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UEA'OTED TO

HORTICULTURE, LANDSCAPE GARDENING, RURAL ARCHITECTURE,
BOTANY, POMOLOGY, ENTOMOLOGY, RURAL ECONOMY, &c.

CONDUCTED BY

J. JAY SMITH,

EUitov of tho N. A. Sylva.

New Scries, Vol. V[.— Jiinuary to Decrmbcr, 185C.

WHOLE NUMBER, 11 VOLS.

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PHILADELPHIA:
PUBLISHED BY ROBERT PEARSALL SMITH,

Nos. 17 AND 19 Minor Street.

BOSTON-: JOSEPH BRECK & SON; NKW YOKK: C. M. SAXTON 4 CO.
BALTIMORE: -T. S. WATERS; CHICAGO: S. C. GKIGGS & CO.

1856.

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-^^'sSL^^g^. HE topics most in men's minds are often the ones that,

. 'CAS^--^?'\ f^fjIl/W for some cause or other, are most rarely discussed by

JJ 'Qf^^l' I II ^ I I the press. Gardeners, is one which is left to itself,

because this useful class is very naturally sensitive to

criticism, and does not bear animadversion better than

other people; and yet it is of great interest to every

M^ i^o.^'lffi?l;!3? ^s^J person vv^ho has even small premises where fruit, flowers,

and vegetables are to be grown. How are we to have

S^ ^^-—'^^^^^^^ ^ succession of gardeners?

The Horticulturist has had frequent communications
in it, written by members of the profession, who were fully alive to the difficulties
that exist with both the employers and the employed, and many home truths have
they told to both parties. What we now say must be received in the spirit of
kindness which dictates it. We of course feel, and have always felt, a deep inte-
rest in the subject; difficulties do exist, and will continue till some plan is hit
upon for the education of gardeners of American growth ; the more plainly we
speak upon the subject, the better it will be for all parties, and the sooner we shall
arrive at some profitable result.

At present, our best florists and gardeners are from abroad ; we have among
them not a few who are well educated, and superior to the average of the profes-
sion in Europe ; but we hold it as an axiom not to be disputed, that a gardener
educated in the climate, and surrounded by the habits in which he is to live, is,
cceteris paribus, more likely to succeed, at first entering upon his duties, than one
from a different soil. What we want is a " Gardener's College" in every State;
or, if the name is too high sounding, call it an " Experimental Garden." Such
institutions have succeeded abroad, but here, with proper men at the head of them,
men who understand what is going on, and are capable of directing, success is
beyond a doubt. Such institutions need not depend on State patronage, which
would be the last kind of encouragement we would admit into the management,
both because it would insure change of direction and political intrigue, and would
imply a government of electioneering spendthrifts. We would have a few intelli-
gent neighbors to unite in every section of the country, and purchase in joint
stock a suitable piece of ground, near enough to their own property to be within
their means of frequent call ; employ the best gardener to be procured, whether
native or foreign, and exhibit to their visitors what a garden may become. From
it each stockholder could draw specimen plants and trees, true to name, by way
of dividend ; the extra produce, both of fruit, vegetables, trees, and plants, should

YoL. YI.— Jan. 1856.

GARDENERS AND KXPKUIMKNTAL ().\IU>KNS.

be sold at the most convenient depot, as well as at the garden ; the proceeds
would very soon pay all expenses, and leave a supply; the head gardener, and
even the assistants who proved themselves worthy of conrKlenec, should receive a
pcrcentau:e on the sales, on the same plan as was so long jjursued in tlie eastern
whale-ships; no one should participate in this itorcentage who did not rcmiiin a
certain stipulated length of time.

Here should be a respectable school for apprentices — a place not yet provided
in anv part of the United States — for the education of gardeners ; the conse-
(pience of which is that we have no class growing up among us accpiaintcd with
our climate and our wants ; we depend upon foreign laljor in this department,
and we all know, with honorable exceptions not a few, what we get. As re-
marked by Mr. Chorlton, himself a good judge of a gardener's qualifications:
" So long as the present system of obtaining gardening labor is in existence, we
mav not look forward with a progressive eye. We ivant more home-made gar-
deners, so as to infuse a portion of the home intelligence into the business. Let
horticulture be advocated and acknowledged as a science more strenuously in the
newspapers, in the different periodicals, and throughout society, so as to make it
appear worth while for the intelligent youths of the country to take it up ; let it
be spoken of on the hearth-stone as something worthy of their acceptance ; edu-
cate them so that they may apply their minds for a time to close study and obser-
vation of nature; and withal entice the cottagers to cultivate their plots by
encouraging them at the Horticultural Societies, so that the family growing up
may acquire a taste for these things, /or /< is from such homes that native gardeners
must come. Add to this a better knowledge of gardening affairs on the part of
employers, so that they may know how to appreciate the value of a good gardener,
and he will be stimulated to fresh exertions. Likewise establish public and
experimental gardens, that we may have something to look up to."

The education necessary for a gardener is not merely one of routine. " All
operations in horticulture," says Trofessor Lindley, " depend for success upon a
correct appreciation of the nature of the vital actions ; for although there have
been many good gardeners entirely unacquainted with the science of vegetable
physiology, and although many points of practice have been arrived at altogether
accidentally, yet it must be obvious that the power of regulating and modifying
knowledge so obtained cannot possil)ly be possessed, unless the external influences
by which plants are .affected are clearly understood. Indeed, the enormous differ-
ence that exists between the present race of gardeners and their predecessors
can only be ascribed to the general diffusion that has taken place of an acquaint-
ance with some of the simpler facts in vegetable physiology." Gardeners can
scarcely call themselves such unless they have mastered this science ; let those
who complain of the want of good assistance ask themselves how much have they
done to assist in teaching it. Uow many of us provide books on the subject for
our gardeners ?

to the compensation of gardeners it would be difficult to fix a rule; but

GARDENERS AND EXPERIMENTAL GARDENS.

we can say, that when the art flourishes to the extent it is destined to do, prices
will follow demand. As a general rule, we do not think the best gardeners are
sufficiently paid. To have become a thorough master of the business implies a
long study and much time ; in other professions we hear this brought forward as
an argument for high charges. The consulting physician sends in a bill of ten
dollars for a single visit ; the attorney charges hundreds of dollars for a fee; but
the gardener, at a price which tailors would consider very indifferent compensa-
tion, is supposed to be well enough paid, though he places on the table of his
employer, daily, fruits which are beyond price, and flowers which money can
scarcely purchase.

One mode of compensating gardeners, beyond present prices, we have seen
successfully practised both abroad and in America. Some persons may object to
it, but on examination it will be found both practicable and a useful stimulus, no
less than a public benefit. Colonel Wyse, who expended fifty thousand dollars in
opening the Egyptian Pyramids, and who'se residence is near Windsor Castle,
when age had begun to confine him to home, entered warmly into the spirit of
gardening, and with his ample fortune provided every known means for propa-
gating fruit on an extensive scale for his own amusement. He very soon found
himself overstocked with the most delicious fruit ; but instead of diminishing his
walls and houses, he quadrupled them, gave his gardeners an interest in the pro-
ceeds, and they very soon became great contributors to Covent Garden market.
In a short time the experiment not only supplied his own table bountifully, as well
as the tables of his friends, but the returns paid all the cost of a large corps of
employees. He had the full enjoyment of a capital garden, with plenty to con-
sume and give away, without cost. A few instances of similar success on this
plan have come to our knowledge here; and mostly, we believe, the gardener
receives the premiums of Horticultural Societies for plants and fruits raised at the
employer's expense.

Still, we think the best gardeners are sometimes under-paid, and that discrimi-
nation in prices is too frequently disregarded. The result is that the best informed,
most practical and useful, often desert their employers as soon as au opportunity
presents of going into business on their own account. Owners of gardens in first
rate condition find it difficult to supply the deficiency, get discouraged, and blame
the profession; whereas if they had made the home of the gardener comfortable,
given him enough to educate his children, and otherwise made a friend of him, he
might have enjoyed his operations, performed on a plan he had become accustomed
to, for the whole of his life, instead of encountering new terrors in the shape of
such new torments — who, as Mr. Barry says, "often palm themselves off as gar-
deners, when they were nothing more than mere garden laborers in their own
country."

"With regard to experimental gardens, those who have seen the one at Edin-
burgh need not be informed that it is a model of beauty, has been very profitable
few stockholders, and has turned out some of the best gardeners in Europe.

m'dowell's rhododendron

Mr. Cliorlton, on this subject too, bears cmpliatic testimony : " I have had some
experience in the working of such societies in England, and can assert with confl-
dence that they have done more to elevate gardening in that country than any-
tliing else. They have been the means, during the last twenty years, of making
Kiiglish horticulture the model for the world, of stimulating skill, and raising a
higher standard of perfection." Mr. Elliott, the esteemed fruit-grower of Ohio,
in the first number of the Ohio Farmer, bore similar testimony to the advantages
of experimental gardens, but hitherto an apathy has prevailed fatal to any pros-
pect of education among us; until we wake up to its importance, we must continue
to bear our present burdens. But that the time is near at hand to move in the
matter, we fully believe. Who will set the ball in motion? It is time the gar-
dener was elevated to a position which the importance of his profession entitles
him to hold. lie is very often a well-educated companion, whose conversation
and general intelligence would compare with his superior in mere wealth; not
unfrequently he has travelled in pursuit of knowledge, and can bring an amount
of experience to his business that is truly valuable. Such men are the prizes ;
let us not hereafter have it to say they arc the exceptions — which surely they will
become more and more, when, from any cause, emigration ceases — unless v.-e pro-
vide the means of education to their children or our own.

Experimental gardens would be the head-quarters from which gardeners, both
domestic and foreign, w^ould get certificates or diplomas of their qualifications ;
they would, in short, be a boon to both employers and employed.

MCDOWELL'S RHODODENDRON.*

Mr. Redmond, the editor of the Southern Cultivator, has favored us with a
beautiful drawing of a new, or at least undescribed Rhododendron, which we
have great pleasure in presenting to our readers, with the following narrative of
its discovery. Plants are promised us in the Spring, when we may be able to
give a further account of it : —

Editors Southern Cultivator: I send you a drawing of a flowering ever-
green shrub, recently discovered on some of the mountains in Macon County,
North Carolina, which, in point of beauty and magnificence, is second only to
the Magnolia Grandiflora.

It is a nameless and undescribed variety of Rhododendron ; there is, however,
a traditionary account of its discovery some sixty years since, by a botanist by
the name of Eraser, then exploring this country, under the patronage of the
then Emperor Paul, of Russia. Eraser died suddenly on his return to St

* See Frontispiece.

Petersburg, which, probably, is the cause of an account of it never having been
pu1)lishecl.

The annual burning of the forests in which it grows usually destroys it, so that
it is extremely diOicult to find a specimen of it. Some four or five years since,
however, S. McDowell, Esq., of Franklin, Macon County, Xorth Carolina, re-
discovered this truly gorgeous plant, and for a year or two past has been engaged
in propagatiug them, by removing the plants to his garden near that place. The
shrub grows to the height of four or five feet, and is of easy cultivation ; the
foliage is larger and more rich than that of the Pontic varieties with which we
have compared it ; the panicles of flowers, too, are larger and more brilliant in
color. Mr. McDowell sent us a box of the flowers in June, which we compared
with those of Ponticum, which we fortunately then had in bloom, and which were
inferior to it in all respects. The foliage also differs from it, being larger and
heavier, having golden yellow footstalks and midrib, the peduncles to the flowers
being likewise of the same color, whilst those of Ponticum are green ; the under-
surface of the leaves are nearly white and of a velvety texture, differing from
E.. Maximum and K.. Catawbiense in not becoming ferruginous. No native
American flower can exceed it in habit and beauty, and it must become a popular
acquisition to the shrubbery and flower garden, being sufficiently hardy to endure
any climate. Its color is a bright crimson approaching towards scarlet ; the
panicles are composed of a large number of flowers, from twenty to thirty, form-
ing a conical mass nearly as large as a man's head ; the contrast between these
and its dark-green foliage is very rich and magnificent, and can only be conceived
of by being seen.

The labors of Mr. McDowell have been both arduous and unremitting in trans-
ferring these plants to his grounds, as they have only been found on the tops of
the highest and most inaccessible mountains, the only approach being on foot ;
he has employed men to bring them some six or seven miles on their shoulders, it
being the only mode of conveyance practicable. Specimens of flowers and leaves
have been sent to many of our most celebrated botanists and cultivators of Rhodo-
dendrons, and, as yet, all have failed to identify it with any previously known, and
it will probably prove to be a new species.

We hope the industry and labors of Mr. McDowell may meet with a suitable
reward in the sale of his noble plant ; and those who procure them, we will guar-
antee, will never regret having done so.

J. VAN BUREN.
Claeksville, Ga., August, 1855.

N. B. — The drawing I send you is a fac simile of a medium sized panicle of
flowers sent me bv Mr. McDowell. — J. Y. B.

k^^

S¥s^:

CULTIVATION OF THE RASPBERRY.

CULTIVATION OF THE RASPBERRY.

BY DANIEL HUGHES, IIAVERSTRAW, N. Y.

FitOM a given amount of money, the Raspberry will, I tliink, return a larger
amount of enjoyment and profit than any other fruit — the grape even not excepted.
The ras})lierry season is looked forward to with the same earnest longing; both
are delightful portions of the circle of the year; the refreshment which charac-
terizes the grape is possessed in even a higher degree by some of the fine varieties
of the raspberry, such as Knevett's Giant, Rivers' Monthly, and pre-eminently by
Brincklc's Orange, which is undoubtedly the finest in cultivation.

Raspberries may be grown in almost every variety of fertile soil with nearly
equal productiveness, but with greatly varied luxuriance, two constant requisites
being always maintained — depth and richness of soil. The ground should be
worked at least to the depth of eighteen inches, unless it is very retentive of
moisture, or the subsoil very obstinate, in which cases water will accumulate at the
roots, and cannot be disposed of at much less depth; so that the fibres may avoid
the danger of being winter-killed, or death from being laden with water in sum-
mer, I have grown them with great success on reclaimed old swamp, and on
very open sandy loam, as well as on almost every intermediate grade of soil.
Those on reclaimed swamp grew, for the most part, rampantly as regards the
plants, but did not produce the best berries, nor the best plants from which to
form a new field; the best fruit was uniformly from light upland.

In manuring for the raspberry, a deep alluvial soil, rich in vegetable mould,
will require a light dressing of well-rotted stable manure, with a top dressing of
ashes immediately after planting, employing from ten to thirty bushels to the
acre. For a light sand or loam, a liberal dressing of compost will be necessary;
to four loads of vegetable muck, add one load of rich barnyard manure, and from
four to eight bushels of unleached ashes ; and if lime is cheap, it may be advan-
tageously used to twice the amount of the ashes, together with salt lye, which is
the best addition to the compost that can be used for this fruit. Mulch the roots
well, to keep the ground free from weeds; but the grand point to be insisted on is
depth of culture, which leaves a constant supply of moisture, obviates the danger
of too much wet, and gives scope for the ever active roots to hold their revels,
which they manifest in a profusion of fruit.

For the growing of good fruit it is not necessary that the canes should be sup-
ported, though it is advantageous, and also convenient in picking. The most
obvious method is to support the canes of each hill with a stake ; but a more
effective and convenient way would be to stretch a wire along the rows, supported
by a firmly braced post at each end, and at intervals of about thirty feet drive
takes into the ground to support the wire at an elevation of about three feet, or
feet for the most vigorous growers ; spun yarn will answer

CULTIVATION OF THE RASPBERRY.

The rows should be four feet apart. North of the latitude of Philadelphia (and
there also) lay down and cover the canes in winter. When the bearing season is
at an end, the old canes should be cut out, and the shoots that have sprung up for
next year's bearing should be thinned to the proper number, varying according
to the strength from three to five ; remembering that the crop is made or marred
the year previous to its production. In choosing plants, the root, and ripeness
and solidity of wood, not length of canes, should govern the choice ; large canes,
with small roots, are undesirable.

My first choice as a market fruit, is the Hudson River Antwerp, for its size,
exceeding productiveness, and its firmness, which enables it to bear transporta-
tion. The current year one thousand dollars net were realized here from one acre
of this variety. For field culture it deserves its celebrity, but for the garden it is
much excelled by the seedlings of Dr. Brinckle. Fastolf is nearly equal in pro-
ductiveness, but 'a much more vigorous grower, and somewhat more hardy. Its
rich berries almost burst with their fine juice, and do not bear carriage well.

Francouia is a vigorous grower, and rather more hardy than either of the above,
with large, dark-colored fruit, bearing carriage nearly as well as the Antwerp; it
is a late bearer, of high flavor, and especially excellent for cooking.

Knevett's Giant is truly gigantic, excellent for the dessert, and for preserving.
Rivers' new large-fruited Monthly had been a disappointment till I determined to
thin out offsets, and let no more grow than were required for fruiting, and that
had the desired effect ; and it has proved the most productive that I have culti-
vated, more than twofold of the H. R. Antwerp.

The Yellow Antwerp is a very good variety, but its berries are so much softer
than Hudson River, that it is not grown for market. As Elliot remarks in his
Fruit Groiver''s Guide, " it will soon give place to Brinckle's Orange and Colonel
Wilder, which are far better varieties."

May's Antwerp is an excellent productive variety, but less hardy than the
above, and of much less vigorous growth. Ohio Ever-bearing, by those who like
the black-cap variety, will be greatly prized, bearing as it does profuse clusters.
Catawissa has much the habit of the last, but the fruit hitherto has not been com-
parable to it in flavor.

Colonel Wilder is a white berry, of brisk, rich flavor — productive, excellent,
and hardy. Tice-President French is a vigorous and productive variety ; berries
large and juicy, with a high subacid taste ; a late bearer. To Cushing, the
description of Yice-President French will apply, except that it is exceedingly
sweet ; it bears until after many are dry from frost. Yesterday (Oct. 20) I picked
a branch loaded with fruit ; its leaves were green, while those around it were
shrivelled up ; very hardy. Brinckle's Orange is among raspberries what the
Newtown Pippin is among apples. In conversation lately with Mr. Charles
Downing, who is eminently conservative, he remarked : " This is by far the best
aspberry in cultivation." It should have been called Opal instead of Orange

translucence suggesting the brilliant play of light of that gem, and its b

ORNAMENTAL TU££B.

is equalled by its exeellcnce; it is very vigorous, hardy, and productive ; continues
long in bearing; most excellent in every respect for field and garden. The
"Walker, were it not for its exceeding adhesiveness to the germ, would be valuable.
The ]\rrs. Wilder is so like the Colonel "Wilder as scarcely to need a separate
description. It is not so hardy, and not so jiroductive. The double-liearing
Antwerp scarcely bears at all ! and what fruit there is, scarcely tolerable. Several
native varieties have high-flavored fruit, but the berries are too small to be valua-
ble. The true Antwerp is very hardy, and a most vigorous grower, and bears
good crops of medium quality; it is still cultivated in Jersey for market. The
Xorthumberland Fill-basket has a high English nursery reputation, but has not
yet given any indication of merit in this country.

[The above is a capital article by a practical and observing man. We may
remark that he omits two of the most valuable manures for this plant — spent tan,
and chippings of leather ; the raspberry luxuriates in this kind pf food.

Mr. Hughes cannot have the true Mrs. Wilder, the fruit of which was larger
and finer than the Colonel Wilder ; but unfortunately the original plant was
destroyed before it was disseminated.

In regard to the Walker, the pertinacity with which the fruit adheres to the
stem renders it more valuable for market purposes, but it should be gathered ivith
the stem on, as is the custom in England, and then it can be transported to any
distance. When fully ripe, there is no raspberry that will remain so long in per-
fection, on or off the plant, as the Walker. — Ed.]

ORXAMEXTAL TREES— THE LOMBARDY POPLAR.

BY LEWIS F. ALLEN, BLACKROCK, NEW YORK.

Were I disposed to solemnize, after the fashion of Natty Bumppo, in the midst of
the Catskills, while gazing alone from one of its topmost peaks far away down into
the broad valley of the Hudson at the " wasty ways" of the white man, I might
commence this, my homily, with the profound remark, that " man is a cajmcious
animal !" Even so, as applied to the ornamental verdure wherewith he should
surround his dwelling, or decorate his grounds. Forty odd years ago — I was a
boy then — the pleasant village near which I was nurtured, in the charming valley
of the Connecticut, had some of its pleasant homes and cleanest streets planted with
the Lombardy poplar. They threw up their clean, straight stems, and trembling
sugar-loaf tops far above the great elms which swung their branches in hoary
majesty around them, and with the tall spire of the white meeting house, gave the
town a cheerful, happy look, such as it has never worn since the " better taste" of
the good people there have cut them all away and supplied their places with
locust, alianthus, and maples. Nor am I disposed to find fault with the ephemeral,

ORNAMENTAL TREES.

cockneyfied character of the two first of these, while I yield to no one else in my
real admiration of the other. But I never could divine the reason why the cheer-
ful native of sunny Lombardy should be so remorselessly cut away at the bidding of
a capricious will, when it really has so much of intrinsic beauty in itself, and
appropriately applied, gives such picturesque variety to groups of the round-
headed trees in its immediate vicinity. Yet it has been swept utterly out of
existence in many localities, and scarce one of our professional landscape-gardeners,
or writers, much more our tree-raisers, have the moral courage, or true taste to
recommend its propagation, or to cultivate it in their grounds.

It is now the twelfth day of ISTovember. The soft haze of our Indian summer
has been floating around us for a week. One after another the yellow, red, and
russet leaves from the various trees in the lawn and adjacent forests, have fallen
silently to the ground, and left their limbs bare as in mid-winter ; while from the
window at which I sit, looking out upon the clear, sweeping Niagara, and on to
the opposite Canada shore, keeping guard over the cheerful, white-painted
dwellings behind them, mixed in with the golden willow, stand hundraAs of
beautiful Lombardy poplars for miles along, still glorying in th« soft yellow
tints of their full leafy tops, and cheering up with life and beauty a most delightful
landscape. How gracefully, too, they throw their long shadows into the clear
water with the sunshine. Yet fashion — capricious, senseless, fussy fashion, calls
them vulgar. Not so do I. Spite of fashion, with its caprice and nonsense, the
Lombardy poplar is still a graceful, beautiful tree. And I'll tell you why. Not
in stiff, formal rows, like a line of grenadiers with shouldered arms, guarding an
outpost ; or in naked, stake-like regularity lining an avenue ; but shooting up their
taper heads here and there among other trees, like the tall spires of churches
among wide blocks of houses, giving variety, point, and character to a finished
picture.

The Lombardy poplar, like the cottonwood, is a universal tree. It grows in
all our climates alike, from the lagoons of the Gulf of Mexico to the northern
extremities of the upper lakes. It grows from the slip. Cut off a branch large
as your arm, and plant it two feet in any kind of a soil, no matter how sterile,
short of a dead swamp, and it will grow with great rapidity and vigor. In ten
years, with no care or pruning, it becomes a stately tree forty feet high. What
tree will do the like ? It is a clean tree. Its roots throw up no suckers. Worms
and vermin seldom molest it — less even than many of those esteemed most orna-
mental. It is a conspicuous landmark, in elevated spots, indicating, miles away,
the spot you wish to reach. You are told that when old, its limbs decay, and it
becomes ragged, and repulsive to the sight. Then cut the top down to half a
dozen prongs, a dozen feet from the ground. No other tree but a willow will
stand that. But the poplar heeds it not. With a vitality unknown to the greatest
favorites, it strikes out anew its numerous upright shoots, and in two years its
taper limbs are high in the air, and before you are aware of it, it towers among
its fellows as if the saw or the axe had never touched a branch. It comports fitly

-J^^^

18 ORNAMENTAL TREES.

with the Italian architecture of our liouses — the best of all styles for country
buihlinjrs. Economical, when dry, it is a good summer fuel. If you doubt it,
ask the bakers, or the charcoal men. No wood does better. But I speak of this
incidentally, valuing it only as an ornament. Yet with all these good qualities,
one may ride a hundred miles through a country boasting One grounds, and elabor-
ate furnishings, without seeing a single specimen.

Let our tastes become better cultivated, and overcome the narrow prejudice
that has banished this once graceful and cherished tree from our grounds; and
throw it in, here and there, and all about in miscellaneous companionship with
others, and then acknowledge that it has grace and beauty, long life, and endur-
ing foliage. It will throw out its rich, brown clusters of flower buds, when the
grt)und is still filled with frost, and its pea-green leaves open their downy coverts
in the earliest spring; it will whisper its grateful rustling music throughout the heats
of summer, and cheer you with its soft, yellow garniture till the very frosts of
winter cut them down. Ho ! then ; let us give renewed life to the long-neglected
Lombardy poplar.

[With regard to this tree, we can just remember that there was an outcry
against it, because it was believed to be infested with the "poplar worm," sup-
posed to be poisonous, we believe unjustly so. Fashion has undoubtedly done
the deed, and fashion, in due time, will restore it to its true uses, as it has done
the hollyhock, tabooed till Wordsworth made it again a favorite. It is a rule in
the composition of landscape, that all horizontal lines should be balanced and
supported by perpendicular ones ; hence the Lombardy poplar becomes of great
importance in scenery when contrasted with round-headed trees. It is admitted
by all writers on the material sublime, from Burke to Dugald Stewart, that
gradually tapering objects of great height create the emotion of sublimity. These
trees may be advantageously planted wherever there is a continuance of horizontal
lines, but they should be so arranged as to form a part of those lines, and to seem
to grow out of them, rather than to break or oppose them in too abrupt a manner.
In the case of a stable or other agricultural building, where the principal mass
extends in length, rather than in height, it would be wrong to jtlant Lombardy
poplars, or other tall fastigiate trees immediately before the building, but they
will have a good effect when placed at the sides, or behind it.

Such trees (fastigiate) should appear in all i)lantations and belts that are made
with a view to picturesque efifect, but it is a most dangerous tree to be employed
by a planter who has not considerable knowledge and good taste in the composition
of landscape. It would make an excellent shelter on the prairies ; for a screen
from the winds it should be planted close, and the top cut off annually. Its
rapidity of growth renders it suitable to half-screen a too staring open view where
it is desired to look under the branches. Along the sides of lakes lengthened and
pleasing reflections are produced, which, breaking the horizontal gleams of light,
not only produce variety and richness, but, by increasing the length of the perpen-
dicular lines formed by the poplars, confer a degree of sublimity on the picture.]

LANDSCAPE GARDENING.

LANDSCAPE GARDENING.

(from TURXER'S florist, FRUITIST, and garden miscellany, LONDON.)

In the course of our professional journeyings immediately round about the
metropolis, it has been a matter of surprise to us that the gardens of villas, large
and small, exhibit in their arrangement less good taste than those of similar

ORIGINAL PLAN.

IMPROVED PLAN.

a Pond.

h Mass of Water Lily.

c Large Chinese Arbor-vitse.

d Clump on turf for herba-
ceous plants and small flower-
ing slu'ubs, and bordered by-
clipped evergreen hedges of
Cotoneaster, &c.

e Eeds on turf, with Junij^er
in centre, flowering plants
round.

/ Irish Yews.

g Parterre on turf.

1. Blue with white mar-

gin.

2. Scarlet.

3. Light pink.

4. Brownish orange.

5. Deep violet or pui-ple.
h Statues on pedestals.

i Fountain.

j Seat on centre line.

SCALE OF FEET

k Vases on pedestals.

I House.
m Porch.

n Coach ring.

0 p Alcoves.

q Background for reserve,
&c.

r Border for creepers against
house.

s Greenhouse
t Laundry.

LANDSCAPE UA&DENINti.

dimensions in provincial districts. Not tliat this 1ms been the residt of accident ;
for they almost invariably boast of a large amonnt of laying ont, and not nnconi-
moidy is it their misfortune to have too much of it, in that an attempt is made to
accommodate within a small space a certain (inantity of all the dilTerent ingredi-
ents which go to the making up of a large garden ; and these are obtruded ujiiin
each other in such admired discord that a visitor is inclined to compare the luiit
enscinhle to a marine store-shoj) of odds and ends of gardens. We have fre-
quently seen, within the space of half an acre or so, geometrical arrangements,
sweeps of shrubl)cry, herbaceous borders, serpentine walks, arbors of different
kinds and patterns, with stone vases and statues scattered about u})on the ground
or mounted upon picturesque old stumps ; finally, no garden of the kind is con-
sidered complete without its fountain, rock-work and lake.

These various items are crowded together in so small a space, that from the
windows of the house they are all under the eye at the same time ; and care has
generally been taken, for the sake of contrast, that the parts least in harmony
with each other should be placed most closely in juxtaposition.

It is only confusion and disorder we would be understood as objecting to, not
variety. The exhibition of skill in arranging a garden consists not only in the
careful adaptation of the parts to their proper effects and purposes, but also in
arranging their order with reference to each other, so that they shall combinedly
form a harmonious whole ; and these points duly kept in view, as much variety
should be introduced as the space admits of without crowding.

As examples are more illustrative than a long dry discourse, we have selected
a case in point from amongst those which have come under our consideration, and
give engravings by which we can render more intelligibly an idea of what the
garden was and of what it is now.

The house is pleasantly situated in one of our suburban villages, having its
entrance towards the public road, and looking from the garden side over a flat
agricultural scene, with which the house stands too much on a level. In front of
the house a respectable piece of garden extends itself, flanked by a shrubbery on
both sides, and bounded by a pond between and the extended meadows beyond.
On the right is the greenhouse, at the end of one of the offices, inconsiderately
placed so close to the garden as to make it an impossibility to conceal it by
planting without materially encroaching upon the ground. Farther to the right
stand coach-house, stables, and other offices, and beyond these a large kitchen
garden.

The house itself is of plain red brick, unpretending in its architecture, and of
a description which would require considerable outlay to give it a degree of
ornamentation. The drawing-room, ending with a large bow on the left hand
side of the group, being the only important room on that side of the house, it
rendered the arrangement of the garden difficult ; this, however, had been
managed without the slightest reference to any windows of the house or in any
other way with regard to it. The ground was simply cut longitudinally by a

LANDSCAPE GARDENING.

walk somewhere about the middle, and across again about half way in the other
direction, and, strangely enough, without any regard to right angles ; and where
these two lines intersected a fountain was introduced — other walks were made on
each side of the garden, on one side a straight one, and on the other an example
of the serpentine, and were joined at each end by other irregular ones ; two
arbors were added with as little regard to symmetry as possible, and an arrange-
ment of clumps containing large shrubs crossed the end of the garden, completely
shutting out the view of the meadow, and diminishing the prospect of the distant
country. Xear the centre of each compartment of turf was a peculiarly unplant-
able bed, with four long points, having a shrub in the centre, and intended to
contain half-hardy plants, &c. The outer borders were all bounded with box-
edgings, and contained mixtures of common flowers and shrubs. Bits of rock-
work, shellwork, and old blocks and stumps were scattered about, and generally
these specimens of the grotesque were surmounted with a vase or statuette.

The great, faults in this case were the shutting out of the extended prospect,
the cutting up of the garden into small patches, and the complete exposure of all
the walks, as though they were the most important features of the garden. The
first of these was rectified by clearing away the clumps near the pond, the second
by destroying the centre walk, and the third by fringing the broad turf plot so
obtained with clumps for flowering and other shrubs of moderate growth, which
would rectify the obtrusiveness of the sidewalks, and be subservient to the larger
shrubs beyond them.

In the new arrangement a centre was obtained upon a line from the fountain,
at right angles with the building ; and to give a balance to the basis of opera-
tions, a large projecting mass of close-clipped evergreen was introduced, to cor-
respond with the shape of the drawing-room bow, which also served to aid in
concealing the ofiices and yard on the right hand side of the house, and the yard
itself was considerably contracted, that it might be effectually planted out on
both sides from the garden.

Parallel with this centre line, and equidistant from it, the two sidewalks were
laid down, and the use of box edging confined to the right hand side, where
double lines are shown, and where it was most in keeping from its contiguity to
the greenhouse ; on the left hand side turf was used up to the shrubs, which were
pegged down to meet it and conceal the margin. The two sidewalks were curved
round so as to meet each other near the pond, which was made less artificial in
outline, and rendered a more endurable object from wherever it could be seen.
From these walks a branch was made to lead to the summer-house and meadow
wicket on one side, and on the other side towards the kitchen garden. The
branch walk leading to the back of the greenhouse was so curved as to render it
less obvious, and in a circle of gravel, as shown, was placed, upon a suitable
pedestal, one of the best of the statues — one we found stuck up in the fork of an
old Mulberry tree ; and on the opposite side of the garden a corresponding nichi
made for its companion. The other architectural embellishments, in

dhwmng's letters.

shape of vases, were furnisheil with proi)tT jjcdestals, and appointed to suitable
positions as near the mansion as possible.

"We deemed that the house itself and the laundry could be most econoniienlly
improved in appearance by covering them enlii'ely with creepers, and especially
with evergreen Roses, Pyracanthas, variegated and other ornamental Ivies, and
the like, with a due admixture of Clenuitis, Honeysuckle, AVistaria, &c.

As the greenhouse and frame acconimoilation was limited, wc WTrc not justified
in proposing a very extensive parterre, even if the extent of the ground warranted
it; its natural flatness, however, suggested the propriety of a certain (luanlity of
such arrangement, and it was obviously important that such feature should be JUi
near the house as possible.

Tlio apparent breadth of the garden, and indeed its general extent, being so
mu(,'h increased by these arrangements, the four beds e e e e were introduced on
one side, in line with centre of drawing-room window, and in a corresponding
position upon the other. It is admissilde that these should be 611ed either with
dwarf flowering shrubs or with half-hardy plants, annuals, according to conve-
nience, &c. A Swedish Juniper has a satisfactory effect in the centre of each.

So much more having been made of the ground in front, it became a reasonable
matter to have nothing but shrubs and turf on that side of the house, and arrange
that carriages might come quite up to the front door, instead of unloading at the
wicket gate against the road in all weathers. Other matters are, we consider, so
fully explained by a comparison of the two plans, and the references thereto, that
it will be needless to lengthen the article with further description.

DOWXING'S FAMILIAR NOTES AND LETTERS.

No. I.

An early acquaintance with the founder of the IlorlicaUurist gave us an
assurance of his merits. Before he had written a line for the public, several letters
passed between us which revealed a mind in active pursuit of truth. There was,
too, an earnestness and hope about all that he did, and yet that repose and self-
possession which are so fascinating. Looking over some bundles of filed letters
and social notes, for a different object, the other day, a number of letters from
Downing unexpectedly made their appearance. Though a small portion of those
received, we have thought them worthy of extracting from, as they exhibit hira
in full career, when life and hope were predominant — so soon, alas ! to be ex-
changed for his early tomb. Yery many of our readers and friends were his, and
we are quite sure his memory is sufiBciently cherished to make these few ch
tic revivals acceptable here. However small the contribution from his

it is sure to interest. We regret that a much larger collection of these letters
has not yet been found.

Highland Gakden, Aug. 24, 1846.

My Dear Sir: On my return I found your most kind favor, with the MSS.
from Dr. Brinckle, and the colored plate of the raspberry, for which I am truly
obliged. But I found also so many back letters to be answered immediately, and
so many persons here to interrupt me every day, that I have only now been able
to sit down to my own private matters.

First I, must tell you about the Genesee. We were the guests of Mr. Wads-
Vi'orth, and were truly charmed with that, the most beautiful inland country, and
finest agricultural country that I ever beheld. Imagine a thousand acres lying
before his door of the most beautiful meadow that you ever saw, sprinkled and
grouped with three or four thousand of specimen oaks developed on every side,
such trees as you have only seen one or two of in your life in America, and you
have some notion of the beautiful natural park that I have feasted my eye upon.
The trees are all oaks and elms. The "great oak" measures twenty-two feet
round, and is eight hundred to one thousand years old ! I was truly proud of
this country, and especially of the late Mr. Wadsworth, whose fine perception led
him to preserve these trees. They have always stood alone, and were surrounded
by forest. The estate of the Wadsworth family in that country is forty thousand
acres.

I was much disappointed in not receiving an account of the perpetual straw-
berry from Mr. B. Indeed, I have not yet decided to use the cut of the raspberry,
but will write you about it again. Could he not give me a drawing of the orange
raspberry ? * * * Yours with regard,

A. J. DOWNING.

To J. Jay Smith, Esq., Pliiladelphia.

Highland Garden, Feb. 19, 1847.

My Dear Friend: Thanks for your kind favor of the 15th, with the nice note
for my domestic notices— just one day too late, however — but will not spoil by
keeping. I wish very much that you would make another note, at your leisure,
respecting the fine rare trees about Philadelphia that you can call to mind with-
out trouble— giving about their height, &c.— such as the Salisburia and Madura,
at the Woodlands, the Washington Chestnut and Box, at Judge Peters', the large
Yirgilias which you showed me, &c. &c.

I have sold out all my nursery interest, stock of trees, &c., and am rejoiced at
the freedom from ten thousand details, and a very heavy business correspondence,
of which I am relieved. I now shall devote my time to literary pursuits alto-
gether, and my home grounds, as the nursery stock is gradually withdrawn,
to experimental purposes — including a dash more of your favorite arboretum
ting.

When I was at Wiley and Putnam's, about a week ago, I inquired for the copy
of vour last work, which you kindly promised to leave for uie there, liut it has not
yet been received. I am quite curious to see it, especially after the notice I have
seen of it in the Literary World.

Tlie Jforticiilturist is going on steadily and well. "We want to extend its cir-
culation in your city, and will adverti.so there. * * *

Think of a New Yovk farmer, James Wadsworlh, Esq., of Ucnesee, subscrib-
ing one thousand bushels of corn, of his own growth, to the Iri.sh Relief Fund !
Won't this tell in Great Britain !

Mrs. Downing joins me in kind greetings to you and yours, and I am.

Sincerely yours,

A. J. DOWNINO.
To J. Jay Smith, Esq., PLiladelpliia.

Highland Gakdex, April 21, 1847.

My Dear Friend: Your "Domestic Notices" lor my Journal were most
acceptable, and are already in type. I shall be glad at all times of a continua-
tion, and especially when your convenience serves for the notes on the fine speci-
mens of ornamental trees about Philadelphia. Yolurae I. shall be at your service
as soon as it is complete, and all other fature volumes of mme.'*

When I was in Philadelphia a couple of years ago, you gave me a very nice
sort of box, made of the cover of a book taken off by the binder, and told me at
the same time that you had numbers of these covers that were of little use, having
been taken off fancy books that you re-bind. If this is the case, you must let me
persuade you to send some of these covers, if you have them to spare. I want
to use them as a kind of portfolio covers for manuscripts, &c., which accumulate
so much on my hands that I find it difficult to keep them in order. * * *

The Spring is wonderfully late, and we shall have an American leap from winter
to summer.

Your ever kind invitation to Philadelphia, I assure you, was gratefully re-
ceived. I, however, mean to be at home mostly this summer, as I wish to do
something worth while with my pen, now ; and 1 hope when you come to Xew
York you will run up and see me here, where you know there is always a hearty
vrclcome for you and yours. Very cordially yours,

A. J. DOWNING.
To J. Jay Smith, Esq., Pliiladelpliia.

* The promise here expressed was never forgotten, and we consequently possess all Ids
works published during his lifetime, in the form of presentation copies, with his autograph
attached, clothed in terms of the warmest friendship. — Ed.

(to be conti.nted.)

FRONTISPIECE.

FRONTISPIECE.

The mansion, of which the northeastern aspect is given in the frontispiece, is
being built by me on Tilton Hill, near Wilmington, Del., for C. W. H,, Esq.

This hill is iso-
lated, of an unusual-
ly symmetrical coni-
cal shape, and the
tall pines belonging
to the old mansion,
rise from its summit
like a crown of nod-
ding plumes. The
view from this fine
locality covers a
wide range ; the
spires in Philadel-
phia, at the distance
of 28 miles, can be
seen in fine weather;
while the horizon, in
the opposite direc-
tion, at a nearly
equal distance, is
formed by a bold
range of hills almost
mountainous in cha-
racter. Wilmington
is spread out at your
feet, with its tallest
spires much below
your stand-point ;
theundulatingcoun-
try around it is di-
vided by three pretty
serpentine streams
besides the Dela-
ware, while New

PLAN 1. Drive.

Jersey and her pine forests bound the horizon in this direction. There are an
unlimited number of building sites, commanding this noble view, and hitherto
unaccountably neglected by Philadelphians.

The improvement in the present instance consists of large additions to, and

Vol. VI.— Jan. 1856. 3

entire rcmo(lc]rmp:of an old house. The property, wlien purclmscd by the present
owner, consisted of a simple stone house, fronting the finest part of the view, 38
feet on all sides, without back-buildings, and having a basement kitchen. You
entered by the high bank of steps at A (on view and plan) ; a hall Ji (on ])lan),
17 X 20 feet, opening to a i)arlorC, 14 x 17. Back of this, were dining-room JJ,
15x17, stairs 9x17, and a closet and small room JC, 11x12. The present
owner, feeling the want of a sci)aratc drawing-room, and of a covered outside
entrance, constructed a back veranda i'^(on view and plan), and you now enter
by the end-steps G, plan (seen at Fon view), and so by the door under the stairs
II, plan, which makes what was the old
hall sufliciently private for use as a draw-
ing-room. This, however, still left the

house without any
commodious en-

trance-hall ; the din-
ing-room was felt to
be much too small,
and the library some-
what so ; the kitchen
was inconveniently
situated in the base-
ment; the want of
shade and a veranda
on the side A, at
once the sunny side,
and that next the
finest view, was much
felt; the attic was
crowded by the hip-roof; the second story was deficient in chamber-room, and
without a bath-room ; and the only place that could be used as a hired man's
sleeping-room was the chamber F, on the principal floor. These inconveniences
it was desirable to remedy, without interfering with the commodious back veranda
which had already been added.

The new tower is situated on Plan 2 at ^. This is to have a carriage-porch,
with arches, through which the carriage-drive passes ; the porch to be roofed, and
have a balcony on top. Visitors, in descending from a carriage, will step

PLAN 2

Drive

a raised platform B, while pedestrians will use the steps G C. In the tower,
we have a vestibule, with coat-closets D D. The chamber E, Plan 1st, being
thrown into one, with the stairway, and the first flight of stairs turned round, gives
a fine entrance hall, with columns at F F.
A bay window being added, makes the
library G a pleasant one; the drawing-room

PLAN 3

is improved by a recessed dou-
ble window, and verandas, J J,
added. The dining-room, K,
is made IT X 24 feet, by throw-
ing out a square bay window
L, with glass on two sides, and
doors next the back building.
In the new back building M,
is a double china closet, with a
slide for the leaves of the ex-
tension dining-table iV, a 4
feet wide passage, in which is
a basin and a side-table ; G,
pantry, 6x6; P, kitchen, 16
X 19, clear, with two closets,
dressers, and sink ; R, back-
kitchen, with wash-boiler, and floor-sink ; S, back-stairs ; T, man's stairs.

In the second story, Plan 3, A, B, and G, are old chambers, left undisturbed ;
D, a pleasant hall, opening on balcony ; F F F, balconies ; F, tower chamber,
12 X 16 ; G, bath-room; If, nursery ; /, closet, 6x5 feet; L, bedroom; M, nur-
sery bath-room ; N, back-stairs (not continued) ; G, man's stairs (continued). The
attics contain, in the back building, a man's room, and a drying-room, with a
cistern ; in the main, the old attics, much enlarged by the partial raising of the
roof; in the tower is a cistern for spring water, to be raised by a power pump, over
which is the observatory, with balconies on the sides, and an iron rail on the top.
The old walls being of stone, of a good color, the new walls will be built to
match ; the cornices, window-dressings, and veranda will be executed in oak,
without paint, and oiled. The style is the pure Italian rural. The cost of a
similar building, entirely new, would vary from $6,000 to $8,000, according to the
degree of finish. R. MORRIS SMITH, Architect,

74 South Fouktu Street, PniLADELPniA.

ORAFTINQ TUK CACTUS TRIBE.

GRAFTING THE CACTUS TRIBE.

The method employed in graftiug Cacti is thus described, in tlic Cnrdmers^
Chronicle, by Mr. John Green, one of the most skilful growers of ornamental

plants : "I grow four
stocks, Percskia acule-
ata, Cereus bexagonus,
and Cereus spcciosissi-
mus ; I prefer the latter,
on account of its hardy,
lasting, and robust ha-
bit. I grow the stocks
freely till they attain
the height that I want
them. Some I grow
with five or six stems,
from one to five feet
high ; others I grow
with one stem, from
one to four feet ; the
short stems I ingraft
at the top with the
Epiphyllura speciosum
and Ackermanni, the
tall single stems with
E. truncatum, and some
from the surface of the
pot to the top, all of
which is of course ac-
cording to individual
fancy ; E. truncatum
should always be en-
grafted high, without
which, from its droop-
ing habit, the greater
part of the beauty of
the bloom is lost. The
grafts that I find to
succeed the best, are young growing shoots, about one and a half or two inches
long. I pare off the outer skin or bark for about half an inch at the base of the
and cut what is intended to be inserted into the stock in the shape

wedge ; I then make an incision in the angles or top of the stock, with a pointed
stick made the same shape as the scion. When the grafts are first put in, to pre-
vent their slipping out, I pass through each a small wooden peg or the spine of a
thorn ; I then cover each with a small piece of moss, and place them in a shady
damp house, and syringe them over the tops occasionally in the evening ; they
will all adhere to the stocks in ten days or a fortnight, and make good plants by
winter. By ingrafting the finest kinds of Cacti on the stocks that I recommend
above, noble specimens can be grown in a few years from one to ten feet high if
required ; and the size and color of the blooms are much superior to what they
ever produce when grown on their own roots. E. truncatum, by the above treat-
ment, becomes quite a hardy greenhouse plant, and -will bloom three months later
than it does when grown in the stove on its own roots in the usual way."

Mr. Henry Ford, another successful grower, gives the following detailed account
of his practice : " Last year, having several plants of Pereskia aculeata, from
eight to ten feet high, which had previously been grafted at the top with Cereus
flagelliformis, I inserted at various heights upon the latter grafts of different kinds
of Epiphyllum, such as Ackermanni and truncatum, with Cereus speciosus and C.
triuraphans. The beauty, in June last, of a plant of this kind, which had been
grafted in the previous autumn, I cannot describe. In grafting them, I make,
with the point of the knife, an incision upwards, into which I insert small grafts,
pared a little on both sides, of the kinds required. A small piece of matting is
bound round the wounded stem, to keep the grafts tight until they have taken
hold, which generally is the case in three weeks' time ; the bast is then untied.
Where room is no object, I think it preferable to graft E. truncatum upon spe-
cimens by itself, as it flowers in the autumn, whereas the other kinds bloom in the
spring and summer. The pendulous habit of Cereus flagelliformis allows of its
being trained in any form, according to the fancy of the owner. I have grafted
Cacti at all seasons of the year, but I find that the best time is from the end of
September until November ; probably owing to the plants being in a more
dormant state. I apply no fire to the house during this period, unless to dry up
damp or exclude frost. One specimen of Pereskia aculeata, nine feet high, which
was grafted two years ago with E. truncatum, the grafts being inserted three
inches apart, along the whole height of the stem, and alternately on each side,
has now the appearance of a pillar, and in about six weeks' time will be covered
with many hundred flowers. It is advisable, in grafting these plants, to insert the
scion upside down, especially if worked upon the main stem ; in which case I
remove a small piece of the bark from the stock, and fit a thin piece of the desired
kind upon it. If this is bound up so as to prevent air from entering between the
parts, it will take quite as well as if grafted in the usual way. Where this opera-
tion is performed upon spurs, the latter should be trained downwards previously
to being grafted, otherwise the grafts, especially those with fleshy leaves, are apt
to break off when they attain to any size. I have also grafted E. truncatum

stock of Cactus Braziliensis, which makes an excellent standard, as from

robust Imbit it does not require any su]>port. E. triincatum sncceeds better if
suspended, with a bull of earth about its roots, in a wire ])asket lilled with moss,
than when grown in a pot."

The brilliant eiVeet jn'oduced by plants treated in this manner may be jnd^red of
from the aeeonipanying sketeh of a specimen throwing in the garden of Mrs. Hus-
kisson, of Eartham, where it had been matle by Mr. Webster, her gardener.

STUDY OF NATURE.

BY AMICUS.

That there is a vast amount of thought bestowed upon horticultural and kin-
dred pursuits, the pages of the various periodicals devoted to these subjects can
fully testify. The study of nature, in all her various phases and phenomena,
whether it is pursued in the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom, is a source of
never ending delight ; it enlightens our intellect, expands our ideas, and elevates
our sentiments. Dispelling that almost impenetrable mist of self-sufficiency that
hangs before our eyes, it teaches us to look from "nature up to nature's God;"
enables us to appreciate the bountiful goodness, and form true conceptions of an
All-wise Creator. The intelligent mind, and sensitive heart, cannot look upon
these glorious scenes arid interesting objects without feelings of the deepest emo-
tion. Mark the delight of the astronomer, as with piercing eye he surveys the
starry firmament, giving " a local habitation and a name" to unvisited worlds.
Truly he "sees God in clouds, and hears him in the wind." See the assiduity of
the geologist as he dives into the earth with keen-eyed research, bringing to light
the most costly and useful productions of our globe. Look at the ])otanist, with
untiring step rambling over the wide-extended plain, plunging into the entangled
thicket, and scrambling up the rugged mountain, in search of his favorite flowers.
With what unwearied anxiety the chemist w^atches the various processes of com-
binations, precipitations, and transformations which he derives from careful
analysis. Observe the rapturous delight of the florist as he looks upon the gra-
dual development of the opening bud; with beaming eye he points out "each
varied tint," each nice distinction, " each part of that grand whole" whose favors
smile around in luxuriance and fragrance, helped and improved by his own atten-
tive care. " Is there a man with soul so dead" as to remain cold and unmoved
at the sight of such glorious scenes as these ? Yes, there are many such, with
nothing but " speculation in their eye." It is a melancholy fact that the beauties
and sublimities of nature may be exhibited in their most brilliant forms in vain to
many of the human race. They are despised as trifling, puny, and unprofitaljle
those that are absorbed in the acquisition of wealth. They are unnoticed

SEEDLING OF THE STANWICK NECTARINE.

those who are either degradecl by bad passions, or intoxicated with self-indulg-
ence; consequently they have no relish for anything not connected with their
own sordid ideas. But he whose mind is alive to the beauty of the works
of God,

" Can look abroad into the varied field

Of nature, and though poor, perhaps, compared

With those whose mansions glitter in his sight,

Calls the delightful scenery all his own.

His are the mountains, and the valleys his,

And the resplendent rivers, his to enjoy

With a propriety that none can feel

But who, with filial confidence inspired .

Can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye.

And smiling, say — ' My Father made them all !' "

STEPHANOTIS F LORIBU J^D A.

There is no stove plant more easily propagated. Choose cuttings that are
short, trim off the lower leaves, and insert the cuttings in sand ; place them under
a hand-light, on a heated surface ; they will quickly root. Pot them off as soon
as roots are formed ; replace under the hand-light for a week, shading from sun.
In a fortnight they may be fully exposed. They prefer a rich open compost with
pieces of charcoal intermixed. This plant will endure a temperature of 45° ; in
winter it should never exceed 55°, unless the sun shines, when it may be allowed
to rise to 60°, and as the days increase in length the heat may be allowed to rise
to 65°, when the plant begins to put forth short, stubby shoots, and fine, broad,
healthy leaves ; in a month after growth has commenced the flower-buds begin to
show themselves; the heat is then increased to *I0° by day with sun. — Cottage
Gardener.

SEEDLING OF THE STANWICK NECTARINE.

At the late meeting of the British Pomological Society, Mr. Rivers reported
on a seedling of the Stanwick Nectarine, as an improvement on the original fruit.
It is very large, one specimen being eight inches in circumference, and of the
shape of a truncated cone ; the flesh separates freely from the stone, is exceed-
ingly tender and melting, being somewhat of a buttery texture, like the most
delicate of the Beurrd Pears ; the juice very abundant, and so full of sugar as to
be quite a syrup ; the flavor, full and rich ; the kernel, like that of its parent, is
quite sweet, like a Filbert. This fruit was from a plant grown in a pot, and the
stone in every instance was cracked.

2 RAILROADS IN A SOCIAL POINT OF VIEW.

RAILROADS IN A SOCIAL ROINT OF VIEW.

BY HORTICOLA.

Mr. Editor — Dear Sir: As yon have incidentally tonelied, ia the last volume,
upon a most important topic — the railroad as a transporter — permit a hortieultnral
correspondent to say a few words respecting its infiuence in a social point of view.

A good domestic joke used to be in vogue in my neighborhood. A home-body
in Newport, R. I., once made a trip as far as Salem, Mass., and ever after
descanted on the benefits of travel as a means of enlarging the mind! He did
not venture as far as we do in these days, but felt an influence ever after. Every-
body now expands, if not their minds, at least their travel, some cause or other
moving thereto, till the number of people in motion every day in this Union
would make a very respectable army to subdue the Russians at Sebastopol.

What motives call so nmny people from home I shall not endeavor to inquire;
nor shall I condemn any, for I confess I travel hundreds of miles myself for no
other object than to see a good garden, nursery, or state or county fair. A few
observations, which, if you publish, I shall consider you indorse, may safely be
intrusted to your discretion.

Attention is so much directed to the profits of railroads, that it is to be feared
the Americans are losing sight of some of the most important points in their con-
duct. During the mouth of October I travelled over nearly three thousand miles of
railroad, principally in the West. I came to the conclusion that, /or a hegiyining,
the system was wonderful ; but I also am confident that, if a few leading and sim-
ple errors in their management were corrected, the public, no less than the stock-
holders, would benefit greatly, for with the present want of accommodations, I
cannot but believe pleasure travellers are comparatively few ; if the system were
more perfect, this class would so add to the throng of those who travel for business
objects, as greatly to enlarge the sources of profit.* Let us see how it is at present.

* It must be confessed that the experiment of raUroads as a stock investment has proved
a failure. England has lost five hundred millions of dollars in this species of proj^erty,
and the last semi-annual exhibit reveals a less satisfactory state of tilings than any before.
New England has lost over a hundred millions in the same class of investments ; each suc-
ceeding year's, and even month's, returns showing a change only for the worse. Scarcely
a dozen of her hundred roads now pay regular dividends, and but a solitary one commands
a premium in market for its shares. Of the roads in the Middle States, the account is but
a trifle more favorable. In the three rich and populous States of New York, Pennsylvania,
and Ohio, at least one hundred millions more have been sunk, and the tendency is still
downward. At the South, the state of things is no better ; and the West, except in some
favored localities, shows roads quite as unprofitable and unsalable as in any other part of
the country. Gradually, slowly, but surely, is the mighty ntitwork of iron, inaugurated but
a few years ago with such magnificent prospects, with steam-horse and flashing equipage,
and confident hopes of boundless and endless profits, wearing and fading away, and losing
its hold upon the public regard. — Exchange paper. [All this state of things might be greatly
improved by giving a little more inducement to travel. — Ed.]

RAILROADS IN A SOCIAL POINT OP VIEW.

Beyond the mountains I found no car with high-backed seats to support the
head, though all of them nearly are employed for night travel. One scene will
suffice to describe the state of discomfort which exists with more or less force
every night from the seaboard to the Mississippi ; and I will give it exactly, and
without the least exaggeration, as I experienced its inconveniences, to use a mild
term. A fatiguing day's ride was succeeded by a chilly night, and our party was
compelled, to make certain connections, to take a night train. It consisted of
three cars, of sixty passengers each; every seat was filled, and to prevent danger,
as was alleged by the conductor, each back door was locked. A wood fire was
made at starting, two poor lamps were lighted, and we all settled down to enjoy
a night's " rest" as best we could. Most of us fell asleep, but wakefulness on my
part induced watchfulness; very soon the car became insufferably warm and close,
inducing sounder sleep on the part of most. The back door could not be opened,
and the Avindows swelled so much with the moist breath of the sleepers, or were
deranged by age, that they too became immovable ; the front door admitted such
a rush of cold air that the sitters near declared they should die if it were
opened. The conductor admitted that the circular ventilators in the top were out
of order, and that there was no remedy !

I bore this as patiently as the others, only slightly remonstrating, when I was
informed the scene was nothing more than usual. At twelve o'clock the two
miserable lamps simultaneously went out, just after a fire had been made up. The
smoke from the lard pervaded everything; the stove got red hot, and the con-
ductor disappeared into another car. When the stench from the smoking lamps,
the heat from the stove, and the influence of so many breathers were concen-
trated, you may imagine the condition of those so unfortunate as to be awake I
At the next stop the conductor entered, and attempted in vain, by the burning of
a great number of the most offensive kind of sulphur matches, to enlighten us ; he
opened no window or door ! Need I say that when daylight exhibited us to each
other, we were a sorry sight ; the women were yellow and pale, and looked like
hospital cases ; the children were cross and unhappy; I was — what shall I say? —
distressed for my companions no less than for myself, mortified at this phase of
our civilization, and determined to address the controllers of our comfort in this
l)ublic manner.

If managers consult their pockets, this system will not do ; as you say, all who
can will stay at home, while, if everything w^ere made comfortable, all who could
would travel. Calculate the difference of receipts 1

One other crying evil, that cannot long remain unremedied. The roads rent
their eating saloons at a high rate to parties who supply meals (mostly at truly
inconvenient hours.) This high rent obliges them to study the utmost economy
of supply ; the result is, in thousands of instances, improper, insufficient, and
unwholesome food. The butter, throughout the fertile West, at these eating
stations, is often such as is used in the West Indies ; the sugar, the tea, the

SPORTS.

coffee, is of the worst description, while the time allowed to partake is often too
short, rcmlcrinf;; the profit to the vender beyond calculation.

Now, Mr. Editor, ffn's is all wrotnj. In a social point of view, it is hifrhly
important that our pcojde should travel, and mix, and see each other. No one
does so without an expansion of mind ; I am sorry to say, few do so without
iinminont risk of health, to say nothing of those accidents which are constantly
recorded, but of which the majority are never pul)licly known.

If it were not the interest of the companies to remedy these things, we might
well despair. It can be demonstrated, that it will be cheaper to make some
arrangement for sleepers than to place passengers in uncomfortable attitudes for
a long night; because more will travel, and more will pay. A car without ven-
tilators should be indicted; a director, above the conductor in authority, should
travel the roads, and see how things are managed. The press must be brought
to bear upon this subject, or we shall have to give up travelling for pleasure.

[We indorse our correspondent's general statements with regret, and have, in
publishing his communication, no other object than mutual benefit to the public
and the railroads. We witnessed a night scene in every respect the counterpart
of the one he describes. Further, we saw a conductor between Cincinnati and
Columbus, on the slightest inspection of the ticket of a foreign gentleman of for-
tune and position, order him in a brutal manner to get into the emigrant train ;
a remonstrance produced an examination, when the ticket was found to be for the
first class. At the Columbus station, we saw in the night an invalid beg to be
allowed to purchase a glass of milk, the only thing he could take ; though a
pitcherful was on the counter, this was denied ; and on the remark of a bystander
that it was remarkable in so fine a milk country no milk could be purchased, he
insolently observed, " That is my way of doing business." So easy would it be
to make the slight required reforms, that wc feel it to be a public duty to record
our experience and opinion. There must, too, at length be some accommodation
for invalids ; a small car, furnished with comfortable sittings, &c., could be rented
daily so as to pay for itself in a very short time. We have so much confidence in
the good sense of our people as to feel assured the reforms will ultimately come ;
would that our humble efforts might hasten them. — Ed.]

Sports. — A Scotch correspondent tells us of a case as strange as the strangest
yet recorded, and more puzzling than most.

We learn that he has a gooseberry bush which bears indifferently, on each
small twig, red or yellow berries, the red superior in flavor to the yellow, and
both dissimilar; the reds, too, are unlike, for some are rough, and others smooth;
and the yellows bear seed that is red. Had a handful of yellow berries been
thrown in among the reds, and accidentally stuck to the branches, the mixture
not be more complete.

NEW PEARS,

NEW

E AKS.

No. 1.

ture, buttery, juicy, highly per-
fumed and sugary ; very good.
— B.

No. 3. TJwcHLAN. Synonyms,
Dowlin; Round Top. — (Pro-
nounced Uke-lan.) — This deli-
cious pear originated on the
premises of the Widow Dowlin,
near the Brandywine, in Uwch-
lan Township, Chester County,
Pennsylvania. Fruited for the
first time in 1851.

Size from 2| by 2^ inches, to
2/a by 2fg. Form obovate,
somewhat compressed at the
Skin, cinnamon russet,

No. 1. Beurre Millet. —
Skin dull green, with a dull
reddish blush ; ribbed or knob-
by. Juicy, melting, with a
vinous subacid, refreshing taste ;
very good. Tree not a strong
grower, but healthy. — B.

No. 2. Beurre Nantais, or
Beurre de Nantes. — Skin yel-
low with a crimson cheek,
smooth and faintly dotted with
greenish or gray, of fine tex-

NEW TEAUS.

:fe-:;s;.

interspersed with patches, irre-
gular niiirkings and dols of fair
yellow, giving the exterior a
mottled appearance of russet and
yellow. Stem from 1 to 1^ by
J of an inch, inserted by a sli,L''lit-
ly fleshy termination, witli little
or no depression, and occasion-
ally on to a flat surface; the
stem has a peculiar tendency to
form wood buds, and on the
stem of one specimen there were
three well developed buds. Cahjx
rather large, with the segments
partially reflexed, and set in a
wide, moderately deep, some-
times irregular basin. Core me-

■^

No. 4.

NEW PEARS.

dium. Seed black, \ of an inch long, | wide, and J^ thick, with an angle at the
obtuse end. Flesh fine texture, and buttery. Flavor delicious and saccharine ;
quality " very good." Maturity third week in August.

Old wood grayish brown. Young shoots yellowish brown, with short jointed
prominent buds. — "W. D. B.

Nos. 4 and 5. Gras-
LiN (sometimes spelled
Grashlin). — Large, 4 in-
ches by 2|. Form long
obovate. SUn yellow,
with many green russet
dots and patches. Stem
1\ inches long by §- in
the middle, gradually
thickening towards both
extremities, inserted by
a fleshy termination with-
out depression, with a
fleshy lip on one side.

Calyx open, long seg-
ments, set in a small,
shallow, furrowed basin.

Core medium. /Seec? often
abortive. Flesh fine tex-
ture, buttery. Quality

' ' very good. " Maturity,

eaten October 22, 1855.

(Grown by Mr. Buist.)
No. 5. Same as No.

4. (Grown in France.

