted parts of the United States, is almost
wholly in the universality of verdant hedges,
and the total absence of all other fences. The
hedges (for the most part of hawthorn,) di-
vide all the farm-fields, and line ail the road-
sides— and even the borders of the railways,
in all parts of the country. I was quite sat-
isfied with the truth of this conjecture, when
I came, accidentally, in my drive yesterday,
upon a little spot of a few rods — where the
hedges had been destroyed,. and a temporary
post and rail fence, like those at home, nut in
Vol. y. 8
their place. The whole thing was lowered at
once to the harshness and rickety aspect of a
farm at home. The majority of the farm
hedges are only trimmed once a year — in
winter — and therefore have, perhaps, a more
natural and picturesque look than the more
carefully trimmed hedges of the gardens.
Hence, for a farm hedge, a plant should be
chosen that will grow thick of itself, with
only this single annual clipping, and which
will adapt itself to all soils. I am, therefore,
confirmed in my belief, that the buckthorn is
the farmer's hedge plant for America, and I
am also satisfied that it will make a better and
far more durable hedge than the hawthorn
does, even here.
Though England is beautifully wooded, yet
the great preponderance of the English elm —
a tree wanting in grace, and only grand when
very old, renders an English road side land-
scape in this respect, one of less sylvan beauty
than our finest scenery of like character at
home. The American elm, with its fine
drooping branches, is rarely or never seen
here, and there is none of that variety of fo-
liage which we have in the United States.
For this reason (leaving out of sight rail
fences,) I do not think even the drives
through Warwickshire so full of rural beauty
as those in the valley of the Connecticut —
which they most resemble. In June our mea-
dows there are as verdant, and our trees in-
comparably more varied and beautiful. On
the other hand, you must remember that here,
wealth and long civilization have so refined
and perfected the details, that in this respect
there is no comparison — nothing in short to
be done but to admire and enjoy. For in-
stance, for a circuit of eight or ten miles
or more here, between Leamington and
Warwick and Stratfort-on-Avon, the roads,,
which are admirable, are rcgularyly sprinkled
every dry day in summer, while along the^
railroads the sides are cultivated with grass,.
122
MR. DOWNINGS LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
or farm crops or flowers, almost to the very
rails.
The ruins of Kenilworth, only five miles
from Warwick, have been so often visited and
described that they are almost familiar to
jon. Though built long after Warwick cas-
tle, this vast palace, which covered (including
the garden walls,) six or seven acres, is entire-
ly in ruins — like most of the very old castles
in England. The magnificent suites of apart-
ments where the celebrated Earl of Leices-
ter, the favorite of Elizabeth, entertained
his sovereign with such regal magnificence,
are roofless and desolate — only here and there
a fragment of a stately window or a splendid
hall, attesting the beauty of the noble architec-
ture. Over such of the walls and towers as are
yet standing, grows however, the most gigantic
trees of ivy — absolutely trees — with trunks
more than two feet in diameter, and rich masses
of foliage, that covered the hoary and crumb-
ling walls with a drapery so thick that I could
not fathom it with an arm's length. When
the ivy gets to be a couple of hundred years
old, it loses something of its vine-like charater,
and more resembles a gigantic laurel tree,
growing against and partly hiding the venera-
ble walls.
In the ancient pleasure grounds of Kenil-
worth— those very pleasure grounds whose
alleys, doubtless Elizabeth and Leicester
had trodden together, I saw remaining the most
beautiful hedges of old gold and silver holly —
almost (to one fond of gardening) of them-
selves worth coming across the Atlantic to
see— so rich were they in their variegated
glossy foliage, and so large and massive in
their growth. As these ruins are open to the
public, and are visited by thousands, the keep-
ers find it to their account to preserve, as
much as possible, the relics of the old gar-
den in good order, though the palace itself is
past all renovation.
In this neighborhood, at a distance of eight
miles, is also that spot dearest to all who speak
the English language, and all who respect
human genius, Stratford-on-Avon. The coach-
man who drove me thither from Warwick Castle,
and whose mind probaly measures greatness by
the size of the dwelling it inhabits — volunteer-
ed the information to me on the way there that
it was " a very smallish, poor sort of a house,"
that I was going to see. As I stood within
the walls of the humble room, little more
than seven feet high, and half a dozen yards
long, where the greatest of poets was born
and passed so many days of his life, I invol-
untarily uncovered my head, and felt how much
more sublime is the power of genius, which
causes this simplest of birth places to move
a deeper chord in the heart than all the pomp
and external circumstance of high birth or
heroic acheivements, based as they mostly are,
upon the more selfish side of man's nature.
It was, indeed, a very " smallish" house, but
it was large enough to be the home of the
mightiest soul that England's sky ever co-
vered.
Not far distant is the parish church, where
Shakespeare lies buried. An avenue of
lime trees, singularly clipped so as to form an
arbor, leads across the churchyard to the
porch. Under a large slab of coarse stone
lies the remains of the great dramatist, bear-
ing the simple and terse epitaph composed by
himself; and above it, upon the walls, is the
monumental bust which is looked upon as the
most authentic likeness. It has, to my eye,
a wooden and unmeaning expression, with no
merit as a work of art — and if there is any
truth in physiognomy could not have been a
likeness — for the upper lip is that of a man
wholly occupied with self-conceit. I prefer^
o-roatly, the portrait in Warwick Castle — which
shows a foce paler and strongly marked with
traces of thought, and an eye radiant with the
fire of genius — but ready with a warm, light-
ning glance, to read the souls of others.
DROOPING TREES.
123
I write you from London, where I have
promised to make a visit to Sir William
Hooker, who is the director of the Royal
Botanic Garden at Kew, and have accepted
an invitation from the DuKE OP Northum-
berland to see the fine trees at Sion House.
Yours most cordially, A. J. D
London, July 29, 1S30.
DROOPING TREES.
BY P. BARRY, ROCHESTER, N. Y.
The peculiar gracefulness and elegance of
drooping trees, render them of great impor-
tance in the embellishment of landscapes.
Whether appropriately grouped, or scattered
singly on a lawn, they are equally capable of
producing the most charming effects. They
are also peculiarly appropriate for planting
rural cemeteries, for forming natural arbors,
and various other rustic decorations. The
rapid growth of taste throughout this coun-
try, in regard to ornamental planting, im-
provement of cemeteries, u- wide awake New England settlers. The
Delavan prairie, for exanqile, which I crossed
when I first visited this rogi(in, and Avliere, if
I remember right, we traveled twenty-four
miles without meeting tree or shrub, is now
graced by several groves, and mile long ave-
nues, where most needed — along the high-
way.
On the prairies, the yellow Rudbeckias
(the fulgida) are still abundant and extremely
gay — the tall purple ones are all going out of
bloom. The rich pink spikes of the Draco-
cephalum, (Dragon head,) and the more showy
species of Liatris, are flowers of August and
September, and well Avorthy of introduction
in the " wild flower border."
The trees which I would advise my western
friends to plant out, and which are nearly ev-
erywhere abundant, a degree south of here,
are, in addition to maple and elm, the " red
bud," (Cerois canadensis,) the " coffee tree,"
(Gymnoobidas,) the Hack walnut, and butter-
nut, and the red or black mulberry. The three
last soon yield abundance of fruit, as well as
shade. I deem the native mulberry one of our
finest trees. When planted out, the top becomes
dense, rounded and graceful — the leaves are
very large and rich, sometimes entire, though
generally more or less lobed. They present
a most striking appearance, and then the fruit
is the earliest, except the strawberry, and has
just sufiicient tartness to redeem it from the
insipidity of the others of this genus, and it
is certainly very wholesome, if not so very
palatable.
There is one other ver}' rich fruit tree, of
small size, that occurs everj'Avherc, which I
have found rather impatient of removal to a
distance — I mean the paw-paw. But those
living near it, can, doubtless, transplant it
with safety and success.
The orchards of central Illinois are not so
frequently met with, as I could wish. Still,
there are many old ones, composed principally
of seedling apples, and peaches, and the uni-
versal sour, hardy, morello cherry.
The fruit crop in this region will be a large
one. Wherever I found pear trees, I found
them loaded with fruit. I saw some quite
forest like, in Springfield, said to be engrafted,
though doubtful, which the owner, (Dr. Todd)
assured me were generally great bearers.
My friend, Edson IIarkness, of Peoria
county, has near one thousand bearing apple
trees, and quite a number of large worked
pears, which I shall leave him to describe —
though I assure you, the fruit promise was
decidedly the richest I ever saw in any coun-
try, and his " Rhenish grapes " were in heaps
instead of clusters.
That the banks of the Illinois river and the
smaller streams, especially the Kickapoo and
Macinaw, near Peoria, are bound to be cover-
ed with vineyards, ere t:n years have passed,
I can scarce doubt; and that YiNE Growing
will do more for the cause of Temperance
than all the societies in the world, I have long
134
A FEW WORDS TO BEGINNERS.
Ijelieved, and once had the hardihood to de-
clare, ina long rambling essay under the title
of " Temperance and the Vine."
Isaac Underhill, Esq., eighteen miles
ahove Peoria, has five hundred acres in or-
chard. He has in the last two years planted
out 12,000 apples, all ejigrafted, and 7,000
peach trees, of which, as I gather, about
16,000 or 17,000 are doing well. He is,
however, like all of us, troubled with the small
native caterpillar, which renders orchards, and
even wild groves and forest trees, most un-
sightly objects. But the caterpillar may be
destroyed, though there is another thing of
more consequence to mention — a sort of
" blight," perhaps identical with " pear-tree
blight." Here at the north, it is principally
confined to the quince — further south, from
one-eighth to one half of the tops of apple
trees are involved — the entire new and some
inches of the old wood, black and dead.
People will tell you that a " worm " has done
this ; but I fear it is one about as tangible as
the " insects that cause cholera " — an undis-
covered elemental influence.
I did wish to say something about hedges,
in which praise-worthy interest our own per-
severing Professor Turner, is doing more
good to his kind, and more credit to his ovra
great abilities, than when he was hammering
the " dead la7iguages " into " dead heads,^*
in Illinois college. But as I have sent off
four sheets of this paper, (I never copy,) I
may repeat what I have already said, and
shall certainly tire you, if not your readers.
Northjield, August Hlh, 1850.
"A PEV/ "WORDS TO BEGINNERS."
BY WSI. BACOX. RICHMOND, MA8S.
I was exceedingly pleased with an article by
Mr. Beeciier in a late number of the Hor-
ticulturist, entitled " A Few Words to Be-
ginners," and would recommend that it be
read again and again by every one of your
readers ; and then let the publisher of every
country paper give it a conspicuous place in
his hebdominal, and if it does not, in this
way, reach every family, (we do not know of
a single family in which there is not some
member who may profit by its contents,) let
it be posted conspicuously in every garden,
at the corner of every street, where flower-
mongers and would-be flower-growers are
•wont to pass or to congregate, that they may
read as thoy run, an:l profit without cost.
Mr. Beeciier's article is fall of truths, to
which every observer must ninst heartily re-
^yiond. Spring comes with its gentle gales,
its soft showers, and warm sunbeams. Vege-
tation awakes under its influence into life,
and arrays the forest and the field, the hill-
side and the meadow, in freshness and beauty
unsurpassed. Trees of foliage of varied
forms, and flowers of hues more various than
their names, greet the eye, then the mind,
and arouse the sensibilities, wherever the eye
wanders, or the soul seeks new fountains of
delight, or the warmer emotions of the soul
are awake to the noble and beautiful in na-
ture's workmanship. It is no wonder that in
such a season, when inspiration is abroad in
everything, that her soft breathings enter into
the soul of man, and warm it up in the ardor
of aifection. It is no marvel that, as he sees
the trees and shrubs dressed in the freshness
of beauty, and the flowers smile forth in the
morning light, arrayed in all the gaudy pen-
j cilings that nature can invent, that he is
anxious to gather all these treasures around
A FEW WORDS TO BEGINNERS.
135
liim, so that the eye may drink in their
charms. When the morning light i*ests ujxin
them in th(>ir dewey freshness, or at eventide,
when the toils of the day are ended, they greet
him with kind salutations to drive dull care
from his mind, and excessive anxiety from his
soul, to fit him for the rej)0se and reviving
rest which exhausted labors actually demands.
We believe this love of flowers and trees,
and things of the natural world, to be one of
the instincts of our nature, — a principle born
within us at our birth, and one that grows
with our growth ; and if it does not gain
strength with the strength of our wisdom, we
are very much mistaken. Not that we would
make it a ruling passion, and have the ener-
gies of life devoted to them, and nothing else;
for this, from the very nature of our necessi-
ties, would not, in all cases, be right. It is
no wonder, then, if those principles of nature
receive a revivifying influence in that season,
when all around awakes from dormancy and
inaction, and tliat the million go and witness
the desolations that their own negligence has
occasioned, and then go forth among the more
careful, and of course more successful, in
search of something io fill up the waste pla-
ces. This is often done with a rush. The
fever is high ; something viuat be done this
year ; and away they go to begin. Without
knowledge or experience, they seek for varie-
ty. Ah ! that is it ; so many kin:ls of roses —
native, foreign, hardy, half-hardy, tender — no
matter what ; such a plant from China, and
such a one from the Cape of Good Hope.
They are certainly very nice. " Mrs. Such-
an-one raises them to perfection, and I'm
sure I can. I'll try in earnest this year."
A fine lot is collected ; but our enthusiast
must go a little further down street, to add to
the accession. " I'll just lay them down
here a short time, until I return ;" and the
plants, poor things, with (heir roots just taken
from the cool, moist earth, are laid upon a
sunny bank for safe keeping, until their bark
shrinks from its scorching rays ; or perhaps
they are permitted to lie on the ground, un-
protected, through a frosty night. " It wont
hurt thein, I presume, though I'd rather they
had been set out ; but Mr. Butterfly came in,
and in my hurry I forgot them. He's so verij
interesting! who can wonder?"
Gentle reader, we are not dealing in ro-
mance, for we have seen (and who that lives
in the country and raises plants for their own
gratification, ever willing to give duplicates
to those who will take care of them, has not,)
just such operations performed. Yes, we
have known those who as much depended on
having their stock renewed each spring, as they
did on having "the time of singing of birds"
come round. Such never can succeed. It is
no wonder they do nut. Their plants are
ruined before they arc introduced to their
grounds. And even if they were not, they
Tould soon be after they got them there ; for
they are used as though they were of iron,
jammed into the earth — perhaps very hard
earth — and left to grow or die ; and die they
must — die they will, in nine cases out of ten,
until, at last, the very grave conclusion is
adopted, that " our soil is not favorable to
the growth of plants. I never could have
any luck with them ; and, though I admire
them, I have given up trying to raise them
altogether."
Now, to this class " of would-be cultiva-
tors," we would reconmiend a careful re-
reading of Mr. Beeciier's article ; and we
say with him, in the first place, prepare your
ground. In the second place, commence with
a few plants, and let these be of hardy habits.
In the third place, set them in such localities —
shady or exposed, warm or cool, damp or
dry — as their habits and constitutional cha-
racter requires. In setting, be careful to
give the roots an easy, natural position, with
a plenty of loose, friable earth to run in.
136
A PLEA FOR AMERICAN TREES.
And, lastly, see that they are duly taken care,
of lohen planted ; for after cultivation im-
proves their character as well as it does the
crops in the fields, which no one would ex-
pect to see flourish without continued anxious
care. Having succeeded once, success be-
comes more certain in the future. It is the
progenitor of its own kind. It creates obser-
vation, and profits by experience ; and when
its effects are seen in cultivating hardy plants,
aided by these, it will enable the cultivator to
venture on new and untried experiments with
those of more feeble habits and sensitive cha-
racters, until accessions are made, astonish-
ing even to the operator's own senses.
Have we made it a laborious and pains-
taking operation ? "We admit and claim that
it is right that it should be. Man was never
made to be a slothful, inactive, unthinking
lump of humanity ; but by a wise provision
of his maker, labor of body and mind are es-
sential to the health of each ; and it is by a
union of the efforts of the two, that he is to
work out his own temporal happiness. The
flower that one's own hand has cultivated.
possesses, as well it may, peculiar beauties
and rare fragrance. When industry and skill
have carried that flower to the highest per-
fection, his soul feels enlarged, and an enjoy-
ment— such as never cheered up the soul of
the sluggard or the heedless one — rouses him
to new impulses and greater triumphs. Have
you seen the sickly, feeble, straggling plant,
with a few leaves, and those falling prema-
turely to decay, put on the foliage of health
and beaut}', and change its rough and imcer-
tain form for one of symmetry and elegance ?
And know ye not that labor and skill alone
have done it, and that all the regrets and idle
wishes that the heart could pour out, never
could have effected it ? And is there no re-
ward in this labor also ? Yes ; and it is the
rich reward of making nature subservient to
your wishes — of triumphing over her defor-
mities— of introducing beauty — which W\ill
please "the eye, which is never tired with
seeing," and gladden the heart of inau, in
their place.
William Bacon
Hichmond, August 5, 1850.
A PLEA FOR AMERICAN TREES.
FROM MISS COOPER'S " RURAL HOURS.'
It is to be feared that few among the younger
generation now springing up will ever attain
to the dignity of the old forest trees. Very
large portions of these woods are already of
a second growth, and trees of the greatest
size are every year becoming more rare. It
quite often happens that you come upon old
stumps of much larger dimensions than any
living trees about them; some of these are
four, and a few five feet or more in diameter.
Occasionally, we still find a pine erect of this
size ; one was felled the other day, which mea-
sured five feet in diameter. There is an elm
about a mile from the village seventeen feet in
girth, and not long since we heard of a bass-
wood or linden twenty-eight feet in circumfer-
ence. But among the trees now standing, even
those which are sixty or eighty feet in height,
many are not more than four, or five, or six
feet in girth. The pines, especially, reach
a surprising elevation for their bulk.
As regards the ages of the larger trees, one
frequently finds stumps about two hundred
years old ; those of three hundred are not
rare, and occasionally we have seen one which
we believed to claim upwards of four hundred
rings. But as a rule, the largest trees are
singled out very early in the history of a set-
tlement, and many of these older stumps of
the largest size have now become so worn and
ragged, that it is seldom one can count the
circles accurately. They are often much
injured by fire immediately after the tree has
been felled, and in many other instances decay
A PLEA FOR AMERICAN TREES.
137
has been at work at the heart, and one cannot,
perhaps, count more than half the rings ;
measuring will help, in such eases, to give
some idea ; by taking fifty rings of the sound
part, and allowing the same distance of the
decayed portion fur another fifty. But this is
by no means a sure way, since the rings vary
very much in the same tree, some being so
broad that they must have sensibly increased
the circuml'erence of the trunk in one year, to
the extent, perhaps, of an inch ; while in other
parts of the same shaft you will find a dozen
circles crowded into that space. In short, it
is seldom one has the satisfaction of meeting
with a stump in which one may count every
ring with perfect accuracy. It is said that
some of the pines on the Pacific coast, those
of Oregon and California, have numbered nine
hundred rings ; these were the noble Lambert
pines of that region. Probably very few of
our own white pines can show more than half
tliat number of circles.
It is often said, as an excuse for leaving
none standing, that these old trees of forest
growth will not live after their companions
have been felled ; they miss the protection
which one gives to another, and, exposed to
the winds, soon fall to the ground. As a
general rule, this may be true ; but one is
inclined to believe that if the experiment of
leaving a few more, were frequently tried, it
would often prove successful. There is an
elm of great size now standing entirely alone
in a pretty field of the valley, its girth, its age,
and whole appearance declaring it a chieftain
of the ancient race — the " Sagamore elm,"
as it is called — and in spite of complete ex-
posure to the winds from all quarters of the
heavens, it maintains its place firmly. The
trunk measures seventeen feet in circumference
and it is thought to be a hundred feet in lieight ;
but this is only from the eye, it never having
been accui-ately ascertained. Tiie shaft rises
perhaps fifty feet without a branch, before it
divides, according to the usual growth of old
forest trees. Unfortunately, grey branches
are beginning to show among its summer fo-
liage, and it is to be feared that it will not
outlast many winters more ; but if it die to-
morrow, we shall have owed a debt of many
thanks to the owner of the field, for having
left the tree standing so long.
In these times, the hewers of wood are an
unsparing race. The first colonists looked
Vol. v. 9
upon a tree as an enemy ; and to judge from
appearances, one v/ould think that something
of the same spirit prevails among their de-
scendants at the present hour. It is not
surprising, perhaps, that a man, whose chief
object in life is to make money, should turn
his timber into bank notes with all jossible
speed ; but is is remarkable that any one at all
aware of the value of wood, should act so
wastefully as most men do in this part of the
world. ]\Iature trees, young saplings, and
last year's seedlings, are all destroyed at one
blow by the axe or by fire ; the spot where
they have stood is left, perhaps, for a lifetime
without any attempt at cultivation, or any en-
deavor to foster new wood. One would think
that by this time, when the forest has fallen
in all the valleys — when the hills are becoming
more bare every day — when timber and fuel
are rising in price, and new uses are found
for even indifferent woods — some forethought
and care in this respect would be natural in
people laying claim to common sense The
rapid consumption of the large pine timber
among us, should be enough to teach a lesson
of prudence and economy on this subject. It
has been calculated that (30,000 acres of pine
woods are cut every year in our own State
alone ; at this rate, it is said that in twenty
years, or about 1870, these trees will have
disappeared from our part of the country !
But unaccountable as it may appear, few
American farmers are aware of the full value
and importance of wood. They seem to
forget the relative value of the forests. It has
been reported in the State of New- York, that
the produce of tilled lands carried to tide-
water by the Erie canal, in one year amounted
to 8,1'/ 0,000 dollars' worth of property; that
of animals or farm-stock, for the same year,
is given at 83,230,000 ; that of the forests,
luinbcr, staves, &c., at $4,770,000. Thus
the forest yielded more than the stock, and
more than half as much as the farm lands ; and
when the comj)arative expense of the two is
considered, their value will be brought still
nearer together. Peltries were not included
in this account. Our people seldom remember
that the forests, while they provide food and
shelter for the wildest savage tribes, make up
a large amount of the wealth of the most
civilized nations. The first rude devices of
the barbarian are shaped in wood, and the
cedar of Lebanon ranks with the gold of Ophir
138
A PLEA FOR AMERICAN TREES.
within the walls of palaces. Huw much do
we not ourselves owe to the forests as regards
our daily wants ! Our fields are divided by
wooden fences ; wooden bridges ci'oss our
rivers ; our village streets and highways are
being paved with wood ; the engines that carry
us on our way by land and by water, are fed
with wood ; the rural dwellings without and
within, their walls, their floors, stairways, and
roofs, are almost wholly of wood ; and in this
neighborhood the fires that burn on our house-
hold hearth are entirely the gift of the living
forest.
But independently of their market price in
dollars and cents, the trees have other values ;
they are connected in many ways with the
civilization of a country ; they have their im-
portance in an intellectual and in a moral sense.
After the first rude stage of progress is past
in a new country — when shelter and food have
been provided — people begin to collect the
conveniences and pleasures of a permanent
home about their dwellings, and then the
former generally sets out a few trees before
his door. This is very desirable, but it is
only the first step in the track ; something
more is needed ; the preservation of fine trees,
already standing, marks a further progress,
and this point we have not reached. It fre-
quently happens that the same man who yes-
terday planted some half dozen branchless
saplings before his door, will to-day cut down
a noble elm, or oak, only a few rods from his
house, an object which was in itself a hundred
fold more beautiful than any other in his pos-
session. In very truth, a fine tree near a house
is a much greater embellishment than the
thickest coat of paint that could be put on its
walls, or a whole row of wooden columns to
adorn its front ; nay, a large shady tree in a
door-yard is much more desirable than the
most expensive mahogany and velvet sofa in
the parlor. Unhappily, our people generally
do not see things in this light. But time is a
very essential element, absolutely indispensable
indeed, in true civilization ; and in the course
of years we shall, it is to be hoped, learn fur-
ther lessons of this kind. Closer observation
will reveal to us the beauty and excellence of
simplicity, a quality as yet too little valued or
understood in this country. And when we
have made this further progress, then we shall
take better care of our trees. We shall not
be satisfied with setting out a dozen naked
saplings before our door, because our neighbor
on the left did so last year ; nor cut down a
whole wood within a stone's throw of our
dwelling, to pay for a Brussels carpet from
the same piece as our neighbors 's on the right ;
no, we shall not care a stiver for mere show
and parade, in any shape whatever, but we
shall look to the general properties and fitness
of things, whether our neighbors to the right
or the left do so or not.
How easy it would be to improve most of
the farms in the country by a little attention
to the woods and trees, improving their ap-
pearance, and adding to their market value at
the same time ! Thinning woods and not
blasting them ; clearing only such ground as
is marked for immediate tillage ; preserving
the wood on the hill-tops and rough side hills ;
encouraging a coppice on this or that knoll ;
permitting bushes and young trees to grow at
will along the brooks and water-courses ;
sowing, if need be, a grove on the bank of
the pool, such as are found on many of our
farms, sparing an elm or two about the spring;
with a willow also to overhang the well ;
planting one or two chestnuts, or oaks, or
beeches, near the gates or bars ; leaving a few
others scattered about every field to shade the
cattle in summer, as is frequently done, and
setting out others in groups, or singly, to
shade the house — how little would be the labor
or expense required to accomplish all this, and
how desirable would be the result ! Assuredly,
the pleasing character thus given to a farm
and a neighborhood, is far from being beneath
the consideration of a sensible man.
But there is also another view of the subject.
A careless indifference to any good gift of our
gracious Maker shows a want of thankfulness,
as any abuse or waste betrays a reckless spirit
of evil. It is, indeed, strange that one claiming
to be a rational creature should not be tho-
roughly ashamed of the spirit of destruc-
tiveness, since the principle itself is clearly
an evil one. Let us remember that it is the
Supreme Being who is the Creator, and in how
many ways do we see his gracious providence,
his Almighty economy, deigning to work pro-
gressive renovation in the humblest objects,
when their old forms have become exhausted
by time ! There is also something in the care
of trees which rises above the conmion labors
of husbandry, and speaks of a generous mind.
We expect to wear the fleece from our flocks,
ARCHITECTURE OF COUNTRY HOUSES
139
to drink tlie milk of our herds, to feed upon
the fruits of our fields ; Imt in pLintino; a yoimg
wood, in preserving a tine grove, a noble tree,
•we look beyond ourselves to the band of
houseiiold friends, to our neighbors — aye, to
the passing wayfarer and strauger who will
share with us the pleasui-e thoy give, and it
becomes a grateful reflection that long after
we are gone, those trees will eontinue good
to our fellow -ereatures for more years, per-
haps, than we can tell.
Quite recently, two instiinees of an opposite
character connected with this subject, have ac-
cidentally fallen under our notice. At a par-
ticular point in the wilds of Oregon, near the
banks of the Columbia lliver, there stood a
single tree of greai size, one of the majestic
pines of that region, and long known as a land-
mark to the hunters and emigrants passing
over tlK)se solitary wastes. One of the ex-
peditions sent ont to explore that country by
the government, arriving near the point, were
on the watch for that pine to guide their course^
(they looked for it some time, biwt in vain ; at
length, reaching the spot where they'supposcd
at ought to have stood — a way-mark in
the wilderness — they fou«d tlie tree lying
on ihe eartli. It had been f lied, and left
there to rot, by some man claiming, no doubt,
to be a civilized being. The man who could
do such an act would have been worthy to
make one of the horde of Attila, barbarians
who delighted to level to the ground every
object over which their own horses could not
leap.
Opposed to this is an instance less striking, but
more pleasing, and happily much nearer to our
own neighborhood. Upon the banks of the
Susquehannah, not far from the little village
of Bainbridge, the traveller, as he follows the
road, observes a very fine tree before him,
and as he approaches he will find it to be a
luxuriant elm, standing actually in the midst
of the highway ; its branches completely
cover the broad track, sweeping over the
fences on either side. The tree stands in the
very position where a thorough-going utilitari-
an would quarrel with it, for the road is turned
a little out of its true course to sweep round
the trunk ; but in the opinion of most people,
it is not only a very beautiful object in itself,
but highly creditable to the neighborhood ;
for, not only has it been left standing in its
singular position, but as far as we could scse,
there was not a single mark of abuse upon its
trunk or branches.
ARCHITECTURE OF COUNTRY HOUSES.
iFROM THE IIOMt: JOURNAL, NKW-YORK. ]
[ In tke abseffloc of Mr. Downing, tiie pub-
lisher of the Horticulturist deems it not im-
proper to transfer to its pages, from Messrs.
Willis & Moms' Home Journal, the following
notice of jlr. D's. new work.]
He is a fortunate man who, on entering this
world, finds the place manifestly designed for
liini by Providence ; and thrice happy is he
who, in Iris own day and genenution, is recog-
nized as the person for whom the vacant niche
was waiting.
Mr. Downing, of Newburgh, on the Hud-
son, is an illustration -of this idea. He is the
iiuthor of a work bearing the above title — an
octavo volume of some five hundred pages,
just published, in this city, by Appleton &
Co. He is the well known editor of the Hor-
iiculiurzst, the verj- best publication of its
class in the country ; and the author of a
beatitiful work entitled " Designs for Cottage
Residences," and of a Treatise on Landscape
Crardening, as well as other valuable books.
The subject of architecture in the country
had attracted very little attention, until about
the time when Mr. Downing made his appear-
ance. The ncio had by no means worn off of
the new world. The clearings had been made
— the first struggle with mother earth for
food had been successfully accomplished — the
log cabin era had nearly passed by — and peo-
ple in the settlements and villages had fairly
entered upon a style of architecture which
might well be termed the laryi style — the
main features of which seemed to be square-
ness, hugeness, and most u/i-fig-leaved naked-
ness of all external decoration. The back-
woodsjnau's first love — a clearing — was the
140
ARCHITECTURE OF COUNTRY HOUSES.
foreground and baeliground of the scene.
This, however, Avas only a step in a transition
to a better state of things. The desohitiou
wrought by the first settlers upon the grand
old forests was felt as almost a sacrilege, when
once accomplished, and io their children canie
gentler feelings, prompting them to restore,
in the more delicate and graceful forms of ar-
tificial groves and lawns, the beauty they had
lost. And soon, also, the feeling came, that
something more than the shelter which the
caves and hollow trees afford to brutes, should
be found in the homes of their wives and chil-
dren ; that there was, indeed, a hannony
between loveliness of form and character, and
a purifying influence in the presence of the
beautiful creations of Art, as Avell of Nature,
akin to the worship of the Most High. The
splendid works of ancient art — the temples
of Greece and Rome — the Baronial castles
of the old world — were not imknown to the
possessors of the new; but hundreds of splen-
did failures had demonstrated how utterly im-
suited to their wants and condition were such
models, in unskilful hands. The absolute
necessity of being rid of the chilling, com-
fortless, ungainly dwellings, which satisfied
neither the physical wants nor the demands
of good taste, soon induced a change in rural
architecture, almost magical. In this, as in
all other matters in America, there was no
half way. There must be a full vibration of
the pendulum. Suddenly, on all sides, sprung
up cottages. Families from the cities, ac-cus-
tomed to spacious and luxurious apartments,
must retire to the country in summer, and
spend their dog-days in what our author has
aptly teiuned cocked-hai cottages — little three
cornered affairs, of about the size of band-
boxes, all gables, and fringes, and spires ; and
whole Melroses and Sweet Auburns of Gre-
cian and Gothic playthings, looking, as Dick-
ens well said, like children's toys, just finished
and set out to dry, became visible at one shake
of the kaleidoscope. Downing's " Cottage
Ilesidences," doubtless, had some share in
bringing about the sudden change referred to,
and it was a vast improvement on what had
preceded. His cottage designs were adopted
everywhere, and generally -hnprooed till they
Avere ruined; for there was a gim'p-trimmiiig
mania pervading everything, at the time —
warring against the simplicity of nature and
refined taste..
Having, in a very few years, knocked thefr
heads and elbows sufficiently against project-
ing corners and the sloping roofs of attics, to
become painfully conscious that the " humau
form divine " does not fit comfortably into
acute angles, our good people were just con-
vinced that they had made one more mistake.
And while they thus stand doubting, con-
scious of their own inability to supply the
war.t so txniversally felt — knoAviiig just enough
of architecture to detect blunders and bad
taste everywhere, and ready, gladly, to ac-
knowledge a master — they suddenly find by
their side a plain, unaflected, earnest man,
who chimes in, at once, with their feelings,
who understands precisely their difficulties,
who encourages their enthusiiisni for the
works of nature, and the ideal of art, of which
they had begun to be somewhat ashamed, and
cjuietly points out, in a plain, practical way,
the very things they so much wanted to know.
Kuskin's '■'■Seven Lamps of Architecture '*
is a splendid work of genius ; but its author
must wait more than one generation to see it
fully appreciated. You might as well substi-
tute a volume of Emerson's Transcendental
Philosophy for the multiplication t:ible, for
the use of the youngest class in cipkerhig in ai
town school, as Mr. Ruskin's book for the
simple, practical Avork before us, for the use
of our good citizens. The question put by the
mathematician to the sculptor, in regard to
the beautiful creations of his art — " What do
they go to shmoV — Avill be likely to be often
asked in reference to the Seven Lamps ; while
Mr. I>OAvning*s treatise, Avith no Jiamyig title,
will shed quite as much light on its subject,
as the newly opened eyes of this generation
are able to bear.
The present work noes not profess to be
strictly scientific. Like all Mr. Downing's
Avritings, it is characterized by a Avonderful
combination of plain common sense with great
enthusiasm, and a thorough appreciation of
the beautiful in nature, art and science. He
seems to have a peculiar conception of i\\e fit-
ness of things. The cockneyism that builds
a "■ four story brick " in the country, and fur-
nishes it in the style of Broadway or Beacon
street, hides its diminished head beneath the
scrutiny of his practiced eye. " The sin of
ignorance," manifested so often by erecting
for a rural dAvelling a classic Temple of Mr-
uerva, twenty feet square,, and two-thii-ds of
FOREIGN NOTICES.
141
that portico, he " winks at," to be sure ; but
it is with a very knowing wink, with one eye
only !
With a few sensible suggestions, he relieves
the country greenhorn from the embarrassing
idea that he is obliged, in order to be respect-
able, to furnish his house like the mansion of
his city friend, and puts our wives in excellent
spirits, by showing them drawings of furni-
ture appropriate for their best apartments, at
a moderate cost. Then he makes us perceive
how much more graceful and homelike our
houses will seem, ornamented with a few pic-
tures, or fine engravings, or pieces of statuary,
instead of costly mirrors and gilded cornices,
and giving us, in passing, a glimpse of its pro-
per surroundings of lawns, spotted, here and
there, with groups of trees and shrubbery,
leaves us with the consoling impression that
our means, which were sadly deficient for the
prevailing mode, arc ample for the gratifica-
tion of true taste.
And so, one soon gets on a very agreoablc
intimacy with our author. He is not a man
to quarrel with, for he lays down no inflexi-
ble rules. True, he gives you the best plans
for all sorts of convenient buildings ; but then
he modestly suggests that your peculiar wants
may require modifications, which you are ex-
pected to make, and very likely makes you
forget that you are under any obligations
whatever, to him. And in matters of taste,
he is usually so obviously correct, that you
are half inclined to believe that the same ideas
he suggests would have occurred to you,
without his assistance. In short, the present
volume answers precisely the wants of the
times.
The elegant introductory essay upon the
Beautiful, the True and the Useful in Arc-hi-
tec-ture, may be commended to the attention
of refined and cultivated niind-^, for its litjra-
ry merit alone, had it no other; while the
" word fitly spoken," upon the various points
of art, science, taste, as well as domestic eco-
nomy, involved in its sul)ject, renders tin
work invaluable to all engaged in building.
Mr. Downing is, emphatically, as a friend of
ours says, to express his highest approbatioi
of another, one of us — a man to whom hi.-
countrymen owe nmch. and to whom they feel
happy to acknowledge their obligations.
His writings should lie read, not only by
all who arc building, but by all wlio live in
hciuses. ]\Iay he be long sjiared to "sit uniler
his own vine and fig tree, with none to molest
him or make him afraid."
N. II.
Improvement in Botanical Nomenclature.
— When we drew attention, a few weeks since, to
ihe state of botanical nomenclature, we sufTgcsted
that our readers should favor us with their opi-
nions upon the propriety of making some changes
in it. We did so, not from entertaining the least
doubt as to what the right course is, but for the
sake of eliciting such expressions of opinion as
would put us in possession of the views of those
who are alone interested in the question. So far
as mere technical science is concerned, the lan-
guage of botany is good enough; for botanists un-
derstand it. The real question at issue is, whe-
ther it is adapted to familiar use? and, if not,
whether it cannot be so adapted without any violent
interference with usage or scientific convenience?
