UMASS/AMHERST 312066 0333 300 f^0rs}- 'l>ft»'/^WW>>^'^ I : ) if Wfl'^^^v ■■•■ ; ■ ' t ^• ' / '.'' K k !/' i^ \: ii LIBRARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE No.382ti0__ DATEJ^r.^3-i9 la souRCE-C_al.le.^.&.— \!un.cL5-... This book may be kept out TWO WEEKS only, and is subject to a fine of TWO CENTS a day thereafter. It will be due on the day indicated below. ^A.'^va/^^AJ'^ V5 Ty37 kPRZ mi Library Bureao 13-723 ^M^M^^ mx!^n ural ^rf and Sural taste. (ESTABLISHED BY A. J. DOWNING, 1846.) DEVOTED TO Horticulture, Landscape Gardening, Rural Archi- tecture, Rural Embellishments, Pomology, Floriculture, and all subjects of Rural Life, Literature, Art, and Taste. Edited by To/. XA'I'JT., JWixrk : PUBLISHED BY HENRY T. WILLIAMS, 5 BF.EKMAN STREET. 1872. H79 V. ^1 INDEX TO VOLUME XXVII. A. PAGE. A Curious Trial 314 Adaptation of fruit to localities 277 Agricultural Editors ol3 Agricultural Journals 281 Alton Horticultural Society 143 Amaranthus Salicifolius 6, 99, 316 American Pomological Society 1 20 New Catalogue 214 Ammonia and Flowers 122, 189 Amorphophallus Rivieri 291 Aphis, to destroy 252 Apples, moth 63 orchard, what to do 138 production at the West 140 crop of Iowa 124 orchard, a profitable 185 orchard, New York, profitableness, 218 culture in I\Iinnesota 244 in Mississippi 303 Grimes' Golden 219 inquiry 245 Sops of Wine 309 Plumb's cider 310 Walbridge 310 best kinds for profit 318 Red Astrachan 320 Lawver 341 for Virginia 23 for name 370 notes on 369 changing tops to pear 363 scabs on 366 Aquilee,ia Caerulca 399 Arbor day 219, 283 Artemisia Stellaris 268 Asparagus planting 55 growing 57, 181 crop 255 culture 373 Austrian Pine 375 Azalea Calenducca 215 B. Balsam, The 350 Bank, to cover with grass 255 Beauty of the cocoanut groves 62 PAGE. Bees, value of, in horticulture 30 are they detrimental to fruit ? . . . . 335 Bedding plants 265 a new 286 Begonias, showy bed 287 Belgian nurseryman 66 Bignonia Chamberlaynii 265 Blackberries, AVachusett 11, 107 ancient Briton 318 Missouri Mammoth 24 pruning 32 killing bushes 59 white New Rochelle 89 discussion 112 Western Triumph 375 Black knot on the plum 151 Blight, leaf, preventive 346 Borers, apple tree 61, 302 preventive against 91 Botanical garden, New York 193 Bouvardia Vreeiandii 347 Brackets for plants 267 Bulbs, old, new use for 104 removing 253 replanting 375 c. California fruits, flavor of 31 and Oregon, trip to 69, 201 fruit farm 95 fruit ranch 134 Southern 254 fruit 315 arboriculture 372 Camellias, how to grow 27 how to manage 253 Cannas 123 Carrots 135 Celer}'^, crimson dwarf 215 Celosia Iluttoni 196 Central Park, New York 3, 214 Cherry, Dyehouse 118 Chinese Primrose 59 Cestrum elegans 127 Clematis, new varieties. .. . 73, 184, 205, 284 Climbing vines 41, 215 Index, PAGE. Codling moth 151, 246, 2G9 Cold graperies, how to erect and manage, 236 Coleus, grafting 188 Color, influence on vegetation 153 Colorado and Rocky Mountains 257 Congress, new jiostal law 371 Consolidation 213 Cottage, pretty country 355 Country school house 137 Crab apples for ornamental planting 100 Cranberry culture 155 Cucumber, new variety 255 Jlarquis of Lome 190 Curculio 32 Curious plants 169 Currants, propagating 56 worm 173 Currants Ill, 192 Cuttings, how to raise successfully 370 Cut flowers, arrangement 213 Cyclamens 26 D. Daphne Odorata 5 a new 346 Daphne for winter flowering 54 Departing glory 54 Dicentra Chrysantha 265 Dinner table decorations 347 Dissolving bones 11 Door yards 93 Dwarf apples 5, 71 E. Editorial Notices 159 Embellishing small places 217 English Horticultural Journals 119 Epimedium Alpinum Rubrum 101 European sparrow 219 larch, durability 276, 365 Evergreens for winter coverings of plants, 29 keeping through winter 45 Evergreens 78 young 147 loss of 190 Experiences with the new fruits 102 Experiments, cost 64 F. Failure of apple, pear and cherry in the West 271 Farmers' Club, New York 218 gardens 318 Ferns, chat about 238 for baskets 287 talk 328 Figs o39 382 PAOE. Figs, fecundation 274 Floral Catalogues 127 avenue 75 ornaments for the drawing room . . 267 rambles 257 establishments, new 250 Flowering shrubs 6, 40 trees 99 Flowers, difficulties in growing 46 in schools 52 changing color of 58 how to preserve in winter 63 seeds, sowing 91, 190 profits of 120 expensiveness of 185 gardens, new 198 beds 187 gardens, general hints 188 hardy border 299 for ornament and decoration 206 for a relish 220 sweet scented 268 double, ten weeks' stock 268 soil , 374 how to keep blooming 374 a floral ornament 374 Floriculture in the West 306 Florists, American 348 Forest trees for shelter, ornament and piofit 14 encouragen)ent to plant 158 Forests and rainfall 338 Fountain plant 316 Fruit as food 24 marketing and ripening 28 orchards, cultivation 47 for the Southern States 62 climatic influence 89 trees, management of 90 oi'der of ripening 94 weight of 146 interests of the West 148 new, in Indiana 149 trees, winter killing 154 trees, winter pruning 156 trees, distances for 157 trees, low heads or high 157 trees, saving girdled 127 culture in Michigan, profits 168 crop in the United States 304 choice, value of 214 Notes on 246 in Northeastern Iowa 248, 270 farms in IMichigan, high prices ... 251 growing in Michigan 296 trees, are they gregarious .'' 342 growing in Virginia 343 trade of New York 347 in Minnesota 368 raising in the shade 373 Fuchsias, new double 104, 196 an immense 124 IV Judex, Cx, 'AGE. Garden, botanical, of Trinidad 27 Porte Crayon 's 10 profits of small 57 lesson of the 157 tools, iron 157 peas, best 288 Gardening for ladies oO, 82 school 316 Geraniums, keeping 26 propagating 122 Rose Rendatler 180 new Bicolor 186 good old Mrs. Pollock 283 Gladiolus, soil for 188 twelve best 298 how to grow 208 Dr. Swazey's list 217 Glass roofs, water-proof 121 (j laucium Corniculatum 118 Golden yew 183 (looseberries 'J4, 1 1 1 Grafts, sending by mail 90 Grafton mineral fertilizer 60, 183 Grafting, curious experiments 295 Grapes in the West 8, 364 new 13, 112, 325 Arnold's hybrids 13 Brant 13 Canada 13 Cornucopia 13 ; Othello 13 Autuchou 14 Eumelan 13, 346 Cottage 13 ' Salem 13 Martha 120 good keeping 23 I Catawba 51 Tves 281, 316 I No. 19 / 60 Walter 91 American 155 i from a single acre 156 I Raleigh 288 i a big vine 55 ! growing, does it pay "i 140 raising, cost and profits 119 ! raising and profit 315 culture 127, 213 vines on trees 219 bees on 220 American in France 247 i and wine in Missouri 303 best near the ground 307 white 323 ; manipulation of 336 of Nauvoo, 111, 343 Graper}^, cold, j-ield of 214 Grasses for lawns 121 Greenhouse plants 151 Greenhouse, cheap 55 Group of new and rare plants 261 H. Hanging baskets for the parlor.. 25, 200, 299 Herbarium, a grand 351 Hedges, honey locust 255 Osage, how to make 366 Home gardens 4 grounds, suggestions on planting, 203 Homorphophallus Papillosus 346 Honor to an American horticulturist.... 184 Honeysuckles 197 Horse chestnut, new dwarf 98 Horticulture in Canada 38 curiosities of 61 Horticultural societies : Pennsylvania 108 Illinois State 370 Newburgh Bay 373 reports of 117 criticism, dishonor of 117 excursion 249 Horticulturist, The 349, 375 Hot-bed sashes 214 House pet 325 plants, worms 124 plants, best 186 Hull's curculio catcher 352 Hyacinthus Candicans 265 Hydrangea Paniculata 184, 268 Hybridization of plants 120 I. Indoor plants, temperature 32 Ink for zinc labels 286 Insects and lice on plants 121 report on 25 1 noxious, how to destroy 256 Interior of a greenhouse 39 Isotoma Petraea Alba 106 Ivy, new variegated 182 J. Japan pear 192 K. Killed by freezing 255 Knots on plum trees 351 Lislia Jongheana 190 Larch question 285 Lawns 5 decoration of 42 Lawn mower, best 55 and garden plants 318 sand 284 Leaf roller, Tlic 344 Judex, PAGE. Lilies, how to grow 24 new 92 in Oregon 317 Lily of the Valley in winter 58 Lilium Leichtlinii 300 Giganteura 347 Lime for soils of fruit orchards 154 Love of rural life 157 Los Angelos walnuts 284 M. Magnolias 228 Magnolia jMacrophylla 215 Maple, silver 76 the 161, 265 new 182, 236 Manure, molecular, test of 167 Marantas 233, 350 Mark Miller's farm 349 May beetle 301 Melon, rattlesnake 320 Mignonette, Parsons 56 new dwarf 98 Money wasted 185 Mountain ash root for a pear 280 Mulching 95, 224, 282 apple orchards 282 cherry trees 352 My summer in a garden 56 Myrtle, Eugenia Ugni 95 N. New plants, trees, shrubs and fruits, 97, 100 fruits, experience with 102, 372 plants and fruits 216 bulbs 224, 299 New York State Grape Growers' Asso- ciation 146 Night-blooming cereus 267 Notes from correspondents 311 Norway spruce, how to select 319 Northern grown trees at the South 325 Nurseries, model 250 Nursery, Florida 221 O. Odors of plants 253 Ohio State Horticultural Society 9 Orange growing in California 58 culture in California 352 Orchard, John Johnson 's 125 Ornamental gardening near Philadelphia, 330 Ornamental grasses 82, 261 shrubs 99, 127 trees 226 trees, native 327 Out of the Chicago fixe 24 Jr. PAGE. Pieonies 55, 351 Painting buildings 183 Pampas grass 4 Pawlonia Imperialis 52, 139, 282, 288 Peach, a new early 319 Hale's early 23, 304 trees, training low 57 prospect 106 crop 181 how cultivation affects 184 trees, potash for 315 a Western orchard 309 trees, diseased, to cure 235 trees, yellows in 308 trees, cultivation of 242 trees, a cure for yellows 250 Salway 248 how they raise in Delaware 283 Peas 284 new varieties 23 Laxton's 347, 376 Pears, Beurre d'Anjou 18 Doyenne Boussock 55 varieties 59, 62, 115 Vicar of Winkfield 77 Flemish Beauty 91 most profitable varieties 119 the Money 132 winter 24 temperature for shipping 147 Lawrence 55, 105 dwarf or standard 115 manuring and pruning 115 preparing for market 115 will they pay ? 116 how far to plant 116 the Quinn 118 for the West 125 soil for 126 trees on mountain ash 126 Clapp's Favorite 126 Doyenne Boussock 126 Japan 192 a fine tree 184 Beurre d' Amalis 204 Mount Vernon 204 Triomphe de Jodoigne 218 early 287 which do not rot at the core 291 big 321 Pear trees, pruning young 220 how the large ones are raised .... 222 old trees, renovation 222 blight 246, 288 Bartlett, low prices 315 Satterthwaite's orchard 345 fine Seckel 348 salt for 372 Pencil marks 51, 139, 362 Pennsylvania Fruit Growers' Society ... 28 Pinks 197 Index. PAGE. Pistol plant 32 Plants for flowering in the shade 12 too many kinds 122 present of new 122 new 124 new and valuable 196 for a small greenhouse 210 new and rare 223 tropical, at Amherst 224 growing in windows 252 potted, plunging 254 Planting door yards and ornamental grounds 40, 77 Phlox Drummondii 350 Pippin, signification of word 3G7 Plum, Simon 196 Porte Crayon's garden 19 Potash for peach trees 190 Powdered coal for unhealthy plants 266 Potato, Early Rose in England 249, 250 Practical fruit culture 108 Primula Japonica 98 Primrose, a new hardy 94 Chinese 96 Profits from melons 347 of flower gardening 347 Pruning for timber 310 of grape vines as manure 29 of fruit trees, judicious 51 summer 191 Pyrus Mains Floribunda 100 Spcctabilis Rosea Plena 99 Q. Quinces 4 renovating the trees GO R. Railway gardens 288 Rapid work 183 Raspberries, Black Cap 214 pruning 217 varieties 49, 1 10 propagating 56 Ontario 102 Narragansett 156 Ilersteine and Saunders 326 Burns, new 352 Ransom, curculio ti'ap 59 Ranunculus 184 Red spider, soluble sulphur 190 Roses, Marechal Neil as a greenhouse climber 25 wintering tender 31 cultivating 191 summer pruning 191 yield 124 buds 153 select list of 121, 158 a large bush 215 early flowering 187 PAGE. Roses for outdoor culture 189 bushes, pruning 253 three best 298 hybrid perpetual 300 new varieties 332 Gloire de Dijon 351 cuttings 374 Rural Club of New York 225, 317 Rural home, how to plant 1 ()4 Rural taste 353 s. Salt on fruit trees 286 Sap-sucker indicted 51 more about 139 Satterthwaite's peach orchard 344 Shelter beets, value to an orchard, 319 for the great West 107 Shrubs, flowering 6 ornamental 127 and vines 228 ornamental flowering 263 Small fruits, growing 113 fruits, choice 48 fruits, discussion 109 fruits in ^linnesota, profits 288 fruits 364 Solanum Warcswiczii 285 Southern Gardener 29 fruit trees 287 Sowing lily seeds 266 Spanish chestnut 346 Spiraea Ariajfolia 265 Stakes and supports for garden 187 Steam-heated houses and vegetables . . . 152 Strawberries, productiveness 37 a humorous disquisition 44 varieties 48 covering plants 54 at St. Joseph, Michigan 58 forcing 58 for house culture 59 Charles Downing 60 what to plant 65 planting 93 large yield 94 profits 131 how to grow 137 cultivation 154 earl)' potatoes 158 culture and varieties 176 varieties 173, 181, 214 production of 182 irrigating 183 a new 196 plants, cutting ofl" leaves 314, 372 plaster, special manure 207, 285 how does he do it .^ 214 I bed, a lucky 319 I for 1872 231 ' sorts and behavior 280 Index. PAfiK. Strawberries in Oliio 294 Dr. Warder 375 Street trees ". 292 Successful gardening in New Mexico .... 217 Summer pruning grape vines 90 Summer pruning grape vines, bad effect. . 286 Sycamore, variegated leaved 12 T. Tea plant 121 Tilton's Journal of Horticulture 52 Trapping cut worms in gardens the codling moth 305 Tropoeolum tricolor 196 Trees, poetry of 30 of the Rocky Mountains 33 for small grounds 42 how to pack the roots 60 weeping 77, 227 autumn color 78 how to arrange for groups 79 sod vs. cultivation for 92 seedling 147 in Victoria 185 for landscape ornaments 293 Tree, grand old 218 a large 220 planting, more good work 287 planting 292 Tuberose, Pearl 217 Tulips for indoor culture 158 for window culture 158 trees in England 92 V . PAGE. Vases 41 Viburnum Plicatum 57 Vinegar 174 Violets, English 186 Vase, ornamental garden 249 Vineyard Notes 307 Vine mortality in the West 342 w. Waldemere 289 Walnuts, English 94 Warm water for plants 26 Water cress 348 melons in the South 58 Weeping beech 97 Western Horticulturist 241 White grubs 364 Window gardening, success in 1 gardening 170 Wistaria, Chinese, training 56, 156 Wisconsin State horticultural meeting . . 140 Wier's trap for the codling moth 117 Winter garden at Edinbugh 195 Wine-making, essentials of a wine grape, 273 Wine, unfermented 311 Wines, how to test 340 of different districts 344 Willow, Wisconsin, weeping 341 Woodward's Gardens 356 Y. Yucca Flaccida 252 IISTDEX TO ILLUSTEATIOl^S. FRONTISPIECES. January, opposite page 1 Design for Window Garden. February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, 33 c Interior of a Greenhouse. 65 Floral Avenue in Grounds of Zoological Gardens, London. 97 The Weeping Beech. 129 Design for a Country School-house. IGl A Balcony Garden. 193 New Winter Garden, at Edinburgh, Scotland. 225 An Ornamental Garden Vase. 257 Veitch's Group of Choice Plants. 289 Waldemere, Seaside Residence, P. T. Barnum. 321 Dinner Table Decorations. 353 Design for a Pretty Cottage. MISCELLANEOUS. PAGE, i PAGE. Amaranthus Salicifolius 7 Ornamental Grasses 83, 88 Canadian Hemlock Spruce 15 Ontario Raspberry 103 European Larch 17 Sops of Wine Apple 309 Fig Leaves 339 - Lawver Apple 341 Hanging Basket of Convolvulus 171 I Woodward's Gardens 357 May Beetle 302 I Vlll Judex. I]^DEX TO COISTTRTBUTOES. PAGE. Adams, W 280 Al Fresco 73, lOG Allen, L.F 320 Alpha 89 Bateham, M. B 9, 89 Barler, 0. L 143 Barry P 161 Bradlejs C 343 Copeland, Chas. D 197 Donaldson, J. A 69, 201 Draper James 107, 176 Dunlap, M. L 174 E 8 Earle, Parker 77, 105 Eckles, William 368 Foster, Suel 146, 148, 329 Furnas, R. W 342 Gideon, Peter M 244 G. B. B 270 H. K 167 Hale, Anne G 46, 82 Harris, N.J 341 Hathaway, B 13 Hexamer, F. M 65 Hyde, Alexander 135 Haynes, J. H 149 Herdman, William 291 Howsley, Dr. Wm. M. . . . 242, 246, 271, 338 Hoopes, Josiah 40, 77, 1 64 Ingersoll, T 279 Idell, C.W 147 J. A. D 325 " Kentuck " 138 Kridelbaugh, Dr. S. H 301 FAGR. Lippincott, Wm. P SQip, 369 xManning, Robert.... 169, 172, 204, 291, 367 Matthews, B. A 247 Matthews, Prof. James 365 Mark Miller 241 Moffet, 0 364 Myers, D. S 106 " Novice " 279 Nevins, E. M 270 Occidentalis 51, 139, 362 Parker, S. J., M. D 323, 325 Pinne}'^ & Lawrence 45 Pomona 325 Reynolds, P. C 71 S 356 Satterthwaite, E 129 Scofield, D. C 147 Smith, John Jay 107 Shankland, E. R 248 Stayman, Dr. J 273 StaufTcr, B.J 274 Stein, J 280 Strothers, David H 19 Thompson, G. W 268 Tipton, W 363 W. H. W 11 Warder, Dr. John A 33 Warne, Dr. Geo 245 Weed, Dr. James 269 Willey, 0. S , 140 Williams, Henry T 353 Woodman 49 Yeomans, W. H 336 Veitch, A 291 Design for a "Window G-arden. TOL. 2T. JAlSrUAET, 18T2. IS'O. 307. Success in Window G-ardening. THE very ring of the name of Window Gardening is pleasant, and suggests hosts of beautiful parlor gardens, with the ivy twining around the edges of the window sash, or on a stand in front of the pane, is a pot of geraniums, and over all hangs a basket filled with drooping plants. We are glad to see so encouraging a growth of taste for plants, and esteem it among the most useful of home pleasures ; nothing can exceed a genuine love for flowers. There are a few items which every cultivator will do well to bear in mind. Much that is essential to success in the indoor culture of plants must be learned from expe- rience, and can be learned in no other way. One great mistake is in a wrong choice of the soil ; many often suppose that any soil will do, hence, especially in cities and villages, they are often apt to choose soil from the back yard, unfit for its needs, being either too dry, devoid of fertilizing material, or ali'eady exhausted by continual draughts from the numerous roots of the plants around. The best, and in fact only soil, should be a compost of loam, one part; sand, one part; leaf mould, one part; and well decayed cow manure, a fourth part. The use of the sand is to assist drainage ; the proportions of the manure may be varied according to the needs of the plant. Ivies, for instance, need a rich soil, but bulbs generally need little or none, pure sand being much the best for the last, which should never come in contact with manure. The sand should be well mixed with the compost. In the bottom of every vessel, box or basket, there should be laid a few bits of broken crockery for the more perfect flow and drainage of surplus water. Most vessels have holes in the bottom also, but in hanging baskets this cannot be expected, so the crockery must take its place. In selecting your plants, you had best purchase from a florist until you have become more familiar with the modus operandi of propagation. Select plants of good short-jointed, stocky habits, with leaves of healthy look ; large specimens are not desirable ; it is better to get those plants which are well started, and are growing 2 Success in Window Gardening. finely, and then let them develop gradually. There is a very remarkable difference among florists in the raising of plants. Many seem to grow only for the sake of say- ing they have so big a quantity, while regardless of quality ; others pay more atten- tion to the need of maintaining a good reputation, hence send out nothing but well grown specimens, until their business becomes too large for their popularity, and then they too grow slack, and are glad to send off anything. Usually beginners, i. e., young florists, anxious to win a good name, can be found most anxious to please, and careful to send only good plants ; but many of the old favorite dealers do not yet forget the principles of good quality, which after all are the only safeguards to help a man maintain a good business. When you have got your new plants, be careful of too sudden a change from the old quarters to the new. This hasty transition is very trying to plants ; the hot, dry air of the living room, is a severe test upon any plant brought from the cool outer air, or the moist atmosphere of the florist's greenhouse. It would be best that this change should be gradual. Just bring them indoors, and place them in a room without a fire for a short time. If you have a light, dry cellar, this will be a good place, if not liable to frost. Here they need only moderate watering ; after a short time they can be transferred to the window ; here they must enjoy plenty of light ; in mild weather, pull down the upper window and ventilate the air ; keep their foliage free from dust and insects ; wash them with a sponge, and syringe the plants with a good supply of water once a day. If the water soaks away in the soil rapidly, then it is in good condition. Never water when the soil is already full of moisture ; never water at midday, or when the sun is shining. Avoid very high temperatures, and also guard against low ones ; a temperature of sixty to seventy degrees in the day, equable and uniform, is a good medium, but at night it should