Eaten November 15,

1855.)

Specimens of the fruit

of this fine foreign va-
riety were exhibited by

Mr. Robert Buist, at the

October meeting of the

Pennsylvania Horticul-
tural Society ; and on the

15th of November, fine specimens were received from Paris by a steam vessel. -

W. D. B.

A DAY AT KEW GARDENS, LONDON.
No. I.

BY THE EDITOR.

Fortified with a letter of introduction to Sir William J. Hooker, who fi.xccl the
hour of one o'clock to conduct us round these wonderful j^iardcns and museum, it
may well be supposed punctuality was among the virtues enlisted. The letter was
from one of our most distinguished American botanists, a friend and correspondent
of Sir William's, and most happily did it accomplish the object of affording the
writer a day of unminglcd enjoyment. At tlie appointed moment, our fascinating
guide entered the gate — and, in company with an English lady and gentleman,
who had earnestly solicited to be taken along to view these national gardens
under such an instructor, we commenced our explorations.

Sir William J, Hooker, the "Director," is a Scotsman of prepossessing appear-
ance, tall, of gentlemanly bearing, and full of information, which it seems to be
his greatest pleasure to impart. He was frequently recognized and shaken by the
hand by men of eminence and station, who, seeing his previous engagement, were
content to follow in our wake and listen to his words of wisdom and information.
At one moment, a gardener, who was going out on an exploring expedition of
three years' duration for new plants, stepped up for his iiual instructions; they
were brief and to the point, and the employer and employed parted as if for no
longer a period, and with no more ceremony than if their separation was to have
been for an hour.

" We will go first to the Economic Museum," said our polite guide, " that you
may see my results.''^ What follows is taken fi'om our own memoranda as well as
from a " guide" to the gardens issued in 1855, where we often find the very words
used in verbal explanations; thus serving to complete a reminiscence which can
never be forgotten.

The Museum was evidently a great hobby with the " Director," and we can
perceive by the new catalogue that it so continues. It is a depository for all
kinds of useful and curious vegetable products, which neither the living plants of
the garden nor the specimens in the Herbarium could exhibit. It renders great
service, not only to the scientific botanist, but to the merchant, the manufacturer,
the physician, the chemist, the druggist, the dyer, the carpenter, and cabinet-maker,
and artisans of every description, who may here find the raw material (and the
manufactured article), employed in their several professions, correctly named, and
accompanied by some account of its origin, history, native country, &c., either
attached to the specimens or recorded in a popular catalogue. Nobly has this
project been carried out, and the aid from every source has been an evidence of
its utility and popularity. At this moment, a number of our friends and neigh-
are preparing a collection of specimens of American woods for this museum.

A DAY AT KEW GARDENS.

under the direction of Dr. William Darlington, of this State. The British
Government have given facilities of transport for everything going to Kew. The
elder Mr. Cunard came up for a friendly shake of the hand, and we were intro-
duced, to him as "My kind friend who transports for me without any charge
whatever."

To a commercial nation, ready to seize upon every article that can be turned to
economic account in manufactures, this scheme has proved of immense import-
ance ; textile fibres, gums, resins, dyestuffs, starches, oils, woods, tannins, drugs,
food for man, basket-work, all the products of straws and grasses are assembled.
Let us listen to Sir William's fluent talk, which cannot dwell long on anything,
so numerous are the objects we have to view.

Here are the fruits of the yellow water-lily, nuphar lutea; the leaves are said to
be styptic ; the flowers have a brandy-like smell, and the pistil is shaped like a
flask, whence the name of "Brandy-bottle." Next is the poppy family. Six
millions and a half pounds of opium are annually bought up as a source of re-
venue to the East India Company. Little more than one hundred thousand pounds
is required for England per annum, but it is calculated that twenty millions of pounds
are annually consumed by mankind. You see all the processes of manufacture in
the plant, the pictures, the implements, and the article in all its stages. — Horse-
radish-tree family, order moringacese. This natural order, of doubtful position, is
now generally placed near the violet family; it is confined to one genus, moriuga.
Ben-oil, pods and seeds of moringa pterygosperma ; an Indian tree, cultivated in
Jamaica, Its pure fixed oil is much used by perfumers on account of its not
easily becoming rancid, and by watchmakers, because it does not freeze. The
roots have exactly the flavor of horseradish ; pods used in curries, — Manna of
Mount Sinai ; it is an exudation from tamarisk mamifera, occasioned by an insect,
a species of coccus which inhabits the shrub, and this manna consists wholly of
pure mucilaginous sugar, — Here is a native shoe-blacking ! among the cottons ;
the beautiful flowers of Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis are used by the Chinese to blacken
their eyebrows and their shoes. Soapwort, saponaria officinalis ; bruised and
agitated in water, it raises a lather like soap, and may be used as a substitute for
it. Cotton specimens of every description, and its manufactures. Spun to the
fineness of eleven hundred and forty-five miles per pound, it is too fine for any-
thing but to be looked at. You are an American, and want to see something new.
— This is the Boab, or monkey-bread fruit, adansonia digitata; the product of one
of the most remarkable trees in the world. The wood is pale, light-colored, and
so soft that in Abyssinia the wild bees perforate and lodge their honey in the
trunk, which honey is considered the best in the country. On the west coast, its
trunks are hollowed by the natives, and their dead deposited therein, where they
become mummies. — Xuts of the Kola, sterculia acuminata, Africa and West
Indies ; they have a pleasant, aromatic taste, and are much esteemed by the
negroes as promoting digestion ; they also prevent sleep, and are used by the
native watchmen to keep themselves awake. Bags of the sterculia villosa

arc qnicklv made, by steeping logs and stripping off the bark; used for conveying
goods in the Goa country.

Jute paper, excellent and recently |)reparcd from old trunny bags ; from the
corchorus capsularis. A manufacturer of the linost pocket-handkerchiefs has
discovered in the fibre of the despised gunny-bag, a material of immense value —
you see the great fineness of the handkerchiefs. — Tea family. Here is "the Old
]S[an's Eyebrow Tea ;" it is done up, as you see, in short twisted sticks, and per-
haps bears allusion to the legend of some Chinese saint tearing off his eyebrows
and throwing them on the ground, where they sprouted into tea-plants ; repre-
sentations of this wonderful transformation yon see on those Chinese screens! —
Order, aurantiaca\ orange family. They are looked upon as the golden fruits of
the Ilcsperides, whence Jussieu called this family Hesperidea?. Here are all the
oils of the family, and the toothpicks and walking-canes so much esteemed, made
from the wood in Madeira and Rio Janeiro. — Product of the butter or tallow-
tree, pentadcsma butyracea ; a yellow fatty sul)stancc. — You see all the products
of the coca-tree, used extensively by the laboring classes, especially the miners
of Peru, for its remarkable powers in stimulating the nervous system ; in this
respect, resembling opium. — And here among the maple sugars, &c., is an Ame-
rican clothes peg ! made of maple-wood (an article still a great curiosity with
many English people from its strong contrast to their clumsy peg made in three
pieces and bound with tin, which rusts, and iron-moulds the clothes!). — Look at
the various products of mahogany ! A single log has been sold for fifteen hun-
dred dollars. — Zante currants ; they are a grape of the vitis vinifera, and originally
from Corinth.

So we proceed, talk succeeding talk, and every word having its meaning. The
order geraniacete, Cranesbill family. You know the geraniums and pelargoniums,
but do you know that one species, the spinosum, is so resinous that the dead stems
become masses of resin in the sands of South Africa, retaining their form, and
they burn like a torch, giving out a most agreeable odor ? — Here you see the large
cotyledons of simaba cedron, from New Granada, where it is considered to super-
sede the sulphate of quinine. — The wood and jujubes of zizyphus vulgaris. Z.
spina Christi is considered by some to be the thorn with which our Saviour was
crowned. — Pease earth-nuts; tubers of lathyrus tuberosus, much eaten in Ger-
many during the period of the potato panic. — Flower buds of sophora japonica,
much used as a dye in China and Japan. — Mimosea?; ordeal, or red water-tree
bark. The red juice is given in large draughts to those accused of crime, and
those who can withstand the ordeal, are innocent, but the priests know how to
mix it to kill or not! — Mangrove family; the branches send down aerial roots;
the seed germinates while still attached to the parent, and falls down a young
plant. — Monkey-pot family ; the lidless capsule is used for catching monkeys.
Sugar is put in the small opening which enlarges within, so that when the animal
has grasped the sugar with his paw, he is unable to extract it, and the very heavy
seed-vessel acts as a clog to him, from which he cannot disentangle himself.

— ^Water-cliestnut family; some with a little imagination, or a very little assistance
from a knife, are very much in the shape of a bull's head, are much eaten. — Papaw
fruit, carica papaya, South American. The juice of the entire plant has the pro-
perty of making old and tough meat tender. — When we visited Kew, Sir William
was very desirous of procuring the Chinese rice-paper plant, and we see he has
lately succeeded. It is the pith of the aralia papyrifera, from Formosa, cut into
small sheets, and it is a great article of commerce with the Chinese. — Prepared
coffee-leaves, much used in Sumatra, instead of the berry. — Chinese insect wax,
or pela, with the insect ; this wax, is imported from China, and candles are dipped
in it, to render their exterior hard. — Gutta percha ; the tree, the juice ; numerous
manufactured articles from it ; in fact, the whole processes are before you. — The
tree that produces Cuba hast for tying up cigars has not yet been procured, and
is much wanted. — Jumping or moving seeds. Lobes of a capsule of some euphor-
biaceous plant, from the Pacific side of South America, which move by jerks, and
have almost a jumping property. This is found to be occasioned by the sudden
and peristaltic movements of an insect within, and of which the egg must have
been deposited in the state of the flower, for the shell has no perceptible aperture
or wound whatever.

But we must not trespass too much, to-day, on our limited space ; next month
some still more remarkable things may find a place, with the history of our English
lady going down on her knees with parasol hoisted, fairly overcome with fatigue,
as, indeed, any one might well be who attempted to follow the indefatigable
"director" from one o'clock till a late sunset.

Foreign Seeds and Roots. — Mr. Browne, who was sent out to Europe some
three months since, for the purpose of procuring seeds and agricultural informa-
tion for the use of the Agricultural Department at Washington, has returned.
He has travelled during his absence through portions of England, France,
Belgium, Holland, Prussia, Hamburg, and Denmark, having made arrangements
for the purchase of various seeds, roots, and cuttings suitable for the several
climates and seasons of the United States, some of which have already been
shipped, and will soon arrive. The seeds, it is understood, are principally to be
distributed among members of Congress and the different agricultural and hor-
ticultural societies of the Union.

Second Crop of Blackberries. — Mr. Thomas Smith, of Chappaquiddick,
near Edgartown, Mass., recently exhibited in that town a quantity of dark red
blackberries grown on his premises, being the second crop this season.

Vol. VI.— Jan. 1856.

NOTABLE THINGS IN THE PARIS EXHIBITION.

(FUOM CIIAMnERs's JOURNAL.)

Some of the things exhibited arc well worth attention. There is Beaumont
and Mayer's thcrraoprcnic engine, which heats water and generates steam without
fuel or fire. As yet, its aiipliciibility to mechanical purjioscs is not apparent;
but ways have been found of turning it to account. It is kept fully employed in
heating the chocolate sold in thousands of cups; this is without any breach of
the law that prohibits fire within the building. And the Emperor ordered one to
be sent to the Crimea, where, in case of the troops having to pass another winter,
it would serve to heat soup, coifee, or water, whether fuel was to be had or not —
no unimportant consideration during a campaign. It may supply beat to the
cooking-galley of a ship, as well as to the chocolate-establishment ; and thus a
source of danger from fire on shipboard may be avoided.

The construction is simple enough. A boiler is made, traversed by a conical
tube of copper, 30 inches diameter at the top, 3.5 inches at the bottom, inside of
which a cone of wood of the same shape is fitted, enveloped in a padding of hemp.
An oil-vessel keeps the hemp continually lubricated, and the wooden cone is so
contrived as to press steadily against the inside of the copper, and to rotate
rapidly by means of a crank turned by hand or horse-power. The whole of the
boiler outside of the copper cone is filled with water. Thus constructed, the
machine, with 400 revolutions a minute, makes 400 litres* of water boil in about
three hours by the mere effect of the friction of the oiled tow against the copper.
When once the boiling-point is reached, it may be maintained for any length of
time, or as long as the movement is continued. It is quite easy to keep the steam
in the boiler at a pressure of two atmospheres, where, besides the uses above
mentioned, it blows a whistle as lustily as any locomotive.

There is also the process for preserving vegetables, and another by which fresh
meat may be kept perfectly sweet, for perhaps an unlimited time. There are legs
of mutton, loins bf veal, poultry, &c., in the Exposition, which were prepared
three years ago, and are still as good as on the first day of their treatment, and
show no signs of alteration. They have all the odor and appearance of meat
recently killed, no taint or shrinking being perceptible. There are fruits, also,
preserved in the same way — bunches of grapes, melons, apples, &c. ; and vege-
tables, among which a cauliflower is as plump and bright with bloom as if but
just brought from the garden. What renders the process the more remarkable is,
that no pains are required to exclude air from the things preserved, a wire-screen
alone being necessary to keep off flies and other insects. A three years' trial
may, perhaps, be considered decisive; and now there remains to see whether place

* A litre is about a quart.

GOSSIP FROM THE NORTHWEST.

or climate affect the result. If not, the discovery — if such it be — may be regarded
as one likely to prove highly beneficial. One of our most eminent savans was
offered a leg of mutton on his departure from Paris, that he might convince his
friends in England of the reality of the process for preservation. What the
process is, remains a secret ; but we have heard whispered by a distinguished
chemist that it consists in nothing more than brief immersion in very weak
sulphuric acid. The acid, it is said, so coagulates the albumen, that a coat is
formed on the surface of the joints, impervious to the air, and without affecting
the flavor.

GOSSIP FROM THE NORTHWEST.

BY J. F. TALLANT, M. D., BURLINGTON, IOWA.

Dear Sir : Many of your friends and readers here, in what was once the " Far
West," are disposed to pick a crow with you for preferring the cram and jam of
the Illinois State Fair, in Chicago, last October, to the cosy and quiet chat which
you might have enjoyed with a dozen or two harmless enthusiasts in pomology,
had you accepted the pressing invitation which was sent you to mingle with us at
the meeting of the Northwestern Fruit Growers' Association, in September last.
Very certain we are that you would have seen much more comfort and enjoyment
here than among the almost terrific multitude which was gathered together in
Chicago.

Your predecessor, Mr. Barry, is kindly disposed to praise us somewhat in your
November number, and to intimate that some of our trees, and pears in particular,
grow luxuriantly and bear rather large fruit. With his large experience, having
visited most of the pear-growing regions of Europe, he ought to know, after so
favorable an opportunity of inspecting specimens as was afforded at the meeting
of the Fruit-Growers' Society, though we were not aware of the fact before,
except as informed by Eastern cultivators. I have now before me a shoot taken
from a Bloodgood pear-tree dwarfed on quince, that is upwards of an inch in
diameter at the base, and more than seven feet in length, being crowned with
large branching limbs. It is of this summer's growth, and was a truant, not
having been detected among the foliage of the tree till the leaves had dropped.
Is such a growth common with this variety ?

Many of the trees in the garden from which this was taken, are upwards of
eleven inches in circumference at the surface of the ground, and more than fifteen
feet in height ; well furnished with limbs from base to pinnacle of the pyramid or
cone, and are by no means the "bony" specimens you have doubtless seen in
many gardens. They are on Anglers quince, were one year from the bud when
out in the spring of 1851, and have borne fruit of unusual size and beauty

GOSSIP FROM TILE NORTHWEST.

the two past f^eas ns. A Boiirrt' Plel tree, that l)orc some five dozen pears this
suiumer, produced specimens weit^liiiig twenty ounces, or 1 j lb. avoirdupois. The
total weight of the fruit was sixty-fi/e pounds, or upwards of a pound eacli, on
the average. The soil here abounds in sile.x or flint, and was known as Slio-ko-
kon, or the Flint Ilills, by the Indians, and was a j)lacc of resort by them to
obtain flints for their guns. Can it be this ingredient in the soil which proves so
favorable to the growth of fruits? Certain it is that, at this exhibition, the fruit
of this locality was finer than almost any other in the country.

Mr. Barry was so much in demand when here, and found so many persons
anxious to avail themselves of his superior knowledge and experience, that it is
not surprising he should have erred somewhat in some of his observations. It
was not the Brandywine pear that he saw flourishing so well on the quince, but
a twin brother, I believe, the Pennsylvania, a variety well worthy the name of
the noble keystone State. Many of the pears weighed ten ounces, but were past
their season at the time of the Fruit Growers' meeting. This variety may be
safely set down as sure to succeed well on the quince at the West.

Can we not persuade some of the sagacious fruit-growers of the East to come
this way and es'ablish a large pear plantation in some of the many favorable
localities to be found hereabouts ? The past five years have settled the question
beyond a doubt, that pears will be a profitable crop on the quince, and any one
who inspects our trees and fruits at the proper season must be satisfied of this.
Nowhere will the pear bear more uniformly and abundantly, or look more thrifty
and healthy, or produce larger or better flavored fruit — that will command the
very highest price in the Atlantic cities. It is true that several years will be
required to mature a crop from trees just planted, but while they were growing,
the cultivator could do a very profitable business by raising strawberries for the
Chicago market. This fruit does remarkably well here, requires but one season
to be in market, and the Chicago demand could not be supplied by any one or
dozen growers. The strawberry is in its prime here at the end of May, but
around Chicago it does not ripen till the middle of July. No other point is so
favorable as this for this business ; the northern railway connections with Chicago
being too far north, and the southern points being too remote. At this distance,
the fruit could be gathered during the day, sent forward by the night train, and
be in market the next morning. Last July, strawberries bore the moderate price
of twenty-five cents a dish at the fruiterers, or fifty cents per quart in market, in
Chicago. As heavy a business could be done in this line, as the Cincinnati
growers have been doing for years past.

Burlington, Iowa, Nov. 12, 1855.

editor's table.

^biter's Cable.

Ammonia in IIothouses;. — When it was discovered that ammonia is derived from the atmo-
sphere, and that it descends in rain, a new light was thrown npon the refreshing and invigo-
rating effect of heavy showers, which act not merely by their water, as once was thought,
but also by the carbonate of ammonia which they bring down. So far as agriculture is
concerned, this is, however, a truth devoid of possible application, because the volatile
carbonate cannot be advantageously used artificially through the agency of the atmosphere.
But it is otherwise with gardeners, who have to create an artificial atmosphere in a confined
space. It is not a little remarkable, then, that so simple an agent, so easily procured, and
applicable with so little trouble, should scarcely ever have been employed in hothouses
in the proper manner. Where it has been used, it has been almost invariably when dis-
solved in water and applied with a syringe. Professor Lindley at length gives the proper
mode of application ; doubtless many have thought of it, but the present will, we believe, be
the first correct instructions on the subject in this country.

The carbonate of ammonia of the atmosphere is suspended, dissolved in invisible vapor.
In this state it is incessantly in contact with every part of the foliage. When rain falls, the
ammonia disappears for the moment, passing down in the rain drops to the ground, and
thence arriving at the roots of plants. But if it is in gardens first dissolved in water, and
then thrown ui)on plants with a syringe, natural conditions are by no means imitated. It
reaches no part except that on which the water falls, half the upper surface and nearly all
the under surface of the foliage is missed, and it is scarcely detained even upon the parts
which the water actually touches. The proper course is to throw it into the air in the form
of gas ; this is easily effected in the following manner : —

When a greenhouse or hothouse is shut up, warm and damp, rub upon the heated pipes,
the flues, or a hot piece of metal, a small piece o'f carbonate of ammonia with some water (not
dry) ; the peculiar smell of smelling salts will be instantly perceived, and, if this is done at
the two ends of a house, as well as in the middle, the air will rapidly receive a sufiicient
charge of the substance. After it has been allowed to remain about the plants for a short
time, some gardeners would syringe their houses freely ; but it is doubtful whether that is
the best plan, provided the air of the house is naturally damp. The effect of this simple
application is very remarkable, quickly producing a visible change for the better in the
appearance of the plants.

But caution must be used in the application. A piece of carbonate of ammonia as large as
a quarter of a dollar is sufficient for a charge in a stove 40 feet long ; and it is indispensable
that it should be volatilized by ruhhing it in water, otherwise its causticity is too great, and
leaves are burnt.

Answers to Correspondents. — (A. C. Ivy.) By a little management you may have yovir
ivy to cling perfectly. Whenever a branch grows without attaching itself to the wall, cut
off the loose part close to a leaf, beneath which the attachment is perfect. Continue this
X)rocess till the wall is covered, and ever afterwards cut away all hanging branches, or by
the force of the wind thoy will detach others besides themselves. When the ends of growing

ivy onco lose thoir lioM, llioy nro never still sviffuifntly long to l>e aide to ifattacli
selvos ; but, by cutting away to the point of contact, they are enahleil to jirocccd in the new
growth, and thus to hold fast. Cut oflf tlie hanging branches as soon as seen ; for, by swing-
ing about in the wind, the injury is constantly increasing.

(P. W.) MicNONETTE, iu its native country, Barbary, is a shnili, aiid not an aiimi.il as
with us. It should be sown in a light sandy soil, a.s when it is grown in a stiff soil it loses
its fragrance. ^V^len it is wished to obtain the tree mignonette, a vigorous jdant of the com-
mon kind should be chosen from the seedlings sown iu April, and put into a pot by itself;
all the summer the blossom-buds should be taken off as fast as they appear ; and, in tin-
autumn, the lower side-shoots should be taken off, so as to fonn the plant into a miniatuii'
tree. It should afterwards bo transplanted into a larger pot, with fresh soil formed of turl
broken into small pieces, and sand. The plant should ha kei)t in a greenhouse or warm
room all the winter, and regularly watered every day, and in the spring the stem will begin
to appear woody. The second summer the same treatment should be observed, and the
following spring it will have bark on its trunk, and be completely a shrub. It may now be
suffered to tlower, and its blossoms, which will be delightfully fragrant, will continue to be
produced every summer for many years.

(T. A.) Many gardeners are very particular in planting a tree with the same side exposed
to the sun as it had in its former position. Some of them say, if this is not attended to, the
plant loses a portion of its strength in trying to get its branches into the same positi(m with
regard to the sun as it was before. Wliether this is so or not, as no injury can result from
thus planting, we can see no reason why it should not be x»i'^t-tised. A slight mark on the
north side before removal would be all the trouble.

(A. A. IltJLL, Mount Pleasant, 0.) 1. The sweet and sour apple — sweet in one part and
soiir in another — was noticed so long ago as in Cox on Fruit Trees; also in Thomas's Fruit
Ctdturist, and iu Elliott's American Fruit Croiver^s Guide. But the notion that it is produced
by the junction of sections of a bud, as you suggest, from a sweet and sour variety, is entirely
a fiction. The " sweet and sour" apple is a monstrosity raised from seed, and is propagated
by grafting or budding in the usual way.

2. Different kinds of raspberries, when planted iu close proximity, will fertilize each other.
No evidence, however, of this cross fertilization will be manifested by the size, form, color,
or flavor of the berries thus produced. But when the seeds of such berries are planted, then
the resulting plants may be expected to show the effects of the hybridization.

3. American arborvitres, to produce a " windbrake," may be planted two and a half feet
apart. To raise them from seed, practise the same method as rectmimended for the hemlock
in the last volume, page 517. Where you can procure the small plants at one cent each
(say from Maine), this will be a more rapid mode.

"What is a really good plant?" (A. M.) We should say that there are four points or
properties to constitute a really good plant : first, fine evergreen foliage ; second, handsome
sweet-scented flowers ; third, abundance of bloom produced in succession for a long season ;
and fourth, easy of culture and propagation. And, for an example, we would instance the
Steijhanotis floribunda as possessing all these.

Question. I have a large dog-rose, on which a skilful gardener has budded many kinds
of fine roses the past July. The buds have all taken. Should it be strawed up, covered
with cedar boughs, or left to the hands of nature ? S.

If the buds are of very scarce and valuable kinds, which it would be a great loss to lose,
wrap some cotton around each bud, as occasionally they will get killed in winter. As a
rule, buds of this kind are left to themselves, and generally survive to give a good account
of themselves the next season.

editor's table.

"Parsley." Nothing agrees better with parsley in old worn out garden soils, than half
burnt weeds and rubbish intermixed with the deeper subsoil.

(A ScBSCRiBER, Newark, N. J.) That enormous pear shall be figured as soon as possible,
if, indeed, it will not overrun one of our pages !

Dr. Ward will accept our thanks for a large basket of winter pears in fine condition. The
"Vicar" we found delicious.

(W. A. G., New Orleans.) The barrel of oranges and pecan nuts came to hand in the
best condition, and were as fully appreciated as you could desire.

Marietta, Penn\i. — Dear Sir: A few days ago I examined, for the first time, though well
aware of its existence, your elegant horticultural publication, and am so highly pleased with
its contents, beauty, and value, that I feel disijosed to exert myself in its favor. This locality
is proverbially the most fertile and wealthy in the State (Donegal Township), and particu-
larly adapted to the cultivation of fruit. No place can be found where the peach, apple, &c.,
grow more luxuriantly than on our alluvial banks of the Susquehanna, or where the fruit is
produced more perfect. We frequently escape the eflects of late spring frosts, when further
inland they are very destructive to the early blooming kinds. The peach here attains its
largest size and highest flavor ; but, owing to its vigorous growth, the tree is not long lived.

With all the natural advantages possessed by the owners of the soil for the profitable cul-
ture of fruit, comparatively little attention is paid to it, and they are suflering by the neglect.
Why this apathy in a matter that would so greatly enhance their yearly profits, and so
materially add to the comfort of themselves, their families, and neighbors ? Our farmers are
intelligent and euteriDrising, and ready to embark in anything that will pay. It must be
that they are uninformed upon the subject of the profits of fruit culture, and the superior
excellence of the new varieties in comparison with the old familiar sorts. That it is the
want of information on the subject I am assured from the following circumstance. Last
spring, I mentioned to some friends that I was about ordering some fruit-trees, when they
immediately requested me to order also for them. Others heard of it, and I soon had orders
amounting to over $400. These have all been planted in our town and on adjoining farms.
This is a beginning made with scarcely an effort, and I think the introduction and general
circulation of your interesting and valuable periodical would tend materially to advance the
good work. Yours, &c. John Jay Libhart.

[This is the right spirit. Hundreds of communities within reach of profitable sales in
Philadelijhia only want a little stirring up l*y such a person as our correspondent, to be
competent to pour into our market thousands of dollars' worth of good fruit to their own
great advantage and the health of our fellow-citizens. The good work has begun ; it shall
be the business of the Horticulturist to foster it. — Ed.]

The Horticulturist. — Dear Sir : * * * I have been looking over several publications of
merit respecting horticulture lately, and am greatly interested to observe how much in ad-
vance the work you now have in charge seems to have been, on many of the topics discussed.
Reports are often repetitious of the pages of your periodical. Year books copy extensively
from your recent pages. State agricultural reports are likewise followers ; they often are
only pourings " from one bottle to another." If the whole of the Ilorticulturist were burnt
in the grandest of Suttees on the funeral pile, it would only be like cutting down an oak
after its acorns have sowed a forest. Yours, Pereira.

CiiiswicK ExniBiTioN. — All our readers who remember the splendors of the Chiswick Hor-
ticultural Exhibitions, near London, will regret to hear they have been given up as unprofit-

£ditor's table.

ablo, nay, a serious loss. Tliey will bo superseded by tlio system of enlargeil exliibitiona iu
London, as of old. Tlio cbeerful music, the gay and well-dressed thront,' of visitors, the
beauty of the gardens, tlie fruit, and the tlowers, united to tlie pleasures of thr jMoiiniiade in
the fresh air (when it did not rain!), were beyond description.

Pi-rTER CoLLixsoN and Brown, the landscape gardener, were frequently brought together ;
the first had the newest American trees from our Bartrara, which, of course, were in demand
by Brown. The latter used to relate a characteristic request to Lord Bute from Peter : —

" If a hare should chance to stray,
Ticket his feet and si-nd tliis way."

To which his lordship replied : —

"A hare I have found, and ticlcRtcd his feet
To Peter Collinsnn, of Graccchurch Street."

CovEKiXG IIalf-IIakdy Plants. — For covering half-hardy plants, or screening from dry
winds, various means are employed. In France, a basket is constructed, of two eemi-
cylinders, constructed in the mode of straw hives. To these are fixed
solid feet of wood to drive into the ground. If it is necessary to shel-
ter one plant from east or northeast winds, one cylinder is sufficient ;
but if it is a plant which you are forced to protect, is delicate, and re-
quires a more complete protection, you inclose it between the two semi-
cylinders, fixed one to the other by means of hooks represented in the
drawing. A lid of the same construction, furnished at its edge with a
circle of woodwork, is fitted, when necessary, on the cylinder, and thus,
perhaps, offers a more effectual shelter against the severity of cold winds
and excessive heat than any other. These sorts of shades are light to
move, very solid, and very warm ; for, letting but little of the exterior air
penetrate, they preserve at night the heat which accumulates in the in-
terior. They would also guard plants well from the sun, and thus offer
a means of checking the natural perspiration of green parts. Probably
nothing could be invented more suitable for the protection of young plants,
like the magnolia grandiflora, in this latitude, where the. frozen sap is
attacked by the sun, and the leaves in young specimens annually killed.
For protecting the stems of grafted roses from the summer sun, they

might be made of basket willows.

SwEETBKiER. — The swectbrior makes a highly ornamental hedge,
common here.

It ought to be more

Root Grafting the Rose. — An English gardener writes on this subject that, "just as the
buds were swelling, he pulled up an old rose bush, cut off some of the strongest roots and
grafted them with La Reine and other good sorts, potted them in small pots, leaving a couple
of buds above the soil, and placed the pots in a close cold pit. All, or mostly all, are now
nice flowering plants, and the pots full of roots. I am not aware that this successful mode
of propagating is at all generally practised. Every cutting of new roses might thus be
grafted, and with a better chance of success, apparently, than making cuttings."

A Cherry, Pear, and Nectarine. — At the last meeting of the British Pomological Society,
Mr. Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, produced fruit of Lemercier Cherry, which were large
vtery beautiful. This is a distinct variety of Reine Hortense, from wliich it is distingui

editor's table.

by the iijiriglit habit of the tree, and the frait being somewhat later. Tlie fruit was very
large, tender, and melting, with a very agreeable and refreshing flavor. Mr. Rivers also
exhibited ripe specimens of Doyenne d'Ete Pear, which is the earliest variety they have in
England, coming in even before the Citron des Cannes and the Crawford. It is a pretty little
fruit, with tender and juicy flesh, and with a sweet and agreeable flavor. Mr. Rivers
brought specimens of a new seedling nectarine, which was raised fi-om the Sianirick; and
which he considered an improvement on that variety. We have, says the Cottage Gardener,
had an opportunity of seeing the fruit, and feel pleasure in saying that we regard it as one
of the greatest additions we have had to this class of fruits, not excepting the Stanwick
itself, to which it is infinitely superior both in size and flavor. The fruit is very large, one
of the specimens being eight inches in circumference, and of the shape of a truncated cone.
It is mottled with pale and very dark red wlierfe exposed to the sun, and is of a greenish-
yellow where shaded. The skin is thin ; the flesh separates freely from the stone, is exceed-
ingly tender and melting, being somewhat of a buttery texture, like the most delicate of the
Beurre Pears ; the juice very abundant, and so full of sugar as to be quite a syrup ; the
flavor is full and rich, and exceeds in richness that of any other nectarine. The kernel, like
that of its parent, is quite sweet, like a filbert. The fruit was from a plant grown in a pot ;
and it was suggested that, if grown in the open gi-ound, the fruit might even be larger.
There was one peculiarity which was remarked in all the specimens, that the stone, in every
instance, was cracked.

Common Plants. — A recent writer well observes : " There is notliing too common, or beto-
kening stinginess or poverty, in having the oldest or simjjlest plant well grown and bloomed
in a pot ; everybody loves to see them. Look at the hanging plants in the Crystal Palace,
and say if you ever saw so many of the very commonest plants put together before. Not
one of them but the poorest man in the next village might have in his window, and yet
everybody admires them. It is only that fashion requires the rich to have more costly
plants, but surely there is no reason why you and I shoul'd not have them, or that we should
be so foolish as to hanker after guinea plants, which are not a bit the better for being
dearer."

Baskets. — Tlie same writer says : " Every case I recollect of seeing ivy and flowers asso-
ciated, the effect was agreeable. I have seen hundreds of ladies admiring, and investigating
the modus operandi of hillocks, or baskets of flowers, fonned simply by driving rough pieces
of wood into the ground, covering them with ivy, and filling the space within with earth
and plants, having some of the outside rows of the latter of such a character as to interlace
a little with and fall over the ivy. I lately saw a nice ivy basket on the lawn. Originally,
a basket had been made, with one central stem to support it, and against this ivy had been
planted, trained up and round the basket. The original basket has long been gone, but the
ivy retains the shape, and bears, without flinching, the weight of the earth and plants ; the
diameter of the basket being, so far as I recollect, sometliing about four feet."

The Law of Slopes! — The following is worthy of being stored in the memory: In France,
the high roads must not exceed 4° 46' by law ; in England 4^, or one foot rise in thirty-five.
A slope of 15^ is extremely steep, and one down which one cannot descend in a carriage.
A slope of 37° is almost inaccessible on foot, if the bottom be a naked rock or a turf too
thick to form steps. The body falls backwards when the tibia makes a smaller angle than
43° with the sole of the foot — 42° being the steepest slope that can be climbed on foot in a
ground that is sandy. When the slope is 44°, it is almost impossible to scale it, though the
ground permits the fonuing of steps by thrusting in the feet. A slope of 55° to man is
inaccessible.

50 editor's table.

Mildew on the Vine. — A scientific ganleiHT declares, in the Cottage Gardener, that
wherever lie has seen the mildew prevail most in hothouses, it has been where great nuiu-
bei-s of ])lants were grown in the same house. The moisture arising from the necessary
waterings caused the mildew to spread rapidly. Few })lants in the vinery, and a free circu-
lation of air — especially in the morning — to carry oif the; damps, are highly important.

Strawberries. — A refinement in strawberry culture may be practised with advantage

where expense is no object, a, a bed of
young strawberry plants with the tiles
placed around them, b shows the end of a
bed, with the tiles placed down without the
plants, c shows the end of a bed with the
fruit and foliage upon the tiles. It would
be injurious to the plants to place these
tiles around the j>lants early in the season,
as they would deprive them of rain during
the growing season; but, just as the blos-
som is appearing, it is an advantage, as the

fruit would lie dry and clean on the upper surface. These tiles are so constnicted, on fiange-

like edges, as to give a good circulation of air below.

Rose Culture. — Four things are absolutely essential in high rose culture — a rich and deep
soil, judicious pruning, freedom from insects, and watering when requisite. If any one of
these be wrong, the success will be in proportion incomjilete. Soil is the first consideration ;
what is termed a sound loam, they all delight in ; the soil should be adapted to the stock
rather than the scion, or kind worked on it. The common, or dog-rose stock thrives best on
strong loamy soil, in half-shaded situations near water, without manure ; cultivated roses
require the latter because they have more hard work to do ; their amount of blossom, if
weight alone be allowed as a test, would, in most cases, doubly and trebly exceed that of
the dog-rose — added to which they have less foliage.

Roses, on their own roots, require that the soil be modified according to kind ; we should
not use so adhesive a soil to a Tea or Bourbon rose as to ordinary kinds ; organic matter is
here required. Depth of soil is of great importance to all kinds ; it is the deeper series of
fibres, situated in a proper medium, that sustains a good succession of flowers, in defiance
of heat and drought.

Judicious pruning reduces the rampant growths, and increases the energies of those which
are of a more delicate constitution, relieves from superfluous shoots and useless wood, and
reduces the whole outline to a compact or consistent foi-m. Insect ravages must be guarded
against — tobacco water or fumes will do this ; bathing them twice a day with water from a
barrow-engine is only objectionable from the time required. If you have not provided deep
culture, watering, in dry times, will be requisite ; but this should be done thoroughly rather
than frequently, and the surface soil should be frequently stirred without injuring the
roots. Liqiiid manure — say two ounces of guano to a gallon of water — should be given once
a week. With this treatment, every one may have fine roses.

Color and Odor of Plants. — MM. Fremy and Cloez have extracted and isolated the blue
coloring matter of flowers — a highly delicate operation. It is not indigo, as was supposed ;
they call it cj^anine. It is tunied red by acid vegetable juices, and they find it in certain
roses, peonies, and dahlias. Viale and Latlni, of the University of Rome, have, as they

editor's table.

believe, confirmed the supposition that the odor of plants and flowers was due to ammonia ;
the odor being good or bad according to the proportions in which the ammonia was com-
bined. From this it is shown that plants are doubly beneficial, by absorbing ammonia, as
well as exhaling oxygen. We must remark, however, that some chemists dispute the accu-
racy of these conclusions.

Sundry Matters promised for this month have been crowded out unexpectedly, among
them communications from valued correspondents on subjects of permanent intei'est from
Cincinnati, New Jersey, &c., but for which room will be found in our next. The delay in
publishing the rojiort of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, was unavoidable. Inter-
esting matter for the Horticulturist is now crowding in upon us.

The " Calendar of Operations " which we commence, it is intended to carry through the
year, forming a feature that many have regretted the absence of in former volumes. It will
make the present a valuable book of reference for the future, as well as the j)resent time,
and is by an able hand.

The Poultry Exhibition in Philadelphia, a few weeks since, was very successful and
useful. The Governor of the State attended and made a very good speech.

Is Grape Culture and Wine Making firmly established among us ? — This question we put
to a distinguished vine-grower in Cincinnati, R. Buchanan, Esq., more to satisfy some
friends than to clear up any doubt of our own. The following is his reply : " I am happy
to be able to say that, in the West at least, I consider the vineyard culture of the Grape
firmly established. It is also increasing with great rapidity all over the West and South-
west. The sale of grape-cuttings in Cincinnati last spring amounted to over 2,000,000, and
of stocks 300,000. I sold from my own vineyard 140,000 cuttings. This looks like progress.
The demand for the wine fully equals the sujjply, but the hard times of last year caused an
accumulation of the stock of sparkling Catawba (the most expensive of our wines), which
will take another year to diminish. I repeat to you in all candor my opinion, that the vino
culture is now established as a branch of national agriculture that cannot retrograde. It
has also the sympathy of the moral part of the community, who believe that the spread of
the wine will diminish intemperance."

The Niles Pear, exhibited at the December meeting of our Horticultural Society, is a
foreign variety with a native name, and was thought by many to be identical with the
Easter Beurre, but comparison from the same place of growth, showed how distinct they are.
Tlie Niles was then nearly ripe. There was a fine display of Passe Colmar, which is to
December what the Seckle is to the September month, scarcely to be excelled in its season.
The Vicar of Winkfield looked "watery" beside the Duchesse D'Angouleme.

Dwarfing Pears. — R. H. Tubbs, Kingston, Pa., writes us: "I am trying to dwarf the pear
on the Juneberry. Thus far it promises well, one tree having borne a fine crop the fourth
year from the bud. Its advantages would be longevity and freedom from disease ; it is an
American forest tree."

liortituUural Societies,

Pknxsyi.vaxia lIoRTicL'i,TrRAi, SociETV. — The stated inccting of this Society was hclil in
Concert Hall, on Tnesday evening, Octoher Ki, ISf).'), the President in the cliair. Premiums
were awarded as follows, by the Committee on Plants and flowers: —

Collection of twelve Plants — for tlie best to John Pollock, gr. to James Dnndas; for the
second best to Thomas Robertson, gr. to B, A. Fahnestock. Collection of six Phints — for the
best to the same. Specimen Plant — for the best to John Pollock, and for the second best to
Thomas Robertson. Basket of cut Flowers — for the best to Mark Hill, gr. to M. W. Baldwin ;
for the second best to J. J. Habermehl, gr. to J. Lambert. Bouquets — for the best pair to
J. J. Habermehl ; for the second best to H. A. Dreer. Special Preminins — one of two dollars
to Robert Kilvington for a jiair of Bouquets and a pyramid of indigenous flowers ; another of
one dollar to A. L. Feltcn, for a fine display of Dahlias.

By the Committee on Fruits. Grapes — for the best collection to Mark Hill ; for the second
best to J. McLaughlin, gr. to Isaac B. Baxter. Pears — for the best collection to the same ;
for the second best to Mrs. C. Mackau. Special Premiums — two dollars to G. W. Earl for a
Seedling Clingstone Peach of fine appearance and very fair taste; and one dollar to Peter
Raabe for a very excellent Grape, called Clara, said to be a seedling, and which the Com-
mittee are of opinion is deserving of more than passing notice.

The Committee called the attention of the Society to a specimen of the Graslin Pear, a
foreign variety, by Robert Buist, and for the first time shown, which they consider an acqui-
sition, and rate as best.

By the Committee on Vegetables — Display hi/ a market gardener: for the best, to A. L.
Ft'ltcn. iJisplaij hij a private (jardener : for the best, to Robert Dunlap, gr. to Christopher
Fallon.

The Secretary stated that since the last meeting he had received a box containing clusters
of the Early Northern Muscadine Grape, with, a specimen of wine made of that grape, from
D. J. Hawkins and P. Stewart, of New Lebanon, N. Y., with a request to submit them to the
inspection of the Committee on Fruits, which he did accordingly; and the Chaimian reports
that, after a careful examination by the taste, &c. (the odor could not be mistaken), they
were clearly of opinion that the plant is a seedling of the worthless Fox Grape of our woods,
and not deserving a place in any catalogue as desirable for cultui'c, and no more to be com-
pared to our Isabella or Catawba than a Chicken Grai)e to the White Muscat of Alexandria,
and consider it a duty to stamji with emphatic reprobation any attempt to introduce for cul-
tivation an article so utterly destitute of value as the so-called Northern Muscadine.

The Chairman of the Committee on the 27th exliibition submitted a report, minutely
describing the display as it was held at Penn Square, on the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th days
of September.

The President made a few remarks in commendation of the zeal of the Committee in con-
ducting the exhibition, and that the cordial thanks of the Society were due to them for their
active exertions.

Eleven gentlemen were elected members.

Objects Exhibited. — Plants by J. Pollock — collection of twelve: Allamanda cathartira,
Adamia versicolor, Veronica Andersonii, Beloperone oblongata, Begonia Laperousia, B. Presto-
niensis, Cuphea platycentra, Impatiens latifolia, Jasminum grandiflorum, Petunia Ilermoni
via lilicina, and Torenia Asiatica. Specimen — Allamanda aubletia.

editor's table.

By Thomas Robertson — collection of twelve : Allamanda cuthartica, Manettia glabra,
Clerodcndron squamatum, Pentas cornea, Begonia Xanthina, Torenia Asiatica, Veronica An-
dersonii. Geranium Punch, Abelia rupestris, Clerodendron multiplex, Erica miitahilis, and Con-
volvulus pentanthus. Collection of six plants — Stigmaphyllum ciliatum, Begonia umheUata,
Angelonia gardeneriana, Ciiphea plati/centra, Pentas carnea, and Geranium Hendersonii. Spe-
men — Manettia cordifolia.

Baskets and Bouquets. — By Mark Hill — a basket and two bouquets. By J. J. Habermelil —
basket and a pair of bouquets. By Robert Kilvington — a cone bouquet of indigenous flowers,
and a pair of bouquets. By II. A. Dreer — a pair of bouquets. By James Kent, gr. to J. F.
Knorr — a pair of bouquets. Cut dahlias. — By Gerliard Sclimitz — very fine seedlings ; and
by A. L. Felten, a large display.

Pruits. — By Mark Hill — Grapes: Black Hamburg, Black Prince, Black Frankentlial, Griz-
zley Frontignac, Wliite Frontignac, White Bual, Cochin China, and White Muscat of Alexan-
dria. By John McLaughlin — Grapes: six bunches each of Seedling Frost, Schuylkill,
Catawba, Fox, Black Prince, Chicken, Ohio, Isabella, Elsinboro', Xeres, and Black Ham-
burgh. Pears: four specimens each of St. Germain, Brown Beurr^, White Doyenne, Napo-
leon, Broom Park, Duchesse d'Angouleme, Le Cure, Passe Colmar, and Kingsessing. By
Mrs. C. Mackau — Pears : Chaumontel, Belle de Montigney, B. Gris, Baker, Bameiux, Ananas,
Columbia, Liberal, Angleterre St. Gennain, Lawrence, Fondante des Malines, Duchesse d'An-
gouleme, Andrews, Passe Colmar, St. Ghislan, Delisse de Van Mons, Bartlett, D. d'Hive'r,
Fulton, and Tresor Amour. By Charles Sutherland, gr. to John Anspach — three bunches
of White Syrian Grapes. By Geo. W. Earl — a fine seedling Clingstone Peach. By John
Chambers — a good seedling Peach. By Peter Raabe — a specimen of the " Clara" grape — a
seedling. By L. Chamberlain — Isabella Grapes.

Vegetables. — By A. L. Felten — a large and fine display. By Robert Dunlap — a very good
display. By M. Murphy, gr. to J. C. Vogdes — a small display. By B. Higgins, gr. to D. R.
King — specimens of the " Loof " fruit, or Wash-rag Plant, from seed brought from Cairo by
Dr. Dorr.

November 20, 1855. — The stated meeting was held this evening — Caleb Cope in the chair.

Premiums — awarded by the Committee on Plants and Flowers, viz : Collection of twelve
Plants — for the best, to Tlios. Robertson. Speciment Plant — for the best, to the same.
Table Design — for the best, to Thos. Meghran, gr. to M. Bouvier. Basket of Cut Floicers —
for the best, to Jerome Graflf, gr. to Caleb Cope ; for the second best, to J. J. Habermehl.
Bouquets — for the best pair, to Jerome Graflf; for the second best, to J. J. Habermehl. Cri/-
santhemums, twelve plants — for the best dwarf varieties, to the same; for the best specimen
of a large variety, to the same ; for the best of a dwarf variety, to Barry Higgins. Special
Premiums — one dollar to Alexander Parker, for a collection of Chrysanthemums ; and three
dollars to Jerome Graff, for a collection of Orchids.

By the Fruit Committee : Pears, collection of fifty specimens of five varieties — for the best,
to Isaac B. Baxter. Special Premiums — four dollars to Mrs. C. Mackau, for a very fine col-
lection of Pears ; four dollars to Jerome Graflf, for a fine collection of Pears and Grapes. As
these did not comply with the regulations, they could not compete for the Schedule Pre-
miums.

By the Committee on Vegetables : Celery — for the best six stalks, to James Jones, gr. at
the Girard College ; for the second best, to J. J. Habermehl. Brussels Sprouts — for the best
six stalks, to A. L. Felten ; for the second best, to Barry Higgins. For the best display of
Vegetables by a market gardener, to A. L. Felten. Special premiums — two dollars to M.
ty, gr. to Joseph Harrison, for a small display of fine vegetables ; one dollar to
for foiir dishes of fine Tomatoes, very perfect ; one dollar to A. L. Felten, for a

^Q^^i--

rior display of canliflowers. The Committoo noticed two very superior heads of canliflowcrs,
shown bv Maurice Finn, gr. at the Kastcrn Penitentiary; and called the attention of tlw
Society to a heautiful dis])lay of heads of wheat, rye, oats, barley, and a few large potatoes
grown in C'alit'oruia, and exhibited by Robert Cornelius.

Oriects Shown. — Plants by Thos. Robertson — Aphelandra crixtata, Eiiiphylhim trutirafuni,
Ihijihne iiidica, Amari/llis aulica, Geissomcria loixjijiora, Viiphea jihUijrciitra, Primula plctm-
alba, Geranium Tom Thumb, G. unique, Pentas carnea, Torenia Asiatira, and Plumhar/o rosra :
specimen, Linum trigi/num. By Jerome Graff — Orchides, Zygopetalum Mackayii, Stanhnpia
species, Calanthe veratri/olia, and Maxillaria picta. By J. J. Habennehl — twelve dwarf
Crysanthemums, and sjjecimens of the large and dwarf kinds. By Robert Buist — Ardisin
cretinlntafntclo-alba, and a blue Salvia from Mexican seed — a new variety. By B. Higgins —
specimen, dwarf Chrysanthemum. By Alexander Parker — a great variety of Chrysan-
themums.

Desitjns, Baskets, and Bouquets. — By Jerome Graff — a basket bearing a cut the flower of
Victoria in the centre, and a pair of bouquets. By J. J. Haliemiehl — a basket aud a pair
of bouquets. By Thos. Meghran — a design. By James Kent — three bouquets.

Fruit. — By Isaac B. Baxter — Pears: St. Germain, Le Cur^, Passe Colmar, Broom Park, and
Duchesse d'Angouleme. By Jerome Graff — Grapes: Muscat of Alexandria, Purple Damask,
Syrian, &c. — Pears: Passe Colmar, Easter Beurre, Niles, La Fortunie, B. D'Aremberg,
D. Blanc, B. Diel, and Winter Nelis. By Mrs. C. Mackau — Pears: B. Gris, Liberal,
B. D'Areml)erg, Bon Cretein, Angleterre Noisette, St. Gemiain d'Automne, Glout Morceau,
Duchesse d'Angouleme, Andrews, Bartlett, D. d'Hiver, Ejjine Dumas, D. Blanc, Lawrence.
By Alexander Parker — Pears : two kinds.

Vegetables. — By A. L. Felten — a large and varied display of excellent growth. By M.
Haggerty — a small display. By Wm. Johns — Tomatoes, cut fresh from the vines grown in
pots under glass. By Jerome Graff — Brussels Sprouts. By B. Higgins — Brussels Sprouts.
By James Jones — fine Celery. By Robert Cornelius — seeds of wheat, rye, oats, and barley ;
also, large potatoes grown in California.

[Note. — The reports of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, always welcome, have
heretofore repeated the name of the employer each time that the gardener's name was men-
tioned. A repetition, we are assured, no one requires. The excellent Secretary will see
that we have diminished his report in this particular for the sake of space for other mat-
ters.— Ed.]

€ak«i)iir 0f (Derations.

JANUARY.

It is proposed to offer to the readers of the Horticulturist a monthly calendar of operations,
or hints of the work to be i:)erformed in the fruit, vegetable, and flower gardens, greenhouse,
grapery, pleasiire grounds, &c.

The subjects are both extensive and prolific, requiring volumes instead of pages for their
proper elucidation ; calendars in general are, therefore, either too brief to be valuable, or too
lengthy and minute for the limited space which can be spared in a monthly periodical. We
shall attempt to steer a middle course, and direct our remarks rather to the principles of
culture, and those fundamental laws which govern vegetable growth, than to the mere
explanation of practical details ; the latter, however, will, to a certain extent, l)e recognized.
This course is, indeed, rendered imperative in a work that circulates in a country embracing

EDITOR'S TABLE.

every variety of climate, from the frigid to the torrid zones. But Nature's laws are univer
sally alike, her modes of action are the same in every climate, and the same laws are
observed whether in the production of the tiny moss or the gigantic sequoia. It may fur-
ther be necessary to state that I make no pretensions to instruct experienced cultivators,
but write with a view to assist and increase that already numerous class of amateiu-s who
find their greatest jsleasure in rural pursuits, and in the contemplation of the " varied works"
of Nature.

Fruit-Trees. — Those that have been recently planted should be properly secured. Of the
many essential points in culture, no one is paramount ; it is only from a happy combination
of the whole that we can expect constant success. A tree may be planted in the most con-
genial soil, and with all possible care, yet, if allowed to sway about with every breeze, this
will counteract the best treatment. Mound the soil well up the stems of newly planted
trees, to throw off wet and keep the roots in a healthy condition, and in a state of growth.
Dig up the ground and leave it exposed to the frost ; apart from the highly beneficial action
on the soil, this is one of the most efi'ectual means for the destruction of insects and their
larvfe. We have known plum-trees that were kept perfectly exempt from the attacks of the
curculio by occasionally forking over the soil and exjiosing it to the winter's severity.

Pruning is an operation very little understood by the majority of cultivators ; an annual
visit to the orchard with an axe and saw, and the cutting out of a few limbs being considered
the indispensable procedure. If yoixr trees are old and overgrown with wood, thin them out
judiciously ; if very productive of fruit, but have made short and weak growths, prune them
down severely ; but young, strong-growing, fruitless trees do not touch while destitute of
leaves.

Vegetable Garden. — One of the most important operations at this season, and one of great
influence on the productive cai^abilities of the soil, is turning over the surface roughly, to
expose it to the ameliorating and disintegrating action of the weather. While freezing, the
contained water expands and separates the earthy particles, and a gradual crumbling and
granulation takes place during the thawing process, and a friability is produced which is
not attainable by any other means. By proper foresight, the labors of spring may also be
lessened by this operation. For example, the ground set apart for early potatoes may be
thrown up in ridges and thus left exposed all winter. When i^lanting season amves, the
space between the ridges may be straightened with a lioe and the seed put in, covering it
by levelling down the ridges ; crops so treated will mature much earlier than by the usual
method of sowing in the newly turned up cold soil, and can be put down from one to two
weeks earlier in the season. Cauliflower, lettuce, and other plants in frames should be kept
dry, especially in frosty weather, at all times pi'otected from heavy rains ; during snow
storms they may remain covered up for several days, taking care to expose them gradually
to stinsliine afterwards.

Grapery. — The house should be well aired, never entirely closed, unless in rain, snow, or
severe frosts. The soil or borders should be kept as dry as possible, both outside and in the
house. The outside portion may be protected by a thick coating of leaves or littered ma-
nure. But they are most thoroughly protected by wooden or glazed sashes fitted closely to
the lower ends of the roof-rafters of the house. If glazed sashes are used, many useful arti-
cles may be forwarded under their shelter. The best British Queen strawberries that we
ever saw were produced in this manner, and were ripe three weeks before those in the open
air. We have never seen this fruit worth looking at under out of door culture here ; treated
as above they are very superior. Other kinds, of course, are equally improved by this
slight protection.

The vines will now be laid down in a horizontal position, and, where necessary, covered
with straw. Ropes made of straw wound closely round the vines form the neatest method
of protection. Raspberries will, of course, be under protection ; laying down the vines and
covering them over with soil is at once the simplest and best mode of bringing them through
the winter ; indeed, we have never seen them satisfactorily protected in any other way.
Figs and tender grape-vines are also protected as above. Strawberries should be covered
over slightly with manure, short hay, or leaves. This protection should not be confined to
what is termed cold latitudes, as its advantages are equally observable whether the climate
produces a cold of 50 degrees or 5.

Greenhouse. — The temperature may average from 40 degrees by night to G0° or 65° by
day. The greatest source of disappointment proceeds from injudicious management of the
atmosphere. Let it fluctuate similarly to the natural atmosphere ; avoid keeping up a mid
at at midnight ; always allow a diminution of from 15° to 20° by night over the
day ; do not open sashes and admit dry cold winds ; air mostly by the top ventil

tors, nnd kocp tlio atmosplipro oharpod at all timos with sufficiont moisture. Water always
in tli<' moritiu!.', and liavc a tank inside tlie house tliat tlie water may he of tlie same tem-
perature. Never apply water until it is absnUitely necessary, and .see that it passes freely
throuv'h the soil ; tlie contrary will indicate deticient drainai,'(^

Mu<h di»i)ends upon tlie arrant^'ement of the ])lants. There is always a trartn end in all
greenhouses, where the lire enters, wliich can be kept \ip a few detrrees above the ojiposite
end. Plants of a tender kind, or those in a growing state, should be j)laced there : luculiaa,
lesehenaultias, epiidiyllums, torenias, kalosanthus, &c., comprise some of the former ; while
heliotropes, jiriniulas, geraniums, roses, &c., will require warmth to keep them growing and
flowering. Krieas, epacris, acacias, hoveas, polygalas, and others such should lie kept as
cool as i)0ssihle. Caniellias, azaleas, and, indeed, all other plants that are in flower, will
require more water than thosi! in a state of rest.

The proper application of water shouhl receive every attention; much depends upon it at
this season more csjiecially. Pelaj-goninms, calceolarias, and cinnerarias should bt^ shifted
into larger pots, and kept on the front shelf near the glass, to prevent etiolation of the young
stems, which injures their flowering properties. Young plants for the flower garden should
he frequently topped (by pinching out the points of the shoots), to render them stO(^ky and
strong.

Trop.-eolums, a beautiful class of greenhouse climbers, require to be kept rather dry and
near light. Mignonette in pots requires to be carefully attended to bring it to pcifection ;
little water and plenty of light will keep it flowering. Keep under cover a supply of soil for
potting; that produced from rotted turfs will answer all purposes, using sand, charcoal, or
any similar material to maintain a constant porosity. There is no necessity for mixtures of
peat and other nostrums, in the way of soil for cultivating ]>lants in pots. The best plant
growers are not so particular about the chemical constitution of the soil as its mechanical
condition.

Fumigate twice a month with tobacco, to prevent the green fly from gaining a livelihood
on the i)lants.

Flowick (takdex. — But little can be done here at present. Manure and composts may be
applied, and the walks repaired if necessary. Geometrical gardens cut on the lawn should
be carefully studied, with a view of arranging the plants to the best advantage, and ascer-
tain th(! kinds and quantities required. Much taste and skill may be displayed in the com-
bination and harmonious arrangement of various colored flowers in this description of
garden.

Pleasurk Grounds axd Shrubbery. — Contemplated improvements should be fully matured
and studied before commencing active practical ojierations. Most of our rui'al places evince
this want. It may safely be asserted that no permanent improvement will ever give satis-
faction unless the whole arrangement is previously determined upon, even to the most
minute details. But how often is it thought about ? Let our expensive and unexpressive
plpdsurc (jroundfi: (by courtesy so called) answer. Study the features of the locality and its
connection with surrounding scenery, and follow Nature's promptings, which are always
visible to the tasteful eye.

" But learn to roin
Thy skill within the limit she allows ;
(Jreiit Nature scorus contrul ; she will not hear
One beauty foreign to the spot or soil
She gives thee to adorn ; 'tis thine alone
To mend, not change her features. Does her hand
Stretch fortli a level lawn ? ah, hope not thou
To lift the mountain there. Do mountains frown
Around ? ah, wish not there the level lawn."

Let everything that can be done to facilitate spring operations bo proceeded with ; make
roads and walks, and dig out and prepare the ground for trees. Wliere this cannot be done,
mark out the direction of the former, and insert stakes into the intended positions of the
latter, and write the name of the tree on the stake. This will be found a great assistance
when the hurried season of planting arrives ; and, above all things, prepare an ample heap
of suitable compost to plant with, that your luxuriant anticipations may the sooner be
realized. William Saunders.

;S^

,-1^

]\ % wWi^.

M

:^>"' <!:

THE RE/UTING ?EAP.

WM jof Drogrfss in gunl fiistc.

ij^O the men or women brouf^lit up in cities, an apple is
simply an apple; they have no other name for it, and
scarcely appreciate, if they distinguish its good or bad
qualities. To the same individuals one tree is much like
another; shade and grass are of the same quality, pro-
vided they are shade and grass.

So it is in all matters; true education to the masses is
denied. To those who are only familiar with gardens,
and trees, and flowers, and grass, a star is a star; we have
about as much relish, perhaps, for the pleasures of the
astronomer, as the dweller of paved streets has for oiir favorite studies. These
considerations should teach us humility; because we know a little more than our
visitors, there should be no one who has lived long enough to learn o??e thing vrcll,
but would acknowledge his ignorance.

The first step in rural adornment, we heard a lady remarlc, was to plant a hop-
vine or a gourd-seed; the progress to greater enjoyments is thus begun, but how
many in our great country live their whole lives without the true enjoyment which
Nature provides. "We dined once with a wealthy individual, who was his own
architect and designer, but who did not know the name, the species even, of the
fine tree under whose shadow he had built his costly mansion. The planting of a
hop-vine was to him an unknown problem. His gardener had all the enjoyment
of the employer's wealth, in this line at least.

Schools should make a beginning in this matter; they do attempt to instruct
the tyro in astronomy and botany, but where is ■ the elementary book on horticul-
ture, or has any one ever known half a dozen teachers that have passed an exami-
nation at the High School, and who were going to devote a life to teaching others,
that could give the name of the most common plants and trees which surround
every rambler in the woods ?

The next step to planting a hop-vine is the acquisition of a knowledge of the
fact that vinos yield shade ; a grape-vine follows, and delicious fruit rewards the
planter. Would that all the desolate looking farm-houses we have seen in the
course of many thousand miles of travel the past season, had even the luxury of a
hop-vine ! "We could wish that, in many places, a single tree had been planted
coevally with the erection of the house, or that some trees that did once exist had
been left to increase. It is a sorrowful fact, that in a very large extent of this
great Union, the very beginning of taste is not seen. The beautiful garden, or
even the single ornamental object, is the exception and not the rule, if we take

YoL. VI.— Feb. 1856.

survey of the entire United States, and include the ont-of-the-way roadsides, the
uioiuitiiin liouies, and tlie whole interior. We have had no horticultural school-
master; taste has l»ccn omitted in the schedule of the school. Look at the result,
and regret that it is so to conlinue for generations to come.

]'>ut, says the possessor of rural taste, a love of gardens and of i»lanting is
rapidly progressing. It is true tlicy are increasing, but oljservatiun will show
that they do not increase in the ratio of the population. A love of i)rofit is
increasing; money is the one thing that the masses worship. There formerly was
respect for station, for age — is there any now? Will any one say this is taught
any more than respect for a kind of learning which is not to produce a moneyed
result ?

How can we change this want, and bring up the mind of the country to a love
of nature ? We answer, by teaching a knowledge of the common things around
us, and doing this in schools. " How to observe" is a thing rarely taught. " A
farmer in repairing his fences will sometimes notice in splitting a decayed rail or
stake, holes excavated therein and filled with young spiders, commonly of bright,
beautiful colors, which lie still and quiet, with only a slight quivering of their
limVis, and is puzzled to know why, when thus broken in upon, they do not awake
from their lethargy and run away, little suspecting the manner and purpose of
their being accumulated there. They have been stung by the parent bee or wasp
just sufficiently to stupefy her victim without killing it, and will remain so till
required for the food of the young not yet perhaps born. And a thousand similar
interesting and curious phenomena are passing under the farmer's and gardener's
eyes daily, as he pursues his labors — phenomena which, if

In nature's infinite book of secrecy
A little he can read,

aid in rendering his vocation beyond all comparison the most pleasant of any
pursuit known to man."