Very few men are or can be professed botanists ;
multitudes wish for such an acquaintance with
botany as an important and highly interesting
branch of science demands of the well informed:
and there is a very large class of persons who.si
pursuits compel them to talk in the language pe-
culiar to it. But this lanfjuage is entirely foreigi-
to English ears and English taste — uncouth, in
elegant, and even barbarous. To remedy thi.s.
and to place it in such a condition that it may b>
an object of attraction to the educated multitude
as well as to a few studious philosophers, has fo
many 3'ears been the aim of ourselves and others
Nor has our motive been even limited thus nai
rowly; on the contrary, we believe that it ani
other branches of natural history may be made :.
142
FOREIGN NOTICES.
valuable part of a villager's eJucation ; but, if that
is to happen, natural history must wear an Eng-
lish dress. If it be of no importance to any one
beyond the unlearned that plants should have
English names, it is to them; and for thetn, at
least, the battle is worth fightinir.
Some perception of tiiis necessity has evidently
been felt, though unconsciously, even by those
among whom are to be found the most uncom-
promising opponents of an English terminology.
Dicotyledones, Exogenx, Cryptoga/nce,ha.\e ii\-
ready settled down as Dicotyledons, Exogens.and
Cryptogams; just as Mollusca, Pachydermata,
and Mammalia have become Mollusks, Pachy-
derms, and Mammals. Men now talk of Conifers
instead of Coniferce, and of Orchids instead of
Orchidaceee or Orchidece. It is clear, therefore,
that the current of opinion is setting steadily in a
better direction ; and there is no reason why it
should move so slowly.
'I'he view of this question taken by " Nomen-
clator," will probably prove to be the most gene-
rally acceptable. In the main he agrees with
ourselves; but he pushes his fear of translated
}iames much further. Conceding, as we fully do,
that to translate into English the technical names
of genera is upon the whole inexpedient as a rule,
and to be avoided where possible, we cannot ad-
mit that the objection to it rests upon any other
ground than that of inconvenience. English com-
pound names are as fit for scientitio purposes as
Greek and Latin ones ; but they cannot form part
of that universal language which the convenience
of science recjuires; and therefore they are inad-
missible when foreigners have to be communicated
with; and moreover, as we have already stated,
they entail upon men of science the necessity of
remembering two names instead of one, which is
inconvenient when some hundred thousand such
naiues have to be recollected. These are weighty
reasons, and we admit their force: but we recog-
nise no other reason. " Nomenelator's" trarjsla-
tion of Moth-face is surely as agreeable a name
as Phalcenopsis ; although Mothorchis would
have been better; and we see little force in Mr,
Owen's objections, if resting upon no better
ground than a bungling wis-translation of Deii'
drodus into Shrub-tooth. We may laugh at
the absurdity, just as we should at translating
Oncidium cacum into Blind-Hookey, as a face-
tious friend suggests; but such follies can form no
part of a serious argument. We repeat, then,
that we give' up the translation of scientific pro-
per names, because of the inconvenience, and for
no other reason.
That is, however, no reason why we should not
emjiloy pure English names wherever we can
without incurring that inconvenience; and we
decline to acknowledge the propriety of calling a
Qucrcus or a Fagus by any other name than
those of Oak and Beech. Bellis must be Daisy,
Delphinium Larkspur, ..iconitxnn Motiksbood,
Ranunculus Crowfoot, Juglang Walnnt, Caryes
Hickory, and Taraxacum Dandelion, as long a&
the English tongue endures; and foreigners must
learn the meaning of such words just as they leant
the meaning of other words. It is quite as rea-
sonable for us to say to a foreigner, " you. for our
convenience, must learn that Willow is the Eng-
lish for Salix," as for him to say that we must
know Salix to be the Latin of Willow for his
convenience. And since Prof. Owen's authority
has been introduced into the question, we must
add that we claim him for a good witness on our
own side. Let any one turn over the pages of
his beautiful work on fissil reptiles, and see how
sedulously he shuns the hard words of technical
science wherever he can. He talks of the Gavial,
the African Constrictor, Tiger-boa, Sea-snake,
and common Snake, and not of Gavialis Dixoni,
Python regius, Python tigris, Hydrophis bi'
color, or Coluber natrix. Every one must, we
think, desire that he had carried this further —
substituting snakestone for ophiolite, and so on.
We remark that one of our correspondents ia
alarmed lest his Crocuses should degenerate into
Crokes, and therefore he would compel people to
go on for ever V)reaking tlieir teeth against the
angles of our Grseco-Latin compounds. But his
fears are groundless; Crocus is a name not likely
to be disturbed; and if it were, the change would
not be more disastrous than that of Hyaernthuses
into Hyacinths. In spite therefore of this warn-
ing, we venture to recommend that on all possi-
ble occasions the technical proper names of sci-
ence be adapted to oar own tongue, where fami-
liar names do not exist. It will be found an im-
portant means of diffusing a taste for natural his-
tory, and need not shock the sensibilities of the
most tightlaced stickler for scientific formalism,
Calycanths are as good a* Calycanthw.ses, Hya-
cinths as Hyacinthwse*, Pcrymenes as Perymen.-
ivms, and Glossocards as Glossocardias.
But while we recommend the abandonment of
translations of technical proper names, we must
insist upon what is the greatest point of all, the
translation, wherever possible, of the adjective;*
used in the binomial system, and of all aejective
terms whatsoever, for which English equivalents
can be found. This is however opening a new
and perfectly distinct question, for which we must
crave a second hearing. Prof. Lindhy in Gard.
Chronicle.
London Hort, Society's Exhibition. — The
most brilliant season in the annals of English hor-
ticulture was brought to a close the 13th of July
bv the third exhibition in the garden of the horti-
cultural society, on which occasion there was such
an assemblage of beautiful plants as no man ever
saw before in the month of July. The last exhi-
bition in the season has always hitherto been found
much inferior to its predecessors; plants get out
of condition; the races which decorate May and
June fade and perish in July; gardeners have*
FOREIGN NOTICES.
143
less leisure, and zeal begins to flag. This must
have been severely felt elsewhere, if we are to
judge from the complaints that have reached us
of shabbily filled tables, and poor uninteresting
specimens. It was not however so at Chiswick,
for which it is evident that gardeners had re-
served with care what they wisely withheld from
other places. We say wisely, because a judicious
man will always prefer to submit his produce to
the inspection of those who can best ap|)reciate
its merits — and reward it. We suspect it has
been discovered that the favorable opinion of the
residents in the rich quarters of the West of Lon-
don is of inliiiitely more conse(iucnce to gardeners
than that of the respectable inhabitants of the
northern and eastern suburbs.
Tho skill exhibited in cultivating was in many
respects higlily instructive. We would particu-
larly refer to some Cape Heaths (E. metul(pJlora
bicolor and Parmentieri rosea.) frum Mr, Ej)ph,
in which the effect of the uneunfined air upfui
colour was most conspicuous. When com)iared
with other specimens, the tints bore the same re-
lation to each other as those of a sailor, fresh
from a cruise, and a Manchester weaver, just re-
leased from the factory. Nothing could more
conclusively confirm wluit we have so often in-
tiisted upon, that the greatest health attainable in
plants is to be secured by the freest exposure to
air. Colour is only a sign of health. 111 coloured
flowers and fruit never come from plants in per-
fect condition. The want of ample air was no
doubt the cause of the paleness of the fine Tur-
merics (Curcuma corduta and Jio'Coeana ,) from
Syon, in which the intense violet and scarlet co-
lours natural to the flower leaves were scarcely
observable,
A few novelties among Orchids mincled with
crowds of well known favorites, Mrs. Lawrence
produced the curved Angrec (.^ngroecum arcua-
turn,) from the Cape of Good Hope, and a pale
variety of the Insleay Odontoglot (Odontoglon-
sum Insleayi' ,) from which the brilliant colour of
the sj)ots was almost discharged. There was also
anew Acinete, very near Barker's, from Mr. Skin-
ner, and a white Moss Cattlcya from Mr. Ivison.
Among other races, the Victoria Waier Lily,
from Syon, in the form of a beautiful flower, and
two magnificent leaves, each five feet ten inches
in diameter, was pre-eminent. The Java and
saffron-coloured Ixoras (/, juvanica and crocaia)
from Mrs, Lawrence were among the most bril-
liant bushes. A plant of the showy Medinil (M.
Speciosa) from Mr. Farmer's gardener, was ri-
pening its beautiful fruit, a result which Mr. Car-
son has we believe been the first to obtain. The
elegant Pleroma, with its broad round flowers of
Tyriun purple, was produced by Mr. Green, in
proof that some at least of the Melastomads will
retain their splendid petals long enough to render
them objects of much value.
* This i.s 110 doubt an Odoiitooloi. aiiJ not an Oncid.
Of the newer plants the most remarkable was
the Willow-leaved Ixora (7. snlicifolia) from
Messrs. Veitch, a charming stove plant with rich
oiauLre-coloured flowers. Less new and far infe-
rior in colour, but most remarkable for the fantas-
tic form of its flower, was the arched Lesche-
nauttia (L. arcuata) from Lord Kilmorey's gar-
den. A large plant of the Emperor Francis'
Echites (£. Franciscea) from Mr, Colyer's col-
lection, showed that no gardening skill can make
an uuly plant handsome.
The fruit was abundant, and in many cases very
fine; but the unripe state of some of the grapes
enabled inferior specimens to beat them. The
most remarkable exhibition among this kind of
fruit was a bunch of Black Hamburgh grapes,
perfectly coloured, from Mr, Wilmot, of Isle-
worth, which formed part of a crop now ripe
upon vinex that were loaded with ripe fruit last
February!
The beauty of the grounds of Chiswick-house,
thrown open to the meeting by the noble Presi-
dent of the Horticultural Society, and a delicious
day, enabled 7970 visitors to pass an afternoon in
great enjoyment, lb.
The Potatof. Dise.\se. — It is a very general
o])inion amongst those who have paid most atten-
tion to the potato disease, both in this country and
on the continent, that two distinct diseases have
often co-existed in the same plant or tuber, and
doubtless many of the conflicting statements which
have been put forth on the sub|ect have derived
their origin from this circumstance. Some, for
instance, have asserted positively that the disease
always commenced in the leaves; others, as un-
doubtingly, that the underground portion of the
stem was the first to be attacked. Both opi-
nions were probably right, but a different disease
was the subject under investigation. We believe
that diirina the last week a case has occurred to
us illustrative of this subject.
Without making any assertion as to the origin
of these aflections, it may be assumed as a pretty
well established fact, that the two diseases in
question are characterised during some period of
their development by the presence of a peculiar
parasitic fungus, the true potato murrain by Bo-
trytis infestans, and the other form of decay by
Fusarium Solani : and it was stated by Mr. Berke-
ley, in his memoir on the potato murrain in the
" Journal of the Horticultural Society." that he
believed that a little mould, figured under the
name of Daetylium tenuissimum, was the young
state of the Fusarium, the Daetylium being very
generally present in the same tuft with the Fu-
sarium, both in British and foreign specimens, and
the one, notwithstanding the great difference be-
tween extreme forms, running by imperceptible
gradation into the otlici . The moisture of the
last few days has favored the development of
moulds in a very marked degree, and every planu
144
FOREIGN NOTICES.
of ash-topped potatoes in our garden exhibits une-
quivocal-marks of disease in every case accom-
panied by the little Dactylium. Tlie portion of
the stem near the tubers is blotched with brown
spots, wiiich enter deeply into the substance, «o
that not above half the cells are in a condition to
carry on the circulation. These spots soon spread
to the strinjTs, which are already greatly injured,
and from thence to the surface of the tubers,
which are brown and discoloured, though the di;-
cay is at present merely superficial. Upon the
spots, whether on the tubers, strings, or base of
the stem, the delicate white mould is distinctly
visible, and the same mould is also present on the
old sets.
It is to be observed that the affection is entirely
distinct in appearance from that of the genuine
potato murrain in its earliest stages, and would
at once be pronounced to be so by any of our pea-
sants. We cannot state positively that this is the
commencement of the second form of potato dis-
ease to which we have alluded, as our observa-
tions have not been carried out to the full devel-
opment of the affection J ail that we assert is, that
a malady, distinct from the potato murrain, does
exist amongst potatoes, and evidently one of a se-
rious nature, as every malady must be which de-
stroys the tissues on which the perfect develop-
ment of the plant and tuber mutually depends,
and tiiat this disease commences not in the leaves
but in the lowest part of the stem. Some months
may pass before the affection runs throu<.'h its
course, but we shall watch its progress with in-
terest, in the hope of gaining some positive infor-
mation on the subject. Gard. Chronicle.
Obituary. — We regret to annoimce the death
of the Rev. William Kirby, M.A., Rector of Bar-
ham, Suffolk, at that place, where he had resided
68 years, on Thursday, July 4, in the 91st year
of his age.
Mr. Kirby was honorary president of the Ento-
mological Society of London, president of the Ips-
wich Museum, and Fellow of the Royal, Linnaean,
Zoological, and Geological Societies, besides being
honorary member of several foreign societies, and
has left behind him an imperishable name as one
of the first entomologists of this or any age. This
title he would have assured to himself had he
written no other work than his '■' Monographia
Apuin Anglias," published in 1801, in two vol-
unies, 8vo.,in which, from materials almost whol-
ily collected by himself, and the plates of which
■were mostly etched by his own hand (having
itaken lessons in the art for this express purpose,)
he described upwards of 200 of the wild bees of
this country, with a largeness and correctness of
view as to their family (or as they are now con-
sidered, generic) divisions, that excited the warm-
est admiration of British and foreign entomolo-
gists. But when to this great work we add his
other entomological labors — his numerous and
valuable papers in the " Transactions of the Lin-
nean Society;'' the "Introduction to Entomolo-
gy," written in conjunction with Mr. Spence ; the
entomological portion of his Bridgewater Trea-
tise '' On the History. Habits, and Instincts of
Animals;" and his description (occupying a quarto
volume,) of the Insects of the " Fauna Boreali«
Americana" of Sir John Richardson; it will be
evident how largely and successfully he has con-
tributed to the extension of his favorite science;
and all this without encroaching in the slightest
degree on his professional or social duties, for,
while ranking so high as an entomologint, he was
during his long life a most exemplary and active
clergyman, beloved by his parishioners of all
ranks, and one of the warmest of friends, and
most simple minded, kind hearted, and pious of
men. lb. ....
Names of Plants. — The importance of having
all jiiunts, including fruit trees, properly named,
even in small gardens, cannot be loo clearly point-
ed out. A plant may have beautiful foliage and
flowers, but without a name it yields compara-
tively little interest. Every plant has a history
of its own, and the first step towards obtaining a
knowledge of that history is its name; the next
its native countrv and year of introduction into
our gardens. A garden of plants without names
is like a library of books without their exterior
superscriptions. Numbers are only uselul to nur-
serymen. All garden plants should be properly
named. The season of propagation i» chiefly
when plants are out of bloom, and the want of
diligent care in retaining their names too fre-
quently leads to a confused nomenclature. The
vast numbers of new plants which are being eon-
tiruially introduced, as well as the host of garden
Varieties every year brought under the amateur's
notice, is quite perplexinijr to him, unless constant
attention to correct labelling is observed. Then,
again, with regard to fruits, how much uncer-
tainty would be removed by keeping labels of a
permanent kind to every tree. Small gardens can-
not, or ought not, to find room for indifferent
kinds of fruits, or uncertain bearers, hence the
importance and the advantage of knowing every
kind we cultivate. How much trouble is thereby
avoided ! for it frequently happens that the diffi-
culty and expense of obtaining the name of a sin-
gle fruit are much greater than the attention no-
ccssarv in keeping the names to the small collec-
tion which the limited space of a suburban garden
admits.
With respect to the particular kind of label
which it is most desirable to employ, there is a
good deal of uncertainty. Some persons prefer
some of the new kinds now in existence, while
others adhere to the old wooden label, which, after
all, has not yet been very satisfactorily superse-
ded; whatever kind of material is employed, how-
ever, the names should be accurately and distinctly
written. lb.
FOREIGN NOTICES.
145
Villa and Suburban GARriENr-.o —The ob-
ject to be kept in view in arrani;in^ and plfiiiting
a small gainlcii is unquestionably Varieiy. At-
tempting too much in any one particular branch
leaves others either neglected or curtailed. It is
true that every one has his own peculiar taslcs
and prejudices, and these necessarily interfere
with the proper arrangement and division of the
dirterent parts of a garden ; but it must be al-
lowed that variety is the soul of gardening, and
not less so in small than in large places. The
peculiar taste of the proprietor should ilierefore,
in some measure, be reiulercd subservient to the
amount of plcasuse which his family and friends
ai^e to reap from a proper distribution of subjects.
When in flower a garden of roses alone is admit-
ted to be beautiful. Few will be found to detract
from the loveliness of the rose, but it would indeed
be a morbid taste that could see no beauty in the
rest of the vegetable kingdom. I apprehend,
therefore, that the majority of those who delight
in gardens — and who does not T^would prefer a
continued succession of bloom in all seasons, so
as to keep tlie eye always delighted, and ilic mind
ever gratified. The business of the villa gardener
then must be to consider well every step ho
takes; and every plant he commits to the soil
should have been previously well weighed, and
every point relating to its ultimate growth and
etFect maturely considered. The amateur is too
apt to plant without forethought, and many of the
objects he has looked forward to admire, arc
killed or smothered by others f)f more rajiid and
luxuriant growth. He should therefore know
something of the dimensions ])lants arc likely to
attain. His little space requires great economy
in the distribution of the subjects he cultivates,
and much judgment in the selection of them; and
therefore, instead of attempting to produce ipian-
titles of one kind of plant, to the exclusion of
others, it would be wise and more satisfactory to
limit the numbers of any particular kind, and there-
by afford space for greater variety. Ho ought
especially to avoid the too abundant introduction
of rude growing plants; but, on the other hand,
he need not confine himself to too small plants;
these would produce a monotonous effect. A
knowledge of t!ie size which plants are likely to
attain, together with the hints I have thrown out,
may enable him to distribute his subjects so as to
economise his ground, and, consequently, to pro-
duce a greater variety on the same space. Jb.
Fancy Geramums. — A correspondent (T. W,
T .) inquires how he is to grow these beautiful and
interestinn; plants, "such as ^^nui';, Queen Victo-
ria, Ibiahtim Pacha, Statuesici, Reine de Fran-
cais, Bouquet tout fait, &c.,; the time for in-
serting the cuttings; the soil; the temperature,
top and bottom (if requisite;) if to be cut down
as other geraniinns in the autumn; when to place
them in their llowcrnig-pots; the most approved
form to train to, .■50 as to get them largo, say from
eighteen to twenty-four inches in diameter, and
one mass of bloom; the difficulty consisting in the
facts, that the plai.ts root so much at the bottom
of the pot. with very few roots at the sides, and
show bloom in the earliest stages, when the plants
are extremely small, and when the bloom buds
arc pinched off again forming them, instead of
growth and wood," As it has been deemed ne-
cessary that something moie than a passing no-
tice to these matters in the correspondent's col-
umn should be given, I shall be happy to render
any little assistance in my power, merely pre-
misins that as there arc now many beautiful va-
rieties which I have not yet giown, the state-
ments I may make will be freely o])en to emenda-
tions from those coadjutors and friends who may
have had more kinds under their direct cultiva-
tion. I shall endeavor to meet the case, by
making the inquiries the ground work of my re«
marks; anil
First. The time in which to take off and insert
the cuttings. — This may be effectcti at any period.
A (anting of a ten-shilling geranium plant is not
10 be slighted at any time; autumn and spiing,
however, are the best periods for striking these
fancy geraniums, and so far as present and ulti-
mate success are concerned, the spring is better
than the autumn; not but fine plants may be pro-
duced from autumn-struck plants, as from some
of the free crowing kinds we have had plants as
lar^c as that desired by our corrcsfiondent in the
following summer; but then there is greater risk
of failures and disappointments, The reason of
this is owinsr to the dillcrcnce in habit of these
jjlants when contrasted with the other favorite,
but more succulent-stemmed geraniums. In the
case of the latter, it is reciuisitc, both for the en-
suring of the breaking of the old plant when cut
down, and also for the producing of healthy
young plants from the cuttings, that the shoots
should be well matured, by exposure to sun and
air, and a diminished supply of water for some
time previously. Fancy geraniums, from their
profusion of blossoms, their compact growth, and
less succulent stems, require less of this maturing
before the cuttings are removed ; but if no at-
tention to maturing the wood is given, then, in
all likelihood, many of the cuttings will damp off
at once; and even when they strike root they can
only be preserved during the winter by keeping
them in the most favorable circumstances, where
all danger of damp and a stagnant atmosphere
are provided against, by the ability to maintain
when necessary a dryish atmosphere, and a tem-
perature of from 40" to 45° in the coldest wea-
ther. If, on the other hand, the wood of the cut-
ting is over-matured, that is, if its juices are high-
ly elaborated, there is a likelihood that its or-
ganized material will be developed more in the
production of bloom than of wood buds. This is
still more likely to be the case if the young plant?
146
FOREIGN NOTICES.
have been starved cliiring cold vvoather in winter.
\>y beifii^" shut up and covered lor days in cold
pits. The diminutive character, instead of being
accidental . has now become constitutional . The
stem JVom being hard, and having its juices so
thorouirhly inspissated, is quite incompetent to
act as the Vehicle for the transmission of fluids
that would be necessary tor a large headed plant.
As roots and branches act and re-act, relatively
and co-reiatively, upon each other, the stunted
head is attended with few and diminutive root
ieeders. Of all stunted plants, there is nothing
more discouraging than a stunted geraniimi. The
cutting oft' the flowers, as our correspondent has
done, will only prove a slight palliation of the
evil-«-though when persevered in, and other points
of good culture are attended to, fine plants ulti-
mately may be gained. What would be good cul-
ture for free growing plants, however, will not
suit these stunted gentlemen i light rich soil is the
thing in which they generally delight; but until
you set the stanredness adrift, you must use only
the light, abjure the rich; employ small pots
well drained, and keep the plants in a closer at-
mosi)Iiere than usual. Your object would sooner
be gained by taking off a cuitinir or two, just in
that state when the wood is neither soft nor tho-
roughly indurated. Properly treated, it will soon
shoot ahead of the old plant. Cutting the plant
down to the surface of the soil, if it has got any
roots of consequence, will also be attended with
more success than doetorinji the stunted head.
The plant should be kept close, rather dry than
damp, until the fresh shoots appear; then shaken
out, and re-potted in the usual M'ay. Foresters
are well aware of the benefit of acting upon this
principle; they do not stand picking and cutting
the miserable twigs of a stunted young oak. that
scarcelv gets larger by inches in a twelvemonth ;
they cut it off close to the ground, and in a year
or two they have a clean luxuriant plant, such as
the original would never have been. Cuttings
taken off in July or August, stopped when struck,
potted into small pots, stojiped and re-potted
again in October, and potted again in earl}-
spring, will make nice little bushy flowering
plants the first summer; but if large fine plants
are wanted, growth rather than bloom must be
encouraged, by stopping and keeping the plants
rather shaded, pinching back the tops, or cutting
them down; removing the most of the soil, or only
a portion, and repotting in July and August, just
as the varieties are slow growing or the rcA^erse,
and early fine blooming plants will be obtained for
spring and summer.
As we have said, however, we prefer spring-
struck cuttings, as there is comparatively little
danger of them getting into a stunted habit, and
scarcely a cutting will fail of being made into a
plant, while time will be saved. Cuttings may
then be obtained from thinnings of the young shoots
on established plants; or, better still, an old plant
stopped in the autumn, should be left on purposp
It will stand comj)aratively hard treatment during
the winter, but in February or March it should
be put gradually into a moist atmosphere, and a
temperature of from 45° to 55*, or a few degro'S
more. As soon as the young shoots are from one
and a half to three inches in length, they should
be taken off close to the stem and j)roperlv
treated; the stroiijrest would bloom in the open
air in summer if desirable ; if potted, stopped, and
re-potted in August, they would make nice little
flowering plants iliirinii the winter, if a tempera-
ture not less than 45° is then given them, with
fresh air. Similar plants — having ilieir flower
buds removed, the points of the shoots pinched
out, the shoots themselves trained into the de-
sired shape, and rej)otted in September— will make
nice flowering plants in spring and summer. Foi
the end of summer and autumn others should b'
repotted in March and April.
Soil, and a ffw matters essential to success in
propagating. — The soil should be lit:ht and sandy,
free from worms and insects; one part j)eat, one
part leaf-mould, one-half part loam, one part pure
sand, will answer admirably, with just an addi-
tional dusting of silver sand upon the surface ;
such a compost will neither be too close nor toc'
open. If mere soil, &c., were present, the air
would obtain too free an access to the base of the
cutting when the compost became dry. and then
the opposite evil would ensue from the moisture
remaining too long aronnd the cutting after wa-
tering, causing it to mould and decay. A similai
effect would be produced by inserting cuttings, af-
some do, wholly in sand; enough air then would
not be admitted, and thus a shanking-off would be
liable to ensue, for the circumstances that would
ensure the safety of a hard-wooded cutting would
ruin a soft-wooded geranium. Then, if the cut-
tings are inserted into pots, these pots should be
half filled with drainage, and the remaining por-
tion with different layers of the prepared com-
post, reserving the finest for the surface. Before
inserting the cuttings the pots should have been
previously well watered, and the moisture allowed
to drain away, as most of the waterings after-
wards had better consist of sprinklings from the
syringe. In early autumn, when the weather i^
still warm, and the sun's rays powerful, little or
nothing in the shape of bottom heat will be re-
quired; but the cuttings should be placed at such
a distance from the glass that they may enjoy the
direct, though diffused, rays of light; this will
prevent the necessity of shading much to prevent
flagging. The more direct though somewhat dif-
fused light they will stand, the sooner will roots
be protruded, and the more sturdy and healthy
will the plants become. Of course they would
require to be placed nearer the glass as the power
of the sun declines. Every hour's shading, how-
ever necessary it be at times, is just so far en-
couraging the mere expansion upwards of what
FOREIGN NOTICES,
Ul
is contained in the cutting, without doing much
for encouiagiiig tlie protrusion of roofs. In sun-
ny weather iheywill require to be kept close, and
receive frequent sprinklings li om the syringe, to
lessen their powers of evaporating their juices,
but at night and morning air may be given, and
the sashes at times wholly removed. When pro-
jiagating in spring the same course may be adopt-
ed, with one or two exception.s. First, as the
presence of sun at that period is not so much to
be depended on as in the autumn, the cuttings
sliould be placed pretty near the glass, and shading
in bright weather resorted to when necessary, as
otherwise, in long continued dull weather, the cut-
linns would become weak and spindled. And, se-
condly, as the cuttings had been j^iightly forced
before their removal from their mother plant, a
little mild bottom-heat, of from 60° to 80°, would
be of great service to them, siving them a top
temperature of from 50° to 60". These, as we
have already hinted, are the circumstances under
which the finest plants are most easily produced.
R. Fish, in Cottage Gardener.
Some Account of the VicTORtA Regia in its
Native Watehs. — " We at length reached the
igarape, and were at once gratified by seeing the
Victoria growing by the opposite shore of tlie
igarape itself. We were warned by the people
not to go amongst the plants, as their |)ricklc»
were venemous; but I got both hands and feet cou-
siderably pricked without experiencing any ill ef-
fects. We were fortunate in rinding the plant
in good flower, but, according to the testimony of
all at Santarem who have seen it, the leaves at-
tain their greatest dimensions in the winter. Cap-
tain Hislop assures me he has seen many leaves
12 feet in diameter, whereas the largest we saw
measured a very little above 4 feet across, and
they were packed as close as they could lie. But
I can easily conceive how, in the wet season, their
dimensions should be considerably augmented, for
whereas at present the plant is growing in less
than 2 feet of water, in winter the igarape will be
filled to its topmost banks, or at least 13 feet
deeper than at present, while its breadth will also
be greatly increased; so that the petioles of the
Victoria, lengthening doubtless with the rise of
the waters, will bring the leaves to a much grea-
ter surface, on which they will have room to dilate
to about twice their present size. The aspect of
the Victoria in its native waters is so new and ex-
traordinary, that I am at a loss to what to com-
pare It. The image is not a very poetical one,
but assuredly the impression the plant gave me,
when A'iewed from the bank above, was that of a
number of tea-trays lloating, with here and there
a bouqiiet protruding between them; but when
more closely viewed, the leaves excited the grea-
test admiration, from their immensity and perfect
symmetry. A leaf turned upsu^gests some strange
fabric of cast-iron, just taken ont of the furnace p
its colour, and the enormous ribs with which it is
strengthened, increasing the similariiy. I could
find no prostrate trunk, as in tiio other Nympliica-
cea3. The root is central, the thickness of a man's
lea, penetrating deep into the mud (we could not
dig to the bottom of it with our tresados,) and
sending out fascicles of whit if-h radicles, about 25,
from below the base of each petiole, the thickness
of a finger and 2 feet or more in length. The radi-
cles are imperforate, and give out here and there
a very lew slender fibres. From the same root I
have seen flowers uniting the characters of Victo-
ria regia and criiziana (of the latter I have only
the brief description in Walpers,) so that I can
hardly doubt their being the same species, as had
been already more thon suspected. The igarape,
where we gathered the Victoria, is called Tapiru-
ari. I had two llowcrK brought to me a few days*
afterwards from the adjacent lake, which seems to
have no name but that of the sitios on its banks.
Mr. Jeli'reys has also brouglit me flowers from
the Rio Arrapixuna, Mhich runs into the Tabajoz
above Santarcui, and in the wet season unites the
TabajoK and Aniazfui. I have further informa-
tion of its growing alnmdanily in a lake beyond
the Rio Mayaca, which flows into tlic Amazon
some miles below Santarem. Mr. Walhtce, who
recently visited Monte Alegre, had a leaf and
(lower brought to him there ; I have seen a por-
tion of the leaf, whicii he dried. Lastly, I have
correct intclligcnen of its occurring in the Rio
Tronibctas near Obidos, and in lakes between the
river Tobajoz and Madeira, so that there can be
no doubt of its beiny; plentifully distributed through-
out the whole of this region, both north and south
of the Amazon." Mr. Spruce^s Voyage up the
Amazon, in Hooker's Journal of Botany.
Interestivg Experiment. — -Two hundred
pounds of earth were dried in an oven, and after-
wards put into a large earthenware vessel, the
eurth was then moistened with rain water, and a
willow tree, weighing 5 lbs. was placed therein.
Uiuing the space of five years the earth was care-
fully watered with rain water, or pure water; the
willow grew and flourished ; and to prevent the
earth being mixed with fresh earth, or dust blown
into it by the winds, it was covered by a metal
plate, perforated with a great nimibcr of small
lioles, suitable for the free admission of air only.
After growing in the earth for five years, the wil-
low tree was removed, and found to weigh 169
lbs. and about 3 ounces ; the leaves whicli fell from
the tree every autumn were not included in this
weight. The earth was then removed from the
vessel, again dried in the oven, and afterwards
weighed; it was discovered to have lost only about
2 ounces of its oriainal weight; thus 164 lbs. of
iignin, or woodv fibre, bark, roots, &c., were cer-
tainly produced — but from what source?
American Pomological Congress.— The next
session of this National Institution, which was to
have been held in September, is hereby postponed
to the 2d, 3d, and 4th days of October next.
The Ohio State Board of Agriculture have also
postponed the State Fair to the same time. In
conformity, tliereforo, with ihe Resolutions, in-
structing the President of this Association to act
in concert with that Board, this notice is given to
countermand the Circular issued for the meeting
in September.
'1 lie reasons assigned for this change are, that
the apprehensions in relatinn to chnlera and simi-
lar diseases may continue to exist imtil after the
time heretofore ap]iointed for the meetins of these
Institutions. Marshall P. Wilder. President.
Boston, August 22. 1850.
The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
will hold its Twenty-second Exhibition on
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the 18ih, I'Jtli
and 20th of September, in the Philadelphia Muse-
um, corner of Ninth and George Streets, and will
occupy the Two Grand Saloons of that building,
which will afford ample space for the most exten-
sive display of objects in horticuliure, etc.
bena, called Onion Jack — flowers and umbels
medium size ; color, strong carmine, becoming
darker at the base of the petals, with a distinct
light ej'C. Although it will not rank so high as
either of the three already mentioned, it is never-
theless a very desirable one. A Subscriber.
Boston, July 16, 18.50.
The New Verbenas. — I see in the last num-
ber (July) of the Horticulturist, an article from
"Looker-on." Speaking of the fine things he saw at
the Boston Horticultural exhibition, he says: " the
novelties that attracted most attention were Mr.
Barnes' new French Verbenas, and Col. Wilder's
seedling Calceolarias. The Verbenas were Iplii-
gene and Reine de Jour, both remarkably fine and
distinct," &c. " Looker-on" should look on more
carefully; the two fine Verbenas above referred
to, are not Mr. Barnes'; he had not in his posses-
sion the Reine du* Jour at the time "Looker-on "
wrote his article. These fine Verbenas, to which
another, perhaps equally as fine, should be added,
the Saint Margaret, were brought to this country
last season, — the Iphigene and Reine du Jour,
from Paris, and the Saint Margaret from England,
by Jas. Jackon, of Boston.
Mr. Jackson has in bloom another French Ver-
* I have seen this Verbena written several limes de ; it is
Mol coErect ; k should be du.
Virtues of Spent Tan. — Permit me, as an
addenda to my exjicriments with spent tan, as re-
corded in the July No., to meniion another case
of equally great value, and wliicii must, I trust,
put a qnietus upon those merely theoretical talk-
ers upon hoi ticultural subjects, who have de-
nounced it as po sonous, ust-less, Stc.. &e.
In May last, I lrans|ilanted a large number of
recentiv imported dwarf pears, many of which
were verv di_v. but by care, and good mulching
with l.an, I Inncieil I should save them all. One,
however, in particular, a three year old, about the
latter part of June, after a faint elfort to burst it.s
buds, gave up in despair. On cutting it down, a
slight evidence of vitality appeared in the stock,
at ten inches from the ground. This I enclosed
by a box frame twelve inches square, and the
same in depth, and filled it with fresh tan, i. e.,
tan fresh from the vat, leaving the stock pro-
truding through the Ian an inch. A fortnight since
a party of horticuliurai friends made me f ev-
er}' tree. All were found to be dead last spring,
except two apple trees, which I went to see on the
29th inst. There was no bark on their trunks
from the ground neaily to the first branches, at
least forty inches being entirely slirppcd a.l
around. The wood, thus exposed to the atmos-
phere, when cut, was dry and well seasoned.
Above this dry wood, the tree has grown this year
nearly half an inch in diameter, and the whole
tops of the trees are perfectly luxuriant. Not a
twig has died, and every branch is loaded with
fruit of the finest size, and most healthy appear-
ance. Now, are such cases of frequent oi-cur-
rence? What supports the life of the tree? How
is nourishment conveyed to its branches? Jos. G .
Lawton. St. Clair, Schuylkill Co., Pa, July 31,
1850.
The Strawberry Cttlture. — Why is it that
much larger quantities of the strawberry are
grown at Cincinnati, than at any other place in
the United States? Is it owing to some pecul- !
iarity in the soil or climate, or both combined?
Or is it to be attributed to the better mode of
culture there? It is said that a full crop is
gathered from year to year; and that hundreits
ofbushils may be seen in the market at once.
And why may not other localities be just as fa-
vorable for growing this delicious fruii? Cleve-
land, too, is now becoming quite celebrated f(n'
its fine strawberries J and the market latterly
has been well supplied. And why should Biitlalo,
with her 40,000 inhabitants, be under the neces-
sity of obtaining her strawberries from other pla-
ces? I venture the assertion, that the time is
not far distant when strawberries, grown in
our own vicinity, will be as plenty as " black-
berries."
Capt. B. Burdett and Brother have a fine plan-
tation on Cayuga island, in the Niagara river,
and, so far, have been very successful in growing
the strawberry. I never saw larger, finer, or
more beautilul fruit. It was really a treat to
walk through their grounds. Such bcaulifid clus-
ters of delicious fruit are rarely seen. The most
of the crop was sold in this market at forty cents
per quart. The varieties grown by them are the
Large Early Scarlet, Hovey's Seedling, Boston
Pine, and some few other sorts. The three varie-
ties above named were all truly fine, very pro-
ductive, and fruit of large size. They arc now
planting out one or two acres more. The soil is
a fine loam, elevated not more than three or four
feet above the water.
Our friend Tainlor, at " Cherry Grove," is also
in the " strawberiv line," and doing " a pretty
considerable business;"' and, at our June show,
*• carried off the first premium." His soil is clay
loam, and in a dry season suffers much more than
the island soil. By the way, Mr. T. has a most
beautiful " cherry grove" — the largest in this vi-
cinity ; and is able to compete with Cleveland in
this department.