range from forty to fifty degrees. Beware of the danger of frost. Many housekeepers, in letting their fires go out at night, often forget their plants, and in the morning awake to find a sudden change of weather, frost on the window pane, and their plants tipped also. The only safe plan is to throw newspapers over the plants between them and the window. All plants suitable for greenhouses, needing much heat, should be avoided for ordinary parlor culture; only the more simple plants that can be easily managed should be used ; a list of them will be given shortly. But such plants as Geraniums, Azaleas, Daphne, Yellow Jessamine, Oxalis, Fuchsias, are always desirable and easily managed. The design of a Window Garden we give in our frontispiece this month, is one actually in use. The bow window is about six feet wide and three feet deep. A double stand has been made to fill it up. and the boxes inside are lined with zinc, filled with compost, and covered with moss. A wire frame work is placed in front for ornament, and from the center and sides rises an archway of wire whereon are growinw some climbing vines. The plants placed in these boxes are Madeira Vine, Maurandias, Mexican Coboea, Calla Lilies, Roses, Carnations, Fuchsias, Amaranths, Coleus, Begonias. The hanging vase over the center arch contains a plant of the Coliseum Ivy. On a bracket just at the edge of the window sashes, is a dish of ferns. At the left hand 2yie Central Tark. 3 is a hanging basket filled with moss, and plants of the Oxalis and tradescantia ; another basket at the right contains the Ice plant, as well as the tradescantia. It is hardly necessary to say that the little garden is a constant glory, and probably its cost would not exceed $25 for plants and all — an anaount so moderate that it might be aflforded by every one of taste. The Central Park. 1 COMPLETE change has been made in the management of this most celebrated •^ and admired of American parks. All the Ring Commissioners, officers, and employees have been dismissed ; a new Board has been elected in the interests of a true and judicious reform, of which Henry Gr. Stebbins is president. All useless attaches and laborers have been displaced ; and best of all, we are glad to note the re-appointment of Messrs. Olmstead, Vaux «& Co., as Consulting and Supervisint^ Architects and Landscape Gardeners. Prof. Robert Deneckes, formerly of the King's Grardens, at Berlin Prussia, has been appointed in charge of the Department of Landscape Gardening and Conservatories, a gentleman of rare experience and taste, whose skill will help render the park more than ever a source of satisfaction to those lovers of rural taste who wish to see our beautiful park managed on correct principles and with careful judgment. The repu- tation and experience of Mr. Olmstead will be a good guarantee to the public that a dignified standard will be maintained in the plans for laying out and improving all the grounds and the construction of new designs of rustic architecture. Mr. Andrew H. Green, Comptroller of the city, is still a member of the Board. We would suggest to the department, in future plans, to devote some one or more portions to the display of flowers, or plants of ornamental foliage. Were a good location selected, say of five or ten acres, devoted especially to orna- mental gardening, we believe it could be made the most unique object of beauty in the entire park, attracting the greatest crowds, and delighting every one. Suppose a very fine conservatory were erected, whose architectural characteristics should be very handsome, then display around this fancy flower beds, intermingled with flowering shrubs, plants of ornamental foliage, garden arbors, etc., it would be a feature of rare value. Very many striking eff"ects could be produced by the use of subtropical plants ; indeed it would be quite appropriate to have a " Subtropical Garden " as well as an "Arboretum," where the casual visitor can form some idea of the wealth of foliage of semi-tropical regions south of us. The taste of our people is advancing so rapidly in its passion for flowers and floral decorations, that we believe the Department of Parks can judiciously allow some moderate space to gratify our citizens who do not often see flower gardening on a grand scale. Home Gardens, Home G-ardens. EDITORIAL GOSSIP. The futnpns Grass, AKE room in your lawns or gardens this coming spring for a tufty little spot of the Pampas Grass. We are glad to see the different varieties of ornamental grasses suitable for ordinary culture becoming more popular, for, to our taste, a column of gracefully bending grasses, on either side of a path, or in the center of a grass plat, has a much richer and more natural appearance than a vase of any pattern, however rich. The Erianthus Ravennae is a great acquisition, and yet we must not forget our old favorite the Gynerium Argenteum. We might liken it, in its habit of growth, to a huge tuft of orchard grass, only larger and more majestic. Cast your eye upon it when it waves gently in the passing wind, and you can realize something of its value for decorative purposes. From the root springs up a growth of coarse, sharp leaves, about three to four feet long, which rise up straightly for about half their height, then bend outward in a marked and graceful curve. From the center of this tuft, rise the tall stalks, one from each crown, to the height of about seven feet, their top decorated with sprays or plumes of delicate feathery appearance, having a silvery or glossy hue. One great argument for their use as lawn decorations, is the fact that these flowers or plumes retain their bloom for a long time. North of lat. 40^^ the root is tender and will not stand the winter, and must be either protected by a covering of straw or re- moved and kept in the cellar. The plants can be easily dug up, as the roots are very numerous, and will hold the earth pretty closely together; after digging them up, set them in large tubs and cover with sand ; any cellar or outhouse, where the atmos- phere is not too dry or too cold, will keep them well, and here the roots will remain dormant. Year after year the roots will, of course, grow larger, and the spaciousness of their accommodation must be increased. Beginners will do well to remember that these plants require age before they will develop strong flowering habits. For instance, a young plant will not amount to much until two or three years old, then when full grown, it will toss in the air scores of its silvery plumes, to please every one. The ten)perature of our summers seems to be very suitable for them, as they are of a semi-tropical character, and natives of the plains of South America. They need a moderate degree of moisture, but after once well transplanted to a permanent place on the lawn, they are of little or no trouble. (Juincea, Occasionally this subject receives a stirring ventilation in the papers, and with justice, for the " decline of the qiiince " seems to be as marked in the annals of hor- ticulture as the rise of strawberries and other small fruits. Where are the handsome golden apples we used to gather every autumn from the country gardens of twenty or forty years ago ? Good quinces are now so scarce, that a bushel of good, large, sound[quinces, with- out a blemish, will sell for six cents apiece, and even gnarly, half-decayed specimens Mome Gardens. 5 will average double the price of apples or peaches. Why does not some one, of a careful turn of mind, forsaking the beaten path of fever for strawberries, cranberries, pears and peaches, study the characteristics of the quince, and learn its needs of soil and climate, and then follow them up by planting a good orchard? There are only a few essentials worthy of note to be observed. The quince is a very rich grower, i. e. needs a soil which is very well fertilized with natural material ; then it thrives best in a cool, moist location ; it does not demand hardly to be placed in standing water, but must be where its roots can reach water or moisture through- out the growing season. Usually our best living and bearing trees are found in the edges of our gardens, close to the wall, where, with a wide spread of branches close to the ground, th jy have all the room they need to themselves, and no other crop can extract the nutrition of the soil. But, alas, the cultivator forgets to give them a good annual dressing of manure or wood mould, he takes no pains to clear out the worms from the trunks — and so the row of quinces soon runs down. We see no reason why an orchard of quinces, as well planted, trained, manured and wormed, might not become as profitable as one of dwarf pears. Some of the most successful quince tre:;s we ever knew, grew on the banks of a running stream of water, and even the roots were imbedded in grass — hence a moist location is imperative. Dwarf Apples. The general opinion is that dwarf apples do not pay. Certainly it is the case tha results are^not as large as the amateur expected. The strongest growing trees are usually found upon the Doucain stock, but for average gardens the Paradise is much the best. These take up but little room, can be easily trained, either as cordons or on a trellis, and will usually bear every year some very fine specimens of fruit — not a large quantity, however. We have never yet seen on trees of the Doucain stock, a peck of apples, although the tree itself will have a head fully 15 feet in diameter, and ten feet high. The Daphne Odornta. What a gem this is for the parlor garden (for at this season of the year the home garden is indoors), and we are glad to see its beauty thus mentioned by a cor- respondent of the Country Gentleman : "For two months they have been diffusing their fragrance through my apartments, and probably will continue to do so for several weeks more. Receiving almost no care at all, they flourish in spite of neglect ; sometimes without water for more than a week, and the thermometer ranging from sixty down to the freezing point ; still they maintain their equanimity and bloom on. Slight frost does not materially injure them, neither is sunshine indispensable. My plants, about three feet high, have been without a glance of sun during the blooming season. In fact the common mistake is too much care in their management, especially in regard to heat. The air of a sitting-room is too warm for the health of this plant, if long confined to it. A low temperature is requisite, while at the same time it prolongs the blooming sea- son several weeks." The rich, velvety appearance of our lawns comes only from close cutting. We are glad to find that lawn mowers have really become fashionable. And it is considered 6 ^ jyeff Aniaranthus, now part of a fashionable day's programme to first take a morning "constitutional" in pushing or pulling the lawn mower over the grass in summer. We notice that many beginners do not prepare their surface smoothly enough. It is really an art to lay out a lawn of either large or small extent, with such accuracy and fitness that there shall be no hollow or hillock in the grand sweep of a broad lawn. A heavy roller does most of the business, and smooths down many a rough place, but severe inequalities of surface are removed only by the spade. Keep your lawn well covered every winter with a good top dressing of well rotted manure, and in the spring take your little beetle, or fork or rake, and beat to pieces all the coarse stuff left in sight. The grass thus enriched by the washings of the early rains, will start up early, and long before the time for your trees or shrubs to flower, you have a carpet of green, worth more than all the rest. flowering Shnibs, Of all the plants which add to the charms of a country place, none seems to us more effective than the free use of flowering shrubs. To a great extent they may take the place of either trees or flowers, a happy half-way mean between the two. Do not forget then, friends, in your spring planting, to plant early, for they are early buds of bloom. Do you want a list of the best ? Here it is : Deutzia gracilis. Ribes Gordoni. " scabra. Forsythei viridissima. Spiraea Douglassii. Prunus triloba. " prunifolia. Cydonia Japonica. " rosea. Philadelphus grandiflorus. Amygdalus pumila. Viburnum lantanoides. Cornus Maculata variegata. Weigela rosea. A New Amaranthtis. AVERY novel variety of the Amaranth family has been exhibited, in England, the past two or three seasons, under the name of the Amaraiithus Salicifolius (Hort. Veitchii), by the well known house of Veitch & Sons. Its habit of growth is so striking, and character so novel, that many of the expe- rienced English gardeners hardly know what it is ; as the Garde?ier's Chronicle says : " It may be an Amaranthus ; at present we have no means of telling what it is. Perhaps, like Iresine Lindeni of the gardens, which is certainly not an Iresine, this may not be an Amaranthus. But then, what to call it, that's the question." The plant is described as being an annual, of pyramidal growth, two or three feet high. The leaves are from five to seven inches long, by one-quarter inch in width. The color, in the young state, is of a bronzy green, which changes, as the plant gains age and vigor, into a bright orange-red color. Was introduced from the Philippine Island, by the late Mr. J. G. Veitch. A correspondent of an English Horticultural journal thus expresses his admiration for it : " Permit mc to add my testimony to the beauty and grace of this charming plant ci.maranthus SalicifoUus. A-tnaraniUus SalicifoUus, 8 Grapes in the West. I happened to drop in at South Kensington when it made its delut, and it so fascinated me that I had ejes for little else at that gathering of good things. My first impres- sion was — Well, Celosias must have progressed marvellously since I left off growing thera on account of their inveterate tendency to hark back to tufted Cockscombs. With this stock, there is nothing to equal them. As I approached these plants, ' These never can lie Celosias ! ' rose to my lips, before I had the pleasure of reading Amaranthus salicifolius. No cut or colored plate, no, nor mere description, can do justice to the full merits of this plant. Whatever place it may take in the flower and subtropical garden — and that will be very high, if it proves sufficiently hardy for out-door work — no plant can equal it for conservatory, table, room, or vase fur- ishing. It is no exaggeration to add, that I believe those long, drooping branches, so rich in color and graceful in form, will mark a new era in the furnishing of tall stands, epergnes, etc., with cut flowers. I trust it may be offered at such prices that every garden in 1872 may be li;:htened up with the brilliance and dressed with the grace of this charming novelty." The seed of this new Amaranthus has been introduced into this country, and will be announced, we suppose, in due time. The American climate is well adapted to the growth of all Amaranths, being warm and dry. Usually these Amaranths do best in soil somewhat light, and in a dry sea- son. The Amaranthus Bicolor Ruber, introduced last season, does not seem to have met with a very favorable reception here. Most of the seeds prove untrue, or nothing more than the ordinary A. Bicolor. Grapes in the West. GRAPE raising is at present an extensive business in the West, and wine making promises to become proportionately so before long. Our grape growers look somewhat hopelessly into the future. Grapes have sold at such low figures as to pay less than ordinary farm crops, and the worst about them is, that for a large portion of the crop there was no sale rohatevcr. A greater proportion of the crop than ever before has, accordingly, been worked up into wine ; but as our wine makers are, as yet, very inexperienced novices, the product of their skill is hardly more saleable than the grape pure and simple. It seems to me, that now is the time for wine factories to be started in the West. Grapes (Concord), perfectly ripe, and capable of pro- ducing a good article, will pretty certainly sell at two cents a pound, or less, next year. I believe that, at that rate, an ahnost incredible quantity could be contracted for in the upper Mississippi Valley alone (above Burlington and Keokuk). At two cents a pound for grapes, wine can be manufactured at fifty cents a gallon, with a fair profit to the manufacturer. At that rate, it should be worth the attention of enter- prising capitalists, who could clear a handsome profit by buying the raw wine and working it up into sparkling wines. If this is not done, it is inevitable that our Western vineyards will prove less profitable in the future than common meadows or cornfields. E- Ohio State Sbrticulturat Society. 9 Ohio State Horticultural Society. BY M. B. BATEHAM. THE annual meeting of this Society was held November 22-24, at Milford, Clermont county, fourteen miles from Cincinnati. This location is in the midst of one of the finest fruit districts in the State, and the meeting was well attended by the practical orchardists of that region, with a sprinkling of well known horticulturists from other parts of the State. T/ie display of fruits on the tables was quite good, especially of apples. Most of these were remarkable for their high color, and the early maturity of the late winter varieties. Among the collections deserving notice, Dr. J. A. "Warder, President of the Society> had 68 varieties; Mr. Geo. Park, of Parksville, Missouri, exhibited 17 varieties; and J. Truitt, of Quincy, Ky., 18 varieties, and also quite a lot of second growth apples, from one-third to one-half grown, from trees that blossomed the second time after the late frost in May. Many new and rare apples were found in these col- lections ; but little time was found for their discussion. But few pears were on exhibition, and only two or three samples of grapes. Of vegetables there were but few, excepting potatoes, of which there was a large display, common and sweet, embracing nearly all the approved varieties, and some new and valuable seedlings. Of these, the most noticeable were several handsome varieties grown from seed of the Early Rose, by Gr. W. Campbell, of Delaware, 0. ; one of which, on trial in several different soils and localities, is found to be of late maturity, fine size and quality, and enormously productive. The evening exercises, on the first day of the meeting, were enlivened by good music, and a large attendance of ladies, as well as gentlemen, of Milford. An address of welcome was given, on the part of the people of that county, by Rev. T. J. Melish. It was full of good points and fun. This was handsomely acknowledged by President Warder, who then gave his annual address, consisting of a review of the past year, with practical deductions, and good suggestions for the future. Geology (End Horticulture. Prof. Ortans, of the State Geological Survey, being present, favored the Society with an impromptu and very instructive lecture on the geology of that region, and the origin and nature of the different classes of soils, their adaptedness to fruit culture, etc. He was requested to write out the substance of the lecture for publication in the transactions of the Society. Reports were given from half a dozen or more local Horticultural Societies, most of them showing gratifying progress. Several of them had been working very suc- cessfully on the social plan, holding meetings monthly, at the houses or grounds of fruit growers or farmers, with a basket dinner, or picnic, affording interesting occupation for the ladies. The plan was commended to all similar societies. Mr. G. W. Campbell gave an interesting report of his attendance, as delegate, at the meeting of the American Pomological Society at Richmond, and the exhibition of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, at Philadelphia, in September last. Forest tree culture, was the topic of a half hour's discourse, by President Warder, on the second day of the meeting — showing, that the planting and preservation of 10 Ohio State Horticultural Society. forests was a matter of much importance to the people of Ohio, as well as those of the prairie States of the West. Prof. J. H. Klippart, of the State Board of Agriculture, followed on the same subject, giving statistics of the rate of the destruc- tion of forests in Ohio for some years past. Ad interim reports were given by members of the Committees from different parts of the State, respecting the fruit crops and other matters of interest to the Society. hnmense grape crops. The reports from the Lake Shore district, represented the grape crop of that