Though the mission of our age may be to conquer the desert, we can see no
reason why whole generations should pass away without those enjoyments which
contribute to the softening of man's nature. The prairie annually springs up
with beautiful flowers, and even fruit like the wild strawberry is said to redden
the hoof of the traveller's horse as he takes his solitary journey. Why should
we not incite Nature round our dwellings to perform the duties imposed by the
Creator, and taste, amid the bitter cups too often ofTcrcd to our lips, a little of
the sweets, which are all but spontaneous, when we have learned to know their
value and read them aright.

^^:

READING PEAR *

Size, rather large, 3^ inches long by 2f broad; form, pyriforra, tapering to the
crown; skin, greenish-yellow with numerous clots; stem, | of an inch long by j'^
thick, somewhat fleshy at its insertion; cavity, none; calyx, open, segments erect,
set in a narrow, very superficial basin; cone, medium; seed, dark-brown, . long,
acuminate, i inch long, ^ broad, J- thick, many abortive ; flesh, greenish-white,
somewhat granular, juice abundant ; flavor, sprightly, vinous ; quality, " good ;"
maturity, January to March, even to May.

Wood, young shoots slender, yellowish-olive ; old wood, gray-olive,

THE SEED BUSINESS OF THE WEST.

BY 'UTfLLIAM STOMS, CINCINNATI, OHIO.

The great West has become a vast empire within itself, and among the varied
items that go to make up its commerce, that of the " Seed Business" is deserving
of notice. And yet, when we turn to the pages exhibiting our statistics of trade,
how deficient is everything on this important head. For this omission, there was
excuse, in the days of big wagons and four-horse teams, but in these times, when
our receipts are mostly by railroads, canals, and rivers, the apology is fallacious
and inexcusable.

The great West, from a position absolutely beneath the dignity of statistical
research in the " Seed Business," say twenty years ago, has advanced in the com-
mercial scale, to operations, amounting annually to over two millions of dollars !

Our rapid growth and prosperity ofttimes quite make us forget our former
selves, and hence I propose briefly to notice the things and men that have gone
before, and also the present, pertaining to the " Seed Business" of the West.

There are many readers of the Horticulturist, no doubt, both east and west,
who still remember the name of Mr. Parsons Gorham, who kept a small grocery
store on the corner of Lower Market and Sycamore Streets, Cincinnati, and whose
death occurred some eighteen years since. Some will doubtless recollect in this
city, when that gentleman was almost the only person of whom a little clover and
timothy-seed could be purchased after looking the town over. From the year
1S2T to that of 1831, Mr. Gorham may be considered the pioneer in the Grass-
Seed business. The amount of stock in trade, that is, of grass-seeds, at any one
time, during Mr. Gorham's engagement in business, was, perhaps, fifty bushels!

* See Frontispiece.

TUB SEED BUSINESS OF THE WEST.

Since tlint dny, I have known, in the different rarietics of grnss-sccds, twenty
thousniul l)ushc'Is to be the stock of one single house, besides a lieavy distri-
bution auionp: numerous commission houses all over the city. Such is the con-
trast in twenty-five years 1 In those days the Kentucky farmer would sow his
bushel of clover-seed, costing five dollars. Now he often sows fifty bushels, cost-
ing two hundred and fifty dollars. For the three years preceding that of 1831,
from one to two thousand dollars was about the annual investment in grass-seeds,
in Cincinnati. For the last three years to 1855 inclusive, as near as can be esti-
mated, the annual investments are over half a million of dollars! The contrast is
striking, but true.

In January, 1831, a new era dawned upon the " seed business of the west."
iMr. S. C. Parkhurst, a clerk in the Seed and Agricultural Establishment of John
B. Russell, Boston, without the prestige of a name or fortune, with a pocket
more full of letters than money, entered the " Queen City," and essayed at once
to open a seed store, in all its various branches, on this same Lower Market
Street, and upon the same block with Mr. Parsons Gorham ! Mr. Parkhurst
originally contemplated only a moderate business in garden-seeds, &c. But the
field looked inviting, and, in true Yankee style, he commenced the issue of hand-
bills, containing upon them the emblems of agriculture, such as the " Plough, the
Shovel, and the Hoe." These were assiduously distributed among the market
people. The whole country round about soon became acquainted with the fact,
that there was a man in town, ready to buy and sell all the grass-seeds saved in
this region. Besides, was also prepared to supply the same with garden-seeds
and various kinds of implements. The New Ilaven courage of Mr. Gorham had
to give way to the Boston enterprise of Mr. Parkhurst. In short, Mr. Gorham
fell back dismayed — and for ten years Mr. Parkhurst had the entire field, and ran
the race alone. In 1832, Mr. Parkhurst's sale of clover and timothy-seeds was
about GOO bushels. The graduating scale to 1841 we omit; but this year (1841)
his sales amounted to G,000 bushels.

At this period also, he had become a man of wealth, but his health declining
he sold out the establishment to a couple of young men named Wooley and Dal-
rymple. His mantle did not fall on the right shoulders, for their career was brief.
They were clever men — but, from a want of knowledge in the business, their
failure was inevitable. After eighteen months' possession, they relinquished again
to ;Mr. Parkhurst.

In the interim, John F. Pair & Co., successors to Mr. Gorham, commenced
dealing in grass-seeds quite extensively, in connection with the grocery business.
The two houses were only half a block apart, and prosecuted operations on a
grand scale. Competition soon sharpened up to the highest pitch. The strife
was warm and exciting — but lasted little over a year, when Mr. Parkhurst con-
cluded that profits had narrowed down rather close for him; in 1845, he made
another sale to Ely & Campbell, and took leave of the "seed business," perhaps
forever. His fortune had become ample, and it was not necessary that he should

attend to details any longer. Still, he is not idle, which I will presently show.
When Mr. Parkhurst left Boston, his circumstances were circumscribed to very
small means, but his employer, J. B. Russell, was rich. Mr. Parkhurst came out
west, and Mr. Russell entered upon the publishing business, as Russell & Odiorne,
in Boston, after making a handsome fortune in the seed business. Since then, in
the capricious evolutions of fortune's wheel, Mr. Parkhurst has drawn the prizes,
and Mr. Russell the blanks. One went down, the other up. The latter gentle-
man came out west in 1844, in fortune quite broken down — and has, for many
years since, been an attache of the Gazette ofiSce in this city, in which situation he
has been subject to a good deal of intellectual drudgery. The former is a dealer
in stocks "on the Rialto,''^ a director in two or three railroads, and one or two
banks. Both adhere to the advice of Ulysses to Achilles. For, with both these
gentlemen —

" to have done, is to hang

Quite out of fasliion, like a rusty mail,
In monumental mockery."

While it is breathing time of day, neither of them intends to die, or rust out.

Many persons of Mr. Russell's reverses of fortune would have put on the habi-
liments of heavy-laden care, or drowned their sorrows in dissipation. ]S'ot so with
him. There always appeared to be a bountiful supply of sunshine about the
heart that never failed to show itself in a genial glow, through his ever-beaming
and benignant countenance. And of all the vices that ofttimes beset the path of
both the fortunate and unfortunate, Mr. Russell has happily steered clear ! But
please excuse the digression, Mr. Editor, and you, Messieurs Parkhurst and
Russell, excuse the too free use that I may have made of your names. I wished
to trace the picture, for such is life !

The great bulk of receipts and sales of grass-seeds for Western consumption
and Eastern export, are made at Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Chicago,
Lafayette, &c. Of the Southern States, Kentucky, Tennessee, Yirginia, and
Maryland, are the principal consumers of clover-seed, for the fertilization of hard
worked lands in hemp, tobacco, and cotton-growing districts. Of the Western
States, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa are now the main producers of timothy-
seed. Up to 1850, Cincinnati supplied nearly the entire West and Southwest
with their grass-seeds, grown altogether in Ohio. Since that period, Illinois and
Iowa have produced at least half the timothy-seed that has been consumed in
this country. The productions of those States have annually increased in tliis
article, and the time is not far distant when nearly all the timothy-seed saved in
this i-egion will be on the Western prairies. The surplus finds its way to New
York or Eastern markets from, or through Chicago and Cincinnati. Of clover-
seed it is quite different ; nine-tenths of Western growth is saved in Ohio and
Indiana ; Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois consuming more than they
produce. As an item in this last-named commodity, Cincinnati has never ceased
the great mart, and must continue to be for a long time to come.

THE SEED BUSINESS OP THE WEST.

A few years since, the sight of an agricultural implement here was a rarity —
and the sales of such articles as straw-cutters, patent churns, horse-rakes, horse-
powers and threshers, mowing and roapiug-machincs, &c., wore a meagre nothing.
Xow, it is not an uncommon thing to see a broad acre of ground, on our wluirf,
or at some of our depots, covered with them. Manufactures have sprung up all
around ns, and the whole country teems with implements. In Cincinnati there
are four houses devoted entirely to the sale of grass-seeds, garden-seeds, and
agricultural implements.

In Louisville, about the first attempt to open up a regular seed business was in
1844, by our very enterprising friend, A. G. Munn. About $20,000 worth of
seeds and agricultural tools were as much as could be sold that year. For
the last three years his average sales are $100,0QD per annum. There are now
three large establishments for the sale of seeds and implements, and one factory,
employing forty hands, and turning out a vast quantity of work every week. A
safe estimate of the amounts sold annually, by all, would reach $350,000, exclu-
sive of engine work, wagons, &c., or machinery for plantations.

In St. Louis, the revolution has been more complete than elsewhere — but want
of space will prevent our giving the fact any notice of a statistical nature. Well do
I remember when a few barrels of seed and a few implements served for the year's
supply. Now, St. Louis sells more implements than any city west of the Alle-
ghany Mountains. And soon, Chicago, perhaps, may be pressing hard upon her
heels in the great strife of emulation. It is hard to predict where we shall land,
for everything, since the introduction of railroads and telegraphs, seems to be
transitory and fleeting. A city or town rises and falls, as it were, almost in a
day. Trade from a certain source, which may have been the main prop and sup-
port of quite a commercial metropolis, passes off like dew under the potent influ-
ence of improvements. For the past three years, Cincinnati has been made to
stagger under the influence of these diversions, and whether, when all things are
completed, she is to be straightened up, or straightened out, time alone can deter-
mine. The shifting scenes of trade, in consequence of railroad and other public
improvements, is not so visible anywhere else as in the West. Trade is withdrawn
from one place and attracted to another, with so much mysterious facility as not
to be realized until the actual facts are staring us in the face. It is but a few
years since, when the eye of prophecy saw the great destiny of New Orleans. As
a commercial emporium, it was to have no rival on this continent. Already it had
become the immediate outlet and inlet in transitu of one of the grandest trades in
the world. Nobody thought, a few years since, of shipping to, or of receiving
goods from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, &c., by any other route
than by the way of New Orleans.

Now, how is the mighty fallen ! Railroads have so changed the scene that New
Orleans has become almost an obsolete phase in many commercial atmospheres !

CULTIVATION OP THE PEAR-TREE.

CULTIVATION OF THE PEAR-TREE.

BY DR. J. M. WARD, NEWARK, N. J.

Ir one of your late correspondents had good reason for thinking enough had
been written on the subject of planting pears, it would become me to shrink from
a compliance with the requests that are made to embody my observations on the
subject, their treatment, the best varieties, and the adaptation of the quince or
pear stocks to our varying climate. I claim nothing more for my observations
than the experience of a ten years' residence on a fruit farm, witli a pear orchard
of a thousand trees, embracing one hundred varieties — objects of special interest
to me.

In the science of pear culture in this country, the rubbish is just cleared away,
and the foundations firmly laid, while the noble edifice to be erected on its walls
is to be the work of the laborers now in the field of observation, and those who
can bring contributions of experience, with one item of truth after another, till,
in time, an edifice will be erected of such towering height and importance, as no
other country than ours with its brilliant skies and clear atmosphere, can witness.

My observations will tend to contrast the comparative success of experiments
with dwarf trees on the quince and those on their native stocks, and may be
regarded by some as disparaging to the former. The glowing picture of Mr.
Rivers' orchard of dwarf trees, drawn by the lamented Downing, was not without
its influence in leading me to regard that as the mode of culture, which, while it
marked the progress of the age in horticulture, was destined to supersede in a
great measure, the growing of pears on their own stocks.

Viewing the subject through such a medium, it is no marvel! I embarked ex-
tensively in the growing of pears on the quince. With some varieties I have been
eminently successful. The crop during the past season has not only been grati-
fying to my pride as an orchardist, but has proved eminently remunerative ; indeed,
the facts will warrant the remark, no crop grown upon the farm has paid so well,
in view of the labor bestowed, as a crop of Duchesse D'Angouleme, on the quince.
Both the largest of this variety, and of the Bartlett, have been upon the quince.
At one time there was counted upon the mantle, in the fruit-room, twenty-five
that weighed a pound and upwards, each — specimens, it is true, that had been
selected from their fellows on account of their size.

The sight of a hundred trees, closely planted in rows, about twenty in a row —
each tree resembling its fellow in size and form, and each sustaining as much of a
crop as it could prudently be trusted with ; the eye here and there lighting upon
a specimen with its blushing cheek turned towards the sun, and the whole, when
gathered, yielding over twenty bushels — was an argument in favor of dwarf trees,
the force of which the most incredulous could not well withstand. But, turning
from it to the Onondaga, and contrasting the thrifty, vigorous growth of

CULTIVATION OF TUE PEAB-TREE.

excellent variety on its own stock, its boiiji^hs loaded with all the fruit it could
comfortably bear,- with nut a few sickly starveliiijc specimens on the quince, with only
here and there a solitary pear, and a very dillerent opinion miglit be formed of
the success of the pear on the quince.

My trees on both pear and quince wore planted at the same time, received
equal care in plantinjr, stand upon the same plat of ground, and occujiy alternate
rows. The space between the trees has enjoyed as equal culture as possible. As
regards their annual pruning, though not as rigidly performed, especially in the
earlier years as I now could wish, and, with my present views I would now give
them, still the eye of the amateur will not detect any great departure from the
most approved method, or if he recognizes early errors, will perceive they have
been measurably remedied in later years. I am satisfied that no one, during the
earlier years of his experience, ever prunes with a sufliciently rigid hand; this is a
faculty acquired only by long years of experience. Well do I remember turning
my back upon an experienced cultivator while he was giving me my first practical
lessons; the conviction was overwhelming that there was a needless, profligate
waste of those fondly watched towering shoots. Notwithstanding all the instruc-
tions that have been given, and the necessity of their being observed if we would
have good fruit, I venture the remark that it is the last advice that is heeded by
the inexperienced, who forget that the wood and fruit force are antagonistic prin-
ciples.

Experience has taught me that ray best crops have been obtained where the
system of pruning was so close as to leave but three or four buds of the previous
summer's grovrth. The past season, an entire row of dwarf trees showed a second
crop of blossoms, when the fruit set was about the size of a walnut. Such a
phenomenon evidently obtains when nature feels herself thwarted in having suf-
fered the loss of a large proportion of the fruit-buds from the knife of the pruner ;
the crop that she has started and is carrying forward to maturity being inade-
quate to enable nature to expend upon it her accumulated fruit force. The same
thing may be observed where an accident has befallen the tree in the loss of some
of its main branches, or a violent storm has robbed it of a greater part of its
crop of fruit.

As this occurs in my grounds to the prolific varieties only, and those on the
quince, it suggests the thought whether the knife is not too vigorously used, and
whether it might not be a better practice to thin the crop when half advanced,
when we can pluck the illy-formed and stung fruit at a time so late as to forbid
nature expending her energies at the expense of the already well-formed and
half-grown fruit.

Your v.estern readers will understand our difficulties when I contrast their
fertile soil with my own. The plat of ground selected for my pear orchard is at
the base of a mound known to be occupied in 16G6, so that it is literally true that
for nearly two hundred years the land has been yielding up its inorganic elements;
and thus it is with most of the soil devoted to the pear on the whole Atlantic

CULTIVATION OF THE PEAR-TREE. 65

slope. But though the labor demanded in this branch of industry is greater, the
question is a pertinent one, Whether that labor does not have its reward in richer
and more highly flavored fruit than the "West can grow. Some facts that have
come to my knowledge, though few, seem to me to look in that direction.

^[y farm vras literally and emphatically a v/orn-out one, but having a rolling
surface, with a soil of gravelly loam, the decomposed sandstone of New Jersey,
and a like subsoil with such a proportion of shale as to give it the requisite poro-
sity for producing rich fruit, I commenced deepening the soil by the use of the
subsoil plough, and manuring with common barnyard manure. This accom-
plished, and one crop taken from the field, the holes were dug of sufficient depth
and width, that, when properly filled, the tree would stand about as deep in the
soil as it stood in the nursery row. No one thing have I been more anxious to
secure than sufficient depth of hole, filling it a foot or more with sods, and
spreading over these pulverized surface soil to give an even surface ; spreading
the roots on this, adjusting even the little rootlets, so that they will readily come
in contact with the nutriment given them, always taking the precaution to have
those rootlets covered lightly with fine pulverized loam, rather than the stimulat-
ing compost appropriate for the filling up.

And on the composition of this for our greedy soils depends very much of our
future success. No composition has given me such satisfaction in its lasting
influence on vegetation as one of muck pulverized by the frosts of winter, mixed
in the spring with lime or ashes, bone-dust, and charcoal charged with urine or
fresh poudrette. When all of these, or such of them as one can command, tho-
roughly mixed through the summer and fall with barnyard or stable-manure, are
thoroughly commingled with equal quantities of good loam, you have a manure
rich enough in inorganic elements, if not to merit a premium, to give you fruit
that will universally be acknowledged to be deserving of it.

Properly filling the hole with this and the surface soil, the work is done, except
keeping the ground free from weeds in the summer, and the soil between the trees
occasionally stirred and loosened, as demanded in the cultivation of a potato crop.
My favorite practice is to mulch with straw or refuse hay, believing that it serves
to manure the soil independent of its decomposition, possibly by absorbing and
retaining ammonia and other gases that play such an important part in the vege-
tative process.

The depth of hole which was diminished by the foot of sods to underlie the
trc!', will be a life insurer to the tree, during the severest drought. The mulch,
however, will be a guarantee, if such be needed, that death from this cause will
not overtake it.

(to be coxtixued.)

[Dr. Ward is welcome to our pages. lie has a right to be heard, having
undertaken for pears (and other fruits) what Dr. Underhill has successfully carried
out in grapes, the supply of a great want to the New Yorkers. He will open the

A DAY AT KEW GARDENS.

suliject of the diffL'reuce between the value of the dwarf and the standard pear-
tree, whicli it is well to discuss, now that so many years have elapsed since the
experiment was commenced. We shall be glad to receive the doctor's continua-
tion.

With regard to manure for orchards of all kinds, it will probably be found that
"street dirt" contains the elements necessary to success; where it can be i)rocurcd
without a long pull, it will be cheap. — Ed.]

A DAY AT KEW GARDENS, LONDON.
No. II.

BY THE EDITOR.

We must move on ; fatigue it will not do yet to listen to ; we shall probably
never have such another opportunity. As yet we have scarcely begun to see and
hear.

Sir William evidently enjoyed with a high zest any discoveries which led to the
detection of imposture. Such is the Eci-elenta of the shops, advertised all over
London, which is nothing but a Hour or meal prepared from the seed of lentils ^ or
beans, to which the fabricators give a strangely corrupted name ; and in order to
carry the deception further, the advertisements exhibit a tropical scene of lusty
negroes cutting down palm-trees amid Hindoo temples, for the preparation of
lentil-meal from a humble vetch! They use the seed of Ervum lens, and the good
English women have been giving it as the most wholesome dish to their children,
till it was found out and exposed. — Here is Shola, the very soft pithy wood of
Jj^schynomene aspera, of which those Sincapore hats are made. Used for a
variety of purposes, where softness and lightness are required ; floats for fishing-
nets, &c. — Divi divi; the pods are most powerful astringents and rich in tannin ;
3,000 tons are annually imported ; the plant is Ca^salpina coriaria. — The order
Rosacese, Rose family, of which roses are the type, including a large proportion
of our esculent fruits; you see the various products either in reality or wax models
of great beauty. From the kernels of the West India cherry, Cerasus occiden-
talis, Noyeau is prepared. — There is Henna, leaves, powder, and fruit of Law-
sonia inermis, used in the East for dyeing the finger nails. — Sir William smiles as
he shows the piles of tobacco and bundles of cigars of all possible shajjcs and
sizes, probably at the universal weakness of mankind ; but he tells you that the
English imports of all products of tobacco exceed 40,000,000 lbs. annually, and
produce a revenue of twenty millions! of dollars. — Here is your American Poke-
Weed, Phytolacca decandra, the root used in medicine, and the berries for sta
wine, which is sent you of such good colors! from your own weed gro

A DAY AT KEW GARDENS.

Europe for this purpose. — Here is Cassava bread; Tapioca; Castor oil; Croton
oil, &c. &c., all going to show how much we are indebted to vegetables. — Nettles,
worthless as they are proverbially considered, yield a useful fibre, and some are
neither unwholesome nor unpleasant food. — Milk of the Cow-tree, used by the
natives of Venezuela, and given to the children as we do cow's-milk. — Fruit and
bark of the Upas tree, and concrete juice of the same ; inhabiting the malarious
regions of Java, this tree has a worse name than it deserves. — Jack; the gigantic
fruit of Artocarpus integrifolia ; the largest edible fruit that is brought to table;
some have been known to weigh 80 lbs. ; the odor is disagreeable, but the fruit
good. — Those are shirts made out of the bark of two sorts of Tururi, one an

Artocarpea, the other a Fig, from the Amazon All the products of the Willow,

plaiting, baskets, &c. &c. — Refuse Tan, from oak bark ; made into cakes for fuel
in Britanny. — Galls of various kinds from oaks ; among them the large Mecca or
Bussorah galls, called also Apples of Sodom, Dead Sea Apples; used in the East
for dyeing, and more esteemed than the common nutgalls which are occasioned by
the puncture of the Cynips gallae tinctorite on the Quercus infectoria. When on
the trees, the Mecca galls formed by the Cynips insana on the same oak, are of a
rich purple, and varnished over with a soft substance of the consistence of honey,
shining with a most brilliant lustre in the sun, which makes them appear like a
most delicious and tempting fruit. They are very astringent and scarcely bitter.
The far-famed Mad-apples, Mala insana, or Apples of Sodom, Poma Sodomitia
of Josephus aud other writers ; "the fruit which never comes to ripeness" of the
Book of Wisdom,

" Which grew
Near to the bituminous lake where Sodom flamed,"

and which, though beautiful to the eye, yet crumbles at the touch to dust and
bitter ashes ; it was supposed by some to be the egg-plant of our gardens, by others
to be a species of cotton tree, but by Lambert to be the galls here noticed. — You
see there candles made from a tallow or oil from acorns in New Grenada (may
they give liffld to Kinney and Walker). — Of the coniferse we cannot enter into an
enumeration; the magnificent collection of Pine-cones occupying a large table-
cabinet are of great value to nurserymen and planters, who compare them with
cones they receive from abroad, and thus ascertain their proper names. The spe-
cimens of the cones of Auracarias and Dammars of the southern hemisphere are
particularly valuable. Nor can we enter upon the products of the order Palma-
cece, or Palm family; their several uses would require a volume to describe —

" The Indian nut alone
Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and pan,
Boat, cable, sail and needle, all in one."

They yield timber, fil)re of every variety, oil, wax, starch, sugar, daily food, mild
I and intoxicating drink; it is rather difficult to say what they do not yield; the
collection is wonderful, and if not complete, additions are constantly receiv

GARDEN WHEELBARROW.

The Screw Pine family, many of whose remarkable plants are natives of muddy
shores of tropical rivers, have aerial roots, which descend like buttresses, and pre-
vent their beinp: washed away by the currents. The leaves, as may be here seen,
arc manufactured into ropes, hats, &c. — Here is a basket made from Typha cle-
phantina, which is probably the "bulrush" of Scripture, of which the basket was
nnide for the infant Moses, and such arc still in common use in Eastern coun-
tries.— This room contains the Cerealia and their products; let us pass it for fear
of detention ! only looking at some flour buried by Captain Beechy in 1824 for the
use of Sir John Franklin, which when due; up in 1849, proved perfectly sound. —
You see there the peats, condensed without pressure, and these having the charac-
ter of coal, jet, Szc, are capable of being turned into inkstands and door-handles,
&c. — You arc horticulturally inclined and therefore a tnvimer; in that case is
contained samples of wood cut through, showing the effects of injudicious pruning,
and the various injuries and decays consequent thereon. A most important study,
indeed. Don't look at the wasps' nests and such matters, we must get to the
plants; and the Director led us to another and even greater treat, our English
lady still brisk and determined to see all. "We soon discovered that she was alive
to all that was said, and understood the rapid information so freely imparted ; we
must say she was " a good specimen," and above the average of English ladies
for intelligence on these topics.

Before we proceed to the gardens and hothouses, it may be interesting to state
the gradual increase of visitors since these gardens were daily thrown open to the
use of the public. In 1841, the number admitted was 9,114; in 1845, 28,139;
in 1850, 179,627, and in 1854, more than 400,000! The place is now the best
of its kind in the world, and probably will so continue. The Crystal Palace at
Sydenham may have drawn away some of its numerous visitors, but it must
always remain, from its multiplicity of objects, the great school of Botany.

(to be continued.)

GARDEN WHEELBARROW. — THE WHIMSIE.

Tnis barrow, although light and simple in its construction, is composed of
eight different parts, which may be used as a whole or separately. We translate
from the Revue Horticole.

These parts are: 1st, a tilting or self-unloading barrow (d bascule) ; 2d, a hand-
barrow ; 3d, a roller for settling the earth of platbanks and seedbeds; 4th, a
plough for scraping walks; 5th, a rake; 6th, a watering-pot; 7th, a single ladder;
8th, a double ladder.

e garden barrow may be used for carting earth, sand, bundles of straw or

r^^

?9^:

:S5^^^>

GARDEN WHEELBARROW.

69

II'

hay, fagots, etc. ; it is intended for watering, settling, and raidirg wallas, rolling the
platbanks or seedbeds so as to level the earth; it can also serve in the gathering
of fruits, the pruning of trees, and, lastl}', in the building of pale-fence.

The roller which acts as the wheel of this barrow prevents its being so readily
overturned as the ordinary one, and is much less fatiguing to the workman, inas-
mnch as it merely requires to be pushed or drawn, keeping itself in equilibrium.
It possesses another advantage; namely, the roller makes no rents in the garden,
but, on the contrary, settles and levels the walks and sod.

The barrow is arranged in such a manner that nine-tenths of the weight bears
upon the roller, so that a loaded barrow can be easily managed by a child of
twelve years of age. The barrow is readily unloaded, by simply tilting it.

By the removal of a single bolt, the upper portion, or body, is removed, and
the handbarrow remains.

The plough, or scraper, serves as the foot of the handbarrow. This plough,
of which the coulter has an oblique direction, is easily managed and admirably
adapted to cutting roots ; the rake which follows is of iron, and collects the large
weeds, which can be thrown into the barrow.

The plough and rake can be readily removed ; to effect this, it is only necessary
to take out a bolt and two keys.

This part, as well as the body, being removed, there remains the handbarrow,
which, when half opened, forms a double ladder, the separation of which is limited
by a brass rod ; if entirely opened, it presents a single ladder, solid and light, and
of four or more mHres* in length.

The following description more clearly explains the details of this useful addi-
tion to the implements of the gardener. The figures are on a scale of 0.05 for
1 metre : —

A. Roller whicli serves as the wheel
of the barrow.

B. Axle of the roUei

C. The tilting body.

D. Axle of this body.

E. A line indicating the position of
this body when it is tilted in
order to unload it.

FF. Frame of the barrow, forming

a handbarrow when the body is

removed, and ladders when the

plough is taken off.
G. Bolt connecting the two parts of the machine.
HII. Iron points for holding the ladders firmly in the ground.
I. Handles of the barrow.
J. The levelling plough (Fig. 3).

Fig. 1. — General aspect of the barbow.

A mhtre is equal to 1.093633 yard. — Trans.

K. Mnrtisos for fastciiinE; the plough by means of keyg. Tliese mortises are pierced with
SfVtT.il liolfs so as to decrease or augment the length of the coulter of the plough.

/„ Rake (Fig. 3).

J/. Bolt which fastnns the rake.

N. Screw-bolts which connect the plough with
the rake.

0. Watering-pot placed underneath the bar-
row, and which can be closed at pleasure
by means of a valve.

R, Rods moving in the frame, and serving,
by means of a key which traverses them,
to fasten together the two parts of the frame
which constitute the double ladder. These
rods will likewise keej:! the ladder at a pro-
per distance from the wall, so as not to injure
the trees.

P. Rod which limits the separation of the
double ladder. (For the other letters of this
figure, see description of Fig. 1.)

Fig. 2. — Double laddek.

K

M

Fig. 4. — Side view of
the scraper a>d

RAKE.

— r K M

Fig. 3. — Single ladder.

//. Tlie handles which serve as a resting point for the ladder when

open.
QQ. Iron plate which keeps the roller clear of dirt. "Wlien the single

ladder is used the roller is beneath.
RR. Ends of the rods which protect the trees when the ladder is

applied against a wall. (For the other letters of this figure, see

description of Fig. 1.)
N J. Screw-bolts which fasten the scraper to the rake. (For the other

letters of this figure, see Fig. 1.)

The above implement will be fonnd of immense advantage to the owners of

parks and large gardens. Its construction is not expensive, as it may readily be

made for from $15 to $20. Its various component parts, if purchased separately,

would cost from §30 to $40.

ROTTEE.

Growth of Western Towns. — Tlie village of La Crosse, "Wis., the terminus
of the La Crosse and Milwaukie Railroad, was laid out only four years ago, and
is now said to contain two thousand houses. It supports a newspaper, and enjoys
the frequent visits of some thirty different steamboats.

(^Ir^:

ROOTS,

ROOTS,

The root is the organ througli which food is conveyed from the earth into the
plant, and is the part which is soonest developed, increasing in length by the
addition of new matter at its point, much as an icicle by the constant superposi-
tion of layer over layer, with this difference, that the icicle is augmented by the
addition of matter from without, while the root lengthens by the perpetual crea-
tion of new matter from within. Being furnished with the power of perpetually
adding new living matter to their points, they are thus enabled to pierce the solid
earth in which they grow, shifting their mouths in
search of fresh pasturage; hence the expression,
" You may feed your trees as well as your chick-
ens." A Populus monilifera, Canadian poplar, has
been known to send a root thirty feet horizontally,
including its dip beneath a wall, and then to have
passed into an old deep well to the depth of eighteen
feet. A deciduous cypress-root, eleven feet long,
passed nearly to that length without division, in
search of water. Willows exhibit even greater de-
sire to travel in search of nourishment.

It is not merely in length that the root increases,
or else all roots would be mere threads ; they also
augment in diameter, simultaneously with the stem.
Neither is it by an embryo alone that roots are
formed. A plant once in a state of growth, has
the power of producing roots from various parts,
especially from leaves and stems. A Spanish chest-
nut, between ninety and one hundred years old, was
cut down in 1849. With the exception of its foliage,
which always had a yellowish sickly tinge, there was
scarcely anything else that indicated decay. Its
trunk seemed perfectly sound, with healthy annual
shoots, No sooner had the workmen commenced
cutting, than it was discovered that for ten feet
high, as much as two-thirds of the bark round the
trunk was dead and reduced to a mere shell. On
removing this thin covering, the sap-wood was found
to have become a mass of decayed vegetable matter,
through which a complete network of roots passed to
the ground, as represented in the cut, and extended Fig. 1.

W'' \

-s^^

themselves for a considerable distance from the main stem ; some of these roots
were about the size of an ordinary walking-stick. Cases of remarkable roots
are fauiiliar to oljscrvers.

An I'ltisfia bicolor happened to have its leaves injured l)y an accident, wliich
cut the niidril) and a jiortion of leaf on Ijoth sides of it; after a certain time,
the wound healed, the part next the base of the loaf remainint,^ the
same thickness as before the injury, while the edge of the outer portion
gradually thickened, and developed a small bud close to the midrib,
Fig. 2, from which a number of minute fibrous roots issued, and
eventually a stem and leaves, as represented in the sketch. As the
plant increased, the old leaf gradually became exhausted, and perished
altogether as soon as the young leaves gained the ascendency and de-
prived it of the scanty means that had previously supported it. Simi-
lar instances are familiar, not the least
interesting of which is that of a broken
celery-leaf, which sent out roots from
the lowermost of its wounded edges.

In general, roots have no buds, and
are, therefore, incapable of multiplying
the plant to which they belong. But
it constantly occurs. In some species,
that they have the power of forming
what are called adventitious buds; and,
in such cases, they may be employed
for purposes of propagation. Tliere is
no rule by which the power of a plant
to generate such buds can be judged
of; experiment is, therefore, nccessarj',
in all cases to determine the point.
Exceptions are found in the Moutan peony, in the plum-tree, or the Pyrus
(Cydonia) japonica, which may be increased with great facility by small bits of
the roots being inserted in a shady border, and covered with a hand-glass ; but in
none of them does the power reside in the same degree as in the Japan Ane-
mone. If a root be taken after flowering, it will be found to resemble brown
cord, divided into a great number of ramifications, as represented in the cut.
Upon its surface will be perceived a multitude of white conical projections, some-
times growing singly, sometimes in clusters, and occasionally producing scales
upon their sides. A magnified view of these bodies is shown in Fig. 3, a.
They are young buds, every one of which, if cut from the parent, will grow and
form a young plant in a few weeks, every fragment of the plant being pro-
ductive.

It is certain that vitality is stronger in the roots than in any other part of
Live roots have been found in land many years after the trunks to

downing's letters

they belonged had been de-
sti'oj^ed. Mr. Knight gives
some curious particulars in
his Physiological Papers,
pp. 83, 325.

It has been confidently
asserted that roots are the
organs by which plants rid
themselves of the secreted
matter which is either su-
perfluous or deleterious to
them. Correct experiments,
however, have shown that
such results are only ob-
tained when roots are lacer-
ated, and that they have no
greater power of excreting
matter than other parts of a
plant. The theory of root-
excretions was sustained by
Liebig, but it is now aban-
doned.— Pof. Lindley.

Fig. 3.

DOWNING'S FAMILIAR NOTES AND LETTERS.

No. II.

A PUBLICATION in two quarto volumes of our own, entitled American Literary
and Historical Curiosities, had attracted Downing's attention, and he immediately
commenced with considerable success the new pursuit of autograph collector;
the next and the following letters contain playful allusions to this : —

HiGHLAin) Gaeden, June 15, 1847.

My Dear Friend : I am greatly your debtor for the two fine volumes you have
sent me. That on Medical Botany"^ is very respectable. The Antiquities is quite
a gem in its way, and has interested me a great deal — indeed, so much so that I
have got about putting together an autograph collection of my own, as I find, on
collecting the materials, that I have a very respectable stock to begin with.

Indeed, / se7id you in the true collector's style, some of my duplicates — em-
bracing autograph letters of Jeremy Bentham, Major Cartwright, General Mina,

* Carson's Medical Botany, wliicli was published in Philadelphia. — Ed.

Vol. YI.— Feb. 1856.

downinq's letters.

an nutoffrajih of liady Morp:an's, &c. As I know you are a collector, unci i)ro-
l)altl}- liavo not these good things, \nit them under your wing.

In return, send mc two or three of the best duplicates you can spare. I ima-
gine you can send mc easily one of Mary Ilowitt, and, possibly, of John Barlram
and Franklin. Washington is, I sui)pose, too scarce to be had. Am 1 not full
of the zeal of collectorshii)?

I will notice the Nodical Jiotani/ in my next number — in which, by the way,
you will sec an article entitled " Arboricultural Gossip," by /. /ay »S';rtiV^, that
will, I am sure, amuse yon — since I have made it from several of your late letters,
taking that on Arboretums as the basis, and one or two facts that you told me
verbally here last summer. It reads well, and to the point, and will raise the
credit of my Journal and benefit the public. Long live the editors !

Yours in haste, but sincerely,

A. J. D.

P. S. By the way, what a little cramped autograph of my own is in your quarto !
To J. Jay Smith, Esq.

The next letter which we shall copy is particularly characteristic, and contains
the allusion to being one of his " parish" with which we opened our editorial
career in the Horticulturist in July last.

Highland Garden, Aug. 5, 1847.

My Dear Friend: I have been absent from home for some days, and now have
the pleasure of sending you a bound coi)y of my Horticulturist. The "Hints to
Young Architects," I told ray }>ublisher to send you some time ago, and presume
it has reached you before this.

I was very much amused at your letter touching the autographs, which you
first thought you would bestow on me, but, upon sober second thought, deter-
mined not. Never mind ; I will bide my time. By and by, when you are look-
ing over your collection you will, I am sure, see something that you will lay aside
for me ; upon which (without waiting for the second thought), pray send it off at
once!

So you have undertaken a country place! Well, now you are one of my parish,
and there is no escape for you ; digging, and delving, and planting, and laying
out, ad infinitum. Depend upon it, it is about the only rational sort of creation
that poor humans can engage in, and provided you do it wisely (whicli few of us
do, indeed), you cannot fail to increase your ha])piness by it. In the mean time, if
any hints of ray poor brain can help you, call thera out I pray you.

Let rae know in your next in what direction is your new home — whether near
the Delaware, or the interior? I am curious about all.

The North River, which I chiefly confine my visits to this season, looks finely.
There is beauty enough to satisfy a reasonable man.

Sincerely your friend,

A. J. DOWNING
Jay Smith, Esq.

Highland Garden. (Without date.)
My Dear Friend: I have a very special favor to ask of you, and that in some

-, Esq. He is the best friend I

haste.

You remember paying a visit with me to —
have in the world ; well proved, and is one of the most perfect gentlemen, and
generous high-minded men living, one, indeed, of Nature's noblemen, as I may
most safely say.

He is just about sailing for Europe, with all his family, for a two years' tour,
and with Parhomania especially in his mind. There is no man of all my ac-
quaintance so thoroughly prepared to see and enjoy the finest English places.
Rare trees are his great hobby.

Now, apropos of all this, I have remembered the interesting accounts of Wind-
sor Park that you gave me in detail, and which you saw to so much advantage
through your friend, Mr. Jesse, who, if I remember rightly, is the Queen's Ranger.

If you feel at liberty to give Mr. ■ a letter recommending him to Mr.

Jesse's kind attentions, I know it would gratify him beyond anything that I could
possibly do, and it will, I assure you, lay me under lasting obligation. Mr.

has a very loyal spirit, and I think Mr. Jesse will have great satisfaction

in playing the Cicerone to so great an enjoyer of all that he has to show.

Now, as I know the reluctance of some persons to give letters, I beg you to
act frankly about this, and do not hesitate to decline at once, if you do not see
fit to give it. But I am inclined to hope, from your familiar intercourse with Mr.
Jesse, that the thing may be accomplished.

You see how frankly I come to you in the hour of need.

Sincerely yours,

A. J. DOWNING.
To J. Jay Smith, Esq.

Highland Gaeden, Dec. 29, 1847.

My Dear Friend : A happy new year to you ! I suppose you are full of plans
and projects of country life — for the imagination, I find, is more fertile in winter
than in summer, and we fancy a thousand little plans, half of which we are never
able to carry out.

I had a letter from a gentleman at the South lately, in which he desired to
know where he could get trees of that very fine species " so graphically described"
by J. J. S., of Philadelphia, in the Horticulturist (" arboricultural gossip"), the
AHrgilia lutea ? Perhaps some time hence you will give me some more notes and
measurements of your remarkable specimens.

I don't know whether the style of house you are building admits of grained
wood-work — like oak or black walnut — but if it does, I can tell you of an inven-
tion that pleases me, and that will, by its cheapness and efiect recommend itself to
Americans. This is a liquid wood stain, invented by a man in London, whose
address I have. You wash over wood-work made of common pine, and th
varnish it, and it has the efiect o[ fine old oah; that is to say, all the real gr

^z.

10

HUE STOCKWOOD GOLDEN UAMBRO' GRAPE.

tlic wood is preserved and shown, and the same tone of rolor is given that tlic
fine woods liave naturally. 1 have seen a small church lately where the wood-
work (including timber, ceiling, &c.) is all done in this way, and the effect is
admirable. The cost of the liquid for this church (seats 200) was twenty shillings 1

I am busy with "Downing's New Cottages and Villas," with interiors, fountains,
&c. Ilave you seen a copy of the colored edition of my Fruits, just published,
the plates done in Paris? It is, I think, very handsome. The price, $15, pre-
vents a poor author sending many gift copies! I received a letter from a gentle-
man in Germany near the Baltic last week, who has my work on Fruits — it has
got as far as that — and he considers it so superior to all that he has seen that he
wants to translate and publish it in German. It has been, on the whole, the most
popular gardener's book ever written. I am now correcting for the eighth edition.

I want you to do me a favoi*. When I was in riiiladelphia, I was so much

pleased with a little Italian song which Mrs. sang, that I bought a copy in

Chestnut Street, and now I want another for a friend. The name is "Benedetta

te sul Madre," and cost "two levies." "When it is convenient, if you will buy it

and send it me by mail, consider the money invested at 100 per cent., and oblige,

Very cordially, yours,

A. J. DOWNING.
To J. Jay Smith, Esq.

THE STOCKWOOD GOLDEN HAMBRO' GRAPE.

,CARCELY a season passes in wliich we have not something
new in the way of fruits ; but it rarely happens that
they possess anything more than novelty to recommend
them. The mass of new fruits puts ns in mind of that
host of rhymesters, who, having only a dreamy vision of
'^ Parnassus, never reach it, yet, nevertheless, fancy them-
selves poets. But as it rarely happens that we have
more than one good poet, or two at most, in a genera-
. ^ -/-/ - /.T-cjT • TV - tion, so, also, if we obtain one or two really good, endur-
l ^yvi^f!^ JDo iiew fruits in the same period, we may be thankful.

Within the last twenty years we have bad "Victoria," and many other sorts of
Hambro', all of which made a great noise in their day; but they were soon
forgotten, and men betook themselves to the old Black Hambro' again. The
variety which we have this week chosen for our subject is one which is not likely
to be so soon forgotten, bnt which, there can be no doubt, will be as enduring
as its parents, the old Black Hambro' and the White Sweet-water.

The Stockwood Golden Hambro' was raised from seed by Mr. Bushby, the
excellent gardener to S. Crawley, Esq., near Luton. It was not obtained by

THE STOCKWOOD GOLDEN HAMBRO' GRAPE.

chance, as many of these things are, but was the result of a careful process of
hybridization, which was pursued with the view of obtaining just such a result
as has been arrived at.
It was raised from the
Black Harnbro' impreg-
nated with the pollen of
the Wliiie Sweet-ivater.
There was only one flower
impregnated, and the ope-
ration was successful ; a
fine berry being produced,
which contained five seeds,
four of which vegetated.
Two of the plants were
thrown away; one was de-
stroyed by accident; and
the survivor is the variety
which we are enabled now
to introduce to our read-
ers. The growth of the
vine bears a stronger re-
semblance to the male pa-
rent than to the Hambro',
being short-jointed in the
wood ; but the foliage is
more similar to that of
the Hambro', being large,
five-lobed, and the veins
and footstalks tinged with
red. The bunches are
large, loose, branching,
and shouldered, varying
from six to nine inches in
length, and the footstalks
are short and stout. The
berries are large, and hang
loosely on the bunches, an

inch long, and seven-eighths of an inch wide, and of a uniform oval shape. The
berry-stalks are rather long, stout, and considerably warted. Skin thin and tender,
of a pale yellow color, but, when highly ripened, of a pale amber. Flesh delicate
and melting, very juicy, and remarkably rich, sugary, and vinous, leaving on the
palate a full and luscious flavor. Each berry contains from two to three seeds
ur figure is taken from a bunch kindly forwarded to us by Mr. Busby

THK LATTICK I'LANT.

although our space would not admit of a full representation, still there is suffi-
cient to show the character of this excellent new fruit, which is, without doubt,
" the best of all the white Grapes except the IVIuscats." — London Collage Gar-
dener.

THE LATTICE PLANT.

The new and curious aquatic plant from
Madagascar, called the Lattice Plant (Ouvi-
randra fenestralls), must be placed among
the most remarkable of our recent botanical
acquisitions. Its existence had been for
some time known to botanists through a few
dried leaves sent from Aladagascar bj' a tra-
veller, who was unable to transmit living
specimens of the curiosity he had discovered ;
and it was not until within the last few
months that this desirable object could be
attained, when several living plants were
brought over to England from the above-
mentioned country, by the Rev. Mr. Ellis, a
missionary. This gentleman shortly trans-
ferred the whole stock to Messrs. Veitch, of
the Exotic Nursery, King's-road, Chelsea,
by whose kind permission the accompanying
sketch was made from the specimens in their
possession. The plants under their hands
are thriving extremely well, and will be found
worthy of a visit from the curious in these
matters.

The interest of this plant lies in the extra-
ordinary structure of the leaves, which, un-
like those of any other known plant, are
made up of the ribs and cross-veins only;
the interstices, which in other leaves are
filled up with cellular tissue, being here left
almost entirely open, so as to give the leaf
the appearance of a piece of curious net or
lattice work, from which is derived its com-
mon name — the Lattice Plant.

That the beauty of this unique vegetable
curiosity may be thoroughly appreciated, it

i!i»W^ ^-v, „{)'&,

CD
>

1-3
>

O

c;

CO

•111 ''I < ' o.

THE RESIDENCE OF JOHN BARTRAM

must be seen growing in its natural situation — submersed in water, with every
motion of which the lace-like leaves take the most graceful, undulating curves.
The plants at Chelsea Nursery are placed in broad glass pans, v/hich allow the
structure and movement of the leaves to be perfectly visible by the light trans-
mitted through the sides. The temperature required is about T5 degrees.

As far as can be judged from so short an acquaintance with its habits, little
difficulty is to be anticipated in the cultivation of this plant, which will probably
be, ere long, as extensively distributed among the collections of this country as,
from its great interest and beauty, it fully deserves to be. — Illustrated News.

THE RESIDENCE OF JOHN BARTRAM;*

NOW IN THE CITY OF PHniADELPHIA.

The house, of which a picture is presented in the present number, may be said
to be the cradle of American botany ; from the proprietor emanater^ tue plants
and seeds which supplied the means and fostered the taste of what'''; /w constitutes
half of the older ornamental planting of England. It was finished«4n the year
It TO, and is still preserved with pious care by Colonel Eastwick, its present libe-
ral proprietor, and forms the most interesting shrine for a pilgrimage within our
borders.

Bartram was, perhaps, the first Anglo-American who established a Botanic
Garden for native plants as well as exotics, and who travelled for the discovery
and acquisition of novelties. At the then distance of about three miles from the
city, on the Schuylkill River, he built with his own hands, and laid out a garden
with a fine exposure, of about five acres, subsequently much increased, and from
'hence communicated, to the curious in Europe and elsewhere, his discoveries for
the benefit of science, commerce, and the useful arts. He travelled several thou-
sand miles in Florida and Carolina, bringing seeds and even plants on these labo-
rious journeys, being fortunately a good botanist for that day — Linnasus said the
best natural botanist known. He explored various northern points on the same
errands for pay that could have been the least part of his reward.

He was a man of modest and gentle manners, frank, cheerful, and of great good
nature ; a lover of justice, truth, and charity ; he was never known to have been
at enmity with any man. His religious creed may be collected from the inscrip-
tion by his own hand, in very conspicuous characters upon a stone which is shown
in the wall, as follows : —

" 'Tis God alone, Almighty Lord,

The Holy Oue, by me adored.

John Bartram, 1770."

* See Frontispiece.

TllK RESIDENCE OF JOHN BARTRAM.

This may sliow the simjilicity and sincerity of liis heart, which never harbored
nor pave coniilcnauce to dissinuilation.

Tlie simplicity of his style of life is well portrayed by one of his visitors, a
French gentleman named Hector St. John, who published an account of his visit;
he stayed with him a few days, and says: "Wc entered into a large hall where
there was a long table full of victuals; at the lowest part sat his negroes; his
hired men were next, then the family aud myself, and at the head, the venerable
father and his wife presided. Each reclined his head and said his prayers, divested
of the tedious cant of some, and of the ostentatious style of others." Astonished
by his knowledge, the visitor said: "Pray, ]\Ir. ]>artram, when did you imbibe
the first wish to cultivate the science of botany ? AVere you regularly bred to it?"
" I have never received any other education than barely reading and writing,"
was his rci)ly. The beauty of i)lants early attracted him, and he studied Latin
for three months, enough to understand Linnajus, and acquired himself a general
knowledge of every plant and tree to be found on our continent.

Peter Collinson, one of the most constant correspondents of Linnaeus, highly
distinguished as a naturalist in London, soon found out our natural botanist, and
their correspondence, rescued some years back from smoke and dust in an old loft
of the mansion, by Dr. W. Darlington, forms one of the most entertaining and
instructive volumes; Peter is constantly urging Bartram for seeds and plants and
tortoises; in short, for everything new; their intercourse is sometimes highly
amusing and quaint. Some dried plants Ijcing received iu London, Collinson
says : " I shall, at my first leisure, send thee their true botanical names, and shall
send thee more paper; but one quire a year will be sufficient." The instructions
sometimes run thus : " If thee observes any curious insects, beetles, butterflies,
&c., they are easily preserved, being pinned through the body to the inside of the
box. "When thee goes abroad, put a little box in thy pocket, and as thee meets
with them put them in, and then stick them in another box when thee comes
home. I want a tei-rapin or two. Put them in a box with earth, and they will
come safe. They will live a long while without food." Again : " In the course
of thy travels, or in digging the earth, or in thy quarries, possibly some sort of
figured stones may be found, mixed with earth, or stone and chalk. What use
the learned make of them, is, they are evidences of the Deluge!"

The amount of patronage to Bartram, never large, is gathered from the corre-
spondence : "I shall divide the seeds in proportion to ray three contributors;
Lord Petre is ten guineas; the Duke of Eichmond five, and* Philip Miller five.
Send more black walnuts, long walnuts, and both sorts of hickory, acorns of all
sorts, sweet gum, dogwood, red cedar-berries, allspice, sassafras. * * * Vir-
ginians are a very gentle, well-dressed people, and look, perhaps, more at a man's
outside than his inside. For these and other reasons, pray go very clean, neat,
and handsomely dressed to Yirginia. Never mind thy clothes : I will send more
oilier year." * * * "I have heard of thy house, and thy great art and

dustry in building it; it makes me long to see it and the builder." *

" Pray, look out sharp next year, and be beforehand with that saucy raccoon, that
I may see that pretty nest built in the bush ; and send the wasp, and a better
specimen of the clay-wasp; for the last wanted its head."

John to Peter sayeth : " I take thy advice about books very kindly, although
I love reading such dearly ; and I believe, if Solomon had loved women less, and
books more, he would have been a wiser and happier man than he was." * * *
"I sent Gordon a fine parcel of hollyberries, the getting of which had like to
have broke my bones. I was on the top of the tree, when the top that I had
hold of, and the branch I stood on, broke, and I fell to the ground. My little
son was not able to help me up; my pain was grievous; afterwards very sick ;
then in a wet sweat, in a dark thicket, no house near, and a very cold, sharp wind,
and above twenty miles to ride home."

A sensitive plant sent Collinson amuses all who saw it; he says: "Whilst the
Frenchman was ready to burst with laughing, I am ready to burst with desire for
root, seed, or specimen of the waggish Tipitvwitchet sensitive. If I have not a
specimen in thy next letter, never write me more. I wish it was in my power to
mortify thee as much. Pray look where grows nearest, some Azaleas, Kalmias,
and Rhododendrons." * * * Again: "0, Botany! delightfulest of all sci-
ences. There is no end to thy gratifications. I have sent Linmeus a specimen of
Tipitiivitchet sensitive; only to him would I spare such a jewel; he will be in
raptures." * * * LadyPetre sent over to Bartram the seed of a pear, which
was planted, and in 1163 it produced fine fruit; Bartram says: "I think abetter
is not in the world." The tree still exists near the old house, and annually its fruit
is one of the pleasant things to call up old reminiscences at our Horticultural
exhibitions. The same year he says to Collinson : "The variety of plants and
flowers in our southwestern continent, is beyond expression. Is it not, dear
Peter, the very palace garden of old Madam Flora? Oh! if I could but spend
six months on the Ohio, Mississippi, and Florida in health, I believe I could find
more curiosities than the English, French, and Spaniards have done in six score
years. But the Indians, instigated by the French, will not let us look at so much
as a plant or tree in this great British empire." The grafting of the pear on the
quince had already attracted the attention of the knowing ones. In 1763, Peter
writes : " What I am persuaded will prevent its dropping its fruit, if some quinces
were planted in the lower part of thy garden, near the spring, and graft them
with the pear — it meliorates the fruit. By long experience, all our pears are
grafted on quince stocks, and succeed better than on pear stocks with lis." =•= * *
" I am no stranger to the native bread of Carolina and Virginia. It is a Tuher
TerrcB, or earth fungus. I have it sent me, near as big as my head. In time of
want it is of great importance to the Indians. They call it 7'//f/i.yfZ!oe." * * *
" Tlie Stiiartia flowered for the first time at Kew, which is the paradise of our
world, where all plants are found, that money or interest can procure. When I
am tliere, I am transported with the novelty and variety, and don't know which
mire first or most."

EFFECTS OF MOUNLIUHT ON VEGETATION.

These few specimens, of a most interesting and curious correspondence, taken
almost at random, will serve to exhibit the character of the book, and to affuid
the visitor of the gardens reminiscences of its occupant, and of his occupations.
Yonnp men must remember that IJartram was self-educated, and that the present
times afl'oid a thousand facilities for accpiiring knowledge which were wanting to
liartrain; by his knowledge he was introduced to the friendship of the greatest
minds of his day; Logan, Franklin, Jelferson, Michaux, Dillcnius, Gironovius,
Sir Ilans Sloane, Solander, Philip Miller, Kalm, Fothergill, Catesby, &c. &c., all
sought his acquaintance or correspondence, and all sought to benefit him. The
whole story is to us the most interesting colonial reminiscence extant, and we
again and again congratulate the gardening world that Dr. Darlington was in-
trusted to complete a task that will for generations afford pleasure to thousands.

EFFECTS OF MOONLIGHT ON VEGETATION.

Professor Lindley, in his new edition of llie Tlteory and Practice of Jlorii-
cnliure, a work of the greatest merit, now greatly enlarged and assuming the size
of a bulky octavo, makes the following remarks on the effects of moonlight upon
vegetation : —

"As far as is yet known, solar light alone has the power of producing any
practical effect upon vegetation. That of the moon has, however, been shown to
be not without influence. That the moon has a great mechanical effect upon our
globe is undisputed. Of this, we need not say that the perpetually altcrnato
ebbing and flowing of the tide affords the most evident proof But, whilst the
effects of the moon are admitted to be extremely powerful in this respect, the
influence of her light, except as regards illumination, has been often considered
by scientific men as inappreciable ; and the proverbs to the contrary, current
among the unlearned, have been accordingly estimated as popular errors. It has,
however, been at last demonstrated that the moon's rays are very far from power-
less. We learn from a note by M. Zantedeschi {Comjytes Eendus, October, 1852),
that these rays do affect vegetation. This philosopher states that the influence,
physical, chemical, and physiological, of the moon's light, which has hitherto been
the object of so much research and speculation amongst scientific and agricultural
writers, has been recently investigated by him in consequence of his having had
occasion to give a historical summary of the works on the subject. In the course
of his inquiries he found it necessary to clear many doubtful points, in doing
which his attention was forcibly arrested by the movements exercised in mere
moonlight, under certain circumstances, by the organs of plants; and this led
him to make the w^hole subject a serious and profound study. His observations
were commenced in 1847, in the Botanic Garden at Venice; they were continued

in 1848 in the Botanic Garden at Florence, and at Padua in 1850, 1851, and
1852. In tlie whole series of his experiments, M. Zantedeschi always remarked
certain motions in plants having a delicate organization as soon as the}' were
brought under the influence of the lunar rays. In those experiments the rays
were always diffused, being neither concentrated by lens nor mirror. Such move-
ments could not be obtained by the action of heat, in whatever way thermal influ-
ences were applied. It was in vain to elevate or depress the temperature : in the
absence of moonlight the phenomena in question could not be elicited. The
plants on which M. Zantedeschi principally experimented were Mimosa ciliata.
Mimosa pudica, and Desmodium gyrans. He always took great care to deter-
mine exactly the position of the leafstalks and leaflets of the plants after they had
been exposed to the open air, and before they were directly illuminated by the
lunar rays. He thus avoided any causes of error which might have arisen from
the imperceptible motion of the air, or from a slight change of temperatui-e ; and
he satisfied himself fully that the effects observed did result entirely from the
action of the rays of light from the moon. Without entering into minute details,
it is sufficient to say that the results were ascertained when the temperature of the
air was 70° Fahr. ; and when Saussure's hygrometer indicated a medium state of
humidity. Under such conditions, the leafstalks of Mimosa ciliata were raised
half a centimetre, or about four-tenths of an inch; those of the Mimosa pudica
were raised one inch and two-tenths ; whilst the leaflets of Desmodium gyrans
exhibited distinct vibrations. It was thus demonstrated that moonlight has the
power, per se, of awakening the Sensitive Plant, and consequently that it pos-
sesses an influence of some kind on vegetation. It is true that the influence was
very feeble, compared with that of the sun ; but the action, such as it is, is left
beyond further question. This being so, the question remains ; what is the prac-
tical value of the fact ? It will immediately occur to the reader that possibly the
screens which are drawn down over hothouses at night, to prevent loss of heat
by radiation, may produce some unappreciated injury by cutting off the rays of
the moon, which Nature intended to fall upon plants as much as the rays of the
sun.

"Even artificial light is not wholly powerless. De Candolle succeeded in
making Crocuses expand by lamp-light, and Dr. Winn, of Truro, has suggested
that the oxyhydrogen lamp may be made subservient to horticulture in the long
dark days of winter. It does not, however, appear that this hypothesis rests
upon any experimental basis."

K^^^

■\VUK.N AND IK>^V TU I'LANT TREES.

WREN AND now TO PLANT TREES.

BY TVaLLIAM SAUNDERS, GERMANTOWN.
(concluded from page 555 of last volume.)

The imiiortance of air to the roots of plants, and tlic necessity for placing
them under its influence, has originated the oft-repeated advice, "Never set a
l)lant deeper than it was before removal." The maxim is worth repetition.
The colhar, or neck of a plant, that is, the point from whence the stem and roots
proceed in opposite directions, should be kept on a level with the surface. Tiie
natural growth of the roots of different trees will indicate the treatment they
should receive. The pine and fir tribes seldom strike deep roots; they should be
carefully spread out and slightly covered. Those that form strong perpendicular
roots, as oak, hickory, pear, &c., should be planted accordingly, without bending
or spreading any of the roots.

The most difficult to transplant are those which form fewest fibry, or small
roots; every care should, therefore, be taken with such; all jagged and bruised
ends cut smoothly across, to hasten the formation of young fibres. The roots are
similar to the branches — pruning increases the quantity of shoots. Hence the
more frequently a tree is removed, the less risk attends the operation.

In planting, care should be taken to imbed every root and fibre with soil; avoid
the injurious custom of swaying the plant about, or shaking it up and down, with
a view to settle the soil among the fibres. A portion of finely divided soil should
be thrown over the roots and carefully introduced by hand into all the crevices
formed by the roots. The plant will now be firm, and, unless large and heavy-
topped, will not require staking, which, unless closely watched, injures the bark,
and not unfrequently induces disease.

It is seldom necessary, at least with deciduous trees, to apply water at the time
of planting. There is much harm done to recently planted trees by the applica-
tion of what are termed " copious waterings." The soil, at planting seasons, is
generally moist enough for the preservation and growth of the roots, and any-
thing more is injurious rather than beneficial. Evergreens require different
management in this respect; they have an extensive leaf-surface to supply with
moisture ; and if the soil has been shaken away from the roots at removal, or
the season be dry, they should receive a thorough watering.

It is an old practice, and a very safe one, especially with large-sized trees, to
pour water into the holes until the soil is rendered to a mortar-like consistency;
the water carries the soil into every crevice, and imbeds every root. When pro-
perly managed in this way, a dry spell, during the latter end of July, will be found
a good time to remove large-sized evergreens, provided the roots are not exposed
for any length of time during the operation. Before being finally filled, the water
should be allowed to settle, and always fill the holes with reference to a sin

AN EXPERIMENT ^YITH THE OSAGE ORANGE.

greater or less, of course, according to tbe depth of fresh soil ; it is better that
the tree should stand slightly elevated, rather than appear lower than the sur-
rounding surface.

The summer treatment of ne\Yly-planted trees requires notice. It is well known
that after a continuation of dry weather, all crops, and trees of large size, are
checked in growth. When such results are visible upon well-rooted trees, it is
evident that recently planted ones must suffer a still greater check. To overcome
this difficulty, we must first get a supply of moisture in the soil, and then keep
it there. Preparing deep holes, and breaking up the subsoil, effect the former, and
stirring the surface, or mulching, the latter. It has been well proved that stirring
the soil, so as to insure a loose surface, is highly beneficial to all growing crops.
Air is admitted to act more perfectly upon the substances from which plants
derive their nourishment ; and, in dry weather, the escape of moisture is pre-
vented ; the loose soil acts as a mulching. "Where the surface is compact, the
sun's rays dry the ground to a greater depth than they do where it is loose.
When the particles of the soil are in close contact, the uppermost, parched by the
sun, extract humidity from those immediately under them ; and these again from
others still lower. On the contrary, when the surface is loose and well pulverized,
it may lose its moisture rapidly and become dry ; yet, from imperfect cohesion
with the inferior portion, the latter cannot readily communicate its moisture.
The loose surface soil having its pores filled with air, becomes an interposing
medium which protects the under stratum from the drying effects of the sun's
rays.

It is not only in dry weather that a compact surface is injurious. All the rain
which falls during summer is fully required for the growth of vegetation, and,
perhaps, would be found amply sufficient, provided the ground was properly
trenched and drained. But when the surface is compact, and haked into a hard
crust, the rains escape without penetrating to any useful depth into the soil. A
loose surface is, therefore, one of the most efficient preventives of evaporation,
and the simplest and cheapest kind of mulching that can be used.

AN EXPERIMENT WITH THE OSAGE ORANGE.

BY J. E. ALEXANDER, WASHINGTON, OHIO.