Professor Coppock, at " Longsight," with his
subsoil plough and " heaps" of manure, gathered
from the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms,
is driving horticulture with a rush; and soon his
" twenty-live acre patch" will be covered with
acres of the strawberry, and tens of acres of other
fruits; and neither flint stone, cobble stone, or hard-
pan will deter him from his hobby. Indeed, '' Flint
Hill" will soon " bud and blossom as the rose."
The " black knots," or warts, on the plum
trees, are about the meanest thing ever sent hero
from the east, during the thirty years that I have
been engaged in the nursery business here. I
have never had but two trees affected by this dis-
ease till this season; and these two trees came
from Boston. Last sj)ring I received from the
eastern part of this state a few hundred of the
Frost Gage plum trees; they were, to appear-
ance, healthy and fine. About twenty of these
trees have this season become affected with these
black knots. Also a few trees grown from scions,
procured last spring from Massachusetts, have
been attacked in the same way. In some of these
warts I have discovered a small white worm; in
others, nothing. Is this disease produced by an
insect? If so. these trees must have been stung,
or impregnated before they came here; for I take
it for granted that the insect is not here. For if
so, why are not some of the thousands of other
plum trees not thus affected? May not these
150
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
facts enable us to become better acquainted with
the nature or caus" of this disease?
By the way, in speakiii<; ol' iVuits on the inlands
in the Niagara river, I will just hint that our old
friend, '' Uimus," (L. F. Allen,) has a little or-
chard on the upper end of Grand Island, of about
60 acres, and with a fair prospect of increasing
"!t to 100. For apples and pears, the location and
soil are admirable; and at no distant da}', he will
make some Utile noise about it.
On the lower end of this island, some three
miles from Niagara falls, at " Peach Haven," the
writer of this has also a little plantatiou of some
few thousands peach trees, together with a " right
smart sprinkling" of other fruits. However, it is
not necessary to apprise the public, that the.se or-
chards are designed for anything more than for
family use. Yours very truly, B. Hodge. Buf-
falo Nursery, Aug. 19, 1850.
The Peach and Nectarine. — Since the in-
spiration of your mysterious knockings have been
vouched for by an eastern clergyman, I presume
all doubts have vanished in regard to the raising
of the. Nectarine from the Peach. I regretted to
learn from the letter of said reverend divine, the
truth of your Gotham knockings, as he informs
us they are performed by his satanic m.ijcsty. If
Satan be the operator, he will make them operate
to our injuiy. Wh}' did you suppose I could
longer doubt of the peach stone producing the
nectarine, when in your paper, a year or more
since, we had conclusive evidence that a tree bore
peaches one year, and nectarines the next? Why
should I doubt, when I had positive evidence of a
greater change? I planted in a pot, in the green-
house, three apricot stones, and from them had
three forest trees. If I plant 10,000 peach stones
yearly in the open ground, it is not strange if, in
60 years, there should be a chance nectarine
stone dropped near them, and grow. But when
the stones were planted in a flower pot. and never
appeared, but three forest trees in their place, the
evidence is conclusive. And I was as.vured they
were trees not known in this region. This evi-
dence is as satisfactory as the case named in your
paper, where the person one year saw a peach on
the ground, under his tree, which proved it to be
a peach tree, and the next season the same tree
was covered with nectarines. From your silence,
I supposed you had faith in this change; and I
therefore feel bound to believe that a nectarine
tree may grow fiom a peach stone.
I had a grapevine, that bore white grapes for
several years, when it produced a crop of black
grapes. This was much stronuer evidence than
seeing a single grape under the vine. Yet. my
vine-dresser was an unbeliever; and for no other
reason than this: the white grapes were produced
from a graft, inserted in a idack grapevine; and
he insisted that the black grapes must have been
produced from a shoot from the old root. I should
be as unwilling to believe this, as to believe the
doctrine of our friend Downing, untrue, — " that
l)istillHte strawberry plants change their sexual
character from running," as he proved in the ease
of Hovey's Seedling. Does he still hold to this
doctrine? If so, I hojie to see it stated m the
next edition of his book on Fruits. Is your Black
Prince strawberry pistillate or hermaphrodite?
I have plants ol both. I should, of course, be-
lieve the sexual character changed in runners,
were it not that the fruit of the latter is a very
long one. The colour is the same — the herma-
phrodite the richer fruit. Is not such generally
the character of hermaphrodites? Our fruit com-
mittee reported both of inferior flavor.
From seed that I furnished two of my tenants,
they raised some thousands of plants. Nearly
one-half were entirely staminate. Seven plants,
among the whole, were deemed worthy of cultiva-
tion,— six pistillate, and one hermaphrodite.
Three of them, in our soil, surpassed in size any
exhibited, and were deemed of fine flavor. The
hermaj)hro(lite has borne a full crop of extra
large, perfect fruit, and of good flavor, for three
seasons. That it may always do so, is more than
I dare say. Our fruit committee, deeming a
fourth crop before they awarded premiums advi-
sable, laid the subject over. Though they did in
this instance, as in all others, exainine the fruit in
the gardens, and not, as is done east, judge from
a sample exhibited at the horticultural room. In
this way, hermaphrodites get a high character,
by having premiums awarded to them, that will
not average one-sixth of a crop of perfect fruit.
A member of the Itte fruit convention informed
one of our horticulturists that Hovey's Seedling,
in his garden, bore a full crop of perfect fruit,
without a possibility of impregnation from any
other plant. Yet, strange to tell, these same
plants, on the grounds of his neighbors, proved
entirely barren. Do not understand me as say-
ing, that I want faith in this, though not vouched
for by the eastern divine, as the work of Sa-
tan.
I have as much faith in it as I have in the
peach chansing to a nectarine, and a pistillate
strawberry plant becoming staminate by running.
I this spring grafted 55 kinds of new native
grapes. Nearly all ai-e growing, and several
have fruit. A few of them are slated to be supe-
rior to the Catawba, as a table grape; and the
assurances arc from persons to be relied on. The
stem and leaf sustain the assertion. Their quality
for wine has not been tested. They are from dif.
ferent parts of the United States. I shall endea-
vor to get fruit of each that give a fair promise
for wine, of the perso;is who sent the cuttings, in
the fall. Strange as it. may appear, some of the
best have been in the families for 30 or 40 years,
yet never attracted notice beyond the neighbor-
hood. Several of them are the Winter, and the
Fox grape, and of no value for the table, or for
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
151
wine Your believinjj friend, N. Longworth.
Cincinnati, July 20, 1850.
Stealing Fruit. — As the season is now at
hand when fruits are ripenins, and when those
wlio have been at the expense of procurin<>- choice
fruit generally suffer more or less from the depre-
dations of those who had rather pilfer from their
neighbors than raise their own, allow me to call
your attention to the subject of protection, hoping
it may prove as effectual to all who may choose
to try the remedy, as it has been in my own ex-
perience. So far as I am capable of pulging, I
think you will find the remedy I am about to re-
commend, a perfect one, if persevered in. You
will find it in the vol. of the Cultivator for 1847,
page 256. It is as follows: " Procure from some
druggist an ounce of Tartar Emetic; dissolve a
small quantity in hot water; then select some
choice specimens of fruit on the trees you wish to
protect, and dip the fruit into the preparation, —
marking the fruit in some way that you will know
yourself." The remedy is safe in its application,
and is not liable to the objections of iho>e where
force or law is appealed to. Those are apt to en-
gender ill feeling in a neighborhood. On the con-
trary, this efieets its object in a quiet and peacea-
ble way. The person who loses his fruit, is
amused by the result. l"he one who takes it is
nenerally pretty well satisfied to let it alone for
the future, and to say nothing about the past.
The habit of stealing fruit is an evil against
which the cultivator has a right to be protected.
He is as much entitled to the product of iiis trees,
as he is to the result of his labors applied in any
other way. Of the man\' suggestions I have seen
recommended for securing this object, I know of
none so satisfactory as this ; and I cannot but
think you will confer a particular favor on many
of the readers of your magazine by its publication.
C.
Burr's Strawberries. — My attention has just
been called to an article in your July number,
which censures me for an error, in furnishing Mr.
Ernst, of Cincinnati, with Burr's New Pine
Strawberry plants. It says Mr. Ernst " procured
the plants from Mr. Burr himself," which was
not the fact; and in the sequel, you will see why
•' the task was delegated to another person."
Some time in March, 1849, I received an order
from Mr. Ernst for plants, some two months
previous to which I had sold my place, and then
had no interest in it whatever; but being desirous
of serving Mr. Er.nst, I handed the order over to
Mr. A. Sites, the present pr-'prietor, (in whom I
had the fullest confidence that it would be done
correctly,) for him to fill and forward, which he
did. Mr. Ernst wrote me in May last, that some
of the plants, sent by Mr. Sites, were lieimaphro-
dite, and others decidedly pistillate, and asked if
it was a sportive habit of the plant, or a mistake
in putting up, to which the letter noticed as from
me was in reply. J. Burr. Cultimbu.i , j^tig. 17,
1850.
British Quee.v Strawberry. — I have the
British Queen Strawberry for sale, at $1.25 per
hundred, or $10 per thousand, which I have been
cultivating for several years past, and iiave found
them to be perfectly hardy and great bearers. I
have also several other valuable kinds for sale, at
rea.sonal)le terms, which have succeeded well with
me, without covering in winter; though I recom-
mend covering all the dilierent varieties of straw-
berries when cultivated on a soil exposed to heave
much by frost. E. B. Prentis. Orders to be di-
rected to S. Buckingham, Albany. Shakers,
Watervliet, Jlbany county, N. ¥.. Jiug. 21, 1850.
Oswego Horticultural Exhibition. — The
Horticultural Society of the city of O.swego held
their second annual exhibition of fiuits, liowers
and vegetables for the season on the lOtli iiist.,
at the City Hall.
To give a jiarlicular description of the disjilay
and all articles presented, would exceed our limits
at this time. Suffice it to say, it was all that
could have been anticipated, and sufficient to
convince the public that the city of Oswego can
compete with any city in Western New- York for
taste in selecting choice varieties of fruit, flowers
and vegetables, also for a favorable climate in
which to cultivate them, and bring them to per-
fection.
The room selected for the exhibition was one
of the largest in the city, and was fitted in a man-
ner we have rarely seen excelled. A table of
over one hundred feet long was placed through
the centre of the room, upon which more than one
hundred roses of the choicest flowers of the .sea-
son, were arranged, formed into bouquets with all
the delicacy of taste, in shading and arranging,
which the limited effiirts of the ladies of this city
could cflect, and in this particular we doubt whe-
ther any similar exhibition in Western New- York
has surpassed it.
Other tables were arranged for the reception
of green-house plants and vegetables, in a manner
which rendered their examination convenient,
without detracting from the first impression pro-
duced on entering the room by the lull blaze of
the floral kingdom.
A superficial glance at the fruit table at once
convinced us that this city i.s not to be outdone
in the production of all the choice varieties grown
in this latitude. Although the season for straw-
berries might be considered passed, we noticed
about twenty approved varieties upon the table,
some of very large size and fine flavor, and right-
ly labelled as to varieties. Of cherries we no-
ticed over thirty varieties, among which were
the Graffion, Elton, Napoleon Bii^arreau, Flesh
Coloured Bigarreau, Black Tartarian, Knight's
Early Black, Black Eagle, Large Late Black
152
PENNSYLVANIA HORT. SOCIETY.
Bigarreau, May Duke, and several varieties of
Morellas, — forming complete -iuils for the sea-
son.
Gooseberries. — Of this fruit this cily may boast
of produein^^ it in greater perfection thau any
other part of the state. Man}- of the Jeaduig va-
rieties were upon the table of extraordinary size
and beauty, and cultivators have not to complain
of the loss of their crops by the mildew which de-
stroys this fruit in other parts of the state. This
is attributable to the influence of the lake upon
much of this country.
Of the flowers which constituted the principal
attraction of the exhibition, it is not in our power
to do justice, and therefore would refer our read-
ers to a more particular account of them, which
will be in another column, by the proper officers
of the society; but a few of the roses so attract-
ed our attention, we cannot pass them over.
Among them, we noticed some of the finest double
crested roses we have ever seen, — double and
single moss roses were in abundance, soiiie ot the
bouquets being composed entirely of the half ex-
panded llowei s, and buds of this queen of flowers.
Of Carnations and Picotees there wcie some fine
varieties — Verbenas, a splendid collection. The
productions of the woods and fields were also
beautifully arranged, showing that the Botanists
had been busy, and from the correctness of label-
ling of wild plants, it was plain that scientific
men were engaged in horticultural pursuits.
A fine band of music was in attendance for the
amusement of a very select audience, and the
evening was passed in a manner calculated to
leave a favorable imjnession upon all who were
present, and a desire for a repetition of like exhi-
bitions, as exerting a beneficial influence upon
every part of community. Oswego Times.
PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The slated meetinjoflliis society occurred on Tuesday eve-
ning, Aug. 2O1I1. E. W. Keyser. vice-pre?ideiil, in tlie Chair.
The most attractive portion of llie exliil)ilioii was the fruit
tables, whicli contained a rich display ol' grapes and plums,
very fine peaches, pears, apples, nectarines and water melon;.
In plutns, It has not been surpassed in extent, variety, or per-
fectness of specimens, at any moinhly display, — laxaig to the
utmost the powers of discrimination in the committee to deter-
mine the awards. The cut flowers, in the beautiful designs
and bouquets, never appeared to heUer advantage, nor the
vegetables in finer condition ; atibrding much gratification to
the members upon the eve of the grand autumnal display.
From the present evidences and known prolificness of the sea-
son, a most successful eflbrt may be anticipated a month
hence.
The premiums were awarded as follows, viz :
By the committee on plants and flowers. Hot-house plants
— for the best grown and finest flowered, three named varie-
ties, to Ben Daniels, gardener to Caleb Cope ; lor the second
best, to Maurice Fimi, gardener to John l,ambert. Plants 111
pois — for the best and most interesting collection named, to
Maurice Finn. Design of cut flowers — lor the best, to An-
drew Dryburgh ; for the second best, to Ben Daniels. For the
best bouquet suitable for the hand, to Maurice Finn. Basket
of cut flowers — for the best, to Robert Kilvington; for the se-
cond best, to Andrew Dryburgh. For the best formed of in-
digenous flowers, to Robert Kilvington. And a special pre-
mium of one dollar to Maurice Finn, for a liandsome b.iskel
of cut flowers; and another of one dollar to Ben Daniels, for
a beautiful collection of 31 varieties of cut Fuchsias.
By the committee on fruits. Grapes — iVr the best three
bunches of a black variety {the Black Hamburg,) to William
Hamill. gardener to D. B. Taylor; for the second best (the
Black Hamburg,) to Thomas O'Brien, gaidener to the Institu-
tion of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, at Eden Hall. For the
best of a white variety (the White Fronti?nac,) and for the
second best (the Chasselas.) to Tho's O'Brfen. Nectarines —
for the best (the Cushing's White.) to Charles Sapp, gardener
to J. Askew, Burlington, N. J. Plums— for the best twelve
(the Washington.) to Jolin Wetherill. jr., ."Spring Garden ; for
the second best (the Washington,) to Robert Johnson. .South-
wark; for the third best (the Green Gage.) to Mrs. John B.
Smith. Peaches— for the best (the Early York,) to Her. W.
S. Cleveland; for the second best (Froth's Early Red.) and
for the third best (the Coolidge's Favorite,) to John Perkins,
Moorestown, N. J. Pears — for the best (the Washington.) to
Isaac B. Baxter; for the second best (the Bartlett,) to John
Perkins; for the third best (the Moyamensing,) to Mrs. Jolm
B. .Smith. Apples — for tlie best (tlie Summer Pearmain.) for
the second best (the Maiden's Blush,) and for liie ihird best
(the Hagloe.) to John Perkins. And special premiums — one
of one dollar to Ben Daniels, for a splendid dish of Austrian
Muscat Grapes; and of two dollars 10 Clialklcy (ilover, N. J.,
for three fine water melons, of the Mountain Sweet variety.
By the cominiiiee on vegetables. Fot the best display by a
market gaidener, to Aiilliony Fel".en ; for the second best, lo
AnllKiny Felteii, jr. For the best display by an amateur gar-
dener, to Maurice Finn, gardener to John Lambert; for the
second best, to Ben Daniels, gardener lo Caleb Cope.
The committee of finance reported that they liad examined
the semi-annual statemeiil of the Treasurer, and found the
same correct.
The special committee, appointed to investigate the subject
of the ravages committed by the Cicada sej^teiiideciin, the
Seventeen Year Locust, on the roots of trees, submiued an in-
teresting report, stating that they had found the insect, under
the guidance of Miss Morris, of Germanlowii, about the roots
of several fruit trees, in an advanced stage, which that lady
asserts, and confidently believes, has lived iu its laval state for
the past sixteen years, — deriving its nourishment I'rom the sap
of the trees, lo which it is attached in great numbers by its
proboscis, lo the manifest injury of the tree. The connnitlee
submitted also papers from Miss Morris, describing fully the
insect, its habits, and the ill effects to trees ; and from Profes-
sors Goadby and Hare, confirming her views.
Miss Morris also called the attention of the committee to an
insect, the Baridius trinotatus Say, which feeds on tlie inside
of the potato stem, causing its destruction The remedy which
.she suggests is an efTeciual one — that of mowing down tlie
vines. On motion.
Ordered, That the thanks of the Society be teitdered to Miss
M. H. Morris, for thus communicating her aiscoveries, and for
her kind attentions to the committee.
Commuuicatioiis were read from tlie Duke of Devonshire,
and Mrs. Catharine Stanley, in acknowiedgnient of their elec-
tion lo honorary membership in our associaiion.
Invitations were announced from the officers of the Ameri-
can Pomological Congress, to send dele-rates to tlie next ses-
sion of the National liLslitution, about to assemble at Cincin-
nati. Oliio. on the 2d, ."Jd and 4th of Oclober, and from the
Chester Co. Horticultural .Society, lo attend the autumnal ex-
hibition ; when, on motion.
Ordered. That the President appoint delegates therelo; aUo
to exhibitions of olher societies.
Tho. P. James,
Reeorduig Secretary.
i>5£j
XHB
^:
JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE.
Vol. V.
OCTOBER, 1850.
No. 4.
MR. DO"WNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
My Dear Sir — I iutcnded to say something
to you ill this letter of the enormous parks
of London — absolute woods and prairies, in
the midst of a vast and populous city ; but
the subject is one that demands more space
than I have at my disposal to-day, and I shall
therefore reserve it for the future. I will
merely say, at passant, that every American
who visits London, whetlicr for the first or
the fiftieth time, feels mortified that no city
in the United States has a public 2;a;-A: — here
so justly considered both the highest luxury
and necessity in a great city. What are
called parks in New- York, are not even apolo-
gies for the thing ; they are only squares, or
paddocks. In the parks of Loudon, you may
imagine yourself in the depths of the country,
with, apparently, its boundless space on all
sides ; its green turf, fresh air, and, at certain
times of the day, almost its solitude and re-
pose. And at other times, they are the
healthful breathing zone of hundreds of thou-
sands of citizens !
The National Garden at Kew. — I
have just come from a visit at Sir William
Hooker's, at Kew Park. He is the direc-
tor of the Roj-al Gardens at Kew, — a short
distance from his house, — where we spent
Vol. v. 10
almost the entire day together, exploring in
detail the many interesting features of this
place, now admitted to be the finest public
botanic garden in Europe.
It is only within a few years that Kew
gardens have been given up to the })ublic ;
and it is wholly owing to the spirited ad-
ministration of Sir Wm. Hooker — so well
known in both hemispheres for his botanical
science — that it has lately reached so high a
rank among botanical collections. Originally,
the place is interesting, as having beeu the
favorite suburban residence of various branch-
es of the royal family. George III. lived
here ; and here Queen Charlotte died.
The botanical taste of the latter is well known,
and has been commemorated in that striking
and beautiful plant, the Strelitzia, named in
her honor* by Sir Joseph Banks. For a
long time the garden was the receptacle of all
the rare plants collected by English travel-
lers— Capt. Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, Cun-
ningham, and others. What was formerly
of little value has, however, lately become a
matter of national pride ; and this is owing
to the fact, that the present c^ueen has wholly
given Kew up to the public, even adding a
* She was Princess of the House of Meckleaberij Strelitz.
154
MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
considerable sum annually from her private
purse towards maintaining it. The old " Kew
Palace," which stands in the grounds, is a
small, simple, brick mansion, without the
least pretension to state, and shows very con-
rdusively that those of the Hanover family
A'ho lived here did it from real attachment to
ihe place — like Queen Charlotte, from love
of botany ; as there is nothing about it to
please the tastes of an ambitious mind.
As Kew has been already described by one
of the correspondents of this journal, I shall
not go into those details which might other-
wise be looked for. I shall rather prefer to
give you a comprehensive idea of the attrac-
tions of the place, which, though about eight
miles from London, was visited last year by
one hundred and thirty-seven thousand per-
sons. The only requisite for admission is to
be decently dressed.
When you hear of a garden^ in America,
you fancy some little place, filled with bor-
ders and beds of shrubs and flowers, and laid
out with walks in various styles. Dispossess
your mind at once, how^ever, of any such no-
tions as applied to Kew. Fancy, on the
other hand, a surface of about two hundred
acres ; about sixty of which is the botanic
garden proper, and the rest open park or
pleasure grounds. The ground-work of the
whole is turf; that is, smoothly mown lawn
in the sixty acres of botanic garden, and park-
like lawn, occasionally mown, in the remain-
der. Over this, is picturesquely disposed a
large growth of fine ti'ees — in the botanic
garden, of all manner of rare species, every
exotic that will thrive in England — growing
to their natural size without being in the
least crowded — tall pines, grand old Cedars
of Lebanon, and all sorts of rare deciduous
trees. Between the avenues and groups are
large open glades of smooth lawn, in which
are distributed hot-houses, ornamental cot-
tages, a large lake of water, parterres of bril-
liant flowers for show, and a botanical ar-
rangement of plants, shrubs, and trees for
scientific study.
In the centre of a wide glade of turf rises
up the new palm-house, built in 1848. It is
a palace of glass — 362 feet in length, and 66
feet high — and fairy-like and elegant in its
proportions, though of great strength ; for the
whole, frame-work and sashes, is of cast iron,
glazed with 45,000 feet of glass. You open
the door, and, but for the glass roof that you
see instead of sky above your head, you
might believe yourself in the "West Indies.
Lofty palm trees, thirty or forty feet high,
are growing, rooted in the deep soil beneath
your feet, with the same vigor and luxuriance
as in the West Indies. Huge clusters of
golden banannas hang across the walks, and
cocoa nut trees, forty-two feet high, wave
their tufts of leaves over your head. The
foliage of the cinnamon and camphor scents
the atmosphere, and rich air-plants of South
America dazzle the eye with their strange and
fanciful blossoms. Most beautiful of all are
the tree f ems, with trunks eight or ten inches
in diameter, and lofty heads, crowned with
plume-like tufts of the most delicate and
graceful of all foliage. From the light iron
gallery, which runs round the inside of this
tropical forest-conservatory, you look down
on the richest assemblage of vegetable forms
that can be conceived ; while over your head
clamber, under the iron rafters, in charming
luxuriance, the richest passion flowers and
other vines of the East Indian islands.
If you are interested in exotic botany, you
may leave this palm house, and pass the en-
tire day in only a casual inspection of the
treasures of other climates, collected here
from all parts of the world. Green-houses,
the stoves, the orchidaceous house, the Aus-
tralian house, the New-Zealand house, and a
dozen other glass structures, contain all the
riches of the vegetable kingdom which will
MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
155
not bear the open air, — and each in the high-
est state of cultivation. Giant cactuses from
Mexico, fourteen feet high, and estimated to
be four hundred years old, and rock gardens
under glass, filled with all the ferns and
epiphytes of South America, detain and al-
most satiate the eye with their wonderful va-
riety, and grotesqueness of forms and colours.
In the open grounds are many noble speci-
mens of hardy trees, of great beauty, which I
must pass by without even naming them. I
saw here the oldest Deodar Cedar and Arau-
caria imbricata in England, each about twenty-
five feet high, and justifying all the praises
that have been lavished upon them ; the for-
mer as the most graceful, and the latter the
boldest and most picturesque of all ever-
greens. The trunk of the largest Araucaria,
or Chili pine, here, is of the thickness of a
man's leg ; and the tree looks, at a distance,
like a gigantic specimen of deep green coral
from the depths of the ocean. I was glad to
know, from experience, that these two noble
evergreens are quite hardy in the northern
states. You may judge of the scale on which
things are planned in Kew, when I mention
that there is a wide avenue of Deodars, newly
planted, (extending along one of the vistas
from the palm hou.se,) 2,800 feet long. A
steam engine occupying the lower part, and
a great reservoir the upper part of a lofty
tower, supplies, by the aid of concealed pipes,
the whole of the botanic garden with water.
I should not omit the museum — a depart-
ment lately commenced, and upon which Sir
William Hooker is expending much time.
It is in some respects, perhaps, the most
useful and valuable feature in the establish-
ment. Here are collected, in a dried state,
all the curious and valuable vegetable pro-
duets — especially those useful in the arts,
medicine, and domestic economy — all the raw
vegetable materials — the fibre — the manufac-
tured products, etc. Here, one may see the
gutta percha, of the East Indies, in all its
states — the maple sugar of America — the
lace-bark of Jamaica — the teas of China, and
a thousand other like useful vegetable pro-
ducts, arranged so as to show the stages of
growth and manufacture. Collections of all
the fine woods, and specimens of interesting
seeds, are also kept in glass cases duly la-
belled.
Now that I have perhaps feebly given you
a coup d''a'il of the whole, (omitting number-
less leading features for want of time and
space,) you must, in order to give the scene
its highest interest, imagine the grounds, say
at 2 o'clock, filled with a thousand or twelve
hundred men, women and children, of all
ages — well dressed, orderly and neat, and
examining all with interest and delight.
You see that they have access, not only to
the open grounds, but all the hot-houses, full
of rare plants and flower gardens, gay with
the most tempting materials for a nosegay.
Yet, not a plant is injured — not the least
harm is done to the rarest blossom. Sir
William assured me that when he first pro-
posed to try the experiment of throwing the
whole collection open to the public, many
persons believed it would prove a fatal one ;
that, in short, Anglo-Saxons could not be
trusted to run at large in public gardens, full
of rarities. It has, however, turned out quite
the contrary, as he wisely believed ; and I
learned with pleasure (for the fact has a bear-
ing at home,) that on days when there had
been three thousand persons in the garden at
a time, the destruction committed did not
amount to the value of four pence ! On the
other hand, the benefits are not only felt incli-
rectljf, in educating, refining, and elevating
the people, but directly in the application of
knowledge to the arts of life. I saw, fox
example, artists busy in the garden, who had
come miles to get an accurate drawing of
some plant necessary to their studies ; and
156
MR. DOWNINGS LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
artisans and manufacturers in the museum,
who had been attracted thei-e solely to inves-
tigate some matter connected with their busi-
ness, in the productions of the loom or the
workshop.
In short, I left Kew with the feeling, that
a national garden in America might not only
be a beautiful, but a most useful and popular
establishment ; one not too dearly bought,
even at the expense bestowed annually upon
Kew.
The New Houses of Parliament. — I
spent a whole morning with Mr. Barry, the
distinguished architect of the new houses of
Parliament, in examining every part in de-
tail. It is a common feeling that the age for
such gigantic works in architecture as the
Gothic cathedrals, has gone bye. Perhaps
this may be the case, with religious edifices ;
though I doubt even that, with such a great
church and state empire as Russia growing
up, and already casting a gigantic, though yet
vagae shadow over Europe. But here is
certainly a flat denial of the opinion, in this
new legislative hall of Great Britain — qiiite
the masterpiece of modern Gothic architec-
ture, (excepting perhaps the cathedral of
Strasbourg.) Concisely, this vast pile, not
yet finished, covers, with its courts, about
eight acres of ground. Ten years have been
consumed in its erection ; and as many more
will probably be required for its completion.
You must remember, too, that not only have
as many as 3000 men been employed on it at
a time, but all the appliances of steam-lifting
and other machinery are used besides, which
were not known in the days of cathedrals.
The style chosen by Mr. Barry is the
perpendicular, or latest decorated Gothic —
the exterior, rather very nearly akin to that of
the beautiful town halls of the Low Countries,
than that of any English examples. The
stone is a hard limestone from Yorkshire, of
a drab colour ; and the decorative sculpture is
elaborate and beautiful in the highest degree.
What particularly charmed me, was the ele-
gance, resulting from the union of fine pro-
portions and select forms of modern cultivated
tastes, with the peculiarly grand and venera-
ble character of Gothic architecture. One is
so accustomed to see only strength and pic-
turesqueness in middle-age examples, that one
almost limits the pointed style to this com-
pass. But Mr. Barry has conclusively
shown that that elegance — which is always
and only the result of fine proportions — is a
beauty of which Gothic architecture is fully
capable. Of the splendor of the House of
Lords, and the richness and chasteness of
many other portions of the building, you have
already had many accounts. I will therefore
only say, at present, that so carefully has the
artistic effect of every portion of this vast
building been studied, that not a hinge, the
key of a door, or even the candlesticks on the
tables, has been bought at the dealers ; but
every detail that meets the eye has been
especially designed for the building. The
result, as you may suppose, is a unity and
harmony throughout, which must be seen to
be thoroughly appreciated.
The profession has often found fault with
the employment of a florid Gothic architec-
ture for this building. Certainly, it looks
like throwing away such delicate details, — to
pile them up amid the smoke of London,
which is, indeed, already beginning to blacken
and deface them. But, on the other hand,
the beauty and fitness of the style for the
interior seem to me unquestionable. The
very complexity appears in keeping with the
intricate machinery of a government, that
rules an empire almost extending over half
the globe.
Picture or a Nobleman's Seat. — I
shall finish this letter with a sketch of a no-
bleman's seat, where I am just now making a
visit ; and can therefore give you the outlines
MR. DOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
157
in a better light than travellers generally can
do. The seat is called Wimpole — the pro-
perty of the Earl of H , and Is situated
in the fine agricultural district of Cambridge-
shire. It is not a " show place ;" and though
a residence of the first class, especially in ex-
tent, it is only a fair specimen of what you
may find, with certain variations, in many
counties in England.
The landed estate, then, amounts to more
than thirty-seven thousand acres — a large part
admirably cultivated. The mansion, which
stands in the midst of one of those immense
and beautiful parks which one only finds in
England, is a spacious pile in the Roman
style, four hundred and fifty feet front ; rather
plain and antique without, but internally
beautiful, and in the highest degree com-
plete— both as regards arrangement and de-
coration. The library, for example, is sixty
feet long, quite filled with a rich collection of
books. The suite of drawing-rooms abounds
with pictures by Van Dyck, Rubens, and
other great masters ; and there is a private
chapel, in which prayers are read every
morning, capable of containing a couple of
hundred persons.
In front of the house, a broad level surface
of park stretched before the eye, and is finely
taken advantage of as a position for one of
the noblest avenues of grand old elms that I
have seen in England ; an avenue three miles
long, and very wide — not cut in two by a
road,* but carpeted with grass, like a broad
aisle of verdure. Place at the end of this a
distant hill, and let the avenue be the central
feature to a wide park, that rises into hills
and flows into graceful swells behind the
house, and fill it with herds of deer and
groups of fine cattle, and you have a general
idea of the sylvan features of Wimpole.
But it is not yet complete. Behind the
house, and separated from the park by a ter-
* The approach is at the side.
race walk, is a parterre flower garden, lying
directly under the windows of the drawing-
rooms. Like all English flower gardens, it
is set in velvet lawn — each bed composed of
a single species — the most brilliant and the
most perpetual bloomers that can be found.
Something in the soil or culture here seems
admirably adapted to perfect them, too ; for
nowhere have I seen the beds so closely
covered with foliage, and so thickly sprinkled ^
with bloom. Some of them are made of two
new varieties of scarlet geraniums, with varie-
gated leaves, that have pi-ecisely the efiect of
a mottled pattern in worsted embroidery.
Beyond this lies the pleasure grounds,—
picturesque, winding walks, leading a long
way, admirably planted with groups and
masses of the finest evergreens and deciduous
trees. Here is a weeping ash, the branches
of which fall over an arbor in the form of
half a globe, fifty feet in diameter; and a
Portugal laurel, the trunk of which measures
three feet in circumference. A fine Ameri-
can black walnut tree was pointed out to me
as something rare in England. And the un-
derwood is made up of rich belts and masses
of Rhododendrons and English laurels.
I must beg you to tell my lady friends at
home, that many of them would be quite
ashamed were they in England, at their igno-
rance of gardening, and their want of interest
in country life. Here, for instance, I have
been walking for several hours to-day through
these beautiful grounds with the Countess
OF H., who, though a most accomplished
person in all other matters, has a knowledge
of evcrytliing relating to rural life, that would
be incomprehensible to most American ladies.
Every improvement or embellishment is plan-
ned under her special direction. Every plant
and its culture are familiar to her ; and there
is no shrinking at barn-yards — no affected
fear of cows— no ignorance of the dairy and
poultry-yard. On the contrary, one is dc-
158
MR. DOWNING-S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
lighted •with the genuine enthusiasm and
knowledge that the highest class (and indeed
all classes) show in the country life here, and
the great amount of health and happiness it
gives rise to. The life of an English woman
of rank, in the country, is not the drawing-
room languor which many of my charming
coun4;ry women fancy it. Far from it. On
the contrary, it is full of the most active du-
ties and enjoyments. But it must be ad-
mitted that the cool and equal temperature
of the summers here, is greatly more inviting
to exercise than our more sultry atmosphere
at home.
We measured, in the course of the morn-
ing's ramble, several English elms, with
which the park here abounds, from 15 to 18
feet in circumference.* I was not so much
surprised at this, as at the grandeur of the
horse chestnuts, which are truly majestic —
many measuring not less in girth, with a
much greater spread of branches ; each lower
branch of the dimensions of an ordinary
trunk, and, after stretching far out from the
parent stem, drooping down and resting upon
the turf, like a giant's elbow, and then turn-
ing up again in the most picturesque manner.
The trees in England have a more uniform
deep green tint than with us, which I think
rather lessens the richness and variety of the
landscape.
The Queen made a visit here in 1 844 ; and
as everything which royalty does in a monar-
chy is commemorated — and especially when,
as in the present case, the character of the
sovereign is a really good one — I was shown
a handsome new gate at the side of the park,
opposite to that which I entered, with a
striking lodge in the Italian taste, bearing the
royal arms, and called the " Victoria gate."
TThat interested me much more, was an alms-
house, built and managed wholly by Lady
* Bui, after all, not so noble or beautiful as, in their heads,
the American elms in llie Connecticut valley.
H., as a refuge for deserving persons, grown
old or infirm in the service of the family, and
unable, through ill health or incapacity, to
take care of themselves. The building — cot-
tage-like— Ls not only quite an ornamental
structure in the old English manner, but the
interior is planned so as to secure the great-
est comfort and convenience of the inmates.
Nothing could be more delightful than the
kind interest felt and acknowledged bet Teen
the benevolent originator of this charity and
those who were its recipients. The eyes of
an infirm old woman, to whom my having
come from America was mentioned, and who
had sons in the new world, brightened up
with a strange joy at seeing some one from a
land where her heart had evidently been of
late more busy than at home. " It was a
good country," she said; "her sons had
bought land, and were doing famous." For
a working man to own land, in a country like
this, where the farmers are almost all only
tenants of the few great proprietors, is to
their minds something like holding a fee sim-
ple to part of paradise.
The morning yesterday was spent on horse-
back in examining the agriculture of the es-
tate. The rich harvest fields, extending over
the broad Cambridgeshire plains, afford, at
this season, a fine picture of the great produc-
tiveness of England. About a thousand acres
are farmed by Lord H., and the rest let to
tenants. I was glad to hear from him that
he has endeavored, with great success, to
abolish the enormous consumption of malt
liquor among laborers of all classes here, by
giving them only a very small allowance,
joined to a sum equal to the largest allowance
on other estates, in the shape of an addition
to their wages. He confirmed my previous
impressions of the bad effects produced by
this monstrous guzzling of beer by the work-
ing men of England ; a consumption actually
1 astounding to one accustomed to the absti-
MR. UOWNING'S LETTERS FROM ENGLAND.