region as large beyond all precedent, and the prices of the fruit in the markets too low for the interests of growers, but very favorable for the con- sumers. Col. Richmond, of Sandusky, said all the wine cellars were filled to their utmost capacity with Catawba, most of the finest quality, and yet a great many good grapes were ungathered. From all the information that could be gathered, it was found that ten or tioelve thousand tons of grapes had been sold from the Sandusky district (including the islands), and about one million gallons of wine made. The price realized for the fruit was from two to four cents per pound. Judge Phillips, of Berlin, said he had twelve tons of grapes from three and a half acres of vines. Other instances were given, of still larger yields. It was the general belief, that many vineyards would be seriously injured for the future by the excessive crops of this season. On varieties of grapes, there was not much discussion. Mr. Campbell reported more favorably than last year on the Walter, Eumelan and lona, and was much pleased with the Croton. Aphis in grape roots. Mr. Campbell had made some investigations as to the cause of little knots or bulbs often found on the young grape roots, and had discovered in them a kind of aphis, or plant louse, resembling the Philloxera vittata, or leaf gall louse — and, in his opinion, it is the same identical insect that causes the mischief on both leaf and root. A large plum orchard. Mr. H. Baily, of Chillicothe, in speaking of horticultural matters in that section, said he had planted a plum orchard of 2,600 trees — of Shrop- shire Damson — and he was of the belief that this would prove a more profitable investment than any other of the fruit kind which he could adopt. He raised all his own trees, and propagated them in rather a novel way — grafting them on young seedling peach roots, thus securing a sure and rapid growth, then planting them in orchard the following year, and setting the collars so deep that the grafts can take root above the jointure, as he believes most of them will do. '• What about the Curculio ? " Mr. Baily said he did not believe the insects would appear in suflB;cient force to materially lessen the crop, in so large an orchard, with the trees bearing as abun- dantly as they were inclined to do. He thought there would be plums enough for them all, and still as many left as the trees ought to ripen. But if the Turkish army should prove too numerous, he would contrive, some way, to give them battle. (The Society are expecting to hold a meeting at Chillicothe next summer, and much interest will be felt to visit the grounds of Mr. Baily.) " Floricultxire for the Millioyi" was the title of an address by Mr. M. B. Bateham, Secretary of the Society, the main points of which were : the beneficial influence of Wachitsett Thornless Slackbei'ry, 11 the taste for flowers, and of their general cultivation, as a means of making our rural homes more beautiful and attractive, and thus counteract, in some degree, the spirit of discontent and unrest so prevalent among farmers and their families, and that excessive thirst for wealth and display which is alluring so many farmers' sons and daughters from their quiet country homes to the fascinations and dangers of a city life. He spoke encouragingly of the manifest increase of floriculture during the past few years, in all parts of the country, for which he said praise is mainly due to t\iQ floral seedsmen, who were giving special attention to the sending of flower seeds of good quality, by mail, and publishing attractive catalogues, or " Floral Guides," furnishing to the millions the fullest information about the difi^erent flowers and their cultivation. Mr, B. then spoke of some of the common mistakes of beginners in the laying out and planting of dooryards and flower gardens, and in the planting and culture of flowers. Col. Richmond and Judge Phillips followed with remarks on the same general sub- ject, recommending everybody to cultivate flowers. Painesville, Ohio. Dissolving Bones. MY mode of doing this is very simple and very eff"ective. I have a large water- tight hogshead standing out-doors, near the kitchen. In the spring I cover the bottom about six inches deep with dry soil. On this T put a layer of bones of about the same depth, and cover them entirely with unleached ashes. On these another layer of bones, then ashes, and so on till the hogshead is full. I leave it then exposed to the rains all summer and winter, until the next spring. Then, on removing the contents of the hogshead, I find nearly all the bones so soft that they will crumble to powder under a very slight pressure, and, mixed with the ashes and the soil, they give me a nice little pile of most valuable manure, ready for immediate use. Any of the bones not sufl&ciently subdued, I return to the hogshead again for another twelve months slumber. In this way I have had no difficulty in transforming all the bones I can get into bone meal. I buy them directly from the butcher at a dollar a hundred pounds, for the purpose of turning them thus into manure, and consider them the cheapest fertilizer I can obtain. Reading, Mass. W. H. W. Wacliusett (Thornless) Blackberry. I HAVE fruited this new and highly-lauded variety for two years. It is not entirely but only comparatively thornless. The fruit is small, and in no way superior, that I can discover, to the common blackberry of the woods and fields. If any body wants my plants, I will be very much obliged to him if he will come and get them, as I am anxious to put something worth growing in their place. Reading, Mass. W. H. W. 12 The Yariegated-Jyeaved Sycamore. Plants for Flo-wering in the Shade. AN acquaintance commenced planting a flower garden fifteen years ago, by cutting circular and elliptical beds in the green lawn, and for several years had a beau- tiful display of brilliant flowers. The trees, mostly evergreen, with some that were deciduous, which surrounded the garden, and occasionally were interspersed through it, have now grown up twenty feet high or more, and shade the flower beds so much that they have lost their former brilliancy, and some of them are entirely crowded out with shade. The owner is not willing io destroy these trees, and he inquires if there are not many plants which will flower freely under their shade, so that he may have both shade and floral beauty. We suggest to him to make his grounds a place for native ornamental plants. All that grow and bloom in the woods, will grow and bloom under the shade of his trees. Some of the finest gems of the floral world may still be found in their native locali- ties— and they arc worth the eff"ort to preserve and retain them, now that they are gradually retreating with the disappearance of our native forests. They may be taken up at any time after they have ceased to grow. Some, like the Hepatica, may be found readily by their leaves ; others, like the phloxes and lilies, are soon lost by the dying down of their stems, and the places should be marked by sticks while they are in bloom, so that the roots may be found and dug up a few weeks afterwards. Now is the time to commence marking for such a collection, and it may be continued the summer through. In the meantime, prepare beds for their reception ; some will grow in common or thin soil — such, for example, as are found on knolls and the sides of ravines. Others, like the Cypripediums and Orchis fimbriata, which grow in rather moist or peaty localities, should have deep beds of leaf mold for their reception. Every person who has a taste for botany and for our beautiful native flowers, will know where and what to look for. But we may mention a few, among the many which may be chosen as samples : — Hepatica triloba, Claytonica virginica, Erythro- nium, Trilium grandiflorum, Lilium Philadelphicum, Epigea repens, Anemone thal- ictroides, Sanguinaria, Phlox divaricata, Viola Canadensis, &c. Those that are small should be placed by themselves, or mingled with other small kinds. To these may be added some of our fine cultivated plants which grow well in shade, as for ex- ample the Auricula and pansies. Native shrubs, as the Azalea and Rhododendrons would add to the efi"ect ; and on suitable soils the Kalmia would make a fine display. We have seen a striking efi"ect produced by interspersing bushes of the Ehododendron catawbiense among the trees and undergrowth of a natural plantation. We cannot conceive of any finer eflTect than that produced by a brilliant profusion of native flow- ers, skillfully managed and growing under the dense shade of a door-yard or lawn plantation. — Country Gentleman. The Variegated-Leaved Sycamore. This is at present one of the best trees with variegated foliage. It is a vigorous grower, of symmetrical habit, and the variegation is very distinct. It is adapted to plant in groups with trees having dark colored foliage, and in this way produces a rich contrast. A good many, if not the greater portion of our variegated trees sufl"er from the sun — the leaves in many cases being entirely destroyed. This Sycamore endures the sun well. — W. C. B. in Rural Home. Some of tJie JVewer Grapes. 13 Some of the Newer Grapes. BY B. HATHAWAY, LITTLE PRAIRIE RONDE, MICn. TN a season like the present, when this fruit is so abundant, and of so uniform excel- A leuce, it may not be safe to presume that the promise so many of our newer varie- ties have shown will be ultimately sustained. Still, it may be well to make notes of their performance for this year, if only for the aid they may render in making a final judgment. A.rnoliVs Hi/hrida. These grapes fruited this year with me for the first. T had seen so many dispar- aging accounts of them — some parties going so far as to say that they were not worth gathering — that I had made up my mind beforehand they would prove worthless. When, however, they ripened their fruit, I found it of so marked a character, and so good in quality, as compared to several of our leading varieties, that I shall watch their further trial with considerable interest. While I am compelled to make some reservations in praising these grapes, and whether or not any of them will prove of standard value, I consider them remarka- ble, as showing a capacity for amelioration and improvement not generally supposed to inhere in the A^itis Cordifolia or Frost Grape. The Jirant. The objectionable point in this grape is its small size, being no larger than the Clinton — its maternal parent. It, however, ripens early, and while it retains some- thing of the Frost Grrape flavor, it is very sweet and pleasant. The Canada, Though somewhat like the foregoing, this grape is distinct in plant, and the fruit is larger, and of a more decided, aromatic and sprightly flavor. The Cofnueopiu. This variety has remarkable vigor, and the most healthy foliage of them all. In this, as in all the others, the Clinton flavor is very noticeable, but so ameliorated and interblended with that of its foreign parent as to be altogether agreeable. I should not hesitate to pronounce this the finest grape in the collection, but for the fact that with me, this year, the fruit mostly cracked open in ripening, and, of course, spoiled. I do not, however, apprehend that it will continue to do so, as I have often had the Delaware do the same the first time it fruited on my strong soil. If there is one of these grapes that will be found valuable as a wine grape, I feel confident that the Cornucopia will be that one. The Othello. This grape, though the largest of the five, and a vigorous grower, and fine bearer, has not been equal in flavor to the foregoing, to my taste. It is mild and pleaiant, but lacks the spice and aroma of lome of the others. 14 I^orest Trees for Shelter, Ornament and l^rqfit. Tlie A.utuchon. This grape is small — its greatest fault. It is claimed for it that it ripens with the Delaware ; but with me it is two weeks later. It ripened, however, and early enough to keep well ; and I will say that they all have the quality of keeping, or seem to have so far, in an eminent degree. A few of the Cornucopia left on the vines were in a good state of preservation, in spite of the hard freezing, as late as the first of November. It is not my purpose to have my praise of these new grapes construed into a dis- paragement of other new kinds, of which I may not at present speak. Yet I cannot refrain from naming a few of the more noteworthy. The Eumelnn. This grape has, this year, enhanced its previous reputation, a very valuable grape. Its productiveness, early ripening and fine flavor, make it one of the most desirable, and judging from the few pounds I still have on hand, it will be one of the best keepers of our early ripening sorts. The Cottage. This new grape, a seedling of the* Concord, sent out by Mr. Bull, does not seem to attract much attention. This is, with me, one of the most remarkable vines on my grounds. It was only planted last year, yet it made some forty feet of ripened* wood, and bore a few clusters of fruit of a flavor much superior to its parent. The Salem, I have fruited eight or ten of the Rogers Hybrids, for several years, and I have always claimed that No. 5 was the best that I had tried. This year my Salem bore fruit for the first, and proved identical with my No. 5. I also saw the Salem at several of the leading fairs, that was the same as my No. 5 and Salem. Now can any one tell if No. 5 is Salem, or No. 22 is Salem, or No. 53 is the Salem ? for all these numbers seem to have good claim to the honor of this cognomen. Forest Trees for Shelter, Ornament and Profit. THIS new volume, by Arthur Bryant, Sr., President of the Illinois State Horti- cultural Society, just published, is one of the few devoted to the encouragement of tree planting in those parts of the United States where the land is either naturally devoid of timber, or in those sections where it has been ruthlessly stripped by merce- nary hands. Such books, practical, timely, and simply written, do great good in recalling our senses now and then to the impending perils we so often lose sight of in our eager haste for profit. Mr. Bryant's position entitles him to a large influence, and his acquaintance with the entire West, and with all its distinguished Arboriculturists, render him familiar with all its needs, and able to possess rare opportunities for observation and research. Taking up the subject of the rapid destruction of the forests, and the contrasts betwixt the times of years ago, when such states as New York and Maine exported JPbrest Trees for Shelter, Ornament and 'Profit, 15 large quantities of pine lumber, he calls our attention with distinctness to the fact that the forests there are now stripped, and scarcely a pine tree of old growth can be found. He estimates that at the present rate of consumption the entire supply of the Northwestern States will be exhausted in less than twenty-five years, and calls atten- tion to the enormous consumption of one year only, 1869 ; in this year, in the three -■=v:Qc.ws^aN' Canadian Hemlock Spruce. states alone of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, there was cut of lumber the large number of 3,311,372,255 feet. To obtain this quantity, 883,032 acres, or 1,380 square miles were stripped of their trees. The rapacious demands of the railroads seem to be as enormous as those of the manufactories, and betwixt the two, all the hard wood and soft wood trees are cut down with the utmost rapidity. He alludes in a separate chapter to the evils result- 16 JFbresf. Trees for Shelter, Ornament and 'Profit. ing from the destruction of forests, whereby the climate is entirely changed, and refers to the stricken, desolate regions of Syria, Persia, Asia Minor, and even Italy, where rains have ceased, and living is precarious. Glancing over the Cha'pter cf Favorable Injlueyices of the Forest, we notice a para- graph to the effect, that in some parts of Europe, particularly on the shores of the Gulf of Gascony, in France, government aid was invoked to help repair the damage done by a sandy waste, which in times of heavy wind often was gathered up and scattered over the huts and farms of neighboring villages. This was rendered sta- tionary and harmless by planting it with the Maratime Pine. More than 100,000 acres were planted, and great quantities of tar, resin, lampblack, and timber were produced. In the North of Germany, large tracts of loose shifting sand were covered in this way with forests of pine. In the sandy wastes of Russia the Ailan- tus has been successfully employed, and other similar wastes have been made to yield a useful or a profitable return. About eleven preliminary chapters are devoted to general subjects, such as the Influence of Forests upon Moisture and Rain Fall, Change of Climate in the Prairie Regions, Practicability of Raising Timber, etc. On this last subject, he says : " Any farmer, although of small means, can plant at least an acre of trees in a year. When the ground for a grove or timber belt is selected, the outer rows may be first planted, and others added from year to year as may be convenient. After the first three or four years, the trees need little or no cultivation, and will require only pruning, thinning and the exclusion of stock. To every quarter-section of 160 acres, there should be thirty acres of woodland, the proportion being about one-fifth. " If the plans were generally adopted of planting timber belts on the north and west sides of farms or open plains, protection would be afforded on the other two sides by a corresponding planting of neighboring plantations. A belt eight rods wide on two sides of a quarter-section, would give about the required proportion of thirty acres. A farm which has one-fifth of it covered with thriving young trees, will always command a higher price and more ready sale than if it were destitute of wood." Several very practical chapters are given upon Propagation, Planting, and Culture, also Pruning and Thinning, which are short and to the point. Perhaps many would have liked twice as much matter in these chapters as have been given, but the author has written as simply as possible for beginners, not for professionals, hence has not wasted words. The trees he thinks most suitable for screens are as follows : " The evergreens most suitable for screens, are the Norway Spruce, the White Pine, the Red Pine, Scotch Pine, and Austrian Pine. The American Arbor Vitae, Hemlock, White and Black Spruce are also well suited for this purpose, but do not grow so rapidly as those first named. A single I'ow of evergreens, when well grown, is a very good protection against the winter wind ; a double row is still better. Two rows of Norway Spruce, planted eight or ten feet apart, and ten feet distant in the rows, each tree being opposite the space in the other row, constitute as complete a shelter from the wind as a building of the same height. Orchards not otherwise protected should have screens planted near them. Experience has shown that shel- JFhrest Trees for Shelter, Ornament and Profit. 17 tered orchards, other things being equal, are the most productive ; besides, their fruit is less likely to be shaken from the trees by violent winds." Profits of Timber, is a subject the author handles with care, not desiring to foster any extravagant ideas of a fortune to be gained in a short time. He admits the tree European Ziarch. culture will be very profitable, and selects the Larch as the tree of all others from which to obtain the most speedy return. " In twelve years such a tree will furnish two fence posts. Allowing 400 to remain to become of larger size, and deducting 300 for those which are worthless or indif- 2 1§ Tfie Seurre d'oinjou ^ea?\ ferent, 2,000 trees might be cut from an acre, affording 4,000 posts, which, valued at only twenty cents each, would be worth $800. The estimate of twenty cents each is much below what they would be worth in many parts of the country at the present time. The railroads annually require an immense number of ties, and no kind of timber is better fitted for that use than the Larch." The estimate of profit is a very reasonable one, such as any one can accept as rather under than over the truth. Over 200 pages of the 240 in the work are devoted to a descriptive list of all the useful timber trees of the United States. We have only to say that after faithful comparison with other works on the same subject, Mr. Bryant's is not only the best we have seen, but the most complete, his descriptions being very full and minute. This work comes at a time when a good book on this subject is needed, and the horticulturists and farmers of the country should aim to give it a cordial welcome. Mr. Bryant has prepared a special list of the most valuable timber trees for culture in the United States, and he arranges them in the following order : 1. White Oak, Quercus alba. 11. Pignut, Carya glabra. 