The hedge value of the Osage Orange must be ascertained from actual experi-
ments. Believing that a collection and comparison of facts already discovered
would go far to settle the question, I will venture to add a modicum from my own
ience to what has been said in your practical and useful journal. One hu
and fifty yards of hedge were planted in double rows with the plant

AN EXPERIMENT WITU THE OSAGE ORANGE.

foot apart. Tliose were cut down durinjx tlie first three years, respectively, to
within six, eighteen, and thirty-six inches of the gruujid. When four years old,
the hedge was seven feet high, beautiful and impassable, except for small pigs,
«tc. It was now manifest that, even if I had cut down more severely, it woidd
not have been sufiiciently close at the bottom; because the cutting produced shunts
too few and too uprif/Jit to close the fence. A heavy trimming made a few ram-
pant upright shoots. This, in rich soil, is commonly the great difficulty. The
few horizontal branches are deprived of vigor and vitality by the rapid growth of
these leaders.

Instead of despairing of success, armed with stout gloves and a fine-toothcd
saw, I cut one hundred yards down to stumps only four inches high. When the
first crop of shoots had started and grown three inches, I commenced " the pinch-
ing process," by nipping their tender tips with the thumb and fingers. This
stayed their progress until they could branch again, and it had a twofold efi'ect.
First, it formed a second tier of branches just where they were needed, and where
the old method could have formed them only after another season, by cutting away
almost a whole year's growth. Second, it threw back the sap, which would have
pushed up the rampant leaders, into the dormant buds on the stumps still nearer
the ground than those which first started and were nipped. These new shoots, in
coming up, had to spread somewhat horizontally. When they had grown about
the length at which the first ones were stopped, they too were nipped. By this
time (about two weeks from the first pinching), those shoots which were first
stopped were breaking thickly and beautifully into side branches, the leaders of
which were also pinched when they had grown about four inches, stopping them
until, in two weeks, they would branch and form the third tier, which the old
method would have got by cntting down after another year.

Thus, before the end of the season, notwithstanding these checks, the hedge
was again four feet high, presenting a wall of glossy foliage, and so thickly woven
throughout with twigs and thorns as to be impassable by the smallest domestic
animals. It is now two years old from the stumps, is seven feet high, and entirely
satisfactory.

It should be remarked that the pinching need not be continued longer than
until you have thickened your hedge to the height of about three feet. After
securing this prime object, it will require less attention, and you can trim and
shape it with knife and shears as you please.

Any one can, in this way, coinpel the Osage orange hedge to grow as thick at
the bottom as he pleases.

The advantages are — that you can begin as low as you please, make as many
shoots as you please, locate them where you please, and sena-e the resrdts of three
years in one season — I mean in getting the hedge thickly closed at the bottom.

Besides, the whole vigor of the roots and the whole growth of the plants
(except the trifling amount pinched off) are at once made subservient to perfect
ing the hedge. I may add that, in addition to saving and directing the whole

ON THE CULTURE OF THE GESNERIA SELLOTVII AND BULBOSA.

growth aright, the pinching is much less injurious than the heavy lopping of
shoots two or three feet long, annually, for three years.

Nor can it be a valid objection that too much time and attention are requisite
during the one summer in which the pinching must be done. A careful considera-
tion of what has been said above, or at least actual experiment, will prove that
time and trouble have been saved.

The operator will be surprised at the speed and facility with which he can nil)
out the tender tops, compared with the time and toil of cutting the large, hard,
and thorny wood of a year's growth.

Even if hedges could not be treated so "by the mile," this will not diminish the
importance of the method to thousands of cultivators around our cities and vil-
lages, whose valuable products can be secured only by an impassable barrier of
thorns.

For such purposes, the Orange hedge is unrivalled. To the fruit garden it is a
body-guard of spearmen, ever ready to impale transgressors.

I do not say that hedges cannot be made thick and close by any other method,
but only that I have found this a certain method, and I think it the best.

I should add, that in treating a newly-planted hedge, I would allow it to grow
for due season to establish the roots. The next spring I would cut down to within
three inches of the ground, and then commence the pinching of young shoots, as
already described.

The extent to which the roots will exhaust the soil, being in proportion to the
height and breadth allowed to the hedge itself, is very much under our own con-
trol in trimming. You may also root-prune by a deep furrow, which will limit
the extension of the roots near the surface, and there will be uo trouble with
suckers.

OX THE CULTUIIB OF THE GESNERIA SELLOWII
AND BULBOSA.

BY EDGAR SANDERS, ALBANY, N. Y.

The two plants above mentioned may, perhaps, be considered too old, espe-
cially the last named, to require any writing about. However this may be, I
venture to send a few practical directions which may not, perhaps, be in vain, as
I do not remember to have met with any remarks on this fine stove i)lant, in the
published volumes of the HorticultnrUt. The Gesneria hulhosa is an old acquaint-
ance, having been known for many years, while the SeUowii is of comparative
recent introduction (183Y), altogether superior to the former, and I hesitate not
to set it down as one of the best plants that can be grown in the hothouse for

nter flowering. The principal difference in the two is, that in bulbosa, the
ers all spring from a common centre, while in Sellowii they spring

t).N THE CULTURE OF THE GESNERIA SELLOWII AND BUI-BOKA

Icnstlu'iied terminal rnccracs, in length somewhat in proportion to the health of
the shoot, so that tlie number of flowers, often three inches long on each stem, is
much greater in this than the old one. The leaves are also larger and more heart-
shaped; both are very downy, and when well grown, form not the least interesting
features in the plants.

Like many of our beautiful hothouse flora, they are natives of the southern part
of this hemisphere (IJrazil), and although introduced so many years, it is by no
means so common as its merits deserve. It is allied to G. faucialis.

CULTIVATIOX.

The principal feature in the growing of this kind of bulb in perfection is, the
giving them a distinct season of rest and growth, the former by entirely with-
holding water for a time. We have now plants not over three or four years old,
with as many as eighteen shoots finely breaking forth ; perhaps some of these may
not come to perfection, but it will be more from want of pot-room than inability
of the plant to carry them. They are more generally seen with from two to throe
stems only. By introducing them to the hothouse at different times, a succession
of plants is the result ; our earliest bulb has eight shoots, which are fast advancing
to flower.

About the first of September, we introduce the first, cutting off the old shoots
whctlier decayed or not; this is higjily important, or the shoots will start only one
or two at a time, the strongest taking the lead, and starving the remainder to
death. Give little if any water, till they begin to break, and as soon as they have
nicely started, shake away the old soil pretty clean, not injuring the roots, and
repot into the same sized pot. When the roots get well to the outside of the earth,
we give them the final shift, depending entirely upon the number of shoots the
plant is expected to perfect, as to the additional sized pot the same will require.
But it may l^e safely taken as a rule, that a plant with tliree shoots only, will have
room enough in one size larger; with six shoots, two will not Ijc too many, while
for twelve or eighteen, at least four sizes will not be too much. This kind of pot-
ting requires a cautious preparation of the soil as to its mechanical texture, or
there will be danger of the soil becoming sodden before the roots can fill it. But
with this care it is unquestionably the best mode, as the roots have then perfect
freedom without being disturbed by the process of repotting. "When out of
flower, and the beauty of the foliage is no object, they may be stood anywhere out
of the way, but should not be moved out of the stove till May, after which a
sunny place in the greenhouse or pits will do, watering them seldom. By
midsummer, lay them on their sides under the stage, selecting the earliest first —
the rest, a little while after; give no water till wanted to start again for winter.
They can be easily raised by cuttings, leaves, or seed. The soil should be light
and friable — two-thirds may be rotten leaves, or the soil from pine barrens ; one-
third turfy loam, and at least a sixth of the bulk white sand and fine pieces of
charcoal.

SOUTHERN APPLES.

BY H. R. ROBEY, FREDERICKSBURG, VA.

Mr. Editor: Having frequently been asked for a list of winter apples, adapted
to the Southern and Middle States, I herewith send you a list that may be relied
on; a part of them originated in Yirginia and North Carolina: —

Abeam. — Medium size, dull red stripe, peculiar, agreeable aromatic flavor, will keep till May,

a great bearer.
Bevekly's Red. — Rather large, red, very good.
Cart Hocse. — Medium, red, long keeper, fair quality.
BoxuM. — Large red, good bearer, one of the best.
Hewe's Crab. — Small, superior for winter cider, a great bearer.
Waugh's Crab. — Rather large, lively red, flesh very white, fine grained, makes a fine white

cider in January, in the spring it is one of the best eating apples, very juicy and sweet,

will keep till June.
Holady's Seedling. — Large, yellow and russet, flesh a little coarse, very tender and juicy,

a good keeper, one of the very best.
Rawle's Jaxettixg. — Large, stripe on a yellow ground, well known as rich and juicy, bears

and keeps well, and one of the best.
LiMBERTwiG. — Rather large, dull red, and yellow, a regular and good bearer when kept in

dry sand, to prevent shrivelling, until March; it is a rich, tender, juicy apple.
Leather Coat. — A great bearer, and keeper, quality fair.

Milam. — Red, rather a shy bearer, until the trees are fully grown, quality very good.
Ogilby. — Large, greenish yellow, quality very good, great bearer.
Brooke's Pippin. — Very large, yellow, flesh very tender and juicy, keeps well until spring,

great bearer ; the best.
Prior's Red. — Large, irregular stripe, spotted and russet, the best.
Long Island Russet. — Large, keeps pretty well.
Strawn's Seedling. — Large striped, good bearer, very good.
Bell Pree. — Large, greenish yellow, very good.

Albemarle, or Mountain Pippin. — Very large, greenish yellow, very tender and juicy.
C. C. "Wellford. — Rather small, handsome yellow, very tender, rich and juicy, will keep

till June ; the best.
Winter Queen. — Handsome stripe, good for early winter.
Vandervere. — Dull stripe, a great bearer, keeps well, very good.
Wine Sap. — Large, dark red, a good and early bearer, very good.

The Late Gale at the East. — A gentleman of Hartford, Conn., weighed a
branch of a tree that had been broken by the weight of ice upon it, and found
that it weighed eleven pounds. The ice was then melted off, and the branch
weighed only half a pound. This great proportion of ice accounts for the de
struction of trees and branches.

Vol. TI— Feb. 1856.

IRON YASES.

The manufacture of orna-
mental articles from Iron lias
arrived at great perfection in
riiiladelphia; particular atten-
tion is paid to this department
by Mr. Kobert Wood, on Ridge
Avenue, \vho has a most exten-
sive establishment, and artists
regularly employed in making
designs for iron railings, vases,
&c. One of the latter we have
obtained permission to copy as
every way suitable for a gar-
den, terrace, or other situation,
where such an article is want-
ed. From time to time we
shall give other designs from
this source, believing that they
supply an extensive want for
permanent ornamentation. The
base is also of iron.

Butter. — A lady in New Jersey, who supposes our knowledge more exten-
sive than it really is, asks bow to make butter come ? A good plan would be to
pack it up nicely and put it on the railroad ; it would be sure to come if

roperly directed.

^biter's ®aH:

The Vinegar Plant. — Tlie tint tlirown out in tlie December No. respecting this valuable
plant, attracted considerable attention. It appears that what was considered a strange
novelty, is known and employed by many persons in various parts of the Union ; the circum-
stance is an evidence of the necessity we all are under of being taught, and will serve to
show the utility of periodicals. Complaints were rife that good vinegar was not to be bought,
especially after a bad apple year ; notices of this substance occasionally struck us in English
publications ; and we remembered it at Kew, but what was it, and where was it ?

We applied first to the head-quarters of Science, but the oracle, much interested, however,
knew it not, but applied to others learned in that walk of botany ; the first reply declared
its faith small in the vinegar fungus. A second had no doubt it could be produced, but
practically knew nothing of its value. Then came several letters from various points of the
compass stating that the plant was in their neighborhood, but its practical use they could
not describe. " I tasted," says one, "part of a barrel made by the plant yesterday, and it was
certainly excellent ; it was made by an Englishman, and he says it is the same as is used in
England." Another says: "The plant can be obtained of * * * * Ann Street, New York."
Another correspondent says : " I knew nothing about the vinegar plant till a few months
past my wife procured one, and has ever since made her own vinegar with it, and the vinegar
is the best I have tasted for years."

Then came a letter from Naperville, Illinois, saying : " The vinegar plant you described on
page 570 (Dec. No.), Horticulturist, as ' exhibited at Kew Garden Museum,' we have and use.
Your description of the mode of making vinegar is much the same as ours, except that
we do not always use the yeast. It is the least expensive mode of making good, wholesome,
vinegar I know of. Most of the various kinds of patent vinegar are fit only to be ' cast out
and trodden under foot,' being pernicious to health.

" I would advise all who have not cider vinegar, to use the vinegar plant, or the following
receipt, in making their vinegar : To 16 gallons water put 16 pounds common brown sugar,
add 1 gallon molasses ; scald together, put into a cask, and when cooled to about blood-heat,
put in 1 pound bread-dough, raised by hop yeast ; place the cask in the sun or some other
warm place. In two or three months (according to the temperature), it will form as good
vinegar as that made from cider. Should you wish it, I will forward you, by exj)ress, some
of the plant ; but you can produce it as above. Respectfully yours,

" Lewis Ellsworth."

" In reply to your communication about the vinegar plant, first : It is curious and very
tender ; if frozen, turned over, or moved around, it -dies ; when dead, it sinks to the bottom
at once. Tlie value of it no family knows till they have had it. Money could not buy mine,
if I could get no more. ■ A family, with one plant, can always have plenty. As to economy,
the value of one pint of West India molasses, one gallon of water, six weeks of July weather,
or by a warm stove, and you have as fine vinegar as ever was placed on table. It improves
by standing, after the plant is taken off and the vinegar put into a keg. Tlie plant floats on
the top, and must not be disturbed after it is placed on the surface, and the same when
taken off from the mother plant. A small piece grows to cover the top of a bucket or
half an inch thick ; when the vinegar is perfect, it begins to sink ; it must then be removed

and a new preparation made ; you will find new leaves or folds on the under Hide, which must
be put on the now preparation. Youi-s very respectfully, II. II. Randall, New York."

Answers to Correspoxpexts. — (Grape-Vines.) 1. TVliat time should grape-vines be
trimmed ? 2. Wlien should the slips be set ? 3. And what time should young plants be
transplanted ? Augustcs Rice.

1. November is the best time to prune either native or foreign grape-vines. Plants absorb
much nutriment by their roots during winter. By pruning at this time the buds that are
retained have the benefit of the winter accumulation, and will, in consequence, grow more
vigorously.

2. Native varieties are propagated by cuttings ; collect these, when pruning, and cut them
in lengths, each having three eyes or buds. Prepare them by cutting ofi" close under the
lower bud, and about one inch above the upper. Bury them in dry soil, and plant them as
early as convenient in spring ; choose a sheltered spot, and press the soil well about them.

Tender sorts are generally raised from single eyes, with about an inch of wood to each.
They are planted in pots or shallow boxes, and placed in a hotbed, where there is slight
bottom heat. They root readily in this manner.

3. For several reasons, spring is the best season for transplanting in the Middle and
Northern States. Tlie roots should be carefully spread out, near the surface, and mulched
with rotted leaves or manure during the summer. Tliey should be pruned down to two
buds, and the weakest of these rubbed off, after they begin to grow. Plants in pots may
be set out at any time during spring or summer. One year old plants are preferred for
transplanting, either in the vineyard or grapery.

(J. J. Delchamps.) With regard to your persimmon-trees, we should be inclined to witness
such a fact before deciding. Your tamarind seeds came up "locust-trees" because none but
a botanist could distinguish the difference in the pinnated leaf. Wait till they bear, if they
ever do ; the tamarind is a tropical fruit.

Toronto, U. C, Tenton Cottage, Dec. 20, 1855.
To THE Editor of the " Horticulturist." Sir: Would you have the kindness to state, at
your earliest convenience, what may be considered the best twelve varieties of apples of the
following : 12 table (autumn sort) ; 12 table (winter sort) ; ditto pears, and oblige

Yours truly, J. D. Hcmphkeys.

Best Twelve Autumn Apples. — Autumn Pearmain, Clyde Beauty, Fall Pippin, Gravenstein,
Hawley, Jeflferis, Late Strawberry, Melon, Northern Sweet, Porter, Republican Pippin, Smoke
House.

Best Twelve Winter Apples. — Baldwin, Bailey Sweet, Esopiis Spitzenberg, Hubbardston
Nonsuch, Jonathan, Ladies' Sweeting, Monmouth Pippin, Northern Sjjy, Red Canada, Rhode
Island Greening, Swaar, Wagener.

Best Twelve Autumn Pears. — Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre Clairgeau, Brandywine, Chancellor,
Duchesse d'Angouleme, Doyenne Boussack, Flemish Beauty, Kiugsessing, Kirtland, Seckel,
Tyson, Urbanite.

Best Twelve Winter Pears. — BeuiTe d'Aremberg, Beurre Easter, Beurre Gris d'Hiver
Nouveau, Columbia, Cross, Doyenne d'Alengon, Glout Morceau, Lawrence, Passe Colmar,
Prince's St. Germain, Vicar of Winkfield, Winter Nelis.

In regard to " cooking pears," which our correspondent asks about, we would remark that
the finer table kinds are as suitable for culinary purposes as those that are good for nothing
else. Then why cultivate varieties for the kitchen that are worthless for other purposes ?
The Pound Pear, however, keeps so well we must recommend it for this purpose.

(S. Miller.) Your invention we sliall probably employ. The apples drawn h.ave been
described.

(Dr. C. Clark, Covington, Indiana.) Tlie committee on the Mathews curculio remedy will
probably never report, because they have nothing to say, as we understand it.

(A. N. Wyxie, Chesterville, S. C.) 1. All the family of junipers or cedars graft very readily
on each other. Tlie mode most usually employed is that called wedge-grafting. Evergreens
require more care under the operation than deciduous trees, and are operated on with the
use of glass, as, when fully exposed to the open air, they are with difficulty prevented from
drying up before a union takes place. In the open air, whip-grafting, with the end of the
scion stuck in a potato, sponge, bottle of water, or anything that would give out moisture,
would be the best mode of procedure. Half ripened wood must be employed for scions.

2. The Sequoia (Wellingtonia) gigantea and California cypress, can be had in the Phila-
delphia and Rochester nurseries, at about two dollars each — small plants of couree. Cupressus
sempervirens we have seen in Philadelphia nurseries ; it is not considered hardy enough for
northern nursei'ymen. Your promised favors will be very welcome.

(J. S., Lithgow.) — Dwarfing Apples. You will find much useful information in Barry'' s
Fruit Garden. All kinds of apples may be dwarfed on either the Paradise or Doucain
stocks — which are seldom raised in this country, but are for the most part imported from
France, where they are raised from seed.

We have a larger pear yet for the " Country Gentleman," which will go far to fill the barrel
in which he "bottles daylight!"

Saxonius will pardon us if we do not insert his little poem, which has merit ; but we are
crowded with matter of greater interest to our readers.

The Culture of the Grape, and Wine Making. — By Eobert Buchanan. We are not sur-
prised to see a sixth edition of this very valuable and interesting manual, from the Cincin-
nati press. It is exactly what its purchaser wants, is full of facts, and not a word too much
will be found in its pages. It is a highly creditable and extremely useful work, which should
be in the hands of all who have a grape-vine or a strawberry bed, the latter fruit being
treated of in a supplement. Mr. Buchanan's name is favorably and inseparably coimected
with the enterprise of grape-growing in the West.

J. J. Thomas will accept our thanks for a copy of his Annual Register of Rural Affairs,
published by Luther Tucker & Son, Albany. It is well done, and the best almanac for the
farmer, &c. The report of the New York Fruit Growers Society came too late.

Canada. — We have to acknowledge many favors in the way of subscriptions and good
opinions from Canada, where there evidently exists a large class of tasteful lovers of Horti-
culture. We should be pleased to hear from some of them respecting their gardening, and
other experiences.

Acknowledgments are due to several friends to whom private letters seemed more proper
than publicity, but there is one which deserves this kind of reply. Thaddeus Davids & Co.,
manufacturing stationers, New York, have forwarded us a year's supply of both black and
indelible inks, sealing-wax, and extra scarlet congress wafers, which are all of the best
quality, and are rendered more valuable by the graceful manner in which they were pre-
They close their note, and a famous subscription list, thus : " With our best
complete success of the Horticulturist, and the hope that you will soon be enabl

say that its suhsoription list is longer than any other monthly now puhlishfd, which, in our
opinion, it richly deserves; a single article has been of more value than ten times the cost."

A SMALL rosT, 4J f.'ct lonu', morticed and braced in a sill, is set 2 feet in the ground, at

each end of a row of raspberries, and a wire,

a about No. 6 in size, is drawn tight from one

IT \ / II ^ to the other along the bushes. The vines

are kept in their places by a small wire
loop, attached by both ends to the wire and encircling all the canes in one stool, or less, as
yon may fancy. This apparatus is less trouble, when once arranged, and lasts much longer
than the old method of putting a stick at each hill, and as it shows but little, of course looks
better. Subscribek.

West Towx, Ma^s. — Deak Sir: I should like to send you some of my seedling potatoes in
the spring. They are from the " cast(!r" variety. They are very productive — the parent
yielding more than two hundred and seventy-five, and the highest five hundred and eighty
bushels per acre, withoiit any manure, except plaster and ashes.

I have also some nine hundred to one thousand varieties from the boll, not yet perfected.

I will send you a good variety of choice squash seeds.

I have found out a sure preventive of crows and worms working on com and other
grain; also to keep otY bugs on vines, and it is sure cure; and last year I tried the same on
plum-trees, and kept oflf the black knots, and it works to a chann ; for, out of five plum-
trees, in a row, to the two middle ones I applied the wash, and they had not a knot on them,
and grew double what the others did, and the others were covered with black knots. I cannot
say that it will always do the same, as I have only tried it on trees one year. I have applied
for a patent. If generally used, it will add millions of bushels of grain to the yearly product.
Yours truly, and very respectfully, D. A. Bulkeley.

The Season of 1S55. — The extreme cold weather which prevailed in February of 1855,
was fraught with danger to all kinds of fruit-trees and vines. Fortunately, with us in
Western New York, the peach-tree and grape-vines were the only sufferers. The loss of the
peach is a calamity, for it seems a very necessary luxury, and is always considered a great
promoter of health. So, also, with the grape. Some few produced on vines, not exposed,
from the Catawba and Isabella, and instances of the Clinton, were had, but generally a
failure in the crop. While many of the peach-trees were killed (the old ones) the young
ones, from protection of the snow, escaped, which have made a wonderful growth — having a
promise of fruitfulness for 1856.

We look forward to large crops for the coming year. We can add that, we have never
known such a bountiful supply of first rate pears as 1855 produced. Wliite and gray
Doyenee, Stevens' Genesee, Seckel, Sheldon, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Duchesse d'Angouleme,
and splendid Duchesse of Orleans, we luxuriated upon. Our fruits matured finely, and had
all their characteristics of juice, flavor, and aroma.

Up to the 20th of November, the weather remained so mild that we had under our win-
dows that charming, fragrant plant, the Mignonette in perfect bloom. 'ITiis day, the 25th of
December, almost the first snow of the season has appeared.

We went to call on our mutual friends, Ellwanger & Barry, and they provided a sub-
stantial treat of winter pears, worthy of the day.

hope to not give offence if we mention, in this public manner, what a luxury we found
o be. A discussion is sure to arise amongst those who love fruit, especially when one

EDITOR'S TABLE,

can test their merits. Mr. Barry kindly went to their cellar and brought the "Winter Nelis,
Easter Beurre, Vicar of Winkfield, Beurre d'Aremherg, and St. Gennain.

I need not say they were all good, but the Easter Beurre bore the palm, in our humble
opinion. While partaking of their hospitality, I thought of what a service these gentlemen,
with others of the same profession in almost every portion of the States, had done our
country in the introduction of so many kinds of rare fruits amongst us.

The day was propitious for a walk, and although many of the trees were denuded of their
foliage, we could admire the beauty of their symmetry. It was a winter scene of beauty,
for the evergreen trees were hung with tapestry of snow. They partook of the day, and
were truly " Christmas trees." Ours was a happy day, such as we hope your readers all had.

Truly, James H. Watts.

Rochester, Dec. 25, 1855.

Manchester, Adams Co., OMo. Dear Sir : I planted a lot of dwarf pear-trees on the 11th
of April last, and one of them (a Beurre Diel) bore fine, good pears, all of which ripened
nicely. Have any of your correspondents a tree of present year's planting that can beat it ?

Yours with respect, John Ellison.

[It is not a very unusual circumstance for pear-trees, which have been carefully taken up
in spring, to produce the same year. We have on hand a few Easter Beurres raised under
these circumstances the past season. — Ed.]

Woodland Park, Springfield. Dear Sir : It is with great interest that I monthly peruse
your excellent' journal, T he Horticulturist ; it stands the highest of any horticultural work
in this country, and seems to me destined to have the largest number of subscribers of any
work of the kind.

Having been a subscriber of the journal for the last six years, have been glad to see it
prosper, and hope it may continue to give the information that is required at the present
day, on the subject of horticulture.

The cultivation of the pear has been my hobby for the last four years, and I have found
it a pleasant pastime — have not realized much from my orchard yet, but live in hopes. May
we not hope to see this delicious fruit abundant ere long, that all may partake of it ?

Yours very truly, D. Chauncey Bkewek.

Trees in Illinois. — J. T. Little, of North Dixon, Illinois, sends us a neat descriptive cata-
logue of his nursery trees and shrubs, bulbs, &c. The fruit department is very full, em-
bracing sixty thousand trees ; but of evergreens, one of the great wants of that State, four
varieties only are enumerated. Send at once, Mr. Little, to Livei-pool or Angers, and get
out some thousands. Dixon, we remember, as a most happy, thriving place.

For the Horticplturist. — W. R. Prince was right when, some time ago, he asserted in the
pages of the Horticulturist that the " tamarind was not growing in Virginia." His reason was
that it was "too tender to stand our mildest winters." Whether this is true or not, I am not
well enough acquainted with its habits to say ; but my son, Oliver Taylor, being in Win-
chester, some time since, on business, and being desirous of becoming acquainted with all
rare trees and shrubs, inquired for the Tamarind-tree, and was sliown a tree that they called
by that name, but which he immediately recognized as the Honey Locust (Sweet Locust,
Gleditchia Triacanthos of Michaux). They were loth to believe they had been mistaken,
but he was too well acquainted with the Honey Locust to be himself mistaken, while the
tripple thorns and pods were unmistakable evidence of the fact. Yardley Taylor.

Loudon County, Va.

M. Bo.vrLAxn, the celebrated fellow-traveller of Hnrnl)ol<U, is still living in Paraguay,
rearing the tea of that country, in the oighty-thinl year of his age, only a little youiiyer (/)
than his quondam friend.

The Dioscorea Batatas, &o. — From several quarters wo have favorable accounts of tliis
new yam, but sufficient time has not yet elapsed to pronounce authoritatively on its merits
for this country. At a late meeting of the London Horticultural Society, roots were exhibited,
and it was stated that small tubers answered better for increasing it than the little pea-like
buds formed every^vhere in the axils of the leaves. It was also mentioned that, as the thick
end of the root is that which penetrates the soil, and as it goes nearly straight down into the
earth, deep land is indispensable to its successful cultivation. We are ready to hear and
promulgate any experience that may have been had respecting this yam from our correspond-
ents. The following, from the Gardcner^s Chronicle^ contains allusion to this and other
interesting matters : —

"We have occasionally called attention to the introduction of the Chinese potato (Dios-
corea batatas) into this country and France ; the subject is now discussed at length in a book
published by Mr. Henderson, the well-known agriculturist. The plant, he says, is not liable
to disease, and yields twenty-four tons to the acre. It appears, too, that a highly nutritious
pea from China has been recently tried in France, and with marked success ; and the Chinese
sugar-cane is found to grow well in Belgium, and produce, as is estimated, 100 gallons of
cider to the acre, and a large amount of fibre fit for the manufacture of paper. The Geo-
graphical Society of Paris has given one of its medals to Monsieur Montigny, Consul at
Shanghae, as a reward for his having sent over the potato above mentioned, Tind some other
useful plants, and the oak silk-woi-m. Dr. Beauvoys informs the Societe d^ Acclimation at
Paris, that the vapor of tow, which has been soaked in a solution of nitre, is an excellent
means of stupefying bees, without injury, at the time of taking the honey. At a late meet-
ing of our Horticultural Society, stalks of Holcus saecharatus were exhibited which had been
grown in the royal gardens at Froganore ; a plant said ' to be grown in India for its grain,
and supposed by some likely to prove ultimately a substitute for the sugar-cane.' A bunch
of grapes was also exhibited from Earl de Grey's gardens in Bedfordshire — a kind known as
Black Barbarossa. It weighed four pounds, measured eighteen inches in length, and a foot
across the shoulder."

Botanical. — "Tlie tree is known by its fruits." An exception to tliis is the dog-wood,
wliich is known by its bark. — Punch.

Nebraska. — We are glad to welcome to our audience the names of several subscribers
from the new territory of Nebraska. Even amid the din of noisy men, the peaceful art of
horticulture finds its followers ; an evidence that everything is not swallowed up in political
discord.

Kew Gardens. — Tlie account of a visit to Kew Garden is continued in this number, and
will be concluded in the next ; its object will have been attained if it interests the reader to
reflect on the immense variety of products which the vegetable kingdom supplies, varying
no less in properties than appearance. We are lost in wonder at the marvellous nature ot
those processes, in which a difference, nndiscoverable by all our most refined means of
research, are productive of such a number of widely different results. And at the same
time, the reflecting mind cannot forget that these results are all of a kind most valuable to
man, furnishing him with the necessaries, the comforts, and the luxuries of life ; support in
health, medicine in disease, and the materials of great part of his clothing, his books, and

editor's table.

various articles which minister to his mental and moral improvement. Kew is a vast
miiseum, where the collected plants furnish opportunities of minute inspection from which
no thoughtful individual can retire without having his mind enlarged and elevated ; he will
rejoice, too, that such an opportunity is offered him, by the patronage of a wise government
affording not only the facilities to collect these wonders of nature, but with discrimination
to appoint to their care the best men of the century for such a paternal object.

Calendar foe February.
number.

-We ask attention to the Calendar of Operations in the present

The Season. — January with its severe weather, and thermometer so much below zero as
we observe has been the case in all directions, has doubtless made many horticulturists fear
for the future. Let us, however, hope.

TnoRBURN's Catalogue of Kitchen Garden Seeds for 1856, 15 Jolm Street, New York, is a
valuable list of seeds and other matters relating to gardens, which may be had by inclosing
a stamp.

Age op some Varieties op Fruits. — The pear Cuisse Madame is at least over three hundred
years old. The Bell pear of our orchards, and which is still a very popular variety, is a
seedling from this, or at least generally sui^posed to be ; and this is known to have been in
existence at least two hundred and fifty years ago. P.

Apples, Oranges, and Pears. — It is a fact, that should be known to fruit growers, that in the
fall of 1854, Havana oranges and good apples brought the same price in our market, by
the barrel. In 1855 oranges were half the price. We dare say many a farmer would go into
the business and try to learn how to succeed in it, if he were told he could grow fruit of the
value of the best oranges. Pears, though it was a good year for them the past season, were
worth much more, wholesale, than Havana oranges, and the market almost unsupplied. This
may astonish many, but it is nevertheless true, and we hope will encourage those who have
embarked in the business.

The American Agriculturist, published at New York, by Mr. Judd, for January, is an able
number. We think we recognize in the trip to Illinois, one of oui' fellow-travellers. The
Valley Farmer, of Louisville and Illinois, we read with pleasure.

The Illinois State Agricultural Report, a goodly and most valuable work, shall receive
attention in our next.

Mortality among Chestnut-Trees. — All the chestnut-trees throughout Rockingham County,
N. C, and the surrounding counties, have died this season.

Monstrous Yield. — David Smith, of Monroe County, Ga., says that he picked from a single
vine on his farm, the past season, one hundred and seventy-six ripe water-melons !

A Fruity Joke. — An amateur of music (who is also a wag) remarked, the other day, with
reference to some strawberries on the table, "that he (the wag) would enjoy a pottle of
strawberries all to himself, inasmuch as it would be a musical as well as a festive treat
it would in fact be a solo on the Hautboy." — Punch,

r.uAxiTK DrsT A Fertilizer. — A correspondent of the Washington JntfUigencer says:
*■ Whilo examining tlie granite quarries at Northbridge, Mass., a few days since, I had a
conversation with the workmen wlio were dressing out the stone, in reference to the dust
that they were rapping off with a Hat piece of board from the face of tlie stone tliey were
hammering. The dust is reduced in tlio liammering of the stone to an impalpable powder,
and will float in the air. I said to them that it would be well to try the vegetating powers
of this granite dust in a hill of corn. Tliey replied that it had been used in gardens and on
grass lands with great success, and that it was equal to the best manure. Tlie granite rocks
may be ground to an impalpable powder and used as a fertilizer. Feldspar, a component of
granite, yields potash, and may therefore be supposed to possess extraordinary fertilizing
power."

The DnooRA, or Indian Millet. — This plant bears a small kind of grain, much cultivated
and extensively consumed in India and Egypt, and the interior of Africa; it is quite equal
in nutritive value to the average of English wheats, and yields a beautiful white flour. Prof.
Johnson, recently deceased, analyzed it, and found that it contained 11^ per cent, of gluten.
Now, since gluten is the chief nutritive ingredient of all our grains, this comparison of the
professor exhibits, at once, a nutritive value for the Dhoora that surpasses some of the richest
grains in use for the food of man or stock.

Some of this grain has been raised this year by Major R. A. Griffin, of Abbeville, S. C,
and it has proven to be a valuable crop, as we leani by the Abbeville Banner. He planted
it some time in April, four feet in the row, and fifteen inches in the drill, depositing five or
six grains in a hill. He afterwards thinned down to one stalk, transplanting to hills that
were deficient. This thinning is necessary, from the strong tendency of the plant to sucker
and spread. The soil, such as would be selected for common com, should be properly pre-
pared and manured before planting ; the yield is from eighty to one hundred bushels per
acre.

Extending his experiments, recently, to the green stalk of the Dhoora, Major G. discovered
a cause of its being so much relished by stock, and its singular fattening effects, in addition
to the excellent qualities of its grain. He found, on chewing the stalk, which he perceived
was consumed in tliis way by the stock, that it was exceedingly rich in cane juice — but little
inferior to the sugar cane itself. — Scientific American.

Howard Daniels, Esq., architect of New York, has just returned from Europe with a port-
folio of drawings, and many useful and interesting facts regarding houses, gardens, &c.,
which may be advantageously adopted in this country. Mr. Daniels was much interested
in the ornamental effects now produced in domestic architecture, by the proper display of
lirickwork, and has many designs to exhibit the results in a great variety of forms. This
style is just coming into fashion, and may be seen in some recent examples in Philadelphia,
where a prodigious effect is produced by simple means united to good judgment and
taste.

A gentleman who spends his time and money in foreign lands studying their arts, as Mr.
Daniels has done, for the purpose of improving the taste of his countrymen, is entitled to as
much credit and notice as he who imports improved varieties of trees or fruits, or fine breeds
of animals, and more than the professional politicians who carry the day. Mr. Daniels is a
landscape gardener as well as architect, and his address is Broadway, New York.

The Impostor's Graft. — ^Mention is made by Pliny, of a tree in the garden of Lucullus, at
Tivoli, which is described in his Natural History, On the trunk of one tree he saw branches

which produced pears, others figs, apples, plums, olives, almonds, grapes, &c. ; but he adds,
that this wonderful tree did not live long.
Even at the present day, the gardeners of
Italy, especially of Genoa, Florence, and
Rome, sell plants of jasmines, roses, honey-
suckles, &c., all growing together from a
stock of orange, or myrtle, or pomegranate,
on which they say they are grafted. But
this is a deception, the fact being that the
stock has its centre bored out, so as to be
made into a hollow cylinder, tlirough
which the stems of jasmines and other
flexible plants are easily made to pass,
their roots intermingling with those of
the stock. After growing for a time, the
horizontal distension of the stems forces
them together, and they assume all the
appearance of being united. M. Thouin,
who calls this " The Impostor's Graft"
{Greffe des Charlatans), tells us that he
himself tried the operation with perfect
success upon both a linden and an ash
tree a foot in diameter. He contrived to
give both of them heads of plums, hazels,
wild and cultivated services, walnuts,
peaches, and vines, the branches of which
were thorouglily interlaced. Of one of
these he gives a figure, which is here re-
produced, and which perfectly illustrates
the system.

iortitultural Societies.

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. — Tlie regular stated meeting of this Association
was held on Tuesday evening, December 18, 1855, at Concert Hall, E. W. Keyser in the
chair.

Premiums were awarded by the Committee on Plants and Flowers : —
Collection of Twelve Plants — for the best, to Thomas Robertson, gr. to B. A. Fahnestock ;
for the second best, to Robert Buist. Specimen Plant — for the best, to Thomas Robertson ;
for the second best, to John Pollock, gr. to James Dundas. For New Plants — a premium of
two dollars for Balsamina Hookeri, to the same ; of three dollars for Thyrsicanthus rutilans,
Cytisus onospermus, Aphelandra aurantiaca, to Thomas Robertson. Special Premiums — three
dollars to Robert Buist, for a collection of Correas, and one dollar to Robert Kilvingt
a fine specimen of Cypripedium insigne. Table Design — for the best, to Barry Higgins

D. R. King ; for the second best, to Thomas Meghran, gr. to M. Bouvier. Basket — for tlie
best, to J. J. Ilabermelil, gr. to J. Lambert ; for the second best, Mark Hill, gr. to M. W.
Baldwin. Bouquets — pair — for the best, to John Dick ; for the second best, to J. J. Ilaber-
mohl.

By the Committee on Frnits. Pfars — for the best six varieties, to John McLaughlin, gr.
to L B Baxter. Apples — for the best six varieties, to Mark Bartleson.

And tlie Committee noticed with approbation, specimens of a Pear, presented by Robert
Buist, the Doyenne d'Alen^on, a choice variety. Also, a Grape called Wyman's Seedling,
from Joseph Breok, Mass. ; large in size, and soft in the pulp, but too far advanced to judge
correctly of its excellence, but from the saccharine juice, suppose it good.

By the Comraitte on Vegetables. For the best display h\j a market gardener, to A. L. Felten.
For the second best display hy an amateur gardener, to Mark Hill. Special premium of two
dollars, for three bunches of Asparagus, to William Bright, gr. to Joseph Lovering.

Tlie Library Committee submitted their annual report. An appropriation of three hun-
dred dollars was made for the increase of the Library.

The Committee for establishing premiums, reported a schedule for the year 1856, which,
after amendment, was adopted.

Two gentlemen were elected members.

Objects Exhibited. — Plants by Thomas Robertson — twelve plants : Zygopetalum Mackayi,
Plumbago rosea, Linum trigynum. Primula sinensis purp-plena, P. albo-plena, Poinsettia pul-
cherrima, Begonia incarnata, Cypripedium insigne, Pentas carnea, Correa ne plus ultra, Cen-
tradeniajloribunda. Daphne indica rubra. Specimen — Correa Brilliant. New plants — Aphel-
andra aurantiaca, Cytisus onospermum, Thyrsicanthits rutilans.

By Robert Buist — twelve plants : Begonia incarnata, Linum trigynum, Correa multijlora
rubra, C. speciosa ventricosa, Tropeolum Lily Schmidt, Luculea gratissima, Epacris Waltonii,
Primula sinensis rubro-plena, Camellia, Mrs. Cope, Daphne indica rubra, Veronica Andersonii,
Pitcarnea bractea rubra ; 12 correas, Larpentcea, Magnijica, Linguiforme, ne plus ultra, delicata,
Sjieciosa ventricosa, S. grandis, bicolor, Picta superba, speciosa, Farrissii and Turgida. New
riant — Aphelandra grandis.

By Jolm Pollock — twelve plants: Torrenia Asiatica, Correa grandijlora. Begonia carnea,
B. Laperousii, Cuphea platycentra, Epfphyllum truncatum, E. violaceum, Jasminum hirsutum, J.
grandijlorum, Gesneria oblongata, G. Leopoldii, Ageratum Mexicanum. New plants — Balsa-
mina Hookeri, and Begonia Laperosii.

By Robert Kilvington — a very fine specimen of Cypripedium insigne.

Designs. — By Barry lliggins, gr. for D. R. King ; by Thomas Meghran, gr. to M. Bouvier.

Baskets. — By J. J. Habermehl, gr. at Eastern Penitentiary, and Mark Hill.

Bouquets. — By John Dick ; by J. J. Habermehl, and by James Kent, gr. to B. F. Knorr, not
iu competition.

Fruit. — By Isaac B. Baxter — Pears: Beurre Ranee, St. Germain, Broom Park, and Passe
Colmar — and Apples, the Pittsburg Pippin from J. C. McCammon.

By Mark Bartleson, near Fallston, Harford County, Maine — Apples, six varieties: the Bell
Flower, Fallen Walder, Pennock, Vanderveer, Hayes, and Roman Stem.

By Robert Buist — Pears : a dish of the Doyenne d'Alen9on.

Vegetables. — By A. L. Felten — a very large and fine disi)lay. By Mark Hill, gr. to M. W.
Baldwin — a small choice display. By William Bright, gr. to Joseph Lovering, three bunches
of Asparagus.

Officers OF THE Brookltn HoRTiC0LTrEAL Society for 1856. — President — JohnW. Degracw.
Presidents — Hexry A. Kent, Wm. C. Langley, Wm. S. Dunham, J. S. T. Stranahan,
. Crane. Treasurer — A. J. S. Degrauw. Corresponding Secretary — Milton Arrow-

SMITH. Recording Secretary — M. Brandegee. Executive Committee — Jxo. Maxwell, Ira
Smith, H. A. Graef. Finance Committee — J. H. Lester, James Park, James Haslehprst.
Library Committee — M. L. Schaeffer, J. A. Nexsen, Walter Park. Premium Committee —
J. E. Rauch, M. Brandegee, James Weir, George Gamgee, George Hamlyn. Committee on
Fruits — James Weir, J. E. Rauch, Wm. Paynter. Committee on Plants and Flowers — George
Gamgee, M. Brandegee, F. Lane. Committee on Vegetables — George Hamlyn, George Ingram,
Martin Collopy.

Milwaukee, December 20, 1855.

Editor Horticulturist. Dear Sir : The Annual Meeting of the Wisconsin Fruit Grower'' s
Association was held at Wliitewater on the 12th and 13th of December. The attendance
was good, and the display of fruits interesting and attractive. The leading object of the
Association is to determine, from the experience of its members, the fruits that are best
adapted to our climate and soils. In respect to these, our situation is so different from that
of horticulturists at the East that, while acknowledging the value of the information de-
rived from them, we find that it will not do to be governed by it entirely. The discussions
of our Association are conducted upon the plan of the Northwestern Fruit Growers' Conven-
tion, aud by these, facts of great importance to the fruit growers of tliis State are elicited.
They will be published about the 1st of February next. We shall be greatly obliged if
kindred societies will send us their publications as they are issued. We are small yet —
but we are growing! The following is the list of officers for 1856.

Yours, very truly,

CHARLES GIFFORD, Corresponding Secretary.

Officers of Wisconsin Fruit Growers' Association for 1856. — President — Charles Gif-
FORD, of Milwaukee. Vice-Presidents — Cyrus Hawley, of Milwaukee ; Abel Slocum, of
Whitewater ; H. T. Woodward, of Beloit. Recording Secretary — Andrew Child, of Delafield.
Corresponding Secretary — Charles Colby, of Janeaville. Treasurer — R. W. Parker, of Mil-
waukee. Executive Committee — J. C. Beatton, of Aztalan ; H. J. Starin, of Whitewater;
A. J. IIanford, of Waukesha.

€^aln\^ar 0f Oprations.

FEBRUARY.

Vegetable Garden. — Among the essentials necessary to maintain high cultivation, a pro-
per system of rotative cropping occupies a prominent place. Physiologists ditfer in opinion
with regard to the principles upon which rotation is founded, but they agree in recommend-
ing its utility. There are two theories in vogue, which may be termed the excretory and
the exhaiisting. The former is based on the supposition that, during growth, plants throw
off by their roots certain peculiar substances injurious to themselves, but which promote
growth in those of a different species. It is well ascertained that plants possess this power,
but it is so limited as not to be considered sufficient evidence to account for the beneficial
results of rotation. Those who advocate the exhausting theory prove it by the fact that,
although all plants are composed of the same primary elements, yet, diiferent species require
different proportions of them, each having its own peculiar characteristic formation ; so that
if the soil is deficient in these particular substances reciuired by a plant, it cannot prosper,
notwithstanding that a plant of suitable formation may grow luxuriantly upon it. This
points to the possibility of successfully cultivating the same crop on the same ground, by
constantly supplying the ingredients extracted by the crop, but we have not as yet attained
rfect knowledge of the exact specific relations between the soil and the plant:
upon it, to enable us to put the system in practice. Passing over, for the present

editor's table.

otluT advniitapos Attonding rotation, it may lie remarkerl that tlic^re is a poneral ipnorance
of the subjt't-t, and a wide Held for uxiierinient in aseertaiiiini,' the kiii<l.s of ]phint.s heht
suited to succeed each other, as our present systems are founded more upon couveuienco
than science.

It is very evident, however, that crops cultivated for their seeds and fniit, as peas, corn,
beans, tomatoes, epg-i)lant, &c., should be followed by those grown for their leaves and roots,
as cabbages, spinach, beets or carrots ; the seeds of j)lants contain a larger portion of mine-
ral mattei-s than the leaves, consequently there is a greater consumption of the inorganic
substances of the soil.

Persevere in turning over the soil, and presenting new surfaces to be acted upon by the
atmosphere. Even when the ground is frozen six or eight inches deep, it has been found
benelicial to turn it over in cuLcs with crowbai"s and pickaxes. Tlie most adhesive clayey
soils can thus be rendered as friable, and admit of as early working as those of a loamy
nature; their latent powers of action are drawn out and rendered available for the purjioses
of vegetation.

Preparations for cropping should now be commenced by making hotbeds for raising plants
and furwartling early crops. Asparagus is a useful early vegetable, and its natural season
can readily be anticipated by forcing in frames, llothe'ls are usually made with fresh
manure, and much of their efficiency depends upon the piepai-ition of the material. It
should first be thrown loosely into a rounded heap ; in a few days decomposition will be
active and heat generated. It should now 1)0 carefully turned over and separated, mixing
it thoroughly, and thrown together as before. This turning must be repeated as often as is
necessary to prevent its heating to excess, which is indicated by its dry, charred-like ajipeai-
anco in the centre ; when in this state it should receive a thorough soaking of water. When
violent fermentation declines, it is ready for use. To produce an equal and gradual heat,
care must be exercised in building, that it may be of equal firmness ; pressure retards de-
composition, the fresher the material, therefore, the finiier must it be put together. The
making of hotbeds is apparently a simple process, yet few take the trouble to do it properly.
Leaves of oak, beech, or chestnut-trees make an excellent hotbed ; they decay slowly, and
give heat for many months. A very slight warmth is sufficient to force asparagus, a bed of
manure two feet deep will answer; cover with four or five inches of soil, and lay the roots
close together, and spread two or three inches of dry soil over their tops. All the future
care is simply to give a little air in mild weather, and cover np closely on frosty nights with
straw mats, or other suitable protection. Air is the best non-conductor ; endeavor to secure
a stratum of it between the covering and the roof. For this reason, a loose covering of straw
or hay, is more effectual in protection than half a dozen mats that lie compactly together.

A crop of radishes may be secured by sowing the seed when the asj^aragus is planted.
Dwarf beans are also frequently raised in frames ; they require to be kept dry and warm.
Rhubarb and seakale are also suitable for this method of forcing — but they can be much
accelerated by simply covering the plants with old boxes or barrels out of doors, and in-
closing all with leaves or manure.

Tomatoes, egg-plant, lettuce, capsicums, &c., are most convenient when sown in boxes ;
tliey can then be removed, when found desirable, to a difl'erent temperature, or for trans-
planting— the sooner they are removed (technically, pricked out), tlie more robust and bet-
ter rooted will they become; this applies to all plants that are transplanted when young.

Fiiurr-TKEES. — Prepare for planting by digging out the holes at the earliest opportunity;
let them be deep and ample in every respect. In strong clayey subsoils, trenching with the
spade, or loosening with the subsoil plough, are indisijensable operations to success. It is
cheapest in the end to give all the care and attention to planting that experience and science
demand. Turn over the soil, and spread it out in sunny weather to dry and warm ; most
of the failures in spring planting are attributable to the fact that the atmosphere is consi-
deral)ly wanner than the soil, consequently the branches are excited before the roots are
able to supply them with sufficient nourishment for continued growth.

tloosEBEUEiES. — In pruning these, thin out the centre of the bushes ; fruit is produced both
on the young wood, and from spurs on the older branches ; cut out closely all shoots re-
moved, and do not shorten the points of the young shoots unless your object is to produce
wood.

CciiRANTS. — Black, should be treated similarly to the above. Red and white, fruit prin-
cipally on si)urs, therefore shorten all the shoots to encourage these, and keep up an annual
renovation by cutting out old barren branches, and supply their place with young shoots
from the base. Break, instead of cutting off all suckers from the roots, which will prevent
their increase.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

Grapes, haedy — should now be pruned, where it has been neglected at the proper season
in November. The bleeding that follows late pruning may not be permanently injurious,
still it cannot benefit the plant, and may as well be avoided. There are few dwellings with-
out a grape arbor oi> trellis, of tasteful construction frequently, forming a striking contrast
to the miserable appearance of the vines trained on them. Luxuriant and fruitful grajje-
vines are the exception everywhere. Much of this depends upon the neglect of proper
pruning, but more frequently it results from the state of the roots. On clayey subsoils,
which are cold and wet during winter, the young roots die at the points. They are late in
budding, and a sickly shoot is produced which never ripens, and the winter kills it down
to the main stem. The grape, above all other plants, requires a dry, or at least, a well-
drained soil. A simple expedient in such cases consists in spreading a good dressing of
enriched soil on the surface, and bending down the branches so as to cover a part of them
six or eight inches in the soil. These will soon produce roots, which may be kept near the
surface by annual topdressings. These bent branches should be severed from the main
stem after they are well rooted, and, by repeating this operation, healthy vines may always
be secured.

Grapeet. — No subject in fruit culture has called forth so much discussion as the forma-
tion of grape borders ; volumes have been produced on the subject ; the essence of the whole
may be comprehended in a single sentence, viz : That ordinary soil, heavily treated with
good stable manure, well trenched, aerated, and drained, will produce better crops, and
maintain the vines in a healthy, fruitful condition for a longer series of years, than any
other composition that has ever been ai3plied for this pui-pose. The border should be made
on the surface, thus saving the expense of excavation, and facilitating the escape of water
and drainage. There is plenty of room above, a circumstance that does not seem to have
suggested itself to those who spend more in digging out pits, and then getting them laid
dry, than all the fruit they will ever produce, will repay.

The border should be made on a porous bottom at least six inches deep, of broken stone,
brickbats, charcoal, or any other article that will remain as permanent. It shoiild be sur-
rounded on all sides by a drain ; cross-drains should be made every ten feet ; at one end of
each of these drains an upright shaft should be constructed for the admission of air ; simi-
lar uprights should be attached to each where it crosses inside the house, so that a perfect
system of ventilation may be completely under control of the cultivator. This is the great
secret in grape growing ; the chemical constitution of the soil is a minor consideration.

FoECiNG Houses. — Peaches, nectarines, figs, cherries, and plums are successfully forced in
pots, or tubs, and, when properly managed, are comj)aratively more productive than trees
in the open ground. The plants are more under control, and the roots being confined, favors
the production of fruit buds. It is not requisite to have a separate house for each kind of
plant. A house devoted to this puii^ose may be so arranged as to carry a croj) of grajjes,
introducing the vines at a late period. Strawberries could also be produced on shelves
near the glass. The temperature of such a house should range from 50° to 85^, or higher,
with sunheat and sufiicieut humidity. Do not overwater the plants ; syringe them lightly
every day. Use no more fire-heat than is absolutely necessary, and see that a suflicient
amount of moisture is produced, to counteract the aridity of the heating apparatus.

Greenhouse. — A'S the days lengthen, and the sun increases in power, the iitmost vigilance
will be necessary in this department. Most of the winter flowering plants will have com-
menced growth. Camellias and Azaleas that have bloomed should now be repotted if they
require it. Use plenty of porous matters in the soil, especially for the latter. To have
these plants in flower early next winter, forcing must be commenced now ; encourage an
early growth, that the wood may be matured, and flower-buds formed early in summer.
Epacrises should be pruned down after flowering ; they are easily managed and beautiful
flowering plants. The same may be said of Heaths. All New Holland plants — such as
boronias, hoveas, correas, polygalas, acacias, beaufortias, chorozemas, daviesias, croweas,
dillwynias, diosmas, prostrantheras, pimelias, eutaxias, aphelexes, helichrysums, erioste-
mons, and leschenaultias, require the same general treatment. They should be reiJotted
this month, that they may have a good supply of roots before next winter ; when growing,
they like a moist temperature, frecjuent syringing, and to be kept rather close than otherwise.
All newly potted plants should lie sparingly watered, they will require less than before the
operation, because the additional soil will longer retain moisture.

Leschenaultia formosa is frequently in collections, but generally sickly. It requires a
waiTu, moist, tlose atmosphere while growing, and constant attention to picking ofl' flower-
buds when young. It needs a light fibry soil, and the drainage must be thorough

Ciilceolarias, pcraninms, and cinncrarias slioiild have their flowiT-stems securod to stakes,
th»'St' supiKirts .should he ki'jtt as iiiiioh coiiceah'd as possible; they cannot he disjiensed with
under present modes of eulture, hut it is a mistake to supjjose that their tasteful arrange-
ment is more meritorious than kee])ing a plant in >,'ood health.

Ciiinese i>riinros<'s are indisjiensahle winter flowers; select a few of tlie best for seeding,
and ))iiKdi out all tlie flowers for the present, that tliey may bloom stronger when wanted.

rierodendrons and fuchsias may now ho brought out of their winter quarters, ])runo
closely, and sliake away all tlio soil from tlieir roots, repot in small-sized ])ots, and water
spariiiijly until they root afresh. Of course, tliis (h)es not ai)i>ly to young fuclisias which
have been kept growing all winter; tliese should be repotted as they require it, and trained
into a i)yra)nidal form l)y frequent pinchings of the points ; some varieties assume a pretty
form without this assistance.

Ixoras, stephanotis, eschyiianthus, ardisia, begonias, pleromas, marantas, justicias, centra-
denias, francisceas, euphorbias, clerodendrons, eyrtoceras, and many otliers, usually termed
botliouse plants, succeed as well, and, iu many cases, much better under greenhouse treat-
ment. Even orchids, so much dreadeil by amateurs, liave been produced in tlie best per-
fection without a stove hc<it. They are (easier to manage than hard-wooded greenhouse plants.
It is worthy of remark that, in j)roportiou as tlie cultivator becomes conversant with the
physiology of vegetation, he becomes more liberal in his views ; less particular about kee))-
ina; iij) a certain temperature at all hours; not so fastidious about mixing homoeopatbical
portions of soils and manures; in short, lie studies Nature more, and systems less.

Achemenes tubers should now be planted ; i)lace them near the surface of the soil, and
in the warmest part of the house. Gesnera zebrina, than which there is not a more beauti-
ful plant, should be similarly treated. Gloxinia tubers, planted in small-sized pots, barely
admitting the roots, and seed sown for plants to flower in autumn. Orange and lemon-trees,
that have been kept dry and domiant all winter, may now be r(!potted ; do not give them
much water at tlie root, but wash the leaves and bark, and syringe them often to encourage
shoots from the old stems ; they are generally unh(!altliy, leggy, unsightly looking objects,
although easily kept in beautiful condition. Pysidium cattleyanum (the guava) is not so
plentiful as it should be ; it is a beautiful evergreen, fruit-bearing, greenhouse plant.

Very little artificial heat will now be requisite ; be cautious in giving air in cold windy
weather ; rather allow the temperature to rise to 85 or 90 degrees during the heat of the day.
Use the syringe freely in the early portion of the day over every part of the house, and on
plants not in flower, and have no fear of the sun burning the leaves while the latter are
wet. Burning proceeds from bad glass, combined with aridity in the atmosphere. IMck off
all dead and decaying leaves, or withered flowers, and arrange the plants in groups, keeping
those in flower on the lower shelves, with irregular masses of varied foliaged jjlants for a
background. Nothing can be more monotonous than an even surface of plants, all seen at
the fii-st glance. It requires as much taste to arrange a greenhouse as to plant a lawn.

Flower Gakdex. — An estimate should be made of the quantity of plants likely to be
needed for the flower-beds, and all deficiencies met by propagation. Of late years, the pre-
vailing style of decorating flower-gardens has been in grouping beds of different colors, each
bed being filled with one kind of plant. In small geometrical gardens this looks very well,
if skilfully done; the plants best adapted to this style are those of compact habit, and free
flowering properties ; permanence of flower is a further requisite, colors brilliant, and the
plant easily propagated. Geraniums, lantanas, verbenas, vincas, galardias, petunias, salvias,
nierembergias, and heliotropes, are the most popular and suitable. The principal stock
should be secured in the fall, at which period cuttings are readily procured.

Plants propagated now will grow as freely as those kept over winter ; the latter, however,
will give flowers earlier. There are various expedients for striking cuttings. A good one is
to procure a box with sides a foot in depth, in which is placed a few inches of sand or light
earth ; set it on the greenhouse shelf above the hottest part of the flue or waterjjipes, the
bottom of the box should be thickly perforated with holes, to admit heat to the sand ; the
box should be covered with large loose squares of glass ; its ample sides obviate the neces-
sity of shading.

Roxes; to have perpetual, recourse must be had to deep culture. Dig the soil to a depth of
eighteen inches, and throw aside the subsoil, supply its place with good surface soil and
manure ; to have continued bloom, the plants must be kept in continued growth, and that
can only be guaranteed by allowing the roots a deep and suitable medium, to escape from
the burning sun and severe droughts of summer. A score of plants thus cared for, will
give more flowers than a hundred under ordinary treatment.

William Sauxdees

»

:s^'

ABIES NOBILIS.

®jre imit M^st— Illinois u)i llje '§xmm.

'HEN we reflect on the prairies of the West, and remem-
ber the activity of the inhabitants of that great Empire,
we are lost in pleasing anticipations of the future, no
less than with gratification at the aspects they already
present. In reading, as we have done, the volume of
" Tratisactiotis of the Illinois State Agricultural Society,
with the proceedings of the County Societies and kindred
associations," as prepared by Dr. John A. Kennicott,
we come almost into the presence of a race of mental
pioneers, such, as we verily believe, the world never saw
before. The spirit that actuates and moves that region and its neighborhood is
surprising, gratifying, and unique. The volume is the "first," no doubt the pre-
decessor of a long series which will record the advance of our race through a
career of unexampled prosperity, upon plains formed by Nature —

" Where man hath no part in all this glorions work :
The hand that built the firmament hath heaved
And smoothed these verdant swells, and sown their slopes
With herbage, planted them with island groves.
And hedged them round with forests. Fitting floor
For this magnificent temple of the sky —
With flowers whose glory and whose multitude
Rival the constellations ! The great heavens
Seem to stoop down upon the scene in love —
A nearer vault, and of a tenderer blue,
Than that wliich bends above our eastern hills." — Bryant.

Dr. Kennicott has executed a task which deserves the gratitude of every citizen
of the State. It was no small labor to consign to print all the manuscripts of
various merit which compose this goodly volume. Most ably has it been accom-
plished, and though we could wish that paper a little thicker, and ink a little
blacker had been employed, the contents arc so suggestive and full of information,
that we pardon the slight defect for the knowledge it imparts, and more especially
for introducing us to the mind of the State, of which, as an American, we cannot
but be proud.

A young State, by comparison, in wisdom Illinois is old. With a wonderful
soil to depend upon, she has found a bold and active people to cultivate it, with
capacities for turning its blessings to the best account ; her future it needs no
prophet to foretell ; unnumbered millions will enjoy the light of happiness upon
plains; man, here, is destined to fulfil all the objects for which he was created;

Vol. VI.— Mauch, 1856.

tlic ample means are all around him ; he has only to be true to himself and his
mission, to garner and gather the fruits which are nearly spontaneous. To use a
l)hrase in vogue among the people, this State is just what was wanted — "it was
made to order."*

The book is of great value not only to Illinois, but to the entire western
settlements; its facts are of a practical kind, and come from practical men;
having said this, and advised all who can to read the book, we i)roceed to
a short and rambling examination of the contents that relate to our own
subjects.

The Hon. ^[. L. Dunlap, at page frli, has some remarks on the "air currents"
of that region to prove that they have the winters naturally belonging to their
latitude, while the summers arc two or three degrees gf latitude warmer than their
neighbors on the same parallels ; thus, j)lants are grown in one climate, and win-
tered, to all intents and purposes, in another ; this fully explains why so many
varieties of fruit trees and shrubs, which appear to flourish so thoroughly, are
ruined by the severity of the winters; the fruit-grower wall have to learn how to
take advantage of the wanntli and guard against the cold, and it will undoubtedly
be found that shelter is the true remedy. The warm-air current, too, meets the
cold of the north, and floods of rain result, or droughts, without this taking
place, occur. Trees are wanted, not only for shelter from the wind, but a more
equal distribution of timber through the State would, doubtless, produce more
equal distribution of moisture.

After a hasty visit through the prairies, which are yet mainly unsettled, we
were greatly exercised to know what we could do to assist the "new-comers" to
good trees that would afford shelter; several letters passed between us and influ-
ential men of the State on this subject. Timber or mountain ridges are essential
to check the powerful winds which sweep the prairies so unmercifully. We found
the topic, as was to have been expected, had engaged the thoughts of others. In
this volume there is an essay by Charles Downing, which it were well to call atten-
tion to. In a single page it contains the wisdom of an extensive treatise, and we,
therefore, shall present it on a future page.

"Banish the winter winds from the prairie," says Samuel Edwards, of Bureau
County, " and tlie climate of Illinois is, without doubt, one of the finest on earth,

* Dr. E. R. Roe, at page 507, remarks : " The whole prairie region of Illinois, so far as
have examined it, consists of materials which have been transported from the North — even
from the regions of Lake Superior. It matters little in what the transporting agency con-
sisted ; the fact is clear to the geologist, and to all intelligent observers that the soil and
earth consist of the broken, crushed, and pulverized rocks of the formations many miles to
the northward." It would be injustice to omit the mention of Robert Kennicott's contribu-
tions to the Natural History of the State ; he is a very young man, a son of Dr. Kennicott,
and promises to be one of the best naturalists of our country.