159
nent and equally hard working faruaers of the
United States.*
Farming, here, is a vastly more scientific
and carefully studied occupation than with
us ; and the attention bestowed upon landed
estates, (many of which yield a revenue of
650,000 or $60,000 a year, and some much
more,) is, as you may suppose, one of no tri-
fling moment. Hence the knowledge of prac-
tical agriculture, by the owners of many of
the.se vast English estates, is of a very high
order ; and I am glad, from considerable ob-
servation, to say that the relations between
owner and tenant are often of the most con-
siderate and liberal kind. No doubt the pre-
sent free trade prices of corn make a hard
market for many of the tenant farmers of
England. Yet, as the interests of the land-
lord and tenant run in parallel lines, it is
clear that rents must be modified accordingly.
Upon this estate, this has been done most
wisely and judiciously. The good under-
standing that exists between both parties is
therefore very great ; as a proof of which, I
will mention that the Earl gives a dinner
twice a year, to which all his tenants are in-
vited. At the last festival of this sort, he
took occasion to speak publicly of the low
prices of bread stuffs, and the complaint so
frequently made of the high rents at which
farms were still held. To meet the state of
the times, he added, that he had, from time
to time, altered the scale of his rents ; and
had now resolved to make a still further re-
duction of a certain number of shillings per
acre to all who would apply for the same
after that day. He now mentioned to me,
that although nearly two months had elapsed,
not a single application had been made ; and
♦ At the celebrated farm of Mr. W.. in this county, his
cellar contained, at the commencement of harvest, 24 hogs-
heads of beer ; barely enough, as I was told, for the harvest
labor — about nine pints per day to each man. There was
nearly a strike among the workmen for ten pints ; indeed, a
gallon per day is no very uncommon thing for a beer drinker
in England;
this, perhaps, solely because the tenants ap-
preciated the justice and liberality with which
the estate had been managed, and knew the
free trade policy, where this is the case, falls
as heavily on the landlords as on themselves.
Nothing can well be more complete, of its
kind, than this highest kind of country life in
England. I leave out of the question now,
of course, all republican reflections touching
the social or political bearing upon other
classes. Taken by itself, it has been per-
fected here by the long enjoyment of heredi-
tary right, united to high cultivation and
great natural taste for rural and home plea-
sures, till it is difficult to imagine anything
(except, perhaps, a little more sunshine out
of doors,) that would add to the picture. In
the first place, an Englishman's park, on one
of these great estates, is a species of king-
dom by itself — a vast territorial domain,
created solely for his own enjoyment, and
within the bounds of which his family and
guests may ride, drive, walk, or indulge their
tastes, without in the least interfering with
any one, or being interfered with, by the
presence of any of the rest of the world.
In the next place, the climate not only favors
the production of the finest lawns and plea-
sure grounds in the world, but promotes the
out-of-door interest in, and enjoyment of
them. Next, these great domestic establish-
ments, (so immense and complete that we
have nothing in America with which to com-
pare them,) are still managed, (owing to the
exercise of the service, and the division of
labor,) with an ease and simplicity quite in-
comprehensible to an American, who knows
from experience how difficult it is to keep a
household of half a dozen domestics tosether,
even in the older parts of the Union. Here,
there are sixty servants, and I have been in
houses in England where there are above a
hundred, and yet all moving with the quiet
precision of a chronometer. There are few
160
EXPERIMENTS WITH EVERGREEN AND OTHER TREES.
people in England, I think, who seem in-
clined fo say amen, to the doctrine that
'■ iMun wants but little here below."
I would however be quite willing to subscribe
to it, so far as regards one's domestic estab-
lishment in America, if, alas ! we could have
" that little''— ^ood !
I must close my letter here, with a promise
to give you some account of Chatsworth in
my next, which stands, in some respects, at
the head of all English places. Yours, most
truly.
A. J. D-
Cambridgeshire, August, 1850.
EXPERIMENTS 'WITH EVERGREEN AND OTHER TREES.
BY GEORGE JAQUES, WORCESTER, MASS.
Dear Sir — If the following account of a
few experiments is worthy a place in the
columns of the Horticulturist, I shall be hap-
py to see it there, provided you will add such
remarks of your own as the nature of the ex-
periments may suggest.
Experiments with Evergreens. —
Transpla7iting. — Theoretically, we under-
stand that trees of the temperate zones have
generally (there may be some exceptions,)
two seasons of repose during the year. The
first period of rest is the short siesta, in which
they indulge during two or three weeks im-
mediately succeeding the middle of June, i. e.,
about the longest days of summer. The first
flow of sap is over ; the new shoots have pro-
truded themselves and expanded their leaves ;
the fruit is set, and nature for a little while
takes her needed repose. Soon, however, a
new impulse is received; the shoots com-
mence growing again, and putting forth leaves
upon their extended wood, and the fruit
swells in size, and gradually arrives at ma-
turity. As the cold weather of autumn ap-
proaches, the fruit and leaves fall to the
oTOund, the trees again become dormant, and
their sap remains almost motionless until the
approach of spring.
The chief operations with trees, are to be
performed during this latter long season of
their repose. The question of transplanting
evergreens, therefore, is not whether it shall
be done in the fall, or in the spring, or at
mid-summer ; but whether it should be per-
formed during the summer sleep, or during
the winter sleep of the trees, and at what
part of those intervals of rest ?
Were it not for the effects of frost during
our long and severe winters, it would unques-
tionably be best to transplant trees of every
description just at the commencement of their
winter's repose. But, as our seasons are
constituted, after many experiments and con-
siderable observation of the experience of
others, we prefer to plant our trees, — ever-
green or deciduous, small or large, — except
only those of very large size, in the spring, or
rather just as the trees are beginning to wake
from their long sleep. Having neglected this
opportunity, we should next select the early
or middle part of their summer rest, for trans-
planting evergreens ; but we never mean to
transplant this class of trees in autumn again,
if we can avoid it.
We might adduce scores of facts upon
which to back these conclusions ; but wo
shall confine ourselves to the hemlock only.
It is well known that these beautiful natives
of our forests are as impatient of cultivation
as an Indian is of civilization. Many who
have tried to win them from their wild haunts,
have given the thing up in despair. We have
EXPERIMENTS WITH EVERGREEN AND OTHER TREES.
161
never been able to make, and have never
known the hemlock to live when transplanted
in autumn. Last year, we moved about forty,
four to six feet high, on a rainy day (the
most favorable weather, of course,) in June.
Only five of them are now alive. This last
spring, we transplanted fifty-two, on a rainy
day about the last of April. They are all
alive, and are now making their growth upon
the second flow of sap, so that they are about
certain not to disappoint our expectations.
To those who may wish to supply their
grounds with this, the most beautiful of all
North American evergreens, we submit the
above as our experience.
Wherever small trees of the hemlock grow
in a field or in an open wood, or by the side
of a ^v^ood, where they are used to the light
of the sun, and where the ground under them
is sandy and free from stones, so that they
can be taken up with the earth adhering to
their roots, if transplanted on a damp, cloudy,
or rainy day, there is no difficulty about
moving the trees of six feet or less in height.
When once removed to the nursery, they may
be easily re-set at any time.
Shortening-in. — We have found ever-
green and deciduous trees to be alike benefit-
ted by shortening-in after transplanting. One
mode of operating we prefer with evergreens,
is to cut them in a conical form, omitting to
cut ofi" the leading shoot, respecting which
we have a word also to add.
Restoring the Leader. — " It hath been
said of old," that the leading shoot of an
evergreen, once destroyed, cannot again be
restored. We do not find it so. Our ex-
periments with the Hemlock, American Fir,
Norway Spruce Fir, and Arbor Vitse, have
shown very satisfactorily the reverse of
this old assertion. Wherever the leader is
destroyed, we select the nearest thrifty side'
shoot, or two of them, if we wish the tree to
have a double head ; we tie these to a stake.
or otherwise fasten them in a vertical posi-
tion, and they soon become as good leading
shoots as the original was. The experiment
rarely fails with trees less than ten or twelve
feet in height ; and for aught that we know,
it would succeed with much larger trees.
The leader of any deciduous tree may be re-
stored in the same way, as is well known.
Shortening-in to Improve the Growth.
— We have had most gratifying success with
this operation, when applied to the American
Fir, Norway Fir, Arbor Vitae, Hemlock,
Scotch and American Larches. The foliao-e
or spray of these trees, may in this way be
thickened to almost any extent. The Ameri-
can Larch thus treated, becomes a most beau-
tiful tree; and the Norway Fir and Arbor
Vitoe of a hedge row may, by this means, be
converted into a perfect green wall, through
which even the light cannot penetrate. The
preferable season to shorten-in is perhaps just
before the trees begin to grow in the spring,
although it succeeds well at the time of their
summer rest, in June,
Disbarring Deciduous Trees. — We
have often heard that an apple tree might
have its entire trunk disbarked in t\\Q month
of June — that is, during its sunnner rest —
without injury. We have had testimony from
those who have seen it done. Last year we
had a Napoleon pear, having a blackish,
shrivelled, unhealthy bark upon its trunk.
We disbarked the entire trunk three-fourths
of the circumference. The tree was small, or
about two inches through at the ground. It
has now a fine healthy rmigh bark, (a great
improvement over the smooth bark, because
now the crisis from smooth to rough bark is
passed safely over,) and the tree is in excellent
condition. We tried a similar experiment
this year, with the like success. Another
season, we mean to apply this mode of cure
with a bolder hand ; and, provided we live,
some of our leprous-barked subjects of the
162
LAYING OUT AND PLANTING LAWNS.
pear family will be sure to " catch it." We
believe what is called canker, upon the bark
of large trees, may be cured in this way.
The experiment is certainly worth trial.
Taking off the outer bark of the trunk of
the cherry, when it is two or more years old,
is now a part of our regular practice. We
change the bark at once from the smooth con-
dition of its youth to that permanent rough-
ness belonging to the remainder of its life;
and the tree is far more likely to flourish, and
to escape the peculiar diseases to which its
trunk is liable, than it is without this assis-
tance.
This treatment, we are inclined to think,
will operate favorably in preventing the pium
ivart, or hlack knot, as it is called ; for we
think the old remedy of cutting off the warts,
had its efl&ciency in opening the bark, rather
than in any other way removing the source
of the disease.
Transplanting Trees in a Growing
State. — We found it necessary, about the
middle of June last, to remove three or four
apple and pear trees, of six or eight feet in
height, and one apple tree of some four
inches in diameter, in a bearing state. The
trees did not droop scarcely at all ; and they
continued in a fine healthy condition, — some
of them even making a fine growth, with the
second flow of sap. The mode of operating
was that recommended by the late Col. Per-
kins, (see vol. 1st of Horticulturist, page
170th ;) that is, saturating the ground with
water, &e.; then taking up the tree with the
muddy earth attached in a mass, and supply-
ing water bountifully after it is set. * * *
I have copied the foregoing hastily from
my memorandum book ; and I offer it for
publication, in the hope that you will inter-
sperse it liberally with editorial remarks, and
thereby render it of more value to your read-
ers. Yours, &c., GrEO. Jaques.
Worcester, Mass., September, 1850.
LAYING OUT AND PLANTING LAWNS.
BY WM. WEBSTER, ROCHESTER, N. Y.
As the season for laying out and planting
ornamental grounds is near at hand, I propose
offering a few useful hints to those who may
wish to become their own artists in the affair
of laying out, planting, etc. Since the intro-
duction of Mr. Downing's works on Archi-
tecture, Landscape Gardening, &c., a spirit
of emulation has arisen among us, and men
of taste are no longer content to follow in the
footsteps of their predecessors, but putting
aside the old fashioned way of doing things,
strive to combine the ornamental with the
useful ; and in effecting this change, tliis
journal has contributed in no small degree.
In the matter of laying out and ornamenting
grounds, the architectural designs must be
kept in view, and the grounds arranged in
such a manner that there may be perfect har-
mony existing throughout. Much also de-
pends upon the situation and surrounding ob-
jects. If the site chosen be on the banks of
a river or lake, terraces, with broad steps and
balustrades may be adopted. Terraces are at
all times beautiful objects in themselves, and
particularly so, when from them a person is
enabled to rest his eye upon a broad sheet of
water. What person of taste, who has ever
sailed upon the clear and placid waters of
LAYING OUT AND PLANTING LAWNS.
163
Seneca Lake, has not admired the beautiful
terrace gardens at Geneva ? What splendid
opportunities they aflford for the display of
flowers and taste. In gardens like these,
many plants which, in other situations, would
be considered too tender to stand the winter,
would there flourish, protected as they would
be from piercing winds in their sheltered
situation, and from late and early frosts, by
being subject to the genial influence of the
lake.
Or if the place intended to be laid out,
should happen to be situated on ground slightly
elevated, with perhaps a hill clothed with ver-
dure rising near, which frequently occurs in
our varied landscape, then the grounds can be
planted in such a manner as to make the hill
appear a part of the whole. Such an object
ought to be particularly kept in view, in the
formation of new grounds. This is applicable
to places of a few acres to several in extent.
In planting such a place, a belt of trees
ought to surround the grounds, or at least a
part of them, always planting in such a man-
ner as to bring every object of interest into
view. The outward, or boundary line, should
be planted with the larger growing trees ;
the smaller kinds and shrubs, in succession,
so as to make a perfect screen, except in
such places where it is desirable to obtain a
view of any object. The belt should be
planted in such a manner that a serpentine
walk may be carried around the inner boun-
dary, or between it and the lawn. Straight
walks in such places should be avoided as
much as possible, because, in traversing a
straight walk, the whole is taken in at a
glance ; whereas, by adopting the serpentine
walk, the scene is continually changing, and
the eye meets variety at every turn.
And now for the greatest point of attrac-
tion— the lawn. What can be more beauti-
ful than a well kept lawn, with its drooping
trees, and beds of flowers, and many otner
attractions ? No matter however beautiful a
place may appear, it is still incomplete with-
out its due proportion of grass ; in fact, a
well kept lawn lends a charm to all surround-
ing objects, and gives efi'ect to the whole. In
the formation of lawns, I would recommend
the laying down of turf, in preference to seed-
ing one. When a lawn is sown, it takes a
great length of time to get a good turf;
whereas, by laying one down, a fine even sur-
face is obtained at once, and a beautiful ver-
dure. Fancy figures may also be cut around
the edges, or in diflerent parts of the lawn,
for the planting of flowers in masses, such as
Verbenas, Petunias, Fuchsias, and the like.
Drooping trees should also be planted in dif-
ferent parts of the lawn singly ; the beauties
of which, I need not here descant upon, as it
has already been so ably done by Mr. Bar*
UY, in the last number of this journal. All
close fences, or any unsightly objects, should
be hid by trees, or covered with climbing
plants or creepers. A plant admirably adapt-
ed to this purpose, is the Virginian creeper,
Avipelopsis hederacea ; a plant indigenous to
the country, and which few people seem to
realise the full utility of. It is a very rapid
grower, and will attach itself to almost any-
thing. Close to the Genesee falls, is a mill,
one end of which is nearly covered with it.
I should say it had grown sixty feet in height
or more ; and clinging to the wall, or hanging
in graceful festoons, when viewed from the
opposite side of the river, the efi'ect is beauti-
ful ; and in the situation it occupies, it seems
to associate itself with some time honored
castle.
Almost all our native forest trees may be
advantageously used in planting, and parti-
cularly evergreens ; and, as the artist must
use his own judgment in the selection of
trees, he could not do better than make them
164
A TOLL GATE-HOUSE.
in October. He will then have an opportu-
nity of studying the forest trees at a time
when every colour is shown to advantage,
and when every variety of tint, light and
shade can be studied ; and in planting, by
striving to copy nature as near as possible,
will hardly fail of success. I would not by
any means recommend the planting of too
large a proportion of forest trees ; for ever-
greens ought to occupy by far the greatest
share, the most desirable of which are the
White Pine, Spruce, Hemlock, Balsam Fir,
and White Cedar, which is quite important,
as it makes most admirable screens, and,
when planted singly, forms a most beautiful
pyramidal tree ; it will also bear pruning bet-
ter than any other evergreen.
In regard to the formation of the carriage
road, due care should be taken to have it ap-
proach the dwelling in gentle and easy curves ;
for on this depends much, as by carrying it
up to the dwelling in a straight line, it would
have the effect to mar the whole ; whereas,
by carrying out the curved lines, a perfect
harmony will exist throughout.
These hints are only intended for those
persons who are unable to obtain the services
of a professional gardener, but still may wish
to embellish their grounds. Let them com-
mence at once and fear nothing ; and may
success attend all their efforts.
Wm. Webster.
Rochester, Sept. 13th, 1950. "
SKETCH AND PLAN OP A TOLL GATE-HOUSE.
(SEE FRONTISPIECE.)
Has anybody seen a toll gate which was not
ugly ? We fear the number of affirmatives
will be very few. And yet the building is
one that might be rendered picturesque in
many ways — whether built of wood, stone, or
brick. In some instances, where the turn-
pike is profitable, a substantial cottage of
considerable size might be erected, — the gate
itself being under cover, and the whole com-
position made architectural. In others, a
smaller building, of one story high, might be
made expressive by simpler means.
The frontispiece exhibits a sketch or study
(but without any of the appropriate accesso-
ries of trees, etc.,) for a simple, but architec-
tural cottage for a toll gate. The large open
porch, in which the gate keeper stands to
receive his dues, is in character with the pur-
pose of the building. Though the whole is
but one story high, the plan shows a living-
room 12 by 15 feet, a bed-room 11 by 12
feet, and a kitchen 10 by 12 feet ; the latter
with a small room, intended for a store-room
or pantry, partitioned off from it.
Such a cottage as this, in a district where
cither stone or wood is cheap, may be built
for about $400 ; and would, we think, be far
more agreeable to the eye, as well as more
convenient, than the majority of our toll
gate-houses.
TOLL GATE HOUSE.
PRINCIPAL FLOOR.
fKoil : (tct. ]8jO
MULCHING- AND PLANTING FRUIT TREES— MULCHING STRA'WBERRIES.
BY LEWIS F. ALLEN, BLACK ROCK, N. Y.
Jeffreys says he is going to tell you a story
about mulching. So am I. And as he, like
Teucer of old, lets fly his arrows from behind
the shield of Achilles, or — what is quite as
potent in these more peaceful days — in the
shade of an incognita, I choose to be more
bold than he, and tell my story under my
own sign manual, letting it go for what it is
worth ; and as he appears to have taken to
farming for the remainder of the season, I
may possibly be allowed to tell my story
without his commentaries upon either its wis-
dom or its folly.
In the July number of the Horticulturist,
volume 4, I gave some account of my planta-
tion of orchards. I now continue it. After
planting my pear trees in the spring of 1849,
I again ridged the orchards with the plough,
so as to increase the crowns and depress the
furrows of the " lands" still more than when
the trees were set out, — the line of trees
being the crown of the ridge, — and sowed it
into buckwheat, as I had proposed, of which
I had a fine crop, — leaving the land light,
smooth, and in good shape. Thus it stood
through the past winter ; the young scions,
which I had put into the stocks, having made
a good growth, although suffering under a se-
vere summer drouth. Last spiing, on exa-
mination, I found the land light, and in fine
condition for harrowing down, which I did in
the month of April, with a seeding of oats
and grass, — making it smooth as a garden
with a fine harrow. I have cut an abundant
crop of oats, leaving the soil smooth and re-
gular for the future grass, and the next sea-
son's mulching of the trees.
I will here remark that this pear orchard
is, in area, about eighty rods from east to
west, and twelve rods from north to south,
giving fifteen rows of trees, twelve feet apart,
and having a gradual inclination from west
to east ; and the crown of the ridges standing
about eighteen inches above the depression
in the furrows. The whole orchard is nicely
drained ; each furrow leading off its own
water into a general cross drain on the lower
side. Another thing I will remark : many
of my trees having come a distance of several
hundred miles, and been two or three weeks
out of the ground — some of them packed in
dry straw, without moss, and badly done at
that — they had become quite dry and shrivel-
led. These I laid at once into the ground,
both root and stock, full length, and covered
heavily with moist earth, where they remained
several days, until fully swelled up to their
natural condition, when I trimmed them
closely and planted them. Under such treat-
ment I saved many that, with common usage,
would have been altogether lost. But to
have done exact justice to them, they should
have been nmlched, as I am about to relate
I have treated others. Had I done this, I
should probably have saved the lives of seve-
ral, which I lost in consequence of bad pack-
ing, a long passage, and the cruel mutilation
of their roots, in carelessly taking out of the
ground by the nurserymen, or their laborers.
And here — although I do'nt mean to say of-
fensive things to a very worthy and indispen-
sable profession — I feel obliged to assert, that
there is altogether too little care practiced by
some of our nurserymen in taking up and
packing their trees. The only object appears
to be to get rid of them, regardless of their
fate, and, seemingly, by the process they prac-
tice, to make their lives as brief as possible.
166
MULCHING AND PLANTING FRUIT TREES.
Among the trees received last spring from
New- York, were several hundred young
French seedling pears — all dry, shrivelled,
and apparently dead, having been out of the
ground several weeks in crossing the Atlan-
tic, together with the cullings of the Ameri-
can trees of larger growth, intended for im-
mediate orchard planting, but which I rejected
for that purpose from their bad condition.
These I planted altogether in nursery rows,
to grow for future use, and placed a thorough
mulching of last year's buckwheat straw, three
or four inches thick, over them. The larger
trees I cut off and grafted when they were
set out ; the smaller ones I topped when
planted. The result has been that I have
lost very few of them, although the early
part of the season was cold and drj^, and
many of them have made good growth.
EprECTs OF Mulching in the Or-
chard.— Having planted about six hundred
apple trees four or five years ago, upon a
good piece of clayey loam, based on a clay
subsoil, then under the plough, I soon after
seeded it into grass, laying the land into
ridges two rods apart when seeded, as with
my pears, just described, and have since kept
it for mowing. I kept the earth forked up
well every year around the roots, and pre-
vented the growth of grass about the trunks.
In the spring of 1849, I dug round them,
outside of the previous forking, a spade wide
and a full spade deep, and filled that circular
trench, so made, with barn-yard manure — say
a wheelbarrow load to a tree, and threw the
inverted sod of the trench upon it, while the
under soil was thrown on the forked surface
round the stem. The summer afterwards was
extremely dry and hot, and the trees made
little growth; indeed, they seemed injured
from the treatment. Determined, however,
to try the virtues of mulching, early last
spring I took a quantity of old fresh marsh
(not salt) hay, and buckwheat straw, and put
around each tree a heavy pitchfork full, spread-
ing it out for three or four feet each way from
the stem, averaging perhaps four inches thick;
all the remaining soil lying in heavy timothy
and clover for meadow.
Now for the result. The summer's growth
has been surprising. Shoots one, two, and
three feet long have been made from almost
every tree. The full bloom of the trees has
been followed by an enormous crop of apples,
which, unlike trees of feeble growth, have
held on their fruit with wonderful tenacity,
induced, no doubt, by the strong and vigorous
stems which their enlarged growth has given
them. During the dryest time of the sum-
mer— and until July commenced it was very
dry — on lifting the straw, the ground was
moist and cool about the roots, while outside
the mulching it was dry and cracked. Moss,
which had in some instances become set upon
the trunks, peeled off and dropped ; and the
whole orchard has assumed an entirely dif-
ferent complexion. This mulch, for fear of
mice next winter, I shall remove early in the
fall, to be replaced, together with a fresh sup-
ply, next spring, when I purpose to mulch all
my orchard trees of every description in the
same manner ; satisfied that I can do nothing
so serviceable to their growth and health.
Planting Orchard Trees. — Having
on hand in my nursery about twelve hundred
apple trees, which were ready for planting,
on about thirty acres of ground, which was
then mostly in old meadow, I last fall put in
a heavy team and turned the whole of it — ex-
cepting about four acres — over with the
plough, nine inches deep, in " lands" two rods
in width, on the ridges of which I intended
to plant the trees. In the latter part of April
last, I went to work in good earnest, — the
frosts of winter having beautifully pulverised
the soil, and made it friable as an ash-heap.
The weather was cold and tempestuous, and
sometimes frosty ; but as the season was ad-
MULCHING AND PLA.NTING FRUIT TREES.
167
vancing, the work could not be postponed.
Taking my foreman along, who, in his labors
with me, I have learned to be as good a
planter as myself — and I do know how to
plant a tree — with four men, making two
parties, we commenced. Before breakfast in
the morning we went into the nursery and
took up as many trees as would last us
through the forenoon, which, immediately af-
ter breakfast, a cart took out into the field,
and distributed in parcels of a dozen or twenty
each. We first laid out the orchards (two
separate pieces of land being allotted for the
purpose,) with an outside row of trees planted
entirely around it, two rods apart, and two
cross rows, one each way through the centre,
for the purpose of " lining" the trees in
straight rows as we set them. In this cngi-
ncer planting we had two extra men. Our
tools were a shovel and a spade for the two
men in each party, and a hoe each for our-
selves. The sods were removed for a space
about four feet in diameter,* down to their
ploughed depth ; the subsoil loosened, but
not thrown out, about three inches below ;
then an inverted bed of sod thrown into the
hole, so as to leave the tree, when planted,
slightly above the level of the general sur-
face ; then the pulverised earth thrown in
upon the roots about three inches deep, which
were all nicely and carefully spread out as
when they stood in the nursery. Over this
were laid the inverted sods, to the height of
two to three inches above the neck of the
tree as it stood in the nursery ; so as when
the sod decomposed and settled, it should
leave the stem fair ; cut off the top of the
* The foUowinif iiiciiieiit shows how liule gumption most
laborers have about tree-planlin?: A year or two asjo I sal
a couple of men (and ofood diggers t!iey were, loo,) al work
to dig- holes for my fruit trees, and gave them a stick four feet
in length for the diameter of the lioles. which were also to be
eighteen inches deep. At'ter they had dug pari of a day, I
went lo look at llieir work. The first half dozen holes were
pretty well; but after thai, they gradually tapered oiT till they
were hardly as big as your hat I And when asked why they
viid'iit work up to the rule, very gravely answered, that it was
too much trouble lo carry the stick, and they thought the holes
big enough I A fair specimen of our country work.
tree when too high, thinned out and cut back
the branches, trod the sods firmly about the
roots, and the work was done. After dinner,
another complement of trees were taken up in
the nursery as before ; and in six days our
twelve hundred trees were planted, as such a
number of trees are seldom planted in this
country. But we loorhed ! Two sets of
us — one set of men to a row.
As I before remarked, three or four acres
of this planting was in sod meadow. Here
we excavated holes four feet in diameter, and
a foot to fifteen inches deep. The sods, as
we dug them, were thrown on to one side
until the hole was finished. When this last
was done, the sods were thrown into the bot-
toms of the holes inverted. We had an ox
cart along with us, which was kept filled with
the choicest mould from the adjoining ploughed
ground. The roots of the trees were spread as
before upon the inverted sods ; and the hole
entirely filled to the surface from the cart,
upon which the excavated earth just taken
from the holes was packed; making a mound
like an inverted dining plate, to settle — as
with the trees in the ploughed ground. That
ended our labors.
And now for the result. The season, far
into summer, was cold, backward and dry.
Since the first of July we have had good rains,
so that there is no fear of suffering from fu-
ture drouths this year. I examined my whole
orchard the other day, in company with Col.
Hodge of the Buffalo nursery, Mr. Bryant
of the Erie nursery, and Professor Coppock,
who were a committee of the Buffalo Horti-
cultural Society for the purpose ; and every
single tree of the twelve hundred was alive,
and most of them had made from three to
eighteen inches growth of young wood on the
single limb since planting ! Nor were they
an extraordinary select lot of trees. They
were from an inch to one and a half inches in
diameter at the base, five to eight feet high,
168
MULCHING STAWBEIIRIES.
root grafted, vigorous and liealthy. But I
do not claim all this exemption from loss in
the superiority of their planting. The imme-
diate planting of the trees after their removal
from the nursery, before the roots got dried —
although some of them did get a good deal
withered, as they lay for hours exposed to a
drying wind and an open sun, (which was all
wrong, for dirt should have been thrown over
them,) I consider a great advantage. Nor
were the roots extraordinarily well taken up.
We worked sharp. I did not superintend all
that part of it myself ; but either my foreman
or myself saw every tree well planted ; held
it up as the earth was thrown upon it, and
shook it up and down as it was filled in, that
the soil might become well incorporated with
the roots.
I should like to show that orchard of trees
to any one. Next spring I intend to mulch
them as I did my others ; and if they do'nt
show growth, it will be strange. I ought to
say, in giving you the whole story, that this
thirty acres of land is in various crops this
year : corn, potatoes, buckwheat, spring wheat,
oats, white beans, ruta-baga, sugar beet and
carrots, hoed and sowed crops, and the trees
nearly alike in appearance over all ; but if
any difference, the trees in the hoed ground
are the best. I intend ploughing all the land
again the coming fall, chiefly for next spring
solved crops, when I shall seed the whole into
grass for mowing ; and in the ploughing, ridge
the earth up to the trees in " lands" two rods
wide, with a good " dead furrow" between
each to pass ofi" the swrplus water.
I will further remark, that there were some
low places in this orchard ground, as a small
portion of it had never been ploughed be-
fore,— having been cleared off" but a few years
ago — and in pasture ; and there are two or
three low sivales or ravines in it, where the
water runs in the fall and spring. In these
swales, where is a heavy, black soil, I set the
trees on the top of the ground, or dug but
very slightly for them, or even raised a table
of earth to plant them on, as circumstances
required, intending hereafter to throw the
ground into proper shape by ploughing, and
opening furrows and ditches, so that no stand-
ing water may remain. Ten acres more of
ground I have left for orchard purposes, now
in sod, which I intend to plough this fall and
plant next spring, as I have before done ; and
this gives me 2,200 trees in my apple or-
chard,— completing, in all my fruits, a planta-
tion of eighty acres of orcharding ; after
which, I intend to take a rest.
Mulching Srawberries with Spent
Tan-bark. — Professor Coppoek, in the July
Horticulturist, recommends this ; but I can
beat him in the trial. In grapes, I give it
up altogether ; for I am not a grape-grower,
and he is — an accomplished one, too. I
know of none better.
Wishing to add some new varieties to my
strawberry family, I sent, late last fall, to
Mr. M. Gr. Warner, of Rochester, for one
hundred each of Black Prince, Burr's New
Pine, and Rival Hudson. He sent my order,
principally filled, with three hundred of the
handsomest plants I ever saw ; some of them
with roots, fresh and young, six to nine inches
long. They were beauties ; (everybody do'ni
do so.) It was November. I planted them
in a spent vegetable bed in the garden — clay
loam soil — intending them for propagating
solely. I had cut off my asparagus haulm,
and after planting the strawberry vines as
they should he, I covered them with the
haulm, and laid a few sticks across to keep it
from blowing off for the winter, — supposing
it would give them sufficient protection. But
not so. The winter was open and bare.
Looking in upon my bed about Christmas, or
New Year, I found that many of my vines
were lifted out by the frost, — the haulm
not lying close enough; and saw that I might
MULCHING STRAWBERRIES.
169
lose them if not better protected. I at once
got a load of syoit taji, and covered the bed
thoroughly over with it, perhaps two inches
thick, and let them go for the winter. Early
in the spring I began to stir among them,
and found them fresh and starting. I let
them alone. In due time they came up vigor-
ous and beautiful, and bore delicious crops,
all clean and fresh, without a weed about
them, far beyond my anticipations ; and they
are now running and striking in all directions,
furnishing me with multitudes of plants for
my new beds.
A word or two, now I am on the subject,
as to the quality of the different varieties of
strawberry, as I have found them.
Large Early Scarlet. The best berry /or
a crop, probably, taken altogether, that we
have. A vigorous plant ; a great bearer ;
fair size ; of delicious flavor, and a beautiful
colour. I planted, a year ago last April, a
bed, in ridges three feet apart, fifteen inches
apart in the ridge, on moderately good clayey
loam, with only ordinary care ; wed them but
twice, and let them all run together, on
about twelve square rods of ground. Last
June I gathered about two hundred and sixty
quarts of berries from them, and would have
got over three hundred, but the severe drouth
which came on when they were about half
picked, pinched them so that they did not
fill out, and reduced their size full one-
half.
Hovey^s Seedling. Large in size, and
coarse in flavor, of necessity* — yet quite a fa-
vorite ; and, with good, rich culture, and
plenty of staminates among it, a tolerable
bearer. Not fit for a crop, yet I would al-
ways cultivate it for variety.
Boston Pine. A fine large berry, and of
good flavor ; wants rich culture ; but the stem
is too short ; does not throw its fruit high
* As a rule, all monstrous fruits vntst be coarse. Extraor-
dinary size niusl be obtained at the expense of some other qua-
lity ill pretty much everything, both vegetable and animal.
enough from the ground ; yet a good fruit,
and, like the Early Scarlet, not requiring the
admixture of other kinds for fertilizing. It is
a few days later than the Scarlet.
Burr''s New Pine. A splendid, and a
good fruit ; one of the very best. Large
enough, early, prolific, fine in colour, and of
the highest flavor ; it promises well for a crop,
and ripens with the Early Scarlet.
Burr''s Rical Hudson. The most prolific
that I have seen. Deep red, almost crimson
in colour ; slightly necked ; fine rich flavor ;
fruit beautifully set in clusters of five to eight
or ten berries on a high stem, and frequently
all ripe together ; a few — say three or four —
days later than the New Pine in ripening.
The most beautiful growing berry I Iia\e
known.
Black Prince. "With all Mr. Downing's,
and other eastern praise of it, it does not
prove equal here. The colour is bad — too
dark to be delicate ; flavor insipid, or sour ;
a low, branching, straggling stem ; and grown
side by side on the same bed, and with the
same culture as the two last named, is much
inferior — not to be named in the same chap-
ter.
I speak of all these as they have proved
with me, in only one year's cultivation ; which
is, I grant, too short for a thorough trial.
In the plantations of an acre or two which I
am about making, my chief stock will be the
Large Early Scarlet, Burr's New Pine, and
the Rival Hudson, with a few Hovey's Seed-
lings.
But it is time to stop. I have made this
long story about mulching, because I am
satisfied that no labor to promote the growth
of trees, /or the same expense, can be made
so productive as this; and I am now cutting
many tons of coarse marsh hay for next year's
use, and intend mulching everything of the
ti'ee kind which I cultivate, even to my cur-
rants and gooseberries; which last, M'ith the
Vol. v.
11
170
RAISING PLANTS FROM CUITINGS.
addition of salt upon it, I fully believe, with
some otlier of your correspondents, will pre-
vent the mildew. And if any so simple pro-
position can avail, I shall try it heavily and
broadly on a few plum trees, to see whether
it will stagger the instinct of the curculio !
Lewis F. Allen.
Black Rock. August, 1850.
ON RAISING PLANTS PROM CUTTINGS.'
BY M. NEUMANN, PARIS.
XIII. Cuttings op Leaves. — A single
leaf cut near the stem and planted, is suffi-
cient, in some plants, to produce new indi-
viduals. The leaves intended for this opera-
tion ought not to be pulled off the stem ;
thei'e is no need of taking away the eye which
shows itself at their axil ; in this method of
striking by cuttings it is not the eye which
devclopes itself, as many people imagine ;
the effect which takes
place is similar to that
produced when cuttings
are struck from the branch '^
of Abies (see fig. 16.) It
is upon the cluster of
small bulblets which form
on certain parts of the
leaf, that the shoot shows
itself. Fig.
Fig. 41 indicates at
what place we may cut
the leaf without hurting
the plant ; the leaf being
placed in the earth forms
a callus at its base, fig.
42, whence the roots, and riar. xi.—cuuinss of Uaves
,1 i' . of jyieophrasla latifolia.
consequently more shoots
spring up.
Leaves intended for cuttings should be
taken about the middle of a branch ; the re-
sult is more certain than if we chose the lower
leaves. Gloxinia, Bryophyllum, Lilies, &c.,
multiply well by such cuttings.
If we wish to get on very quickly, the
midrib on the lower face of the leaf may be
broken in several places, without injuring the
limb, and so lightly that the broken places
can scarcely be distinguished ; the lower face
of the leaf is then placed on the earth of a
. pot. Soon at each fracture a little callus de-
velopes itself, which gives rise to roots, as is
seen in fig. 43.
Some leaves, when employed as cuttings,
send out roots and buds at each incision,
as, for example, in
Hemionitis palmata, /--^
Bryophyllum, &c. —
Fig. 44 shows how
this effect is pro- p^g.^s.-Leaf of Gloxinia, pre-
duced. pared as a cutting.
Cuttings of leaves are often a long time
before they show any sign of succeeding ; the
care which they require is in consequence of
their delicate nature ; most especially, must
attention be paid' to burying the end of the
petiole, or the base of the leaf. "When their
buds are strong enough they may be accus-
tomed, by degrees, to the free air of the
green-house, in which they are to remain,
then treating them like cuttings from branches.