2. Bur Oak,~Quercus macrocarpa. 12. Linden or Basswood, Tilia Americana. 3. Sugar Maple, Acer saccharinum. 13. Tulip Tree, Liriodendron tulipifera. 4. White Ash, Fraxinus Americana. 14. European Larch, Larix Europea. 5. Blue Ash, Fraxinus quadrangulata. 15. Norway Spruce, Abies excelsa. 6. Red Ash, Fraxinus pubescens. 16. White Pine, Pinus strobus. 7. Black Walnut, Juglans nigra. 17. Scotch Pine, Pinus sylvestris. 8. Butternut, Juglans cinerea. 18. Red Pine, Pinus resinosa. 9. Chestnut, Castanea veaca. 19. Corsican Pine, Pinus Laricio. 10. Shellbark Hickory, Carya Alba. 20. Catalpa, Catalpa bignonioides. The illustrations here given are from the work. The Benrre d'Anjou Pear. BY PARKER EARLE. IN many essential qualities, and possibly in many localities in all-important characteristics, the Anjou is our most valuable pear. As a tree it is superb in style and vigor of growth, in persistence of foliage, and in entire hardiness both in summer and winter. It bears early enough, yet not prematurely; and the fruit when free from defects has no superior in solid excellence, combining as it does all those con- ditions of texture and flavor which everybody wants in a pear, without any peculi- arities of flavor or excessive qualities of any sort. Hence it is a fruit that will probably receive the unqualified suffrages of more pear lovers than any other in our whole list. The Bartlett is an indispensable pear, but many of us wish it was not so musky ; the Belle Lucrative is too sweet, and lacks that refreshing power that comes from a commingling of flavors ; the Seckel is too concentrated in richness ; while many kinds which are very excellent when at their best, have an unsafe incli- nation to astringency, or to insipidity, or they tend to early decay. But the Anjou, in addition to its agreeable proportions of sugar, acid and aroma, of juiciness and substantial flesh, and great reliability in all these respects, is one of JVotes from "^o?'te Crayon's" Garden. 19 the finest keepers while in eating condition that we have ; and its season is just right to be most useful in the family and profitable in the market. So it is not surprising that our highest authorities in fruit culture pronounce it the most valuable pear grown. But I have during the last two years noted a serious fault in this pear, in some localities, that begins to alarm me for its future. A portion of my pears for these two years, and many more this season than last, have been afi"ected by a pecu- liar woody formation in the flesh, apparently of a fungoid character, which in some eases constitutes fully half the substance of the fruit, entirely ruining it, and in others occurs in isolated lumps and streaks, only slightly impairing the value of the particular specimen. Where this peculiar growth is excessively developed, it mani- fests itself outwardly, by a rough, pitted or pimply skin. These diseased fruits ripen prematurely and decay, even on the tree in some cases, a month or six weeks before the healthy pears have reached maturity. It does not seem probable that the disease depends upon any peculiar condition of the tree, as both healthy and diseased pears grew side by side on the same branches. I judge that one-third of my crop of this variety was destroyed by this to me new pear disease, the present season. I have seen the same indications of disease in some neighboring orchards, and I found it in the Anjou and one other variety in an interesting eastern orchard the present autumn. I have inquired for it of many pear orchardists east and west, but it does not seem to have attracted much atten- tion ; and yet I fear it will not be confined to the two localities I have found it in. I call the attention of pear growers to the difficulty, hoping for some valuable hints toward a remedy. — Country Gentleman. Notes from '* Porte Crayon's " Garden. BY DAVID H. STROTHER. THE past season has been a very disastrous one for amateur gardens in this region, as we have had no satisfactory rains from March to November. The early spring was very promising, and on the 21st of April the season was fully three weeks in advance of former years. Owing to continued drought and the prevalence of chilly, drying winds, this advantage was soon lost, and growth so checked, that by the mid- dle of July many of our fruits, flowers and vegetables were behind last season, and in August, while some had utterly failed to mature, others were a fortnight behind their time. Fruits and vegetables were diminished in size and of inferior flavor, while flowers were wanting in color and dropped their bloom prematurely. In ad- dition, the gardens swarmed with insects, flying, crawling and burrowing in extraor- dinary numbers and variety, destroying such things as survived the drought. Yet in spite of all these discouragements, by dint of watering, shading and mulching, and an unremitting war against the vermin, my garden has yielded me a fair supply of fruits, vegetables and flowers, and is in better condition than ever before for a pros- perous future. Stratvberries, All varieties were earlier than usual and showed an extraordinary amount of bloom. The Philadelphia, grown in matted rows, mulched with tan, and all runners clipped, 20 JVotes from " jPoi'fe Crayon's" Garden, gave the best results in the uniformly large size, quantity and delicious flavor of its berries. The drought did not appear to affect its growth at all, while its yield was greater and of better quality than of any previous season. This improvement I attribute to the fact, that I mow the plants every season after fruiting, which practice seems to increase the thriftiness of the plant, and improve its fruitfulness. Notwith- standing the extreme dryness of the season I had them mowed this year in July, and the bed now looks uncommonly fresh and healthy. The Triomphe de Grand showed an extraordinary amount of bloom, and I thinned the buds on a portion of the bed to prevent over bearing and obtain better fruit. In time it appeared that this care was unnecessary, as nature worked in the same direc- tion ; at least two-thirds of the blossoms failed, and the result was a moderate crop of berries, the largest in size and finest in flavor that I have yet gathered. I did not perceive that the hills artificially thinned did better than the others. The Agriculturist, carefully cultivated in hills, gave the finest promise of fruit that I have ever seen. They averaged, I think, two hundred berries to the hill, many had three hundred, and in thinning a portion of the bed I took off, by count, from 150 to 180 berries per hill. Notwithstanding careful mulching and daily watering, this bed seemed to suffer severely from the drought, the vines turned yellow, and much of the fruit dried up before ripening. The larger berries grew knotty and ill-formed, many rotted before ripening, those matured were without aroma, and altogether the earlier crop was a failure and disappointment. The later pickings, after other berries were gone, were considerably better in taste and shape, but not sufficiently so to redeem its lost reputation. I conclude that this berry has deteriorated or won't stand a dry season. Another summer may enable us to settle the question, Kitley's Goliah from Knox's nurseries, now in its third season, gave a few medium sized, late berries, neither good nor bad enough to deserve comment. Of Jucunda ; from one dozen potted plants obtained from Knox three years ago, there remain nine meager plants which produce nothing. ^aspherries. Owing to frequent alternations from very mild to severe cold during the last win- ter, my raspberries were all more or less winter killed. The hardy Kirtland suffered more than any other, and in consequence yielded a very thin and unsatisfactory crop. The Black Caps did better, but even they lost a good deal of wood by the cold. The Mammoth Cluster alone was unhurt, and gave large quantities of fruit, not very attractive in appearance or flavor, The drought is doubtless chargeable with this to some extent, and as this variety has proved both hardy and prolific, I have in- creased my plantation. The Red Antwerp and Brinkle's Orange brought delicious fruit as usual, but not satisfactory in quantity. They had been protected with pine brush and suffered less from the cold than the hardy varieties. I have added the Philadelphia and the Hornet to my list of raspberries, hoping in time to find the variety best suited to our soil and climate. JVotes /rom '' Torte Crayon's" Garden. 21 Jilaclihevries. Wilson's Early yielded a few berries the year after planting ; none last year, and next season will probably be extinct here, Kittatinny flourishes in growth and bears large crops of large berries. Our wild mountains produce better flavored fruit, and quite as large. The peculiar mul- berry-shaped Berkeley blackberry described in a former letter, has thriven well with me, and its fruit is uniformly the sweetest we have. My entire crop of Early Hale and early Crawford peaches was destroyed by the bee and their disreputable relatives, the wasps, yellow jackets and hornets, assisted by other winged marauders whose names are unknown to me. The Crawford's late and other varieties ripening in September were not attacked, and matured well. Gmpes. My Concord vines were very thrifty, and set a heavy crop of fruit. As soon as the grapes began to color they were- attacked by insects (chiefly honey bees), and before they were fit to eat three-fifths of them were destroyed. Those which escaped were inferior in size and flavor, and the eating season closed three weeks earlier than it did last year. These shortcomings we attribute to the drouth, as well as to the attacks of the bees, who, missing their accustomed pabulum in fields and meadows have resorted to the gardens. A neighbor presented me with two bunches of a white grape trellised on the south side of her house, a grape which, for appearance, size and flavor, is the finest I have seen in this country. The vine grows very strongly and matured a very heavy crop. Its name is unknown to us. Apples, Besides a thrifty young orchard, I have four old trees in full bearing, two Rambos, which are going into decadence, and two fine healthy specimens of the sweet Summer Paradise, described by Downing : " This is a delicious apple, very light, fine grained of mild, aromatic flavor, ripening in October, and keeping generally until spring." This season they are undersize, by reason of the drought, badly picked by insects and are rotting so rapidly that we will not have one by Christmas. J'lwtns, I have had six plum trees in bearing for three seasons, but owing to the Curculio have not yet secuied a single ripe specimen. I tried shaking the trees over a sheet very honestly for two seasons, and got nothing. Last summer I let them alone with the same result. Insects. For the first three years of my Horticultural experience I kept poultry runninc^ at large during the spading season, spring and fall. These were penned up during the summer, and several caged hens permitted to rear their broods among the vegetables. During these years we had comparatively few insects, and rarely lost a plant by grubs or other subterranean vermin. Two years ago, owing to the prevalence of chicken cholera, I banished the poultry. Since that time, and especially the last season, we have had insects in extrarodinary 22 JVotes from '* ^orte C?'ayon's" Garden. numbers and variety ; in spite of a remorseless killing by hand, free use of all the nostrums and preventives advertised in the papers, one or two birds' nests in every tree and a pet toad under every bush and broad leaf, they have increased fatally. My roses were attacked by green lice on the young shoots, green worms on the twigs, slugs, which anatomized the leaves, and rose bugs which ate up the flowers. I dusted them with lime ashes, plaster and brimstone, syringed them with decoctions of tobacco and quassia, sprinkled with solutions of carbolic soap and strong suds, all of which seemed rather to nourish and invigorate the vermin. I applied pure carbolic acid with a feather, which killed the bush. The slugs disappeared after this, but whether they died or left for fresh pastures, I cannot tell, I only know that in the fall ray roses were well nigh annihilated. A pair of long-tailed wrens hatched and raised two broods under the eaves of my porch. Within eight feet of their nest a young rose bush was eaten up by insects, and during the time I picked twenty-five or thirty large green worms from it. About the middle of May. in close proximity to a dozen birds' nests, I discovered a small caterpillar {solitaire) rolled in the tender leaves at the end of the grape vine shoots, who, at his leisure, ate off the terminal buds, thus stopping the growth effect- ually. I pursued this worm for two weeks, and I believe I took one from every grape shoot in my garden. The birds seemed to take no interest whatever in the proceeding. I had a fine bed of bunch squashes, which grew lustily, bloomed and fruited, promising a large crop. Observing that the leaves began to droop and turn yellow, I examined and found them infested with numerous angular flat-backed bugs, of a grey color, generally under the leaves near the ground (squash bugs I suppose). I cleared them out thoroughly. Meanwhile the plants continued to wilt, and finally perished, loaded with blossoms and immature fruit. On pulling them up I dis- covered the pithy roots and large stems of the vine near the crown filled with cor- pulent white grubs, as many as twenty in a single plant. This is doubtless the same breed of worms that destroyed Jonah's gourd. Having lost several apple and peach trees by borers, in the spring of 1868, I pre- pared some thick paper with a coating of gas tar, and carefully wrapped my trees with it, beginning about four inches below the surface and extending twelve inches above. On examining this covering in the fall, I found it had served rather as a harbor for vermin than a protection. Pursuing the borers with knife and wire, I also killed several trees, and since, have relied on lime and ashes around the tree, which seem to have afforded full protection. Two years ago I applied gas tar with a brush to the stems and crowns of twelve thrifty peach trees, to keep away borers. There have been no worms, but this season four fine trees have died without apparent cause. Whether the tar has done the mischief or not, I cannot tell. These desultory experiences indicate that neither chemical applications, birds nor toads afford any adequate protection against insects. A flock of ducks and chickens following the plough or spade in the spring and fall, will certainly thin out the most dangerous subterranean enemies of the Horticulturist, and all the rest must depend on persistent hand to ^hand fighting. Berkeley Springs, West, Va. Editorial Notes. Hale's JEnrly Teach, Don't plant any more. We have never seen so marked unanimity upon any single variety of fruit, in its condemnation, as we have on this. A leading fruit grower near Richmond, with five hundred bearing trees, apparently laden with fine fruit, was able, on picking, to gather but five boxes of peaches suitable for marketing, and these rotted in twenty-four hours. And the general return of sales, by dealers to shippers, was in this plain but expressive language, o '. o! O! We need only to refer to the fact, that this variety has been condemned by the Illinois State Horticul- tural Society, and American Pomological Society. Does Great Ccesar wa?it anything more authoritatice ? A.pples for Virginia. The following varieties are recommended by the Rural Messenger : Winesap, Rawle's Janette, Ortley Pippin, Lifuber Ticlg. New varieties well tested: Mason Pippin, Gully apple. New Varieties of Peas. Thomas Laxton of Stratford England, a lawyer with good practice, has in his leisure moments spent his time in cross-fertilizing the Pea, aiming to produce not only a variety of good quality, but with pods of good length, and plump interior kernels. After testing and retesting for many years, throwing away dozens and dozens of fair-to-do varieties, he claims now to have produced some varieties, which are real acquisitions. The leading sorts are, William the First, Grijfm, Popular, Superlative and Omega. The best of them all in Mr. Laxton's opinion, is The Superlative, pods 7 inches in length, and kernels twice as large as any pea he has seen. The vines run to the height of 7 or 8 feet, but are usually pinched in when the growth is about 5 feet. 3Ir. Laxton, in a letter to us, states that besides his experiments in Peas, he has had excellent success in Apples, Eoses and Straw- berries, in cross-fertilizing ; but thinks that in Peas, he has done more than any other man ever did, living or dead. "1 want several life-times to work out what I have commenced." Good Keeping Grajtes. In a market grape, the two most valuable characteristics should be, to haiig close to the bunch, and keep well. The Concord is well known to be a poor keeper, and grape growers are looking around for something more serviceable in this respect, although in growth and fruiting it is the most uniformly profitable kind we have. The lies is admirable as a market variety, ripens with the Concord, has a heavy crop of showy fruit. Is not liable to crack, keeps better than the Concord, 24 li'loral JVbies. and hangs well to the bunch, much better than Hartford, With us we find it quite as profitable as the Concord. The Israella, is the most perfect shipping black grape we have, very productive, early, and bunch the very perfection of symmetry and compactness. The Eumelan will, we believe, become a very good market variety, if for nothing but its flavor, which is the best of all the black varieties. Mi8SOt€fi Matninolh Jilackherry, has turned up again in Minnesota. Some one there has gathered some magnificent specimens of fruit. Once in a while — a very long while — these glorious specimens turn up to public gaze, but the extended silence '■'betiveen spells^' is ominous of its fate — "Consigned to oblivion," by the majority of growers at large. Out of the Chicago fife-l We are glad to notice that our Chicago friends, the Prairie Farmer and Western Rural, have emerged from the fire with such brilliant colors. Their sheets are even whiter than before, and typographical appearance is even more inviting. Their vast army of subscribers seems to have responded with "a iong pull, a strong pull and a pull altogether,^'' which is gladdening the eyes of those who need help and sym- pathy. Should Fruit be Used arrtffus. The culture of asparagus was lately the subject of discussion by the members of the Horticultural Society in Dessau; and among the views expressed were the following : That the old method of burying large quantities of manure deep under the surface was objectionable, since asparagus does not derive its nourishment from a great depth, and the plants often become too often embedded when the thick substratum of manure collapses by rotting. The preference often given to old plants, in making selections for a new bed, was also considered a mistake. Plants become sickly and less vigorous in the seed bed, so as to be much more sensitive to the change in transplanting. Southern exposure, shelter from cold winds, a porous soil, and the total absence of trees, was recommended as essential conditions to the highest success. The soil is to be turned to the depth of from two to three feet, and then manured to the depth of one foot. This is most conveniently done in autumn, during dry weather. Spring is the best time for planting, and the best direction of the trenches is " walled up," as is termed, between the rows, and upon these other vegetables may be cultivated while the asparagus bed is young; but they are eventually absorbed in filling up the ditch around and between the plants. Well rotted manure, or suitable compost, is combined with the earth of the walls for this purpose. Besides giving constant attention to stirring the soil and weeding, the young plants need to be watered regularly whenever the state of the weather requires it. Viburnum I'licatuni. The Rural Home says : — This new Viburnum or Snowball promises to be of great value. It produces in great profusion, large trusses of pure white flowers. The trusses are very compact