If arguments thoroughly enforced are ever wanted for the necessity of educating the in-
dustrial classes in useful things. Professor J. B. Turner's writings and speeches in this volume
will be found to be sound and unanswerable.

rivalling Italy in its cloudless sky and serenity of atmosphere. A belt, several
rods iu width, of forest trees should be planted near buildings, on west, nortli,
and northeast sides. For those who would have the very best, I would recom-
mend evergreen-trees, of which the Norway spruce, hemlock, and American arbor
vitas are the most durable for screens. Plant seedlings; by the time they are of
a proper size there will be a demand for all in the market" — and fifty times more,
we add. He recommends, also, Austrian pine, black spruce, Scotch pine, red
spruce, Cembran pine, Norway pine, white pine, European silver fir, and Siberian
arbor vitae. Of these, we should give the preference to the Austrian pine and
the silver fir. Mr. Edwai'ds thinks that cedar of Lebanon, Deodar cedar, Arau-
carian pine, Excelsa, Douglass spruce, Menzie's spruce, and English yew, are too
tender ; with the protection of hedges this can hardly be the case ; they should
not be given up without many efforts. Evergreens are what are most wanted.

One of the best essays in the volume on tree culture is by Edson Harkness.
He considers that all the elements of nutrition for growing timber seem to be
abundant in the soil of the prairies, and success has attended his experiments in
deep black soil, with a nearly level surface. His list includes the above trees, and
embraces American larch (tamarac), tulip and chestnut, black and white walnut,
black locust, and Lombardy poplar. Of these, we should select the black walnut,
the wood of which has already an increasing commercial value, and is second to
mahogany ; and for early use the American larch, which would very soon make
valuable poles, and when thinned, the remainder would become highly useful tim-
ber. An acre — says another writer, Adnah Williams, of Galesburg — of locust
would give a result of $480 in seventeen years, or nearly $30 per year as the
product. Here is inducement enough to grow timber on land that could be
bought much below a few months! return, and locust posts will always be wanted
in that country of railroads. But the great idea combined is shelter, protection,
and consequent comfort and happiness to man, beast, and bird, which cannot be
measured iu gold and silver, nor enumerated in dollars and cents. In the in-
stances where shelter was provided, Mr. Williams says that, during the past
(1853) severe season, both apple and peach-trees w^ere loaded with fruit. He
alludes, as do many of the writers, to the Horticulturist, and says, an article
which appeared in it by the late editor, was " not only worth the price of a
volume, but a dozen, to any man who has an acre of land."

There is an important suggestion in a former number of this journal regarding
the planting of trees on the sides of railroads, which, where the land owned by
tlie companies is not of sufficient breadth, might be difficult in practice, but on
the central Illinois routes the space set a[)art for the com])any's use is fully one
hundred feet wide, offering the best possible site for the growth of timber where
it is wanted, and offering a prospect of wood for repairs of the route, as well as
timber for the wants of settlers ; thereby increasing the freight of the road, to
othing of the profits, which may be set down at an interest on a thousand
the cost of the planting.

PLANTING AND PRUNING.

The vine is strongly recommended as a fruit for prairie land, as is the straw-
berry, pears, and especially apples; the summer Bcrgamot pear, perhaps a local
variety, but a common one, is hardy and productive.

The JJartlett pear is said to be short-lived. Among apples recommended are
Early Harvest, Sweet June, Early Scarlet Bough, Red Astrachan, Kaml)o, Fall
I'ippin, Fallen Waldcr, Rhode Island Greening, Roxbury Russet, White and
Yellow Belleflower, Wine Sap, Willow Twig, and Newtown Pippin.

Incidentally, we learn here and there much regarding the State; for instance.
Dr. Le Barron says: "Birds are much less numerous than in the Eastern States,
from the scarcity of mature orchards and timbered lands in a newly-settled and
prairie country." Among the most interesting facts are those regarding the cul-
ture of flax ; a movement for the manufacture of linen is now going on in this
country, that threatens, ere long, to supply an article for which we have annually
paid millions to foreigners. This movement is connected with the newly-invented
machinery for spinning flax ; respecting this, and the raising of the raw material
in the West, the volume gives an account that we would ask the agricultural
journals of the country to disseminate. The culture is, perhaps, the most pro-
fitable yet attempted, and the demand is unlimited.

In conclusion, we wish every State in the Union, including our own, had a Dr.
Kennicott.

PLANTING AND PRUNING.

BY B — , NEW JERSEY.

J. Jay Smith: If we could only properly recollect in the right time what has
been written on some subjects, as, for instance, on horticulture, we should not
have to run over volumes to have a question settled just when we are about to
apply it to practice ; the matter is so great, shall I say diluted, that hints are for-
gotten; all previous experience is overlooked, and how often we find writers
stating only a few experiments of their own limited practice.

" Facts and few words," are my motto. If you think my remarks deserving a
corner in your invaluable journal, I shall venture to attempt a resumSo? old and
new notions on the subjects of planting and pruning, from the time of Laquin-
tinye, Duhamel, Scobold, &c., down to our present time, and I shall try to state
by ray own experience what seems to me most applicable to this climate and lati-
tude.

It is a settled fact that the habits of some fruit trees, and many other plants,
arc different here from what they are in Europe; some, which do well on the old
continent, will not succeed here. For instance, the common Erica, which sponta-
neously covers the barren and waste grounds in Scotland, Belgium, and Germany,

PLANTING ANT) PRUNING.

and all the north, cannot live here. The European grapes cannot succeed in the
open air even on our southern walls. The gooseberry, so much prized abroad, is
here an inferior fruit, with a thick skin, and is often unproductive; marked differ-
ences prevail even among the species best adapted to both climates, as, for in-
stance, the apple, pear, and cherry. The raspberries, which stand the English
winters with perfect impunity, must be protected here during our keen winter
blasts. The chestnut, which proves so hardy here as to brave 10 and 15° below
zero, is a poor tree in Northern France and Belgium, always blighted by frost or
other causes, and dying piecemeal after a limited existence.

Some fruits, as the peach, the currant, and the strawberry, are superior in
America, or fully equal to the best varieties in the most favored zones of Europe,
and if it were not for that unconquerable curculio, plums, apricots, and nectarines
would prove as luscious and delicate as on any spot of our globe.

Hence the necessity of applying different rules to the treatment of the same
species of fruits, as well in planting as the further management of the tree. It is
well known that a tree, freshly taken from the nursery and exposed for some hours
to the influence of a fine autumn day, is materially injured, owing, perhaps, to
the absorbent action of our atmosphere ; while in Europe, in a more damp medium,
the same tree can be left exposed for days to all influences, frost excepted, with
comparative impunity.

The long and forever controverted question, "When shall we plant?" naturally
takes its place in the outset of these remarks.

And first, let it be well understood, that the first condition required to replant
a tree with success, is that it he taken up with proper care. All mashed, broken,
or stripped roots are injurious when left, and ought to be cut with a sharp knife ;
the epiderm or bark of the root seems not to heal up so readily as the bark of the
tree; hence the necessity of leaving nothing but sound roots with a clean section
or cutting, if cut at all, at the end; very small fibres or roots are of no use, ac-
cording to Van Mons, when the tree has not been freshly taken up, and after a
long transportation; they are soon deprived of all vitality, and are drawbacks
instead of useful agents.

Now, when shall we plant, supposing we have the choice and everything at
hand ? Much depends on the weather, and the condition of the soil. It is always
better to have a comparatively dry soil and fine weather, except in the case of
plants with wiry roots, such as those of the hemlocks, &c. &c. I have been in
the habit for years of preparing the holes as early as possible, either in late sum-
mer or early fall. I have two objects in view. First, the sods or detritus, mixed
with the soil which is put in the holes after the bad subsoil, rock, ore, or stiff
clay has been removed, have time to undergo a fermentation, injurious to the
roots, when it takes place directly after planting; and, secondly, my heap of
reserved good soil next to the holes, is mellow and best fitted to fall between the
roots, and fill up all the intervening spaces by gently shaking the tree when it is
covered with fine soil. The shaking must be quick and short, not lifting the

PLANTING AND PRUNINO.

tree more than two inches; cover well, and let the fall rains do their work; the
tree is safe so far.

As for the proper time to plant I have found by experience tliat the best is the
last days of October, or the first part of Xovcuibcr, for those who have only a
limited number of trees to place. It is true that we can remove trees as soon as
the leaves show the first sipjns of decay, and often very successfully. It is also
true that those taken up the first week in October, when properly root-pared and
pruned, send out small rootlets, or at least make a fine seam on the edge of every
clean wound, of course ready to start, and showing a protracted vitality carried
through the trying process; but I always found that provoking the sap in that
manner, and so early, and taking up and pruning always docs, more or less, gives
rise to a new process of vegetation out of season, and interferes with the general
laws of the organism of the tree. This vegetation, when checked gradually only,
enfeebles the tree; but if stopped suddenly by a keen frost of 10° or 11° or 20°,
almost always injures the bark and inner wood in an irreparable way; the same
thing as with the buddings starting in August, a fact well known by every nurse-
ryman.

On the other hand, if we plant too late in autumn, the soil is not often well
fitted and in good mellow condition ; the roots having no active vitality left, do
not surround themselves with that non-conducting medium which is well known
to exist around the living and sound root, to preserve it from the injurious and
lasting winter soaking. Now, as far as my own experience goes, if I had only a very
few trees to plant, and particidarly if I had these close at hand, I should let them
stand in the nursery till the winter is fairly over, and as soon as the sap is about
to start, say in this climate in March or early in April, I should take them up
carefully, pare and prune moderately, and plant them at once. The healing pro-
cess would take place immediately, and the tree would have gone through the
winter trials surrounded by all the protections which Nature makes for it when
left undisturbed. The objection is, naturally, that we can scarcely get choice trees
in the nurseries in March ; that the season is very short and uncertain, and the
soil often very wet.

Now comes the question, Shall we take off a few or many branches or limbs,
or leave all those which are not injured ? In Paris, of late, a system has been
eagerly advocated, which was founded on the theory, that many branches and
leaves call for a greater amount of sap, and make, as they termed it, a demand on
the roots, prompting these to display more activity, and, of course, shooting out
more fibres. But as we can never take up a tree of much size without disturbing
the roots, and as we have to suppress some injured or useless ones, the economy
between the roots and upper limbs is disturbed, and the tree suffers. I have seen
those trees taken up in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin des Plantes, and else-
where, and they showed for a long time afterwards, signs of weakness and dying
limbs, the result of that disturbance in their general organism. If it is not safe
cut away thick stout limbs in the process of transplanting, it is a worse

PLANTING AND PRUNING.

to leave all those limbs, which, by the suppression of corresponding roots, cannot
get their supply of sap ; and, as there cannot be a stop in Nature's laws and in
the natural process of vegetation, sickness and atrophy are the result of that rather
overrated system. I have always found a good result in moderate pruning of
limbs, and, of course, in a more restrained and equal distribution of the sap
than in no pruning at all. A planted tree must start readily, handsomely, or it
is a lost tree ; for, years afterwards, the principium mo7-hidum, the hidden death-
stroke will come up and show itself outside.

If I have to remove a stout limb, destroying the harmony of a fine tree, I cut
it some inches from its base so as not to make a large wound immediately on the
main body; next year it will be time enough, and just the proper time, to cut it
close, the tree having regained all its strength and its healing power.

And as to the practice of watering the planted tree, or, as it is termed, to pud-
dle it, this will answer well enough in silicious soil, but in clay or any stiff soil, it
will result in casting the roots as in a mould of baked earth, which, if copious
rains do not come in time, will prevent the shooting out (or formation) of the
delicate fibres or rootlets. I do not often recur to this method, unless I have to
plant in very wet soil, and in a hurry ; for then it is better to have a thorough
puddle than lumps that will not fill up the interstices.

It is good, also, to cover the foot of the planted trees with any kind of brush,
leaves, withered herbs, decayed straw, or even stable manure, if not rich nor fresh ;
for, I do not like fresh manure near the newly-planted tree. This ought to be
done after a good copious shower has settled the roots, and immediately before
the heavy frost sets in. If you do it too early, you often make a good recess and
wintering place for bugs, worms, mice, &c., which will creep and flock together
under this protection. If you have no leaves, or salt hay at hand, cover with
stones, and let these remain on the foot of the tree all the next spring and sum-
mer. Old planted trees can be mulched with good manure at the same time, say
late in October, or beginning of November, even after the first slight frost ; the
manure ought to be placed in a circle at least half a foot from the body of the
tree, where it does no good, rather producing injury; and extending in a radius of
three feet circular. Let us always mind that the tree does not take up its food
close to its body, but far, far off, with its spongioles or small roots, its natural
suckers ; a thick root is of no use save as a pipe or channel to receive the nutri-
tious sap brought from the extremities.

Never plant too deep ; more trees are killed by that old erroneous process than
by any other cause. Nature will show you what you have to do. Let the bark
remain bark; if you force it below the surface, you will make it to go over to
root bark, entirely different from the upper bark, which is at least a tedious, if
not a dangerous process. Allow something in freshly made holes for the settling
or sinking of the tree ; if the roots remain covered the first year by a protection
of a slight mound, brush, or stones, you can hardly plant too shallow.

In making your holes, kill every worm, bug, and, in general, every insect that

THE CHANCELLOR PEAR,

you find; after a year's growth, soap-suds thrown occasionally on the foot of the
tree in winter or early sprinp:, will destroy all those insects which have gathered
beneath the mulch, or around the trees where insects generally creep for protec-
tion, even if not mulched.

Although stone-fruit trees, plums, peaches, apricots, &c., might be planted suc-
cessfully in the fall, I find it better to i)lant these as early in spring as the soil will
allow, Iloles made for them before winter will afford dry earth enough on their
edge (in one heap, for the soil must never be scattered around, and sods separated
from loose soil) to allow of early planting. The hole being frozen is better
than it was in the fall, and the sods, with which the hole (as said before) is at
least half filled, will be all reduced; harmless to the roots because all fermenta-
tion is gone, and affording a good supply of food through the summer. If you
have no convenient soil nor time, get pure sand and plant your tree in it, just
enough to surround the roots; the spongioles will find more easily their way
through that light porous medium, and get all their proper food in the richer soil
in due time; for peach-trees, especially, I always succeeded best in loamy soils, by
planting the tree injive or six spadesfid of yellow or fine ordinary gravel. They
start without stopping to look out for a proper supply, which cannot readily be
found in clay soils, and they never show gum and disease as peach-trees so often
do the first year when planted in too rich or clayey soils. As a general rule, in
rich soils, the more sand you bring around the peach or plum-tree the better it is.

These remarks, Mr. Editor, have taken more room than I expected at first. If
you want my opinion, and those of the best authors, combined, in regard to
pruning properly, for an established tree, I shall try to compress those remarks in
a narrower space.

[The above is sensible and to the point ; the author has had much experience,
and his observations, at home and abroad, evince a clear understanding of his
subject. We shall be pleased to receive his remarks on pruning at his earliest
convenience Ed.]

KEIM APPLE,*

Size, below medium, 2 inches long by 2| broad; form, roundish, inclining to
conical; skin, fair, pale yellow, waxen; stem, long, slender, 1 inch long by y'j
thick, inserted in a wide, moderately deep cavity; calyx, small, closed, set in a
shallow, plaited basin; cone, medium; seed, brown, slender, J of an inch long, j\
broad, ^ thick ; fiesh, white, tender ; flavor, mild, pleasant; quality, ''yqvj good("
maturity, January to March,

* See Frontispiece,

THE APPLE SCALE, OR BARK LOUSE.

BY A. G. HANFORD, WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN.

HIS insect is attracting much interest among western
orcharclists. Cultivators understand the nature and ex-
j/^W\j\ I \ I tent of its depredations, and the difficulty of ridding their
trees of this pest. All are anxious to find a sure remedy
of easy application. Spirited controversies are carried
on over the different remedies proposed, some denounc-
ing those which do not at once accord with their own or
some long established theory.

Facts are facts, in spite of regularly received orthodox
opinions ; now and then new theories must be wrought
out to suit these unyielding facts. The intelligent progressive orchardist, will
try, with all proper caution, such remedies as seem feasible and practicable — try
them thoroughly, and hold fast to those which prove good, though they conflict
with preconceived notions. An interesting account of this insect was given in
the November 'No. of the Horticulturist. From some of the statements of" R.,"
however, my own observations would lead to different conclusions. I have never
been able to discover more than one brood in a year, which in this latitude hatches
about the first of June. The scale is never found on the new growth, made after
about the middle of June.

Though quite active for a short period, probably but for a day or two, I do
not think this insect journeys far from the place of its birth. Being exceedingly
light, it is liable to be blown to different parts of the tree, or to other trees; hence
arises the idea that it "crawls all over the tree." In from one to three days it
becomes stationary, where it remains, feeding upon the sap of the growing tree,
till it attains full size. Passing through its different stages, at the end of the year
we find it full of life, ready to increase itself manifold. From these few parents
spring a great army of depredators, going on to increase in like ratio each suc-
ceeding season.

Neglected trees of stunted growth, and more especially those planted on wet,
badly drained land, are most liable to infection from this destructive insect. The
preventive will readily suggest itself; drain the land and thoroughly cultivate the
soil. Where the trees are not badly affected, this treatment alone will usually rid
them of these pests.

I have seen whole orchards, in which the trees seemed entirely covered with
these scales. No remedy, to my knowledge, has proved so efficacious or more
harmless than "Tar and Linseed oil," which I have previously recommended
gh different agricultural journals. Equal parts are to be mixed thoroughly

THE APPLE SCALE, OK llAUK LOUSE.

by hcatlnnf ; when cool or just warm enough to spread, a very thin coat is to bo
applied with a brush to all the afTccted parts. An advantage of this remedy is,
that it may be applied at a leisure time, late winter or early spring, when the tree
is in a state of rest; to facilitate tlie operation, it will be well to first thorougldy
prune the tree. This composition forms a varnish, wliich readily cracks wlicn the
sap begins to flow and the bark to expand, admitting the air to the liark. In tlie
course of the summer it peels off, carrying the scales — now dead — witli it, and
leaving a clean surface. Notwithstanding this treatment conflicts witli long re-
ceived opinions, trees thus treated have not only survived, but have grown — this
the second season — well, and ))()rne good crops of fruit. The wash proposed by
Dr. TTarris, or any strong caustic application made while the insect is yet young,
will doubtless be effectual in destroying them. The objection to the use of these
remedies is, that to be of sufficient strength to kill the insect, it will also destroy
the foliage, and thus seriously injure the tree; and then, too, as the insects do not
all hatch out at once, more than one application is necessary, or enough are left
to soon cover the tree again.

CONE OF ABIES NOBILIS.*

We present this month the portrait of the cone of Abies nobilis, or noble silver
fir. This magnificent tree was introduced to Britain by the lamented Douglas,
in 1831, who discovered it on the mountains of Northern California, and which,
above all others, excited his admiration. Judging from young specimens, it is
likely to display similar beauty in a cultivated state. In its native forests it
attains a height of 180 feet, the branches spread horizontally, and are produced
with the same uniformity of arrangement as those of the Araucaria excelsa, or
Norfolk Island pine. The density and fine incurvature of its foliage divest the
tree of that stiffness which characterizes most of the tribe to which it belongs,
and impart much of that agreeable gracefulness so well defined in the Deodar
cedar and Hemlock spruce. It is perfectly hardy in our climate, and should be
one of the first trees planted as a single specimen on a lawn. It is the Picea
nobilis of Loudon (whose arrangement of the pine family is now generally fol-
lowed), and the Pinus nobilis of Douglas.

* See Frontispiece.

'Hmili

Fisr. 2.

ILLUSTRATIONS OF ORNAMENTAL
IRON WORK.

"We continue tlie illustrations of ornamental
iron work, from the designs of Mr. Robert Wood,
of Philadelphia. Fig. 1 is a street, or door lamp,
of excellent proportions. Fig. 2 represents an
iron summer-house, which has been successfully
employed. If it is regularly painted, a perma-
nent structure may be erected that will require
no repair.

A DAY AT KEW GARDENS.

A DAY AT KEW GARDENS, LONDON.
No. III. (concluded.)

BY THE EDITOR.

Leaving the Museum, our little party repaired to the Conservatory, sometimes
called the architectural Grecuhouse ; it is filled with a rich collection of Australian
trees and shrubs, chiefly Myrtaccaj, Lcguminosaj, Proteacea) ; the latter family so
named in consequence of the very varied character of the stems, leaves, and inflo-
rescence, yet agreeing in the essential character of the flowers and fruit. They are
handsome evergreen shrubs, or small trees, of which the Banksias and Dryandras
are the most remarkable. Their foliage, though harsh and rigid, has something
of the Fern character ; the flowers of the Banksias are arranged in bunches or
tufts resembling a bottle-brush.

The next object was the Orangery, which is now mainly devoted to tender
Pines, many of which are of great rarity and value ; the noblest specimen in
Europe of the Norfolk Island Pine, Araucaria excelsa, is placed here in winter.
This tree is remarkable for its beautifully drooping and graceful branches, which
almost vie with ostrich-plumes ; small specimens are great favorites in our Ameri-
can conservatories, where every one who sees it regrets its want of hardiness.
Araucaria Bidwilli has cones as large as a child's head ; the seeds of it are eagerly
sought after as an article of food by the aborigines of Australia. The collection
here is necessarily miscellaneous ; the plants are removed to the lawns in summer,
and attract the eye of every one at all observant of trees. On quitting the Oran-
gery, you encounter, alternating with the large beds, two lines of Deodars, designed
for a long avenue of this stately and graceful tree ; secondary lines are formed of
Junipers, Cypresses, and other allied plants. "We must not, however, detain our
readers with trees, or we should never get through with our "Day." We must
proceed to the

Great Palm House, or Stove, which is the glory of the gardens, constituting
the largest iron and glass house in the world previous to the erection of the Crys-
tal Palace. The extent of glass for covering this vast building is about 45,000
square feet ; the ribs are inserted in enormous blocks of Cornish granite, placed
in solid concrete. A substantial iron gallery runs round the w^hole at the height
of thirty feet from the floor, ascended by flights of spiral staircases ; this gives a
fine view of the plants from above, and brings the spectator on a level with the
summits of many of the loftiest palms. The whole of the iron of these stairs, &c.,
is covered with tropical vines in full bloom ; and this to us was one of the great
beauties of the house.

But those " Princes of the vegetable kingdom," as Sir William calls them, the
Palms, constitute the splendid and striking feature of the vast area ; two of
\ the loftiest kinds of cocoa-nut afford good examples of one group of

with pinnated leaves, divided like the plumes of a feather. The two stoutest
Palms are the West Indian or Jamaica Fan-palms, and are a good example of the
second group, having palmate or fan-shaped leaves. So enormous are these
specimens that each plant, with its earth and tub, are calculated to weigh It tons.
Here, too, is the Date-Palm, producing the dates of commerce and of Scripture ;
also the plant producing the Palm-oil, now of so much importance. Sir William
took particular pleasure in exhibiting to us from the gallery, the Plectoxoma
elongata, presented by Dr. Willich^^which, with its luxuriant foliage and very
curious spring-stem, has the most singular mode of getting up in the world. The
spines are digitate, or united together like the fingers of the hands, or still more
resembling the wonderful conformation of the foot of the mole ; its leaves are of
vast length, and pinnated like the shafts of a feather, so long, indeed, that they,
as well as the slender stem, need support. Nature has come to the rescue ; the
main stalk of the leaf extends at the end into a lengthened slender tail, armed all
along ivith strong dejlexed hooks, by means of which, while running up among the
stems of other trees and plants, and catching hold of their branches, the foliage
and stem are propped in every position. In the young plant, these spines are
upright, and lie flat against the stalk of the leaf, not becoming reflexed till they are
called forth by the wants of the plant. Some bamboos have grown to the surprising
height of 68 feet in 5 months ; this includes a long period in their first stage, in
which they make little or no progress, but after they have attained a certain alti-
tude they rush up at the rate of 2, and often 3 feet a day.

There was first exhibited the tree of the Vegetable-Ivory-Palm, from the nuts
of which so many ornamental things are now turned. It comes from Magdalena,
New Grenada ; it is named Phytelephas macrocarpa. The Wax-Palm, Ceroxylon
audicola, was discovered by Humboldt in the Andes of New Grenada ; the full-
grown stem is covered with a waxy substance, having the same properties as bees-
wax. The visitor in London will observe that the streets are swept by a machine,
with a brush of remarkable consistence. The tree which produces it is seen here,
the Attalea fumifera ; the coarse fibre of this and others separates from the base
of the leaves.

The whole house is one vast magazine of tropical novelties, of which we can
only mention one or two more. The Banana bears its curious fruit in abundance
here, a single cluster often weighing TO or 80 pounds. Perhaps the most remark-
able object to the uninitiated will be found in the South African Elephant's Foot,
Testudinaria elephantipes, so named from its resemblance, in the external surface
of the gigantic root-stock, to the back of a tortoise, or to the foot of an elephant.
Take it altogether, a visit to the Palm House at Kew will afford the visitor who has
never been in the tropics the greatest surprise and pleasure. We have a good
example of some palms, as well as the Elephant's Foot, in Philadelphia, in the
house built for the purpose by James Dundas, Esq., which will afford " an epitome
view," and should not be neglected by amateurs who visit our city.

the " Succulent House," we found a great display of the Crassula tribe

Mcseml)r3'aiitlioimiins ; many of the latU-r aro reiiiarkahK- fi»r tlie ri'srinblance in
their foliai::o to tlio jaws of aiiiinals, wIumh'O tlioy aro apjiropriatoly iiameil ffliimiii,
tiirriiumi, caiiinuin, i^'c. Tiio capsules of others have the same hygroinotrie ]tro-
jierty as the entire plant of the famous Rose of Jericho, or the hygromctric Club-
Moss, opening in wet weather into segments, resembling the petals of a flower,
and closing in dry; a beautiful provision of nature, by which the seeds sow them-
selves at the only season suited, in those hot sandy deserts, to their germination ;
after being gathered, they long retain this property, and may be made to open or
shut, according as they are placed in a wet or dry atmosphere.

The Orchid house contains the specimens most in favor with cultivators
at this time ; the prices paid for them are sometimes almost fabulous. There is
not a day in the year when some of them arc not in blossom. Many are here seen
attached to branches of wood, or placed in wire baskets, with moss and bai'k, or
planted in the husks of cocoa-nuts, and suspended from the rafters, living, as it
were, and flourishing on heat and moisture ; the Vanilla, Yanilla aromatica, is
one of these tropical Orcliidea\ Its long narrow pods aflord the fragrant vanilla
of commerce ; it is from the hot parts of South America, being exported from
Vera Cruz to the amount of 40,000 dollars annually. The King Plant of the
Cingalese, Ancvctochilus setaceus, as rare as it is beautiful, is here in perfection ;
we saw it, too, lately in the stove of B. A. Fahnestock, Esq., ri)iladelphia ; the
foliage closely resembles brown-greenish velvet, with the most exquisite network
of gold. Other allied plants are green, reticulated, and spotted with white.

In the Tropical Aquarium is exhibited a group of different plants especially
characterized by the varied coloring or marking of the foliage, often called " painted
plants;" among them, the Caricature Plant, Grai)tophyllum hortense, many of the
spots of whose leaves bear a very accurate resemblance to the human face, more
or less divine. — The fragrant lemon-grass will be remarked, and Sir "William tells
you it was a favorite tea with old Queen Charlotte ; and he observes that the
present queen takes an especial interest in these gardens, lie lately sent her a
basket of Osage oranges as a curiosity ; " but," said the queen to him, with a pat
of her fan, " how could you send such fruit for my table ? Why, the lady-in-
waiting cut one, and handed it to me ; but really it was uneatable !" They do
not ripen in England, and were an especial novelty there.

In the " Hardy Aquarium," among the greatest curiosities, is the celebrated
Tussock-Grass of the Falkland Islands, Dactylus ca^spitosa ; it is considered one
of the most valuable coarse agricultural grasses, and, having braved the droughts
and cold, and heat of England for several years, will be naturalized. It is slow
in growth, and slower to form its great tussocks ; they and the mass of foliage
constitute thickets where wild cattle and more wild runaway sailors find shelter
and protection, and both obtain food. Two sailors subsisted some time on the
raw young shoots of this grass, which are, moreover, boiled like asparagus ; vicinity
to the sea, an equable climate, and cool atmosphere are deemed essential to it
perfect success.

THE PEA BUG AND ITS ALLIES.

In the Aloe House, there is much to see and wonder at, especially the two lofty
specimens of the Old Man's Head Cactus (or Cereus senilis), 14 feet high ; it is
called Senilis from the quantity of old wiry gray hair which crowns the summit.
There is reason to believe, from its slowness of growth, and the reports of Mexi-
cans, that these old fellows are hundreds, probably a thousand years old. No
perceptible increase of size has taken place in the long period of their residence
at Kew ; there they stand, two sturdy pillars, and there they may stand for
centuries.

Our English lady friend now exhil)ited marks of extreme fatigue. We made
an effort, however, to reach the Victoria Ilegia House; but nature could no longer
support her frame, and down on her knees she fell, a curious figure, with her
parasol expanded. Sir William was truly polite, waited for her to rest ; and we
then proceeded, saw a lily Ijloom, and somewhere in a tropical fern-house we
gazed at other things ; pencil, however, could no longer do its duty, and we only
remember the Great Stag's Horn Fern. It grows in Australia on the trunks
of trees, but here, from the surface of a i)lank against the wall ; the young stage
of it is a small green leaf or frond, lying flat against the wood. It thickens with
every succeeding growth of leaf; and this addition is alternately right and left
over the older leaves, which die and contribute to the nourishment of the plant.
A second plant was purchased for twenty-five guineas for Syon House.

Though our notes are not exhausted, we must here close our " Day at Kew"
with a mere allusion to the great extent and value of the newly planted Arbore-
tum, which promises to be the finest the world ever saw. We shall be \nnd for
our labor if we have imbued one reader with an impression of the vastness, of the
variety, and the value of the products of the vegetable kingdom, every possible
specimen of which may be here examined.

THE PEA BUG AND ITS ALLIES.

BY \VM. N. WHITE, ATHENS, GA.

Seed peas raised in the United States are found, on opening, more or less in-
fested with this insect, and especially is this the case with the garden pea at the
South. Another species of the same genus (Bruchus) attacks the kidney bean
and the cow pea, and is still more destructive. The Pea Bug seldom attacks
the germ, but the bean is all eaten except the outer coat. The insect found in
the bean is much smaller than the Pea Bug, but several occupying one seed.
Clover seed I believe is sometimes rendered worthless by an insect similar to
these

With the pea and bean bugs I have little trouble ; when gathered and (horo

dried, I put tlicm in perfectly tight bottles, or earthen jups, according to the
quantity I wish to save for seed. In these I put a teaspoonful of si)irits of tur-
pentine or a lump of camphor, but I prefer the former, and cork them tightly.
The name of the variety written on a card is fastened to the bottle by a piece of
twine. When I wish to plant them, I find them on opening perfectly sound. The
turpentine effluvia is fatal to the insect. If I wished to preserve a larger quantity,
I should put them in camphene or turpentine casks, from which the contents had
been recently drawn, and seal them tightly. This for seed. For the table, in-
stead of the above mode, the beans are placed when dry in a brick oven, in shal-
low pans; after the bread is withdrawn, there is heat enough to kill the egg with-
out injuring the quality of the beans.

OTJIl NATIVE WINES.

BY R. BUCHANAN, CINCINNATI, OniO.

An opinion prevails in some of the eastern cities — doubtless encouraged by the
importers of foreign wines — that our native toines are gradually falling into disuse.
I am happy to say that this opinion is entirely erroneous. The demand for the still
wines is now greater than ever, and for the sparkling wines, equal to any period
previous. The financial troubles of last year somewhat interrupted the consump-
tion of sparkling wines, but only to a small extent.

We have the gratification here of knowing that our own wunes are rapidly dis-
placing the foreign, and that the people are supplied with purer wines from our
own soil, than many of the mixtures from abroad prove to be.

This is as it should be ; why should we send our money thousands of miles
abroad, to purchase an inferior article to what we can produce at home. There
is no American spirit in that policy.

The vintage of 1855 was a light one ; the average per acre not exceeding 150
gallons. We have in this vicinity about 1000 acres in bearing, which will yield
150,000 gallons. Half of this crop has been sold already, at prices ranging from
90 cents to $1 10 per gallon from the press. Part of it intended for sparkling
wines, and part for still. Ten thousand gallons were purchased for the St. Louis
market, the grape crop in Missouri having proved to be almost a total failure.

Our still wines sell here at $6 to $T per dozen, and the sparkling at $11 to $12.
Good still wines can be purchased by the cask at $1 25 to $1 50 per gallon, after
the second fermentation, and when fit for bottling.

The introduction of pure native wines will do more in aid of the temperance
cause than all the stringent "Maine Laws" that can be enacted ; our experience
thus far points to this remedy with great confidence.

GOOD AND BAD PRUNING.

GOOD AND BAD PRUNING.

The annexed wood-cuts will explain the effects of judicious and injudicious
pruning better than a lengthened disquisition. Fig. 1 represents a tree of thirty
years' growth, which has been regularly and properly pruned. Fig. 2, a tree of
the same age, which has been neglected as to pruning during its early growth, and
has now been pruned in a way too frequently practised — namely, by sawing and
lopping off the branches, after they have attained a large size. Fig. 3 shows the

Fig. 3.

bad consequences of neglecting early pruning, in the case of a plank cut from an
ash-tree which had been pruned by lopping off the large branches many years
before it was felled. The cuts in this case had been made several inches from the
bole, and the branches being very large, the stumps left had become rotten. The
enlargement of the trunk had not, however, been stopped, for the new wood had
covered over all the haggled parts, in some places to several inches thick. Yet
the effects of the previous exposure to the action of the weather, by injudicious
pruning, is strikingly marked by the decayed state of the parts connected with
the branches which had been amputated ; progressive pruning of deciduous trees,
commenced while they are young, if it is to be practised at all, will produce no
such blemishes when the timber is cut up. In a school for gardeners, or indeed in
every school, these effects should be demonstrated by examples of bad pruning ;
the best collection of such is to be found in the economic museum of Sir William
Hooker's foundation at Kew Gardens, but it would be very easy to collect
for exhibition at horticultural societies and State or county fairs.

YoL. YI.— March, 1856.

FLOWERS AND BOTANICAL NOTES.

BY W. S. COLEMAN.

Our group is composed of some of the more remarkable forms of leaves, licino:
a selection from what the gardener calls "foliage plants," or plants which depend
rather on their leaves than their flowers for their beauty or interest; in which
points many of them are hardly excelled by any tenants of the conservatory, be-
sides possessing the great advantage of remaining in equal perfection all the year
through. Some of these rival in the richness of their tints the brightest flowers,
such as Draccena, Caladhun, Calathea, and Cissus discolor. We figure the leaves
of the last mentioned; but no engraving can show the beautiful variety and grada-
tion on the rich velvet of its upper surface. The centre rib and i)rincipal veins are
marked by various shades of purple and Ijlack; between the veins are silvery patches
of white, and towards the edges the purple softens oflf into a lovely subdued green,
forming altogether one of the most harmonious little pieces of coloring with which
Nature indulges us.

The pearly sonnerila {Sonnerila margaritacea) is one of the most charming of
recent introductions. It has glossy green leaves, studded over with lustrous pearl-
like spots, and in the summer is ornamented with a spike of pink flowers of much
beauty.

The curious plants from Java, called AncectocMlas, well deserve a place in any
collection where sufficient heat is maintained. One of these plants at first sight
gives the idea of a number of strange insects congregated on the ground, each
leaf being so marked and shaped as to resemble the closed wings of a large beetle
or moth — blackish green or brown, with golden or silvery veins, being the usual
coloring. Ancectockilus setaceus is the species figured. (See page 118.)

Several species of club-moss — half moss, half fern-like feathery little plants —
are very ornamental, for edging the aquarium, and for other purposes where their
fresh bright green is acceptable. We figure the creeping-rooted club-moss (Li/-
copodium stuloniferum).

There are several genera of plants bearing pitcher-like appendages to their
leaves — that best known being the s^Qnxx?, Nepenthes, i\iQ old pitcher-plants; but
there is a little New Holland bog-plant, the Australian pitcher-plant {CephaloUis
follicidaris), of comparatively recent introduction, which, though of very small
size, is equal in interest to any of the others. It produces a circle of pouches or
pitchers of curious construction, resting on the ground, each being provided with
a membranous lid; from the centre rises a spike of small white flowers. To the
list of plants remarkable for their foliage we can now add one — perhaps the
greatest curiosity of all — the extraordinary "Lattice plant" {Ouvirandra fene-
stralis), lately brought from Madagascar by a missionary, and now in the posses-
sion of Messrs. Yeitch. It was figured and described in the Horticidturist for
Februarv.

Anoectochihis setaceus.
Sonerilla margaritacea.
(123)

Cissiis discolor.
Ccphalotiis follicularis.

Lycopodium stolonifeium.

124 THE HOLLY.

THE HOLLY.

BY W.

BALTIMORE.

Thk JforticuUarist, of late, has been bringing into public notice one of our
briglitest and most attractive evergreens, our own holly ; with its living green
leaves contrasted with its red berries, and, at times, when snow mantles the earth,
and the red peeps from under the white cover, what can be prettier !

I have devoted particular attention for some years to this tree. I obtained
thera from the flat portions of our State, adjacent to the Chesapeake. I removed
in March, six years since, half a dozen without any particular care, not even
covering the roots, a day elapsing from the time they were dug until they were
set in a nursery, on the north side of the barn, where but little sun reached them.
All of these died save one of the finest looking, which was removed in a year to
its present position on the lawn, where it is much admired, particularly at this
season, as it luckily is a bearer of berries. The following autumn, with four
boxes, about two feet square, I went into the woods and transplanted four fine
hollies, one into each box. Towards spring two died, and in April I carefully
took the sides out of the boxes and set out the remaining two, with the earth ad-
hering, on the lawn ; one died in the summer, the other still lives and flourishes,
though not a berry bearer. Again in August I had a dozen young plants, from
six to twelve inches in height, taken from the wood and planted at once, closely
in a Ijox. As soon as received, they were planted in the nursery, well watered
and mulched ; here they remained for three years, and last SejUember six were
removed, with balls of earth, and set out on the lawn. I have still four small ones
in the nursery, losing only two of the lot ; these young i)lants have grown well
for hollies.

In the month of June of last year, I selected ten fine trees, from four to seven
feet high, growing on the edge of a thick pine forest, and after trimming the
branches where they were out of shape, had the lateral and tap roots carefully cut
with a sharp spade, and left the trees just as they stood, intending to remove them
last fall, but was prevented from doing so, and will take them up in the spring ;
by which time, two years having elapsed, they will have formed a mass of fibrous
roots, to which the soil will attach itself whilst they are being moved. On ex-
amining them a year after they had been thus severely dealt with, I found but one
had died. This would appear to be the best method to pursue in moving this
tree.

I will hereafter give you my experience with reference to these. Of course, it
is very advisable to select such trees for removal from the forest, as have been
most exposed to the sun.

I have always been successful with my rose and heliotrope cuttings, ma

SWEET APPLES.

125

July and August. They are set in boxes partially filled with light soil, with an
inch and a half of fine sand over the earth — the cuttings are pushed into the sand
until they reach the dirt ; they are then placed in the shade and well watered ; this
is repeated whenever the top of the sand begins to look dry, and not before. The
cuttings should not be set too closely together.

SWEET APPLES.

VERY suggestive subject title to the appreciator of
"Apples and milk," waking up delicious memories of the
simple good things enjoyed in younger years — perchance
forgotten or neglected in later days of more studied epi-
cureanism.

The suitableness and healthfulness of fruit as an article
of diet — not as a mere luxurious come-between or after-
course, when hunger is appeased and the variety and
quantity of food already taken is quite equal to the power
of right digestion — is much lauded, highly recommended
at the present day.
To such an innovation the veriest gastronomer can scarce object.
Among the staples of " fruit as a diet" what more deserving of epicurean enco-
mium than baked sweet apples ? Surely it should rank as a standard among appe-
tizing dishes. What an agreeable accompaniment to the farmers' tea-table in
harvest time.

And these may be enjoyed the year round, saving an interim of a few months
when the smaller garden-fruits are in plenty, and can delightfully atone for their
absence.

A fine collection suiting this soil and climate might embrace — ''Sweet June"
and " Sweet Bough;" "Golden," " Jersey," and "Haskell Sweets;" "Summer
Sweet Paradise" and "Autumnal Swaar;" "Bailey," " Tallman," "Ladies," and
" Green Sweet" — and you have them from raid August to May, ripening in the
order in which they are named.

There are many phases of digestive disarrangement where acids prove so harm-
ful that the invalid is obliged to abstain almost entirely from fruits — then the
luxury of a tender juicy sweet apple is readily discovered and appreciated.

Many seem indifferent to all but "sour apples ;" they surely cannot know any-
thing about the deliciousness of a really fine dessert sweet apple.

ELSIE
Waukesha, Wisconsin.

CULTIVATION OF LICORICE.

Sytionyms. — Glycyrrhiza glabm, Diadelpliia decandiia.
BY WM. R. PRINCE, FLUSHING, N. Y.

The Licorice is one of the most important plants tliat are destined to be added
to American agriculture, and it merits at our hands an early adoption on account
of the facility of its culture, its great usefulness for various purposes, and the large
l)rofits it yields to the cultivator. When the high priced lands of England are
profitably devoted to it, how much more profitable must it prove, where land is
plentiful and cheap, and where, above all (as is the case in several of the Western
States), the soil is naturally permeable, free from stones, and no manuring re-
quired. It is indeed mortifying to American pride to witness the many thousands
now paid to Europe for an article like this, so simple in its culture that we ought
to be the largest exporters of it, thus adding another item to our Granary of the
World.

The Licorice is a deep-rooting perennial plant, of the Leguminosa3, the roots
creeping to a considerable distance. It has herbaceous stems four to five feet high,
with composite dark green leaves.

The flowers, which are blue, come out in axillary spikes during July or August.
It has long been extensively cultivated in Spain, and from the commencement of
Queen Elizabeth's reign it has been largely grown in various parts of England.

The soil for the Licorice should be a deep sandy loam, or other light soil, and
be trenched by the spade, or by a subsoil plough, or by the aid of both, two to
two and a half or three feet in depth, and well manured. The light permeable
soils of our Western States, which are enriched by nature, are the soils pre-emi-
nently suited to the most profitable culture of this plant.

The propagation is by cuttings of the root, and usually the small side roots are
taken for this purpose, and made into cuttings six inches in length. The planting
season may be either autumn or spring, as most convenient.

The cuttings should be planted in rows 2j to 3 feet asunder, and at the dis-
tance of 18 inches in the row. During the first season the plants do not attain a
height of more than a foot, and the space between the rows may be used to grow
onions, lettuce, beans, or similar vegetables. Keep the ground free from weeds,
and, after the subordinate crop comes off, hoe and dress it well, when for economy
a horse-hoe or cultivator may be used. During the second and third seasons, a
crop of vegetables covering less width than the first may be grown, each year
allowing additional space to the increasing stems of the Licorice. Every autumn
the haulm should be cut and removed after it becomes withered. As this plant
spreads its roots rapidly in every direction, they will form a complete mass, yield
mmense crops.

At the end of the third summer's growth, the roots will have increased so as to
be taken up, which is usually done by commencing at one side of the field and
trenching over the ground. The roots can be immediately sold to the brewers,
druggists, and other consumers and venders ; or they may be preserved in sand
till wanted for use. If, however, they are intended for transportation, they should
be dried and tied in bundles.

Licorice is used very extensively in brewing porter, and in medicinal, and vari-
ous other preparations, where saccharine matter of this description is desirable.

WHAT MAKES A DESERT.

BY YARDLEY TAYLOR, VIRGINIA.

N a late number of the Southern Planter is an article,
credited to Hoveyh Magazine, by Wilson Flagg, on
'•'trees — their general character and advantages." The
object of the writer appears to have been, to point out
the beauties and the advantages of our forest trees, and
to encourage their propagation. Too much cannot well
be said on this subject; pleasure and profit would be
promoted by it, and most of whaHs said in this essay is
well said, but there is one view taken that appears to me
to be incorrect. In objecting to the destruction of our
forests, the writer says: "The consequence of depriving
a country of its wood, is the drying of the soil in about the same proportion ;
and were a country to be completely deprived of its timber, in the interior of a
large continent, it would be converted into a dry desert." This assertion does
not appear to be supported by facts. It may be asked, how came the interior of
any continent to be covered with timber at all ? The earth was formed before
vegetation could have grown upon it, and were it even now deprived of timber,
would not the same cause again produce it, that produced it at first? All parts
of the earth appear to be composed of very near the same inorganic matters, and
under the same circumstances would have produced nearly the same results. The
rocks and sands of the desert of Sahara, had they been subjected to the same
influence of rains and moisture that the more central portions of Africa along the
line of the equator have been, there is every reason to suppose would have
been equally productive. There are general physical causes, acting over every
part of the earth's surface, and these causes, when fairly understood, will account
for the varied effects we behold.

Why are the eastern sides of the Andes Mountains in South America covered
a most luxuriant vegetation, and deluged at certain seasons with rain,

in the same latitude on the western side of the same monntains it never rains, and
ve<retation can only be promoted by irrigation.

The researches of Herndon and Gibbons, in their exploration of the Amazon
River of South America, fully explain this phenomenon. The tropical current of
air, flowing as it does along the equator, from east to west, carries with it from off
the Atlantic large quantities of moisture ; this is gradually distributed across the
continent, until reaching the barrier of the Andes Mountains, where the accumu-
lated vapors are precipitated in heavy rains, while the air, in passing over those
snow clad summits, has every particle of moisture congealed, and precipitated in
snow ; so that when the air reaches the western side it is entirely deprived of
moisture, consequently there can be no rain there. In some parts of the earth,
the wiuds blow in one direction for six months of the year, and in other directions
for the other six months. Along the equator the current of air is from east to
west, while in the northern temperate zone, the general current is more from west
to east. Here, however, there are modifying influences, such as ocean currents,
mountain ranges, inland lakes, &c., that prevent any uniform currents of wind;
hence we see that variableness in the direction of the current of air so valuable in
the temperate regions, making far less deserts in them than where the currents of
air are more uniformly in one direction.

It is more than probable that the extremes of heat and cold would be greater
in a country deprived of its timber, but it by no means follows that the rains
would be less frequent. Dews are heavier in cultivated valleys than in those
covered with wood, and there is reason to believe that a larger portion of the rain
penetrates the soil in a cultivated field than it would do if in forest. It has often
been observed that springs augment in volume as the land around becomes more
cleared of its timber.

There is doubtless much yet to learn as to the reasons why some portions of
the earth's surface are productive, and others are barren ; but it is hardly consist-
ent with what we do know, to assert that to deprive the interior of a continent of
its timber would render it "a dry desert." It never could have been anything
but a " dry desert" if such would be the effect.

-f2^

NOTES ON PEARS.

NOTES OX PEARS.

BY JOHN B. EATON, BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

Want of leisure must be my apology, Mr. Editor, for not sooner responding
to your request for more " Notes." The past has been an unfavorable season for
testing new varieties, it having been remarkably cool and backward, with a larger
proportion of moist weather than usual. All fruits were much later in ripening
than ordinarily, and many sorts did not attain their best flavor.

Pears made an enormous growth, and have been generally free from disease and
the attacks of insects. The severity of the winter of 1854-5, combined with the
cool and moist summer, appeared to have destroyed so many of the latter, that it
was quite an uncommon occurrence to find enough of them to cause any serious
injury.

The blight has not prevailed to any great extent, that I have observed, having
seen but few thus destroyed by it, except in one instance where two rows of Glont
Morceau (in the nursery) became affected, and nearly every tree for some distance
was destroyed. This variety is more liable to the disease than any other that I
have tried, except Colmar (PAremberg, and it is rarely that a tree, which has been
attacked by it, can be saved.

Several of the varieties noticed by me in a former article, as then fruiting for
the first time, have, this season, proved materially different, some of them being
much finer than last season, among these are —

Ananas (TEte, larger than before ; more inclining to an oval form, and much
superior in quality. It is a beautiful pear; not very fine grained, but melting
and juicy. "Very good;" ripe about the middle of September.

Beurri Gouhault was not as good as last year, being rather watery. I do not
think that it will prove to be of much value. Good ; middle or last of Sep-
tember.

Bezi de Montigny, rather larger than usual, and " good;" first of November.

Doyenne d''Ete, although small, is "very good;" not so large or so highly
colored, however, as I had been led to believe; beginning of August.

Dearhornh Seedling is too small, and too apt to be insipid to be entitled to
much consideration. I scarcely think it worth cultivating.

Dumortier was, this season, of nearly medium size, and really "good;" begin-
ning of November.

Easter Buerre commenced ripening in November, with most of our winter
pears. A few specimens are, however, still in tolerable preservation, but will not
probably last beyond the middle of January. I have yet seen no indications of
its being "difficult to ripen."

Glout Morceau is, in appearance, very fine this year, but I have not yet disco
an eatable specimen. They are without flavor, and inclined to decay.

Graif Doyenni, not SO ffood as it should be, from what cause I cannot tell.

Lc Car^, very large, and ripe in >i'ovoiiil)er; hut entirely destitute of flavor,
and quite coarse.

Osicer/o Beurr6 is a very handsome russet pear; but 1 have, so far, found it
quite acid and disagreeable ; middle of November.

Stevens^s Genesee, although large and handsome, did not ripen well, and some
specimens rotted at the core. I have heard from several quarters that it has, for
two or three seasons past, been much affected with this same rotting. If it should
continue to do so, it will soon lose its high reputation.

Seckel, on pear stock, was very small, and not so high flavored as usual. On
quince, very large and very fine.

St. Michael Archangel does not come up to its reputation. It is, so far, quite
indififerent ; middle of November.

Suzette de Bavay has done better than usual. Some of the specimens were of
nearly medium size, and although rather coarse, juicy, sweet, and good ; but very
many are so small as to be quite worthless. It has been in eating since about the
first of December, and will apparently keep for some time yet.

White Doyenn6 has been, this season, more severely affected with the spotting
and cracking to which it is so liable at the eastward, than I have ever known it.
Fine specimens M'ere really scarce, almost all being more or less injured. A
large quantity of fruit has been utterly destroyed; much that, when gathered,
appeared nearly sound, falling a prey to the bitter rot when approaching the
period of maturity.

Winter Nelis was finer than I ever before saw it ; quite large, and well colored.
It was ripe in November, and did not keep long.

Among the varieties, which have fruited with us the past season for the first
time, were the following: —

Belle Caennaise. A medium-sized, dull, green fruit ; sweet, but rather coarse
and indifferent. Middle of November.

Bezi d'Esperen. Kather large; irregularly formed; dull greenish-yellow,
juicy and sweet; but wanting flavor. Last of October.

Beurr6 de Capiaumont. Small, russeted, melting, subacid, and very good.
Last of October.

Beurre Superfin. Large, dull yellow, melting, juicy, subacid, and very good.
First of October. This fruited once before, but being blown off the tree, did
not mature. It is evidently a fine pear.

Bonne des Zees. A large, dull-looking fruit, and wanting in flavor and juice.
Middle of November. A tremendous bearer ; but falls far below its eastern repu-
tation.

Gushing. Small and worthless.

Duchesse de Berri. Small, a little coarse-grained, melting, very juicy, sweet,
and rich. Very good. Middle of September.

chessc de Mars. A rather large, dull green, disagreeable-looking fr

NOTES ON PEARS.

little coarse-grained, but melting, juicy, and sweet. Good. Middle of Novem-
ber. These specimens were from a young tree on pear stock.

Doyen Dillen. A very handsome, oblong pear, of good size ; pale yellow,
juicy, and sweet. Very good. First of December.

Doyenne d'Alencon. Medium, or rather small ; skin thick, very rough ; dull
green and russet, with a faint blush; a little coarse-grained, juicy, tender, and
subacid. Good. Last of November. An extremely unprepossessing fruit in
appearance; but one which promises well.

Doyenne Boussock. Large, yellow, rather coarse. First of October. These
were the first perfect specimens which our trees have produced, and they were
quite inferior to some which I have tasted elsewhere, and not unlike a, poor speci-
men of Stevens's Genesee.

Delices d^Alost. A rather large elongated pear, somewhat resembling Doyen
Dillen, but with more red in the sun. It is, however, inferior to it ; rotting at
the core before attaining ripeness.

Des Chasseurs. Medium, pyriform, pale green; marked with russet; juicy
and tender, but inferior. Middle of November.

De Lepine. Medium, obtuse-pyriform ; dull green, with a faint blush; coarse
and astringent. Last of November.

Enfant Prodiye. Cracked so badly as to be quite worthless, and did not attain
its full size.

Fondante de JSfoel. Did not ripen well, and was quite small.

Josephine de Jfalines. Medium, obtuse-turbinate, dull green, melting, juicy,
and sweet. Good. Middle of November.

Jones. Rather small ; acute-pyriform ; wholly covered with cinnamon russet,
with a rich blush in the sun; juicy, buttery, and sweet. Very good. First of
November. A very handsome pear, which bore a fine crop, and gives promise of
considerable excellence.

Jersey Gratioli. A medium, or rather large fruit; yellowish-green, with con-
siderable russet, and a faint blush rather coarse and gritty, but very juicy, melt-
ing, and subacid, having much of the Brown Beurre character. Very good.
Middle of September. Bore an abundant crop, and promises well.

Kirtland. Rather small, roundish, cinnamon russet; a little coarse, meltinjr
and rich. Last of September. Our specimens were rather indifi'orent; but some,
which I received from a friend in the vicinity, were of full medium size, and
" very good." It will, I think, prove a valuable variety.

Louise de Boulogne. Small, greenish-yellow, with a little russet; melting and
sweet. Good. First of October.

Osbandh Summer. Small, obovate, pale yellow and red; a little gritty ; juicy,
melting, and sweet. Yery good.' First of September. This was evidently
gathered too early, as it had not acquired its proper size.

RapcJje^ Seedling. Medium ; dull yellow, coarse, gritty, juicy, and sweet
ood. First of November.

1;!2 CRITIQUE ON JANUARY HORTICULTURIST.

Fddelte. A large, yellowish-green, russeted pear; juicy, melting, and sweet.
(Jood. First of November.

Soldat L'lboiirenr. Bogaii to full from the trees in September, and did not
ripen, after being gathered.

Theodore Van Mans. Proved to be Doyenne d'Et^'. A variety received for
Charles Van Mons, but supposed to be Theodore Van Mons, proved worthless
(from a standard), being hard, dry, and flavorless.

Van Assche. Medium; greenish-yellow, with a faint 1)lnsh; rather coarse and
gritty; tender, juicy, and sweet. Good. First of Octt)ber.

Vicompte de Spoelherch. Indifferent. First of November. Tills fruited very
well on the quince, and some of the specimens were of pretty good size, but with
little flavor. It, as well as many others of the varieties named, will probably
improve as the trees acquire age. The iirst fruit rarely being a fair test of the
excellence of the variety.
January 7, 1856.

CRITIQUE ON THE JANUAUY HORTICULTURIST.

BY JEFFREYS, WESTERN NEW YORK.

And so, my instructive old friend, you are nestled down in soft, sunny, drab-
coated Philadelphia! the land of rich gardens, generous soils, and skilful
cultivators. It is well. Since your sudden departure from Albany, where a
most sad event deprived you of the genial spirit which hovered over your early
years, and directed your vigorous manhood, I learned that you had taken up your
abode among the tree-growers of far away Rochester and the lakes, where I had
almost lost sight of you ; but now that you are emerged into the cheerful sun-
light of the Atlantic, I hail the continued vigor of your career with pleasure.
We once had pleasant talks together, and if you do not object, in my old way and
fashion, we will renew our wonted intercourse — premising, by the way — that if I
grow tiresome at any time, the slightest intimation will silence my pen. To
commence, then, I send you my Critique on the January Horticulturist.

On Gardeners and Experimental Gardens. — A capital idea, Mr. Editor, as any
one who knows what trouble we poor mortals, who depend upon the labors of
professed gardeners, have had in obtaining those of the right kind, will concede.
A competent gardener, iip to his business, must be a man of mind; and a subor-
dinate, uncomfortable situation, such a man will not occupy — any longer than he can
do better. The gardener himself being right, by all means give him a direct interest
in his labors, through the produce of the garden, if a market exist in the neigh-
borhood where he can turn such produce to profit. It thus gives him a responsi-

bility, a character, and a consequence. It stirs bis pride, promotes his emulation,
and increases in him a striving to improve constantly in his vocation. Why, sir,
many a time have I known the toiling, pains-taking gardener, intelligent in his
line, far more worthy of companionship than the conceited parvenu — there is now
and then one such — who employed him, and kept him in a degraded position,
while ministering to his own inflated pride and accidental wealth. Many an un-
known Sir Joseph Paxtou, might have risen to fame and eminence through the
kind word fitly spoken, and the generous encouragement of an appreciating
employer. Of had gardeners — imported, at that — we have enough, in all con-
science ; but we can rapidly have better ones, by taking the pains to make them,
and showing them that their endeavors are appreciated by their employers.

Gardening, in its elevated sense, is one of the fine arts, and no one not thus
estimating it, need suppose that he can command the labors of a Praxiteles in that
line, at the same rate of compensation he does those of the boor who blasts out
the shapeless marble from the quarry.

Mr. DowelVs Rhododendron. — A most gorgeous thing. When you have tried
it, just let us know whether it will stand, unhoused, our northern winters. If so,
we must see about it. A perfect Rhododendron is the sumtmim bonum of floral
beauty.

Cultivation of the Raspberry. — Excellent. Raspberries — to my notion — are
the best summer fruits we have. So easy to grow, that everybody, with a little
patch of land, can have them — a great argument in their favor. But there is one
objection to those you describe, Mr. Hughes — that of their sensibility to frost —
inseparable, probably, from varieties so choice. Now, I grow a most excellent,
strong, red raspberry, prolific in bearing, delicious in flavor, and a month in
season, whose wood is hardy as a currant bush. It is not our common field red
raspberry, either. The man I had it of said it was the Antwerp ; but it is not
the red Antwerp of the nurseries ; yet quite as good, and I would not exchange
it for any of the less hardy kinds, if I could have but one. I hope that Dr.
Brinckle, among all the new varieties with which he has blessed the world, will
invent a hardy one, of choice flavor.

The Lombardy Poplar. — Rather sensible in Mr. Allen. I hope he has the
courage to practise what he so well preaches, by planting them in his grounds.
For my part, I always did like the Lombardy Poplar, although it has long been
an outcast with some people professing high taste in tree culture. As he heads
his article in the plural, and has described only one, I hope he intends to show us
the propriety of renewing some other "old fashioned" varieties. If so, he will
do the public a service. Suppose you try your hand, Mr. A. ?

Doxonincfs Familiar Notes and Letters. — The pleasure of reading them is dashed
with sadness that so accomplished a spirit can no more be seen and heard by those
who loved him so well. At his death no man, in his peculiar walk, on this side
the Atlantic, gave so much promise of usefulness as he. And there is none who
has yet given promise to take fully his place. His genius was a natural one.

CRITIQUE ON JANUARY UORTICULTURIST.

liiii'lilv cullivati'il, iuid riulitly directed. I trust we may ere long discover one on
whom liis mantle has fallen.

Frontiftpiece — an old house neirly uiodcUeil. — This is a very sensiljle all'air; more
so, hy lonp: odds, than three-fourths of the starched up things that appear in print
from some of our professional architects. It so well suits me that 1 have no dis-
jiosition to criticize it, further than to say that I don't fancy that round-topped
window jierked up into the eaves of the tower front. I supjjose, however, it is
to balance the bay window below, and give light to the attic, or garret, which
miu-ht have been done with better architectural effect by a roof light, as the room
couimuniealing with it is not wanted for the occupation of either family or guest.
The ujjper kitchen is a grand reform. Stick to the vpper kitchen, Mr. Smith.
Let your future efforts but be in as good taste as this, and you will succeed in
"country" architecture.

Railroads in a social point gf view. — A mighty good thing for the country, bad
as some of them are, even if the stockholders do cry over their depleted pockets.
Railroads have added twenty-five to fifty per cent, to the agricultural wealth of
the country at large, and given you, and me, friend Horticola, and many thousands
of others, a chance to enjoy life in the pure air of the country, while our daily toil
is mixed up with the stench of the cities. These things will all find out their true
interest by and by.

Nexo Pears. — Why, my dear Doctor, you are so flooding us with new pears that
we shall be utterly at a stand in our choice of what to cultivate, for the simple
dozen varieties of which we stand in need. But it is "the trade" of the nursery-
men to give us new things; and if they but prove good, no one need complain
that so numerous varieties are offered for his choice.

A day at Kew Gardens, No. 1. — Why, Mr. Editor, will you tantalize us with
descriptions of what we shall never see, and what, with all our longings, we
never can have, on this side the water? It is pleasant to read them, however,
and thus we will look with much interest for Nos. 2, and 3.

Gossip from the Northtvest. — "Go ahead," gentlemen. You have it all to your-
selves in that quarter. But don't "crow" too lustily over your prodigious growths
of limb, and great big fruits. You are hardly "out of the woods" yet. The
blight will be after you presently, as it has been after us — and possibly stay with
you — in the pear line; and the curculio, and the apple-borer, the peachworms,
and the yellows. They are all on their westward travels. Recollect you are only
ten years old out there in Iowa. So, don't beast too abundantly. I've suffered
a little in that line myself. How is the flavor of those aforesaid large fruits, com-
pared with the compact, medium-sized specimens? Let us have & tasting -party
at the pomological meeting next fall at Rochester, when I hope we shall all come
too-ether.

5^Sel:

THE LOWELL WIKE FENCING.

THE LOWELL WIRE FENCING.

This fencing, manufactured by J. E. Butts & Co., Boston, Mass., we are dis-
posed to think, would be found very useful in many places where it is unknown.
The proprietors say : —

Our Wire Fencing, represented by the within diagrams, for economy, strength,
closeness, portability, elegance, and durability, may challenge competition with
any fencing in the world.

Figure 1 is a diagram of a section of our fencing, with the roll from which it is
unrolled. The posts are of wood, set from eight to twelve feet apart ; but they
may be of iron, or stone ; or trees may be used in lieu of posts, where convenient.
Rails are entirely dispensed with. The fence is raised from 4 to 12 inches from
the ground, and is drawn straight and tight, or kept upon an exact level, or regu-

Fig. 1.

lar inclination, from end to end. Care is required to put it up substantially and
neatly. Staples about three inches in length secure the fence to the posts ; each
lateral (or horizontal) wire being clasped with a staple at every post. But bolts,
or screws with hooked heads, or wire twisted round the posts, answers every pur-
pose. There are several descriptions of this fencing.