Having succeeded with the leaves, of which
I have just spoken, I tried, in 1839, to mul-
tiply Theophrasta latifolia with its leaves cut
in two, with which I made two cuttings ;
Fig. 44. — Leaf of Hemionitis palt)iata, used as a cutting.
these portions took root and developed buds,
as is seen in fig. 43. This experiment evi-
dently proves that some plants may be repro-
duced by cuttings of the midrib of their
leaves. The primitive bud, as I have re-
marked, rises from the callus above the root
which first shows itself, and about l-16th of
* Cominued from page 65.
RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS.
171
an inch from the base of the midrib. The
dotted part, shown in the upper half of the
annexed leaf, was removed
in order to put the leaf
into a little pot, but this
did not prevent the success
of the cutting.
Scale - Cuttings. ■■
These cuttings are made
with the scales of Liliace-
ous plants ; such scales are
planted either upright or
flat, are covered with about
l-16th of an inch of earth,
and are placed in an at-
mosphere neither too dry
nor too moist : it is in this
manner that quantities of
Japan lilies are multiplied.
Liliaceous plants are also
propagated by cutting their Fi? 45— r/ieoMra^ja la-
i '^ °. J *' ,, ^ , tifoha, struck fruiiicitt-
leaves in two or three pla- Hngs of a leaf.
ces along their length ; such
leaves do not send out roots, but they give
birth, at their mutilated parts, to little scaly
bulbs which, the following year, are separated,
and afterwards managed like the cloves of
bulbs.
Cuttings in Water. — This kind of pro-
pagation demands constant care and minute
attention. We employ ripe wood, as in cut-
tings of branches. As soon as the roots com-
mence lengthening, which wc can easily see
through the sides of the
bottle in which the cut-
ting is placed, we im-
mediately take it out,
and plant it in a pot,
where it is treated as if
it had no roots, until
we see that they have
reached the sides of the
pot. The cutting is i!
then sufficiently strong
to be gradually accus-
tomed to the atmos-
phere in which it is to
live. I have thus made
plants take root, which
I have not been able to '^'
multiply by any other
means. In consequence of the difficulties
which this proceeding offers, I do not advise
the practice of it, exce))t for Pine-apples,
A Pine-apple struck
in water.
when it is rather an amusement than a truly
useful thing. A sucker, or better, a crown
of a Pine-apple, previously dried, and put into
a decanter or bottlefuU of water, and placed
upon the stove of a green-house, or of a room,
and exposed to light, will grow and produce a
small fruit, which will have as much fra-
grance as one grown in earth, (fig. 46.)
Cuttings in Trenches. — The plan of
striking cuttings in trenches is generally
adopted in the Colonies for sugar-canes and
bamboos. For propagating the cane, we use
cuttings 10 or 12 inches long (fig. 47,) which
we lay horizontally in a little trench U inches
deep. We then cover them with a little
earth, and in a short time they send forth
roots and buds at each joint. The bamboo is
multiplied in the same manner. If we lay a
long stem in a trench, _ ^ _ ^
Fis
. 47. — Cuttings of a Sugar-
cane.
the young buds which
come out of each of
the joints will soon
make a little plant.
In green-houses,
where the space docs not allow of cuttings of
this sort, bamboos are multiplied (juite as well
by placing them upright in the ground
XIV. Slit Cuttings. — There are some
plants whose cuttings root best if a slit is
made in their lower part, a piece of sponge
being introduced, as at fig. 48 ; Carolinea,
arborescent Bignonias, &c., take root well in
this manner.
Layer Cuttings. — For plants difficult to
Fig. 48. Fig. 49.
Cuttings of arborescent Bignonias.
strike I have thought of what I call layer-
cutting (fig. 49,) from which I have obtained
good results. This consists in making a Ion-
172
RAISING PLANTS FROM CUTTINGS.
gitudinal incision down the cutting ; we then
insert • a wedge, to keep the wound open ;
without this precaution the two parts will
soon join, and the operation fail. The vipper
part of the incision ought to be nearly level
with the earth in the pot ; it sometimes hap-
pens that the roots issue at one and at the
same time from the slit and the base of the
cutting.
Cuttings or Grafts upon Roots. — I
have often employed the following method of
striking plants which are difficult to multiply
Fig. 50.
by cuttings. The process may be slit-graft-
ing, as in fig. 50, or crown-grafting, as in fig.
51. The ligatures must be of worsted ; care
should be taken not to cover the upper part
of the roots of these grafts, or at least very
little. In such operations the cutting either
adheres to the root as an ordinary graft, and
pushes in the same way, or the root does no-
thing more than nourish and hold the branch
fast with which it is in contact, until it forces
it to send roots into the soil ; the cutting is
then on its own bottom, as we say. Tree
Pfeonies, Dahlias, &c., as everybody knows,
are multiplied in this manner. The case
where the branch joins itself to the root is
rare ; I have only observed it upon Grevillea,
Morus, Averrhoa ; there is ever; reason to
suppose that by the same means we might
obtain similar results on several other trees,
and I propose to try the experiment on plants
which cannot be multiplied by the ordinary
means. In this sort of multiplication it is
not necessary for the branch to be grafted on
the same root from whence we have taken it ;
but we may work on individuals of the same
kind, if we only take care that the root is in
proportion to the size of the plant.
Fiar. 51.
Striking Cuttings without Heat. —
For some time past I have tried to strike
without heat, hot-house
cuttings, which do not
like to root in tan. Cut-
tings of Bugainvillaea
spectabilis thus treated
have perfectly succeeded.
Stephanotis succeeded e-
qually well when struck
either in cold or heat. I
might conclude from this
that we may obtain the
same results in striking
cuttings whether they are
placed in heat or not ; rjy [
but this is for time to de- ^\ i
termine. Moreover, cut-
tings exposed to the high
temperature of 36'^ centi-
grade (98^ Fahr.,) will
shoot with as much cer-
tainty as the same plants
placed in a green-house,
and subjected to a heat of only 7^, 8°, or
9° (45° to 50° Fahr.) In the last case,
cuttings will only take when the sun raises
the temperature to 25° or 30° (80° to 87''
Fahr. ;) but then, as they have to bear a low
temperature at night, they will demand more
time to root than those which, placed in a
hot-house, are in the midst of an atmosphere
nearly equal day and night. Attempts of
this nature cannot be favorably tried in the
autumn or winter, the temperature being then
too low ; we shall have more chance of suc-
cess if the operation takes place in spring or
summer.
In conclusion, let us observe, that so many
circumstances affect the method employed for
multiplication by cuttings that we cannot
foresee with any certainty whether we can
succeed in striking even the less difficult
plants. We must be constantly trying ex-
periments, for the conditions favorable to ve-
getation vary according to the strength of the
plant, and according to the temperature ;
moreover, the dryness or moisture of the at-
mosphere of the house, the earth which we
use, the light or shade to which cuttings are
exposed, favor or oppose their success. This,
however, seems to be shown by practice, that
the result is always more satisfactory in a
house entirely shaded, than in that in which
THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF MOROCCO.
173
light Las free access; also that success is
more certain in summer than in winter. The
perseverance of a gardener ought never to be
exhausted; he will be always discovermg
something worth knowing, and the results to
which he arrives will recompense him for the
care and patience expended in his experi-
ments.
THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF MOROCCO.
BY T. H. HYATT, LATE U. S. CONSUL AT TANGIER.
A. J. Downing, Esq, — Dear Sir: Know-
ing the deep interest you take in all horticul-
tural subjects, and particularly in that branch
which relates to Pomology, or the culture and
and production of fruit, and appreciating, in
some measure, the great pleasure and instruc-
tion, which, in common with thousands of my
countrymen, I have derived from the perusal
of your valuable works on these subjects, and
from your excellent JMagazine, I feel it a
pleasant duty to add my mite, small as it may
be, towards forwarding the laudable objects
of your publication, by communicating such
items of knowledge in relation to the Fruits
and Fruit Trees of this strange country, (about
which so little is known abroad,) as may be
pleasing to you, and interesting, if not in-
structive, to your readers. And I propose to
illustrate the size, form, &c., of some of the
kinds of fruit I shall describe, by such draw-
ings as I have taken, from time to time, and
which I happen to have at hand.
The Empire of Morocco, from the Great
Desert to the Straits of Gibraltar, or the bor-
ders of the MediteiTanean, embraces a lati-
tude of about seven and a half degrees — ex-
tending from lat. 28=^ N. to 35° 48m. With-
in this territory the climate is mild, uniform,
and remarkably temperate. There is never
any snow, and seldom any ice or frost, except-
ing upon the summit of the Atlas Mountains,
or in their immediate vicinity ; and these per-
petually snow-clad mountains stand as an ev-
erlasting and effectual barrier to check the
dire sirocco of the desert, and to prevent the
blasting winds from sweeping over and laying
desolate the fruitful regions of the Empire
which lies to the north of the mountains ; and
while the winds are thus disarmed of their
noxious and withering power, and made bland
and genial and invigorating, the waters which
flow from these perpetual fountains of irriga-
tion, replenish the streams and rivulets, and
distiltheir fructifying influences upon the plains
and vallies, far and near. Thus wnsely does
the God of Nature ordain all things.
With such a climate, and with a soil natural-
ly rich, fertile and deep, and possessing the ele-
ments of indestructibility to such a remarkable
dcOTce as never to seem to wear out or deterio-
rate — what might not be produced by an en-
lightened system of culture ! And yet; with
the semi-barbarous modes of culture which pre-
vail, or rather in spite of them, some of the
finest kinds and qualities of fruit in the world,
are produced in this country. Most of the
tropical fruits, and many of the more hardy,
grow here, in perfection. The former suc-
ceed, however, better than the latter, and are
much finer. In the gardens and plantations
about Tangier, Tetuan, Lareche, and, I be-
lieve, nearly all the principal cities of the Em-
pire, the Orange and Lemon, the Olive.
Pomegranate and Fig, the Lime and Citron,
the Apple, Pear, Plum, Cherry, Peach, Apri-
cot, Quince, Almond, Mulberry, &c., as well
as the vine fruits, the Grape, Sti-awberry.
Blackberry, &c., are cultivated more or less
extensively. But let us treat of them more
in detail.
174
THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF MOROCCO.
The Orange and Lemon. — These are
exceedingly fine and grow to great perfection.
The fruit is usually above the medium as to
size, and sometimes it is quite large, as will be
seen by the above drawing of a lemon raised
in a Moorish garden on the eastern slope of
Mount Washington, some two miles west of
Tangier. The trees are in blossom nearly or
quite every month in the year, and the fruit
of the various kinds is fit for use from Sep-
tember to June, and will remain upon the
trees nearly that length of time, if left un-
plucked. The same trees have on them fresh
blossoms and ripe fruit at the same time — and
thus produce a succession or continuation of
fruit for nearly three-fourths of the year. The
trees, although slow of growth, grow to a large
size — I have seen some with bodies over a foot
in diameter, and from twenty to twenty-five
feet high, with tops large and branching in
proportion. In cultivating, the Moors graft the
young seedling, when two or three years old,
as they stand in the nursery, by cutting off the
stock near the ground, and inserting the graft
in a manner similar to our " whip grafting."
The best age for transplanting the young trees
is at two or three years from the graft. The
transplanting may be done at any time during
the winter, u-hen the trees are vol only in
lloovi, hut in friiit. This is quite the reverse
of the theory and practice we have in the
States, on this point. But I have tested the
the truth of it. In January, 1849, I procur-
ed about fifty young orange and lemon trees
from the garden or nursery of the Moor at
IMount Washington, (above alluded to,) of from
three to six years growth from the graft.
When taken up, nearly all of them were in
blossom, and several had on them full-grown
fruit — and, with the exception of two or three
which were too old to be transplanted success-
fully, they all lived and grew thriftily ; some
which had fruit on when they were taken up,
bore also the following season. These trees,
like all others, are planted very deep. At
first, on seeing what a deep pit my Moorish
gardener was digging for them, (some three
feet,) I said to him that he was digging their
graves. '■'■No, mazian"' — very good, replied
he. And I found this deep planting to be ne-
cessary, in order to have the advantage of the
moisture which could not be obtained near the
surface of the earth. And as there is no hard
pan in the soil, the roots penetrate to a great
depth in the light, porous earth.
There are a number of large Orangeries in
the neighborhood of Tangier. The Bashaw
of Tangier has a very fine one, embracing, I
shovild judge, eight or ten acres, and some 500
thrifty trees. He has also a still larger one at
Lareche, his summer residence, some 60 miles
from this, on the Atlantic coast — which I vi-
sited in November last. This plantation eon-
tains about fifty acres, and perhaps 1000 trees
in full bearing — many of them quite large.
There is a fine stream of water running
through the plantation, with reservoirs, foun-
tains, and conduits, for irrigation, that impart
to the whole an appearance of freshness and
fertility'. In the midst of these Elysian bowers,
with pretty summer houses hard by, the Bashaw
has luxurious bathing fountains, where he at
times regales himself, and where, occasional-
ly, the dark-eyed houris of his harem are per-
mitted to indulge in their favorite luxury,
with all the voluptuousness of oriental life.
Some of the finest orange groves that we
have seen, belong to the Bashaw of Tetuan.
On a visit to Tetuan, in December, we were
invited to breakfast with His Excellency of
" many tailed honors," at his castle. The ta-
ble was spread in a beautifully arched alcove
of the palace, with a trellised, vine-covered
arbor connecting it with a lovely marble fount,
with its sparkling, chrystal waters swimming
with gold and silver fish, and these of many a
variegated and brilliant hue. Spread out be-
yond and around these, was a pretty flower gar-
THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF MOROCCO.
175
den, redolent wirh the spicy perfumes of the va-
rious aromatic flowers and plants which embel-
lished this little rural clysium. With such
an enchanting outward view, little recked me
of the savoury viands or the rich plate of gold
which adorned the table before us. After our
repast, I took a stroll through these flowery
labyrinths, while my little daughter, {Jenny,)
was conducted into the harem, to have a glance
at those cloistered beauties, a view of whose
charms is contraband to all lords of the creation,
save their own royal master. IMuch as I am
devoted to the beauties of outward nature, I
must confess that my thoughts would occa-
sionally stray from the floral beauties around
me, to those languishing beauties within. And
if the glance of a sparkling black eye, and a
bewitching smile, and a look of ineffable
roguery, thrown obliquely from the barred
windows of those upper chambers, were con-
traband salutations, who would not be the
contrabandist to welcome them ?
Pardon this digression. I did not intend
to reveal the secrets of the harem — nor could
I, if I desired, give a minute description of
those retreats around which so much marvel-
lous and romantic mystery is interwoven.
Those among our friends who have the curi-
osity to gain further particulars under this
head, are referred to the ^'^ Yarns ofonr spin-
ning Jenny" — they will speak more authen-
tically than can the writer of this.
The Bashaw invited us to visit his gardens
and orange groves, of which he has a number
in the vicinity. They were better improved,
and in finer condition, than any other Moorish
gardens we have visited. The grounds and
walks were clean, and the trees thrifty and
fruitful. The oranges were larger than any I
had seen, and were sweet, and of a delicious
flavor.
Orange and lemon trees arc usually planted
in rows, about twenty feet apart, each way :
and the branches often meet together. The
largest and most forest-looking trees I remem-
ber to have seen, were in an old garden near
Argelia. The Moors seldom trim their trees
— they arc allowed to grow in all the wild
luxuriance of nature. While injurious in
some respects, this system is beneficial in
one, at least — it keeps the earth moist be-
neath them.
These trees require a great quantity of wa-
ter; and as it never rains in this country
through the summer, they require to be wa-
tered by artificial means. The fruit may be
bought here, in its season, at twenty to twen-
ty-five cents a hundred — or much less by the
wholesale.
The Lime and Citron grow here in per-
fection. Their culture, mode of treatment,
&c., are similar to that of the orange and
lemon.
The Palm, or Date. — Although there
are several thriftily growing trees of the Palm
in Tangier and vicinity, they bear no Dates
Fig. 52.—Dne'J Date.
And I believe none upon the sea-coast ever
produce fruit ; it is said that the salt-water
air is prejudicial to the growth of the fruit.
But the dates that come from the interior of
the Empire, or from the borders of the De-
sert, are the finest I have ever seen from any
country. The above is a drawing of one se-
lected at random from a box I have purchased
to take to the States with me. The fruit is
176
THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF MOROCCO.
exceedingly rich, sweet, and nutritious. The
natives are said to live almost wholly upon
them in the regions where they are produced ;
and who could ask for more luscious or luxu-
rious food ? I have a young Palm tree in my
garden, which was sent me from Eabet, but
whether it will also turn out to be barren, re-
mains to be seen. Dates sell in this market
at from 10 to 15 cents per pound.
The Fig. — This most delicious fruit is
produced in great abundance, and to great
perfection. Go where you will, from the pa-
tio of the humble dwelling in the city, to the
Fig. 5S.— Green Fig-
gardsn of the suburb, or upon the fertile
plain, or the rugged hill-side, or the rocky
mountain-top — you will see this -ancient ten-
ant of the garden of Eden, throwing out its
scraggy, drooping branches, covered with its
broad leaves of glowing verdure, aifording a
luxurious shade for man and beast, from the
fierce rays of the scorching sun, as well as
food to appease the appetite, and that too. of
the most delicious and refreshing kind.
You will perceive by the drawing above,
that the figs produced here are of extraordi-
nary size. With most kinds of fruit, the
largest are apt to be coarser, and not of as rich
a flavor as the medium or smaller size ; not so
with thse figs. I have never tasted more de-
licious fruit of the kind than these same sam-
ples from which these drawings were taken ;
and they were selected promiscuously from
the desert-dish of our breakfixst table.
From the first of June until the last of au-
tumn, we have the fresh fig in all its luxuri-
ous varieties — large and small, green, black,
and wine-colored ; on breaking them open,
when fully ripe, the jellied juic6 drops from
them like the purest honey, and quite as lux-
urious ; it is the nectar of Pomonia. They
are wholesome as well as nutricious — but few
of them are ever dried — I believe the main
reason to be, because, where every one has a
plenty of fresh fruit, at all seasons, few think
of preserving for future use. The dried figs
from the country, brought in by the Arabs,
are not very good — care is not taken to select
the best, nor to keep them clean.
The first appearance of the young fig in the
spring, is very singular and unique. As early
as February or March, and before a single
leaf or bud begins to appear upon the tree
the young fruit is seen springing out at the
extremity of the several branches and lateral
boughs, in regular shape, though small, —
without waiting, like most kinds of fruit, for
the complimentary ceremony of being ushered
into being in the wake of the usual floral pio-
neer. This appearance, however, although
singularly interesting, is not, I presume, pe-
culiar to the fig of this country. In trees of
later bearing, or in the second or third crop,
which is often produced upon the same tree,
during the season, the fruit does not appear
until the leaves are fully developed ; sometimes
the fifrs continue to start out after the leaves
THE FRUITS AI\D FRUIT TREES OF MOROCCO.
177
have fallen from the tree, which usually takes
place in August.
Fig. 5i.—Bluck Fig.
The fig tree grows to a large size in this
country ; some which I have seen I should
judge to be nearly two feet in the diameter of
the trunk ; they do not grow very high, and
the long, slim, drooping and spangling branch-
es often sweep the ground on all sides ; the
leaves are very large ; often measuring a foot
in diameter. Some of the trees are barren
and unproductive, and remind us of the " bar-
ren fig tree " spoken of by our Saviour. The
growth of the fig is rather slow, but it lives to
a great age in this country — some that I have
seen, appear to be over a century old. They
seem a very hardy tree, and I do not under-
stand why they might not be cultivated in
some of the Northern States of the Union ;
although, if I recollect aright, there are few,
if any, reared successfully north of Virginia.
Fine, fresh figs may be bought here during
the season, for about three cents a dozen.
Very many of the Moorish and Jewish houses
in the town have large branching trees grow-
ing up in the centre of their patios or courts,
which furnish a most cooling shade, as well as
delicious fruit. They also give to the town,
as you look down upon it from some lofty tow-
er or observatory, quite a rural and pictur-
esque appearance — and aff'ord a great relief to
the eye from the dazzling and almost blinding
efiiects of the snowy white, with which nearly
every house is colored.
The Pine Apple and Banana. — Of
these delicious fruits, there are but few culti-
vated, that I am aware of, in this Empire. A
few plants of the latter are to be found in the
beautiful gardens of the Swedish Consul Gen-
eral, just outside of the town, and they appear
thrifty and fruitful. And the Pine Apple, I
have no doubt, would grow here in perfection,
if it were but introduced.
The Vine. — The Grape grows here spon-
taneously, and is cultivated largely and suc-
cessfully in the various gardens and vineyards
which abound in the vicinity of the large towns
and villages. Although comparatively little
pains seem to have been taken to obtain the
finer qualities, yet I have eaten of a number
of varieties here, that are little, if any, infe-
rior to the best Malaga, Muscatells or Blooms.
Both of these superior kinds of grape are to
be found here, as well as many other excellent
varieties scarcely inferior to them in quality —
in fact, I think that some of the smaller white
grapes, excel, in their rich, musky flavor, and
in melting juiciness, those far-famed and just-
ly favorite varieties, although they are not as
large and beautiful. Many of these choice
varieties are, I doubt not, indigenous and pe-
culiar to this country, but are without any ap-
propriate name. Many of the black ones, al-
though of a sweet, pleasant flavor, are too
178
THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF MOROCCO.
pulpy, and not so juicy and rich as the lighter
colors. .There are a few however of a wine color,
long and tapering, (sometimes over an inch in
length,) that are nearly if not quite equal in
richness to the white. These we call the
" Ladies' fingers."
We have ripe grapes here from about the
first of July until late in October — and
they can be bought at about one dollar per
hundred pounds. Very little wine is made
here, as the Moors are prohibited, by their
religion, from making, vending, or using, any
kind of spirituous or vinous liquors. The
Jews, however, who are not allowed, by their
creed, to drink any wine or spirits manufac-
tured by Christians, make their own wine,
■which is but poor stuff, and also a kind of li-
quor, called aguadienle, upon which they con-
trive to make themselves merry, all " accord-
ing to the laws of Moses," of course !
The vine flourishes upon nearly all kinds of
soil. Many of the vineyards in this vicinity
are upon pure, dry, light sand hanks, which
have been blown up from the sea-shore. The
leaves begin to fall in August, while the fruit
is still ripening ; and late in winter, before
the vines start, they are trimmed, all the la-
teral shoots cut ofi", and nothing but the main
branches left. Some of the more indolent of
the natives turn in their calves, donkeys, &c.,
and let them browse off the superfluous
branches — quite a labor-saving operation, as
they think I
Although the vines grow thus well upon
barren soils, I took pains to manure my little
vineyard, and I think I had an increase both
in the quantity and quality of my fruit. The
vines are usually left to run upon the ground,
excepting when they are used to cover arbors,
trellised walks, &c.
The Olive is produced here in abundance.
The wild olive tree may be found scattered
over all the country ; but they are but little
cultivated along this part of the sea-coast. In
the interior they flourish, and large quantities
of oil are made for exportation, beyond what
is consumed in the country. The green olives,
preserved in spirits, make a very pleasant and
palatable kind of conserve.
The Pomegranate. — This tree, with its
rich crimson ornamental blossoms, and its
beautiful fruit, is to be found in almost every
garden. The trees grow as large as the larg-
er sized plum tree in the States. The plea-
sant acid of the fruit is relished by many peo-
ple ; but it is rather too " seedy " to be a ge-
neral favorite.
The Almond is produced to a considera-
ble extent, and quantities are raised for ex-
portation. Those raised in the Reef provin-
ces are the finest I have observed, and I think
I have never seen better. Few are produced
in the region of Tangier.
The hardy fimits do not flourish as well in
this climate as do those of the tropics. Among
those that succeed best, is
The Pear. — This tree grows to a large
size, but as it is never trimmed by the Moors,
it has none of the tall, elegant, pyramidal, or
lofty spiral shape which that tree assumes in
America ; but, on the contrary, it throws out
its long, teeming branches from near the foot
of the tree, to a great distance, in an almost
horizontal direction. From a large pear tree
in our garden, we cut a branch twenty-five feet
long, which sprang out of the main trunk
within four feet of the ground, and extended
in a direct horizontal line, so that its lateral
boughs almost swept the ground, and alto-
gether it covered a space of nearly fifty feet
in diameter. The Moors thought me beside
myself on seeing the cutting and slashing I
made among the superfluous branches of the
various trees of the Moorish garden I had
bought. But they soon saw, by the increased
size and quantity, and the improved quality
of my fruit, that there was some "method in
my madness," and some reason in ray philos-
THE FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES OF MOROCCO.
179
ophy, if I were not " a son of the Prophet."
The fruit of the pear docs not grow to a
large size, but it is often of a fine, juicy quality.
The drawing I send, is from a pear taken from
the large tree in my garden, just alluded to. In
its fine flavor, and juicy sweetness, it somewhat
resembles our Seckel. It ripens early in June.
The Apricot. — The tree grows luxuriant-
ly, but the fruit is usually small, and of infe-
rior quality. If first rate kinds were intro-
duced here, I doubt not they would succeed
well. They ripen in May. That drawn, is
from Gibraltar, and was probably raised in
the south of Spain.
Nectarines are seldom to be met with
here. Strawberries and Blackberries
grow here, but not of so fine a quality as in
the States. We have ripe strawberries here
as early as February, and until July. Rasp-
berries are rarely seen. The Strawberry
Tree, growing wild upon the mountains, pro-
duces great quantities of fine fruit, as large as
a medium-sized apricot, and very palatable, as
well as exceedingly beautiful, with its rosy
cheek, and luscious, strawberry-like appear-
ance. I call them the '■'•Mountain Strawber-
ry ^ for want of a more appropriate name.
Of Apples, Peaches, Plums, Cherries,
and Quinces, there are a plenty of full-grown
trees, but the fruit is not fit to eat. But
whether it is the fault of the climate, or the
people in not introducing the choice varieties
of these fruits, I am unable to state from ac-
tual demonstration. I procured from Western
New York, in the winter of 1849, a choice
collection of these fruit trees, and planted
them in my garden, in the spring of that year.
They were packed at Rochester in the late au-
tumn, but were detained in New York await-
ing the sailing of a vessel so long that they
did not reach me until about the first of June.
On unpacking them, I found that the peaches,
apricots, and nectarines, were all dead and
dried up, while some of the other kinds were
bursting their buds and beginning to grow. I
suppose the former were killed by the frost,
while in New York, or before reaching there.
Those that survived, I planted immediately in
my garden — and nearly all have lived, and
they grew finely the first summer, (some of the
apples blossoming,) and the following winter
and spring. Among those now growing thrift-
ily, are the Belle de Choisey and the May
Duke cherry ; one or two kinds of quinces
and plums ; and of apples, the R. I. Green-
ing, the Newtown Pippin, the Holland Pip-
pin, the Red, White and Yellow Juneating,
the Belleflower, Spitzenburg, and the North-
ern Spy — this last, (and a favorite of mine it
is,) out-strips all the others in its thrifty and
rapid growth. Whether these trees will pro-
duce their fruit in all the luxurious perfection
of their own native soil and clime, or whether
their delicious qualities will become deteriora-
ted by being transplanted into this land of
burning suns and snowless winters and perpet-
ual verdue, remains for time to determine. A
few years will solve the problem.
I never knew how to prize the delicious
fruits of my own dear country, until since I
have been deprived of them, by a two years'
residence in this " Land of the Moor." And
many is the time that I would have given a
dozen of our best oranges for one of your fine
Pippins or Northern Spys, or for a single lus-
cious peach, or a handful of the delicious cher-
ries of Western New York. And but for the
luscious fresh figs and delicious grapes of this
country, I fear that my hankering after the
"fruit pots" of my native country, would
have been unappeasable.
But I have spun out my communication to
a tedious length, I fear, and I will therefore
close. Hoping to meet you in September, at
the State Fair in Albany, over a dish of your
finest Pippins or Seek-no-furthers, I remain.
Very truly yours, T. H. Hyatt.
Tangier. Jidtj 4, 1850.
A VISIT TO THE NURSERY OF THORBURN & CO.
BY A SUBSCRIBER, PHILADELPHIA.
As this is now tlie period -when the Dahlias
are in all their glory, and being an ardent ad-
mirer of this queen of autumn flowers, I de-
termined to pay a visit this season to the well
known nursery of Messrs. Thorbtjrn & Co.,
at Astoria.
On jumping from the steamboat on the
pier, at Astoria, the grounds are straight be-
fore you, about 200 rods from where you
land. The grounds in front of Mr. Thor-
burn's house, and lying next the street, are
by no means like a nursery, and would not
be taken for one by the stranger, who had
been visiting the New-York nurseries. No
green-houses are to be seen ; and on entering
by the front gate, you imagine yourself into
the grounds of a private gentleman, who had
been aiflicted with a monomania for Dahlias,
and had planted his ornamental grounds full
of them, to the exclusion of everything else.
Such was the idea which impressed itself on
our uncultivated fancy, as we stood in the
midst of that splendid collection of Dahlias,
without as yet knowing whose ground we
stood upon ; for we were perfect strangers,
both to the grounds and the proprietors of
them. But this makes no difference here;
all are welcome. On entering by this gate,
the walk leads straight up the centre of the
ground, until it approaches the mansion of
Mr. Thorbtjrn, when it diverges to either
side, and leads to the nursery and green-hou-
ses. The whole of the ground between the
mansion and the street, is occupied with
Dahlias, — each side being bounded by fine
specimens of the different li;inds of Conifers
and hardwooded trees, from twenty to thirty
feet high. This gigantic bed of Dahlias is
arranged and named with exquisite taste —
the labels so plain and legible that you may
read, as you walk along the path, without
treading on the raked ground. Their colours
were beautifully blended together, so that the
eye rarely met with any violent or offensive
contrast ; and their heights were so adjusted
as to fall gradually towards the walk on each
side. Upon the whole, though we are some-
what fastidious in our taste, we must confess
that the treat fully equalled our anticipations.
We have never seen a mass of Dahlias ar-
ranged with so much taste, and displayed to
so much advantage ; the whole being kept
scrupulously neat and clean, and — notwith-
standing the unfavorable weather lately — dis-
playing a profusion of blooms. After feast-
ing ourselves on this fine assortment of Dah-
lias, we turned from the scene, fully satisfied
that our own collection was defective, and our
culture too.
It would occupy too much of your columns
to name all which attracted our notice ; but
as many of your readers are anxious to know
the merits of the newest Dahlias of the sea-
son, I will name a few which merit peculiar
attention: Sir F. Bathurst, a spendid flower,
one of the very best ; Queen of the East, very
fine ; Magnificent, splendid, should be in every
collection ; Elizabeth, undeniably the finest
fancy Dahlia yet grown; Madame Valiere,
very fine ; Grant Thorburn, form good, ex-
cellent habit, altogether a leading Dahlia;
Duke of Wellington, below our standard,
sometimes comes very good, but we do not
think it a constant variety; Gaiety, a very
pretty flower, and always good ; Grenadier,
strong grower and large flower, but somewhat
coarse; Beauty of Hastings, a very fine
flower; Duchess of Sutherland, fine fancy
RIVERS' NURSERIES.
181
white ; Highland Chief, a beautiful tipped
flower ; Striata perfecta, a good variety, but
we have rarely seen it well grown, being al-
ways small, loose, and open in the heart ;
Keepsake is a superb flower, and Flying
Dutchman one of the first fancy Dahlias
grown.
Proceeding through the Dahlia grounds
towards the house, we passed a group of large
Conifers, Acacias, Banksias, and other New-
Holland plants ; also, in the same group, some
very large plants of the Sieus Rivulata. In
front of the house were arranged some fine
rare plants, of different species ; but what
fixed our attention more than any other in
this group, was a Double variegated Pome-
granate, with flowers as large as a good sized
Camellia, and perfectly double. We had
never seen this admirable shrub before, and
consider it one of the finest things we ever
saw. On showing a single bloom, which we
carried with us, to a botanical friend, he
thought it was a hollyhock, which at a dis-
tance it somewhat resembled. We believe
this remarkable shrub came from China ; but
it is still very rare, for we have not seen it in
any collection in this country or elsewhere.
Perhaps Mr. Tiiorburn would oblige your
readers with some account of it ; for it cer-
tainly deserves to be better known, and more
widely distributed.
Turning to the right, you approach the
green-houses, passing a small flower garden,
appropriated to exotics chiefly. We observed
here in great perfection, for the first time, the
new Zauschneria, a new Ipomea, and various
other new plants. We cannot omit to notice
a plant of the Diauthus barbatus — quite a
novelty in its way ; its beauty exceeded any-
thing of the kind we had seen before. It
forms a compact globular truss, very close
and double, with massy petals and dark
colour. We regai'd it as a valuable addition
to the herbaceous family.
In the green-houses, we found many fine
plants, which the length of this renders it im-
possible for me to mention in detail. Splen-
did collections of Fuchsias, Geraniums, Ca-
mellias, Azaleas, and summer flowering plants
in great variety. We were much gratified
with our visit to these nursei'ies, and feel as-
sured that others who may visit them will be
the same. A Subscriber.
Philadelphia, Sept. 14(/(, ISoO.
VISIT TO MR. RIVERS' NURSERIES, SAWB RIDGE WORTH, HERTS.
Among the many commercial gardening es-
tablishments which we have visited on this
side of the Atlantic, we have found none more
thoroughly interesting in all its details than
that of Mr. Rivers. We lingered nearly
two days with Mr. RiVERS, (who, we must
be allowed to say, is not only a horticulturist
of great ability and experience, but a thorough-
ly agreeable and cultivated man,) and could
not but feel that twenty four-hours spent in
carefully investigating the nurseries here,
would •\vell repay any of our intelligent young
nurserymen for the trouble and expense of a
voyage across the Atlantic.
The distinctive feature of the establishment,
as compared with most others in England, is
to be found in the improved modes of propa-
gation, culture, and adaptation to the wants
of the time, which it exhibits in every depart-
ment, while, in most of the English nurseries,
one notices that a certain routine, often excel-
lent in many respects, is followed, without
change, from year to year ; here, on the con-
trary, it is in the highest degree interesting
182
RIVERS' NURSERIES.
to see the greatest intelligence and science
brought to bear on every side, in order to en-
large the scope of gardening and cheapen the
cost of propagation and culture of trees and
plants. Instead of catering chiefly for the
great proprietors, and keeping up the prices
of all new and rare trees, Mr. Rivers' great-
est desire seems to be to introduce and propa-
gate so largely as to aiford at very moderate
^prices, every thing ■which promises to be an
acquisition, either in a useful or ornamental
point of view to the gardens of the large mid-
dle class of England. Hence the extensive
trials of fruits which Mr. Rivers has made
of varieties collected from all parts of the
world ; hence the system of root-pruning,
dwarfing, and pyramidal pruning which he has
so successfully introduced. The result of all
this has been to bestow on thousands of cot-
tage gardens and the grounds of noble pi'opri-
etors, to whom wall-fruit is so costly a luxury,
an abundant supply of fine fruits upon trees
easily cultivated in a limited space.
It is, perhaps, with respect io fruit i?reesthat
Mr. Rivers' nurseries are more conspicuous-
ly in advance of all others in England. In-
deed we do not hesitate to say that we found
his grounds considered mainly as an experimen-
tal school of pomology, more interesting than
those of the Horticultural Society of London.
Mr. R. has, in addition to his nurseries, planted
large quantities of standard and pyramidal
fruit trees — especially pears — as orchard fruit
for supplying London market. Of the extent of
those plantations our readers may judge when
we state that we saw, in this part of the es-
tablishment, 2300 standard trees of that valu-
able variety of pear — the Louise Bonne de
Jersey alone ; and perhaps as many more of
each of the following : Bartlett, (William's Bon-
chretien) Vicar of Winkfield, Capiaumont, and
two or three other equally popular and pro-
ductive market sorts. These trees are plant-
ed about 24 feet apart — the intermediate space
partially cropped with young trees, and the
pear trees themselves allowed to grow pretty
freely in the common standard form. The
luxuriance and productiveness of these trees
proved to us that the scarcity of standard
fruit trees generally in English gardens, is as
much owing to a want of knowledge of the
sorts best adapted for the purj)ose, and the
proper mode of cultivating them, as to
the unsuitableness of the climate — inferior as
the latter is to the United States for the cul-
ture of most fruit trees.
Besides this kind of orchard planting of
fruit trees, Mr. Rivers has collected, and is
constantly collecting and proving, in various
parts of his grounds, what he terms "schools
of pears," "schools of plums," and all other
fruits ; that is to say, quarters or plots of
ground, where all the new varieties are plant-
ed only, labelled, kept distinct, and cultivated
till the good or bad ciualities have been
thoroughly tested. Very few nurserymen ever
thought it worth their while to do this until
the labors of the London Hort.Society awakened
in the minds of fruit growers the folly of grow-
ing a poor variety upon a soil that would just
as easily produce a good one. Now many nurse-
rymen, both in Europe and America have fol-
lowed the example, and the advantages, both
in point of the genuineness of the sort propa-
gated, and its adaptation to that particular dis-
trict of country, can scarcely be estimated too
highly. Mr. Rivers' '-schools" of experiment-
al trees are, however, unusually rich, and are
continually augmented by the introduction of
every new sort of repute, which is originated
either in Europe or America.