and the individual flowers have great substance. It has been but little propagated as yet, and consequently is not known. It may be regarded as a great acquisition to the list of flowering shrubs. I'rofits of a Small Garden,' A gardener at Kochester owns a garden of 80 by 100 feet. His trees are twelve years old, and the fruit sold during this year is as follows : 5 bu. Shropshire Damson plums, from two trees, $3 per bushel, . . $15 00 2 bu. mixed Plums, $2 per bushel 4 00 1^- bu. Flemish Beauty Pear, $3 per bushel 4 50 3 bbls. Louise Bonne, from four trees, 67 per bbl 21 00 1^ bu. Beurre Gifi"ard Pear 2 50 1 bu. Bartlett Pear ; 3 00 2 bu. Beurre d'Anjou Pear, $4 per bushel 8 00 3 bu. Duchesse d'Angouleme, $4 per bushel 12 00 $70 00 Training Peach Trees Zow. A correspondent of the Western Pomologist, who writes from Buchanan county, Iowa, says that he never fails to have a good crop of peaches every year, by a simple process of protection which he employs. He cuts off the young tree, sixteen inches from the ground, and allows the limbs to shoot out on each side below, like the rods of an umbrella. By weights or stakes, he keeps them down in a horizontal 58 ^diiorial JVotes. position, so that the stump is like the spokes of a wagon •wheel lying upon the ground. About the middle of August he cuts back one-third, or one-half the new wood, with a pair of pruning shears, and late in the fall covers the whole with corn stalks. In this way the buds are saved. Orange Groiviny in California, The average 3^ield per tree is set down as 1,500. If 1,000 oranges be assumed to each tree, however, and seventy trees be assumed to the acre, the product of 70,000 oranges results. Calculating that these sell at §20 per thousand, the result of $14,000 for an orchard of ten acres is given. Cutting off one-half to allow for all contingencies, $7,000 still remains as the off>priug of a single crop. The proceeds of a recent crop at Los Angelos are reported at $20,000, while $500 included the entire outlay due to pruning, taking care of the ground, and so forth. Water-melons in the fiouth. An exchange says: The water-melon trade between Augusta, Ga., and the northern cities, is very large this season and very remunerative. Some small farmers who cultivate water-melons say that they can realize more from this crop, and with much less labor and outlay, than they could from a large cotton plantation. From the 3d to the 7th August, 9,362 were shipped to New York, and of this number 5,939 were sent in one day, on the 7th. During the same time, 5,907 melons were forwarded by the South Carolina railroad, at an average price of twenty-five cents each. Sfra.ii'bcrries at St, tfoseph, Michif/an, The (St. Joseph) Herald, after a very careful collection of statistics gives the total shipments of strawberries from tliat place this season, as 24,878 bushels. The estimated receipts were $74,634 ; the expenses — commissions, crates and boxes, picking and freight, are given at $41,297.48, leaving $33,336.52 net to producers. The shipments began May 28, and continued four weeks. The heaviest shipment was 2,769 bushels, on June 12. This is only an average of twelve cents per quart, rather small, we think. Fore ill// Strawberries. A. M. Purdy, of Palmyra, N. Y., states in his Small Fruit Recorder, that on the 27th day of May he picked fine ripe berries that were forced in the following manner: These strawberries were rooted last fall in the " Beecher " strawberry baskets, kept in a cold frame through the winter, and early this spring set around on the walls of our green house. We had ripe berries about the 15th of May, They ripened up nicely. Had we set them up close to the glass we would have ripened them fully two weeks earlier. We find the French, Wilson's Albany, Triomphe d' Grand, Agriculturist and Philadelphia, among the best for forcing purposes. Tjily of the Valley in Winter. The Lily of the Valley may be forced into bloom in winter as readily as the Hyacinth. Select large, healthy clumps, and put them in good rich soil, and then place in a warm room, giving sullicient water to prevent drying, but not enough to cause a decay of roots. A box will answer, if pots cannot be obtained, and we are sure that those who are fond of house plants in winter, will be pleased with this little gem when in bloom ; for its fragrance is not so powerful as to be ofiFensive in a close room. — Rural New Yorker. Chanying the Colors of I'lon'crs. The Mirror of Science says, that a case is known of a yellow primrose, which, when planted in a rich soil, had the flowers changed to a brilliant purple. It also says, that charcoal adds great brilliancy to the colors of Dahlias, Roses and Petunias ; carbonate of soda reddens pink hyacinths, and phosphate of soda changes the colors of many plants. Horticultural Azotes. 59 Horticultnral ITotes. Killhi!/ Jilitcliherry Hushes. One of the editors of The Rural Neio Yorker, in answer to the question, how to kill Blackberry vines, says : I have not only planted but killed out several acres of blackberry bushes during the last ten years, and have not found either a very troublesome task. Last sum- mer I destroyed a plantation b}' simply mowing oflF the plants and thoroughly plow- ing up the roots. Not a plant lived, nor has a sucker appeared this season ; and I attribute my succ'ess more to the time of doing the work than to the manner or thoroughness. The time selected was immediately after gathering the fruit, i. c, the first of August. The plants were then growing vigorously, and the stems and roots immature, consequently the cutting and plowing was too much even for a black- berry. This simple method is almost equally as certain in destroying noxious plants of other species, but the time must be varied to correspond with the growth of the plant, as some mature early and others late. Always select a time when the plants are making or just finishing their most vigorous growth. Peors. The editor of the Germantown Telegraph comments on some pears he has seen fruiting. The Beurre d'Anjou he pronounces only a third rate pear. The Rutter he finds flavorless, acid and dry, and altogether worthless. The Howell has disap- pointed him so far, but he gives it time for a longer trial. The Kirtland rots easily but he rather likes it. Manning's Elizabeth is prolific, but in quality is not first rate, being handsome as a fruit ; however it makes a good market variety. The earliest pear is the Doyenne d'Ete, and though small he would not be without it. He does not consider the Dearborn as of much account. The Julienne is an excel- lent summer variety, of good quality, prolific and early. Bloodgood is the best of all his early pears. The Giffard is excellent in every sense as an autumn fruit. The Potts pear turns out to be the Grlout Morceau, and it is excellent. So is the Lawrence as a late fruit. Editor's Re??iarks. — Something wrong with the Major's orchard. The d'Anjou is superb almost everywhere else, and we say ditto to the Howell. Gruess the Major has been eating gooseberry syrup. 2'he Ransom Curculio Trap. M. B. Batehara says that he found the "Ransom Curculio Trap " of more service in catching the squash bug than the curculio. He lays two or three bits of shino-Ie or thin board near the hill of plants, the ground being a little rough so that the bu^s can crawl under them, as they will do every cool night, and on turning over the covers early in the morning, the bugs can easily be crushed with the sole of the boot, or with a flat stick. The Chinese Pritiirosf, The Coimtry Gentleman says: "There are some plants that will grow and blossom with but little care or attentien, but with others, constant care is needful. Among the former class, the Chinese primrose takes front rank. It will continue in bloom from nine to ten months out of twelve ; and its pure white, or rich pink and crimson flowers are a great ornament, So tenacious of life and health is the root, that if planted in cotton-wool, soaked with water, and not allowed to wither for want of moisture, it will put forth its tender blossoms for months. It can be thus planted in a china vase or saucer, or in a glass dish, making a lovely ornament for a parlor or boudoir table. The cost of it is small — a twenty cent scrip will procure a fine plant, and its flowers are a certainty." 60 SbrticuUural ^otes. Strawherry Plants for Bouse Culture, One of the editors of the Rural New Yorker recommends these as great novelties : •' The little Bush Alpines are really pretty plants for bouse culture, and in a moder- ately low temperature will produce fruit continuously. 1 have taken up and potted a good number of plants to-day, of both the red and white Bush Alpine, and expect that their fruit and flowers will, during the coming winter, amply repay the little care required in culture. I should think that those ladies who take so much delight in window plants, would try the Alpine strawberries. The varieties that produce runners are very pretty when grown in hanging baskets, for the long pendant stems produce a buncli of leaves, flowers and fruit at every joint, and I am sure the whole ' appearance of the plant is equal, if not superior, in elegance to the AV'andering Jew, {Saxifraga sarmciitosa,) Tradescantia, and scores of similar plants that are generally cultivated for such purposes." The Oviifton Mineral Fertiliser. The disposition of the public to put some confidence in this was considerably disturbed by the attack of Dr. Nichols upon it — who declared it useless as a fertilizer, i'rom its analysis, we should judge it to contain very little fertilizing material, but somehow statements will creep out here and there from a few cultivators, generally flower gardeners, who find it has some efiicacy in repelling insects. We should not allude to it at all if it were not for the fact that, if it is found to have some value as an insect exterminator, we will be delighted to hear of the triumph oi practice over science, for even scientific men get caught occasionally. This powder was used by a correspondent of the Small Fruit Recorder, in North Carolina — applying it to strawberries and cabbages — in the latter case a single application was suificient to make the cabbage louse depart, and in keeping away squash and cucumber beetles, he found it quite as efficacious as gypsum. Charles Doivninff Strawberry' A fruit grower in Iowa finds this the best out of eight other best varieties he could select. No. 19 Seedling Grai>e. This new variety of grape is stated by Elwanger and Barry to bear enormously, and to be entirely free from mildew. How to I'ack Moots Around Trees. When we transplant our trees we should pack the earth well around the roots. They were used to it in the nursery or where they stood, and they require at least the same solid grasp. The way we pack, even if we do it pretty closely, still falls far short of the original pressure. We can only pack close enough by pounding; other pressure is not sufficient. Do it carefully, but do it firmly. Have the roots all spread out evenly and naturally — a strained root will not thrive — and then apply the pressure. Of course, the firmer the soil is sifted and worked in among the roots, the better. If moist, the packing will be the more eft'ectual. In his way your trees will have many advantages. They will withstand the wind and drouth, and even the rain better; there will not be that washing among the roots, making them even more loose than before, but they will resist even, to some extent, the penetration of the moisture in the solid bed in which they are established. — Ex. Jtenovatiitg Quince Trees. I had in my garden several trees which for quite a number of years had never borne the value of one peck of fair quinces, and I had about made up my mind to destroy them, when a neighbor called on me and stated his had been in a similar conditioa until he took thorn in hand. First ho trimmed out all dead and useless horticultural A'otes. 61 wood. He then hoed and cleaned away all grass, etc., which tended to retard their growth, giving them clean cultivation. He then gave them a thorough manuring, with fresh horse manure, and from that time his trees had never failed to produce a full crop. I accordingly adopted his course to the letter, and so long as I continued this course had an abundant supply, and of the finest quality. — Small Fruit Recorder. Curiosiliea of Horticulture, The editor of the Germantown Telegraph has recently had sent him for examination by Mr, Preston T. C. West, of that city, a valuable old work published in London in 1596, which treats principally upon the arrangement and management of gardens, from which he publishes some extracts. We reproduce a few of them, and may at some other time publish others to show our readers the state of Horticulture in that early age : " Of the Ordring and Care of the Strawberries^. — The Strawberrie is accounted among those hearbs that grow in the fields of their owne accorde. And the Berries be much eaten at all men's tables in the sommer for the pleasantness of them, which for a more delight in eating they dresse with wine and sugar. The rehearsall of the fame of this hearb needeth not, seeing the same is known to all persons. And it aptly groweth in shadowey places and rather under the shadowe of other hearbes than alone. And the plantes set in gardens will grow unto the bigness of a mulberry, if the earth before in the beds be well dressed, and diligently tended of the gardener. But hearbe of itself continueth not above a yeare."* " Of the Ordring and Ca?-e of the Lavender. — Lavender is an hearbe sweet in smelling, and at this day growing in most gardens: of the which be two kinds, the one growing high, and sending forth a great savour, which, for it giveth no less savour than the Spike, is of the same named Spikenard ; and the other, both in the largeness of the leafe, and savour, is lesser. And for that the same is occupied in baths, and in the washing of hands, for the sweetness of smell, therefore of most men, named the Lavender. Also the first is named the male, and the other the female, as sundry authors write. And now the Lavender joyeth to be set in an open and sunny place, and in stony earth, for so it prospereth the better." How to JSjctermlnate the Apple Tree Borer. As soon as the middle of July examine carefully the trees at the base. Destroy the eggs of the borer, if any, by rubbing with a corn-cob. The presence of the borer may be determined by a depression of the bark, the color being pale and unnatural, and second by a round hole at the mouth of each depression about one- tenth of an inch in diameter, out of which may be seen protruding a substance resembling refuse tan bark. The course of the borer is usually spiral and just under the bark ; at other times he penetrates or rather bores deep into the body, perhaps directly through the very heart of the tree. In the former case cut out the intruder with a sharp pen-knife, cutting away the bark as little as possible, and in the latter case follow up the same with a bent pointed wire. (If the object of your pursuit should cry out, "All we want is to be let alone," you can do so with safety, after giving him two or three attacks in the rear) Cover all wounds with tar or grafting wax, after which bank up with dirt. If after the borer or borers are cut out, the tree becomes quite girdled, proceed as follows : With a sharp half-inch chisel make from six to ten incisions downward in the bark and wood, just below the girdle, and in a similar manner a corresponding number just above the girdle. Then from a vigorous tree cut several sprouts of the proper length, wedge-shaped at both ends, and fit the same in the incisions, thus forming a complete connection for the sap. Wax the points of contact, also the girdled portion, bank high with dirt, prune thoroughly, and the tree will come out all right. Still further, if the tree is not only girdled, but completely bored down, in such case save the more prominent sprout or sucker, if any, that may spring from any portion of the stub above the 62 horticultural JVotes. point of grafting, and, if the roots are vigorous, the sprouts will grow with incred- ible rapidity, from two to three feet in a season. Lastly, if the tree, both root and branch, is completely destroyed by the borer, we can only say, apply to the nursery for a substitute, withal paying in the future good heed to poor Kichard's maxim, as found at the head of this article. — In Journal of the Farm. 0. A. Pratt. The Western Pomologist says that for the west the Flemish Beauty is peculiarly fitted to a lightish soil, for the finest fruit grown in Iowa and Kansas has been grown on a light, sandy loam. Vrtiits for the Sotitheru Stnteif. The following list is recommended by The Southern Times and Planter : Apples. — The early Harvest commences to ripen early in June, and continues for three weeks. The tree is a good grower, and the apple eats well, but is not suited for marketing purposes. The Red Astrachan is the handsomest early apple ; rather acid, but a fine market apple; the tree is a very vigorous grower, but not an early bearer. This com- mences to ripen in May and continues six weeks. For July, the Family, Horse and Julian are choice. For August and September, we can very strongly recommend the Taunton and Junaluskee. The Tuscaloosa seedling is very good. The Taunton and Junaluskee are both early and regular bearers ; both varieties have borne good crops every year for the last five. For October, we recommend the Mangum and Kittageskee ; the latter makes most beautiful and delicious preserves. As winter varieties, the Shockley Stevenson's and winter Stansill are first-class. The Stansill bears, with us, every year. Those varieties will give a supply of fresh fruit throughout the year. A few of each of the summer varieties are sufficient in any orchard intended for family use. If planted for market, a larger proportion of the Red Astrachan and Taunton would be found profitable, excluding entirely those ripening in July. We would advise, in either case, fully two-thirds of the orchard planted in the Shockley, which is undoubtedly the apple for the Cotton belt. J'cars, Dwarf pear trees have done nothing with us. Of the standard, the following is a succession of pears, ripening from June till October, which we can recommend, from our own experience, as excellent and reliable : Doyenne D'Ete Ripe in June. Belle Lucrative " July and August. Bartlett and St. Michael Archangel " August and September. Beurre Superfine and Duchesse l)'Angouleme " September. Beurre Clairgeau and Glout Morceau " October. These are the only varieties which we can recommend very highly among those thoroughly tested by us. Tlie Jiea.uty of the Cocoa Groves. Of all the enchanting rural scenery which the traveller in tropical America wit- nesses, the cocoa grove is by far the most charming — surpassing in its singular beauty and variety of colors even the curious nutmeg groves, the tea bushes, the vegetable ivory palm trees, or the coff"ee plantations in full bloom. ^The cocoa tree is the only one in all tropical countries whose branches, trunk and roots (as far as the latter protrude from the ground), are ever covered with small flowers, resembling those of the myrtle. Between these flowers are pendant, in dis- tances of a foot or two, the large cocoa fruit, which have the size and shape of a Horticiittural A'btes. 63 full-sized cucumber, when full gi'own, about ten inches long and three inches in diameter. Each tree has these cucumber-like fruits in nearly all colors of the rainbow, from a pale green to a sulphur yellow, from the most brilliant orange to the brighest scarlet, and from purple to the brightest violet, and thence to dark brown, the color of maturity. Kept dark and shaded, the effect is magical, and resembles a garden illuminated after dark with colored lamps, the trees being in straight lines, and at convenient distances. These fruits are called ''mazurcas" by the Spaniards, and contain in rows the rose-colored seeds of full cocoa size in a whitish pulp, the whole contents agree- able to the palate, and of a flavor resembling apples. — N. Y. Mercantile, Journal. How to Jfresei-ve Floirers I>uring Die Winter. A writer to the Oneida Circulav thus tells how he did it : The Cannas, Dahlias, Erythrinas, Madeira vines, Salvias, etc., had to be carefully arranged in a long bin or box, and covered with sand or dry earth. The different varieties of Gladiolus had to be placed in so many separate boxes or bags. The Lily and Amaryllis bulbs do best when potted in suitable soil, and placed on a dry