No. 1 is 3^^ feet high, with meshes (or open spaces), 3 inches square ; 4
lateral wires, of No. 10 wire (one-eighth of an inch in diameter), run through the
body of the fence, which is No. 14 or 15 wire ; and the weight is 10 lbs., and the
price $2 per lineal rod (16i feet.)

No. 2 is precisely like the first kind, except that there are but two lateral or
straight wires in it — one at the top, and another at the bottom of the fence. This
lbs., and $1 15 per rod.

No. 3 is 2 J feet high, with meshes 3 inches square ; it has three lateral No. 10
wires, with the body work of No. 14 wire. It is 7 j lbs., and $1 50 per rod.

No. 4 is precisely like the third kind, save -that the lateral wire in the middle is
ouiittcd. It is 63 ll»s. and $1 37^ per rod. These kinds are the best for ceme-
teries, gardens, door-yards, heueries, etc.

No. 5 is 16 inches high, with meshes three inches square ; there are two (outside)
lateral wires of No. 12 wire; the body is of No. 15. It is 4;^ lbs. and 75 cents
per rod. It is used for ornamental garden work.

No. 6, extra, is 32 feet high, with meshes 6 inches square ; it has four lateral
No. 8 wires, with body work of No. 11 wire. It is 10 lbs., and $1 50 per rod.
This kind makes the best and most practicable barrier against cattle, around fields,
along canals, railroads, etc. Some of the railroad companies have already adopted
it. Indeed, it is emphatically a railroad fence.

No. 7 is precisely like the sixth kind, except that the two middle lateral wires
are omitted. It is 8^ lbs. and $1 per rod. It is the cheapest sheep fence that
can be erected ; and, like the second kind, it is admirably adapted for trellis work
for grape-vines and roses, for garden arbors, etc., as seen by second diagram.

The prices given above are those at which we
deliver the fence in rolls at the Boston Depot,
for cash in all cases ; the cost of transportation
to be defrayed by the purchaser. A roll con-
tains about twenty-five rods ; and less than one
roll will not be sold, unless as a sample.

None of our fence is consigned ; but a discount
of twenty per cent, on the above prices is made
to agents, retailers, and others, giving an order
to the extent of $500 ; and any person or firm,
who will make an effort to introduce our fence,
can have an agency in anyplace where an exclu-
sive agency is not already established, on appli-
cation to the proprietors, giving suitable refer-
ences as to his commercial responsibility. Re-
tailers and agents are expected to advertise. An
extensive field for the operation of agents is still
open, especially in the West.

Our fencing is varnished black with asphaltum

varnish, before leaving the mill ; the varnish

gives it a beautiful ai)pcarance, and protects it

from the influence of the weather — from rust. If preserved from oxidization by

this varnish, or by paint, or tar, or japanning, or galvanizing, the fence will never

wear out ; but the varnish will require renewing once in every four or five years.

This fence is impassable to all stock ; it does not " hold" the wind, and can never

own down in a gale ; no flood will wash it away, since it offers no resistance

THE LOWELL WIRE FEXCING

to the current ; it excludes none of the solar raj's, so conducive to vegetation ; it
does not confine the heat, like board fences and walls, which is prejudicial to crops ;
it does not occupy and exhaust the soil, like hedges ; it requires no repair, save
an occasional replenishing of the varnish, and wherever it has been tried, it has
given the most unqualified satisfaction. This last fact is attested by many hundred

letters now in the hands of the manufac-
turers, written by scientific and practical
farmers in all parts of the Union.

Our Window Xetting is of various
widths from 13 to 28 inches ; its meshes
are one inch square ; it is of No. IT or 18
wire, and varnished like the fence, and sold
(at retail) at seven cents per square foot,
being less than one-half the usual price.
Fig. 3 represents another kind of this fencing, from sixteen inches to four feet
high, with meshes of three inches. The body of this fencing is of Xo. 25 wire ;
the price from 75 cents to $1 50 per rod. This fence, in its several varieties,
makes an admirable sheep, poultry, and garden fence ; that four feet high serves
for heneries.

[We should advise that this wire be galvanized, to prevent the necessity of
painting or varnishing it every year or two, which would not only be expensive,
but difficult when covered with vines. — Ed.]

^.ife^^^S^^^

Vol. YI.— March, 1856.

10

editor's table.

Gossip. — It would be as imjKJSsilile to pack away in tliis number all the favors of corre-
spondentb as to inclose the entire wardrobe, bonnets and all, of a large family going to "the
h^jirings" in a pair of old-fashioned saddlebags ! We ask a little indulgence ; meantime we
'■ rnim" a little to gain space. — The Gardener^s Chronicle asserts that it is not necessary to
force peas into hearing to get the best pea soup ; the leaves make as good or better jnirre than
tho green peas themselves. — All accounts agree in stating that orchids have generally been
subjected to too much heat ; a few require this, but a large proiwrtion are natives of cli-
mates where the thermometer falls below zero; as commonly at 30 feet as at 10,000 feet
above the level of the sea. By thus forcing the plants beyond nature, the luxurious vege-
tation soon perishes. — A Bee-Kecpcrs Guide recommends three hard-named plants as afford-
ing good feeding for the bees. A correspondent says none of these can be found out of liot-
liouses, and recommends that the cottage bee-keepers should live in " Cottages ornes." — The
Cdrdener^s Chronicle speaks well of Professor Fisk's entomological researches in New York. —
Calceolarias, as exhibition plants, are losing ground abroad, while Gloxinias have made a
decided advance. Ferns are the fashion, and plants remarkable for fine foliage are coming into
vogue. — The Cyane pine-apples are in miich favor, and the Stockwood Golden Hamburgh Grape,
figured in the February number, all admit to be an acquisition. — The Ugenia Ugni has
rijiened its fruit well in England, and seems destined to become an important plant ; when
the fruit is perfectly ripe, the flavor bears a close resemblance to a good pine-apple ; " a rich
aromatic and indescribable flavor, being something between that of a good Pine and the
Haiitboy Strawberry, and even in gathering this, rich odor is left on the fingers.'' — A grower
(if Camellias who wishes large and perfect flowers will carefully thin to one bud at the point
of each shoot. — The Pampas Grass introduced into England attains the height of ten feet,
with spikes of silvery feathers sparkling in the sunshine ; it is pronounced " a noble orna-
mental hardy plant for a lawn, with handsome drooping foliage." — Thyrsacanthus rutilaus
is a favorite, with its pendent racemes of scarlet blossoms. — An instrument for pruning
trees is announced ; it elongates the handle or shank of the chisel and slips it loosely into
a hole made in the extremity of the pole ; if the chisel is now driven into the limb, it sticks
fist, and allows the jjole to be drawn back a little, and thrust forward again agjnnst the
chisel, with the same effect as a mallet ; the end of the pole is furnished with a thimble to
])revent it from slipping. — The Southern Cultivator for January has a long article on Fish and
Fish-ponds, by Dr. Bachman. The propagation of fish is a most important subject, destined
to prove of immense value, and but just now begins to attract attention. — Stewed lettuce,
with gravy and white sauce, says Chambers, is a dish for an epicure, and tlie roots of celery,
generally thrown away, make a princely vegetable when boiled. — At the Horticultural So-
ciety's sale at Chiswick, a Laeliu superbeum brought a hundred and fifty, and a rare orchid
tliree hundred and twenty-five dollars ; the latter was purchased by the Duke of Devon-
shire.— The Imperial Agricultural Society of Paris has been trying to discover why seeds,
apparently all alike, do not germinate all at the same time. Tlie conclusion is that the
latest are so tightly inclosed in their envelope, as to prevent or check the penetration of
moisture, and they are now inquiring whether the tardy seeds are the heaviest or the lightest,
and whether they are obtained from one part of a plant more than anotlier. — A French
savant, M. Basset, says, that the virtues of beet-root are not half appreciated ; that it is far
more profitable than grass in the feeding of cattle, and contains sucli a variety of chemical
products as to make it better worth cultivation than agriculturists generally believe. — The
Belgian government offers a prize of two thousand dollars to any one who will discover a
way to make starch for manufact\iring purjioses, from a non-alimentary substance. Enor-
mous quantities of flour are used in the cotton manufacture alone. — M. Coste was instnacted,
last year, to stock the lake in the Bois de Boulogne with fish, when 50,000 fry of various

-^

editor's table.

kinds of trout were thrown in. As nearly the whole of these have lived, and many of them
are from five to six inches long, reproduction will soon commence, and we shall probably
learn that Paris is well supplied. — Professor Way is teaching the English how to economize
the ammonia of the atmosphere ; it is to take advantage of this manure by means of drain-
age, which promotes the equal flow of rain-water through, instead of over the soil ; by deep
cultivation and thorough pulverization of the land, which brings every part of it into
contact with the air.

Jeffreys still alive. — Tlie former readers of the ITorticuhurist will welcome back to its
pages a favorite writer over the signature of Jeffreys, who used to criticize with an unsparino-
but just pen, editors and contributors, in a bold dashing kind of style that was always the
cream of the number. We had understood that he had retired from public view, and was
living the life of a hermit ; from another source that he was married! from another that he
was dead ; a fourth thought he must be ofi"euded ; but going on a pilgrimage purposely to
discover his disease, whatever it might be, we found him as full of life and vigor as ever
managing liis own afl'airs as such an able penman might Ije supposed to do, full of life and
observation, and as merry as a cricket who had secured a good place in a good chimney
corner. With some demurs, he agreed to enliven the horticultural circle again, and to-day
he makes his return bow with a "critique on the January number," which has the old flavor
about it. He is most welcome.

Faxcy Training of FRriT Trees. — It is a favorite theory of some writers that fruitfulness
and barrenness in plants and trees are influenced by the mode of training. Constrainino-
fruit-trees within limited bounds we know answers a good purpose. Hayward, an English
writer on the subject, has explained various modes, which we here repeat for the amusement
of amateurs. The following in brief is his method : —

If it be desired to train fruit-trees so as to fill a circular space, they are best trained with
their branches reversed ; they thus bear a great deal of fruit in a small space, and are pro-
tected from high winds without stakes. Obtain plants with one upright stem, of from three
to four feet in height, and at this height let them throw out from four to six branches three
or four feet long, like Fig. 1. Bring down the branches at the winter pruning and fix them
to a hoop with willow or twine, thus, Fig. 2. The sap will not now flow in sufficient
quantity down the branches to form wood branches at their ends, but the buds wiU readily
form for blossom buds and fruit. The wood shoots will be thrown out on the upper sides of
the reversed branches, and in winter may be cut out or brought down as before for a second

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

tier, as in Fig. 3 ; and, on the same principles, maybe carried to a greater height. Remove
all collaterals as soon as discovered, and as the reversed branches are worn out they must
be cut away, and fresh ones brought down. Two tiers will be as much as will be manage-
able or useful.

The " spiral cylinder" is well adapted to small gardens. Prune and i^anage the tree so

shall fonn four or six branches of nearly equal size near the ground. Fig. 4. When

these are three to five feet long, fix six rods or stakes into the earth for supports, in a circle

EDITOR S TABLE.

about the root, as in Fig. 5, the centre dot marking the root, and the others the rods. Each
branch is then to be brought down, and being fixed to tlie rod near its base, the l)ranch is

Fig. 4.

Ficr. 5.

to be carried round in a spiral manner, on such an elevation as will form an inclination of
fifteen degrees, each being fixed in the same manner; tluis all will move in the same direc-
tion, like so many corkscrews, as we see in the Cereus tribe in windows, wound round
upright sticks. Fig. 6.

As trees trained in this manner need never exceed the Ijounds allotted them on a border
or bed, a greater number may be planted, and a greater (quantity of fruit produced in a given
space, than can be the case when they are trained in any other maimer. Pear and apple-
trees thus treated should always be on dwarf-gi-owing stocks.

The Ohio Pomological Society's late meeting was one of great and varied interest ; the
proceedings, like those of New York, are to be issued in pami)hlet form, and will thus be
accessible to all. President A. H. Ernst delivered a very able address that will, we hope,
be printed in full ; it goes over a ground that the young nurseryman and amateur will do
well to study and practice, that of Hybridization. He said : —

" We have not come from our homes on an errand of speculation for selfish ends ; the bene-
fits of a class only. No ! Our mission is one of universal philanthropi/. We meet to
consult on matters of comfort and good to all ; to acquire a more thorough knowledge of the
tree, the r-ine, and their fruits — the best means of improving them — to acquaint ourselves
more fully with the nature of their enemies, and their modes of attack ; the best means to
counteract their destructive effects, and, if possible, to learn how to exterminate them.
Tliese are the objects of our mission. If we act wisely, we shall confer innumerable bless-
ings, not only on our cotemporaries, but on millions who will never hear our names; and, as
a reward, we shall have the satisfaction, when we retire from the world and leave its busy
scenes, that we have done something to promote the comfort of those who shall occupy our
places." * * *

Ouio AS A Fkuit State. — "Let me not be thought tedious, however, and to have taken up
the time that should be devoted to a discussion of the fruits before you. I am sure that,
on reflection, the importance of what I have advanced will be felt and acted upon. It is
appropriate that we take a step forward, and not leave chance unaided in her efi'orts to
improve and bring into existence new varieties for lis to pass judgment on, and assign
them their place in the catalogue. Our work of collating from this source will soon ]>e
accomplislied. It may not be amiss to remark, that as the art of grafting and budding is
now universally adopted ; that plantations of fruit trees are no longer permitted to grow and
mature fruit on the natural stock — by this innovation we are depriving chance of accom-
plishing her accustomed work. It therefore is incumbent on us to be active, and put our
knowledge in a shape to produce practical results. Ohio, with a soil unsurpassed, a climate
mild and balmy, must not be content to be an indiflFerent looker-on, or content even as a
follower ; she should aim to lead in the noble enterprise. She did so in forming the Jirst
State Pomolof/ical Association, from which we have good reason to believe that great benefits
have resulted."

The Pomologists of this country have got fairly to work, with an enthusiasm that has
already accomplished very much, and will do more.

Western New York FEurr Growers. — Mr. P. Barry has kindly furnished a report of this
ty's meeting, which was designed for the February number, but was not received in

EDITOR'S TABLE,

time. The Rural New Yorker contains the very able and interesting speech of the Presi-
dent, J. J. Thomas ; it will be read with improvement by all who cultivate fruits. lie
said : —

"The question is perhaps more easily asked than answered, why it is that while no farmer
would think of planting a field of corn to grow among the grass of a meadow, there are so
many who will place valuable young trees, which have cost them more than a hundred
times as much as the corn they have planted, in the midst of a dense grass sod ? Or who,
having once j)lanted them in good soil, wholly abandoned them to weeds ? However, dear-
bought experience is enforcing its lessons, and good cultivation is becoming more frequent,
and better understood. * * *

" I have taken the pains, the present season, to measure the products of a few apple trees,
set out about six years ago, then two years from the graft. The soil had but one light
manuring for many years, and was naturally more sterile than most of our common farm
soils. But it had been kept under good clean cultivation. Two of the Di/er apple bore
each a bushel and two-thirds ; a Baldwin yielded three bushels and a half; a tree of the
Minister, three bushels ; a Belmont, two years older, bore five bushels ; and a Northern Spy,
eight years transplanted into a large hole containing a portion of compost, bore nine bushels.

"By keeping the ground clear of all vegetable growth in an orchard or fruit garden,
whether it be a planted crop, or a self-sown crop of weeds, which is the best and most profit-
able course (unless it be sometimes that a green crop for manure may be advisable); by
adopting this course, five or six dollars an acre are all that need be required, where one or
two ploughings and five or six harrowings are given annually — afl'ording an almost incred-
ible supply of the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of life combined ; wliile without such
cultivation, perhaps not a fifth part of the same real value would be afforded. How strange
that any one should attempt to save the few by wasting the hundreds ! Squandering the
dollars to save the cents, most emphatically! * * *

"I hold the inherently wise as well as time-honored rule, that every tree is to be judged
by its fruits — by its intrinsic worth, whether Europe or America is the place of its origin.
By this rule we all pronounce the older foreigners, the Bartlett, Virgalieu, Louise Bonne of
Jersey, and Flemish Beauty, and such newer arrivals as the Rostiezer, Giffard, and Beurre
d\4.n/ou, as worthy companions of the Seckel, the Tyson, the Brandywine, the Washington,
Sheldon, and Lawrence, and other native Americans ; while among the apples, the Astrachan,
Dyer, and Gravestein will compare well with our Melon, Hawley, Spitzenburgh and Swaar.

" The truth is, we have a long road to travel before we reach a perfect list of fruits ; and
we need all the assistance we may be able to procure from all sources. * * *

" I have taken a little pains to estimate the time required for all our present nurseries in
the whole Union to fui-nish a ten acre orchard to every farm of a hundred acres, in all the
States east of and contiguous to the Mississippi River. On the supposition that all the
ground occupied by nurseries in densely planted fruit trees amounts to ten thousand acres,
their entire and continued jiroducts would be required for three hundred years to fill out all
these ten acre orchards. But many estimate that only one-ffth of all the trees set out ever
reach a successful bearing condition — in which case fifteen hundred years would be needed
by our present nurseries to plant one-tenth of our entire territory with orchards." * *

Mr. Stone said : " I knew one tree of the Baldwin apple that two years ago produced
twenty-eight bushels, that sold for $40. Our Agricultural Committees estimated one acre
in orchard as equal in vah;e to twelve in other crops, but he thought the figures large enough
at five to one."

Mr. Barry said : " Of pear orchards we have but very few in our country. One is that of
Mr. Thaddeus Chapin, of Canandaigua, which has now been set nine years. Six years
after being set out, lie sent some fruit to New York, and obtained $8 a barrel for it. The
next year he had thirty barrels of fine pears from his three acres. For those he obtained
S15 a barrel, making $450. This was his own price, and after paying him for them, the
market-woman remarked that if he had asked $18 she should have paid it (juite as willingly.
The year before last he had fifty barrels, which he sold in New York for from $18 to $20 a
barrel — making nearly a thousand dollars. This last year his crop was partly a failure,
which he thinks was owing to planting corn in his orchard, and close iip to the trees. When
his pears were nearly grown they dropped off without ripening, and he lost nearly all."

The Chester County Horticpltural Society's schedule of premiums for 1856 has been sent
us, embracing much that is of interest and value. This spirited society deserves high com
ndation for what it lias accomplished, and the taste it has infused in its neighbor
must be much in West Chester worthy of being communicated to the public thr
columns.

J. J. Smith, Esq., Editor op Hokticulturist : — Having seen in the Ilorliculturist an account

of the vilu'liar plant, I send to you a small liottle of tomtito vinegar.

The facility with which a large supply can be ohtaiiieil may make it worthy of notice.
Those skilled in the manufactuie may much improve the (juality. The juice had .sugar
added to it. Tiiat which was pure became spoiled, rerhajjs a fermenting substance added
would prevent that. [This appears to bo a very good and well llavored article. — Kn.]

llespootfully, Jacoh T. Williams, PUilad.

A Park in New York seems 7iow a probable thing, and, if properly carried out, will prove
a blessing to the i)eople, and an example which we trust other cities will not be slow to
follow. It lias our best wishes.

Dr. Ward on Pear Culture. — Tlie second valuable article from Dr. J. M. Ward on Pear
Culture will appear in the April number of the Horticulturist.

The Jane Apple. — Samples of this apple have been sent us by Benjamin Borden. It is a
seedling growing by the side of a fence in Middletown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on
land ofJane Richardson, from whence its name. It is a inedium-sized, good-keeping ap])le,
and we are inclined to think it an acquisition. If Mr. B. will forward us a few grafts, they
shall be judiciously distributed.

Answers to Correspondents. — P. Q. R. and E. II. R., &c. &c. in our next.

S. L. Goodall's Catalogue, from Saco, Maine, with descriptions, is one of the best of its
kind. It has illustrative engravings, and remarks of great interest to planters.

Missouri Wine. — The sample of Missouri wine from Mr. Haas, Boonville, we pronounce
veri/ superior. It has more the delicate bouquet of Laclirijma Christi than any wine of Ame-
rican manufacture. If such can be produced for the market, there is, indeed, no need of
going abroad for our table-wines.

The Cold. — At Warsaw, Indiana, on the 8th of January, the thermometer was 19° below
zero at 6 P. M., and on the 9th 27° below 0 at 6 A. JI., the coldest moniing ever known in
Northern Indiana. Peaches and young orchards, it was feared, would be injured. Qn the
24th of December, at Napersville, Illinois, at 6 o'clock, 1(3° below 0, and, on the 2Gth, 21°
below 0. At St. Paul's, Minnesota, the cold was oijually severe, being 27° below 0, and in
January even colder. One would think this beyond the endurance of many plants known
everywhere as "hardy." On Staten Island the cold has been greater than known there for
seven years. Greenhouses sullcred much in every direction, even where water was kept at
the boiling point all night. Around Cincinnati, just before sunrise, the thermometer fell to
24° and even 28° below zero, and it is feared that the peaches are destroyed. At Cleve-
land, the modifying influence of the lake was such that the thermometer stood around that
city from 14° to 20-' below, while a few miles removed from the lake in the direction of
Sandusky, a gentleman writes that it ran down to 32° !

On February 6 and 7, 1855, the thermometer was at 2G° below zero in the lake counties of
Western New York, where 0° is considered very cold and of rare occurrence. Thus we have
had two intensely cold winters in succession. Tliere has, doubtless, been much injury to
fruit, but our field is now so large that a moderate supply of nearly all the varieties may
still be hoped for. Greater attention must be paid to those fruits which have not been
affected. We are obliged to many correspondents for thermometrical observations, but,
generally speaking, these were well known before we could publish them. In this latitude
it has rarely been colder, or of longer continuance.

Answers to Correspondents. — Will U. U. be kind enough to give us an opportunity of
addressing a letter to him ? Thanks to J. B. P. ; but we are supplied. Robert Meston
received.

(A Subscriber.) Tlie seeds from the Agricultural Department of the Patent Office are
distributed to agricultural and horticultural societies, by whom they are to be procured on
application, &c.

)SEPu Garst.) Springfield, Ohio. 1. Hen manure and charcoal would doubtless be as
for yovuig fruit-trees as guano and charcoal.

2. Chestnut and English walnut-trees should be planted as far apart as standard ajiples,
and filbei'ts as near as dwarf pears.

3. Ants may eflfectually be driven away by a solution of copperas, or by sulphur.

4. You had better not employ any grass or grain among your fruit-trees. A crop that
requires manuring and working, such as potatoes or other low crops, that demand the fre-
quent use of the plough or hoe, will not be detrimental for a few years ; but, if well stirred,
will be useful until the roots have spread over the whole ground.

(H. S. C.) See former volumes for the cultivation of the blackberry ; it is an established
favorite. The best agricultural work is Stephens's Book of the Farm.

(Eastek Becree.) This old variety is a very uncertain fruit ; sometimes very line,
mostly partially good. If the fruit of " Subscriber," instead of remaining in the barrel, had
been removed and put on shelves in a dry cellar or closet, out of reach of frost, no doubt
more than half of them would have been saved. Pears, with the exception of a few varie-
ties, do not keep well in barrels ; they want a cool, rather dry cellar, or basement where a
cellar within a cellar — say a closet, with a window eastward — can be constructed. In such
a place the writer took oiit some summer apples and two Andrews' pears, which commonly
ripen in September, on the 4th of last January, sound and delicious. They were overlooked
on a low shelf in a common provision cellar.

(An Original Subsckibek.) Edgings. — There are few plants that make a better edging,
where box is not used, than the Sea pink. Tlie common garden thyme makes a pretty
edging, the lemon-scented species especially so. The small periwinkle ( Vinca minor^ is
very good for this purpose, besides growing well in deep shade.

Dwarf Climbing Vines, " not growing over three or five feet, and not liable to be infested
with red spider, and which will retain their verdure till frost," are not common. The seve-
ral varieties of thunbergia, maurandia, and cypress-vine come nearest to your wishes,
though the red spider occasionally preys on the first named. Tropteolum canariense is a
good yellow, and Lophspermum scandens, pink.

Bedding Plants, "one and a half feet high, to stay green till frost, and blooming early."
The Madagascar periwinkle, pink and white, has as " pretty a habit and as showy bloom
as can be desired, and flowers profusely. Cuphea platycentra, scarlet, and the dill'erent
varieties of Petunia do well. Lantana sellowii and other kinds of Lantana are very fine for
this purpose. All these have to be raised in the fall, and kept over the winter in pits or
greenhouses. There are not many annuals that can be sown out in spring and retain their
verdure till fall. The escholtzias wiU sometimes (yellow and orange). The globe amaran-
thuses (white, purple, and yellow) do very well. The following list of annuals are those
which retain their verdure the longest, and do not exceed two feet high : Ageratum Mexi-
canum, blue ; Browallia elata, blue ; Cacalia coccinea, scarlet ; Chrysanthemum euryoides,
yellow ; Erysimum Perofl"kianum, orange ; Gaillardia picta, yellow and red ; Candy tuft,
white and purple ; Phlox drummondii, pui-ple and white ; Migniouette, buff ; and the new
cut leaved, white.

Good Bedding-out Plants. — Besides those already given in the above answers, you may
try Asclepias curasivica, orange ; Pentas carnea, pink ; Neirembergia gracilis, white ;
Ruellia formosa, scarlet ; Plumbago copensis, lead ; P. lai-pentse, blue ; Horseshoe gerani-
ums, scarlet or white ; Rose-scented geraniums, pink ; Heliotropes and Verbenas.

(D. B.) Frosted Plants. — Thaw them gradually, and in the dark. If but a single plant,
immerse it in cold water and set it under the greenhouse stage ; if tlie whole house be frozen,
put up the shutters, or throw on mats over the glass and syringe well with cold water.
Plants which, under ordinary circumstances, are killed by a degree of frost, can often be
recovered from severe injury by this treatment.

Death of Dr. Harris. — Dr. Tliaddeus William Harris, whose death has recently occurred,
will long be remembered for the benefit which his labors have conferred on the i)ublic. He
was widely known as an entomologist, and his work on Insects Injurious to Vegetation, made
in pursuance to an order of the Massachusetts Legislature, possesses a practical value of
immense importance. At tlic time of his death he was the Librarian of Harvard College,
from which institution ho graduated in 1815. He was a member of various scientific au(i
other societies, and in all the relations he occupied he sustained the character of an alile
honest man, and has left a name which will be cherished by all who knew hi
Cultivator.

EDITOR S TA15LE,

SPCCBSSF0L Cultivation of Prunes. — Prunes have been very successfully cultivated in

Poiinsvlvauia. Among the Econuuiists, in Beaver County, they have been grafted on pluins.
Mr. I'feilier, of Indiana, raised prune trees in large nuiuhers, and sold tlicin at exorViitaiit
prices, some as high as $5 and $10. lie had some of the fruit at the Pennsylvania State
Agricultural Fair, held at Pittsburg, which sold readily at i50 cents a quart.

To Grape Growers in the Uxited States. — Gentlemen : Having provided myself with the
Catawba and Isabella for natives. Black Hamburg, (lolden Chaselas, Black Prince, Pitmastou,
White Chester, and Early Black July, for foreign, all of which are planted along a tight board
fence ; the foreign on the south side, native on the nortb, directly behind the fonner, for
the purpose of hybridizing when all are in bloom ; at that period two or three boards may
be taken ofl", the branches interlaced until all the fruit is set. But by taking notes when
all grew under the same advantages of the sun and ligbt, I found a dili'erence between the
two varieties in the time of blossoming, of from ten to lifteen days ; the natives having set
their fruit and grown as large as No. G, shot before the foreign were in flower, thus doing
away with all chance for hybrids. Now how long shall I retard the native by applying ice
to its roots covered with litter, its toji being shaded by the fence ; or when shall I commence
to stimulate the roots and tops of the foreign, the first by warm manures, the latter by
blackened boards, stone and charcoal under the vine against the fence, over which a little
flour of sulphur may be thrown to prevent mildew. If any by experiment have caused the
two, foreign and native to bloom exactly together, and will give me particulars, either
privately or throirgh the Horticulturist, it would greatly advance my case, and in all proba-
bility, save two or three years in experimenting ; and likely be the means of placing on the
American table a graj^e far superior to any now enjoyed. The above Grapes will all ripen
their fruit here quite well by being protected through the winter. All my experiments are
for open air culture, and particularly to have the pollen, both of native and foreign mingled
together for the hybrid ; for it strikes me, to cut off the anthers of the Catawba, and allow
the Hamburg to furnish pollen only, the offspring would be too tender to stand our winters ;
and such might not be a true hybrid after all.

Wji. H. Read, Pt. Dalhousee, C. W.

Dowxing's Letters. — Tlie conclusion of these letters we have been obliged to postpone to
the ensuing number, together with several communications from correspondents.

Grape-vine Roots or Cuttings. — Dr. Underbill states in the l&st American Afjriculturist,
that his experience indicates a saving of time by the use of Avell-rooted plants instead of
cuttings, and that the vineyard thus formed, is far more valuable, from its being less sub-
ject to injury from rotting or mildew. Where cuttings are planted, the roots usually start
too near the surface of the ground, and are then under the influence of heat and moisture ;
the growth is rapid, increased by every shower in the spring ; the sap vessels are large, and
when the vineyard is old enough to bear, the month of June presents an abundance of
foliage and great promise of fruit. The drought coming on in July, the roots being mostly
near the surface, are deprived of the proper supply of nourisbmeut, and soon the rotting
commences ; the roots also are more liable to injury from winter frosts. When you have
well-rooted plants, he continues, you can set them at any depth that experience teaches,
according to your soil.

Professor North's Address before the Oneida N. Y. Agricultural Society contains some
able remarks, for which we regret we have not space. He says, truly: "Pay 20 dollars for
the best orchard in the county, and only one man is encouraged by it ; pay the same sura
for the best essay on orchard culture, and the whole world of fruit growers would get the
benefit."

Downing's Fruits. — We learn with pleasure that Charles Downing is engaged on another
edition of his brother's Fruits and Fruit Trees of America ; the time has arrived when such
a work is required, and we shall look for it with some impatience.

Waste Steam. — The " waste steam" lost to useful purposes may be said to be beyond
calculation. Well-regulated bottom-heat having been shown to be of immense importance
in gardening, it is surprising that more attention should not be paid to economizing the
waste water and steam of engines, where factories are conveniently situated. What m
done without cost by attention to this is shown by an experiment tried by Mr. D '

Llewellyn, of Wales. From a small eight-inch cylinder engine, employed by him for agri-
cultural purposes, this gentleman conducted a jet of steam for twenty minutes daily, through
an inch iron pipe, into a bed of rough stones, covered by a glazed frame ; a journal of the
temperature was kept, from which it appeared, first, that although steam was introduced
among the stones for only twenty minutes a day, the thermometer was raised from 51° to
68° in the first 24 hours ; second, that the temperature continued to rise for many hours
after the second application of steam, until the thermometer reached 108° ; third, that at
the end of 19 hours the heat of the frame diminished ; yet, fourth, that at the end of seventy
hours the temperature still was 69°. This is a conclusive answer to those who think that
masses of heated water, or heated porous materials, like rough stones, will become so reduced
in temperature by a few hours' witlidrawal of the prime heating power, as to endanger the
plants cultivated in houses thus warmed. The experiment continued to be successful, and
enabled pine-apples of the most perfect quality to ripen. A hint might be taken by many
manufacturers, to grow grapes and other fruits by the aid of what is now carelessly thrown
away.

John W. Degrauw, Esq.'s annual address before the spirited Brooklyn Horticultiiral
Society has been printed in a neat pamphlet. It contains much matter of interest and for
thought. Such beautiful places as he desci-ibes in the vicinity of Brooklyn almost temx^t us
to leave our easy-chair.

The Rev. L. Billings's Addeess before the Adams County Agricultural Society, Illinois,
comes to our table in neat and unpretending form, but is full of good thoughts well ex-
pressed. The report of the second annual fair, and the premiums, mark a most progressive
spirit, for which we are disposed to give Illinois a full meed of credit.

Double Lilt of the Valley. — This beautiful novelty is beginning to spread a little among
us. It has been known for many years in this neighborhood, but has only of late been
procurable. It is one of the veri/ valuable additions to our sirring bloomers.

Vinegar Plant. — We are indebted to William H. Williams, Esq., banker, of Pittsburg,
for a vinegar x^lant, which we have set to work.

Mr. Glover, the naturalist of the Patent Ofiice, who was sent South, for the purpose of
investigating the nature and habits of the insects injurious and beneficial to vegetation, has
returned. The Commissioner of Patents expressed himself as highly gratified with the
repoi-t of Mr. G. in relation to the orange and scale or cocus insects, and the red bug and the
caterpillar, which are said to be very destructive to the cotton plant.

Beautiful Picture. — Macaulay, who paints everything in strong colors, gives the following
picture in his new volume : " In the southwestern part of Kerry, on the rare days when the
sun shines out in all his glory, the landscape has a freshness and warmth of coloring seldom
found in our latitude. The myrtle loves the soil. The arbutus thrives better than ever on
the sunny shore of Calabria. The turf is of livelier hue than elsewhere ; the hills glow with
a richer pui-ple ; the varnish of the holly and ivy is more glossy ; and berries of a brighter
red peep through foliage of a brighter green. But during the greater part of the seven-
teenth century this paradise was as little known to the civilized world as Spitzbergen or
Greenland."

Strawberries. An American in London. — The North American Review tells the following
good story : A countiyman of ours, of somewhat rude appearance, walking in the Strand
early in May saw his favorite disli of strawberries and cream blushing at liini from tlie
counter of a restauivant. Entering, he carelessly called for a bowl, to the marked surjirise
of several persons present, who knew the extravagance of the luxury, and rightly presumed
that the American was ignorant at what cost he was gratifying himself. He had not
finished his repast before the curious looks of the company suggested his mistake, and
aroused all his latent pride. " What is to pay ?" inquired he, as he laid down his dish, not
without a glowering side look at the wiseacres who waited for his chopfallen aspect when
the victualler's reply should fall upon his ear. "A guinea, sir." Tossing down the coin
from a not over full purse, and bridling up with an air of assumed indifference, " I '11 take
another!" was the American's only rejoinder. How many American travellers cover their
ignorance and pride at a similar expense !

PoiiuUgital iiui) ^joctitultural .^otictics.

The Frcit Growers' Society of "Westerx New York. By P. Barry, Rochester, New York.
— Dear Sir: The annual winter meeting of this Society came off on the 8th and 0th inst.,
the coUlest days we liave experienced, or are likely to, this winter. Thermomet(;r on the
9th ten degrees below zero, with a high wind. Yet the meeting was successful far beyond
anticipation, and was numerously attemled by the most intelligent and enterprising nursery-
men and fruit growers of Western New York. Their discussions upon well chosen, important
subjects were spirited and practical, as you will see, and cannot fail to command the atten-
tion of the farmers and land owners in this region, and perhaps elsewhere.

The President, Joiix J. Thomas, delivered an address, which, for conciseness, clearness, and
force, I have not lieard surpassed. It was a happy blending of the historical with the i>rac-
tical, and was cordially applauded at the close.

There was a grand display of winter fruits. I will give you the names of some of the
contributors.

JoHX Parks, of Gates, near Rochester, fourteen varieties of apples, half a bushel of each ;
superb specimens throughout. Tlie varieties were: R. I. Greening, Baldwin, Yellow Bell-
flower, Roxbury Russet, Fall Pippin, Golden Russet, Eropus Spitzeuburg, Seek no further,
Twenty ounce Pippin, Twenty ounce Apple, Talman Sweet, &c.

Col. E. C. Frost, of Schuyler Co., a fine display of King and Wagner apples.

Charles Lee, of Yates Co., a large basket of the finest specimens of Wagner I have ever
seen.

John Morse, of Cayuga, a dish of a new apple — Morse's Seedling. A veiy large, handsome
red apple, quite as good as the Baldwin, and keeps till March.

James H. Watts, a large basket of the finest Northern Spij.

A. G. OwExs, of Big Flats, fine specimens of King apple.

J. W. Seward, of Rochester, the Saratoga, a beautiful apple, and the " Golden Head,"
both very little known.

C. L. iloAG, of Lockport, six varieties of pears.

Jxo. R. Lee, of Bufi'alo, Northern Spy apples.

Austin Pixxey Clakkson, twelve varieties of apples, Beurre d'Aremberg pears, and Catawba
grapes, in fine condition.

Stone and Cook, of Oswego Co., twenty-five varieties of apples, including the Wagner, N.
Spy, and Jefferson County apple.

Hooker Darley & Co., Rochester, eighteen varieties of apples.

H. E. Hooker & Cc, Rochester, thirty varieties of apples and Easter Beurre pears.

Donellan & Nephews, of Greece, twelve varieties of apples.

John J. Thomas, of Macedon, twenty-five varieties of apples, including a dish of Mother,
very beautiful and of the highest excellence ; also Paradise Winter Sweet, very handsome
and good.

Timothy Stillman, of Dunkirk, Erie Co., a dish of "Orange Russet," an apple not before
seen in collections, and of excellent quality.

R. H. Brown, of Greece, twenty-four varieties of apples, and Vicar of Winl-field and
Winter Nelis pears.

Dr. E. W. Sylvester, of Lyons, six varieties of apples.

Messrs. A. Frost & Co., twenty varieties of apples.

James Lennox, of Rochester, Northern Spy apples, and fine Isabella, Catawba, and Clinton
grapes.

Daniel Holmes, of Wilson, N. Y., a very beautiful seedling apple.

Jesse B. Walker, fourteen varieties of apples.

James M. Mattison, of Tompkins Co., a fine collection of apples, including the King.

Ellownger & Barry, thirty-six varieties of apples and forty-three varieties of pears ; among
the latter the Easter Beurre, Glout Morceau, and Vicar of Winkfield were particularly fine
and much admired.

Some I have no doubt overlooked, but a complete account of all will be given in the
Transactions, to be published soon.* In all, there were upwards of twenty-five contributions,

* The Transactions -will contain a full account of the proceedings, hesides reports from county committees and
contributions from experienced fruit growers. It will be an interesting volume.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

and all excellent of their kind ; and, wliat is very important, in a fit state to be compared and

criticized.

The main subjects discussed were : 1st. Can the cultivation of fruits for market, on an
extensive scale, be recommended to the farmers and land owners of Western New York ?

2d. If so, what kind or class of fruits, as aj^ples, pears, peaches, &c.,are likely to be most
advantageous or remunerative under all the circumstances ?

3d. How extensively is it safe to embark in the cultivation of Winter Pears ?

4th. Is it advisable to plant Pears on Quince for extensive market orchards ?

These are questions of vital importance to Western New York at this moment, and I believe
that the facts and opinions elicited on this occasion, touching them, will be carefully con-
sidered. The destruction of our wheat crop by the weevil, together with western competi-
tion, have already prompted some change, and not a few begin to think that Western New
York was intended to be a great fruit garden for the large cities.

Towards the close, the following resolutions were adopted, offered by H. C. White, Esq.,
of Buffalo:—

Resolved, That this Convention confidently recommend to the farmers of Western New
York an increased and extensive cultivation of fruit for market, as an easy, sure, and safe
means of insuring ample and speedy profits on the amount of capital invested, and the
amount of care and labor required. ,

Resolved, That the cities on the seaboard, interior cities and villages, in connection with
the extensive demand at the West for good fruits, render it morally ceitaiu that the fruit
market cannot be overstocked to the prejudice of largely remunerating prices for many
years to come, if ever.

Resolved, That to Apples and Peaches, as crops requiring least care and skill, the general
farmer may most easily direct his labors ; while the cultivation of choice varieties of fall
and winter Pears, the Grape, and Strawberry, ofi"er promise of the most remuneration for
well directed labor and skill.

Resolved, That we deem the cultivation of the Pear on Quince stock, under favorable
circumstances, worthy of high commendation ; but that we cannot confidently recommend its
general cultivation among farmers, believing those on Pear stocks will be more safe, longer
lived, and insuring, for a series of years, as a general crop, a better return for the labor and
capital invested.

Resolved, That to insure the proper return for labor in fmit culture, especial attention
will be required to the judicious selection of good varieties, to care and skill in culture, and
as of paramount importance to a full knowledge of the best means for ripening, preserving,
and marketing fruits of all kinds.

A very short time was devoted to the consideration of varieties, this subject having been
already pretty well canvassed in previous conventions. A committee was appointed to
name a few fruits worthy of extensive culture for market, and the following were submitted
and approved by nearly unanimous votes : —

The following Apples were recommended for general cultivation in this section : King, of
Tompkins County, Rhode Island Greening, Baldwin, Northern Spy, Gravenstein, Fall Pippin.

Pears — Bartlett, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Virgalieu, Lawrence, Vicar of Winkfield, Easter
Beurre, Glout Morceau, Sheldon, Flemish Beauty.

I ought to have mentioned that our excellent Secretary, John B. Eaton, of Buffalo, was
prevented from attending by a storm ; his place was efficiently filled by Mr. R. R. Scott. If
the weather had been moderate, I have no doubt the attendance would have been larger
than any previous meeting of the kind in this country.

You may therefore record the fact that the Fruit Growers' Society of Western New York
is established on a firm basis, and has already given a guarantee of its permanence and
efficiency.

Horticultural Society of the Valley of the Genesee. — Tlie annual meeting of this
Society was held at the Court House, in Rochester, on Monday, the 11th ult., W. A. Rey-
nolds, the President of the Society, in the chair.

The following officers of the jirevious year were nominated, and unanimously re-elected :
President — W. A. Reynolds. Vice-Presidents — H. N. Langwoktuy, D. C. Greenleaf, N.
Hayward, John F. Bush, Jas. Upton, and Asa Rowe. Corresponding Secretary — H. E.
Hooker. Treasurer — J. W. Watts. C. W. Seelye was nominated and elected Recording
Secretary.

Mr. Bariy presented a notice from the President of the American Pomological Society,
proposing the 30th day of September next for the commencement of the Semi-Aimual Exhi-

editor's table.

bition of that Society, which is to be held in Rochester. A number of gentlemen thought a
Avi't'k earlier than the time proposed would be more convc^nient for those roriiding in the
Northern and Western States, who would be likely to be present.

The following resolution oflered by Mr. Barry was passed : —

lu^olnd, Tliat this Society would suggest the 23d of September for the opening of the
American Pomological Society, i)rovided this be consistent with previous appointments of
like nature.

Tlie chair appointed a committee of ten to make arrangements for the meeting of the
American Pomological Society, as follows: L. A. Ward, Hon. .John Williams, .James H.
AV'atts, 1). D. T. ]\Ioore, James P. Fogg, Joseph Frost, George Ellwanger, Isaac Hills, II. E.
Iluoker, C. W. Seelye.

On motion of Jos"ei)h Frost, the President of the Society, W. A. Reynolds was added to
the Committee. C. W. Seelyk, Sec't/.

Pexnsylvaxia Horticultural Society. — The stated meeting of the Society was lield at
Concert Hall, Janviary 15, 1856, Robert Buist, Vice-President, in the chair.

Premiums were awarded as follows, by the Committee on Plants and Flowers : —

Collection of Twelve Plants — for the best, to Robert Buist ; for the second best, Tliomas
Robertson, gr. to B. A. Fahnestock. Specimen Plant — for the best, to the same, for Choro-
zciiia varium ; for the second best, to R. Buist, for Correa speciosa ventricosa. A premium of
live dollars to R, Buist for three new plants — Lonicera speciosissima, Oncidiumsp. and double
Spirea lieevesii. Table Design — for the best, to Barry Higgins, gr. to D. R. King, liasket
— for the best, to J. J. Habumehl, gr. to J. Lambert ; for the second best, to Mark Hill, gr.
to M. W. Baldwin. Bouquets — for the best pair, to J. J. IIal)ermelil. Special premium of
one dollar to Robert Kilvington, for a bouquet. The committee notice a new plant shown
for the first time, lizalea Bealii, from Mr. Fahnestock.

By the Committee on Fruits. Pears — for the best twelve specimens — the " Niles" — to W.
V. Pettit ; for the second best, to Isaac B. Baxter. Special premium of five dollars for a fine
display of pine-apples, to Chs. Sutherland, gr. to John Anspach. They notice a specimen
of pears from J. E. Mitchell, which they did not recognize, but consider it a very hardy
variety.

By the Committee on Vegetables. Displai/ — for the best, by a private gr. to INIark Hill.

The Treasurer submitted his semi-annuai statement of account to December, which was
read and referred.

The amendment to the 9th by-law proposed at the last stated meeting, of striking out the
last clause of, "and upon the i)ayment of one dollar and fifty cents," was adopted, thus
furnishing to members the diploma Avithout charge.

Member elected — John K. Neff.

Objects Exhibited, not previously mentioned. Plants by Bobort Buist — Daphne indica
rubra, Epacris minuata, E. Copei, Camellia japonica Jimbriata, Tillandria thi-i/sijlora, Ci/pri-
]>ediura insigne, Bigonia incarnata, Gesneria oblongata, Tritonia uvaria (new), Oacidium orni-
thorijnchum, Tropceolum Lily, Schmidt, and Kennedya Maryata. Specimen — Correa speciosa
ventricosa.

From B. A. Fahnestock's — Strelitzia regince, Justicia parcifolia, Eranthemum pulchellum,
Correa ne plus ultra, C. rubra, C. speciosa, Cytisus onospermum, Cypripedium insigne, Epacris
delicata, E. Tauntoniensis, Primula albo-plena, and Poinsettia pulcherrima. Specimen — Cho-
Tozema varium. New plant — Azalea Bealii.

From J. F. Knorr's — Three Hand Bouquets, with others noticed above.

Annual Meeting. — At the annual meeting, held January 15, 185G, E. W. Keyser was
called to the chair, and J. E. Mitchell appointed Secretary. Tellers were appointed, who
reported that the following gentlemen were elected officers for the ensuing year : —

President — Gten. Robert Patterson. Vice-Presidents — James Dundas, E. W. Keyser, B. A.
Fadxestock, Robert Buist. Treasurer — John Thomas. Corresponding Secretary — Thomas C.
Percival. Recording Secretary — Thomas P. James. Professor of Entomology — Samuel S.
Haldeman, a. M. Professor of Botany — William Darlington, M. D. Professor of Horticul-
tural Chemistry — Robert Hare, M. D.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

Cahnliar of Oprations*

MARCH.

BY TVILLIAM SAU.N'DERS.

Vegetable Garden. — Tliis is proverl)iallv a busy month in gardens ; mnch, however,
depends npon the state of the weather and the soil. The principal crops should be put
in as early as possible. A few days' delay at this time is frequently the only diflerence
between failure and success. Those, therefore, who have duly attended to the draining and
aerating of the soil will now reap the advantages of their foresight, in the facility with
which they can crop the ground, as there is no gain in cropping before the soil is in a fit
condition. Clayey loams require especial care : if they are tramped upon or disturbed while
wet, the ground will not recover its friability during the season, but will remain lumpy and
crack open in fissures during dry weather, to the great injury of the plants growing in it.

Manure that is applied to early crops should be well decomposed, that its action may be
concentrated and immediately eifective. Premising that the ground has previously been
deeply turned over, the manure should only be lightly dug in : for early peas, horn carrot,
parsley, onions, &c., this is a good method ; but for crops that have to witlistand the droughts
of summer, the manure should be put in the bottom of the trench, not less than a foot below
the surface.

Among other things requiring earliest attention maybe mentioned salsify, onions, parsnips,
spinach, turnips, beets, parsley, peas, and potatoes ; the two former must be sown early to
get anything like a proper crop ; for, unless they get a good growth before warm weather,
they are severely checked, and onions are by this means frequently not larger than chestnuts.

All garden crops should be grown on the drill system ; it is otherwise impossible to do
them full justice in culture. A rake should never be employed in the preparation of ground
for seed. This as a rule. Exceptions may be made in particular cases ; but very much
injury results from the prevailing system of breaking and raking the ground until it is as
fine as powder. Our heavy rains beat such soils into a mortar consistency, and the sun
bakes it into a hard crust, through which young jjlants cannot penetrate. Equally injurious
is that old system, which is yet frequently recommended, to trample in seeds. The great
feature in cultivation is to keep the soil loose, more especially on the surface, as it retards
evaporation of contained moisture, and admits the unimpeded access of the various agents
of vegetable growth to the roots of plants.

With regard to the depth that seeds should be covered, it is a safe rule to cover them
with a depth of soil about equal to their own thickness. This cannot always be strictly
done, but it should be aimed at as near as possible.

Much difiiculty fre(|uently occurs in raising young crops in strong soils, from their liability
to bake on the surface, as alluded to above. A slight covering of hay or short grass prevents
the formation of this crust, and enables the tender plants to get through the surface ; but,
unless carefully watched, and the covering removed at the exact moment, the crop will run
a risk of destruction from its being shaded and drawn up tender. Tlie best material for
this puipose that I have ever used is wheat chaflf. A slight sjirinkling over the drills will
prevent injury from rains, &c., and, from its nature, offers no resistance to the future growth
of plants. Of course, it is allowed to remain. I know of no superior method to insure a
speedy germination and growth of small seeds, such as celery, carrots, &c. Even should
the weather prove otherwise unfavorable to their growth, a good crop of young plants may
thus be rendered certain.

For early crops the old adage of "sow thick and thin quick" is very appropriate. One
pint of peas will sow a row of 60 feet ; for late crops the same quantity will sow 100 feet.
Carrot, one ounce will sow a row of 150 feet long ; parsnip, lialf an ounce 11)0 feet ; Spinach,
one ounce 120 feet ; beans, one pint will plant 150 feet of a row ; and half an ounce of
cabbage, brocoli, cauliflowers, and their allies, will seed a bed of 40 square feet.

Tliose who have wet, late soils to work on, will find it a great advantage in their early
crops of peas and beans to plant them on the surface, and throw a little soil over them with
a spade. Tlius elevated the plants are in a better position to withstand extremes either of
wet or cold.

New plantations of asparagus, rhubarb, and horseradish may be made now. The
should be trenched eighteen inches deep, and heavily manured. Tlie former is most re

cultivated when planted in rows three feet apart, plants six inches apart. Two year old
plants slimild be used, or sow seed and thin out as they advance.

Those who liavc the convenience of a greenhouse, grapery, or even a spare frame, may
forward a few dozen pots of sweet corn, peas, or dwarf beans. By doing so, a dish or two of
these vegetables may l)e had several days in advance of the regular crop. The corn should
be put out in the ground when about a foot high, the peas and beans when grown three
inches. Sow the peas thickly over the surface of the pots, and, when planting them out,
separate them gently in the drill. They should be staked at once, whicji will protect them
from frosty nights. The above is the most convenient method of forwarding jjeas. It is
necessary that all crops thus forwarded should be thoroughly inured to the weather, by
exposure several days before final transplanting.

IIardy FuuiT. — The extreme severity of the weather that we have experienced has caused
great destruction among plants, and much anxiety is felt with regard to its effect on the
coming fruit season. These visitations ought to impress fruit growers with the great necessity
for close observation in ascertaining the most eligil)le conditions and localities for orchards.
Attention should be particularly directed to insure thoSe conditions that will favor thorough
ripening of the wood in the fall ; for we may rely upon it that this is the most important,
and, indeed, the only practicable preventive against injury from severe frosts. It is well
known that many plants which, in their native climates, can endure very low temperatures,
are, under our artificial treatment, unable to withstand the slightest frost. We are told
that in their natural condition the young wood of these plants is so thoroughly matured as
to be as brittle as glass, even to the extreme points of the shoots. This is a most interesting
question to fruit cultivators, and, although practice points to various expedients that will
assist maturation of the wood, there is no single requirement so essential, or so productive
of permanent benefit as thorough drainage, and consequent ventilation of the soil.

Low, sheltered situations are unsuitable for fruit trees, not only from a tendency to
prolong growth in autumn, but also from the liability of early action in spring exciting
the flower-buds, and rendering them liable to be destroyed by frosts. It might also be
worthy of consideration whether orchard trees are not generally planted too thin. By
planting 18 or 20 feet apart, instead of 30 and 40 feet, the foliage would in time completely
shade the ground, pi'event surface radiation of moisture, and the same amount of trees
could be set in smaller space. Tlie entire surface of the ground could then be annually
mulched by a top dressing of manure, and early in spring, and at intervals during summer,
the whole ground kept loose and porous by slight diggings with suitable forks.

Raspberries. — The formation of young i)lantations may now be proceeded \vith. A deep
friable soil, on a gravelly bottom, with the surface gently sloping, is the most suitable for
them. On undrained and retentive subsoils the canes never ripen so as to be sufiiciently
productive. They cannot flourish in soil destitute of lime. This mineral enters largely
into the composition of the cane, and frequent applications of it are required to maintain a
healthy and productive plantation. They should be planted in rows four feet apart and
two feet from jilant to i)laut, trained on a trellis, as recommended in the last number of
the Horticulturist. The usual method of tying them up in bundles to single stakes
prevents the proper development of the plants, and is ruinous both to the quantity and
quality of this most desirable fruit. Old plantations should receive a top dressing of bone
dust, lime, guano, or rotted yard manure, forked slightly into the soil. If they are trained
to single stakes, thin each plant to four or five good canes ; trained to a trellis they should
be tied about nine inches apart.

Strawberries. — Fork over, or otherwise cultivate between the rows, previously spreading
on a dressing of superphosphate of lime. Tlie stirring will be a necessary operation from
the consolidation of the soil Ity tlie long-continued covering of snow. Prepare for new
plantations by trenching eighteen inches deep, incoriwrating plenty of manure. Fine fruit
cannot be produced unless the soil is deep, rich, and free of stagnated water in the subsoil.
The roots must be allowed to descend, in order that sufiicient nutriment may be available
at the ripening season. The reverse of this produces those small, flavorless fruits which
unfortunately are the rule, instead of, as might be, the exception.

In planting, it must be borne in mind that a due portion of staminate plants are indis-
pensable to success. Upon the whole, it is a question whether any variety can excel
Hovey's seedling for general purposes. The Cusliing, Boston Pine, and Buist's Prize are
considered good staminate sorts.

Grapery. — In cold graperies, the vines will be starting to grow towards the end of the
month. It is well to retard them as long as possible. The worst feature in cold houses is
tlie liability to injury from late frosts after growth has commenced. It is therefore advisable

to put in a liot-air flue in all graperies. Tlie expanse of a furnace is not worth mentioui:ig,
and it is, after all, as simple and efficient a system of heating as any, and decidedly the
cheapest. Admit air freely when the weather is favorable ; cold, dry winds are to be
especially avoided. Keep the vines tied down in a horizontal position ; this will retard
them somewhat, and cause the lowermost buds to break equally with those situated nearer
the top. The border may receive a top dressing of manure, forked carefully over. Keep it
as dry as possible until a healthy root action has commenced. Young plants may be raised
from eyes ; a single bud is sufficient ; one in a small pot, which is the best way ; or insert
them thickly in a large one, or a box. In either case, they require to be set on bottom heat
to root freely. They will root Avithout heat, but will be late. Do not over-water them ; keep
the soil moist, but not wet, until roots form ; and take especial care not to cover the bud or
eye with soil when putting them down.

FoRcrac-nousEs. — Should red spiders make their appearance upon any of the plants, smear
a mixture of sulphur and water on the heater. There is no danger of hurting the plants so
long as the sulphur does nor burn. While the plants are in blossom, syringing has to be
in a measure withheld, which frequently allows these insects to gain a footing. When fruit
is set, the watering and cleaning of the leaves should be duly attended to, and continued
until the fruit changes color to ripen. Strawberries in small pots require a large supply of
water. Setting the pots on sods will help to retain moisture about the roots. The soil
should be kejjt drier as the fruit approaches maturity. This will increase its flavor, as well
as hasten the ripening process.

CoxsERVATOEY. — Tliis is distinguished from a greenhouse more from its proximity to the
dwelling than anything else, and is a place for the display of plants in flower, rather than
for growing them. It therefore requires the aid of a greenhouse to keep up a succession of
flowers. When of sufficient size, a few orange-trees, acacias. Camellias, azaleas, myrtles,
&c., maybe planted in beds. Movable trellis should be provided for the display of flowering
plants in pots. A greenhouse temperature is suitable. Such a house ought to communicate
with the rooms in the dwelling, everything kept in the most perfect order with regard to
cleanliness, and all necessary work performed early in the morning, in order not to disturb
that enticing repose and seeming seclusion, which add so much to the enjoyment of these
structures.

Greexhouse.— ^Attention should now be directed to the propagation of plants for flowering
next winter and early spring. Secure a good stock of Bouvardia leiantha, Cestrum auranti-
acum, Coronilla glauca, Cytisus racemosa, Linum trigynum, Epiphyllum truncatum, Tropas-
olum Lobbianum, Daphnes, Polygalas, &c. It is also a good time to propagate the various
hard-wooded plants, so that the young ^ilants may be of sufficient strength to stand easily
through the winter. The principle of striking cuttings does not seem to be very generally
understood. A cutting is simply a part of a plant taken ofi" and placed in a position to form
roots, and become in all respects a living representation of the original from whence it was
taken. The " position" in which it should be placed, and the care required, depend uijon
the kind of cutting and its maturity. The following figures will assist us in a brief
descrii)tion.

No. 1 represents a rose-cutting of half ripened wood, made off a shoot immediately after it
has done flowering. No. 2, a geranium-cutting of a similar kind. No. 3 is a point of a young
growing shoot, such as
the point of a fuchsia, or
any side shoot of a grow-
ing plant. And No. 4,
a gooseberry, grape, or
similar plant, after the
wood is ripened and the
leaves fallen. In the
latter case, there are no
leaves to extract the sap
and disturb its equili-
brium ; the root-forming
process proceeds slowly,
but without further cai-e.
No. 3 is soft and succu-
lent in all its parts, and
furnished with a quan-
tity of tender leaves ;
consequently is easily

',-^J\sr —

1 f) 2 editor's table .

destroyed. Nos. 1 and 2, although funAhed with leaves, are more matured in all their

parts. ^V^nlo, thoroforo, No. 4 may bo fully cxjiosed to sun and air without injury, Nos. 1
auil 2 will require shading from britrht sun, and should 1)0 placcsd in a slu'ltereil pusition such
as is atlbrded by the interposition of a wall or close hedge. No. .'3 must not only bo sliaded
from bright light, but placed in an atmosphere saturated with moisture, so that there will be
no extraction of the juices until roots are formed. All cuttings root soonest when the soil in
which they are inserted is warmer than the surrounding air. The whole "mystery" lies in
]>reventing evaporation and shrivelling up of the shoot until roots are formed. The figures
show the particular manipulations required in pre})aring the cuttings, and the depth they
should be placed in the soil. Tlie line represents the surface.

CixxKPwMJiAs. — Select the best shaped and most distinct colored flowers for seed. These
beautiful plants are indispensable for spring Howers. To get good seed, choose one or two
strong trusses and cut out all the others; set the plants in a light, airy situation, and water
occasionally with weak guano water.

Calceolarias. — This beautiful class of plants is much neglected. No one who has had
the pleasure of seeing a good assortment would willingly be without them. They require a
free, open soil, and no more water than will keep the soil regularly moist. Hybridize them
to improve the varieties, and save the seed carefully as it rii)ens.

Pelakgonipms. — As these advance to bloom, let them receive coitions supplies of water To
flower well, the pots should now be filled with roots. Neglect in watering will therefore
injure the flowers. The scarlet sorts are S(?ldom bloomed well in the greenhouse. I lately
saw some with large trusses containing upwards of l.OO blooms. To jjroduce such magnifi-
cent blooms the shoots are pinched close down to the flower stem.

Dapuxe ixdica Ki'BRA. — One of the sweetest plants in existence, but rarely found in good
health. It requires to be grown freely now. Keep warm and well syringed, and but spar-
ingly watered at root. Soil very porous and well drained.

Tropasolums, Kennedias, and other climbers should be looked over every day or two, and
neatly trained to the trellises, otherwise they will soon become unmanageable. Fill up the
lower portion of the trellis well at first.

Encourage growth on summer flowering plants, and shift into the flowering pots, such as
fuchsias, clerodendrons, acheraenes, gloxinias, torenias, gesneras, Chinese hibiscus, &c.
Always keep one end of the house closed up at this season, and arrange plants that are
making young growths in a group, with the smaller ones in the front, on shelves near the
glass. Water always in the morning, and keep a good heat while there is light. If the
thermometer does not descend below 35° in the mornings, no fire heat will be necessary.

Flowek-gakdex. — To have a good display of flowers during next summer, dig five or six
inches of manure eighteen inches deep in the flower beds. If the ground is trenched over
and the poor soil brought to the surface, so much the better. The surface soil being poor
will throw the plants into flower at once, and this flowering property will be maintained as
warm weather increases, on account of the roots coming in contact with the manure below.

Lawxs. — It is of no use to anticipate the enjoyment of a good lawn, unless the soil is made
deep and put in the best order. Trench it over two feet in depth, if a small plot : if it
extends to acres, put in a subsoil or trenching plough, and let the work be done thoroughly.
Nothing less will sufiice. There are no half way compromises in this matter.

Gexeral Remarks. — This is a season when many are stocking their vegetable, fruit, and
flower-gardens ; a little advice may not be out of place. Be careful, then, of your purchases ;
buy nothing that is second-rate, and do not hunt after bargains at auction stores. The best
of everjjthing takes up no more room than the worst. Deal with respectable established nursery-
men and seedsmen, men who have reputations to preserve. Make out your lists beforehand,
and, if you cannot trust your own judgment, get the advice of some experienced friend on
whom you can rely. By doing so you will save your ground, your time, your money, and
your temper.

TOE E TAYLOR i

.-. , QEPvMENTl.'.v;.
.MQ?.PvI.S SMITH j^.:

sa=£=i==^

■^S^^i

W

KA^'HELLCIB. PEAR

Improver.

Inks btrsus fillaps.

DITOR. " And so, my worthy friend, you bave turned
rural improver, and are planning not only for your own
. homestead, but actually laying out a village ?"

Improver. " Ay, am I ! The railroad from the city
^^ passes through these farms, which I have purchased
cheap, and I am enacting the character of afounder.^^
Editor. " Yery good ; every citizen who becomes
a purchaser will have cause to thank you in the im-
proved health of his family, and their increased enjoy-
ments. What is the size of your lots ?"
" Single lots, twenty feet by one hundred ; double lots, just twice
that size. In the alleys you see here on the plan, the plots are fifteen by sixty.
It cuts up beautifully !"