Among the novelties likely to be most val-
uable in the United States are noticed a new
hardy grape — the Purple Fontainhleau. We
saw a large number of this variety growing in
the open air, with all the vigor and luxuriance
of our Isabella grape at home, and from the
appearance and the account Mr. R. gave of
this sort we cannot doubt that it is worthy of
RIVERS' NURSERIES.
183
extensive trial in America. The vine is very
luxuriant and very hardy — much more so than
any foreign grape yet tried in England. The
leaves and wood are smooth — the foliage
large and of a rich deep green. The branches
are large,well formed and shouldered, and are
produced in great abundance — even when the
vine is simply trained to an upright pole. The
berries are between the size of the Burgundy
grape* and the Sweet-Water, — oval, dark pur-
ple or black, without pulp, sweet and excel-
lent flavor. Though tlils variety is undoubt-
edly of French origin, Mr. Rivers has not
been able to find it, at the present time, in
France, — the original root from which he has
propagated his stock of it existing in an old
garden in England into which it was brought
from France many years ago, and has remain-
ed comparatively unknown. Mr. Rivers
with his characteristic feeling, is propagating it
very extensively in the hope of being able to
offer it as a perfectly hardy and productive
grape for the cottage or gardens of all England.
We hope our nurserymen will also introduce
and propagate the Purple Fontainbleau, so
that it may be fairly tried at home. If it does
not prove all that we could wish, in itself, it
can scarcely fail to be the best variety to grow
along with the Isabella and Catawaba, in order
to produce new hybrid sorts entirdy adapted
to hardy culture, a desideratum at present so
gi-eatly sought after in the United States.
Rivers^ Early Prolific Plum — a seedling,
which originated here, was in full bearing. 1 1
is a roundish-oval, purple plum, nearly as large
as the Orleans, and is so great and constant a
bearer, and ripens so early, that it proves an
exceedingly profitable variety. This fruit is
just coming into bearing in America, and will
no doubt prove equally valuable there. In
flavor it is equal to the Early Morocco, while
it is far superior to it in productiveness, in
the hardiness of the tree, as well as in
* It is evidently one oftlie Burguiuly das5.
ripening its fruit earlier in the season. Reine
Claude de Bavay is considered here one of
the most valuable of all the new plums — being
not only excellent but very productive. Our
best plum — the Jefferson — maintains its high
character in England. The most valuable of
all the new varieties of grapes for the vinery,
according to Mr. R. , is a white grape, known
as the Gros Coulard, or new Sweet- Water.
It resembles the Sweet- Water in flavor and
color, but is much superior in the size of both
the bunches and the berries — so much so that
it will probably quite supplant the old sort.
A large plantation of the monthly ever-
bearing Raspberry attracted our attention.
The 3'oung canes were loaded with fruit. The
best of all currants Mr. R. holds to be the large
bunched Dutch.
A singular mode of growing stawberries in
pots for forcing is practiced here with great
success, and is the same as that pursued by
one of the most celebrated English market
gardeners. It consists in growing the plants
in pots filled with good soil (say | loam ^ rotten
dung pounded doimi'xn the pot quite hard with
a mallet.) After the pots of soil are thus made
ready, they are placed along side of the beds,
when they are just beginning to throw out
runners — for example at the commencement
of June. The ends of the young runners are fixed
on the soil in the pot, where the plants soon
strike root and fill the pot with an abundance
of roots. It is then removed to the frame or
forcing pit and treated as usual. The increas-
ed size, vigor and productiveness of the plants
and fruit grown in these closely rammed pots,
are, we were assured, undeniable. This meth-
od is opposed to all the ordinary theory and
practice,which depend upon making and keep-
ing the soil loose and mellow. Will our read-
ers speculate upon and explain the new prob-
lem in horticulture which it presents ?
The Dwarf Prolific Walnut, (Noyer fertile,)
a shrub, rather than a tree, bearing good crops
184
RIVERS' NURSERIES.
of what are called "Madeira nuts" at home
and Walnuts here — even when only 6 or 8 feet
high, is cultivated here, and would be an ac-
quisition in American fruit gardens.
Thousands of young fruit trees, in the finest
health, occupied the nursery quarters — the
establishment enjoying a higher reputation than
any other in England for fruit trees, and prob-
ably doing ten times as much business in this
department as any other British nursery. —
The American trade is very large, and great
quantities of both stocks and approved sorts
of fruits as well as Koses, were despatched to
the United States last season. Mr. Rivers'
mode of forcing dwarf pyramidal pear trees is
already well known to our readers, by his ar-
ticles in a previous volume. Its two great
features are shortening the roots every year or
every two years, suppljiug an abundance of
food to them by suitable manures, and stopping
the growth of terminal shoots twice in the
growing season. There can be no doubt that
by this mode the finest pears may be grown
in soils, and climates too, unfavorable for stand-
ard trees ; and that, by this means of forming
a highly productive tree, which occupies only
a couple of yards square of space, a handsome
and valuable collection of fine fruits may be
grown in the smallest gardens, viz : those of
cities and the suburbs of towns. Small pear
trees on c|uince stocks, 4 to 6 feet high, ready
formed as pyramids, and with fruit buds upon
them, may now be had from the Sawbridge-
•worth nurseries. We hope this mode of culti-
vating pears for sale will be largely practiced
by our growers at home. The Angers quince
stock which is preferred here to all others as
a bottom for pears, is easily distinguished from
the common variety by the comaprative ab-
sence of wooly down on the under side of the
foliage, as well as the rounder form of the leaf
itself. It is a remarkably free-grower, and
(which is a great merit) it is almost as easily
propagated from cuttings as the common cur-
rant— while the ordinary quince, as is well
known, is very shy of striking root in this
manner. The Portugal quince, Mr. R. con-
siders the poorest and least suitable of all as a
stock for the pear.
In no feature of his establishment is the
spirit of progress more marked than in the nu-
merous cheap glass structures with which it
abounds. Every American is struck in Eng-
land with the exceedingly solid and substantial
manner in which almost every building, wheth-
er it be a castle or a conservatory, is erected
and, as matter of course, with the great sum
which such buildings cost. The consequence
has been, that forcing houses, for vines and
other fruit trees, or glass structures for orna-
mental purposes, have been almost wholly be-
yond the reach of all but the wealthy class.
Mr. Rivers has taken quite the opposite
course, and looking upon the end to be obtain-
ed as the great point to be kept in view, has
shown that it may be satisfactorily attained in
so cheap a manner as to place the luxury of
glass within the reach of every one who can
spare one or two hundred dollars. We saw
dozens of long glazed structures, the roofs of
which were fixed, but wholly glazed, with the
front, ends and rear, being only a slight frame
of wood like a board fence, all most simply
and ingeniously ventilated and warmed — and
all at a cost not more than a fifth or an eighth
of that usually expended on such buildings in
England — while the fruits and plants produc-
ed in them were of very superior growth. In
many cases the wood is not even planed, and
all, even the sash-bars (or rather roof-strips
which hold the glass) are sawn of the exact
size necessary at the saw-mill, so that a house
of this kind may be built by any person
who understands the use of a common hand-
saw and hammer. These houses are all warm-
ed by a simple brick stove, placed in the cen-
tre of the interior — a variation of the Armott
stove, invented by Mr. Rivers — which not
RIVERS' NURSERIES.
185
only performs its work admirably but consumes
an exceedingly small quantity of fuel. As
we brought away some sketches of the con-
struction of this very cheap and simple kind
of vinery, fruit, or plant house, we will endeav-
or to give them, with the necessary diagrams,
in our next number, because we are confident
that they will be even more generally useful
(especially for foreign grapes) in the United
States than in England. We may add that
we saw in the different structures, fruit trees
and vines of all kinds growing, both in borders
and in pots, and all in the most admirable
state of health and productiveness.
Mr. Rivers' establishment is famous, on
both sides of the Atlantic, for its collection of
roses. Hence we saw acres of the finest vari-
eties propagated and ready for sale here. Al-
though the rose season was past, yet the
perpehials, which are at all times more or less
in bloom, were gay with the finest flowers. —
The two sorts which particularly attracted our
attention, were Geante des BataillcssLnd Stand-
ard of Marengo. Both these new perpetual
roses are superb varieties — the color, of that
rich deep crimson which may l>e described as
a dark fiery- red. Some large plots covered
wholly with Geante des Batailles, profusely
covered with blossoms, looked like a rich green
carpet embroidered with superb boquets of
dark crimson roses. Both these sorts, and es-
pecially the first, are most abundant bloomers
in September and October, and will speedily
find their way into every garden, being as
hardy and as fragrant as a common June rose.
Among the freest flowering of the perpetual
roses was Baron Prevost, a fine rose-colored
variety well known in our gardens at home.
Overhanging the road which passes through
the nurseries, is a sloping terrace of turf, above
or behind which Mr. Rivers' house stands.
This terrace is prettily dotted with rare weep-
ing trees and with standard perpetual roses, gay
with flowers at almost all seasons. Among
Vol. v. 12
these, a very striking effect is produced by
some grand specimens of standards produced
by grafting the Ayrshire and Sempervirens
roses on gigantic stocks 7 or 8 feet high. —
Their branches grow out on all sides with a
careless freedom, drooping to the groimd like
those of the weeping willow, and forming the
finest possible rose-pictures.
It would be easy to fill pages with accounts
of beautiful roses, but, as after all, we should
not probably give so accurate and definite an
idea of them as our readers would get by ex-
amining Mr. Rivers' Rose Catalogue, we
shall not continue our remarks further than to
say that we saw thousands of the Mannetti
rose, which is very extensively propagated here
as a stock upon which to work the new and
rare sorts. It has three great merits : 1st,
that it is easily budded: 2nd, that it grows
freely from slips, like the common China rose ;
3rd, that it rarely, or never, produces suckers.
We saw a parent plant of this variety here
which has been growing in one place for 8 or
10 years past, and has shown no symptoms of
throwing up suckers during the whole time,
though the ground has been constantly stirred
and dug around it. The Celine is another
variety also much used as a stock.
We must now jot down a few notes which
we made respecting some of the most orna-
mental and striking hardy trees and shrubs,
of which a large but still choice collection is
grown for sale hei-e. We shall confine or.r
remarks to those, as yet, scarcely known in
the United States, but which from their hardi-
ness and conspicuous beauty in the pleasure
grounds or shrubbery, well deserve immediate
introduction.
One of the prettiest and most striking small
trees for the lawn, is a new Weeping Willow,
which has hitherto borne the name in this
nursery of the "American Weeping Willow."
It is, however, we think, a misnomer, as it
came originally from France, and there is no
186
RIVERS' NURSERIES.
such species known on this side of the Atlan-
tic. It is far more slender and delicate in
growth than the common Weeping Willow
{Salix Babylo7iica) though a hardier tree in
northern aspects. It is also distinguished by
the purplish color of the shoots and the darker
green hue of the leaves. The habit, too, is
very distinct ; if a cutting is stuck into the
ground and allowed to take root, it forms a
low trailing shrub. When grafted standard
high, however, on a straight stem of a species
of tree Willow, grown here for the purpose,
its branches droop in the most graceful man-
ner, forming a delicate and beautiful round
head, with spray falling like a fountain — so
much like it, indeed, that we suggested to Mr.
R. the propriety of re-christening this incog-
nita among Willows, the "Fountain Willow."
Another equally novel and striking lawn
tree is the Weeping Purple Beech ; its droop-
ing habit quite picturesque, and the color of
its very smooth foliage a rich dark purple,
calculated to produce an unicjue effect among
the ordinary green tints of the landscape gar-
den. A narrow-leaved Weeping Ash {Frax-
i?ufs lentiscifolia -pendula) struck us as ex-
tremely pretty. The AYeeping Larch, a most
slender and graceful variety, with branches
falling like a rain shower. The Weeping So-
phora, pretty well known already in American
pleasure grounds as one of the most graceful of
weeping shrubs, and the Weeping Silver Lime,
[Tilia albape7idvla,) a large tree with drooping
branches, and foliage of a fine silvery tint on its
under surface, are also worthy of the especial at-
tention of those who wish to enrich their lawns
with interesting specimens of sylvan beauty.
Among other fine trees which should be bet-
ter known at home, we were most impressed
by the following : A species of Maple called
the Purple-leaved Sycamore, * whose leaves
and foot-stalks are finely tinged with purple,
* The species of Butionwood, commonly called Sycamore
ill Ami rica, are known as •■Plane liees" in England, while a
species of broad-leaved Maple {Acer pseudo platanus) are
known as Sycamore ni the latter country.
which gives it a very pleasing effect in a group
of other trees. It is a very hardy and vigor-
ous tree. The Huntington Elm — an English
variety, the most rapid growing of all Elms —
with very large, broad and handsome foliage,
very upright growth, and a remarkably clean,
smooth trunk. The variegated leaved Oak,
{QueroKS cerris var.) the foliage finely and
distinctly marked , and the Pyramidal Plane
tree, a very healthy oriental species, with a
finely shaped head. These were, to us, the
most interesting among the deciduous trees ;
as the Deodar Cedar, the Chili Pine, the
Douglass Fir, (of all which there is a large
stock here,) were among evergreen trees. We
should not, however, omit to mention, with es-
pecial admiration, a noble evergreen propaga-
ted here very extensively, called the Atlas
Cedar {Cedrus argentea,) much hardier than
the Cedar of Lebanon, with a beautiful silvery
hue in its foliage. The Gold-striped Yew is
a gay and novel looking small evergreen tree.
Among ether niiscellaneous deciduous shrubs
we noticed a pretty new Tamarisk tree, [Tam-
arix Africana,) from the Atlas mountains, a
high and snowy region ; hence it will prove
quite hardy in the United States, being much
more so in Europe than the common German
Tamarisk. Its delicate sea-green foliage and
graceful slender shoots are very attractive.
Caragana fygmea is a pretty drooping-
headed shrub for the lawn ; and Hedera Reg-
neriana is a new Ivy with immense leaves,
more hardy than the common European Ivy,
and therefore likely to prove a valuable addi-
tion to our list of climbers in the United
States. Purpureum fruiticosum is a low
shrub valuable for its quality of growing close
to the sea shore.
The practical nurseryman would find enough
to occupy his attention for a long time in the
curious and complete system of propagation
carried on in this establishment. Not con-
tent there, with propagating all the more com-
FOREIGN NOTICES.
187
mon hardy trees and shrubs in the usual
modes, they have adopted quite another plan
with new and rare sorts it is desired to multi-
ply as rapidly as possible. An extensive range
of low pits with sunken beds or borders, un-
der which warm water pipes circulate, so as to
communicate a genial bottom heat, is devoted
to a continual system of propagation at all
seasons. In these warm beds or borders, pots,
containing cuttings, stocks newly grafted, &c.,
are plunged. As soon as they have "taken,"
the heat is allowed gradually to decline, or
the plants, as soon as potted off, are placed in
another pit with less heat — but still enough to
stimulate- the production of an abundance
of new roots to the cuttings. Afterwards the
plant is gradually hardened till it will bear full
exposure to the open air. In this way we saw
the operations of grafting rare shrubs and ev-
ergreens, usually performed only in spring,
continued through the whole growing season,
and thousands of cuttings, usually struck with
difficulty, are made to root with surprising fa-
cility in this gentle bottom heat so favorable
to the granulation of the organizable matter
and the emission of new roots. The com-
pleteness of the system was only equalled by
its economy in the cheap and admirably ar-
ranged structures, which, like everything else
here, bear the stamp of an inventive and sci-
entific mind, combined with the strictest and
most practical business system.
\^"^^
Scientific Nomenclature. — When one looks
through modern Books on Natural History with
unprejudiced eyes, it would appear that the great
object of some authors was to mystify their read-
ers. There is not a common thought or thing
that is spoken of in common English. A hole is
a foramen, a stalk a caudicula or a funiculus, a
shield an apothecium ; and minute anatom\' is
called histiology. If we go on in this manner,
science will have to take rank with quackerv, en-
tomologists will sink to the level of chiropodists,
and botanists may yield precedence to thermothe-
riaiists and homoBpathists.
To avoid these consequences, natural history
must address itself more to the feelings and habits
of the Odmmiinity. English naturalists must write
English, and not indulge in a jargon that can only
be paralleled on the stage of a mountebank.
Little things dressed up in big words are like the
ass in the lion's skin; as soon as they are found
out, they become objects of contempt. Let us
suppose that a man sets about studying certain
modern works which we could point out; that he
has mastered endless technicalities, at the ex-
pense of much time and trouble; and that having
done SO; he finds the latter needless, denoting no-
thing but what his mother tongue would have de-
noted quite as well; we are afraid that, in such a
case, disgust would get the better of zeal, and
that he would be apt to apply to the science and
its expounder an epithet of two syllables, which
we have no doubt that the ingenuity of our read-
ers will readily suggest.
But we shall be assured that our case is stated
in terms stronger and more general than the facts
will justify: and that the technicalities of which
we complain are necessary, if natural history is to
have any precision. Undoubtedly, if this be so,
we shall have received a conclusive answer; for
no means by which precision can be secured will
admit of being neglected, and the inconvenienL-e
of adopting these means is nothing in comparison
with the advantages to be derived from them.
But is this so? Do men, by assigning special and
strange names to every trifling modification of
structure, attain the end proposed? Is it possi-
ble, bj' means of words, however ctmningly de-
vised, to give precision to things which have lit-
tle precision in their nature? To our mind such
exactness as is attainable in natural history is, in
the majority of cases, to be secured by plain Eng-
lish as well as by crabJed barbarisms. We be-
188
FOREIGN NOTICES.
lieve " the curvature of a stem" to be an expres-
sion as wortliy of adoption as the grand word
Stelec horrhiphy sia.
An example or two will illustrate our meaning
better than general allusions. In a work just hot
from the press, and a good work too, we read that
some moUusks are " zoophagous ; and these fur-
ther evidence their resiliuncy from the phytivorous
families by the character of their egg-repositories.
It is true these cannot well be reduced to any of
M. L.'s classes, but they are concamerated nidi
of a peculiar character.'' We are not sure that
we ourselves understand the learned author's
meaning; but nevertheless we may venture to as-
sert that the words in italics are wholly unneces-
sary, and that the sentence if put tlms would have
been more intelligible, without the loss of such
precision as it can pretend to. '• Some mollusks
feed on other animals, and these further show
their distinction from the families which feed on
plants, by the character of their egg repositories
(qu. nests.) It is true these cannot well be re-
duced to any of M. L.'s classes; but they are
chambered nests of a peculiar character." We
.see no merit in such words as zoophagous, resili-
aney, phytivorous, and concamerated nidi.
Our next illustration exemplifies the style of a
popular work on Botany, professing to give Eng-
lish descriptions of plants. " A glabrous shrub.
Branches terete. Leaves distichous , on short pe-
tioles, almost coriaceous, obtuse at the base, ru-
gose, dentate, with a prominent costa. Flowers
secund. Calyx with subulate segments, saccate
at the base. Corolla in/undibuliform, plicate,
calcarate, irregular, ciliated, with the segments
caudate. Stamens exserted, heteromorphous, the
anterior barbate, the intermediate arcuate and
sericeous, the posterior complanate, clavate, fim-
briated, with setaceous processes," and so on. If
the reader still doubts whether technicality may I
not after all be the soul of science, as some will
have it, let us beg him to compare the foregoing
jargon with the following translation of it into
plain English: " A smooth shrub. Branches ta-
per. Leaves in two rows on short stalks, almost
leathery, blunt at the base, wrinkled, toothed,
with a prominent midrib. Flowers all turned to
one side. Calyx with awl-shaped segments, bag-
ged at the base. Corolla funnel-shaped, plaited,
spurred, irregular, fringed, with the segments
extended into tails. Stamens projecting, of dif-
ferent forms; those in front bearded, in the mid-
dle curved and silky, at the back flattened, club-
shaped, fringed with bristly processes."
Let us intreat the lovers of hard words to ex-
plain in what consisted the necessity of intro-
ducing into this description such words as terete,
distichous, coriaceous, rugose, dentate, costa, sac-
cate, subulate, arcuate, barbate, complanate, hete-
romorphous, and so forth. These words are. in
truth, Latin and Greek, and it is as absurd for
English writers to employ them in translations as
it would be for English people to talk Latin and
Greek in conversation.
With such examples as the foregoing, we think
it not unreasonable to assert that some most im-
portant branches of science are svt'amped by a
technical jargon, uncalled for by anv exigency,
and alike repulsive to good taste and common
sense. That a perseverance in its use is fatal to
the progress of natural history, wc hold to be in-
disputable, and we earnestly hope that in future
those English writers who undertake the task of
public instruction, will endeavor to put their ideas
into a language to which reason offers no objec-
tion, and by which the little educated may profit,
as well as the highly educated; for thus alone
will it be possible to bring natural science within
the reach of all classes. Br. Lindley, in Gar-
deners' Chronicle.
Forcing Straavberries. — It is an important
point with almost every one who cultivates straw-
berries, to have them early. Early forced straw-
berries are highly esteemed; and though the
means of producing them may be but limited, still
most people who possess a garden, and a little
glass, make an attempt at forcing them. For
very early work, the first runners should be se-
cured. These may be pegged down on small 3-inch
pots, and, when fully established, removeil from
the parent plants and re-potted into 6-inch pots,
using rich loamy soil. Instead of the common
practice of placing these pots behind a wall or
hedge, on a north aspect, let them be plunged in
the full sunshine up to their rims in coal-ashes or
old tan. All runners which arc made during the
current autumn should be removed on their first
appearance, and let the plants be watered once
every week with liquid manure. Under such
treatment they will have attained a highly ma-
tured condition by the approach of winter, and
will be capable of producing an early spring crop.
As soon as the growing season is over, the pots
should be taken out of the material in which they
were plunged, and placed on their sides, to pre-
vent the access of water. In order the more per-
fectly to effect this end, a quantity of old tan,
sand, sawdust, or coal ashes should be provided
for stacking them in. A dry situation should be
selected for the purpose; the pots should then be
placed upon their sides in two rows, the bottom
of the pots facing each other, and the rims placed
at the outer edge of the stacking material. The
space between the pots should be filled up level
with the tops, and another tier of pots added,
until the ridge is 3 feet high. To throw off the
wet, a covering of straw should be secured on the
apex of the ridge. In severe weather the whole
ridge may with facility be protected, and this will
be the more desirable where a succession of
forced strawberries is required, as a portion will
require to be put in the forcing-house or pit every
fortnight; and this could not be done, under fa-
FOREIGN NOTICES.
189
vorable circumstances, if the frost is allowed free
access to them.
The above practice is only recommended for the
earlier crops; for later ones it is not required.
One of the largest growers of forced strawber-
ries for the London market never pots the later
crops for forcing until they are wanted for that
purpose. His success is beyond question ; but
then old plants are never chosen. Young plants,
about a year bedded out, are such as he selects;
a great amount of trouble and expense is thus
saved. This cultivator has been equally success-
ful in forcing the same plants two seasons con-
secutively— a practice not generally followed.
Gard. Chronicle.
Monstrous Flowers of Pf,i,.\rgomums. — The
following extract from a paper read by Mr. Sow-
erby at the Conversazione Meeting of the Royal
Botanic Society, in the Regent's Park, describes
an interestiniT case of monstrosity. After point-
ing out the distinguishing characters of the gene-
ra Geranium and Pelargonium, Mr. Sowerby pro-
ceeded to say: "The gardener, as in this case,
when he tinds nothing hut external beauty to re-
commend a plant, endeavors, by selecting the
most perfect, and then cultivating it highly, to
increase in the succeeding both the beauty of
colour and of form ; and as the beauty of form de-
pends on the same elements as that of colour,
that is, as before explained, upon the indication
of perl'cct adaptation to the end. or the resem-
blance of that indication, so a full round form is
especially aimed at by the cultivator of flowers,
and the Pelargonium fancier endeavors to obtain
five broad and equal petals, to form a round
flower, with the upper two deeply and brilliantly
coloured, to produce a contrast to the three lower
and light coloured ones; but with all his care the
flowers do not come constant, and now and then
one will play the truant, and sport as he calls it,
and this commonly happens among the most pet-
ted or highest cultivated varieties. When the
dark colour disappears from the upper petals al-
together, and the petals become equal in size and
form, it will be observed that the characteristic
tubular nectary also disappears. The want of the
nectary or honey tube is also accompanied by a
regular arrangement of five anther-bearing and
five abortive filaments. The white varieties are
less liable to this change than those with rose or
salmon-coloured petals, and it is also rare among
the new fancy varieties; frequently it occurs in
the central flower of the truss. In some flowers
the nectary is also shortened, and in others a
small spot will remain on one petal when the nec-
tary is absent. In the fancy variety called Yeat-
mannianum grandiflorum, which has spots on all
the petals, the spots become equal, the two large
spots being reduced. A.n additional petal also ac-
companies the change in a few cases. One plant
of the Beauty of Clapham, a rose-coloured varie-
ty, has almost every flower changed more or less.
Thus it a])pears that cultivation makes one spe-
cies of plant appear to run into another, and may
destroy a remarkable generic character, consist-
ing of the presence of an important organ in the
flower, &c. Thus the gardener seems by over-
cultivation to reduce his flower to a lower stand-
ard, but I do not think this is exactly the case;
for though he may apparently reduce a Cape Pe-
largonium to a European Geranium in the eye of
a botanist, or partly so, still he would have a
more truly beautiful flower if he could obtain a
full truss of beautiful large rose-coloured or pink
flowers ; we would recommend a trial of the seed
from these sporting flowers." Magazine of Na-
tural History.
Exposing Grf.f.nhouse Pl.\nts in Summer —
Manv greenhduse plants, and especially the more
delicate kinds, often sutler much injury from ex-
posure to the sun's rays in summer. When so
exposed without the benefit of shelter of any kind,
the soil is apt to become so thoroughly dried, that
it is with dilflculty again welted, and hence the
scorched and stunted looking growth which may
sometimes be seen on such plants in the sunmier
season. The injury in most cases arises not from
exposing the stem and branches of the plants, but
from exposing the pot in which it is growing ; the
sun's rays acting on the sides of the pots, in con
junction with the evaporation constantly going on
soon deprives the soil of its moisture; and as all
the tender roots are usually more or less in con-
tact with the inner surface of the pot, their injury
is inevitable. It is no uncomnKin thing to see the
soil so much dried as to shrink away from the pot,
and in this case the roots cannot avoid being more
or less injured. Under such circumstances, too,
the water which is supplied sinks down as fast as
it is poured on, and fails, for a long time at least,
to moisten the interior of the soil. Then again,
the necessity (or constant watering, caused by this
exposure, is an evident waste of time. When-
plants are turned out doors (and also when kept
in doors) their roots ought to be sheltered by some
means from the influences alluded to ; plunging
the pot in some open porous material will answer
the end as well as anything; and of the substan-
ces that may be employed, moss, coal ashes,
rough peat, sawdust, or fine charcoal are among
the best that can be employed. It is desirable,
also, to afford the entire plants a very thin shade
during the intense sun heat of summer, but the
lighter the material employed the better. Lon-
don Hort. Mag.
On the Use of Coffee in Arabia and Abys-
sinia. By M. A. d'Abbadie. — Great nutritive
qualities have been attributed to coffee by M. de
Gasparin, in his memoir, on the mode of living
pursued by Belgian miners; and he quotes, in
support of his opinion, the experience of the
190
FOREIGN NOTICES.
French soldiers in Algiers, and of the Arab na-
tions. ■ Without pretending to dispute the accu-
racy of M. de Gasparin's conclusions, I may be
allowed to state that the experience of the Arab
tribes is not entirely in his favor. It is well
known that the Wahabis, who dissent from Islam-
ism, scrupulously abstain from colTee ; and al-
though I have lived with many of this sect, I
never found that they were less temperate or less
capable of fatigue than their coffee-drinking coun-
trymen. If a proof more convincing than the
above is sought, it will be found in Abyssinia,
where the Mussulmans, who drink coffee several
times a day, support a fast with less ease than the
Christians. This has been many times observed
by my brother, M. Arnauld d'Abbadie, who com-
manded soldiers of both religions in the wars of
Gojjam. In the disastrous retreats across desert
countries, the Mussulmans always suffered more
than the Christians. The latter, who tliink it a
crime to drink coffee, will follow the army on
foot, heavily laden, for three successive days
without any other refreshment than a little earth
soaked in cold water. These same soldiers will
fight during Lent without other nourishment than
a quarter of a pound of unsifted llnur, which is
often baked in aslies, and without leaven. This
flour is less nutritious than that of wheat, and the
single meal is often at sunset, after a latiguiiiir
day's march, and a twenty-four hours' fast. The
Abyssinians are both less strong and less tempe-
rate than the Gallas. The latter, the whole ob-
ject of whose existence seems to be continual
warfare, often pass several days in succession in
the deserts which separate them from their ene-
mies. The Gallas then fast for an incredible
length of time, which the traveller Bruce explains
by their use of coffee b( iled with its shell in but-
ler, and seasoned with salt. It is true that the
Gallas do use this substance, which will keep a
long time, and which I have often tasted with
pleasure, but they do not look upon it as an ali-
ment. Before undertaking their military expedi-
tions, they lay in an extra stock of strength by a
very substantial and varied repast, taken in abso-
lute rest, in huts at a distance from their women.
They then start with a few Chick-peas, which
they eat raw, and which they soon finish, fast if
necessary for several days together, and after-
wards fight with such vigor that their enemies
never mention it without some expression of as-
tonishment. It is well known that in Abyssinia,
raw meat, whether fat or lean, does not possess
the nutritive qualities which have been ascribed
to it by M. Magendie in European meat. Whilst
staying with the army of Agame, I heard the
soldiers, who daily killed some hundreds of oxen,
complain that they were losing their strength
from exclusively eating raw meat. One of my
porters gave up his situation and refused the
extra pay which I offered him, because he said
that he was losing his strength from the want of
bread and the constant eating of raw flesh. This
fact is admitted as true by all Abyssinians, not-
withstanding their great liking for uncooked meat.
An Abyssinian epicure would despise a meal
which did not, partly at least, consist of a good
raw lump of cow's flesh, still warm with animal
heat and seasoned with pepper. On the other
hand, my brother is satisfied, both by observation
and by experiment, that, in the same countries,
meat dried in the sun restores one's strength much
better than raw meat, though not so well as corn.
Comptes Rendus.
DESTRtTCTiON OF Wasps. — The annual sport
among the youths of Traquair came to a close on
Saturday, the 1st of June. The)^ have bagged
less game, and also less money, than usual this
year. Let us take a retrospective view of the
havoc that has been made among wasps for the
last seven years, which will show how anxious
the Earl of Traquair is to get rid of this destruc-
tive pest in his neighborhood: — In 1844 there
were destroyed 244 dozen; in 1845, 1573 dozen,
weight 4 lbs. 9^ oz. ; in 1846, not a wasp to be
found; in 1847, 4 dozen only, weight 4 oz. ; in
1848, there were destroyed 1273-5 dozen, weight
4 lbs. 7 oz.; in 1849, 865^ dozen, weight 2 lbs.
8 oz.; in 1850, 528^ dozen, weight 1 lb. ll-^ oz.
Total, 4459^ doz., weight .'3 lbs. 8 oz. during
the last seven years, or rather five years, as in
1846-47, only four dozens were taken; these
dozens will make the number of wasps to be
53,514 — a good round number certainly in a cir-
cuit of three miles. Now. If all, or even one-half,
of the proprietors in the country would use the
same means to exterminate these insects, a wasp
would soon be as rare a siu'ht as a red deer on
the hills around us. Edinburgh Evening Courard,
Preservation of Green Kidney Beans —
The following is the process emj)loyed by M.
Gelien de Montigny, for the preservation of green
Kidney Beans. In fine weather gather the pods,
before the seeds are too visible, take the threads
off", plunge the pods in boiling water, and take
them out again immediately; let them cool, put
them in a tub in layers five inches deep, alterna-
ting with vine leaA'es, which must begin and end
the series; on the top of the last layer of vine
leaves, put a stone, heavy enough to keep the
whole well pressed. Then pour in some salt wa-
ter until the top is covered ; replace the water as
it evaporates. The Beans can thus be preserved
quite fresh.. Flore des Serres.
Jjvpan Lilies. — Few plants of recent introduc-
tion are more handsome or attractive than the Ja-
pan Lilies. They come into bloom at a time
when the great majority of our New-Holland
plants are over, and when an actual paucity of
flowering plants exist, wherewith to decorate the
conservatory and green-house, and what really
FOREIGN NOTICES.
191
can be more suitable? Thoy produce a jrorp-eous
display either in-doors or out; and as they are
quite hardy they may be liberally planted in the
open border, and thus constitute one of our best
autumnal flower garden plants.
Their propagation is simple and certain. The
bulbs may be separated, and each scale will
eventually form a new bulb. This separation
should be effected when the flower stems are
withered; the scales should be stuck into pans of
silver sand, and placed in a cold frame or pit.
After remaining one season in this position, they
should be planted in a prepared bed of peat soil,
and a little silver sand intermixed with it; thus
treated the bulbs will soon grow large enough to
flower.
'J'he cultivation of them in pots is by no means
difficut. I shall detail the practice I have pur-
sued with success for some years. Immediately
when the bulbs go to rest in the autumn is the
proper time to repot them. By no means destroy
tlie old roots, but carefully place them amongst
the fresh soil. If large examples for particular
display are required, large pots may be employed,
and half a dozen large flowering bulbs placed in
each pot. The soil I use is rough peat. The
pots should be well drained, and the crown of the
bulb just covered with the soil; when potted they
should be placed in a cold pit or frame, in order
to prevent the soil from freezing, although frost
will not injure the bulb. Where room under glass
is an object in winter, they may be plunged in
the open air in coal ashes, in a manner similar to
potted Hyacinths. I have at this time a large
number coming into flower, wliich have never
been under glass until within these few days;
they have sustained no injury from exposure, and
they present every appearance of makinnr a grand
display. There is scarcely any plant which is so
much benefitted by liquid manure as the Lily,
more especially before expanding its flowers. If
used in a clear state, and considerably diluted,
this water alone may be applied for at least a
month before it comes into flower.
If the object should be out-door cultivation en-
tirely, I snould recommend them to be planted in
beds; their eflect is exceedingly grand. Exca-
vate the soil 18 inches deep, and till in the bot-
tom a foot deep with very coarse peat, intermixed
with one-fifth of decayed manure or leaf mould.
The remaining 6 inches may be entirely peat. If
the bulbs are large enough to bloom, plant them
12 inches apart every way. and if beds of each
kind are brought into contact with one another,
the eflect will be magnificent.
The following are the kinds I cultivate : Lilium
lancifolium album, L. punctatum, and L. specio-
sum. The old Japonicum is also well worth grow-
ing. Dr. Lindley, in Gard. Chronicle.
House-Bugs and Ants. — Your columns have
recommended the getting rid of bugs, and certain-
ly extreme cleanliness alone will effect this de-
sirable purpose ; besides this, in some warm coun-
tries it is a common practice to destroy these noi-
some insects by pouring quite boiling water on tiie
parts of furniture infested with them. In this way a
first operation may not always be sufficient, but it
is easily repeated until all the insects and their
eggs are destroyed. Furniture and places the
most infested with them may be speedily cleared
by solutions of either corrosive sublimate, or of
sulphate of copper. Corrosive sublimate leaves
no stain after its application, and therefore would
be to be preferred, were it not extremely poison-
ous, and its use is the more dangerous as its solu-
tion is colourless. Sulphate of copper is also a
poison, but only when taken in considerable quan-
tity ;.it has been employed with the most com-
plete success for washing old walls, ceilings, floors,
and furniture swarming with bugs. The mode in
which it was u^ed was to put a few ounces of
sulphate of copper into a basin, pouring upon it
soft water, stirring the whole occasionally until
the whole solution became saturated ; a small
quantity of the sulphate remaining undissolved in-
dicates that the solution is saturated. Has corro-
sive sublimate in solution been tried for the de-
struction of ants in dwelling houses ? A strong
lessive from wood ashes was some years ago re-
sorted to to get rid of a small species of this in-
sect, and was found to dislodge them from the
apartment they had invaded In the south of
France oil of Juniper berries, called in the patois
of the country huile de cade is frequently used in
granaries to protect the corn in them from ants.