shelf, to await the time for bringing them forward for summer flowering. Tuberoses and Colocasias are to be covered with dry sand, and so kept until it is time to prepare them for the hot-bed or forcing-pit. Then the bulbs of the Tigridias must be placed in bags and hung out of reach of rats and mice Tritomas do well in large pots or tubs, but require to be sprinkled with water now and then to keep them in a semi- growing state. There is in the cellar, as you know, an almost endless array of pots and tubs containing Abutilons, Aloes, Cactus, Fuchsias, Geraniums, Hydrangeas, Oleanders, Pampas Grass, Roses, Yuccas, and other things too numerous to men- tion. These are to be cared for and given occasional sprinklings of water. Cactus and aloes, however, need little or no watering during the winter. Then, as the gallery of our large hall is well lighted, and warmed with steam, we have filled the windows with plants, in quantity sufficient to adorn one or more conservatories. There are Abutilons, Acanthus, Aloysia citriodora or Lemon Verbena, Callas, Coleus in variety, Fuchsias, Geraniums, Heliotropes, Ivies, Lycopodias, and Ferns, Maurandias, Oleandex's, Petunias, Roses, Salvias, Tropseolums, Verbenas, etc., etc. These require frequent turnings, so as to expose all parts of the plants equally to the sunlight ; otherwise they wdl grow one-sided and unsymmetrical. Roses, Rose Geraniums, Verbenas, etc., require frequent washings to free them from aphis, or green fly. They all require systematic watering and frequent sprinkling, and some slight protection in extreme cold weather. Occasionally re-pottings are necessary, especially towards spring, when the severity of winter has passed, and they have begun to grow somewhat vigorously. Destvoying the Apple Moth. We have tried three methods : first, with considerable success, that of catching the moth in bottles of sweetened water hung in the trees; but the process of refill- ing the bottles from time to time proved rather tedious, to say nothing of the expense ; secondly, the plan, now under trial, of pasturing sheep and calves in the orchard; thirdly, on a limited scale and with fair success, that of placing woolen rags in the crotches and main branches of the trees. This method was tried the past season, and promises to be not only the most practicable, but also the most successful. Old carpets were made use of, cut in pieces nine inches square, folded two or three times. Into its folds the larva of the insect crawls and spins its cocoon, preparatory, to undergoing its change to a perfect insect. The experiment has proved that a large majority of the worms leave the apple before it drops, even in the fore part of the season, and descend to the crotch of the tree, or perhaps to the ground, iu order to find a place of concealment under the loose bark. These rags 4 MorticuUural A'btes. offer to the insects a very acceptable and cozy retreat, of which they readily avail themselves ; and all that is necessary for their certain destruction is to pass along once in ten or twelve days during the season and crush the larvae with the hand, replacing the cloth ; or, what would be still better and more expeditious, run the cloth through a pair of rollers carried for the purpose. In case of large trees that have many branches, it might be well to place two or tree cloths in a tree. No very systematic course was taken in making the experiment ; but in every instanc ;, when examined, from two to ten larvae were found in the folds of a single cloth. Late in the season, after the apples had been gathered, on examining the cloths in three dwarf apple-trees that had not been disturbed for a number of days, eight, fifteen and twenty-one, respectively, were found to have taken up quarters for the winter in the folds of the cloths. These cloths, if sav-jd, may be used for more than one season. The result of our experiment with this third method convinces us that by follow- ing it up faithfully a great reduciion of the pest may be effected, and, coiisequeutlj, larger and fairer crops of fruit be realized. — Henry Thacher in Oneida Circular. What it Costs to Experiment. " A few years since, when the grape fever was raging throughout the country, I caught the infection and planted a large number of the recommended varieties. Ten years of trial has shown me their worthlessness (at least in my grounds), and I or- dered the greater part grubbed up and thrown into the fire, .and the costly trellis posts used for fence. In passing through the vineyard many of my old enthusiastic feel- ings in regard to new sorts were brought to mind — yes, and the prices I was led to pay for them. Here was a Winchester marked for destruction. I dispatched my three dollars for a little vest-pocket edition of it as soon as the advertisement ap- peared in the Rural New Yorker. How carefully I planted and cared for it, but how miserably I have been repaid for my labor. And here is a row of Rogers' Hybrids — three vines of each of some twenty varieties ; cost me two dollars per straw, for the gardeners used to sell plants that were more like small straws than vines ; and now shall I discard them all, or try my patience another ten years ? Some years they bear a good crop of fair fruit, but there is not one of them equal to the Concord with me. 'Dig them up, John, and we will save hoeing and training.' The next two rows are lona and Israella, fifty vines, cost three dollars each — SI 50 — planted seve- years ago, carefull}) cultivated, bone-dusted, limed, poudretted and trained on ap- proved systems ; but the entire returns for seven years would not amount to as many pounds of good ripe fruit. Marked for the grub-ax I " Next row Miller's seedlings. Purchased before named, in order to be a little ahead of my neighbors ; received a letter two years after from the originator, saying that there were none among the number worth naming. ' Dig.' And here are five rows, two hundred feet long, consisting of various sorts, such as Allen's Hybrid, Re- becca, Clinton, White King, Claret, Mary, Spotted Globe, Diana, Black Hawk, Lydia Raabe, Lehigh, and fifty similar varieties, which cost me from $1 to §5 per vine, to say nothing of cultivation and trellises and the only return from them was the pleasure of anticipation at the time of purchase, and the grim satisfaction of seeing the vines burn to-day. "And now, what have I left? Why, simply Concord, Delaware, Hartford, and a few of the later novelties such as Walter, Scnasqua, Croton, Arnold's Hybrids, and a few others which are still on propagation grounds only. Of course, I am willing to admit that lona is a success in a few localities, and so are some of Rogers' Hybrids; but this is a local result of local experience the same as mine, and each must report accordingly. I have certainly learned a valuable lesson, and shall store it away in my memory as a costly keepsake." — Daily Rural Life, in Rural New Yorker. \^ \*e) ^? '"^■vJLr TOL. 2T MAECH, 18T2. ISiO. 309. What Strawberries to Plant. BY DR. F. M, HEXAMER. EVERY Spring I receive scores of letters with the inquiry, what variety of Straw- berry do you advise to plant ? and invariably do I have to answer that no one variety suits all tastes, nor all soils and climates. The bearing season of any one variety is hardly longer than two weeks, so that to extend the luxury of Strawberries as long as possible it requires at least three varieties, under any circumstances. From many years careful observation at our cwn Fruit fai-m, as well as from the results of fruit growing on soils different from ours, I recommend for general cultiva- tion the following select list of Strawberries, as best adapted to the widest extent of territory and the different systems of cultivation. For heavy soil. For light soil. J£ni-}i/. Nicanor. Downer. Medium or main crop. Wilson ; Charles Downing. Wilson ; Charles Doiyning. Seth Boyden ; Green Prolific. Kentucky. Trioraphe de Gand ; Jucunda. Jjatest. Napoleon III. All of these varieties are valuable for the market, on account of their firmness. In the home garden, however, where the hardness of the fruit is of but secondary impor- tance, I would not omit the exquisitely aromatic "Black Defiance" and the pine- apple flavored " Lennig's White."' On the judicious selection of varieties and the quality of the plants depends much of the success of the Strawberry bed, but in many cases, much more on the right treatment of the plants when received from the nursery. Spring is the best time for 5 66 ^ Belgian JVursejy-Slfan. planting. From tlie thawing of the ground till the opening of the blossoms the plant- ing may be done with more safety than at any other season of the year. When the field or bed has been well prepared, by deep plowing or spading and thorough pulveri- zation of the soil with intermixing of plenty of manure, the plants should be set out as soon as received. If, however, the ground is not ready, or for some other cause the planting has to be deferred, open the box or package at o?ice. The plants may have become heated, and, as the temperature in the package increases, a few hours' delay may destroy their vitality. If the plants are found to be warm, open each bundle, take the plants apart and put them between cool, damp moss in a cellar. In this way tliey may be left for one or two days without injury, but when the planting to the permanent bod can not be done before several days, they should be heeled in carefully. With a spade or a hoe make a trench as deep as the roots of the plants are long, place the plants, with their roots straitened, along side of each other against one bank of the trench, and cover the roots about one ineh deep with fine, pulverized soil, press this firmly down and fill up to the level. The soil must be well up and around the crowns of the plants, without covering them. Should the ground be very dry. a free watering in the evening will be beneficial. Thus plants may be left, without risk, for weeks, if necessary, but of course the sooner they are transferred to the perma- nent bed the better. A Belgian Nursery-Man. A CORRESPONDENT of the Gardener's Chro7iich gives the following description of his visit to the famous establishment of the Messrs. Verschafi^elt in Ghent, Belgium, and of what he saw there. It will be of interest to lovers of fine plants : " Ghent, with its 200 horticultural establishments, must be the very paradise of nurserymen, and yet it does not seem by any means to have any exceptional advan- tages. What can have induced so many to form their establishments there more than at Antwerp or Brussels ? Yet so it is, and with a light and sandy soil, with a climate which must be cold and damp in winter, the Ghent nurserymen have managed to gain for themselves a reputation which is world wide, and a success in some special form of culture in which they are well-nigh unapproachable. Wher,^, for instance, are Camellias done as they are here? I have seen, doubtless, as fine plants elsewhere, but for quantity, neatness, and for vigor of growth, especially in small plants, we in vain look elsewhere for a parallel. It is from hence that those multitudes of small plants, which fill our London nurseries and Covent Garden in the season, come — ' in- nocents,' too often, not indeed ' born to bloom unseen, and waste their sweetness on the desert air,' but doomed to the gaze of the company in crowded gas-lighted draw- ing-rooms, and then to p6rish — for hardy as the Camellia is, it will not bear all this ; and then in Palms, in Cycads, in Agaves, where can we find anything like the amount of success or cultivation that we can in the Ghent establishments. "Among the many 'Vans' and 'Vers,' the Van Houttes, VanGeerts, Verveane, Vandercruyssens, etc., who throng the list of Ghent nurserymen, that of Verschaifelt has long been honorably distinguished (has now passed into the hands of M. Linden) ; .4 'Belfflan JViii'seiy- Jfan. 67 and that of M. Jean Verschaffelt, of which I now write, are amongst the foremost of their class, and both at the great International Exhibition of 18G6, and during the present season, the latter has shown the capabilities and resources of his establish- ment to the frequenters of the London shows, while the genial character of its proprietor has won for him many friends when he has come amongst us. His estab- lishment, while not on so extensive a scale as Van Houtte's or his cousin's, is yet one of considerable magnitude, and the cultures to which he especially devotes him- self are carried on with great care and energy, and he is continually importing from Mexico, Africa, Brazil, and other countries large specimens of many of them. Orchids are not much cultivated in Belgium, excepting at M. Linden's — whose collection of 1,260 species is perhaps unrivalled — to the same extent as in England. There are not so many amateurs, and the plants are, generally speaking, small, so that we should in vain look for such Orchid-houses as Veitch's, Williams', Bull's, or Rollison's ; but M. Verschaffelt grows his at a moderate temperature, so that plants from here are the more likely to thrive than when grown in a higher temperature ; but in his Orchid-house I noticed a few remarkable things. There was, for instance, a new plant from Guiana, somewhat in appearance like an Alocasia, but with leaves of such a substance that they n)ight be very easily taken for leather, while the leaf-stalks were like those leathery stalks of seaweed so common on our shores ; the genus of the plant does not seem as yet to be known. Here also were quantities of the curious Tillandsia argentea : some placed on the dead trunks of Tree Ferns looked remarkably well — in fact it seems most accomodating, for M. Verschaffelt assured me he had it in all sorts of way, in Sphagnum, peat, on blocks of wood, on Tree Ferns, and never lost a plant, while he has got a large number of young plants ; so that rootlets though they be, they multiply freelj^. Here also were good plants of Plunjieria bicolor, an Apocynaceous plant, white with yellow center, very free flow- ering, and likely to be very useful as an ornamental plant. In another house I no- ticed some magnificent plants of the fine Crinum amabiie- one of those fine old plants which novelties have elbowed out of the way; also a very remarkable Hemerocallis, with variegated foliage, one half of the leaf white, the other green, and with so cur- iously formed a growth, that looking at the back of the plant it seemed to be all white, and in the front all green. There were also some grand plan.s of Musa Ensete, a plant so valuable for subtropical gardening from its showy appearance and rapidity of growth. " But the greater portion of the houses here are devoted to the growth of Palms, Cycads, Tree Ferns, and similar ornamental foliage plants, Avhich are so much more valued on the Continent than with us, and magnificent indeed are some of the plants ; while Palms for the million is no idle word, for here we see pots of Chamterops excelsa with 50 seedling plants for sale at 40 fr. ; Plioenix dactylifcra, the same ; while Latania borbonica, Corypha australis, Chamjerops Fortunei, were to be had by the thousand. Of Zamias, there were some magnificent specimens, both home-grown and imported specimens ; amongst the most remarkable were Altensteini, cycadaefolia, horrida, and the very striking Lehmanni. I do not wonder at the admiration which these plants excite amongst the Continental horticulturists, and do very much wonder that those who have large conservatories with us do not grow them more than they 68 ^ Selfflaii A^'iirserj'- .Ifan. do. Of Tree Ferns, there were some fine specimens of Cibotium princeps, Dicksonia antarctica, Cyathea dealbata, and dealbata excelsa, although some of the large plants had just been sent away. The collection of Agaves is wonderful. M. Verschaffelt cultivates upwards of 100 species, and they are to be seen in all sizes, from the tiny seedling plant to large specimens. Of the latter he has some, such as dentata, for which he asks £40 ; of horrida (well named) an unique example ; Kerchovei and Kerchovei niacrodonta, very large ; dealbata nana, very remarkable; lataciiicta, a dwarf species, a bright lustrous green, largely pencilled with white ; Nissoni, with a large, deep, golden-yellow line in the center of the leaves ; Verschaifeltii, of which there is a large quantity of imported plants, and one with golden-yellow bands on the leaves ; while pulverulents, filifera, univittata, marginata, and other fine varieties, were to be seen in all sizes. Amongst them was a plant which had all the appearance at first 'of an Agave, but which was, in truth, Echeveria agavoides — one that is destined, if subtropical gardening holds its own with us, to be brought into extensive use. There are a couple (f plants of it at Kew, and at another place on the Conti- nent, but otherwise it is confined to this establishment. It was found impossible to propagate it in any wa}', but M. Verschaffelt received a quantity of seed from Mexico, and he has been enabled to raise a considerable quantity of young plants ; out-of-doors it comes with a beautiful rosy margin, and I cannot but think that it •will be a very interesting addition to our succulents for summer gardening. " Passing to the out-of-door department, I saw a large quantity of those beautiful standard and pyramidal Bays, Portugal Laurels, and others fur which the Ghent nurserymen are so famous, and which they do so well. Some plants here are worth 600f the pair, and for terraces, for public places, where a regular form is desirable, they are admirably adapted. The standard Orange trees many saw at Kensington, not long ago, and although much admired, they did not find, as the Agaves did, purchasers. There were immense quantities of Dracicna indivisa. Camellias, of all sizes, and other cultures of a Belgian nursery. There were, also, some very beau- tiful varieties of the variegated form of Phormium tenax ; two were especially noticeable — Cookii, dwarf, very protty, and distinctly margined with brown ; and one unnamed variety, with a splendid band of a rosy-3-ellow hue. There was, also, a variegated variety of Gnaphalium lanatum, which will be useful as a bedding plant; it is very free and very pretty. While speaking of the out-door department, I should say that M, Verschaffelt speaks in very warm terms of Delphinium nudicaulc, introduced by Mr, Thompson, of Ipswich, considering it to be one of the best intro- ductions of late years for the herbaceous border. " I have thus endeavored to indicate some of the more remarkable features of this establishment, feeling, of course, that it is impossible in such a sketch to do anything like justice to its resources, and the value of its cultures ; but, at the same time, desirous of informing those who have not visited Ghent, of some of those special cultures for which it has become famous," JX'otes of a 'I'rip to Calf/ornia and Oreffon. 