Editor. " And, pray, why do you follow so exactly the plan of all rectangular
cities ?"

Improver. " Because it cuts up the land to so much greater profit. I mean to
clear a hundred thousand 1"

Editor. " That prospective profit is not so clear to me. I can see no advan-
tage you offer ; no inducement to leave one closely-packed city to come and found
another."

Improver. " Why, my dear sir ! look at the prices here and at those in town !
I sell now for a dollar a foot on ground rent, while, in the city suburbs, prices
vary from six to ten dollars."

Editor. "That may be very true ; but, to beginners, you offer neither good
schools, paved walks, water, nor gas ; and as for space for a garden, except one
purchases a dozen of your 'single lots,' and that would be expensive, I shall be
greatly surprised if you have any customers."

Improver. "Really, you are not very flattering! I go upon the notion that
there is a fool born every day, and if I can get but one year's crop into my net,
the hundred thousand is secure. They won't find out that it is to be a crowded
town till it is pretty well built, and then /needn't care."

Editor. " I came to see your lots, induced by your flaming advertisement ; you
did not know I thought of becoming a purchaser I A glance at your map was
discouragement enough ; your unblushing avowal of your selfish purposes is appa-
rent on the face of your plan ; so, taking no advantage of your declarations, let
me point out to you where you are wrong. In the first place, this broad continent
is large enough to give every householder at least room and verge enough for a
kitchen garden, and a place, besides, for his children to play in, without always
resorting to the streets. I can see no reason why you should pocket an hundred
thousand dollars from the earnings of others, when they can as readily make their
own purchases on the line of the same railroad."

Vol. YI.— April, 1856.

11

PARKS t'ersus \^LLAaE8.

Improver. " I beg your pardon ; this is the nearest land to the city that can
be bought in this way. Besides, you see I have left lots for a church and a public
square."

Editor. " A public square ! Why, truly, it is a square ; but it is not large
enough to pasture a single cow, much less to serve as a healthful promenade for a
closely packed public. You should have left acres instead of feet, laid it out
tastefully, and planted it with a great variety of the best and most beautiful trees."

Improver. "Ah yes ! you don't catch me paying out cash for such things as
those ! I have enough to do to persuade people of the advantages I offer. I
have an office in town for this purpose, and advertise in all the papers."

Editor. " Advantages ! You mean to say, you design to take advantage of
your purchasers ! Now, this is all wrong. Shall I tell you what you ought to
do ? It is not too late, and if you will follow my advice, you may dispense with
your office in town, and the people will come to you."

Improver. " Ah ! I wish you could bring that about."

Editor. " Nothing easier. There is an appreciation of beauty underlying all
the rough natures and busy merchants, which, if once awakened, is sure to respond
to a good leadership. The ladies, too ! Why surely you can have few advocates
for your plans among those best portions of the creation. And, without the ladies'
approbation, depend upon it, you can accomplish nothing. What you want is,
first, to burn your map ; get a surveyor and a landscape gardener (a real one, I
mean) to lay out your farms according to some well-established principles. Don't
think of levelling that knoll ! It would be preposterous."

Improver. " Excuse me ! how should we fill up that ravine ?"

Editor. " There is no occasion to fill up that ravine ; to do so you would be
obliged to throw an arch over the whole of that beautiful stream of water, and
bury one of your best resources for beautiful results. You must build a strong,
sound dam, and create a lake."

Improver. " A lake ! O dear ! who would ever buy water lots ?"

Editor. " Keep them, then, yourself, and agree, when you have disposed of
one hundred lots, to present the lake to the residents. Place suitable trees around
it ; border with shrubbery and an intricate walk ; place, if you find it will answer,
a small island in your lake; plant a rustic bridge to it, and fill it with the choicest
shrubs and flowers. Let every purchaser have a key to the whole, and my word
for it, you will get more for your whole plot, if your other improvements corre-
spond, than for your abominable city lots, with the old arrangement of alleys in
the rear."

Improver. " And pray, what would be the other corresponding improvements ?
I begin to comprehend you."

Editor. " Nothing more palpable. Plant out your boundaries judiciously, say
with Norway firs, to be kept down, after a few years, by cutting off the leaders ;
make a properly curved drive through the place, which shall approach in its gentle
sweeps every acre or half-acre of the park! Yes, a park, for the residence of

reasonable human beings, who have enough of city when they are obliged to go
to it for shopping. Let every plot be in itself a rural home, so contrived that its
owner can pluck his own fruit, keep his own pony phseton, if he pleases, and look
out of his windows without seeing brick houses."

Improver, " I never thought of this. I will make a little calculation, and see
if it ivill pay."

Editor. " It will surely pay, and you will be remembered as one of the choice
spirits of your age, instead of being — nohody .^"

THE CHANCELLOR PEAR.*

Synonyms. — Green's Germantown — Early St. Germain.

This truly delicious pear, probably an accidental seedling of the St. Germain,
originated at the country residence of Wharton Chancellor, Esq., on Schoolhouse
Lane, Germantown, now within the limits of the city of Philadelphia ; the original
tree still stands on his premises, within an inclosure of evergreens, and is probably
more than fifty years old. Specimens of the fruit from a grafted tree in the garden
of Mr. Joseph Green, of Germantown, were, for the first time, exhibited at the
annual Fair of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society in September, 1848 ; and
to this variety was awarded the premium pfTered by the society for the best seed-
ling pear exhibited in 1849. Size large, 3j to 4 inches long by 2| to 3 inches
broad ; form long, obovate, inclining to pyriform ; skin dull green, with numerous
green and russet dots, some russet markings, and occasionally a faint, speckled,
warm brown cheek ; stem f to 1 inch long by y^g thick, inserted in a small, irregu-
lar cavity, usually elevated on one side ; calyx small, open, set in a plaited shallow
basin ; core medium ; seed §■ of an inch long, i broad, ^ thick, light brown, acu-
minate, full at the obtuse end, on one side of which is a small angular projection ;
flesh of fine texture, buttery ; flavor rich and exceedingly agreeable, but by some
it maybe considered too saccharine, which, in our opinion, should never be viewed
as an objectionable feature, since the saccharine quality is the first to show its
deficiency in defective soils, unpropitious seasons, or under poor cultivation ; quality
" very good," if not " best ;" maturity, last of September and beginning of Octo-
ber. It keeps well and ripens handsomely, without decaying at the core. Leaf
lanceolate ; young wood, slender, yellowish brown ; growth spreading.

It does well on the quince, but better on the pear stock, as is mostly the case
with all recently obtained varieties from seed.

To Doctor W. D. Brinckl^, who has devoted so much time, skill, and patience in
discovering and bringing into notice some of our finest fruit from Pennsylvania,
Delaware, New York, and the South, we are indebted for the knowledge of this
valuable variety.

The specimen delineated is rather middle sized ; we have seen many larger,
wn on the original tree.

* See Frontispiece.

TEAR CULTURE.

PEAR CULTURE.— No. 2.

15Y DR. .T. M. AVARD, NEWARK, N. .1.

Our favorite muleh for tlio pear — both standard and on quince — is the coarsest
iinfermentcd manure the stable and yard can furnish, and applied, invariably, in
tho fall of the year, that the tender rootlets may be preserved from the injurious
influences of the extreme and sudden vicissitudes of temperature through the
winter, at the same time that the soluble parts of the manure, dissolved by the
winter rains, may be carried to the rootlets that have penetrated deepest in the soil.

The same manure, applied in the si)ring-, enriches simply the surface rootlets,
while the greater portion i.-^ dissipated under the evaporation, which is so actively
carried on during the spring and summer months.

When liberally used, the undecomposed portion remaining in the spring acts
the part of a simple mulch, protecting the surface soil around the tree from the
action of the summer's sun. So much importance do I attach to this, that these
circles are made the receptacles for all the waste vegetable matter that can be
collected on the farm. It may possibly be owing to the protection thus given
that I have never seen a pear-blight in the orchard.

A part of my trees received last spring, for the first time, a dressing of leather
parings from the leather manufactory, with the operation of which I have been
much pleased. The supposed influence of the mulch in securing an increased size
of the fruit was first suggested by an experiment with some peach-trees that occu-
pied a neglected portion of the orchard, which was suffered to be overgrown with
weeds. When pulled, they were deposited around the trees, in their green state,
in such masses as to secure rapid decomposition, and thus preserved in a state of
moisture the surface of the soil, while all around, the earth was parched with
drought. The fruit (Crawford's late) attained to one-third greater size than ever
before grown, and they reached their muturity so much later than ordinary, as to
give me a supply much longer than usual, and a quantity for the market when
there was no other in competition with it.

The physiological explanation of the fact is found in the preservation of the
requisite moisture for the tree to elaborate the sap necessary for the continued
vigor of the foliage, and perfect development of the fruit. Having said thus much
of the treatment, let us turn to the character of the fruit ; and should my descrip-
tion of their qualities seem to some too highly colored, and to others to be con-
tradicted by their experience, I beg such to remember that very much must be
credited to the character of the soil, it being a gravelly loam, overlaying an
absorbing subsoil in which the pear delights, inasmuch as it rarely suffers from
drought, or from excessive moisture.

The uniformly high flavor of all the smaller fruits, particularly the strawberry,
which seems indigenous to this soil, has convinced me that some of the qualities of
the pear, particularly the _^a?'or and aroma, depend more upon the physical con
stitution of the soil than we have been wont to think.

If this is not so, the fact to me is inexplicable, that not a solitary pear accredited
good has failed, on my grounds, to sustain that character.

Deai-hornh seedling, predicted by some as but a forerunner of better ones, has
proved of excellent flavor as well as a pear of great beauty ; its waxen surface of
clear yellow, beautifully broken by the minute specks dotted over it, endear it to
the amateur, and commend it to the casual observer. When ripened in the house,
it has been so uniformly good, fine-grained, juicy, melting, and of delicious flavor,
that I cannot understand how the Dearborn can sustain any other character. It
bears uniformly large crops, and ripens through a long period — in New Jersey,
the finest of all the early pears.

Osiveyo Buerre has fully sustained its reputation as a brisk, rich, and excellent
flavored pear, not unlike the Doyenne in its buttery, melting character — so pecu-
liar has been its flavor as to remind one of the aroma of the Rose Geranium. It
comes early into bearing, but, I fear, its size, in New Jersey, will be rather below
medium.

Louise Bonne de Jersey, always a good mid-autumn pear ; to most, gratefully
subacid, very juicy and rich.

Bartlett — a Bartlett still. This season, this universal favorite was so abundant
as to depreciate materially its market value, and faintly shadow forth that "good
time coming," predicted by our friend, " B., of New Jersey," when good pears
shall be so abundant as to bring them within the reach and enjoyment of every
man.

Hacon''s Incomj) arable. — Its melting, buttery, subacid character, and delicious
flavor, are such as lead me to say — if it belongs where it has been placed, in the
class good pears — it deserves to be at the top of the list. The fruit is large, and
uniformly smooth and fair.

Vicar of Winhjield, though coarse-fleshed, of good size ; when fully ripened, of
good flavor, and of a fine, yellow color. A part of my crop has been somewhat
astringent, the result, doubtless, of premature gathering. It is evidently not
adapted to a northern climate, as a too short season of growth will give full one-
half of the crop immature at the period of gathering. Or, this character of the
fruit may be owing to a too gi-eat luxuriance of growth for the first few years
after it comes into bearing. No variety has given such a vigorous growth of
shoots, causing the tree to exhibit almost a fantastic appearance. The fact that
the wood SiwA. force principles are antagonistic forces — the predominance of one
repressing the other, may satisfactorily explain this -phenomenon. Observation
alone, with the increasing age of our orchards, must, however, settle this question.

Duchesse de Angouleme. — Large, uniform in size, of high flavor, and juicy ; as
regards its market value, deserves to be ranked No. 1.

Small's Orange — Onondaga. — Its fair, smooth skin, of pale yellow, and when
fully ripe, rich, golden color, makes befitting the expression magnificent in color
as well as in size, of rich, juicy, and aromatic flavor, with flesh fine-grained and
buttery. When better known in our cities, will rival the Duchesse. It has

ORNAMENTAL TREES THE COTTON-WOOD,

tendency to rot, and is a most vigorous grower on its own stock, and, nniformly,
an ahundaiit bearer. ]SIaturing between the liartlett and Buerre Die!, it seems to
unite the characters of both. Kipening at sucli a time, when nothing is conii)ar-
able to it in size, commends it particularly to the market grower as an orchard
pear.

Cohimht<(. — The white, melting, buttery flesh, not wanting in richness, and of
delicious flavor, combined with the thin, smooth skin of a lemon yellow ; with
great luxuriance of growth in the tree, bearing uniformly abundant crops,' and
hanging well, in spite of high winds, to the period of maturity, has led me to
purpose working many of my trees, the coming spring, with this variety. No
])ear, all things considered, has given me greater satisfaction; its great beauty
and sterling worth highly commend it to the orchardist as a market pear.

White Doyenn6 — St. BlichaeVs. — Now five years in bearing ; the first year gave
fair fruit, entirely free from cracks or specks upon its surface. Since then, no
tree out of about a dozen has borne a crop of fair fruit. While, on one side of
the tree, the fruit would be badly marred, on the opposite, a part only would ex-
hiljit the disease ; and some specimens would be quite fair. On other trees, no
fair fruit would be observed ; and yet, all the trees have made, from year to year,
a growth of wood equal to the Louise Bonne of Jersey, and retained their foliage
of healthy color quite as long as any variety in the orchard. The fruit on the
sides of the trees facing the northeast, were uniformly marred — so as to suggest
the atmosphere' as the cause or the medium of its transmission. Is there, from
any quarter, light as to the nature of the disease, giving promise that we shall
ever enjoy, in perfection, this noble fruit in our stricken region.

The Belle Lucrative, often reported as indifferent, and of poor quality, with me
has uniformly proved exceedingly rich, melting, and of high flavor, with a juicy
flesh of fine texture. None has been more honeyed — fully equalling, in this
respect, the Seckel. It has exhibited a tendency to overbear. When properly
thinned, the fruit is uniform in size, and large. The Seckel, Winter Nelis,
Easter Beurre, Glout IVIorceau, and Beurre Diel, merit the praise awarded them.

(to be COXTIXrED.)

ORNAMENTAL TREES— THE COTTON-WOOD.

BY LEWIS P. ALLEN, BLACK ROCK, N. Y.

My northern readers may not recognize this well-known tree under this popular
name, which it commonly bears in the Southwestern States. It is the Populns
Canadensis of the books.

There are two or three varieties of this family of Poplar. They are frequently
called "Balm of Gilead" by country people ; yet they are the true cotton-wood,

' Tlie prevailing storms, during the autiimual months, are from the northeast.

-^^^

ORNAMENTAL TREES-

called so, probably, from their shedding a short, cottony fibre from the pod inclos
ing their seeds, which, in this latitude, 45° north, is about the 20th of June,

When in good grounds, it is a noble, stalwart tree, attaining the largest size,
with a high, spreading top, the limbs striking out at some distance apart, the leaf
heart-shaped, and about three inches broad, and, like other poplars, with a tremu-
lous, vibrating motion in the slightest breeze. It luxuriates in a free, open, moist
soil, and, in river bottoms, is unsurpassed in size and grandeur. It grows thriftily
in all good uplands, preferring a clayey loam, but not averse to even thin and
hungry soils. On the deep and rich alluvions of the western rivers, I have seen
young trees, of a single summer's growth, fifteen feet high. The upper wood of
the limbs is sometimes brittle, and more liable to break in tempests than the elm ;
yet they withstand the winds quite as well as most others. They are tenacious of
life, and bear mutilation of the roots, in transplanting, with little injury to their
growth. The color of the stems and branches is a light drab, producing a beau-
tiful contrast with the elm and maple; and, although not affording so dense a
shade as they, yet sufficient for all common purposes. To produce a rapid cover-
ing, no tree is its equal. For avenue, lawn, or front planting, they should not be
abundant ; yet, thrown in occasionally with others, in spreading grounds, their
effort is noble and imposing. Like the Lombardy poplar, standing alone, they
are a conspicuous laud-mark, partaking of the grand, while the other is pictur-
esque. In February and March, they throw out numerous clusters of brown
flower buds, and leaf out with the earliest, while they retain their foliage among
the latest of our forest trees. Near a stable, a barn, or an out-building, they
produce a fine effect, withstanding the rubbing and tramping of animals, and
throwing their shadows far and wide, while their strong and hardy habits are in
keeping with the homely uses of the buildings they thus adorn. They should not
be planted in too close contiguity with the dwelling, as their strong roots will
penetrate under the walls, if not laid deep, and with strong mortar ; yet, at a
distance of fifty or a hundred feet, they give no inconvenience. Song-birds love
to perch on their lofty limbs, and sing by the hour among their fragrant tops, for
they are delightfully fragrant when in flower, and, at this time, are enlivened with
the constant hum of bees. I have a noble one near my stable, sixty feet high, and
about thirty years old, in which a pair of orioles have nested for several seasons,
swinging their cosy habitation from one of the high outer limbs, and taking a
world of delight in trilling out their songs on a sunny morning.

Of a rapid growth, no tree will form so ready a shade as this, and, to cover a
naked spot, they are the most available. They are wonderfully suited to prairie
planting in the west, both for protection and fuel : and, as adding to variety in
any grounds, the use of the cotton-wood should not be neglected. Flourishing,
too, as they will, in all the climates of the United States, they can be safely adopted
everywhere on our farms and pleasure-grounds, with a trifling cost. Nurserymen
should plant them, and they should be cheaply distributed ; and, although they
both grace and ennoble the grounds of the rich, they can as well orn

DOWNINO'S LETTERS.

the dwelling of the lowly. For school-grounds they are particularly iii)iiro))riiite.
They can stand the boys, and throw a grateful shade over their wild gambols wliiie
bcariiiLj stronfrly up under their reckless embraces.

[Thoug'h Foucault, who studied this tree, calls it more picturesque than the
Caroliuiau, we should not venture to recommend it in any plantation of an artistic
or very select kind. For rapid growth and early flowering, it is only rivalled by
the Populus grandidentata, a very interesting tree, both for the character of its
head, and for its peculiar colored bark. The cotton from the flowers may be
objectionable near a dwelling. The fine avenues in the lower parts of the garden
at Versailles, are of this species. — Ed.]

DOWXING'S FAMILIAR LETTERS. — (Concluded.)

No. in.

A LITTLE playful suggestion that he had grown in favor with newer friends,

brought the following reply : —

Newburgii, March 17, 1850.

My Dear Friend : If it were not for this horrible storm, I think I should
endeavor to see you this evening at the Astor House.

If I have, as you say, been unusually silent lately, it is because I have been
" immersed in affairs," and not because I have been busy with new friends ; for I
have never sat so unceasingly at my writing-table as for the past three months, and
I hope I shall soon have something to show for it.

You are, I hear, going again to England. If you stay long enough to run
about a little, cannot you give me a letter or two oi Parhomania for my Horticultu-
rist ? This is, I believe, all I have to ask, though I may perchance address you
a letter to the care of your London Banker's, after you have sailed.

Yours, with esteem,

A. J. DOWNING.

NEWErRGir, March 22, 1851.

My Dear Sir : I was so unlucky as not to get your letter till after it was too
late to profit by it, I reached Philadelphia somewhere between midnight and
daylight that Saturday evening, and after taking a decent allowance of rest,
I promised myself the pleasure of spending part of the day (Sunday) with you.
But, to my great disappointment, no railroad cars ran to Germantown on Sunday,
at least, not till five o'clock, and, on inquiring about a carriage, I found they
asked the moderate price of $7 to take me and bring me back — more than I could
afford. So I reluctantly wasted my time till the afternoon train. But I don't
despair of sitting under your roof yet. If I had got your letter in time to have
written you, and found your chaise in waiting, all would have goue quite right.

If you have any time to bestow on a friend, won't you send me eight or ten
s, if you can spare them, of the Giant Ivy you were so good as to promise

DOWNING'S LETTERS.

me ? and, also, command me touching some choice fruit trees, if you think I can
be of any service in that matter. Yours, with esteem,

A. J. DOWNING.
To J. Jay Smith, Esq.

Newbukgh, April 10, 1851.
My Dear Friend : The Ivy plants have arrived in the best order, much to my
gratification. I went up to the nursery, and selected the fruit trees myself ; they
will reach you this week. If you will have large holes prepared for them in your
garden, with plenty of leached ashes, and lime-rubbish, and manure in the soil, I
will warrant you to have the finest fruit. Your Philadelphia soil is worn out in
the mineral food, that is all.

One bushel lime rubbish from old walls, &c., and a barrowful of leached ashes
to each tree ; hole, three feet wide, twenty inches deep.

I am just on the wiug for Washington. Pray drop me a line on receipt of this,
saying if you will be at home about the middle of next week, and believe me.

Yours sincerely,

A. J. DOWNING.
To J. Jay Sjiith, Esq.

Washixgtox, April 16, 1851.
My Dear Friend : I believe I must give up reaching your house, at present,
in despair, as the fates are against me. The weather has delayed my operations
here so much, that I cannot leave till Thursday ; and I have letters from home
which will force me to go on directly. There are a number of matters that I want
to consult you about, and I regret sincerely that I must lose another hoped-for
opportunity. Yours, sincerely,

A. J. DOWNING.
To J. Jay Smith, Esq.

Washington, Oct. 30, 1851.

My Dear Sir : I thank you most heartily for your letter and the communication.
* * I did not knoWj till a few weeks ago, that you were in the country — sup-
posing you again amusing yourself in Europe.

I hope to be able to spend a night at your house on my way home, and will let
you know a day beforehand. I wish very much to see and have a long chat with
you.

I am deeply immersed in practical works — architectural and rural — turning my
theories iuto practice all over the country. Sincerely yours,

A. J. DOWNING.

J. Jay Smith, Esq.

Col. Eastwick, the present proprietor of Bartrara's Garden, had requested us to
engage Mr. Downing's services in laying out the additional ground near his superb
mansion, but Mr. D.'s engagements were too numerous to comply. He then
charged twenty dollars a day and his expenses, for engagements of this kind, and
was constantly obliged to decline new ones.

In the midst of this great and unrivalled success, he was cut oflT, and the country
deprived of services such as were greatly needed in our growing prosperity.

The following was the last note we find from this admirable man, praocful
wiitiT, and warm friend. In the summer of 1852, he was numbered with llie dead,
takon, as we arc fain to think, prematurely from the midst of his usefulness : —

Newbcrou, March 21), 1852.

Mv Dk.ar Friend : I am, diirina; this whole month, so deei)ly engaged, that I
four I shall have to decline Colonel Eastwick's commission, however reluctantly.
I really begin now to despair of seeing you at Germantown. I have made three
decided efforts to do so ; the first last fall — when I was taken ill, in Philadelphia,
with the pleurisy, and kept two days at the TJ. S. Hotel, glad to crawl home as
soon as possible. The second time, this spring — but was laid hold of by a gen-
tleman in Baltimore, on my way there, who would have the time on his place that
I meant to devote to you. I am really a man of no leisure — except after dinner,
at home. I wish I could show you my " Bureau of Architecture," in my new
wing of my residence — full of commissions, and young architects, and planning
for all parts of the country.

I am en route to Washington, to-morrow — planting some fine trees from Eng-
land at this season. Your friend,

A. J. DOWNING.

To J. Jay Smith, Esq.

THE TWELVE BEST EVERGREEN TREES.

BY THOMAS MEEHAN.

The cpiestion has been asked me, "what twelve evergreen trees would you
recommend as best adapted to general purposes?" It is rather a difficult ques-
tion to answer satisfactorily, as, under some circumstances, one particular kind
would be preferable to another. Where there is i)lenty of room, a strong grower
would be better than one of humbler aspirations, and one might look wonderfully
well on a hill-top, that would look very indifferent, or out of place on a level piece
of ground.

But, taking all things together, for " general purposes" I would place as

No. 1, the Norway Spruce. — It is a peculiarly useful tree, its character adapt-
ing it to highly artistic scenery, and, at the same time, to wild and rugged situa-
tions, in either of which it has a very grand effect. In places where it is not an
object that the general effect should be of the first order in an artistic point of
view, the Norway Spruce is very valuable. Nothing can excel it as a fast grow-
ing evergreen for a screen to shut off disagreeable views, or afford shelter from
cold winds. It will also bear the shears tolerably well, and make a very fair orna-
mental hedge, though, in that respect, not equal to

No. 2, Hemlock Spruce. — This, I believe, all landscape gardeners concede to
be the handsomest of evergreen trees. The Hemlock looks well anywhere. It
does not do well, however, in stiff, heavy soils. As a single object on a lawn,
is nothing to go ahead of it, unless, perhaps,

THE TWELVE BEST EVERGREEN TREES,

No. 3, the Deodar. — It is still a question with many arboriculturists, whether
this ought to be considered v^ perfectly hardy tree. So far as my own experience
goes, I should decidedly say that it is. The season of 1854-5 is an extreme case.
That in some few and unfavorable locations it was killed, proves nothing against
its general hardiness. My own specimens, entirely unprotected, and in soil which
many would call wet, were quite uninjured, while, not a hundred yards from them,
some Balm of Gileads, probably twenty years old, lost many of their smaller side
branches ; yet, who would pronounce the Balm of Gilead a tender tree ? The
Deodar is a very rapid grower, more so than the Hemlock, though not equalling
the Norway. Its gray color gives an interest to it, which ornamental planters
seek to take great advantage of, and thus, though thousands are annually im-
ported, it still continues scarce.

No. 4, Balm of Gilead. — There will, I am sure, be many who will be inclined
to dispute the propriety of placing this fourth on my list. It is, however, a first-
rate tree for small gardens, where soil is deep and rich. In poor soils, it becomes
a poor, pitiful object, and it is when seen in such situations that it receives such
a general condemnation. It seldom grows more than forty or fifty feet high in
this latitude, and is a very useful tree to plant by straight walks in confined
situations, with which it harmonizes extremely well.

No. 5, Silver Fir. — Though this is one of the most beautiful of our stiff-grow-
ing, formal-looking evergreens, I am not quite satisfied in placing it before the
next, for "general purposes." It is a tree to be looked at only. It will not
associate well with other trees, nor do they make a good group of themselves
together. As single specimens on lawns of some extent, and contiguous to large
mansion-houses, or elegant buildings of any kind, it cannot be surpassed.

No. 6, White Pine, is a very valuable tree, though, like the BaJm of Gilead, it is
liable to get a bad character when grown on poor or improper soils. It is a kind
that loves manure. In a moist, rich loam, it grows very rapidly, and forms a
beautiful object as it grows. When growing in partial shade, it soon becomes
unsightly. It glories only in the light ; where this can be commanded, and plenty
of space afforded, plant the White Pine — under other circumstances, it is not so
desirable.

No. *7, Austrian Pine. — A very rapid grower, and one that looks well in even
poor soils. It has too coarse an appearance when in confined situations or small
places, but where there is anything like room, it is in good keeping. It is being
very extensively planted in country-seats.

No. 8, Scotch Pine. — Very valuable in poor, rocky, or sandy soils, where few
other evergreens will look well ; though it also will show its gratitude for a few
barrowfuls of good leaf soil, thrown into the hole prepared for it.

No. 9, Bholan Pine. — Though not many years since introduced from the

Himalayas, is becoming a general favorite. It resembles the white pine, but has

longer leaves, and of a silvery whiteness, and is adapted to pretty much the same

ties and conditions.

THE FUCHSIA.

No. 10, American Arbor Vita. — As a small tree for small gardens, this is very
(li'siral)le ; it will do better in poorer soil than the succeeding. It also makes very
handsome, ornamental hedges.

No. 11, Chinese Arbor Vitce. — Does well only when growing in a deep, rich
loam. Then it makes a very handsome, small tree, having, for its only fault, a
tendency to become brown in winter. In poor soils, it is a poor looking tree,
indeed. When it gets to this condition, if the branches be pruned within a few
inches of the trunk, and the soil around the roots dug up and manured, it makes
a very handsome ol>jcct, indeed. On the grounds of G. W. Carpenter, German-
town, l\Mina., where the soil seems congenial to it, it forms some of the hand-
somest small trees that are to be seen within many miles.

No. 12, TJie American Holly, which I am sorry to put last on my list for
" general purposes ;" I am, nevertheless, bound to say, is not inferior in beauty to
any of the others. Indeed, I do not know of anything which, in its season, is
more beautiful than an American Holly in prime health, and covered with its fine,
scarlet berries. It thrives either in sun or shade, and especially in a moist, sandy
loam. Though very hardy, it is much benefited by having its roots protected in
winter. A few inches of long manure, or leaves, is all that is required. It makes
a very beautiful evergreen hedge, and to raise seed for this purpose, they must be
kept constantly moist from the time of sowing. If once allowed to get dry, the
outer shell hardens, and they will often lie several years in the ground before
growing, if the mice, which are very fond of them, leave them untouched for that
period.

These twelve evergreens that I have recommended for general purposes, arc
amongst some of the commonest, I admit. Many of the rarer ones will doubtless
compete favorabl]^ on more extended trials ; but these have yet to be made ; and
it has therefore fallen to my lot to describe what is now rather than what will be.

[Mr. Meehan has experience, but we must differ from him in placing the Balm
of Gilead so near the top of his list — if, indeed, it should be placed there at all.
Under highly favorable circumstances, it has a i)criod of great beauty ; it is but
brief, however, in this vicinity, and, after twenty years, it becomes a " shabby
fellow," whose bad clothing a well-trained dog would bark at as belonging to a
beggar. With this exception, the list is a good one ; and we would substitute
for the Balm, Cedar of Lebanon, or Pinus excelsa. — Ed.]

THE FUCHSIA.

BY T. APPLEBY.

It has frequently been a matter of surprise to me that the lovely, elegant, long-
blooming Fuchsia, has not been more planted in masses in the bedding-out
gardens. I am sure it has everything to recommend it. In the first place, it
is easily kept through the winter ; all that it requires is to be kept moderately

dry and free from frost. It may be kept alive in a dry room ; in a dark cellar ;
under the stage of the greenhouse; in cold pits or frames, without any covering;
or even will keep alive if buried under a heap of coal-ashes. It is easily propa-
gated ; every cutting will grow if taken off very young, planted in sand, and
placed in gentle heat, under a hand-glass. Then, again, it may be planted out
as early as May, and will flower till frost comes. It grows dense, and flowers
most profusely, producing its coral-like blossoms most constantly. Surely, all
these good qualities ought to induce flower-gardeners to patronize and cultivate
this charming plant more than they do. The fact, however, is, that varieties are
planted out that are utterly unfit for that purpose. Because a variety, grown in
a pot in the greenhouse, produces there extraordinary flowers, it is thought fit for
the flower-bed. It is then planted out and fails, flowering only for a short time.
ISTow, to plant such large-flowering varieties not only leads to disappointment, but
throws a slur upon the Fuchsia that it does not deserve. These ideas frequently
passed through my mind when customers came in for bedding-plants, and almost
invariably passed by the Fuchsias, because, they said, they did not flower enough.
What a mistaken idea 1 Choose the right varieties for bedding, and no plant
— no, none whatever — flowers more freely.

I have seen Fuchsias in the open air, with stems as thick as my wrist, and
higher than any man I ever saw, as full of flowers as ever you saw an Oak-tree
full of leaves ; and I did not travel into their native country, the mountains of
Chili, to meet with such splendid specimens. No ; I only crossed the sea from
Fleetwood, in Lancashire, to Belfast, in Ireland. There, in a garden at Holly-
wood, I saw Fuchsia coccinea, F. cornea, F. fulgens, and F. macrostemon, of
immense size, growing in the open air constantly. It is true that locality is near
the sea, and, consequently, the frosts are neither severe nor lasting ; but that says
nothing ; such plants could be kept alive in any cultivated part of Great Britain
with such protection as I have mentioned above.

In the warmer parts of Britain, the Fuchsia will live out constantly, though, in
severe winters, it will generally be cut down to the ground ; therefore I would
recommend them always to be taken up and stowed away, in preference to leaving
them in the ground ; and for these reasons — they are not sure to survive a very
hard frost. If they do, they form such rank bushes that they are far from being
handsome, and, beside that, they do not all grow alike. Whereas, if they arc
taken up and stowed away, the ground or beds may be well trenched ; the soil
renewed, if necessary, and the plants put out in such positions, according to their
strength, that the tallest and strongest will be in the centre of the bed, and the
weakest at the sides, so that they will form a kind of amphitheatre of flowers when
in bloom, and every plant will be seen. So grown, no plants require less care.
They grow thick enough to choke up all weeds. The foliage shades the ground,
so that the sun has no power to dry up or parch the land, and they require no
water, and are less subject to be preyed upon by insects than any plant I know. \
these hints and praises, which, I trust, will induce many to try Fuchsias

TRANSFORMED PEARS,

n larger scale than they have done, I now proceed to give my list of such kinds as
I IvHOW will answer for bedding purposes.

Flciisia coccinea. — This is the first Fuchsia that was introduced into Great
Britain. It has small leaves, and rather small flowers; is very hardy, and blooms
profusely.

F. coNiCA. — I fear this species is almost out of cultivation. I know none so
fitting to form standards, because it has such a robust, tree-like habit. Planted
in the centre of a bed of Verbenas, or other low-growing flowers, such standards
break the tame, level line, and give a graceful variety, in form, to the general
aspect of the flower-garden.

F. CORALLINA. — A well-known, strong-growing variety, suitable for a large bed,
or to train up to a single stem, to form a weeping tree. The stems and leaves are
peculiarly handsome.

F. GLOBOSA. — I do like this good old Fuchsia with its scarlet globes. It is
peculiarly suitable for bedding ; flowering freely, even when not more than four
inches high ; hence, it is a proper sort for smallish beds.

F. FULGENS. — This is one of the large-leaved species, with long, ear-ring-like
drops of flowers, produced in heads at the ends of the shoots. Grown three or
four feet high, with woody stems ; kept alive for years in some back shed, or
under the greenhouse stage, and planted out in spring. I know no plant more
showy through July, August, and September.

F. GRACILIS. — A rather tall, slender-growing species, but a most abundant
bloomer, with elegant, long-tubed flowers. "Very attractive for a long season.

F. MiCROPHYLLA. — The most dwarf of all Fuchsias, with beautiful stems, leaves,
and flowers. It is a little gem for a small bed ; but requires the greenhouse in
winter.

F. RiCARTONn. — This is, without doubt, the hardiest of all the genus, and, as
it has small leaves, it shows ofi" its blooms most perfectly. It is the most proper
of all for bedding, though it will, if the soil is too rich, grow to a large size.

[Any experienced florist can apply these remarks from the Cottage Gardener. —
Ed.]

TRANSFORMED PEARS.

Burlington, Iowa.
J. Jay Smith, Esq. — Dear Sir : I send you, by mail, a specimen of a nodule
or transformed pear, which grew in a garden in this place. Have you ever seen
anything like it ? Truly yours,

J. F. TALLANT, M. D.

Not exactly ; but the tree has sometimes curious sports like others. Occasion-
ally, the centre of a flower lengthens, and bears its parts upon its sides, both in the
and apple, whose fruit is often found in the state of a short branch. Still more

TRANSFORMED PEARS,

rarely, a flower lengthens, and produces, from the axils of its parts, other flowers,
arranged over its sides, as in the double pineapple.

The following cuts, which we take from a foreign publication, represent three
pears, produced in different places and in different conditions. To use a gar-
dener's phrase, there was, at first, no difi'erence between the blossom-bud and the
fruit-bud, but, after a time, the parts which were identical, begin to be organized
differently ; in the blossom-bud, they gradually change into sepals, petals, stamens,
and carpels ; in the wood-bud, they become young leaves. But, if anything occurs
to disturb the development of the blossom-bud as a blossom, then it becomes
a wood-bud, or approaches that state more or less, according to the period at
which the disturbing force began to act. It thus appears, Dr. Lindley thinks, that
whether a bud becomes a flower or a branch, depends entirely upon some un-
known force, which acts at a particular moment upon parts originally of identical
nature and quality, and capable of becoming leaves ; if this action is complete,
a flower is the result ; if altogether withheld, then the rudimentary parts, not
having their nature changed, proceed to acquire the condition of leaves. Hence
it is, that when, from some accident, such as unusual heat and wet at a critical
moment, exuberance caused by the excessive application of rank (azotized)
manure, or any circumstances of a similar nature, the usual order of development
is disturbed, flowers are not formed, or we have them converted into tufts and
leaves, or even branches, perhaps into the pyriform nodule sent us. The following
examples are conclusive evidence as to the truth of this theory : —

Fig. 1 represents a pear, in which the calyx and its fine sepals are not much
disturbed, but in which the petals and part of the stamens, developed in the form

Fig. 1. Fig. 2.

TRANSFORMED PEARS.

of leafy scales, adhere around the centre of the flower, which has lengthened some-
what like a branch, while the remainder of the stamens and the carpels are con-
cealed within the summit, in the form of withered rudiments. The constitutional
tendency to fleshiness, which is the characteristic of the pear, is not lost in this
or cither of the two other cases, but is preserved throughout, only diminishing
towards the eye.

In Fig. 2, the phenomena takes a somewhat different direction, the leafy ten-
dency being greater in some of the sepals, but the tendency to acquire succulence

having been preserved in a far
greater degree ; as if the disturb-
ing cause, whatever it may have
been, which originally prevented
the young parts from becoming
petals, &c., and which forced the
centre to lengthen like a branch,
was effectually withdrawn and over-
come by the tendency to become
succulent, which the parts had
already acquired when the disturb-
ing cause began to act.

In Fig. 3, the change advances
further, and in another direction.
That dislocation of the rings of
parts belonging to the flower,
which was so visible in the two
last cases, is here carried still
further ; and, in addition, two of
the young parts near the middle
of the whole structure, have each
formed in their axil one bud,
which has become a deformed
flower, and produced a deformed
pear. No organ of the plant, except leaves and their modifications, has the power
of producing a flower from its axil.

IS THE KALMIA LATIFOLIA POISONOUS ?

IS THE KALMIA LATIFOLIA POISONOUS?

BY T. M.

* OME years ago, travellers gave us startling accounts of
a tree, the very odor of which was death to animated crea-
tures. Nothing would grow beneath its immediate shade,
and all in its vicinity was seared and blighted. Well,
when subsequently Richardson wrote of it, that he had
iT^ |t^^*^^^i y^ often sat amongst its branches and smoked his cigar, v<'e
seemed to be acting very leniently in giving him and his
story over to Munchausen or Gulliver ; and it was not
^^S until the writer himself had the opportunity of, in some
i^t~^ respects, imitating Richardson, that he became convinced
that the celebrated Upas-tree of Java had been most scandalously libelled.

Has not our own most beautiful Kalmia latifolia been similarly injured ? Thus
I inquired, on reading the following note in Darhrfs Botany of the Southern States:
" The leaves of the Kalmias are all poisonous ; nevertheless, some animals, it is
said, eat them with impunity, and that, too, to such an extent as to make their flesh
poisonous to man, it becoming so impregnated with the poison of the leaves."
Now, there seems to me something wonderful in this. My farm hand, one day,
accounted to me for the death of one of his hogs, that he was sure it must have
eaten a rat that must have tasted some phosphorescent poison I had set for it one
day before ; but, I am sure, his untutored brain would never have supposed that
the poison had been in the flesh of the rat, instead of his stomach, and perhaps
weeks or months before. This is the nearest case to that mentioned by Darby
that I ever knew of, and yet, how far off ?

But Darby only gives it as " it is said," and I am inclined to believe that all
any of us know about its poisonous property is on the ipse dixit of some one else
— as far back, perhaps, as some original Indian, hundreds of years ago. As far
l)ack as I can recollect, I was cautioned not to go near or smell the flowers, and
told that the honey the bees extracted from them was poisonous. Had those who
so taught me, lived in this region, handled the magnificent bouquets, or, as our
children do, worn the rural wreaths they fantastically make of them, their fears
would undoubtedly be very alarming. To this day, the English, with all their
fondness for it, admit it only in guarded places, not exposed to the incursions of
children, and where, like a caged lion, its grandeur may be seen, but its power
not be felt. As we know this to be all " nonsense," why may not all the rest be
that is said derogatory to it ?

As to its being poisonous to cattle, I may mention that, in one of ray botanical
excursions last year, I came on a wood, in Delaware State, in which were some
score of cows. Poor beasts ! — there was little in that wood to satisfy the demands
of a hungry appetite, but the wood abounded with laurel, as Pennsylvanians call
and not a leaf was to be seen on the i)lants ; they had eaten every vestige of

YoL. VI.— April, 1856.

12

prccn ftbout them, even to the young shoots. If I recollect riglitly, this was on
llidlev Creek, and, I presume, the butter, if not the milk itself, finds its way
from that region to the Philadelphia market, and, if the statement, as " it is said,"
by Darby, be correct, with what a serious result to our citizens ! for, assuredly, if
the flesh can be impregnated so easily, how much more so butter and milk 1

But I again repeat, I do not believe it to be poisonous. I have given it a
cliance on my own life, which it declined to accept, and as I do not lay claim to the
constitution of Mithridatcs, I conclude it deemed itself unequal to the task.

I should be glad to learn that the experience of others differs from ray own ;
for, although I dislike to see a flower I so thoroughly admire connected with such
unpleasant associations, I shall be better satisfied if I feel assured that it deserves it.

[It was the opinion of Nuttall, and many others, that the popular notion on
this subject was decidedly erroneous, and that the "leathery" leaves, being indi-
gestible, was the cause of the injury, and even, occasionally, of the death of ani-
mals that had partaken of the laurel. A popular error of this kind, if it be one,
should be investigated and exterminated as soon as possible. — Ed.J

EFFECTS OF COLD WEATHER.

BY BENJAMIN IIODGE, BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

It is an old maxim, and a true one, too, that " we are never too old to learn."
This remark is, perhaps, quite as applicable to the horticulturist and pomologist
as that of any other class of men. The severity of the winter of 1854-5, in the
State of New York, and more particularly in the western part of the State, was a
general theme of remark ; and, in the opinion of many, has hardly been equalled
during the past quarter of a century. On the morning of the 6th or 7th of Feb-
ruary, 1855, the thermometer sank to 20° and 22° below zero. It was soon ascer-
tained that the fruit-buds of the peach were all destroyed ; and, soon after, the
discovery was also made, that the trees, too, were all killed. On cutting off the
branches of the trees, it was found that the wood was discolored, and quite black ;
and that all above the snow line, to all human appearance, was quite dead.
Although the bark seemed to be alive, yet it was supposed that, on the first
opening of spring, or soon after, the trees must wither and die.

Peach growing was now at a discount ; and many, without further delay, cut
down their trees, and cleared the ground of the rubbish. One gentleman, as I
am very credibly informed, cut down his whole orchard of some two thousand
trees, which, the autumn previous, had produced a bountiful crop. A neighbor of
the writer cut down many beautiful trees which were then just in their prime.
But everybody was disappointed. The spring and early summer opened most
propitiously, with genial showers, and fine growing weather. The trees ^oon put
on their summer dress, just as fresh and as fine as ever. New, healthy leaves and
■j^ bark very soon completely covered up and encased the dead wood. The trees
a fine growth, and set full of fruit-buds ; and, to a casual observer, appeared

::= ^

as healthy and as vigorous as ever. And yet, the old wood is literally dead, sur-
rounded by a ring of new, healthy wood. Whether the trees will remain healthy,
is a problem yet to be solved.

The writer, having a large fruit farm at Peach Haven, near Niagara Falls, natu-
rally feels much solicitude in regard to the culture of the peach ; and has been a
close observer in regard to the best treatment of the trees. The centre branches of
the trees are very liable to perish at an early day ; and, after a few years, the trees
present the unsightly appearance of all being dead, except the ends of the limbs.
Yery close pruning has been found a partial remedy for this evil ; and it has been
a question, whether it would answer to cut off the whole top of the tree at once ?
Would the tree be able to withstand this shock, and send out fresh shoots and
form a new head ? But this is no longer an experiment.

Last spring, Mr. Burdett, who has a fine peach orchard in our vicinity, suppos-
ing his trees were all dead and worthless, with axe in hand cut away all the tops
of many of his trees, leaving only an unsightly trunk, with perhaps a few rough
prongs of a few inches in length. As the season advanced, and the trees seemed
to put out fresh shoots, he concluded to wait a little before clearing the ground.
The result is, that all of these trees have put out numerous, vigorous, healthy
branches, and formed complete, dense tops ; in most cases, far superior to the
old ones. I am so well satisfied with this, that, should the severity of the winter
or spring destroy the prospect of the peach crop for next season, I should, on the
opening of spring, cut off the tops of some 2,000 peach-trees, now five or six
years old. By the way, I am anxious to learn whether any of our New Jersey,
or other peach growers, have ever tried this method.

The pear-tree is so tenacious of life, that you may cut it back with impunity.
A tree twenty feet high, may be cut down to within six feet of the ground, and in
two or three years it will again form a handsome head. The only remedy that I
have ever found for that mysterious disease, Jire-blight (and which, in my judgment,
is a sort of pear cholera), is to cut off all the diseased branches at least one foot
below all marks of discoloration of the bark. We had no fire-blight here until
about five or six years ago ; and then it came in true cholera desperation. In a
single month, hundreds of trees in this neighborhood were completely destroyed,
and hundreds of others very badly injured.

Towards autumn, I directed my gardener to go through my grounds, and to
cut off every diseased branch or tree at least one foot below the appearance of
blight. He obeyed my orders to the very letter ; and I was not a little surprised
the next day, in going over my grounds, to find that he had cut down even with
the ground several valuable trees, of some eight or ten inches in diameter, and
which, I supposed, were not very seriously affected. But, on examination, they
were found badly affected in the trunks of the tree as well as in the branches.
Others were left merely unsightly stumps, all, or nearly all, the tops being com-
pletely cut away. I was quite heartsick, and almost inclined to cut down to
ground these mere wrecks of my once beautiful trees. However, two or

years have wronglit a wonderful change, and the most of those so closely pruned
arc now among my handsomest and most valuable trees. For the past two or
throe years, we have had but little Grc-blight ; perhaps not over three or four
cases in a thousand trees.

Extensive orchards of the pear have been planted out during the past four
years ; and, in many cases, I fear, without much discrimination. The pear seems
to be more capricious than any other kind of fruit; and it is a wonder to many,
how so many miserably poor varieties ever came to be cultivated. Of the
four or five hundred sorts in cultivation, I very much question whether there is
one in ten of them equal in value to the old " Orange Bergaraot," which my friend
Allen and myself had some sparring over in the Horticulturist, some three or four
years since ; and which, in my opinion, is no better than it should be. But it has
some redeeming qualities which many others do not possess, viz : It is productive ;
does not rot at the core ; and it will sell. Now this may be deemed faint praise.
It is so. But, is there one instance of the pears now grown among us, that possess
even these good qualities ?

But the world, of late, has been running mad after new varieties ; and many of
ns, in the purchase of these, have caught a Tartar. I will relate a case in point.
Three years ago, at the Massachusetts Horticultural Exhibition, the Bonne des
Zees, a fine-looking pear, was passed around and tasted by some twenty or thirty
of our most celebrated pomologists then assembled in the large tent ; and it was
pronounced " very good ;" and even the distinguished gentleman that now occupies
the White House at Washington, expressed his admiration of the pear. Soon
after returning home, the writer went to the nursery, and engaged all the good
trees of this variety. A good friend and neighbor, who was also at the Boston
show, soon after made application for some of the trees, and was not a little dis-
appointed to find all engaged. But mark the sequel. The standard of this variety
has fruited each year since ; and, although it is uncommonly productive, and fine
in appearance, yet it has ever proved a mere juicy, wish-a-washy, insipid, quite
tasteless, and inferior thing ; every specimen so far falling short of " good." In
appearance, it very much resembles the Bartlett.

In orchard culture, for market purposes, it has been found much more profitable
to plant out but few varieties, and those of well-tried sorts. In an orchard of some
3,000 peach-trees, the writer has confined himself to four or five sorts; of 1,000
apple-trees, mostly to four varieties ; and, of 1,000 or more pears, to some ten
or twelve sorts, of which the Bartlett, Seckel, White Doyenne, and Stevens'
Genesee, are the most prominent. By the way, I notice that the American Fomo-
logical Society class the Stevens' Genesee Pear among those that "promise well."
Well, this is truly encouraging for a pear that has been so well known in Western
New York for twenty or thirty years. We have some " promising" boys here,
of some forty or fifty years of age, who came to the same conclusion a quarter of
a century ago.

The next meeting of the American Pomological Society will be held at Roches-

ter next autumn, at which time we anticipate a very large gathering of our pomo-
logical friends from all parts of the Union, and also from the Canadas. Genesee
has been called the garden of the world. Everything now indicates a fruitful
season. We must trust that the exhibition of fruits from Western New York
will be worth seeing. And not only this, but the most rare specimens of fruits
from the east, the west, the north, and the south, will here meet. A rare chance
to compare fruits from all parts of our wide and extended country.

CRITIQUE OX THE FEBRUARY HORTICULTURIST.

BY JEFFREYS, NEW YORK.

Want of Progress in Rural Taste. — There is great difference in the constitution
of the intellect, in matters of taste of any kind. Occasionally, one has a nice
appreciation of rural objects from early childhood ; another has a strong indica-
tion of native taste in art ; another in mechanics ; another in philosophy ; another
in science ; and so on, through the whole catalogue of Divine creations and
human inventions. These are God's own endowments, and those thus favored
become the schoolmasters to others in whom original tastes of like kind are
absent, yet possessing the faculty of cultivating them by the instruction of others.
In the creative faculties of original minds, on all these different subjects, "there
is a divinity that stirs" within them. The chronicles of all time which lie before
us, give striking examples. Abraham and Lot were distinguished farmers,
grandly possessed of fine taste in what was both beautiful and useful in rural life.
Jacob was a physiologist, circumventing the dishonesty of his wily old father-in-
law, Laban. Who had so grand an appreciation of the magnificence of creative
power as David, as witnessed in his sacred psalms ? While Tubal Cain, descendant
of the first murderer, long before either of the others, was as cunning an artificer
in brass and iron. Solomon, great in architecture, also displayed matchless taste
in the rural adornments of his pleasure-grounds. Several of the prophets show
that they had exquisite perceptions of the grand and beautiful in nature ; while
Christ himself, greater, diviner than all, drew most of his parables from those
delightful rural objects strewed along the paths of his own brief wanderings.
Virgil possessed not only a natural, but a highly cultivated taste in rural aflairs,
as shown in his Georgics. Cicero was refinedly ornate in the rural embellishments
of his own celebrated villa. In later time, Michael Angelo, with an opulence of
original genius and cultivated taste, was a wonder in architecture, painting, and
statuary. Lord Bacon, not only in philosophy and letters, but in planting and
gardening, was a deep and profound teacher. In later time, Sir Walter Scott
and Professor Wilson charmed the world with their appreciations of refined taste
in landscape and natural scenery ; and our American Downing, had he lived to
mature age, would, perhaps, have been equal to any of them in the delightful
aptitude of his teachings. So much for minds in which an original taste for their
chosen pursuits, or recreations, was planted.

Ill America, grappling with a stern necessity, even down to a recent day, we
liave, comparatively, few striking examples of refined rural taste in the labors of
those who have passed before us. Yet, there are some grand old places in the
Revolutionary States, indicating the presence of both a strong original taste, and
well cultivated art, in selecting, laying out, planting, and preserving them, well
showing that their founders were no pretenders in what they did. Within the last
thirty years, a better opjwrtunity has been afforded ns. With considerable origi-
nal taste, increasing wealth, and leisure, to pursue the i)roper study of rural
embellishment, many new and beautiful places have arisen from the wild wastes
around them ; and, although many bald and bastard examples, where a large
exi)enditurc of labor and material have been thrown away, exist among them, we
have many spots which, when time enough has elapsed to give growth to their
])lantations, and antiquity to their erections, will present choice specimens of a
discriminating taste, and a serene beauty. Yet, in the mass, man is wofully unin-
structed. We saunter along, heedless of the native beauty which surrounds us,
and which we might appropriate to ourselves almost for the asking. We do want
schools of taste, and of art, in rural embellishment. But who are to be the teachers ?
A few only of the English books and authors, from which we draw our ideas, are
possessed of either correct taste or competent instruction. Of native authors we
have any quantity ; and how few of them are of any lasting account ? The num-
ber indeed is small. What we, in America, need is, the understanding of Jirst
principles. Scarcely any two places are alike in natural position, capabilities,
and soils. They require different treatment, and that treatment varied and diver-
sified by the delicate, discriminating exercise of taste, founded in well-established
principles, and appreciation of the art to be exercised. We have no such schools ;
and if we had, where are our schoolmasters ? There is scarcely a rural paper in
the country but has advertisements of such, and we see some of their labors in the
paltry checker-work of door-yards, lawns, and, now and then, a so-called park,
stuck full of inappropriate things of no meaning 1 But we must live in hope,
and, meanwhile, strive to do the best we can till a better day shall dawn upon us,
or the rising spirit of a few master minds shall teach us with an unction both
impressive and lasting.

77ie Seed Busi7iess of the West. — Illustrative, quite, of the very progress of
which I have just spoken. Out of their rapid distribution of seeds and tools, we
shall, in time, see many good things.

Cultivation of the Fear-Tree. — I hope Doctor Ward is going to do something
clever ; and more, that he means to let the world know it through the Horticultti-
rist, as he progresses. It is now more than a dozen years since pear culture on
the quince has been vigorously started in our country. Many a nurseryman has
got rich out of them ; and, by calling conventions and forming societies, they
intend not to keep their lights under a bushel. Now, out of the millions of
dwarf pears the nurserymen have sold, I would like to hear of the very first dwarf
•pear orchard that has paid expenses. Many tell of pears selling for sixpence, a

shilling, even two shillings a piece, in the fruit-shops, and of a certain tree, or
trees, in such a one's garden, which annually yield their owners scores of dollars
in their fruits. All this may be so. But, about the orchards of such trees 1
where are they ? The pear has a thousand, or less, enemies. The blight runs
with a zigzag, forked, and sinuous course, through the orchard one year. The
slug, and the curled and spotted leaf, like the leprosy, hit them in another. The
pestilent field mouse girdles them at the roots in the third ; and calamity, in
general, is after them in the fourth. I have had a little experience in this line
myself, and the upshot of success in extended pear culture, either dwarf or stand-
ard, I receive with great allowance. I hope Doctor Ward will be successful, for,
if any man knows how to do the thing, he does. It is well that he is so close to
Professor Mapes' superphosphates, and the poudrette factories ; and if he gives
his trees the very best of garden culture, manuring them like cabbages, trimming
and cutting back to order, thinning out his fruits with scissors, and all that sort
of thing, and don't lose them by disease or casualty, and then can get ten dollars
a barrel for bis pears, or sixpence a piece for them in market, he'll do. His
article is interesting, and I hope he will continue the subject.

Garden Wheelbarrow. — This is one of the tools. But, when you get it, be
careful that it is not a gimcrack affair, to be made over again by your own village
blacksmith the first time you use it. One-half of these garden tools, well enough
in the invention, are not worth taking home, from the flimsy, dishonest way in
which they are put together. Too much like Pindar's razors !

Golden Hamburgh Grape. — If this grape is as good as its mother, the Black
Hamburgh, it is an acquisition to the grapery — for its color is a high attainment
in such a grape. If I were to stock a vinery with a dozen grapes, ten of them
should be Black Hamburgh, and the other two Golden Chasselas. These two
varieties are easily grown, sure bearers, and possess the aggregated virtues of all
the others. Only prove the Golden Hamburgh what it is described, and I will
add it to the others, making three reliahle grapes.

Residence of John Bartram. — I don't think much of his old home, but I do
think very much of the good old Quaker who lived in it ; and Col. Eastwick
deserves credit for the pious veneration with which he preserves it. I must go
and take a look at the old place, when I get time.

Moonlight on Vegetation. — Who doubts its effects ? The garden women say
they pick double the cucumbers during moon-shiny nights than in dark ones ;
and they ought to know.

Experiment with the Osage Orange. — I should like to see the Western men,
who grow Orange hedges hy the mile, " pinching" their shoots by way of trimming !
No, no, Mr. Alexander, that won't do. A snccessftd hedge plant in this country,
has got to bear cutting down, or cutting off with a bill-hook, scythe, or shears,
as may be, or it's of no use in farm hedging. I've seen a couple of models of
machines for clipping hedges, to work by horse-power, which, if they work at all,
will trim miles a day. We'll know more about these hedges five years hence.

DOMESTIC NOTIOES.

Doiiifiitir 3\h\\ttB.

New York, Feb. 18, 1856.
Dear Sir : Cannot you say a word in favor of the " Agrostis Stolonifera for Lawns ?" From
its extreme dwarf habits (rendering frequent mowing xinnecessary), combined with its
resisting intense sunheat, and for retaining its rich green lines tlirough the summer, it is
preferable to red-top, greensward, or any other of the grasses. It is used for the pui-poses
of lawns in the South of Europe, to the exclusion of all others.

Yours truly, J. M. Tiiorburn & Co.

The private correspondence of Downing is good.

Burr Creek, Michigan.

We never tire of hearing about him.

Charles Betts.

Green Castle, Inc., February 12, 1856.
Dear Sir : I wish you to send me the Horticulturist, and for one year. I am glad to in-
form you that we have been making up our premium list of 1856, of Putnam County, and
made quite a number of your most excellent journal. I think we have, in our list of pre-
miums, some twenty -three volumes of the Horticulturist — quite a number with colored plates.
We are the banner county in the West, I think, in advertising the Horticulturist. I am
anxious to have it circulated among our people ; I shall do all I can to this end.

Yours respectfully, John S. Jennings.

Orange Watermelon Seed. — Me. Editor ; I see inquiries made as to where the above-
named seed can be had. If you will do your subscribers the favor to mention this, I have
some seed to spare, and will send, to any person who will remit a postage stamp to prepay
the postage on the seed, a pack of one dozen seeds of the above, of my own growing.

I consider it a valuable melon, and easily raised, and one which ought to be disseminated,
and not held by a few, some of them charging fifty cents for half a dozen seeds (which was
the price of those I first got).

Yours, Samuel Miller, Calmdale, Lebanon Co., Pa.

Editor of the Horticulturist : I am highly pleased with the wonderful discoveries of your
"West Town" correspondent (page 94, in your February number). The only drawback is,
that he keeps them secret, and has applied for a patent. I hope he may sell the patent-right
cheap, for we Western chaps would like to know how to keep bugs off vines, especially as he
says it is a sure cure, and to know how to raise 580 bushels potatoes to the acre, without any
manure except plaster and ashes.

For our Western corn crops, the crow and cutworm patent will not be so valuable. In
planting com, we go by the old rhyme, when dropping the grains —

" One for the blackbird, one for the crow,
Two for the cutworm, and throe left to grow,"

and we generally make out to have good crops. I rather think we can beat " West Town"
in com, and give it the benefit of the patent to boot. Amongst my books on Agriculture, is
one published by David Seaman, in 1853, entitled " The Fruit Raisers' and Farmers' Guide
and Receipt Book, and how to Protect against Disease by Working with the Course of
Nature." In that valuable work I find the following useful recipe, which I give to your
West Town correspondent gratis, the author having never taken out a patent for it. (Page 51 . )

■ To prevent bleeding at the lungs : Take a hoptoad, and lay it on a hot shovel, and while
it is broiling, hold your face over the steam, so as to get the smell and the scent good, and
the blood will soon stop, &c. &c."

Should any of your West Town correspondents try this experiment, I should like to know
the result, for I have not tried it myself.

Respectfully, John Qcill.

Cincinnati, Feb. 15, 1856.

Hunt Botanical Garden. — Mr. Editor : In the December number of the Horticulturist, I
find an article on the Hunt Botanical Garden, and am desirous of making a few remarks in
reply.

Although there is now no prospect of success, yet I feel as one personally called upon to
give an opinion on the subject in reply to the before-mentioned article.

Far from being agitated by contentious feelings, I could not overlook the words, " the
plans are both pretty pictures, well executed oii. paper, but each wanting in generalities."

Certainly, such matters ought to be closely looked into, and guided by the opinions of men
who have had actual experience in, and possess a thorough knowledge of, the subject to be
investigated, and all sensible men would be pleased as well as profited by a well-founded,
well-directed criticism ; but, it requires more self-conceit than I would like to be possessed
with, to assume such unquestionable authority as is expressed in that article.

I must confess that I am ignorant of what is meant by " wanting in generalities," or
where, and to what extent, " misapplied utility" has made itself apparent ; as others, who
are well informed respecting it, have not discovered any serious misapplication, and I enter-
tain considerable doubt as to my friend being more successful, were he to undertake an
examination with more leisure. A picture maybe judged at a glance — this claims no merit
as such — but a plan of so different a nature and purpose, that it oftentimes requires a com-
petent person a day or more to give a correct opinion of it, and calls for mental acquirements
difi'erent from those available to the author of that article, although his knowledge and
qualifications may be, and are, very valuable in their proper place.

Although it is not an easy task to delineate with sharp lines what a botanical garden
should be, to answer the wishes of so many, and the purposes indicated by its name, it is
more than likely that, with a love for the profession, fifteen years' uninterrupted practice,
and facilities to see, compare, and examine, on the continent of Europe, one should know
sometliing of what a botanical garden should embrace, and what experience I have had
here is sufficient to inform me what the Hunt Botanical Garden should have been, had not
an ill-tempered wind swept it from the map of Long Island.

I perfectly agree with your correspondent, that it should be adapted to the wants of this
great nation, notwithstanding that, with a fair recollection of what has transpired in the
cause of horticulture within the last ten years, and a moderate estimate of what will yet
follow, I believe I have been little or nothing out of the way.

It would require too much space in your valuable journal, neither would it be interesting
to your readers to enter into details, describing the various departments as laid down on
that picture, but my friend may xest assured, that, considering its location, formation, and
area (Hi acres), the plan comprises all that is desirable to have.

"Nooks" are very pleasant and attractive acquisitions in all sorts of pleasure-grounds, if
properly situated and sheltered, but I should have little hope of complete success were I to
denote their exact position on a plan where the ground has but few or no trees left ujider
which to seek shelter. I prefer rather to form, first, the principal features of the ground,
after having completed the grading, planting, etc., the most appropriate spots for
etc., will suggest themselves, and in each case with certainty of success.

DOMESTIC NOTICES.

I rannot close this article without remarking, that while I take exceptions to the criticisms
of mv friend, I must say that much credit is due to liim for his exertions and success in
jirape culture, etc., in acknowledgment of which, I shall lose no opportunity of strengthen-
ing our friendly relations.