For this purpose the oil is sjjrinklcd on bare parts
of the granary floor, but occasional renewals of the
oil are refjuisite. It is also often mixed with the
eart,li in preparing the aire on which corn is thresh-
ed, and in houses ants have been dislodged hy huile
de cade being put in the crevices of floors, and at
their junction with the walls. lb.
Double Flowers. — The day is not yet so far
distant when our scientific botanists were experi-
encinir something like fever heat, from witnessing
the growing partiality for these truly beautiful,
though to them hateful, monstrosities — a fever
only secondary in its evils to the nightmare anti-
pathy with which they viewed the labors of thi
hybridising florist, who, in the extreme number
as well as diversified forms of the varieties he in-
troduced, seemed to make havock of nomencla-
ture, and ride rough-shod through all their nicelv
drawn-up specific distinctions and definitions.
Even they, however, our learned instructors — for
though they were not free from prejudices any
more than other men, we must not forget the
debt we owe them — even they can now join the
florist in expatiating upon, and defining the merits
of, a beautiful hybrid; and, what is more, cat!
mingle with the vulgar throng and behold a pecu-
liar beauty in these double monstrosities, allege
192
FOREIGN NOTICES-
tlier apart from the means which such flowers
present for buikling up a peculiar phytological
theory".
I confess that in the case of many plants, such
for instance as the Chinese Hibiscus, the sintrje
j>erfect flower is to my eye far more beautiful than
the double varieties; but beautiful and lovely
though many even of our common plants be in
their single state — such as the daisy, when slowly
rolling back its pale crimson hood-like covering
as the sun's rays reach it in the morning — I con-
ceive that few, with a correct taste for the beau-
tiful, would think of contrasting for a moment the
single and the double in such plants as daisies,
primroses, violets, ranunculuses, pinks, carna-
tions, roses, stocks, wall-flowers, Sweet Williams,
rockets, balsams, fever-few, catch-fl}', &c. ; plants
which, though generally found in their highest
perfection in the garden of the amateur and cot-
tager, will never disgrace the parterre of the no-
bleman.
Our attention has been directed to this subject
b)' the inquiries of a lady correspondent, as to
how such flowers are at first produced. "Is it
from richness of soil, as in the stock? I know that
double flowers may be perpetuated by impregna-
tion, but want to know how to get one double in
the first instance." Now our difficulty here con-
sists in the fact, that our own mind is not quite
made up on the subject, though we incline to our
friend's supposition, that double flowers are chiefly
|)roduced by cultivation, and, in addition, that
they are perpetuated by the same means; and
although aware that they may be perpetuated by
impregnation, we consider that even that holds a
rather secondary place to careful cultivation.
Glancing, however, at one or two fallacies may
lead the investigations of our friends, who have
time at their command, into a channel whence
more consistent and legiiimate deductions may
proceed.
That our correspondent is not alone in her opi-
nion, that double flowers are perpetuated by ci'oss
fecundation , may be seen in the circumstance of
saving a single flowering stock for seed that has
been surrounded by double ones; the practitioners
believing that the contiguity of the double flowers
will influence the single ones, and thus so far af-
fect the seeds formed that they will produce plants
with double flowers. Now, in examining the
matter, it will at once be found that the double
state in flowers is generally produced by the sta-
mens, and the pistils, the male and female or-
gans, and also at times what are termed floral
leaves. Sec, being all changed into petals; and
the more completely this has been done, the more
perfect the specimen appears as a double flower.
But the more effectually this was accomplished,
the more unlikely would such double flowers be to
exercise any influence whatever upon the proper-
ties of the seed produced from single flowers in
their vicinity. If these double flowers contained
any perfect stamens, the fertilising pollen of these
stamens might be transferred to the summit of the
pistil of the single flowers, and thus the proper-
ties of the double flowers might be imparted to
the seeds so fecundated. Thus, in saving seed
from semi-double flowers, or even from flower.'*
containing a greater number of petals than usual,
there is a greater probability of obtaining double
flowers in future than from plants with perfectly
single flowers, as a predisj>osing cause in the first
case has already been in action. Whether this
double flowering condition be the result of disease
or merely of a full plethoric habit, superinduced
by high cultivation, is a question that will not at
all affect the above proposition. But, if no such
influence in the shape of male organs existed in
the double flowers, then their neighborhood to the
single ones could exercise no power whatever
upon the qualities of the seed that would natu-
rally be produced. Future culture will determine
whether the plants from such a seed shall be puny
or luxuriant, but that culture for the first season
will have little or no influence as to the plant pos-
sessing double or single flowers; these are quali-
ties which would be chiefly lodged in the seed
while yet remaining in the seed-vessel of the
nurse-parent. What, then, are some of the prin-
ciples by which we ought to be guided, when our
object is to obtain and preserve double flowers?
Making allowance lor exceptions, the following
may be adduced as leading general propositions;
First. To obtain double flowers from seed, de-
pendence must not be placed upon the influence
of a stray stamen that was not converted into a
petal or flower leaf, but means must be taken to
make the seeds possessed of a property which
otherwise they would not possess, by superinducing
a highly elaborated, full, plethoric habit, in the
seeds. This can only be done by stiiuulaling the
plant with high cultivation at a certain period —
after the flower-buds appear — and then by re-
moving the greater portion of the seeds. If the
stimulus is applied at an earlier period, the plant
will increase greatly in luxuriance; by giving it
thus later, a greater degree of strength is con-
veyed to the flowers; bj' thinning these flowers,
or the seed vessels, as soon as formed, so as to
have only a very few seeds to ripen, these, in
consequence, acquire a full plethoric habit; and
we know that in the vegetable and animal world
alike, this state is opposed to productive fruitful-
ness, while in the dcplethoric state it is encou-
raued. From a full double flower, therefore, we
expect and obtain no seeds. From such plants as
balsams, which, though said to be double, j'et
produce seeds, the rendering of them more double
must be obtained by the high cultivating and seed
thinning process. In their case, as well as some
others, compactness of growth and clearness of
colour seem to be gained by preserving the seed
for several years; the fresher a seed, the sooner
will it vegO'tate, and the stronger and more luxu-
FOREIGN NOTICES,
193
riant tlie plant. In double composite flowers,
such as the Dahlia; which consist of a number of
florets upon a common receptacle, though the
most of these florets may have their parts of
fructitication changed into petals, others may be
unchanged, though they remain unnoticed until
the peials fall off; and from these, when seeds
are produced, more double flowers may be ex-
pected than from seeds saved from more single
Varieties, because possessing a greater constitu-
tional tendency in that direction. Tliis wiJ more
especially be the result when, as in the other
cases, high cultivation is resorted to whenever
the seed appears. Thus something like superfe-
tation is induced in the seed, which leads it after-
wards, when sown, to develope itself more in
leaves and petals (which the botanists tell us arc
the same thing,) instead of flowers producing
seed; and this altogether independent of the cul-
ture it receives for that season. When any of
our friends, therefore, look somewhat disconso-
late on their beds of stocks nearly all single, they
may rest next to assured that the culture they
imparled had little or nothing to do with it. The
seeds they sowed would have been single in any
circumstance. The matter is diflcrent in the
perennial plants, such as the daisy and the prim-
rose. Without resorting to seeds at all, the plant
Trom being divided, having its soil frequently
changed and stimulated by rich compost, will
often gradually change from the single into the
double flowering condittion, upon exactly the
same principles; luxuriance and fruitfulness being
ever opposed to each other. Several years ago
we carried out these ideas with considerable
success, and such as they are, now commend
them to the noi^ice of our friends who have more
time at their crmmand.
Secondly. On much the same principle, care
should be taken to preserve double flowers, when
propagating them by cuttings, runners, and di-
visions of the root,— by giving them the same
careful cultivation, otherwise they are apt to re-
turn to the primitive single state. To secure this
object effectually, two considerations slundd be
attended to. If a rich stimulating system of cul-
tivation is at the first resorted to, there will be
the likelihood of having a luxuriant development
of stem and leaves, at the expense of depriving
the flowers of their requisite proportions. In all
free-growing luxuriant plants, it will be -wise
policy not to over stimulate the plant until the
bloom appears; and the increased nourishment
judiciously given will then enlarge the size of the
flower, while the rest of the plant would continue
to maintain a comparative dwarf and stubby cha-
racter. In choosing seed when it is produced, let
it be selected from such plants. Then, again, if
the size of the flower is to be maintained, and
prevented degenerating into its primitiA'e condi-
tion, rich composts should not only be used, but
fresh soil, if possible, given to them every year.
Now is a good time to propagate all these pretty
desirables, at least all that are of a comparative
hardy nature. Many of them, when the flower
stems are decayed, maybe divided at the root;
such as the Rocket, which with the Wall-flower
and Sweet William, Lychnias, &c., will strike by
small cuttings in light soil under a hand-light,
under the same treatment as is resorted to with
Pinks. In the case of using hard stems of Rock-
ets and Wall-flowers, &c., it is advisable, after
cutting through with a sharp knife at a joint, to
run the knife upwards a short distance, through
the centre of the cutting, and then to make a
similar incision at right angles with the first, so
that the base of the cutting shall consist of four
equal divisions. This exposes a greater portion
of the inner bark, and roots in consequence are
more quickly and plentifully produced. Cottage
Gardener. ....
Fruit-packikg.-— A little advice on this sub-
ject may prove of .some interest, both to the young
gardener, the amateur, and the cottager ; it being
often imperfectly understood, or too carelessly
practised.
In former days our fruits travelled by coaches,
or b)^ the ordinary road-waggon, but now principally
by steam ; and it is to modes of packing adapted
to that kind of transit that we would now invite
attention. By the former mode of travelling, the
box or basket was subjected to a loose jolting ac-
tion ; b\' the latter, it undergoes a perpetual jarr-
ing ; and although the action of the steam-carriage
is by fax more uniform than that of the old coach,
yet these little jars, unless provided against, by
good packing, are very damaging to tender fruits,
or those with a thin skin and a soft pulp.
The kinds of material to pack in are the first
consideration ; and here we may observe, that
whatever the kind be, it is, as we think, absolute-
ly essential, that it be of an elastic character, and
at the same time possess a kind of strength or
soundness which, after travelling many miles and
enduring many hard knocks, shall yet preserve its
elasticit)- somewhat unimpaired. Thus, as an ex-
ample, fine grass from lawns which have been
mowed several times, or some from beneath the
shade of trees, in a dry state, is a very tempting-
looking material, and looks soft as silk ; but for
general purposes the second cut from upland mow-
ing will be found far preferable, as longer preserv-
ing its elasticitj-.
Closeness, not to say tightness, in packing is the
great essential ; the one great maxim to bear in
mind is this, Pressure is better than Friction,
We well remember calling on an old schoolfellow,
about twelve or fifteen years since, to advise with
him as to the best mode of packing peaches ; lor
at that period we grew the finest peaches in Eng-
land ; for a few years we had the honor of beating
all competitors or nearly so, our fruit at that pe-
riod averaiiing as much as 11 oimces, and some-
times nearlv reaching 13. The schoolfellow allud-
194
FOREIGN NOTICES.
ed to was the late Mr. Da\i(] Dullcy, Mhokept the
lai'ge £)-uit-shop in Covent Garden, formerly oc-
cupied by the late Mrs. Grange. The axiom
about "pre.ssure, &c." was, he assured me, the
best advice in few words that could be given ; and
we have for many years had ample opportunity of
proving the truth of Mr, Dulley's advice.
His opinion was, as to material, that few things
excelled soft hay, or, as the Londoners teim it,
"rowen j" suqli being for the most part the second
cut or aftermath from grass lands of a somewhat
finer character than ordinary. Nevertheless, he did
not confine all fruit-packing to this material alone,
but mexeiy pointed to it as at least a useful ad-
junct in all fruit-Tpncking.
At the same period we called at Gunter's in or-
der to get their opinion ; there we were told, that
sawdust or bran weie capital materials for peach-
packing ; the fofmer from white and flavourless
wood, such as the lime, horse chestnut, &c., &,e.
The soundness of the last advice has always ap-
peared questionable, especially as to railroad trav-
elling ; the sudden and severe jerks on which would
seem to require that some body of a more yield-
ing character should be placed around the fruit.
Some persons are very partial to the use of cot-
ton, wool, or "wadding ;" some to dry and thrash-
ed moss ; others use paper shavings from the sta-
tioners ; the latter being for the most part the
edgings removed from writing paper during the
squaring or finishing process v,e suppose. These
paper shavings are, indeed, a truly good article,
and perhaps are better* for grape packing than
any other material.
Having thus "broken the ice," as far as first
principles are concerned, we must now beg to be
a little more explicit, and to come home at once
to the details ; we must crave our readers' patience
whilst we pack three ideal boxes of strawberries,
grapes, and peaches.
Strawberries. — Having provided a shallow
box or tin of three inches in depth, clear inside
measure, we will place, at least, one inch of dry
thrashed green moss over the bottom : moss, from
which, after thrashing, all dirt and dust have been
completely ejected. This must be pressed as
close as hands can make it ; indeed, made firm and
equal. And, now. let a piece of fine and soft cap-
paper be placed double, and perfectly even, for a
bed for the strawberries. One of the best straw-
berry-packers we ever knew used to place a layer
of nettle leaves (which had been gathered two or
three days and become very pliant) over the cap-
paper ; and exceedingly well it answered. These
things done, let the samemodeof packing, revers-
ed, proceed, until the box is quite full ; so that
the topping-up will be a facsimile of the bottom-
ing, only, at- before observed, reversed. And now
we may fairly nail down or close the lid, and rest
assured that they will travel well — from the Land's
End to London
Grapes.— We must now change our tactics, for
we shall of course require both a deeper box and
a stronger material ; the latter partly on account
of the much increased weight, and consequently
pressure. Grapes pack best, as we think, in a
sort of diagonal position — not quite flat, but near-
ly so ; of course the stock end in the ascendant.
The box being ready, and sufficiently roomy — four
inches deeper than the bunch when in its recumb-
ent position— two inches at least of the while pa-
per shavings may be placed in the bottom, tuckmg-
them somewhat close, but not tight. If any of
the paper remains in masses, as cut from the quires,
it must be separated into individual strips. I'he
best way now, in our opinion, is to surround each
bunch as they are placed in the box with silver or
tissue paper ; this must be placed gently, and some-
what loosely, round the bunch, avoiding carefully all
friction ; and now a little extra paper shavings
may be so placed as to form a sort of nest for the
bunch, and this so managed, as that when the
bunch with its paper is laid down there will be no
occasion to move or to handle it again. As they
are thus successively placed, a little paper must
be introduced here and there as a wedge, or prop,
to jtrevent the bunch from slipping.
When the bunches are very large, or possess
huge shoulders, some little pillows or cushions
may be introduced between them and the body of
the bunch ; occasionally these may be formed by
enclosing small portions of the paper shavings in
the silver paper, thrusting such in any situation
where a great weight of berries are likely to
infringe on each other. The bunches being all
thus placed, some more of the little cushions may
be thrust here and there over the general surface,
so placing them as to render it impossible for the
bunch to move in any direction. The surface be-
ing thus brought level, nothing remains but to fill
up the box with the paper shavings, taking care
that it is quite full, so that the lid in fastening
down will have to be compressed a little. The
thrashed moss may, if necessary, be substituted
for the paper shavings ; we are not aware which
is best, but confess to a partiality for the shavings ;
such, however, must not be coarse — the finer the
better, and from thin white paper.
Peaches. — For these, we think, the soft or row-
an hay not to be excelled. We have repeatedly
sent the large peaches before named to the Chis-
wick exhibitions, with scarcely a blemish ; and
as such were much admired by the public, and on
one occasion their packing made the subject of a
leading article in the Chronicle, -we cannot do bet-
ter than detail the precise mode of doing so on
those occasions.
The boxes were made exactly eight inches in
depth ; this allowed two inches of the packing ma-
terial below the fruits, and two inches, or nearly
so, above : thus, four inches at least were allowed
for the thickness of the peach. Our boxes were pe-
titioned-ofT into cells, measuring about five inches
square on the surface ; one, of course, apportioned
FOREIGN NOTICES.
195
10 each peach. In the bottom of each of these was
placed the two incheb of rowan liay, pressed close,
and shaped in a concave manner, so as to form a
nest for the peach to descend into. Some squares
of silver paper and cap paper were now provided ;
and first taking a square of cap paper in the left
hand, another of silver was placed in it ; the riirht
hand then quietly placed the peach on tiie centre
of the paper in the palm of the left hand, and now
the right hand was employed to gently twist the
four corners together. Thus imbedded the peach
was lowered into its cell, and so on with the
whole. The next proceeding was to take a long
bladed knife — one of tho ordinary dinner knives —
and with this to tuck in the soft hay in a wedge-like
character, until each sell was full, close, but not
hard. Of course the top of the box received the
two inches of rowan ; and the box lid was obliged to
be slightly compressed in nailing down, the hay
being applied rather liberally.
Now, we do not mean to say that these are the
only rules for fruit packing — fruit of a tender char-
acier we mean ; but we do mean to say that they
travelled well by these modes ; and a hope may
perhaps be indulged in, that our detail of the pro-
ceedings may assist in furnishing useful ideas on
the subject of fruit packing amongst the uninitiat-
ed, for whom, in a great degree, it is our duty to
write. It may be observed, in conclusion, that
sucii things are not always confined to single lay-
ers ; many of our country gentlemen or noblemen
who have extensive gardens and forcing establisli-
ments have tin cases adapted to the reception of
several layers ; of course the packing of each lay-
er is comported to the same system — each layer
is complete in itself.
As opportunities occur, we shall feel it a duty
to return to the subject, and must then descend Ko
easy modes of packing our common fruits. Cot.
Gardener. ....
Poultry. — Brood after brood succeed each
other with great rapidity uutil the yard appears
alive, so numerous are its inhabitants. By far
the safest plan when chickens are hatched is to
keep the hen under coop for the first three weeks :
this prevents her dragging her young brood over
the wet grass, which occasions cramp and many
other diseases to which young poultry of all sorts
are liable. Rearing poultry requires a good deal
of patience and attention, at least, to be a success-
ful rearer of it ; and what can be more disheart-
ening, "in a small way," than to find the young
things dying ofT! which is always the case unless
trouble is taken with them. "If a thing is worth
doing at all, it is worth doing well," is certainly
true concerning poultry rearing. The great se-
cret is to feed them ften, and a little at a time.
The old nurse's saying of "children and chickens
are always picking," is a very true one as regards
at least, the latter ; for if you carefully watch a
brood of young chickens you will observe that
they are always scratching about and picking up
something — it may be a seed, or an insect, or a
wurm. Thus, nature points out the proper man-
agement ; for, of course, if the hen is under a
coop she cannot obtain food for them, and there-
fore it must be placed within their reach at Vari-
ous times during the day.
Ducks I have always found more difficult to
rear than chickens ; for they are Very greedy,
and often eat so much that they become sutt'oca"
ted. They stray along ways from their mother
(if she be confined) in search of their favorite food,
which is slugs ; they are therefore very desirable
assistants to the gardener, and as they do not
scratch up the earth they are most useful, partic-
ularly in a flower garden. In moderation nature's
food must be beneficial to them, but then they
should not be fed to the same extent as when un-
able to cater for themselves. Boiled potates,
damaged rice, and barley meal are all equally
good for young |)oultry of all sorts. Ducks are
particularly calculated for the poor man to keep,
if he lives near a pond or ditch ; for they require
very little feeding, and are contented with the re-
fuse of any vegetables. Cabbage boiled, chopped
up, and mixed with the skins of potatoes, they
will cat greedily ; young nettles also, if boiled
and mashed up, they like much. lb.
Creosote a Preserver or Wood from Sea-
worms. — Some time ago one of your corresjiond-
ents requested information as to the means of pre-
serving wood from the ravages of sea- worms. It
is not generally known that some experiments
made last century in Plymouth Sound [loinled out
that timber when paid with cheap oils remained
intact, though other pieces of it sunk in the same
place were much worm-eaten. Oil of tar was, 40
years ago, recommended for paving timber in-
tended for a work in the same Sound, and latterly
creosote, or oil of tar, has become of very general
use for the protection and preservation of wood in
bridges, railsva}' sleepers, &c. Creosote is the
cheapest of all oils, but for some purposes its ap-
plication is objectionable, since it renders wood
so highly inflammable that insurance offices refuse
to insure any works impregnated with it, and its
noisome and long-enduring smell render its use
improper in Various instances, such as in struc-
tures for horticultural purposes, for example.
Where the latter disadvantage may be considered
as prohibiting the use of creosote, cheap oils free
from smell, as whale oil, would probably be
equally etfectual in preserving wood from sea-
worms. Gard. Chronicle.
The Cueculio— Successful Experiment with
Whitewash.' — I wish to communicate a single
fact in relation to the cmculio— that pest of the
plum-grower. The ravages of this insect have
been the past season more than usually destruc-
tive of the smooth stone fruits in this neighbor-
hood. We usually escape without suffering much
from his depredations.
Of the plum trees in my garden, all of which
are yoimg, three only set fruit the last spring.
These three were in June well covered with young
fruit. As the fruit attained about half an inch
diameter, the presence of tlie curculio was clearly
indicated by the falling of tiic fruit, and the pecu-
liar crescent puncture upon many plums still on
the trees. Two of the three trees stand in an
unfrequented part of the garden; the other, near
the house by a wall, where it is passed by every
half hour, or oftcner, in the day. Having seen
the use of whitewash recommended, I procured
some for the experiment, and syringed thoroughly
one of the trees — fruit, leaves and all — with the
whitewash. From this time, it was evident that
the enemy had withdrawn from this tree. No
further attention was given to any of the trees to
prevent the work of the curculio. The result is,
that of the two trees standing in the part of the
garden least frequented, the one whitewashed
matured a heavy crop of beautiful plums; the
other lost every plum — not one remaining beyond
about the middle of July. The tree near the
house matured a fine crop of fruit, though much
less than the one syringed.
This experiment, although by no means war-
ranting the conclusion that whitewash will prove
an unfailing remedy for the curculio, seems to
ofler encouragement sufficient to justify its further
use, with the hope that it may enable us to defeat
in part, at least, his mischievous efiects. Very
truly yours, C. P. Williams. Albany , Septem^
ber'l2th, 1850.
Barked Teees. — In the Horticulturist for Sep-
tember, p. 149, your correspondent, Mr. Law-
ton, relates a singular instance of two apple trees
being divested of their bark, for at least forty
inches up the stems ; the surface thus exposed
being hard and dry, yet the trees are loaded with
fruit of tlie finest size, and the trees of the most
healthy appearance. He asks if such cases are
frequent, what supports the life of the tree, and
bow is nourishment conve3'ed to the branches?
The facts stated by Mr. Lawton, are a very
striking illustration of the power possessed bj'
exogenous trees, of changing their functions, in
cases of emergency, and propelling their fluids by
dilTerent channels from those in which they natu-
rally flow. In ordinary circumstances, the sap of
exogens ascends through the alburnum (the new-
est laver of wood.) and descends through the li-
ber, (or inner coaling of bark,) both of which, in
the case alluded to, were entirely destroyed.
The sap, therefore, on reaching the denuded por-
tion of the stem, must have taken a lateral com-
munication through the wood, then assumed it.s
longitudinal course until it reached the top of the
annulation, when it again diverged from its chan-
nel into the alburnum.
This is nothing more than a case of " ringing "
though rather a severe one. When this opera-
tion is practiced upon a tree, its eflect is to di-
verge the ascending sap into the stratum of wood
beneath the annulated part; but when it has
passed by, it again returns into its accustomed
channel. Whether the quantify of fluid be dimin-
ished, bv being thus diverted from its course, I
am unable to say, though I have no doubt there is
a considerable loss by evaporation from the de-
nuded part, which accounts for the check given to
branches of trees on which this operation is per-
formed.
A tree can no more bud, blossom, bear fruit
and ripen it, during a season without food, than a
human being could perform daily labor for the
same time without sustenance. Neither plants
nor animals have the power of oreaiing that
which did not previously exist. They are, there-
fore, entirely dependent upon .surrounding supplies,
for the matter wherewith to maintain and enlarge
their structures. It cannot be supposed that the
stored-up sap of the tree could alone produce the
summer shoots, the flowers, and the fruit ; for we
know that the supply must be e{iual to the quan-
tity drawn up the leaves; otherwise the ducts
would be emptied, just as a lamp becomes empty
by the drawing up of the fluid by the wick^ ex-
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
197
actly as is the case with trees dcpendinj^f solely
upon the stored-uji sap of a tree will — especially
in moist weather — produce leaves, and young
shoots of some length; hut it never produces flow-
ers and ripens fruit. If the trees here spoken of,
therefore, were not nourished in the manner here
described, physiology points out no other method
by which nourishment could he supplied to them.
Such cases as those alluded to by your corres-
pondent, are by no means uncommon, and may
frequently be found in open lands and neglected
orchards, where cattle are allowed to run at
large; but I have never seen an instance in which
the tree was not peimanently injured, when da-
maged to such an extent, and seldom will they
produce perfect fruit. Cases to the contrary may
exist ; but they are exceptions to the rule. The
alburnum of a tree is the most sensitive portion
of the whole structure, and cannot be injured to
any great extent, without producing sensible in-
jury. The alburnum may be said to contain the
life blood of the tree, antl should never be injured
by the operation of ringing; as by taking away
the bark and liher, the end will be gained. The
functions of a tree may be suddenly suspended
without injury to the blossoms or fruit; but if the
alburnum be deslioycd, the fruit of the same sea-
son will drop ofl", or be otherwise won bless.
I am aware that trees have been found to live
for some time after the bark, the liber, and the
whole of the sap wood had been taken away, in a
lateral ring. Fortuitous circumstances may pre-
serve the tree for a short time under such condi-
tions, but it soon dies. On the other hand, trees
have lived for hundreds of years, when the inte-
rior layers of wood were rotten. In fact, our
forests supply innumerable instances of trees ex-
isting for centuries with nothing but the bark, tiie
liber, and a few externa! layers of young wood,
which decays invariably as fast as it is made by
the annual depositions. Respectfully yours, R.
B. Leuchars. September 14th, 1850.
Oswego Hort. Society. — I send you herewith
a paper, containing the proceedings of the Oswego
Horticultural Society, at the September exhibition
in this city. The display of flowers was exceed-
ingly fine, — the floral de]iartment comprising eve-
rything " rich and rare." Vegetables, abundant
and choice, from the Lima bean to a red cab-
bage; the "City Garden" of Alderman Oliver
furnishing the substantials in abundance. The
contributions to the fiuit department comprised,
say a hundred varieties, new in this region.
Planters are just beginning to gather from larse
plantations, commenced here in 1845, and contin-
ued to the present day. Although the season has
been unfavorable, the show of peaches was mag-
nificent in profusion and variety. The Large
Early York (not serrate,) from Mr. Worden's
grounds, taking the first premium. The display
of pears from the nursery grounds of Messrs. Al-
len & Kline, and S. Worden, together witii large
cf)ntributions from private gardens, show the de-
gree of interest and success in the cultivation of
tills delicious fruit. Among other choice things,
the tables were graced, lor the first time, with
the nectarine. There were large donations of
perfectly mature grapes, grown without extra
care. Among these, preeminent were the Isabel
la and Sweet-Water. VVe want the Diana to
crown the whole. At the close of the exhibition,
all articles not removed were sold. Amount re-
alised from sales and at the door, $75. Income
of the society this year, over and above premi-
ums and contingent expenses, not short of $300.
Yours, &c. J. M. Casey, Rec. Sec^y. Oswego,
September 19, 1850.
Burr's New Pine Stramberry. — In your Sep-
tember number, Mr. J. Burr makes an effort to
relieve himself from the responsibility of sending
me spurious strawberry plants for the Burr's New
Pine, by shifting it on Mr. Sites, the person to
whom he had sold ids " place, some two months
previous" to the receipt of my order, which seems
to call for some notice from me. I should have
been glad if he could have made a more satisfac-
tory apology. I know nothing of Mr. Sites; he
nmy be a very honest and correct man; there is
nothing in Mr. Burr's showing to the contrary.
It is hardly likely tiiat the plants would become
confused in the short space of two montiis in the
winter. His effort, therefore, to shove me off on
to another party with whoin I have never corres-
ponded on the subject, can avail him nothing.
He sliould have J^ent the order back to me with
the $10, or asked me if I wished him to hand it
over to his successor. I was very particular in
stating to him the reason for sendi.ig it, which
was to avoid committing mistakes in supplying
my eastern correspondents; as I liad some fears
that mv own stock had become mixed. I have
refunded to the parties to whom I sent the spuri-
ous plants the money received, — it being the best
redress I could make them. This Mr. B. has not
felt it his business to do; but thinks it all suffi-
cient to make an effort to rid himself from the re-
sponsibility. I could have done so with as much
plausibility. Very respectfully yours, ^. H.
Ernst. Spring Gardens, Cincinnati, September
6th. 1850.
The New-York State Fair. — The exhibition
of the New-York State Agricultural Society took
place at Albany on the 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th of
September. It was another grand display of the
industrial products of the people of this great
state, and was witnessed with delight by a vast
multitude of people, gathered chiefly from this
and the New-England states, though many were
present from other states of the Union, from the
Canadas, from Nova Scotia and New-Brunswiek,
and several from various foreign countries. The
number of people was considerably greater than
198
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
at any previous show, as is shown by the receipts,
being upwards ot'iwo thousand dollars more.
The general disi)lay was fully equal to any for-
mer one; indeed, with one or two exce))tions, the
departments were better filleech
trees for protection, from an idea that they were
not liable to be struck by lightning; certain it is,
that I saw none, notwithstanding the prevalence
of large sized beeches in many districts. The
elm above alluded to at Pitferrane, had an iron
fence standing close to it, which was supposed by
the inhabitants to have had some influence in at-
tracting the fluid. The above observations are
thrown out, in the hope of ascertaining if there
be anything in the composition of one species of
tree rendering it less liable than another to elec-
tiic influence." Several other members present
at the meeting mentioned that the beech, the
horse chestnut, and the ash, had all been struck
by lightning Cottage Gardener.
Primodval Vegetation. — The olive-leaf which
the dove brought to Noah established at leant
three important facts, and indicated a few more.
It showed most conclusively that there was dry
land, that there were olive trees, and that the cli-
mate of the surrounding regions whatever change
it might have undergone, was still favorable to
the development of vegetable life; and, farther, it
might be very safely inferred from it that, if olive
trees had survived, other trees and plants must
have survived also; and that the dark muddy pro-
minences round which the ebbing currents were
fast sweeping to lower levels, would soon present,
as in antidiluvian times, their coverings of cheer-
ful green. The olive leaf spoke not of merely a
partial, but of a general vegetation. Now the
coniferous lignite of the lower old red sandstone
we find charged, like the olive leaf, with a vari-
ous and singularly interesting evidence. It is
something to know that, in the times of the Coc-
costeus and Asterolepis, there existed dry land,
and that that land wore, as at after periods, its
soft, gay mantle of green. It is something also
to know, that the verdant tint was not owing to
a profuse development of the mere immaturities
of the vegetable kingdom — crisp, slow-growing
lichens, or watery spare-propagated fungi that
shoot up to their full size in a night — nor even to
an abundance of the more highly organized fami-
lies of the liverworts, and the mosses. These
may have abounded then, as now; though we
have not a shadow of evidence that they did. But
while we have no proof whatever of their exist-
ence, we have conclusive proof that there existed
238
FOREIGN NOTICES.
orders and families of a rank far above them. On
the drj' land of the lower old red sandstone, on
which, according to the theory of Adolphe Brong-
niart, nothing higher than a lichen or a moss
could -have been expected, the ship-carpenter
might have hopefully taken axe in hand, to ex-
plore the woods for some such stately pine as the
one described by Milton: —
" Hewn on Norwegian hills, 1o be the mast
Of some great admiral."
— Miller's Foot-prints of the Creator.
Different Berries in the Same Bunch of
Grapes. — In the autumn of 1846, I found, near
Mersberg, bunches of grapes bearing, at the same
time, on one side, white Burgundy, and on the
other red Riilander, or even red Riilander and
black Burgundy; the berries, therefore, were dif-
ferent in colour, size and flavor. The cause of
this phenomenon was, that the three kinds of
grape in question were planted side by side in
continuous rows, so that the pollen might easily
be carried from the flowers ol one to the stigmas
of the others. Among other circumstances which
■warrant this explanation is the fact, that some-
times half, sometimes a third, or even a quarter,
of the berries of a bunch belonged to the ditTerent
sorts, and that these occurred on that side of it
next the plant of that kind. — M.Jack, in The Flo-
ra. [The same thing we have seen at Stradsett
Park, Norfolk. A se-jdling vine raised there pro-
duces both black and white grapes on the same
bunch; but they are worthless. It is, therefore,
very doubtful whether the transmission of pollen
had anything to do with the change of colour.
Gard. Magazine of Botany.']
Chinese Rice-paper, or Bok-shung. — The
substance commonly called Rice-paper by the
Chinese, is made from the pith ot a plant or tree,
which grows principally in the swampy grounds
in the province of Samswi, in the northern part of
the island of Formosa, where it is said to form
large forests. The bark and rind are, previous to
exportation, stripped from the pith, which is then
called B ok-shung . The iron knife used for cut-
ting this pith weighs about two and a half pounds,
and is of the roughest and coarsest workmanship.
In cutting, the knife is kept quite steady, the cyl-
indrical pith being moA'ed round and round against
the edge of the knife, which is just inserted into
the substance, and thus a leaf or sheet is formed
resembling the most delicate paper, but rather
thick in substance. When brought quickly from
the workman's hands, the paper is in a damp
state. It may have been rendered so in order to
facilitate the smoothing and pressing. It is said
that there is a neat method of joining this paper
when broken, and that it is chiefly made from the
smaller pieces of the Bok-shung, and that the
larger pieces are used in medicine in the same
way as Epsom salts. It is vain to conjecture,
from the pith alone, to what plant or tree this ex-
quisitely beautiful substance belongs. The vulgar
opinion still generally prevails, that because it
bears the name of rice-paper, it is manufactured
from rice; but the slightest inspection with a mi-
croscope exhibits the exquisitely delicate medul-
lary portion of a dicotyledonous stem. Again,
from an affinity with the well-known Shola of the
East Indies, (of which floats and buoys for fisher-
men, and the very light hats of Sincapore are
made,) many have supposed, and even Chinese
travellers have declared, that Rice-paper is made
from this, the -.Eschynomene paludosa; but a
comparison of the two will clearly show t!ie dif-
ference. Both are light and spongy, but the
Shola is far less delicate than the Bok-shung.
A Chinese drawing of what is said to be the Rice-
paper plant is in possession of Dr. Lindley, but
neither flower nor fruit is represented. Some
have conjectured this to be a malvaueous plant,
others araliaceous. We have seen in the branches
of the common fig (Ficus carica) a copious me-
dulla, very much resembling, in its texture and
pure whiteness, that of the Bok-shung. Hooker's
Journal of Botany.
Gromier du Cantal Grape. — At the present
day, the vine is distributed very extensively over
the globe, in countries where the mean summer
temperature reaches 67 degrees Fahrenheit. The
hmit to which the culture of the vine extends in
France, forms an oblique line, which, beginning at
the coast above Nantes, passes a little beyond
Paris, Laissons, and the confluent of the Moselle
and the Rhine. Beyond this line the vine does
not ripen its fruit in the open ground, and can
only be grown in a A'inery, or, in favored situa-
tions, on espaliers, a method of growing it which
is only applicable to some varieties, such as fur-
nish what are called dessert grapes, {Raisins de
table.) Among the varieties raised from the vine
since its introduction to Europe, and the number
of which, according to M. Odart, may be uj)wards
of a thousand; nearly sixty produce very good
dessert grapes. The Gromier du Cantal is one
of the best quality in this class. Unfortunately,
when the northern limits of the vine are approach-
ed, its culture presents considerable difficulty.
Even at Paris it is not readily propagated, or
transplanted, and must be treated with much skill
and care. Notwithstanding this fact, the Gro-
mier du Cantal may be almost considered as an
exception; for, round Paris, it is found to ripen
its fruit, even in the most exposed situation. The
bunches are irregular, and measure from ten to
twelve inches in breadth, weighing about three
pounds. The berry is large, round, and of a rose
colour; the skin is thickish and the flesh firm, and
very agreeably flavored. Revue Horticole.
Deodar Cedar. — The Deodar Cedar (C. Deo-
dara,) is found on the Himalayas at an elevation
FOREIGN NOTICES.
239
of from 7,000 to 12,000 feet; and, as it is now
becoming well known in this country, it is almost
superfluous to remark that it is, perhaps, the
most ornamental coniferous tree ever intro-
duced, and that, from its great beauty, rapid
growth, perfect hardiness, and valuable timber, it
is exceedingly well suited for being extensively
planted in woods, parks, and pleasure grounds.