69 ITotss of a Trip to California and Oregon. II. BY J. A. DONALDSON. (Note. — This article is continued from former article published in Tilton's Jounuil of Horticulture.) AFTER securing " quarters" in a hotel, our first business was to visit the markets. Calling at several places where fruit is sold, we found on enquiry, that it was rather early iu the season for Oregon fruits ; and that the chief supply of pears, peaches, plums and grapes were from California. Apples raised in the vicinity were in plentiful supply, and peaches from east of the Cascade mountains were just begin- ning to come in. A stranger cannot walk very far through .the streets of Portland, without coming to the conclusion that Oregon is a favorable country for fruit ; for wherever fruit trees are to be seen, whether large or small, they are loaded with fruit. On the grounds surrounding the residence of Hon. H. W. Corbett, we had an opportunity of examin- ing a variety of fruits Apple trees, ten years planted, and growing in clover sod, were bearing profa.soly, yet very thrifty, somj of them making shoots two and a half feet long. Among the varieties grown, are the Baldwin, Roxbury Russett, Esopus Spitzen- berg, Fall Pippin and Grreen Newtown Pippin. The latter, which is generally so imperfect and scabby at the East, was very smooth and fair. Mr. Corbett informed us that they were always so. Those three pests of the fruit-grower, the Codlin moth, Curculio and peach-borer, are unknown here. The pear trees, both dwarf and stand- ard, were full of fruit. A Duchess d'Angouleme, on pear stock, planted at the same time the apple trees were, was full of beautiful specimens, many of which Mr. C. said would weigh two pounds when mature. The varieties of plums grown, are mostly Washington, Jefterson and Imperial Gage. Nothwithstanding that the trees were all overloaded they were making a good growth, and the fruit was of good size and quality. The few peach trees on his grounds were healthy and thrifty, but bearing but very little. A serrate Early York had on a few specimens, finely colored and of extra size for the variety. The climate of the Willamette valley is not congenial to the peach. East of the Cascade Mountain in Eastern Oregon, they are cultivated suc- cessfully. On an arbor were Isabella, Hartford Prolific and Concord grape vines, with remarkably healthy foliage, and bearing heavily. Mr. Corbett called our attention to some very fine elm-trees which he had brought over the Panama route ten years before, when only a few inches high, that are now from eight to ten inches in diameter. The people here speak highly of the success of the sweet cherry. The trees are healthy and bear immense crops of fine fruit, free of course from worms, where the Curculio does not exist. We saw in bottles, specimens of two new varieties which originated in Western Oregon. One, a red cherry, was called the Royal Ann ; the other was black, and named Black Republican. These cherries are highly spoken of, particularly the latter. A branch of the Royal Ann, twenty-two inches long, and weighing five pounds, was brought to Portland this Summer and photographed. It showed the branch to be a mass of fruit. Some friends who preceded us saw the 70 A'b^es of a 2'rip to California and Oregon. original branch, and confirm the above statement. Both of these cherries were in- troduced, and, we believe, originated by Mr. LcweHing, of Milwaukee, a few miles south of Portland. We spent part of a day with Mr. ('harles C. Coc, who resides twenty-five miles east of the Cascades in Eastern Oregon, on the Columbia river. Mr. Coe has quite an extensive orchard, planted by his father sixteen years before. His apple orcliard was bearing good crops, and the fruit, considering the trees were in a clover field, was very fine. Among the varieties of pears are Vicar of Winkfield, Winter Nelis, Seckel, Bartlett and White Doyenne. Every tree was bending to the ground with fruit, although very little care or culture was given them. They were remarkably vigor- ous, and the fruit large and perfectly free from all imperfection; the White Doyenne as fair and smooth as any. Mr. Coe informed us that they were never troubled with blight, or cracking of the fruit. The Seckels were very fine ; the largest we ever saw. But few varieties of peaches are cultivated in Mr. Coe's orchard. The Early Crawford was just beginning to ripen, and were being shipped to Portland. They were of good size and fine quality. A very fine seedling originated on the place, the fruit of which is deep yellow, large and beautiful, of very good quality ; and ripening with the Early Crawford. A number of varieties of plums are grown, all heavily loaded with fine fruit. Apricots and nectarines, Mr. C. informed us, do well in Eastern Oregon. Grow- ing in the orchard is a California fig-tree bearing a moderate crop. It had been killed down for several winters, but the last two winters it had escaped injury, with- out protection. Ih the door-yard is an English walnut tree planted some ten or twelve years ago, very vigorous, but not bearing. The body is twelve inches in diam- eter, and the top about thirty feet across. Mr. Coe's mother takes a great interest in the culture of flowers. By means of irrigation her flowering plants and shrubs are kept through the dry weather in a re- markably fresh and vigorous condition. Her perpetual rose bushes were the finest we ever saw. A Giant of Battles, which was over six feet high, and bushy from the ground up, was blooming finely. Early in the morning we bid adieu to this kind hearted and hospitable familj^, and took steamer for Portland. Quite a number of passengers on board had been up to view the Walla-Walla country, and all spoke highly of it. Portland, Oregon, August 25, 1S71. AFTER long and patient experiment, a California horticulturist discovered that petroleum would kill the borer that infests the orchards of the Golden State. The fact was made known far and wide; and many fruit growers availed themselves of the valuable discovery. By their experiments the further fact was established that petroleum not only killed the borer, but the tree also. ^n'ar/ Apples. 71 Dwarf Apples. BY P. C. REYNOLDS. rrHE culture of Dwarf Apples has received much less attention in this country, than -^ that of Dwarf Pears. This is probabl}' owing to the fact that they are a cheaper fruit, suited rather to the field than the garden. Yet there is a class, rapidly increasing, who seek by dwelling in the suburbs, or vicinities of villages and cities, to realize the advantages of both town and country. To meet the wants of this class, I consider the Dwarf Apple especially adapted. As a feature of the landscape, an orchard of dwarf apple trees is very attractive, whether covered with leaves, blossoms, or fruit. The stocks used to bud the apple on, to dwarf its growth, are of French origin, and bear small, indifferent fruit. The variety called Paradise, produces much the smaller tree, and is generally preferred. The Doucain grows trees requiring about half as much space as a standard — are nearly as long coming into bearing — and do not live half as long, consequently offer but few inducements for planting them. The Paradise is decidedly Dwarf, scarcely more than a bush, but just the thing for garden culture. frojyatjdtioti of Stocks. Stocks of both varieties are propagated in nurseries, like the Quince, by cuttings, and stools or offsets. The desired varieties of apples are hidded into these stocks, just as pears are into the quince. Soil and (htlture. Although Dwarf Apples do not require so strong a soil as pears, yet they should have a good garden soil, well drained, and deeply worked, and should be kept clean and mellow with hoe and cultivator, all through the season. For a few years the tops should be shortened in, during suspension of growth, until a round, strong, compact head is formed, capable of sustaining a fair crop of fruit, after which an annual thinning out of sprouts and superfluous branches will be all that is necessary. I have no doubt that many of the failures of Dwarf Apple trees may be attributed to a lack of judicious pruning. ' I'ttrieties. As ornajnent is almost as much an object in a dwarf apple garden as utility, the most beautiful varieties, that color up, and hang a long time upon the tree, should have preference. The following list embraces the most desirable varieties of this description : Red Astraehan, Alexander, Grravenstein, Fameuse, Twenty-Ounce, Baldwin, Canada Red, Jonathan, Hubbardston's Nonesuch, Wagoner, King of Tomp- kins County. As the same kind of fruit grows larger and fairer on dwarf than standard trees, the reader can imagine how the bright, showy red apples, named, must look on trees smaller than full grown quince bushes. I think I never saw a handsomer fruit show than a garden of trees on Paradise stock, loaded with the Alexander apple. 72 ^H'arf :4j)ples. Distance Ai>art to J'lujit, For garden culture, where land is scarce, four by six feet apart, which would beat the rate of al)out eigliteen liuudred trees per acre, would be admissible. Where land is pleutier, for orchard culture, perhaps eight by ciglit feet would be better, requiring about sis hundred and eighty trees per acre. Time of Comin'j into Jieaviny. On Paradise stocks they commence bearing very young, often showing fruit in the nursery rows the third year from the bud. If transplanted two years from bud, they frequently begin to bear the next year. Of course, no sensible culturist would suffer them to bear more than three or four specimens while so young, and would be watch- ful for several years to see that they did not carry more fruit than they were able to sustain. Hoiv Mitch do they Produce ? Full grown trees, ten or twelve years old, have yielded in the grounds of Ellwan- ger and Barry, in this city, a barrel of fruit to a tree. It will be seen that if a whole acre of six hundred and eighty trees would produce like that, the yield would be enormous, far exceeding an acre of the best orchards of standard trees, but somehow we can never get a whole acre of any kind of fruit to yield in proportion to a few favorable trees. A dwarf orchard, transplanted three years, might be expected to yield from six to a dozen specimens to a tree, and to increase for a dozen years, when from a peck to a bushel to a tree in a well managed orchard might reasonably be expected. For the first twenty years, an acre of dwarfs would probably yield a con- siderable more fruit than an acre of standards, after which they would begin to fail, and at the end of twenty-five years from transplanting, would not bear enough to pay for cumbering the ground. Jtuen it 1'aiJ ? Finally, how can we answer the universal Yankee question — " does it pay ?" There are two views to be taken of this question. 1. Does it pay as a business investment. 2. Does it pay in that wider sense of yielding such a return in beauty, in enjoyment, in gratification as shall satisfy the planter that his money has been well expended. In the latter sense, I am well satisfied that it does pay. There is a gratification of inestimable value, in growing trees, shrubs, and flowers around your own home, and in eating of fruits of your own production, fresh from the trees that grow them. As enough of the finest of apples can be grown in quite a small garden of dwarfs, to sup- ply an ordinary family, most men would be satisfied with the return they would re- ceive for their money. In determining whether it would pay as a business investment, we are to take into account— 1. The much greater cost of planting an acre with dwarfs than standards. At the usual distance of planting standards — two rods each way — it only requires forty tree to an acre, which would cost about eight dollars. If we should use six hundred and eighty dwarfs, at say fifteen cents each, they would amount to one hundred and two dollars. The cost of planting six hundred and eighty would be at least ten times as much as planting the forty. 2. The greater expense of cultivating and taking care of the greater number of dwarfs. 27ie Clematis. 73 3. The loss of the use of the soil. With rows of trees two rods apart each way, for the first six years after planting, the loss in yield of corn, potatoes, or other hotd, crops, need not average more than twe,xity-five per cent ; while with rows of dwarfs eight feet apart, the loss must be from fifty to sevenly-five per cent. 4. The fact that dwarfs are not more than half as long lived as the standards. As an offset to all this, is the consideration that an orchard of dwarfs would pro- bably bear enough fruit to pay the cost of trees, planting, cultivation, and rent of land, before standards began to bear, and for several years thereafter yield a much larger per cent on the investment. A great argument, not yet mentioned, in favor of planting dwarf orchards, is the advantage that small, low trees would give us, in fighting the numerous insect ene- mies that depredate either upon the leaf or fruit of the apple, and that threaten, un- less overcome, the ultimate destruction of that most valuable of fruits. Rochester, N. Y. The Clematis. BY AL FRESCO. EDITOR Horticulturist : — I seldom clothe my thoughts in the drapery of ink ; because I entertain the opinion that it is wrong to occupy valuable space in your columns with descriptions of, and cultural directions regarding, common and familiar things. But I cannot refrain from joining you in advocating the claims of the clefna- tis. I esteem several of the varieties, as the most ornamental hardy plants in culti- vation ; and trust that they will become popularized. Our nurserymen are much to blame that they do not propagate these plants and bring them within the reach of all. Cultivators of flowering plants annually purchase a number of petunias, verbenas, and other bedding plants, to be destroyed by the next winter, and neglect hardy and beautiful plants like the clematis; forgetting that "a thing of beauty is a joy forever," The first season that Clematis Jackmani and C, Ruhro-violacea were ofi"ered for sale, I imported them, and have cultivated them since — hence have reason to believe that I can speak from experience. As the varieties of the clematis I shall recommend to your readers are climbing plants, I deem it necessary to refer to my support for these floral gems, I have not seen my favorite trellis adopted by others; and as I find it to answer my purposes, I shall give a brief description of it. In ray opinion, it is more simple, appropriate, and better adapted to the requirements of many climbing plants, than the clumsy and inappropriate trellises made by carpenters. Inhabitants of cities may not find the principal constituent of the trellis around the corner ; but it can be obtained in most rural districts. To construct my trellis, I obtained a chestnut post three feet six inches long, and six inches square. One end of the post 1 beveled off" on three sides for a distance of six inches. The foundation piece being provided, I accompanied my man Friday to a hedge-row, and selected a well branched cedar bush seven feet high. This was cut and taken home. The top and side branches were shortened to the extent of six 74 27ie Clema/is, inches, and the small interior spray was removed ; after which the bark was carefully removed from every branch — an easy thing in April or May. One side of the butt end of the cedar was removed, so as to make*, a flat surface of six inches in length. The flattened surface of the cedar received a heavy coat of white lead, to prevent de- cay ; and with three tenpenny nails it was securely fastened to the chestnut post. The cedar was allowed to dry for a couple of weeks, when it received a coat of lead-colored paint, followed by a coat of dark green deadened by a little umber. As a support for any medium growing climber, nothing, in my opinion, can equal this trellis for sim- plicity, adaptability and durability, if favored with an occasional coat of paint. When the climber is clothed with foliage the support is scarcely visible, and during the winter months it does not present the heavy appearance which characterizes trel- lises generally adopted. To exhibit my floral pets to the greatest advantage, I selected a conspicuous posi- tion on my lawn, and marked out a circle four feet in diameter. The earth was re- moved to a depth of three feet, and the chestnut post was placed in the center. As the subsoil was a H^enacious clay, to ensure perfect drainage, I placed in the bottom six inches of rubble and brick rubbish, and filled to within six inches of the surface with chopped sod and decayed manure, and finished by a covering of loamy soil. Around one trellis, I planted Clematis Jackmani; C. rubro-violacea ; C. Standishii; C. Sophie, and C. az2irea grandiflora. Around another, C. Jackmani, C. Flammula, C. Lanuginosa and G. Veitchii. The first summer I was rewarded with dozens of flowers, but the next and succeeding seasons, my favorites presented a gorgeous dis- play of exquisitely tinted flowers, from satiny white to the richest purple. The diff"er- ent varieties bloom at different periods, and thus a succession of flowers is kept up for a lengthened period. I make it a rule to cultivate the most ornamental plants, and nothing in my garden gave me as much satisfaction, or attracted so much attention from visitors or passers-by, as my cedar bushes, decorated with hundreds of the ex- quisitely tinted flowers of the different varieties of the Clematis. With the exception of Lanuginosa and Flammula, I have found all the varieties referred to, perfectly hardy. Lanuginosa was killed to the ground, but made a luxu- riant growth from the root, and in August favored me with a number of its gorgeous flowers varying from four to five inches in diameter. During the last Summer, I commenced experimenting with the Clematis as a bedding plant, and, thus far, have been pleased with the I'esult. In the front of my library window I have a conspicu- ous bed, in the center of which is a bush of Magnolia Soulangeana, and, around it, I have planted a number of varieties of the Clematis. They have been carefully pegged down, and, thus far, answer all my expectations. To those who wish to cultivate one of the most ornamental tribe of plants, I say, plant the Clematis — particularly Jackmani, ruhro-iiolacea, Standishii, and azurea- graudiflora. If a suitable trellis is not at hand, plant them against a fence, the side of a house, or in front of a verandah. If stones and stumps are obtainable, make a pyramid of them on the lawn or grass plot, and plant several varieties around the margin. By the middle of the second summer, the stumps and stones will be hidden by foliage and flowers. The Clematis has no tendrils to enable it to cling to a trellis or other support, but ^ J^loral ;dren/fe. 75 an All-wise Providence has furnished it with the means of clinging to surrounding objects. The stem of the leaf coils itself around any small object, and I have found light copper wire admirably adapted to its wants. To aid the clematis in its earlier efforts to climb, I place pegs in the ground near each plant, and from the pegs lead copper wire to the branches of the cedar brush. The planters of the Clematis must protect his pets from the ignorant and half- fledged jobbing gardeners, who infest every locality. " Let me alone severely" should be the motto. They require no pruning. The rule should be, train, and fui-- nish support when necessary, but never use the knife unless to cut off dead wood and seed as soon as formed. The branches of the Clematis are easily broken, and should be handled with care. The Clematis will grow in any good garden soil, but more luxuriantly for generous treatment. My rule is, to do my floral favorites justice, and I receive a correspond- ing reward. With regard to the propagation of the Clematis, I can only say, that those who attempt to propagate them, must have patience. Cuttings of the young wood taken off in Spring, and placed in a shady situation, will probably root in three or four months. They can be propagated by layers, if the young wood in the begin- ning of June is covered by three inches of soil. Your lady readers would find it interesting (if they have patience enough) to raise the Clematis from seed. By sow- ing the seed of hj'brids Jackmanii and rubro-molaea, they might raise some beautiful varieties. I referred to patience ; and I will illustrate my position. On the tenth of April, 1871, I sowed a box full of Clematis seed, and kept the box in a shady portion of my vinery during the Summer. Upon the appearance of frost, I protected the box with a cold frame placed in the vinery. To-day, January 8th, '72. I ex- amined the seed, and find that nearly every one has made a root of about two inches in length. About April, I expect my box to present me with hundreds of young plants, which I shall transplant to the open border, and wait patiently for the results of my experiment. As soon as ripe, the seed can be sown in a pot, or box, and kept in a shady place until frost, and then removed to a cellar — \\atering, when necessary, and about April or May of the next season, the seedling will appear, and can be transplanted. Keep the Clematis before your readers, as most of the varieties are more than worthy of extended cultivation. But, I had better stop, or your readers will con- clude that an acute attack of Clematis on the brain has affected me. A Floral Avenue. UR frontispiece this month represents a sketch of a floral Avenue in Regent's Park, London, the chief walk or promenade from the gardens of the Zoological Society. The scene as laid in the Engraving, is one of great beauty. On all sides it is hemmed in with dense masses of verdure, while directly in front is a vase of flowers ; then beyond, a hedge and copse of densely planted trees, just low enough to permit a glance over them at the towers of a distant church. Such an Avenue as this, the most fashionable resort of visitors, is valuable for its opportunities to educate the 76 2'cstimony of Michaux to t?ie " 6'ttt'er Maple." public taste and knowledge of our most attractive trees and shrubs. The style of arrangement of this walk is plain and distinct. All attempts at the gardenesque style of ornametitation (i. e., circular) is necessarily avoided, and we have severe straight lines of trees and flowering shrubs, and back of these, hedges, and then belts of trees ; while the strip of green grass in front by the fence, gives an openness and clearness to the scene. In this illustration, use has been made mostly of English favorite trees, which it would hardly be expected of us Americans to copy, as we have trees of our own far more attractive. The chief trees in the foreground are the Poplars (P. fastigiati). which, when young, with their succulent vigorous branches and large green leaves, are very good for such a decorative purpose, but they soon outgrow the proportion that would har- monize in such a situation, and while gaining in height, lose in breadth and symmetry. "We would use here in this country the Maples, or Elms, or even the Horse Chesnut, which in time of bloom, is a vast bouquet of itself. Just at the back end of the strip of grass, is planted a continuous row of some prettily blooming shrub, of low growth, say not over two to three feet : the Dentzias, for instance. Then, up the turf embankment is anotlier row of blooming shrubs, say the Weigela or Fors3'thia ; and immediately at the rear of this, is a tall hedge of Arbor Vit£c, or Spruce, either Hemlock or Norway. The trees used so freely in the background of this scene, aie English variegated Oaks, Hollies, Robinias, and here and there are specimens of the Thorns, Cypress, Cedar and Yew. Such a style of rural decoration as this is pleasing, yet very inex- pensive. One charm is, that it compasses a picturesque scene into a comparatively small space. The eye is not obliged to wander over a vast park-like space, to dis- tinguish and admire a row of shrubs or an evergreen hedge, but if they are close at hand, with nothing to destroy the effect, they become objects of a thousandfold greater attraction than ever. Narrow strips of land cannot be embellished in a better style than this, and although regular and symmetrized, yet there is nothing to offend the eye with a precise or unnecessary formality. Testimony of Miclianx to the "Silver Maple." IN no part of the United States is it more multiplied than in the Western country, and nowhere is its vegetation more luxuriant than on the banks of the Ohio. There, sometimes alone and sometimes mingled with the willow, which is found along these waters, it contributes singularly, by its magnificent foliage, to the embellish- inent of the scene. The brilliant white of the leaves beneath, forms a striking con- trast with the bright green above ; and the alternate reflection of the two surfaces in the water, heightening the beauty of this Avonderful moving mirror, aids in forming an enchanting p cture, which, during my long excursions in a canoo in these regions of solitude and science, I contemplated with unwearied admiration. Editorial Note. — There is a popular impression that in consequence of its rapid growth it is not a long lived tree, nor its wood of much value. Will any of our active readers give information about these points? Planting of Ornatnetiial Trees, Shri0s, etc. 77 The Vicar of 'Winkfield Pear. BY PARKER EARLE. T AM ju.^t finding out how it may be possible for certain Eastern gentlemen of criti- -■- cal tastes, to praise the Vicar somewhat highly, for quality. A portion of my crop of that variety has, the past season, been really excellent. And it is the first time I have ever tasted specimens, about which I could use a better adjective than " tolerable." Among all my Western pear friends, the Vicar has been uniformly mentioned with scorn. And the coarse, sour, green persimmon-flavored things — how they have de- served it I And I, with my large block of Vicars, planted because authority I rever- enced had highly endoi'sed them, haven't I been laughed at? But, the past season, I have been challenging the wonder of my friends, by giving them tastes of this much-berated pear, about which they say : "Why, this is very much like a Howell;" and "this is absolutely better than a Bartlett," and so on; and these praises have been worthy. I cannot explain it, without this will do it. My trees, having grown too fast when young, and been severely injured by the winter, were seeded to clover to check growth, and to help them recover the health of their foliage ; both of which points were gained. Most of these trees for two years past have made but slight growth — perhaps an average of three inches — have filled up with fruit buds, and in all respects seem like old trees. The fruit on them has been only of medium size, but it has much of it been very good. But a portion of this block is on ground that had been heavily manured before planting, and here the trees have continued to grow freely, notwithstanding their winter freezing and the effect of the clover, and the fruit borne on them was very large and handsome, but coarse, as- tringent, and uneatable — regular Western Vicars ! These differing conditions of growth in the trees, seem to ofi'er the only explanation of the contrast in flavors. The good pears were borne on virtually old trees ; the others, on those young and fast growing. Is there something in this ? And may I hope to find this sometimes a good table pear in some succeeding years, and that sober age will develop mild and sweet virtues in the Vicar, of which its succulent and robust youth gives no promise ? South Pass, III, Jan., 1872. ♦« The Planting of Door Yards and Small G-ronnds with Ornamental Trees, Shrubs and Evergreens. An Address before the liural Club of A'ew XorU, December 7, 1S71. -K,'/ tlosiali Hoopes, I'rcsi- dent I'enn.si/lvatt.ia I''ruit Groivers' Association. (COSTINUKD FKOM FEBRUARY NUMBER.) rilHERE are four genera belonging to the great natural order Conifers^, that are -L furnished with deciduous leaves and tall spiral tops, all well adapted for the cen- ter or background of groups — the Larch family, of which the European species is preferable ; the Salisburia or Japan Gringko, with curious yet pretty fan-shaped foli- age ; the Deciduous Cypress, with light feathery leaves ; and the Glyptoslrobus, or Weeping Cypress, having unusually graceful foliage and pendant branchlets. IVeepiny Trees. Every place should have at least one drooping tree, as much for its intrinsic beauty, as for the effect it produces when grown near other forms. For this purpose the 78 ^lanthtg of Ornamental Trees, Shi'ttbs, etc. Weeping Beech possesses an individuality peculiarly its own. Not so pretentious perhaps as the preceding, but with a graceful drooping of the more slender branches, the Weeping Linden stands next in the list. Where they will flourish, the Weeping Elms and Weeping Mountain Ash are very handsome ; and the old-fashioned Weep- ing Willow, especially when in the vicinity of water, is often a valuable assistant for creating a beautiful picture. For small-sized weepers, I would suggest the following, all of which are useful, and in fact indispensable to the landscape-gardener : The Thorn, Grandidentata Poplar, Kilmarnock Willow, Dwarf Cherry, Sophora, and Beech. The drooping varieties of the common Ash are stiff and formal in outline, yet often attractive from their very oddity. Aiitinini Color of Trrcs. A feature often overlooked in American gardens is the massing of trees that are beautiful in the autumn. Most places can be improved by a little group of these brightly tinted species, and for this purpose I would name for the background the Scarlet Oak {Qiiercus coccinea), dazzling in its scarlet dress ; the Sour Grum {N7jssa multiflora), with the deepest shade of crimson ; the Red Maple [Acer rubrum), gay with yellow, red, and orange, and a Sassafras (S. Officinale), with golden j'ellow leaves. To the front I would place a White-flowering Dogwood {Corwis Florida), with its vivid shade of red ; one or two common Sumachs {Rhus glabra), as bright as the petals of a crimson Ptcony, with a few vines of the Green Briar [Smilax rotun- difolia), of golden hue, and A/Jipelopsis qi/inqyefolia, dyed with crimson, clambering over the whole. It is needless to add that the effect of such a blending of colors cannot be overrated. In leaving the deciduous trees, I would merely call your atten- tion to the neglected famil}' of oaks, although beyond the limits of such places as we are discussing to-night. For very large lawns no genus in the flora of the world can exceed their majesty of form, their picturesqueuess of outline, nor their value for every purpose appertaining to the landscape art. Ei-erffrectis. We now arrive at the Evergreens, but as my time has nearly expired, I will hur- riedly particularize a few of the most valuable for the majority of our country places, all of which will undoubtedly succeed in this vicinity. In the Spruce family, as not only the first in the genus, but among all cone-bearing trees, the Norway Spruce is fully entitled to consideration before any other. You all know it well, and knowing it, have nothing to say against it. It is a tree at once appropriate in all situations and for every purpose ; hardy every where, and uncxceptionably beautiful. More formal in outline, but remarkably pleasing in color, the White Spruce stands next ; and the Hemlock, with its charming drooping branchlets, curving in even cir- cles to the ground, must never be neglected. In particular localities and exposures, Abies Smithia7ia, A Douglasii, and A. Menziesii are among our handsome kinds. In Silver Firs, the A. Nordmanniana is, without doubt, the best hardy species known "to us at present — always beautiful and healthy, we cannot well dispense with its pres- ence ; and almost as valuable, the A. Pichta ranks next. With varying success, although generally firm, I would name the rare A. amabilis, A. grandis, A. nobilis, and A. Cephalonica, while the Common Balsam Fir aud European Silver Fir, are Planting of Ornamental 2'rees, Shrubs, etc. 79 unexceptionable in many grounds. The Pines must be used sparingly, as they are rather coarse for close proximity to the dwelling. Among well-tested kinds, the Austrian, Cembran, White Lambert's and Scotch are all hardy, and deservedly admired, and where the P. excelsa is free from blight, I would add it to the list. A few of the newer species, such as P. Poiiderosa, and P. Massoniana are promising to be valuable, but they require a more extended trial. The Cedar of Lebanon must not be forgotten, not alone for the many reminiscences connected with it by the sacred writers, but for its individual beauty on the biwn. The Lihocedrus decurrens, Cupressiis Lawsoniana, and C. Nutkaensis, notwithstand- ing they are almost unknown to cultivators, are surpassing our most sanguine expec- tations, where they have been tested. Our American Arbor Vitfe, as well as the Siberian variety, are so well known and appreciated that it seems unnecessary to urge their claim to public notice. Low- growing conifers are of such vast importance to the landscape gardener in creatine dense evergreen masses, that of latter years our arboriculturists have been eagerly gathering from every available source all which have proven distinct. I may not enumerate even those deemed worthy of notice, for the list would be too long, but I cannot resist the temptation to mention a few that are of sterling merit. In the new genus Retinispora,'?k group iovmedi oi obtusa in the center, with Jilicoides filifera, nana, leptoclada, sqiiarrosa, plumosa, and plumosa aurea placed around it, would be unsurpassed. They have proven hardy and very distinct. Among dwarf Thujas, I would suggest pyramidalis in the center, and massed with it, compacta, con- ica densa, ericoides, glohosa, Hoveyi, 'niinima, nana and pumila. Biota furnishes a striking group in aurea, elegant isi^ima, falcata, Jiagelliformis^pygmaa, and variegata. A properly selected list of Junipeis is always fine. The following will be found reli- able : Hoiv to Arrange Trees for Groujis, Place the Irish in the center and in close proximity, Chineiisis, Cracomca, Swedish ohlonga, oxycedrus, rigida, and Sabina ; while on the extreme outer edge, the very low forms of alpina, hevusphcurica, prostrata and squamata, should complete the group. In this latitude the Yews are exceedingly beautiful. Around a tall speci- men of the Irish, set the adpressa. Canadensis, erecta, nana, Dovastoni, variegata anrea and cnspidata. The Norway Spruce supplies us with a few very pretty dwarfs, the most available being Clanbrasiliaiia, Gr^ gory ana, ?^m^ pygmaa. When these are grouped with Pinus Mugho and Cephalotaxus, the whole presents a handsome feature. With such an ample list as the foregoing, why need we further long for the Laurels of Old England. Our own are so hardy, so beautiful, and so easily grown, that we should not ask for more. Before closing my remarks, permit me to say, that as a nation we are but yet in our horticultural infancy, although the present, teeming with such good results, oiTers a flattering prospect for the future. The introduction of rui'al cemeteries first opened the way to a more enlightened horticultural knowledge, and the modern parks have given it an impetus hitherto unknown. Incredible as it may appear to the garden- ers of the Old World, we have shown them examples of landscape art which they, with all their years of experience, are forced to confess are almost unsurpassed. 80 'Plant hiff of Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, etc. With a justifiable pride, those who have devoted their leisure hours to inculcating the study of horticulture in the minds of others, now find that their labors are being appreciated ; and that the seeds of good taste, which were sown in a kindly soil, have germinated beneath the warming influences of a generous and enlightened people, into a vigorous young plant, giving us an undeniable assurance that the mature tree will yield abundant good results. One of the most important auxiliaries in the work before us, are just such associations as you have inaugurated here, and no one can reasonably doubt they will prove to be blessings to the whole community at large, for I feel that you will be successful, too ; for the social character of your meetings, with a desire to impart unto others the knowledge you have gained, will certainly prove as " bread cast upon the waters." I have no advice to give, save that of per- severance in future years ; so that all our homes may be homes of taste, giving at all times preference to works of Nature over works of Art ; for, in addition to beautify- ing our surroundings, su^ch exert a happy influence in teaching us, in the words of old John Bartram, the pioneer botani&t, " to look from Nature up to Nature's God." Jieuinrhs of fretlerick TjHW Olnixtrrid. I have for years regarded the speaker of the evening, Mr. Hoopes, as the man in this country who knows most of the habits and capabilities of ornamental trees, and especially such as are not deciduous. After listening to the very admirable paper which he has just read, I am the better prepared to respect his authority as unques- tioned, especially in evergreens. Three of the ornamental evergreens to which he has alluded are my special admiration, the ahies 7iobilis, grandis, and amahilis. When the object sought is picturesqueness, and especially on surfaces that are some- what extensive and broken, so that striking sky outlines can be obtained, I know of no trees that can be so confidently recommended. There is a pine on the Sierras that I have more than once endeavored to domesti- cate on our Eastern soils — the Lambertiana. I think I did not sec it below an ele- vation of 4,000 feet, and often at 6,000. If I could get one of those giants of the mountains well rooted and prosperous in our Central Park it would in the end form a splendid picture. Growing to a height of 200 feet, and sometimes 250 feet, with a diameter at the base of from four to eight feet, it flings its stalwart and deep green branches horizontally against the sky. Somber and gigantic on its native slopes, if it could be made to consort with our smaller and tamer flora, what strength and dignity would it add to our landscapes ! Another of those Western pines that would be a great addition to our plantations is the Abies WilUamsoni. In size it does not loom up like some that have been named, but it is the most beautiful medium-sized ever- green that I know, and not the least attractive of the features it presents are the delicately-formed and rich purple cones. Some pines that are handsome when young are to be avoided as they grow dull and brassy in hue, as age comes upon them. Such, for instance, is the Pinus Sabiniana. I am very glad, gentlemen, that you have organized a Rural Club, where in a social and informal way, not without festivity, these charming topics of natural beauty and the decorations of our homes and our parks can be so intelligently discussed, and I wish you all prosperity and growth. 'Planting of Ornamental li'ees. Shrubs, etc. 81 Jteniarha of Dr. Franklin Taylor, I am afraid, Mr. Chairman, you have made a mistake in calling me up. I jBnd myself in a group of scholars and botanists, and their talk of trees is sometimes quite beyond me. I hear of pines or firs, some of which are grand, others noble, and still another sort that are amiable. Why, Mr. Chairman, all those great towering, self- Bustained monarchs of the wilderness are grand to me ; the word noble seems to fit every big tree of the forest or the grove. Amiable ! yes, all the growths of thickets, and dell, and hillside are lovely ; and they make the soul that loves them itself beau- tiful and strong. Sometimes when I visit this great roaring metropolis I naturally wonder what j-ou, who stay here all the time, should know of firs and pines, and rho- dodendrons— what you should know of farming. But when I go from the crowded mart and the all-night glare of newspaper offices, and see your bit of greenery up there toward Harlem, your little patch of 800 acres redeemed from chaos and bare rocks, and dirty goats and rickety cabins, and made the grand beauty-spot of the Continent, I am convinced that some of you know something about trees and grass, and flowers. We of the staid Quaker City have one advantage of you in fostering a love of these beautiful rural things. Our blood is more agricultural. Generations ago our sober fathers, whose garb was not gay and whose speech was plain, instilled in our minds a reverence for the life of the farmer as the purest, the most just and beneficent of all lives. In colonial days we had a Humphrey Marshall, one of the warmest lovers of nature that ever pruned an orchard or planted a grove. He made a collection that was quite wonderful for those days of living flora, and his garden and arboretum stood there on the Brandywine Hills for a generation, every tree a mute but constant plea for this noble art of rural decoration of which you are talking to-night. Something has been said of the associations that twine around uncommon and beautiful plants. Some have power to transport us in fancy to great distances. If Mr. Olmstead succeeds in getting some of those mighty growths of the snowy moun- tains to prosper in your park, how quaint and charming will it seem to the traveler from the other verge of the Continent, to see his giants nodding over the Atlantic wave line. It is a little remarkable that the river which parts Pennsylvania from your neighbor State of Jersey, also divides the flora that is new and alive from a wonderful fossilized flora that we have filed away in the somber ci-ypts of our coal mines. When I see one of those calamities I am transported by its curious feathery leaves now stamped in jet, not to California, but to strange geologic epochs, and I ask for the imagination of a Hugh Miller to paint for me the sluggish oceans, that soaked a continent of mud, and the tropical air, and all the weird conditions under which such forests were produced, and the wilder cataclases by which they were sub- merged and held in a dead-lock of stone, to be the light and the strength of the coming generations of men. But I am in danger of talking geology instead of den- drology, which is the order of the evening ; and I will close by saying that some four years from now we hope to welcome you and all good New-Yorkers to a celebration in a Park near our city, to which we hope the progressive men of our time will come by millions to see illustrations of what a hundred years of Republican independence have wrought upon this Continent. 6 82 Amo?>ff t/fe J^Ioh'€?'s ; o?', Gardcninff for Ladies, Among the Flowers ; or, Gardening for Ladies. BY ANNA 0. HALE. •VII. Ortt