Dr. Falconer gives the dimensions of a fallen Deo-
dar which he saw on the Himalayas, as thirty-six
feet in circumference at the base, and one hundred
and thirty feet in length. The same authority
states that timber of the Deodar, taken from a
temple supposed to have existed at least 1000
years, was, to all appearance, as soimd as when
first placed there, not affording a dwelling to even
a solitary insect. Burnes, in his Travels in the
Mysore, states that, " the frameworks of the hou-
ses are made of Deodar Cedar, which is floated
down with the inundations of the river Schem, or
Hyda.spes, from the Himalaya. The durability
and fragrance of the wood," he adds, " recom-
mend it for buildings of every description." He
further observes that he saw a " cedar tree lying
on the banks of the Hydaspes, with a ailii/ Spice.
Eye — Closed, set in a narrow basin of medium
depth.
Season — From 20th September to 20th October.
Growth — Moderately vigorous; wood is smooth;
young shoots reddish brown and downy; foilage
light".
Notes ox Rare Ornamental Trees. — My
Dear Sir: In addition to the rare trees you men-
tioned, in your article upon Rivers' nursery, in
the October number of the Horticulturist, will you
allow me to suggest the following, as well worthy
the attention of those planters who are desirous
of forming valuable collections ?
Berberis c an ad e7is is, v,'ith yellow pendant flowers.
Tilia glabra vert, with immensely large foliage
.Acer obtusatum.
Acer monspessulanum
Acer illyricum.
Acer pseudo platanus, variegated.
Rohinia pyramidala.
Robinia umbraculifera tortuosa. This is a very
peculiar variety of the French Parasol Locust
Lathyrus latifolium.
Sophora variegata.
Cytipus alpinus.
Cercis siliquastrum.
Cerasus Lamo cerasus.
Rubrus spectabilis variegata.
Sambucus nigra laciniata — very fine foliage.
All the above are perfectly hardy in the Botanic
Garden at Geneva, in Switzerland, and could be
procured, I presume, of some of the Swiss nurse-
rymen.
DOMESTIC NOTICES.
287
At Booth's gardens, near Hamburgh — a climate
much severer than ours, (as it will not admit of
the cultivation of the peach,) there is an extremely
pretty climber — the Tropeolum pentaphylluvi* —
■which stands their winters unprotected. I saw there
also an evergreen Cupressus dixticha — certainly one
of the most graceful of evergreens, which is unin-
jured by the severest weather. There is also
there a curious ash — Fraxinus hetrophylla — and
also a birch — Betula pendula laciniata, which is
exceedingly graceful and delicate. Two pretty
additions to our weeping trees, are Cotoneaster
buxifolia and Cotoneaster microphylla, if trained
up to a standard of four or five feet, and then al-
lowed to fall down from a head, instead of being
grown bushy, as is usually the case.
Bachelor's Buttons, Four o'clocks,and Chrysan-
themums are planted in masses by themselves in
the German gardens, with good effect. Yours
with much regard, H. W. Sargent. Wodenethe,
Fishkill Landing, N. Y., October 18, 1850.
Taste in Landscape Gardening. — To an
American eye, the charm of European gardens is
rather owing to the novelty of their natural pro-
ductions, than to the style of their arrangement.
The grand scale of our scenery renders all tricks
paltry by comparison; and the artificial substi-
tutes for natural diversity, give a scenic, rather
than a picturesque efTect. The elegance of Ver-
sailles is apparent and unrivalled; but this quali-
ty rather offends than delights, when applied to
external nature. At Rome, the clipped, dense
evergreens, weather-stained marbles, and humid
alleys of the Villa Borghcse, do not win the ima-
gination like the vast, uncultivated campagna. A
fine English park, with smooth roads intersecting
natural forests, is more truly beautiful than a par-
terre surrounded by fantastic patterns of box, or
studded with bowers and temples, like the back
scene of a play. The famous villa of the eccen-
tric nobleman near Palermo, assures the traveller
to what an extent a love of the grotesque may be
carried in converting a residence of fine natural
capabilities into an architectural and horticultural
museum. Indeed, all experiments in this field of
human ingenuity, simply prove that the judicious
adaptation of natural advantages to beautiful and
useliil results, is all that c^n be wisely attempted.
A clearing here, a path there, filling up a hollow,
levelling a hill, letting in sunshine and shutting
out the view of deformity — in a word, modifying
the primitive aspect, and not substituting art for
nature, is the sign of a healthful taste. Such is
the Aniilo-Saxon tendency as manifest in their no-
ble appreciation of forest trees by Evelyn, and in
the absence of the finical in most English and
American homesteads. A disposition to decorate
nature is altogether French; and its appearance
on the other side of the channel, has always been
* This is well known in our green-houses, and we are de-
Lghted to hear that it is hardy. Eb.
coincident with periods of conventional taste in
society and letters. The formal elegance of a
French garden or villa, differs from the picturesque
exuberance of an American woodland or an Eng-
lish meadow, just as Shakspeare differs from Ra-
cine. The one lays open nature for our cordial
recognition ; the other trims her after a classic or
fanciful pattern; the one abounds in sugcestion,
the other in technicalities. Tuckerman's Charac-
teristics of Literature.
To MAKE Young Pear Trees Bear. — Mr.
Downing; I was afflicted by the sight in my gar-
den, for 4 or 5 years, of the most luxuriant and
thrifty young pear trees, which would not bear, but
all their strength ran to wood. Vexed at this, I re-
solved to try the eflbct of bending down the branch-
es, so as to check the flow of sap and cause them
to form fruit-buds instead of wood-buds. According-
ly, the first week in Dec, 1847, 1 filled my pockets
with stout twine; I drove down some pegs into
the ground underneath my trees, (which had
branched low, so as to make dwarfish heads;) I
then tied a string to the end of every long shoot,
and gradually bringing down the end of the limb
till it curved down so as to make a considerable
bend or bow, I fastened it in that position, either
by tying the other end of the string to the peg, or
to another branch or a part of the trunk.
According to my expectation, the tree next
year changed its habit of growth, and set an
abundance of fruit-buds. Since that I have had
plentiful crops of fruit without trouble — taking
•rood care not to let many branches go on the up-
right system. j1 Delaware Subscriber.
Protecting Trees against Mice. — Many are
the remedies that have been proposed, to guard
trees in winter — especially fruit trees — from being
girdled by field mice. The simplest of all is the
following, strongly vouched for by an experienced
and reliable cultivator, Mr. Thomas, in the Al-
bany Cultivator:
'■ Prevention of this disaster," says Mr. T., " is
one of the easiest and most certain things in the
world, consisting simply in throwing up a little
circular bank or mound of earth, around the trunk
of each tree, nine or ten inches high. One man
will do himdreds in a day, and we have never
known a single instance, out of thousands of cases,
where it has failed.'"
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
Preserving Bulbs. — W. Otis, (New-York.)
Hang the Tiger Flower and Gladiolus roots up in
the cellpr for four or five days, until they are dry,
and then cut ofTthe tops and pack the roots away
in a box, with an inch or two of perfectly dry
earth or sand over and under them. The box
(with a lid to it to prevent mice, which are very
fond of Tiger Flowers, from devouring them,) may
288
DOMESTIC NOTICES
now be put in some dry place, out of sight in the
green-house, or in the cellar, if you have one
quite free from frost. If you dry your Dahlia
roots, by. letting them stand in an airy place for a
few days before you put them away, you will not
lose any. They will keep perfectly well after-
wards, upon a shelf in the cellar, or on the top of
potatoes in the bin, if no frost gets there.
Dry Cellarj. — W. Avery. Of course, in build-
ing, you must provide a drain to the basement j
and if you wish to make the walls perfectly dry,
in a damp sub-soil, you had better lay them up
with mortar, made with Hydraulic cement, instead
of common lime. Of course, you will fur-off before
lathing the inside walls.
A FEW GOOD Fruits. — P. R. S. (Baltimore.)
Plant the following in your limited grounds: Ap-
pies — Early Harvest, Porter, Yellow Bellefleur,
Rhode Island Greening, Newtown Pippin. Pears
— Dearborn's Seedling, Rostiezer, Bartlett, Seckel,
Paradise d'Automne, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre
d'Aremberg. Winter Nelis. Cherries — May Duke,
Black Tartarian, Elton, Black Eagle. Downer's
Late. Belle Magniiique. Peaches — Early York,
George IV, Olumixon Free-stone, Snow, Bergen's
Yellow, Heath Cling. Plums — Rivers' Early Fa-
vorite, Yellow Gage, Green Gage, Jefferson, Pur-
ple Favorite, Smith's Orleans, Coe's Golden Drop.
A Good Lawn.— IF., (Philadelphia.) "The
matter" with your lawn, that it turns brown in
summer, is that the soil is thin, and does not bear
the drouth well. If you will break it up and
trench it 21 feet deep, you may have a deep green
lawn all summer. The roots must be able to run
down below the reach of parching mid-summer
heat, or you cannot expect the turf to remain
fresh.
Old Pear Trees.— ^. M'J., (Buffxlo.) Don't,
for the world, cut down your pear trees. You are
lucky to have them, though " they are 30 years
old, and the fruit is universally sour." You should
graft their tops all over with Bartlett, Ononda-
ga, and Oswego Beurre, or some other good sorts
that suit your climate ; and in three or four years'
time you may gather bushels of the best fruit from
those very trees. April is the time for grafting,
and the trees will do best if you graft the top or
highest part of the head next spring, and the side
branches the following season. It is better to put
but one sort upon a tree, though there is no diffi-
culty in grafting a dozen or more, if you desire it.
W. F., (Boston.) You have not succeeded in
renovating the old Seckel pear trees in your gar-
den, because you have thought it sufficient to give
them top-dressings. Dig a trench all round the
tree, remove as much of the soil as possible, and
replace it with new soil, air-slaked lime, bone
dust, &c., and you will meet with your reward.
Vines for Verandas. — A Lady Reader, (Lou-
isville, Ky.) We recommend the following: Chi-
nese Twining Honeysuckle, Chinese Wistaria,
Queen of the Prairies Rose, Sweet Scented Cle-
matis. If you wish to cover the long shed, use
Virginia Creeper and the Trumpet Flower (Big-
nonia.)
Green-house Plants. — A Novice, (Pittsburgh.)
Your Fuchsias, which have flowered finely all
summer, and have now lost their leaveS; will be
much better off if you allow them to rest all win-
ter, than if you excite them into new growth. If
you have a dry cellar, where the frost does not
enter, carrj- the plants there, and set them upon
a shelf out of the reach of rats or mice. Let them
go quite dry, — watering them only two or three
times all winter. They will not mind cold, or
even a slight frost, if quite dry. When they show
signs of starting again, towards spring, take them
out, pot them afresh, put them in the green-house
or frame, and they will bloom much more abun-
dantly than this year. — j1., (Chicago.) To give
more gaiety to your little collection, you should
have a stock of Chinese Primroses, Hyacinths,
and Cinerarias, which will bloom continually from
November to May. The first and last are easily
reared from seeds, to be had at the seed shops.
Sow them about June or July. Your Daphnes are
yellow, from the want of the right soil. Take
some sods, and roast or burn them on a brush
heap, and chop them up fine; add to one part of
this an equal part of decayed leaf-mould from the
woods, and half as much fine sand. Turn the
plant out of the pot, loosen or break the ball of
earth, tlirowing away a good part of it. Re-pot
it in the new compost, and it will soon put on a
different aspect.
Stiff Clay Soil. — T. Williams. (Brooklyn.)
Your garden soil, which is so stiff and unmanagea-
ble, may be much ameliorated, if at this season
you will throw it up into ridges, and expose it
thus to the action of frost all winter. Hard-coal
ashes are an excellent dressing to make it light;
and if you can get fresh stable manure, mixed
with litter, have a good coat spread over the sur-
face before ridging it, by which means it will be-
come mixed with the soil, thus keeping it more
open to allow the frost to penetrate, enriching it
at the same time.
Edgings. — R., (Poughkeepsie, N. Y.) One
of the prettiest edgings is made by planting cut-
tings of the variegated-leaved Euonymus, — a
shrub from Japan that is quite hardy here, and
may be had in any of the nurseries. It is
evergreen, and grows very thriftily. The leaves
are green, edged with silver; it may be kept
low by clipping, and is much less stiff than
box.
NOTICE.
In eompllance with the suggestions of many of our subscribers, and believing it will
be more satisfactory to the public generally, we close the Fifth Volume of the Hor-
ticulturist with the December number, in order that the future volumes may com-
mence and end with the year.
The next volume (the 6th,) will commence with the January number, when we
hope to make some important improvements in the mechanical execution of the
work ; and no efforts will be spared, by either Editor or Publisher, to render the
work still more worthy of the liberal patronage it is receiving.
GENERAL INDEX.
A.
Acclimating exotic plants, 88
Agricultural improvements, 25
Bureau, importHnce of, 132
Sclioi 1, propo:-9
Bloom, how to prolong 239
Botanic Garden. Regents Park 268
Botanical nomenclature, improve-
ments in suggested, . . 141, 187, 233
Botany, native, notes on, 51
Brewnig at home, 85
Brick dust for cuttings 284
Brmjinansia knightii 55
Budding, cause of failure in, .55
Bulbs, to keep ni winter, 287
C.
Calceolaria, culture of 78
choice of plants, 79
properties ot", 83
repotting or sliitnng, 80
seeds and seedlings, 82
selecting from seedlings, 82
select list of, 83
treatment of after blooming,. . 83
Cape Jasmine, proper soil tor, 55
Carnations, to grow from layers,... 55
Caragana pygniea, 1-6
Catalogues, overgrown, 24
Cattle, improved, 25
great sale of in England, 42
sale of Mr. Sheafe-s, 98
Ca>Tiga lake 240
Cedar, deodar, 125, 155. 2.38
atlas, 186
transplanting, 2-4
Cellars, to make dry 2^8
Cestrum aurantiacum 270
Chatswortli. description of 217
CHERRIES:
Champagne, (with figure.) ... 76
Downing's Red-cheek, 77
Dr. Kirtland's seedlings, . .102, 211
Notes on, 76
Reine Hortense, 76
Robert's Red Heart 76
Cherry trees, dwarf weepins' 195
to raise from seed. 55
Chestimt, American, .... 214
horse, 215
Chester county (Pa.) Hort. .'society, 100
China Asters, to select seeds ot", 91
Clunese plants, notices of, 94
Chinese rice paper, 2.39
Wistaria, 49, 55, 2-3
Chrysanthemums, culture of, 235
Claytonia virginica, 51
Clinton Point vinery, 47
Cofl'ee, uses of in Arabia, 189
Coal cinders for pear trees, 67
Conservatory at Cliatsworth, 221
Country Ilou.ses, Architecture of,. 10, 139
places in autunni, 249
villages, remarks, on, 65
winter pleasures in, 273
Cream Hill, vindicated 70
Creosote, will preserve W(>od from
w-orms, 195
Criticism criticised, 26
Critique on May Horticulturist, 23
on June do, 65
Cucumbers, to preserve from bugs, . 98
Curculio. description of, 253
destroyed by whitewash, 196
paving as a preventive, .30
remarks on, 92
whitewash and lime for, 215
Curl in the peach leaf, 27
Cuttings, bell glasses for, Ifl
grown in brick dust, 284
in the open air, 14
in propagating houses, 15
in water and trenches, 171
of monocotyledons and dicoty-
ledons, 17
of roots, 18
of pieces of the trunk, 63
of leaves, 1 70
propagating hou.-,e for, 15
pots for, 16
raising plants froin, ...14,63,170
soil proper for, 14
scale and slit 171
upon exhausted hotbeds 15
upon roots and without heat,. . 172
with a heel, 64
Cytisus, weeping, 125
!».
Dahlias, fine sorts of 180
to prolong bloom of, 2;19
to select seeds of, 91
Daphne odora, 242
Dates, culture of in Morocco, 175
Death of Wm Kirby, .... 144
Decorative gardening, 208
Deodar cedar 125, 933
at Kcw n;irdens, 155
Derbyshire, England 264
Drooping trees, notices of, 123
GENERAL INDEX.
E
Edgings, new planl for, 2S8
Effects of locality on temperature,. . 20
Elm tree insects, 55
Elms, American and Dutch, 213
Huntington, 166
larye 156
weepiiiar, 124
J^rie railroad, trip on 24(1
Euonynius, variegated leaved, 2>8
Evergreen trees, drooping:, 125
management of, IGl
propagation of, 206
resloringleadingstalkof, IGl
shortening in, IGl
transplanting, 160
Experiment, interesting, 147
with soils, 224
with trees, IGO
F.
Farming. English, 159
Favonte poison of America, 201
Figs, culture of in Morocco, 176
Fiis, Douglas and nobilis, 222
Flowers, an essay on, .33
annual, 247
cause of failure with, I35
double, to obtain, 19 1
how to prolong, 2.39
monstrous, ISO
prairie, 13.3
raising seedling, 91
Forcing strawberries, 188
Forests, value of. 137
Fountains, at Chats worth 219, 220
at the Vatican, 210
at Palazzo Fornesi, 210
remarks on, 208
at St. Peters, 209
FRUITS— A few good, 288
Effects of moisture on, 103
Grown in Illinois, 133
Notes on, 199. 241
Of Morocco, 17.3
Packing, 19.3
Rooms, how lo build, 282
Transn.ulalion of, . . . . 32,150
To preserve, 92
To save from pilterers, 151
Fruit trees, cause of gum in, 226
culture of at the south,
23, 255
at the west, 48
compost for 256
effects of frost on, 21
of the sun on, . . 258
failure of at the south,. 75
in Rivers' nurseries,... 182
planting and mulching, 165
pruning young, 55
Fuchsias, very large, 270
Gardeners, practical school for, 52
Gardening, decorative, notes on,. . . . 208
moral influence of, 93
villa and suburban, 145
Gardens, at .Shanghae, China, 94
Bartram's. Philadelphia, 253
Botanic, London, 268
market, near London, 84
National, at Kew, 153
Gardens, quick lime for old, 282
Working 86
Geraniums, culture of, 70, 145
criterion of, 74
fancy varieties, 145
monstrous flowers of, 189
Prize, 240
Propagation by roots and seed, 72
by cuttings, 145
select list of, 74
Ginko or Salisburia, 215
God mthe flower 281
Gooseberry, culture of, 280
select lists of, 281
Graft, influence of stock on, 257
GRAPE.S — Answer to inquiry about, 55
Clinton I'oint vinery, 47
Culture, notes on, 54
at Cincinnati, 59
in Morocco, 177
in green-houses, 43
ill illniois, 132
in vineries, 47, 50, 198
Diana, 228
Different berries in same bunch 238
Foreign, 258
Gros Coulard, 183
Gromier du Cantel, .... 238
Insect on vines, 52
Native, remarks on, 55
Pruning, ....12, 29,43
Purple Fontainbleau, 182
Packing 194
Successful culture of, 11
Tanbark for vine borders, .... 50
Three best sorts, 247
Trellise for, 11
Vines, manure for, 247
Zinfindal, remarks on,. 22, 27, 128
Green-house plants, exposing in sum-
mer, . . . . ; 189
Care of, 288
GREEN-HOUSES:
Hints about building, 110, 184
ill Kew Gardens, 154
at ChatswortI 221
in Botanic Gardens,Lon-
don, 269
notices of, 198
Guano, London, 92
Gum, cause of in stone-fruit trees,. . 226
H.
Habrothamnus elegans, 270
Haddon Hall. Eiig., description of,. . 264
Hallica chalybea, or grape vine flea-
beetle, 52
Hardiness of plants in New-Jersey,. 50
Hardy herbaceous plants 236
Heading back transplanted trees, . . . 2S5
Heart of New- York, visit to, 240
Hedera regneriana 186
Hedges, ornamental, 100
Heliotrope. Souvenir de Liege, 243
Hemlock for lawns, 125
Horse Chestnut, 215
Horticultural buildings, 110, 184
shows, remarks on, 105
House bugs, to destroy, 191
Hoyt's greenhouse, Astoria, 199
Hyacinths in pots, 270
¥.
Illinois, horticulture in, 131
large orchards in, 134
rough notes from, 167,131
Ink for zinc labels 91
Insect on elm trees, 55
on grapevines, 52
J.
Japait lilies, 190
K.
Kenilworth, ruins of, 122
Kentucky Hort. Society, 200
Kew, National Gardens at, 153
L
Labels, ink for zinc, 91
Landscape gardening, taste in, 287
Larch. European, 215
^veeping, 186
Lawns, laying out and planting, .... 162
to have good , 2S8
Lemon, culture of, in Morocco, 174
Letter lo ladies in town, 67
Letters from England, 117, 153, 217, 264
Lightning, effects of on trees, 237
Lilies, Japan, 190
Lime for old gardens, 282
Linden-trees, disease in, 55
common, 215
weeping, 124, 186
London guano, 92
Horticultural Society's exhibi-
tion, 142
Magnolias, notices of, 215
iVIanures for fruit trees, 256
Maple, ash-leaved 213
purple-leaved, 186
Silver and Sycamore, 214
Market Gardens near London, 84
Massachusetts Agricultural School,. 47
Hort. Society, June exhibition, 49
annual exhibition,
242, 245
Medicinal effects of hard water, .... 233
Melons, culture of in France, 277
how to grow, 198
to preserve from bugs, 98
Mexican vegetation 8^3
Mice, to protect trees from, 287
Moisture, effects of on fruit, 103
Mole-trap, Crist's 77
Aloral influence of gardening, 93
Morocco, fruits of, 173
Motion of s'lp in plants, 89
Mulching fruit trees, 165
good effects of, 67
strawberries with tan, . 168
tan bark for, 49, 68, 168
IV.
Names of plants, important, 144
Native botany, 51
Nectarine, the Stanwick, 41
from a peach pit, 32, 150
Negundo tree, 213
New-Bedford Hort. Society, annual
exhibition of, 242
New- York State Fair, 197
heart of, 240
Nomenclature, botanical, 141, 233
scientific 187, 2-33
Notes and queries, 243
on ornamental trees, 286
on southern horticulture , 255
Nurseries of T. Rivers, England, . . . 181
Thorburn & Co.'s, 180
O.
Oaks, Overcup and AVillow, 216
variegated leaved, 186
Oranse, culture of in Morocco, 174
Orchards, large, in Illinois, 134
location and aspect of, 244
on north slopes, 283
Ornamental trees, select list of, 213
notes on, 286
Oswego Hort. Society, July exhibi-
tion, 97
August do 151
September do., 197
November do., 285
P.
Packing fruits, 193
Palm-house in Kew Gardens, 154
Parliament houses, 156
P.iw Paw tree, 133
Peach leaves, curl in, 27
and nectarine mystery,. . . . 32, 150
PEACHES :
Early Tillotson and Early Ann, 200
Notes on 200
Packing 194
Raising Seedling 97
Yellow and Red Rareripe, . . . 200
Peach trees, cause of yellows in, ... 24
GENERAL INDEX,
VII
Peach trees, noriliern at tlie south, . . 257
■ on plum stocks, 2^37
priiduclive, 223
- Yellows m, 55
PEARS:
Bonne des Zees 241
Bloodgood, 199
Belle ot' Brussels 199
Dearborn's Seedling, 199
Doyenne, 240
Easter Berganiol, 241
Frederick de Wurtemburj, . . 97
Fredrica Bremer, 241
Moyamensing, 199
Musk Robert, 199
Notes on, 199
Rostiezer, 199
Tyson, 199
Windsor or Summer Belle,. . . 199
Zoar Beauty, 199
Pear trees, blight in, 55
coal cinders for, 67
dwarf, situation for 248
- dwarfinar 184
—— "rowing in Morocco, 178
grafting, 2SS
hints for raising seedling, 23
large plantation of, 1S2
— — management of, 46
old, in Bartram's Garden,. ... 2.33
to make bear, 287
to protect iVom mice, 237
training, 247
Pelargonium — see Geraniitm.
Pfflonias, tree, 49
Pennsylvania Hort. Society, June
exhibition, 56
Julydo. 104
annual do., 148
Augustdo., 152
Septemberdo., 248
Penn. trees and pleasure grounds,. . . 251
Plane-tree, pyramidal, 186
PLAIVTS :
Acclimating exotic, 6S
Green-house, exposing in sum-
mer, 189
Grown at .Sliangliae, 94
Hardy in New-Jersey, 50
Herbaceous, hardy, 236
Motion of sap in, 89
Names of impoi taut, 144
On walls, to protect, 115
To raise from cuttings, 14, 63, 170
To protect tender, 248, 2S1
AVild, names of. 53
PLUMS :
Bin?ham, 200
Claude de Bavay , 1 83
Drapd'Or, 200
Dennison's Superb, .... 200
Ickworth Imperatrice, 241
Jefferson, 183
Lawrence, 200
Notes on, 200
Rivers' Early Prolific, 183
Reine Claude de Bavay, 241
Plum trees, black knots on, 145
Podophyllum peltatum, 51
Poetry of trees, 24
Pomegranate, culture of in Morocco, 178
ormmental flowering ISl
Pomoloeical Congress at Cincinnati, 241
Potato, disease in, 143
Poultry, rearing, 195
Practical hints, by An Old Digger,. . 29
Preserving Iruit. recipe for, 02
Primeval vegetation, 237
Propagating house, 15
Propagation by cuttings, .... 14, 63, 170
Pruning grape vines, 12) 29, 43
■ Perpetual roses, 278
—— root, notes on 216
Purpureum fruiticosum, 186
n.
Raspberries, Monthly Everbearing, 183
need transplanting, 55
Review of Rural Hours 230
- Architecture of Country Hou-
ses, 139
Rhododendrons, culture of, 55
Rivers' Nurseries, England, 181
ROSES :
Augusta, a perpetual, 149
Contmuous Blooming, 46
Culture of in pots, 277
In Rivers' Nursery, 185
Manetti for stocks, 185
Management of Perpetual, . . . 278
Prairie^ history and varieties of, 101
Pruning Perpetual, 278
Select Perpetuuls, 247
Rough notes t'roni the west, 67, J31
Rural Hours, by a lady, 230
life, random thoughts on, 107
Salad ground near Erfurt 91
Sanguiiiaria canadensis, 51
Sap, motion of in plants, 89
St. Louis Hort. Society's Festival.. . 212
Scientific nomenclalure, 187, 233
Singular fact 149
Slugs, to destroy, 91
Snails, to destroy, 91
Soil, importance of stirring, 30
■ Is hard pressed better th;'n po-
rous ? 224
Stift'clay, 2-8
Sophora, Weeping Japan, 125, 190
Southern Iowa, 242
horticulture, notes on, 2-55
Species, transmutation ol', 93
Spring gossip 23
Spruce, Himalayan, 125
Steam culture, 42
Storm of July 5th 99
Stoves anathematized, 202, 283
Stratford, ou Avon, 122
.STRAWBERRIES:
Burr's New Pine, 47. 96. 98. 127.
151, 187,273
Black Prince, 96. 127, 160
British Queen 96. 98, 15]. 273
Boston Pme. 97, 127, 149. 169. 273
Beds, winter coverlns lor,. ... 271
Cusbing ". 127
Crimson Cone, 128, 273
Columbus 96, 127
Culture of, 96, 126, 272
at Buffalo, 149
in pots 183
in western New-York, . 272
Forcing, IsS
Hovey's Seedling, 49, 96, 127,
149, 169, 278
Hudson, 123
Jenny's Seedling, 273
Large Early Scarlet, 127, 149,
169, 273
Lord Spencer, 273
Mulching beds with tan bark,
49, 168, 271
Princess Alice Maude, 273
Packing for transportation, . . . 194
Rival Hudson 96, 169
Ross Phcenix 273
Scarlet IMelting, 127
Singular mode of growing,
183, 244
Striped bugs to destroy, 98
for mulching trees, 149
for mulching strawberries, 49,
163, 271
Taste, remarks on, 259
in landscape gardening, 237
Temperature, effects of locality on,. 20
Tea culture in France, 280
Thorburn & Co.'s green-house, 180, 199
Transmutation of species, 93
of fruits, 32,150
Transplanting, 100, 162, 284
TREES :
Disbarking deciduous .... 161, 196
Drooping, 123
Effects o"f lightning on, 237
Girdled, living, 149, 196
Headi:ig back transplanted, . . 285
In Pennsylvania, 251
In Bartram's Garden, 253
Large, 139, 1.5S
On plan'.ing, 247
Poetry of, 24
Plea for, by Miss Cooper, 136
Raising from seed, 243
Shortening-in, 161
Transplanting, 100
while growing, 162
To give luxuriance to, 250
Trellises lor grapevines, 11
Tulip tree, 214
V.
Vegetation, Mexican, 83
prnneval, 237
Ventilation, importance of, 206
apparatus lor, 283
Verbenas, remarks on, 89
new kinds, 49, 143
Victoria regia, at Chalsworth, 222
history of. 275
in its native waters, 147
Villa and suburban gardening. 145
Villages, country, lemarks on, 65
Vineries, inquiry about, 199
answer to inquiry, 96
Mr. Niblo's, 50, 193
Mr. Van Rensselaer's, 47
Vines for verandas, 289
Vineyards of the west, 57
Virginia Creeper, 266
Visit to Bartram's Garden, 2.53
to Rivers' Nurseries, 181
10 Thorburn Ic Co.'s Nursery, ISO
to J. M. Whitney's Garden,.. . 99
•w.
Walnut, dwarf prolific, 183
Warwick Castle, description of, .... 117
AVashiiigtou anecdote of, 254
AVasps, destruction of, 190
AValcr, medicinal effects of hard,. . . . 2.33
Watering plants, 29
AVheelbarrow, horticultural, 1.30
Wild plants, names of, 53
Willow, Weepinar, 123, 185, 214
Wilson, the ornilhologisl, 255
Wimpole, description of, 157
Winemaking, experiment in, 13
Wiiic made at Cincinnati, .59
Winter pleasures in the country,. . . . 273
AVire-worm, to destroy, 91
Wislaria sinensis, 49, 55, 2?3
AVoiid. to preserve from worms, .... 195
Woolen rags as manure, 45
AVoolsey's green-house, 199
Worcester Horticultural Socicty;242, 246
Yellows, cause of, 24
remedy for, 5ci
Tamarisk tree, 186
Tan bark tor vine borders, 50
Z.
Zinc labels, ink for,.
INDEX TO CORRESPONDENTS.
An Old Digger, New- York, 29
Allen, Lewis F., Black Rock, . . .30, 165
A Canadian Nurseryman, 55
A Beginner, New-Jersey, 55
A Lady in New-England, 55
Allen, J. W. P., Oswego, 97
A Connecticut Subscriber, 9S
A Subscril)er. Boston, 143, 226
A Subscriber. Philadelphia, 180
A Reader. New- York, 198
An Arboriculturist, New-York, 213
A Constant Reader, Maryland 243
A.L. W., 247
A Subscriber, Mohawk, 247
A. K., Delaware, 247
A Beginner, Missouri 247
A Constant Reader. Connecticut, . . . 247
A Nurseryman. Maryland, 248
A Massachusetts Subscriber, 251
A Looker on in Boston, 49
An Amateur, Northampton, Mass.,. . 282
A Pale Countrywoman, 283
A Jerseyman, 264
A. C. W.., Philadelphia, 285
A Delaware Subscriber, 287
Avery, AV., 2S8
A. A. M'J., Buffalo, 2SS
A Lady Reader, Louisville, 28S
A Novice, Pittsburgh, 288
B., Poughkeepsie, .■ 11, 47
Bingham, J.. Hudson 32
Balchelder, J. M , Boston, 61
Bissell and Hooker, Rochester, 98
Baily, J. W 98,286
Bacon, Wm. Richmond, Mass.,. . 99, 134
Barry. P., Rochester, 126
Buckingham, S., Albany, 151
Coppock, W. R., Buffalo, . . 49, 130, 148
Comstock. J. L., Hartford, Ct., 53
Chorlton, W., Staten Island, 70
C. L. D., New-Jersev, 167
C-, 151
Casey, J. M , Oswego, 197, 285
Courtin, M., France, 206
D. D., Astoria, 242
D., Chester Co., Pa., 233
prnst, A. H.,Cnicinnati, 197
Evelyn, Dutchess Co., 49
E. W. L., Syracuse, 211
Fahnestock, A., Syracuse, 101, 149
Fidelius. 54, 198
Glemiy, Geo., London, 78
Gabriel, G., New-Haven, Ct., 22
Goldie, .lames. Paterson, N. J , . . . . 50
G. L, AVorcester Mass., 243
Handerson. L.. Cleveland, O., 97
Hyait, T. H., Morocco, 173
Hooker, W. B., Rochester, 126
Hodge. B.. Buffalo, 149
Hau II. F., iNIissouri, 4S
Horlophilus, Philadelphia, 51
Howell, T. M., Canandaigua, 52
H. L. S.. Geneva, 55
Humphreys, N,, England, 208
Harwell, Rob't. Mobile, Ala., 255
Ives, Eli, New-Haven, Ct., 129
J. P., Nazareth. Pa., 77
Jaques, Geo.. Worcester, Ma.ss.,. . . . 100
J. \V. J., Philadelphia, 55
J. P. AV., New- York, 55
J. B., Keeseville, 283
.r., Bristol, Pa., 284
Jeffries. New- York, 23, 65
Kennicott, J. A., Northfield, III., 131
Lawton, J. G., St. Clair, Pa, 149
Ijon^ worth, N., Cincinnati, .... 150, 223
Leuchars, R. B, 196
Loudon, J. C , England, 271
Messer, A., Geneva, 96
Munson, A. S., New-Haven,Ct., 128
Morris, L. G., England, 42
Mayer, AV., New- York, 55
M. J'., Baltimore, 55
Meehan, Thos., Philadelphia, 224
iAI., Oneida Co., 2h3
Neumann, M., Paris, 14, 63, 170
Otis, AV., New-A^ork, 287
Prentis, E. B., AA'^atervliet, 151
Pardee, R. G., Palmyra, 272
P. R. S., Baltimore, 2S8
Quimi, John, Troy 52
Ryan, C. J., Greece, 99
Robinson, Charles, New-Haven, Ct., 27
Richards. AV., New-A'ork, 248
R., Poughkeepsie, 283
Spalding, L. A., Lockport, 31
.Stewart, Jas., iNIemphis, Tenn.,. . . . 210
.Several Maine Subscribers, 247
Sargent, H. AA'., AVodenethe, 280
Taylor, A'ardley, Virginia, 20
Tuckermann, H. T., New- York, ... 33
Two .Subscribers, Boston, 55
Tliompson, AV.. Clinton Co., 55
T., Astoria, . .'. 243
Vitis. New- York, .... 50
Vitis, New-Bedford, 55
AAHiilfield, AV. A., Shelby, Miss 75
AA^illiams. C. P.. Albany, '.96, 196
AA'inler & Co., Flushing, 93
AA^el)ster, AVm., Rochester, 102
AA^riq-lit, H. A., Newport, .55
AA^ W., Salem, Mass., 55
AA''., Chicago, 55
AA'esichesler, New-A^ork, 271
AA'ild Flower, Connecticut, 273
AA^, Philadelphia, 283
AA'illiams, T., Brooklyn, 288
A'oung, L , Kentucky, 245
X. V'. Z., Buffalo, 55
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
LIST OF PLATES.
I. Design for a Rural School-House, to face page 26
II, Design for a small Inn, 60
III. Design for a Tudor Suburban Residence, 116
IV. Design for a Toll-gate House, 164
V. Prize Geranium 240
VI. Entrance to Derby Arboretum, 267
LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.
BUILDINGS.
Conservatory, Ill
Green-house, 110
Diagrams of, 113, 114, 115
Lean-to, Ill
Sections of, 112, 113
—— Shelves for, Ill
Propagathig-house, 15
Cuttings. Bell-glasses for 16, 17
— — of Abies lanceolata, 64
■ ofBignonias 171
of ColumneaLindeniana, . . . . 04
— ^ of Dracaena umbracidifera, . . 17
- of Gustavea augusta 64
Cuttings of Gloxinia, 170
of Heminoites palmata, 170
of Alaclura aurantiaca, 19
of Paulovvniaimperialis, 18
of Pine apple, 171
of Roots, 172
of Sugar cane, 171
of Theophrata latifolia, .. 170, 171
Pots for, 16, 17
FRUITS.
Apple, Spice, 286
Cherries, Champagne, 77
Robert's Red Heart, 76
Date, Dried, 175
Fig, Black 177
Green, 176
PLANTS.
Calceolaria, 73
Victoria rcgia, 2'0
MISCELLANEOUS.
Fountain of St. Peters, 209
of the Palazzi Fornesi, 210
of the Vatican, 210
Hygrometer, Batchelder's, 01
Mole-trap, Cristas, 73
Natural Jetd'Eau, 209
New York Botanical Garden Librar
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