If the spirited officers of the late Hunt Botanical Garden Association should succeed in
calling a similar enterprise into life (which I sincerely hope, and have no doubt they will),
I shall not omit to contribute what 1 may deem due to so praiseworthy an object, and shall
be pleased to find others doing the same.

Respectfully yours, AuGUSxrs Hepp, 880 Broadway, N. Y.

"More Cfossip from toe Northwest." By George S. Taylor, Chicago, Illinois. — Dear Sir :
The pleasant chatty letter from friend Tallant, in the January number, will recall to many
of your readers the delightful reunion at Burlington last September ; and few who were
there will fail to fancy, as they read, the kind, genial smile of the doctor welcoming them
once more to the " beautiful land" of fruits and flowers. No wonder that he is strongly
attached to his adoi)ted State, and especially to the lovely, busy, rapidly-prospering and
growing city where he dwells. Until we hear further, Burlington can challenge the world
for pears, either in beauty, quality, or size ; for, although it might have been supposed, and
with reason, that such mammoth specimens would deteriorate in flavor, I do not consider,
nor have I even heard it hinted, that such was the case. I think, too, that the doctor's
" gourmandize," for such the wonderful shoot must of course have been, would be " hard to
beat."

What are the peculiar merits of silex in the soil, in respect to fruit trees, I am unal)lc to
state ; no doubt, when finely pulverized, it is a powerful manure, as are, also, all the primi-
tive rocks ; witness the benefits accruing to old, worn-out soils from the application of the
mud from macadamized roads, especially ^uch as have been formed of broken granite in
which quartz so strongly predominates. But the soil on which a great portion of Burlington
stands, per se, is a red, argillaceous clay, very similar to much of the orchard land of Here-
fordshire and Devonshire in England, and portions of Normandy and Brittany (take the
modern departments of La Manche and Loire Inferieure, for example) in France ; and all of
these are famous for their apples and pears. Gypsum, marl, all mineral manures, even clay
properly applied where it is not originally too abundant in the soil, will be found preferable
for orchards, to more powerfully and acutely exciting animal manures.

Another great secret of the eligibility of Burlington as a fruit-growing country, lies (not
at the bottom, but) in the Mississippi. The water attracts the late frosts to its surface.
This is an operation of nature which has been noticed in other similar localities, but only
acts in this manner when the land is, as at Burlington, sufficiently elevated above the water.
I opine that, on low lying lands, the vicinity of running water would be objectionable as
attracting the frost to its level.

And now, I want the doctor to amend his declaration in regard to " those strawberries," or
I shall certainly demur, both generally and specially. I admit, unreservedly, his averment
that, at Burlington, the strawberry is " in its prime at the end of May," but the doctor must
have been sadly informed as to the time of its ripening "around Chicago." In 1854, I
gathered ripe, early, scarlet strawberries from plants, only set out in April of that year, on
the 15th of June, and last year, from the same plants, on the 10th ; and the early scarlets
were ripe, in quantities, on the 17th of June. My Hudson strawberries have ripened for the
last three years, not later than the first of July, and we have always plenty for the Fourth.
My garden is made on about the worst description of land in Cook County, but I have
good crops, and Dr. Egan, Hon. M. L. Dunlap, and others, have abundantly proved
as fine strawberries, if not quite as early, can be raised "around Chicago" as anywhere

on this continent. The fact of the matter is, our climate is from ten days to two weeks
later than that at Burlington ; but six weeks' diflference in two hundred miles, even if we
were due north, is rather too much. The good doctor must have been thinking about
Pembina. G. S. T.

Gardeners. By Robert Meston, gr. to Col. A. J. Polk, Ashwood, Tennessee. — In the
January number of the Horticulturist, you give your readers a chapter on gardeners and
experimental gardens. Much as has been said upon this subject by editors, amateurs, as
well as the profession, the first thing to be considered is this : Who are foreign gardeners ?
The answer is, they are men of foreign birth, educated to the profession before they emi-
grate to this country. Tliese are truly foreign gardeners. Then the question arises, have
all the men in this country calling themselves gardeners, been educated as such abroad ?
No ; not one-half of them. I must therefore assert, that they are not foreign, but American
gardeners ; this is my argument. Your readers may judge whether I am correct or not.
Suppose a young man emigrate to this country, bringing no trade or profession with him,
and, after some time, he become a landscape or portrait painter, or excels in any of the fine
arts, do we acknowledge him as a foreign artist ? The American press will speak of him in
terms of praise as an American artist, and justly so, I think. A foreign land gave him bii-th,
and America gave him a profession ; therefore, he is an American artist. Now, if this is
just and true with the artist, it must be just and true with the gardener ; and, I must say,
I think the great majority of gardeners in this country are of American growth. Every
good gardener in this country, I am sure, would do all in his power to bring about a better
state of things, and would hail with delight horticultural colleges, or experimental gardens,
and give his mite for the support of them. Now, as it respects native American gardeners,
educated at an Horticultural College or Experimental Garden, which amounts to the same
thing, I much question whether one-half of the boys brought up to the profession would stick
to it in after life. The complaint has been, in this country, that the foreign gardener has
not been educated to suit the times ; therefore, there would be produced a better class of
educated men than the present state of horticulture can boast of. Now, we will suppose a
boy, of fourteen years' of age, enters one of the above institutions, and remains a student
until he has passed his minority ; what is the course of his studies during the seven years
(we will suppose the place thoroughly established, where every branch of the profession can
be taught), bearing in mind that this boy has a moderate English education before he enters
the establishment ? The first thing taught him in the establishment is manual labor ; his
hours of vacation from labor would be something like the following : —

The first problems of geometry and land surveying, agricultural chemistry, botany, vege-
table physiology, mineralogy, rural architecture, and landscape gardening ; at least a slight
knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, that is, if he wished to become a good bota-
nist. These are a few items that are to be stowed away in the memory of a good, practical
gardener. Without going into further details on this subject, we will suppose a young man,
at the age of twenty-one, with a knowledge of all these things, we should call him a toler-
ably well-informed young man ; the next thing is, he offers himself to a nurseryman to work
for a dollar per day, or he goes as head gardener to a gentleman ; what are his wages ? From
25 to 35 dollars per month. Who are his associates in said family ? Ostlers, cow-boys, and
the servant-girls of the house ; he is, in fact, a serving gardener, and is looked upon as one
of the servants of the establishment, and this is what he gets after seven years of hard
labor, and harder study. Will a young and enterprising native American stand it ? I
think not.

Now, take this same young man, and give him the same amount of education, the same
time to study in any of the higlier professions, which will take no longer, and, in fact

l)ctt<T odiuation. As soon as his minority is passed, he comes out an acknowledged gentle-
man most probably gets into the best society, and associates with educated men. Mark
the diflerence. Some time since, a writer in some horticultural paper, stated that he never
knew a foreign gardener to bring up his sons to the business. I think I have stated the
reason he does not : too many years of labor and study for too little pay.

Some of your readers may say, if this is so, how is it that Great Britain has such good
gardeners ? The answer is nearly this : all the gardeners in that country are self-educated
men ; they commenced the profession with little or no learning ; when they were cast upon
the world (as Sam Weller says), to play at leajvfrng with its troubles, they jumped the first
back that presented itself, hardening in England oft'ers employment to tens of thousands
of men ; there you may lind every kind of gardeners, from Sir Joseph Paxton to the gentle-
man that has no objection to milk the cows, and tend the garden. Philip Miller, the first
great gardener we have any account of, was bom in obscurity. Loudon says he raised him-
self to a degree of eminence never before equalled in the character of a gardener. He was
born in l(j92 ; he maintained a correspondence with the most eminent botanists of the
continent of Europe. Amongst his correspondents was Linnaeus, who said of his Dictionary :
Xon erat Lexicon Hortulanorum sed Botanicorutn ; and by other foreigners he was emphatically
styled, Hortulanorum Princeps. So it is, at the present time, with the great majority of
Ih-itish gardeners ; they are self-educated and self-made. In Great Britain, every avenue
of labor is closely filled with manual as well as mental labor, and, therefore, every employer
in any branch of business, has a great variety to choose from ; hence it is they have good
gardeners. Now, what has been the case in the States ? The reverse of all tliis. Our ave-
nues of labor are not filled up to the same extent they are there ; the consequence is, the
garden has gone in search of a gardener, instead of the gardener going in search of the
garden, and when this is the case, the majority of the gardens will be decidedly bad. I
know that, for the last twenty years, the supply has not e(iualled the demand, and that has
Ijrought into existence a lot of self-styled, but not self-made gardeners.

My object in writing this letter is, first, to vindicate the true foreign gardener, and to
])rune out the quacks, and the following is a plan, I think, might be adopted. As we have
in this country a great number of good horticultural societies, I propose to use them to
advantage to the employer and the employed, to wit : —

That every horticultural society shall appoint a committee of four or six of the best practical
gardeners belonging thereto ; the duty of said committee shall be, to examine any applicant
calling himself a practical gardener, wishing to fill a situation as such ; and, if said applicant
be found competent by the committee, he shall be entitled to a printed certificate, to be filled
up by said committee, and signed l)y them, and the President of the Society. Now, suppos-
ing some such thing as this was in operation in this country, every competent gardener would
soon become aware of it, and submit to it with pleasure. If such a plan was adopted, and
every employer requiring a gardener, if the latter is a stranger, he should exhibit a certifi-
cate from the nearest horticultural society. The gardener, on receipt of his certificate, shall
pay said society any fee the society may think reasonable. If something like this could
be done, the complaints would soon bo stopped ; if the demand is greater than the supply,
don't employ the trash ; you can import good, responsible men.

[Mr. Meston has stated the case in an intelligent manner. The real difficulty to be en-
countered in America, is the supposed fact that other employments afford an apparently
higher field of social and pecuniary compensation ; but this is only on the surface. In the
first place, in an intellectual point of view, how much higher are the enjoyments of a scien-
tific gardener than those of most mechanical businesses ? If a youth fails to profit by such
()l>portunities as our correspondent proposes, he must be, and deserves to be, only a manual
laborer ; but a really good gardener can always get, after a few years of experience, a nursery

DOMESTIC NOTICES.

of his own. Generally speaking, he succeeds, and becomes an independent, happy monilx
society, with a far better position than one-half of the doctors and lawyers who have cliosen
those professions because of their seeming facility to wealth or social circumstances. Tlie
members of our Horticultural and Fruit Growing Societies are as good men, as well informed,
and as free to come and go as they list, as tlio mass of physicians. They are quite as good
coinpauions, at least, as tlie fashionable dandy, and, in our opinion, much better ; they are
conscious of being instnimental in forwarding the world's progress ; thvAr minds are full of
intelligence ; their business is a source of peii^etual delight ; they never lack subjects of
thought and contemplation ; and they should be the most devout adorers of a supremo first
cause, because the evidences of design are always springing up before them. They are, too,
obtaining, by their intelligence and probity, an enviable social position, which improves
precisely in the proportion that they deserve it. Bartram was a gardener ; Dr. Lindley is the
son of a broken down gardener; Sir .Joseph Paxton was employed all his life in the same
capacity, and our correspondent (juotcs himself, Philip Miller as born in obscurity. Talent
and industry, with education such as a smart youth can get iu this country, if ho chooses
to ajjply himself, are sure of reward. — Eu.]

IIow TO MAKE ViNEOAii. — lu the Ilorlicullurisl for December and February, there are notices
of the Vinegar plant, there described as " a minute fungus, allied to the mucor or mould,"
" Penicilliuin (jlauciim, of which the mycelium or spawn forms a tough," "leathery web."
Thin description of the spawn would answer for the substance usually called " mother,"
always accompanying good ciiler-vinegar when left a month undisturbed, whether producing
the vinegar, or being gtiuerated by it, and leads to the suspicion that the " mother," if not
the spawn of the vinegar plant, stands in the same relation to one of the same class, and of
nearly the same properties ; as it is frequently used here for the purpose of hastening the
formation of vinegar from cider, and it is generally believed to bo useful for that purpose.

Leaving the vinegar plant till more is known of it and its properties, I propose to describe
the method I have used for making vinegar from cider, and which, when adhered to, I have
not known to fail. The cider used for making vinegar, is generally made in the early part of
the season, before the weather becomes cold. The process is as follows : Grind the apples ;
put the pomace in open vessels a day or two, then press out the cider, put it in open tubs or
casks, cover the cider one inch thick with pomace ; let it remain fermenting till the jwmaco
shows signs of separating into parts ; then skim oflF the pomace, put the clean cider into
casks, rejecting the sediment at the bottom ; place the casks of cider under cover, and
protect it from freezing in the winter ; place a brick or board over the bung-hole, and, for a
month, keep the vessels full; it is important that the casks bo well cleaned from mould
and mustiness ; where either is suspected, it is proper to burn sulphur within them, and,
afterward, rinse carefully. At anytime after the cider has been drawn from the open talis,
procure good cider vinegar, known to be such, and not that manufactured in part from tar-
taric or sulphuric acid; let it be in such quantity as you suppose nec(!ssary to begin with —
suppose one barrel, draw off one-half, and put it in another cask ; then, once in a week,
add to each a gallon of cider (or, if you choose, two gallons) ; continue to do so till the
barrels are full ; afterwards, draw from each, weekly, two gallons, putting it into other casks,
and fill the same quantity of cider into each that you have drawn from ; in this way, vine-
gar can be made, with certainty, to any extent. It is Ijetter not to sell till the succeeding
season of cider making ; first, because, although the vinegar may bo merchantable, yet it
may be wanted to increase the stock, and, if not, it will improve at least till the end of a
year, and perhaps longer ; and secondly, the casks (whi(di, to the farmer, causes the priu-
il outlay in making vinegar) will last longer if kept full, or part full, than if empty
liovo this method is the same in principle as that of making vinegar by using

DOMESTIC NOTICES,

viiu'gar i)lant ; in each case, a li<iuitl substance, capable of, and disposed to, the acetous
f.rnientation, is brought into contact with substances that have, in part, undergone that
f.i mentation, and not passed beyond it. The result of the contact is, that the action, origi-
nally confined to the one part, is continued through both.

A .similar process takes place by producing the paunary fermentation, in bread, by yeast
or leaven, causing and extending something like organization through the mass. And one
as remarkable, and not dissimilar, is the action produced in the human body by inoculation.

The mixing of pomace with the cider, when pressed, and leaving it to ferment, is not
essential ; it is, however, useful in getting rid of much sediment that is useless.

The periods of mixing and quantities mixed, are those I have used, and may be varied :
but, by mixing at such periods, and in such proportions, the vinegar will not, at any time,
be made perceptibly less acid by the mixture. Vinegar is frequently made of water cider,
but the water does not become vinegar ; the vinegar is only so much weaker by the water
in its composition. Respectfully, A. W. Corson.

The Weather. — The Horticulturist, like the "honest angler," is a great weather watcher.
It may therefore be interesting to compare the present hard winter, and its effects, with
similar seasons in former years. This I have an opportunity of doing, by referring to the
records of the Secretary of the " Cincinnati Angling Club," for the past twenty-six years.

Besides recording the exploits of the '-brethren of the rod," with their finny prey, it was
made the duty of the Secretary to take careful notes of the weather.

In duration of cold weather, the winters of 1830-31 and of 1831-32, will compare with the
present, and, in severity, the month of Febniary, 1835. The cold weather commenced on the
first day, and continued throughout that month with but little intermission. Tlie 6tli, 7th,
and 8th, were intensely cold days. The thermometer was down to 17° below zero on the 7th.
This was the coldest day in this vicinity, since 1797, until the present winter, when the
mercury fell, on the 9th inst., to 20° below zero, in an average of observations within ten
miles around the city.

In 1831 and 1832, the peach and early cherry buds were killed ; both were bad fruit years.
In 1835, the peach, cherry, and many of the pear buds, were destroyed ; and, in some locali-
ties, the peach-trees, and finer variety of cherry-trees, were killed. The orange-trees in
Louisiana and Florida were killed down to the groiind in 1835.

Most of the peach buds, and the buds of the finer variety of cherries, are destroyed ; and,
in some instances, the young trees.

It is reported, that in some warm situations, where the grape buds were swelled prema-
turely in autumn, that they are also killed. But I think the grape, apple, hardy pears, and
plums, and the Morello cherries, are safe yet.

R. Bpchaxan, Cincinnati, 22d of January, 1856.

A Suburban or Country Residence.* By R. Morris Smith, Architect, Philadelphia. — Tliis
cottage was designed by me for a suburban residence for a small family, and was erected
near Philadelphia. It would be suitable as a country residence, or, with some small addi-
tions, as a farm-house. It was intended to combine the comfortable accommodation of a
family of moderate size ; some degree of lux^^ry in the interior, and picturesque ensemble,
with a neat, yet roomy compactness, that should avoid the large, unnecessary expenditure
so frequently caused in building, by a slovenly and half-studied plan (through which we
often find large, useless, yet costly spaces left here and there, and dignified, on the jian,
with the names of " lobby, passage, ante-room, vestibule, salon," and what-not, unless in the

* Sec Frontispiece.

DOMESTIC NOTICES, 183

upper stories, wliere they are more generally not indicated) ; and thus to bring the building
within the compass of moderate means.

The actual cost of this building was about $3,500. The exterior is designed after what is
termed the Italian bracketed manner, a style much in vogue for country buildings, but differs
from the common examples in partaking somewhat the character of the " Swiss" cottage.
The first floor comprises — 1st. A drawing-room, 15 feet by 27 feet, with a bay window, 6 feet
by 4 feet, which commands a very fine view, fifteen or twenty miles in every direction. This
room is surrounded on two sides by a wide veranda, between which and the drawing-room,
the communication is by glass doors. 2d. The hall, 7 feet 6 inches by 19 feet, opening on
the veranda, at the back, and on the front porch, at the front end. 3d. The dining-room,
13 feet 6 inches by 18 feet, and enlarged by a bay of the same size as that in the drawing-
room. This room communicates with a china-closet under the main-stair, and a pantry-
closet, 4 by 4. This latter has next the kitchen, a small opening with a slide, by which hot
dishes can be passed through. 4th. The kitchen ; between this and the dining-room, the
back-stair ascends to the second story, and descends to the cellar, where there is a large
pantry or " cold cellar," 3 feet below the level of the other cellars, a hot-air furnace with
the necessary bins for coal, &c. The kitchen is 13 by 14 feet, with a closet, a large dresser,
and a range with boiler. The summer or wash-kitchen, besides cooking apparatus, has an
iron sink with hot and cold water.

The ceilings in the first story are 11 feet in the main, and 8 feet and 6 inches in the back
buildings. In the second story, the space over the drawing-room is divided into a larger
and a smaller room, 15 by 15, and 15 by 12, while the space over the dining-room is in one,
18 feet long by 13 feet 6 inches wide. The space at the front end of the hall, 5 feet by 8
feet 6 inches, including partitions, is divided as follows : 1st, two 3 inch closet partitions ;
2d, a large central closet, 5 feet by 3 feet, communicating with the room over drawing-room
by a two feet passage, and with a window on the porch balcony ; 3d, a closet 3 feet by 3,
in the angle of the L, formed by the above closet and passage, and opening also into the
drawing-room chamber ; 4th, a closet 5 feet by 2, opening into the dining-room cham-
ber. The smaller drawing-room chamber has a closet partly in the thickness of the wall.
Over the kitchen is a small room, 12 feet by 13, with a recess closet, which communicates
with the main-stair landing by the back-stair quarter-pace. It will be seen that this room
is 2 feet smaller than the kitchen. This 2 feet is a short passage thrown into the bath-room,
wliich is over the dining-room closet, and 2 feet larger both ways, being 6 feet by 6, or 8 feet
with the passage. The bath-room has hot and cold water, and water-closet. The bath-tub
against the dining-room partition, and the sloping end of the tub being next the back-stair,
head-way for the stair is contrived under it. The second story ceilings are 9 feet main, and
8 feet back. There are two finished attics ; the one over the drawing-room is 15 feet by 27,
with a window at each end, and could be divided easily into two good sized rooms. The
other, over the dining-room, is 13 feet 6 inches by 18 feet. These are level-ceiled for two-
thirds of their space, and the slope-ceiling approaching the floor nowhere nearer than G feet.
The level-ceiling is 8 feet high.

The cupola is 7 feet 6 inches by 7 feet 6 inches, and a most magnificent prospect is com-
manded. The cupola floor is 6 feet above the third floor, and is reached by a stair running
crosswise of the hall, while between the two floors a space 5 feet by 7 feet 6 inches, is ap-
propriated to closets. Tlie chimney flues are gathered together in the loft into one stack,
which rises behind the cupola, and is concealed by it. It will be seen that, in this neat
cottage, every foot of space is turned to account, while ample accommodation is obtained
for the moderately sized family for whom it was intended.

CixcixN;i.Ti. — Our correspondent at Cincinnati says, their coldest days were the 3d and

^(^^^^:

ljj4 DOMESTIC NOTICES.

of Fohruarr, 28° to 24° below zero, and the ice in the rivor 18 inches thick; snow in the
central and northern part of the State averaged over two feet in depth.

Lemons. — It is strange, says the Texas Gazette, that no one has entered into the produc-
tion of this fruit upon the coast of Texas as a regular business. Tlie production of lemons
alone would be a profitable employment. There is no danger of glutting the market, how-
ever large the product may prove. Last year there were imported into Boston, from the
Mediterranean alone, 4(j,000 boxes of lemons and 47,000 boxes of oranges. These are but
insignificant items in the total imports of the United States during that time. Upwards of
thirty dollars worth of lemons have been sold in a single season from a young tree in Gal-
veston. No trouble but that of planting is requisite.

DtJCHESS d'Angodleme and Sheldon Pears. — The annexed is the outline of a Duchess
d'Angouleme Pear (Fig. 1) that grew last season in the garden of Thomas R. Thompson, in
Elizabethtown, New Jersey, on a standard tree taken from the nursery of Mr. William Keid.
It was forwarded to lis anonymously, and we consequently felt some doubt about the enor-
mous proportions ; but, on application to Mr. Reid, the well-known nurseryman there, we
received the following note : —

EnzABETnTOWN, N. J., Nov. 28, 1855.

J. Jay Smith, Esq. — Dear Sir: Tlie specimen of Duchess d'Angouleme Pear which you
refer to, the outlines sent you by Chas. Davis, Junr., of this place, grown by Thos. R. Thomp-
son, of Elizabethtown, is correctly described. The measurement was 15 inches longitudinal
circumference, by 13^ inches, as represented. This Pear was brought to my place by the
grower, to look at before being eaten. I had heard of this Pear before I saw this specimen, but
having so many fine specimens, I took no notice of it until I saw it ; I at once thought the size
exceeded anything I had ever seen, even putting me, as you observe, in mind of a monstrous
specimen I saw at some exhibition, made out of wax. It was very solid and heavy, and, to
all appearance, juicy and perfectly melting ; the weight is correct, having been weighed by
several scales in town, viz : 1 lb. 12 ozs.

Yours, &c., Wm. Reid.

Fig. 2, Sheldon Pear. — The Duchess is so large, that we have availed ourselves of the
space to figure again that growing favorite^^ the Sheldon, of which Dr. Brinckle has kindly
favored us with a better description than has yet appeared.

Synonyms. — Bland, Huron, Wayne, Wisner. Size, large, two and three-fourths to three
inches long by three to three and one-fourth broad ; sometimes weighing sixteen ounces.
Form, usually roundish, obovate, sometimes obovate, inclining to pyriform, occasionally
truncate. Skin, green russet, becoming yellow russet, sometimes only faintly russeted, and
very rarely with a brownish-red cheek. Stem, variable in size, usually five-eighths of an
inch long by three-sixteenths thick, often one-half by one-fifth, occasionally one by one-
eighth, inserted sometimes obliquely, in a narrow, superficial, and, occasionally, rather deep
cavity. Calyx, small, segments deeply cut, usually open, sometimes closed, often partially
reflexed, set in a basin rather variable, usually superficial and narrow, sometimes wider and
deeper. Core, medium. Seed, small, brown, fi^ve-sixteenths of an inch long, nearly three-
sixteenths wide, and one-eighth thick. Flesh, yellowish white, buttery, melting, abounding
in juice, texture granular, with some grittiness about the core, extending to the stem and
calyx. Flavor, rich, perfumed, and somewhat vinous. Quality, "very good." Maturity,
October. Wood — young shoots, yellowish brown ; old wood, grayish brown. Growth, upright.

History, &c.— The Sheldon Pear is a native of Wayne County, New York. The original
tree stands in the town of Hunn, on the premises of Major Sheldon, and sprang from

YoL. VI.— AniiL, 1856.

DOMESTIC NOTICES.

])laute<l l>y his father noarly forty years ago. Two other trees in the vicinity, one on tlie
fanu of Mr. Norman Slieklon, and the other on that of Mr. Winner, are also said to be seed-
lings bearing fruit very similar to the Sheldon. They have been carefully examineil by
competent judges, who assure us that they present no appearance of ever having been grafted
or budded. And yet, no one who has seen the fruit from these three trees, can for a moment
entertain a doubt as to their perfect and entire identity. The only way of reconciling the
discordant facts and statements of the case, is to adopt the more than probable conclusion,
that two of them are unworked suckers from the remaining one. Such, I have been credibly
informed, is now the conviction of Major Sheldon.

A description of the Sheldon was published in Jloney^s Mayaziue of Horticulture for June,
1851, and in the Uortlculturist for January, 1853.

Prdxixg the Raspberry. — The accompanying figures represent the wood of the preceding

summer's growth.

The portion with buds, marked a a, is from the upper part of the shoot ; that with buds,

marked h b, is taken from the lower part of the shoot or cane. The buds a a, can scarcely

be termed blossom-buds, inasmuch as they do not contain the rudiments of flowers like

the blossom-buds of larger fruit ; but each
of them possesses the power of producing
a branchlet, and on this blossom-buds are
formed. The buds b b, on the lower part of
the cane, do not generally push unless the
upper have been cut away, and then the lower
are stimulated, producing, however, shoots
and fruit later in the season than those ob-
tained from the buds a a. Advantage has
been sometimes taken of this, to procure a
succession of fruit in autumn.

Raspberry shoots, or canes, growing up in one
summer, and producing fruit in the next, and
then dying to the ground, a succession having,
meantime, sprung up. The pruning usually
consists in the obvious operation of cutting
away all the dead wood — that which has
borne fruit ; and, in the shortening that which
is alive, thinning the canes so as to leave three,
four, five, or six, from a plant, according to
its strength.

An improvement may, however, be eflfected
on this general mode. As the finest and best
of these fruits are, in all cases, the produce of
strong and well-ripened canes, it becomes
necessary that the shoots should have every
advantage afforded them. This may readily
be effected by causing all the fonuer year's
canes to be cut down to the ground as soon
as they have produced their crop, instead of

allowing them to stand till the winter or spring ; this removes an unnecessary incumbrance,
at a season when sun and air are of infinite importance to the young canes, and, conse-
y, to the succeeding crop.

DOMESTIC NOTICES.

In autumn, or the early part of winter, the young canes should be shortened to about
four-fifths of their original height, or to the place where the growth of the upper part of the
shoot forms a sort of bending or twisting. They may then be either tied to stakes or arched,
by tying their tips to those of the adjoining plant. When a late succession of fruit is
desired, some i^lants may have all their shoots cut back to within a few inches of the ground.

ViXEGAK Plast. — Two of our correspondents say that the vinegar produced from the
vinegar plant is as good for pickling, or any other purpose, as cider vinegar ; to make it as
sour as which it is only necessary to add a little more sugar, or, what Is better, molasses.

Vinegar Animal. — Hue, in his travels in China, gives a curious account of the " Vinegar
Animal," a polypus found in the Yellow Sea, which is placed in a large vessel filled with
fresh water, to which a few glasses of spirits are added ; and, after twenty or thirty days,
this liquid is transformed into excellent vinegar as clear as spring water, very strong, and of
a veiy agreeable taste. Additions of pure water, without any more spirit, are all that is
necessary to insure a perpetual supply. Like other polypi, it propagates from a detached
limb. The formic acid of ants, and the exudations of the slimy grub which feeds on our
pear leaves, contain vinegar.

Muscatine, Illinois. — Portions of a new Directory for 1856, of Muscatine City, Illinois,
have been forwarded to us. It is compiled by John Mahin, and contains much valuable
infoiTuation in the way of statistics. It appears that the- population of Muscatine County in
1838 was 1,247, while in 1855 it reached 14,000. The work contains tables of the early and
late frosts. The earliest is October 8th, and the last June 6, the middle of May being the
average. Tlie table of rain is complete, and was made for the Smithsonian Institute by T.
S. Parvin.

Grass. — Ruskin, in his last volume of Modern Painters, remarks upon grasses as follows :
" Observe the peculiar characters of the grass, which adapt it especially for the service of
man, are its apparent huinility and cheerfulness. Its humility, in that it seems created only
for lowest service — appointed to be trod on, and fed upon. Its cheerfulness, in that it seems
to exult under all kinds of violence and suffering. You roll it, and it is stronger the next
day ; you mow it, and it multiplies its shoots, as if it were grateful ; you tread upon it, and
it only sends up richer perfume. S^jriug comes, and it rejoices with all the earth — glowing
with variegated flame of flowers — waving in soft depth of fruitful strength. Winter comes,
and though it will not mock its fellow plants by growing there, it will not pine and mourn,
and turn colorless and leafless as they. It is always green, and is only the brighter and
gayer for the hoar-frost."

Cottage Life. — " How I should like," said Grattan, one day, to Rogers, " to spend my

whole life in a small, neat cottage ! I could be content with very little ; I should need only

cold meat, and bread, and beer, and plenti/ of claret." Tlie idea of a well of Bordeaux, in

place of the

" Willowy lirook that turns a mill,"

is cajntal and characteristic.

Contradicting. — If we are not mistaken, we have the counterpart of the following in

America : One of Rogers's friends said, that was so fond of contradiction, that he

would throw up the window in the middle of the night, and contradict the watchman who
was calling the hour !

=(^^

editor's table.

TuE New Yokk IIorticultuhal Review, issued in New York, having been merged in tlio
Jlorticuhurisl, subscribers to the former will be supplied from this office for the remaining
period of the year for which they have paid.

The Horticulturist is now so well known and established that the undersigned feels con-
fident his own subscribers will at least not be losers by the exchange, and lie cordially in-
vites them to become readers of a work that is esteemed wherever it is known.

In taking leave of my friends, I plead only pressing business engagements, which oblige
me to give up a post that otherwise it would have been both my pride and jjleasure to have
continued. C. Reagles, Editor and Publisher,

New York, March 15, 1S56.

Notice. — The Subscribers to the New York Uorticidtural Review who wish to possess the
Horticulturist complete for 1S56, can do so by remitting one dollar. Tliose who do not desire
this will be supplied for the six months they have paid C. Reagles in advance.

Spkixg. — Who would quarrel with winter when May was present, or grieve over the many
disasters that are passed, when the lilac and the appie-blossom were a)>out to pn-sent tlieir
accustomed beauties ? Adieu ! all ye dead foreign interloi)ers, who come among us to rival
our hemlock, fir.nt king of evergreens, and all the frightened array of false recruits whom
we had taken into our confidence, and who have deserted so soon ; we grieve not for you.
We would fain have cultivated and enjoyed some of the foreign world's wonders of beauty,
but manv have faded, and we must look about, and care for those that faithfully stick by us
amid the" wintry storms, and cheer us with their brightened faces when spring reappears.

The full returns of plants injured or killed cannot be fully ascertained at the time we
write, but in our May issue we hope to record what has been the experience in various
points of the compass, and we now invite information from our fi-iends.

The following lines from Mason's "English Garden," will strike some of the sufferers as

just : —

" Nor will her prudence, ■svlion intont to form

One perfect -whole, on feeble aid depend,

And give exotic wonders to our gaze.

She knows, and therefore fears, the faithless train :

Sagely she calls on those of hardy class

Indigenous, who, patient of the change

From heat to cold, which Albion hourly feels,

Are brac'd with strength to brave it. These alone

She plants, and prunes, nor grieves if nicer eye*

rronouncc theui vulgar. These she calls her friends.

That veteran troop, who will not for a blast

Of nipping air, like cowards, quit the field.
******

Waru'd by his error, let the planter slight

These shivering rarities."
This advice is now forced upon us. In general, to "slight," or plant but few of those
rarities of foreign origin which have not been thoroughly proved in your own latitude, is a
good rule.

The Ohio Pomolooical Tkaxsactioxs, 1855 and 1856, have been issued in one neat pam-
phlet, of 64 pages. The discussions will be found interesting and valuable, tending as they
do to clear up unsettled opinions, and bringing the cultivator nearer to the facts. Ihe
topic of transporting trees on railroads was brought before the society, and the cone
arrived at by Mr. Bateman, who had corresponded with some officers of roads, was '

1^^,

Airas cheaper and better to pack trees in boxes, when it can be done, as most of the roads
Mall then carry them at the rates of other light goods ; this is a correct move. Mr. B. does
not hesitate to puMish the names of those who do not do their duty in this matter ; a re-
form is expected. Mr. Ernst said his only hope for cherries, in the region of Cincinnati,
was the mahaleb stock, and the pyramid form, which has branches to the ground to
furnish protection fi-oni the vicissitudes of summer changes ; for standards he recommended
budding the finer varieties at some height, making the body of the mahaleb stock. Mr.
lilliott had practised root pruning on the pear root, and had produced fruit just as early as
if grown on quince ; he did not recommend planting on the quince root, unless growers ex-
pected to cultivate their trees highly, and nurse them as carefully as a woman tends her
child. As a general tree for orchard culture, he thought the quince stock shovild not be
used. This agrees with the results arrived at in the New York meeting, and coincides with
the opinion of our correspondent. Dr. Ward. A very good committee was appointed to at-
tend the National Convention, at Rochester, the coming fall. There is much to interest in
the work, including the address of President Ernst.

TuE Brooklyn Horticultural Society's premiums for 1856, embrace a great variety of
jjlants and vegetables.

The Traxsactioxs of the Wisconsin Feuit Growers' Society have been published at Mil-
waukie, in a liandsome pamphlet of sixty pages, which contain matter of much instruction.
They reached our table after this number was ready for the press.

Mount Vernon HoRTicrLTtJRAL Society. — Its Constitution and By-Laws are upon our table,
but, except that it is printed in New York City, there is no clue to the place where said
Society is located.

The Proceedings of the Fruit Grower's Society of Western New York have been published,
making a very valuable work for reference, of 140 pages. Thirty cents, in postage stamps,
remitted to II. E. Hooker, Rochester, will procure a copy.

Toe " North Western Farmer," Issued at Dubuque, Iowa, appears to us to meet the wants
of that region remarkably. The lady at the head of the " Ladies' Department" would
grace any position.

The Premium List of the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, for 1856, is most liberal.
The $100 premium for a cheap, practical and efficient remedy for the curculio is continued,
and $500 for a new hardy grape, a good bearer, making a light colored wine, superior in all
respects to the Catawba, as a still and simrkling. Our friends should keep a bright lookout,
and pick up the money.

Refjolutions of the Horticultural Society. — At a late meeting of the Pennsylvania Horti-
cultural Society, the following extraordinary preamble and resolutions were adopted in re-
ference to the proposed supplement to the Act of Consolidation, authorizing the Councils to
sell the Centre Squares, at Market and Broad Streets, and purchase more extensive grounds : —

Whereas, This Society has in view, as among the objects of its creation, the rural adorn-
ment of our city, the securing of pure air, and necessary recreation for the greatest number
of its inhabitants, and the promotion of the prosperity and happiness of its entire people by
multiplying the means for a cultivated taste in the walks of nature. Be it, tlierefore.

Resolved, That tlie proposition for the sale of the "Centre Square," and the conversion of
the proceeds thereof into more extended accommodations for the benefit of the public, meets
with the cordial concurrence of this Society.

Resolved, That this Society regards those plots of ground known as the " Centre Square"
as too diminutive to attract any considerable number of visitors, and the resort to them on
tlie part of the young as attended with no little danger, on account of the proximity of the
railways, and the conseciuent peril of crossing them whilst the cars are in motion.

Resolved, That this Society would rejoice to see the " Centre S(juare" occupied for busi-
ness purposes, as it was originally intended to be by the great founder of the city ; whilst
the public would gain largely by its exchange for other grounds in more eligible portions of
it.

Resolved, That a copy of this preamble and these resolutions, signed by the President and

"^' 190 editor's TABLE.

Secretarv, bo forwarded to our Senators and Representatives in tho General Assembly, at
llarrisbiug.

We cannot bnt reijret this action of our fcUow-mcnibors of a valuabb; Society, and trust
their resolutions may not ])rovail. Give us more luni,'s, but do not curtail or destroy wliat
can never be replaced. If a greater amount of ground were procured out of tho town, it
would be less useful than space within a thickly i)opulated section.

Powxing's Letteks are closed to-day with regret that they are so few. It must be that
some of our readers possess notes and letters from him that are worthy of publication.

A lady, whose communications we always value, makes the following remarks, wliich are
worthy of consideration. She says : —

" You are favoring the admirers of Downing with a rare treat. We are all a little curious
to peep behind the veil which separates the i)ublic life of one wo admire from his private
character. Our admiration of i)ublic deeds is enhanced when we find the real life so every
way worthy of respect and love.

'• Is there not a good deal of coutagioiis enthusiasm mingled with our admiration of
Downing ? An enthusiasm enhanced by the manner of liis early death. Coinparativplij
speaking, we might say there were few who knew his real worth — and how admiralile he
^vas — till he was gone from us forever ? Downing was the pioneer in the broad and beauti-
ful field of 'Rural Art and Taste.' Other minds as great and possessed of as varied talent,
and, perchance, as capable of imbuing the people with a love of the beautiful, inay come
after, but for a time they will appear to follow in his wake, will seem, if not to copy, to
gather suggestions and impulses from one ' gone before.' Goethe says, 'that a man should
be able to make an epoch in the world's history — two things are essential — that he should
have a good head, and a great inheritance, as Frederick the Great inherited the Silesian
war, Luther the errors of the Popes,' &:c. So Downing inherited the public's lack of
taste in rural architecture and landscape scenery. This want of beauty in the surroundings
of our country homes was felt and admitted, but the great mass had no realizing actice
sense of the fact. The possessors of rural homes were not wide awake as to the idea that
each had individually something to do to better this condition of appearances.

" I have a friend so well versed in Downing's writings that her husband says his sayings
are household words — oracles not to be disputed. I lent her some boiind volumes of the
Ilorticulturist, to prove to her that her favorite shade still hovered over it."

Labels for Trees. — Zinc labels arc prepared in the following manner: Take half a drachm
of lampblack, one drachm of verdigris, one drachm of pulverized sal aramoniac,.and dissolve
them in ten drachms of water. Tliis will form a permanent ink, which may be used for
writing upon strips of zinc, and will last as long as the labels.

The Muscadine Grape. — Tlie New Lebanon proprietors of the Muscadine grape arc very
miTch dissatisfied with the opinion expressed at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society respect-
ing this fruit. They think the sample sent was received in bad order ; it is extremely delicate,
and will not bear close confinement or long keeping, and in unfavorable seasons it drops
from the vino soon after it is fully rij^e, and loses its delicate and d(dicious flavor. In good
soils, when the vine is closely and properly trimmed, it will hang, they say, for weeks in
good condition. It is popular in the Northern States, and they do not consider that it has had
a fair trial here. Next season we shall, perhaps, have a fuller report. The demand for tho
vines is declared to be great. Will Messrs. Hawkins & Stewart forward a root or two
hitherward for experimental jiurposes ?

German Experiences. — A friend has translated the following from the Frauendorfcr
Blatter. Will he favor us with his present address 1

The unpleasant odor diftused through water in vases in which cut flowers are kept, it is
said, may be prevented by placing a small strip of sheet iron in the vase.

In Italy, grapes are kept " fresh and fine" during the year, by placing the clusters, after
removing all the imperfect, immature, specked, or decaying berries, in a box with alter-
nate layers of green peach leaves. The box is to be covered and set in a dry, cool room,
free from frost.

In Germany, plums, prunes, and gages are preserved in a fresh state, in the same manner,
only substituting pear leaves for those of the peach.

Rats are said to have such an antipathy to the odor of the herb houndstongue ( Cijn

i^^^-B

sum officinale), that tliey will forsake a building within twenty-four hours after the leaves
and stems of this plant have been strewed therein. It should be gathered when in flower,
and the more freshly it is used, the more certain are its etfects alleged to be.

Propagation of the Camellia. — Though the mode of multiplying the camellia by means
of leal-buds has been some time introduced, it is not yet so extensively known and employed
as it deserves to be. JIany amateurs and cultivators are entirely unacquainted with the
process which furnishes the readiest means of propagating any particular variety with great
rapidity and entire success, since every leaf-bud, eveu those on wood of the previous year,
may be used. The proper time for employing this method is at the end of February, and
in July, before the plant produces new shoots. The buds are cut and shaped very much as
they are in ordinary budding, only retaining a somewhat larger portion of wood. Tlie best
soil is a good sandy loam, somewhat retentive of moisture, and it is to be pressed moderately
close into a pot or box. The leaf-biids, prepared as stated, are then placed on the soil with
the wood or cut side flat to the ground, gently pressed in, and secured by neat small wooden
hooks. A glass plate is then laid on the pot or box, which is to be set in a hotljed newly
prei^ared ; and it should be remembered that camellia cuttings can scarcely ever be kept
too warm, if care be taken to supply the requisite amount of moisture, and to keej) them
shaded from the dii-ect rays of the sun. The hotbed in which the pot or box is placed,
should be renovated every three or four weeks, as a steadily continued and equable heat
greatly aids the formation of roots. The cuttings made in July will root in the course of
Ave or six weeks, but should be allowed to remain in the hotbed till the middle of October,
and they may then be kept in the same pot or bos in a cold frame during the winter, to be
transplanted in the spring. Those made in February are usually of more rapid growth, and
if transplanted in May, in a loamy soil, will attain a height of ten or twelve inches in the
course of the ensuing summer.

I have repeatedly employed this mode of jtropagating camellias, with great success, and
can confldently recommend it to cultivators in general. E. M.

A decoction of common elder leaves (Sambucus niger) has been successfully used, in Ger-
many, to preserve rose-bushes, and other flowering plants from mildew, aphides, &c.

It has been ascertained by numerous experiments, that certain plants are much less sensi-
tive to the influence of chloroform at night than they are in daytime ; and it has
hence been suggested that delicate and tender plants might, peihaps, be most successfully
transplanted at night.

Fruit jellies may be preserved from mouldiness, by covering the surface one-fourth of an
inch deep with finely pulverized loaf sugar. Thus protected, they will keep in good condi-
tion for vears.

Temple of Somnautii. — As the gates of Solomon's temple, at Jerusalem, and those of St.
Peter's at Rome, are said to have been made of the cedar of Lebanon, so it has been ascer-
tained, says Sir W. J. Hooker, that the gates of the temple of Somnauth are constructed of
the Indian cedar, or Deodar.

Claude Lorkaine's Landscapes. — The stone pine. Pinus pinca, is the pine of Claude Lor-
raine's landscapes, so often painted, and with such picturesque eflects.

The Seed Season, Dreer''s Flower Seeds. — We received, by mail, a few days since, a
consideraljle package of the flower seeds advertised in the supplementary sheet, in the best
order, proving that the post is a suitable medium for this kind of distribution. Mr. D.
informs irs, that he commenced this mode ten years since, and adds : " I find the Ilorticiil-
turist one of the very best mediums of advertising, and have been well repaid for every dollar
expended therein." This is the universal experience of all from whom the publisher hears.

IiANDRETH'S SEEDS. — In a fol-mcr year the Iloriiculturist gave a somewhat ex-
tended description of Landnjth's farm, devoted to raising garden seeds, where are now un-
der cultivation for this purpose alone, three hundred and seventy-five acres. His excellent
Almanac, witli directions liow and when to plant, laid upon our table, reminds us to mention
that j'hiladelphia supplies a larger amount of reliable garden seeds, probably, than the
whole of the rest of the Union. His and other advertisements, in our supplementary sheet,
tell the rest of the practical story. Buist, Morris, and Dreer, also deal largely in seeds, and
be relied on to execute orders with punctuality and correctness. The season for
all others, the most agreeable to us — because it is attended by Hope,

EDITOR'S TABLE.

CrcrMUKKS. — Wo have to acknowledge the receipt, from William Bright, gr. to J. S.
liOvering, Esq., two enormous cvicnmbors, fit almost for a club for Hercules, and such as are
liandeil round uncut at dinner-jiarties in England. They are of remarkably good color and
consistence, and deserved the premiuni received at the Horticultural Society, where they
were exhibited the (evening previous ; they are highly creditable to tht^ grower.

(C, of lirooklyn.) Quite too late for this number.

A Verbexa Gakdex. — Tho boaTitiful verbena lias become of so much importance as to
enlist the entire care of an extensive gardener. Dexter Snow, of t'hicopee, Mass., devotes
hims(df exclnsively to the cultivation of this beautiful bedding jilant, and has sent us a
catalogue embracing over 200 varieties ; these he will fdi'wnrd by mail to applicants in tho
Eastern or Middle States, or by railroad, where a tiuaiitity is required, to these or more
distant places. For tho catalogue inclose a stamp.

Mr. Snow says many persons fail in the cultivation of the verbena. The requisites are
that the plants be young, strong, and healthy. They mitft havt> a full exj^sure to the sun,
from suin-ise till sunset, for tlici/ irill not thrive in the. sliiufr. Tlie soil should be light and
deep loam, leaf mould t'rom the woods (or well rotted chip dirt), and fine white or silver
sand. An occasional watering with liquid manure, made by dissolving one lb. of guano in
ten gallons of water (letting it stand twenty-four hours before using), once a week, will be
found beneficial. The soil should be kept loose about them, and well worked.

Mr. Snow's is the only catalogue in the world devoted exclusively to verbenas, and is a
curiosity, lliis collection must be well worthy of a visit. Most verbenas have a tendency
to grow upright instead of tho true form, a dwarf, with close spreading habit, broad seg-
ment of petal, well defined eye, and good foliage; they should have good stamina, so as not
to be burned out in midsunnner. The scented varieties should not be forgotten in making
selections.

A. Bryant's Catalogue of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, and Plants, for sale .it the
Persimmon Grove Nursery, Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois, indicates the possession of
one hundred thousand fruit trees.

Babcock & Vax Vecutex, of Albany, forward us their descriptive catalogue of draining
tiles.

Gkape-Vixes, &e. — We have insjiected the large collection of grape-vines advertised by
David Ferguson, at the Falls of Schuylkill, Philadelphia, and can, therefore, vouch for their
excellence ; to persons planting graperies, &c., they will be a treasure. lie also advertises
a number of new and valuable strawberries, evergreens, and shrubbery.

AoRicrLTrRAL Division of the Patent Office. Report from PuiLAnELPniA. — Mr. R. Buist,
a seed grower, who resides in Philadelphia, received some seed from the Patent Office, which,
he says, grew well. Of some Japanese seed he says : " In beans there are two new varieties,
one of brownish yellow cluster bean, which is very prolific, and which promises to be an
acqiiisition ; the other is a large variety of running bean, which, though new, does not bear
well, and is not of a good qnality for eating. The most decided acquisition is a blood red
cabbage lettuce, of excellent quality, which stands the heat of summer well, and gives us
heads when no other variety will head. This will be a leading variety amongst that class
of vegetables for a warm climate."

RosE-CoLORFj[> Halesia. — Souic years ago, Mr. Leroy, of Angers, gave notice that he had a
Silver-bell tree, Ilalesia tetrajilera, with rose-coloured flowers, which he had propagated
very largely. Have any of our readers seen it ?

Pavia Cai.ifornica. — Have any of our correspondents specimens of the Californian horse-
chestnut (Pai'ia Californica), or of the Californian oak (Qiterciis Cali/ornicus) f

CocmxEAL. — Tlie annual export of this article from Mexico alone is equal to two millions
and a half of dollars. As this little coccus feeds upon a plant, cactus coccinrllifer, it alVords
an additional item of the value of vegetable productions. The insect has the power of ex-
tracting the juices and converting them, by a chemical process, into the richest scarlet dye ;
but it is not so generally known that the fruits of the Nopals secrete the same color, and
client cochineal has of late been obtained from the fruit, as well as from the insect
" st Intlies.

.®^.

editor's table.

Patent Office Seeds. — We are indebted to Mr. Charles Mason for a package of seeds from
the Patent Office.

Geo. C. TnoRunRN, of Newark, N. J., sends us his large catalogue of the best new Dahlias,
FuchsiaH,VerbenaR, Petunias, Antirrhinums, Scarlet Geraniums, Chrysanthcniums, &c. There
is a world of beauty concealed in those three enormous pages ; those who will read his
advertisement will not fail to be struck by his collection. An article on Fuchsias, in this
number, will make many desire to possess the new varieties.

Thorburn's Descriptive Catalogues, for 1856, are comprehensive ; in flower-seeds it would
seem that every taste may be suited.

NicnoLSON & Son, at East Rockport, Ohio, issue a good Catalogue from their Lake Erie
Nursery, princiimlly of dahlias, fuchsias, roses, and bedding-out i)lants.

Ciioklton's Grape Grower's Guide. — Mr. Saxton, of New York, is enriching the literature
and practice of gardening and fruit growing, with a collection of hand-books, in many of
which he is very liappy in his authors. Among the best is " The American Grape Grower's
Guide, intended especially for the American Climate." The whole story is here told accu-
rately, no less than scientifically. There seems to be a great deal to learn, but when tlie
subject is once understood, grape growing is a more siraijle business than would at first ap-
pear, and in Mr. Chorlton's work the information may be obtained. It is most particularly
devoted to the grape-house, though the vineyard is also treated of. We wisli we had space
in this number for extracts.

Pardee on the Strawberry. — From the same publishers we have "A Complete Manual of
the StraM'berry, by R. G. Pardee, the third revised edition," in which all that can be said
on the subject is embodied. The work embraces notices of the raspberry, blackberry,
currant, gooseberry, and grape.

Australian Seeds. — Mr. Fowler, who was employed by the Australian and Van Dieman's
Land (Jovernment to collect seeds, is now in this country, and advertises, in our columns,
some rare seeds, sucli as Acacias, Kennedias, Pultaenias, ludigoferas, &c. &c., at a moderate
price, affording au opportunity which rarely occurs for amateurs and others to procure
rarities.

Henry Little & Co., of Bangor Maine, continue to furnish seeding evergreens at very low
prices. — See Advertising Columns.

Editor Horticulturist. — In " Jeffreys' " pleasant critique on the IJorticulturlst for Jan-
uary, there occurs the following remarks on the design forming its frontispiece ; " I don't
fancy the round window perked uj) into the eaves of the tower front," as " the room connect-
ing with it was not wanted." Agreeing with "Jeffreys," that the effect would be improved
by tlu! omission of this window, the fact however is, that the room connected with it was
wanted, and it was precisely with the object of enlarfjing this room, that beauty was here
madi; to bow to utility, in the use of a projcctlnr/ dormer, instead of the sunk ones employed
elsewhere in the building. I do not, still, think that the effect is, by this, materially in-
jured. R. Morris Smith.

In a business letter from Massachusetts, an agent says that one of his subscribers has de-
clined, because the Horticulturist was removed so far south! If he liad been here in January,
when the thermometer was many degrees below zero, he would scarcely have tliought us
in a southern latitude. Other agents, there and elsewhere, have largely increased their
subsci'iptions. From Cincinnati we have the following: —

" I am glad to learn that your ])rospects are very satisfactory, that your subscription list
is largely on the increase. I am sure it deserves to be so. Philadelphia is eminently suited
as the location of the leading horticultural journal of the land. The long and extensive
experience of a very large class of intelligent practical and amateur horticulturists, with
ample means at command for experimenting, and testing unsettled points, have given her
an advantage over any other city of the Union. Of course these elements are essential aids
to sustain and support the editor in his laborious task. With my best wishes fo
success, Very respectfully, A. H. Ern

^^e):

%

1 94 editor's table.

Answkks to CoRKFsroNPF.NTS. — Tho HortirnUvriit is " put to press" earlier in the niniith
than formerly ; partly o-winq to an increased edition, but, mainly, that it maybe i.ssued with
preat piinetuality ; a point tliat is found to be very acceptable to its readers ; consecjiiently,
answers to correspondents received after the middle of the month, and sometimes even
earlier, may be crowded out by matter already in tlie liands of tlie printer. It is the wish
and intention of the pul)li5her to have the work in the liands of every agent, aud at every
post-ortice, by the first of the month.

(C. M. M.) If you will watch an clra-tree making its pjrowth tho present year, yon will
notice that, if the season is moist and cool, the shoots will continue to lenjithen till midsum-
mer ; but if, on the contrary, the season is a dry one, all growth will be over by tlie middle
of June ; simply because the moment the moisture in tlie soil fails, and the roots feel the
effects of the sun, the terminal buds form at the end of each shoot, and then all growth for
the season is over. We give you this as an illustration of the necessity of deepening your
soil for your trees, so that the roots can go on growing in its cool, moist depths ; and you
will necessarily have tops also, with more growth in three years than otherwise in ten.

(M. X., Jlassachusetts.) The parsnip should not be grown in very rich soil, except tho
ground be dry and calcareous ; its nutritive properties consist of ninety-nine parts in a
thousand, of whicdi nine parts are mucilage, tho remaining portion being saccharine matter.
In rich, damp soils, it acquires a rank taste, and is less sweet and agreeable than when
grown on moderately poor soil.

(H. Collins, Auburn, N. Y.) The osage orange will succeed in the moderate shade you
name, provided the soil is in good order ; partial shade does not affect it much, but it is
more hardy in the sun. See " an Experiment with the Osage Orange" in a late number ; it
is one of the most iiseful articles on the subject extant. If you can accomplish it, the hedge
you want is, by all means, one of holly ; if you succeed, it will be more to your lasting fame
than a costly marble column.

Editor of the " Horticulturist" : You will oblige me, and perhaps many others of the
readers of your invaluable and interesting journal, by stating, 1. The cause of the dropping
of the fruit of orange-trees when quite small. 2. The best remedy against it.

Most respectfully yours, C. W. Grau.

In order to answer these questions definitely, we would require to know tho treatment the
plants receive. Too much, or too little water at the roots, would cause the fruit to drop.
The former is more frequently the cause. Insufficient drainage of the tubs or pots, improper
soil, and unskilful watering, will produce disease, and, where fruit existed, it of course
would speedily drop under these conditions.

You had better turn the plants out of their tubs, clear away most of the soil from their
roots, put three inches of drainage in the tub, and repot in healthy, fresh soil (that procured
from decayed sods is best.) Set them out of doors as soon as the weather will permit,
where they will receive only four or five hours of morning sun ; let the soil be kept simply
moist ; lot your waterings be thorough, but only when necessary ; so long as the soil appears
damp, that is sufficient. In winter keep thein dry ; if placed in a cool, dark cellar, where
there is no furnace, they will need no water from the 1st of December to the end of February,
and, if kept in a greenliouse witli other plants, thoy should merely receive sufficient water
to prevent shrivelling of the bark.

(B., ^lassachusetts.) When your cedar of Lebanon cones arrive, instead of endeavoring
to extract the seeds, try the experiment of planting the whole cone entire. Mr. Leroy, of
Angers, finds they thus have just the necessary state of moisture ; tliey genninate between
tlie scales of the cone, of which latter, many fall to pieces of themselves. It is then easy
to take them up and transplant them in the open air, or in pots, and place in a cool, north
border. In this mode, which is the nearest a]>proach to nature, nearly every fertile seed
germinates. There is less difficulty in germinating these seeds than we formerly believed.

(W. W.) Tlie Paulonnia imperialis has l>ecome an established favorite, both for its
curious and fragrant flowers, and its seed-vessel on the tree all winter, and for its rapid
growth. Plant one or two by all means. We have seen a shoot of one year's growth, 17
feet in lenscth.

Esleman's Notes, next month.

"^"^sl"

editor's table.

NoTA Bene. — "We must say, once for all, that the editor of the Horticxdturist can enter into
no controversies regarding advertisements inserted in the supplementary sheet attached to
tills work. If an advertiser there gives occasion of ofl'ence to other houses, by offering more
goods than he possesses, or attempts to discredit others' wares, the same columns for reply
are open to all, provided said reply is not offensive. We do not pretend to exercise any
control over those pages ; unless attention is called to a particular notice, by addressing the
editor personally, the advertisement rarely meets his eye before piiblication.

A notice, last month, respecting the Dioscorea batatus, is deemed offensive, and the pub-
lisher has therefore declined its continuance.

Litters and exchanges, intended for the editor, should l)e addressed to " CTcrmantown Post-
Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."

MooREFiELD, Ky., Jan. 4, 1855.
Dear Sir : Will you, or some one of your correspondents, give me a plan for a " cold pit ?"
One best adapted for preserving and flowering plants in winter. Please mention the most
suitable material for construction. I wish one of large size. Don't forget to mention the
most convenient mode of protection by shutters ; by so doing, you will oblige

A Subscriber.

To flower plants is a very different thing from merely ju'eserving them. A structure that
would answer perfectly for the latter, might be wholly unsiiited for the former. A " cold
l)it" is simply a miniature greenhouse, without any facilities for i^roducing artificial warmth.
If our correspondent wishes to flower plants in winter, a small furnace and flue will be re-
quisite. Indeed, imder any circumstances, the means for i^roducmg heat are desirable to keep
the atmosphere free of damp. As this is a kind of house which, we think, ought to be more
generally used, we have prepared the accompanying plan. Tire arrangements are so appa-
rent, that no detailed description
is deemed necessary. The dimen-
sions of this pit are as follows : In-
side width, 8 feet, height of back
wall the same, and the front 5 feet.
As all the other parts are in pro-
portion, they can easily be ascer-
tained ; of course, the length may
vary to any extent. If under 20
feet, the flue should return on it-
self, as shown in the figure. It
should be constructed either of
brick or stone ; a dry situation
should be chosen, and the bottom
covered with 6 inches of gravel,
sand, or coal ashes. It may be
entered by a door at one end, or
by merely lifting up one of the

sashes. The best covering is water-proof cloth, hung on rollers, and elevated 6 inches from
the glass by a portable framework of lathes, so as to include a stratum of air between the
glass and the covering. It is essential that the cover, when in use, should fit closely
round the pit ; as a protection from frost this system will be found more efficient and econo-
mical than any method of wooden shutters. Fire heat will seldom be found necessary, and
all kinds of greenhouse plants may be kept in the highest state of liealth, and flower better
than in a close, steaming greenhouse, llie mere exclusion of frost only is required, and
the day temperature may be allowed as high as 70^ or 75° during sunny weather. Water must
be carefully administered ; the dryer everything can be kept, compatible with liealthy growth,
the better will it be for the plants. A southeast aspect is best.

(A. W. S.) You have shown great wisdom in saving all the leaves of your trees. Tliey
will probably not have decayed by this time, if stacked last fall, but you can have them for
use very soon, by the following treatment. Slake fresh lime with brine or with water
saturated with salt, till it falls to a powder of muriate of lime. Turn your leaves with a
hay-fork, sprinkling this powder over every layer at the rate of four bushels to a cord of
leaves. Turn the heap occasionally, and you will soon have one of the best fertilizers ; the
lime decomposes the leaves, and if the mass is applied to fruit and other trees, and f
you need nothing better ; as a top dressing to lawns, it is highly valuable. Mixe

lOG editor's TABLE

iH'at, or ilrv muck, it mitclit Im increased in bulk as well as value. We save, annually, many
conls t'f leaves ready for nourishing trees, &c. As they must be raked up, the cost is nothing.

(15. \V., Illinois.) You are on the right track exactly, and can "go to sleep and make
money.'' In planting your 5,000 young locust-trees, cut the plants down at tin- ground ;
thev will be easier set, more likely to live, and, at the end of two years, will be larger tlian
if the entire tree had been planted. You may have a crop of pumpkins, <S:c., among them
without injury. Will you sell your locust plantation at double its cost ? If so, drop a line.

J. Jay Smith, Esq. — Siu: On Kew Gardens, in No. 1, please to look in Loudon's Knn/rlo-
jmdia of Plants, under list of authorities for generic and specific names, you will find that Sir
W. J. Hooker is an Englishman (1). Please to inform me if the accentuations in I'axton's
Botanical Dictionary am all correct. Scutellaria is accented Scu1:ellarTa,page 02, supplement,
in Loudon's EncycJopadia of Plants ; and in Gray's North Amt-rican Botuni/, it is Scutellaria.
In Paxton, Priniula is Primilla ; in Paxton's Supplement, Primfda ; in Gray and Loudon,
Primula. Who is correct ? (2). Can you inform me, in the Horticulturist, if there is any
book published in which the botanical names of plants are divided into syllables, suitable
for gardeners ? (3). 1'- Q- 1^-

1. Sir W. J. Hooker would probably be styled an " English botanist," whether bora in
England, Scotland, or Ireland, as the works for which he is chiefly famed are English works.
If we are correctly posted. Sir W. J. H. is a Scotchman by birth, who commenced life in
Glasgow as a malster or brewer, and who, by his high botanical attainments, subsequently
became Professor of Botany in the Glasgow University, and, in 1 840, Director of the Kew
Gardens, London.

2. Paxton is not considered high authority in botanical matters. The botanical part of
his Magazine of Botany was edited by a clerical friend, now, we believe, his son-in-law. In
the instances, Gray and Loudon are correct.

3. Paxton's Botanical Dictionary is the only one used by gardeners.

A New Becixner ix the Nursery Business should not send us any communication to which
he is not willing to append his name.

(H. E.) We have heard of no demonstration to employ the money ($5,000) left by the
late Elliott Cresson, to plant trees in Philadelphia. We are quite curious to know how it
will be employed, and who will administer the fund. It was a noble bequest ; will it be
properly carried out ?

(Dr. W. S. Kimball, N. J.) You will find what you want in Buchanan's Grape (utlture,
published in Cincinnati.

Dear Sir : Should arbor vita; be planted in double or single rows for hedges and screens ?
An answer in your next number, will oblige A Subscriber.

A single row is ample.

(H. Davis, Waterville.) By trimming the tops of white cedar regularly twice a year, it
will retain its lower branches for many years, but must ultimately lose them in obedience
to the law of its nature ; for this reason, it is not now much emjjloyed for hedges.

f ortitultunil <^0tietics.

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. — The stated meeting of this Society was held on
Tuesday evening, February 19, 1856, at Concert Hall, Gen. Patterson, President, in the chair.
Premiums were awarded as follows, by the Committee on Plants and Flowers : —

CameUias, Twelve Cut Floicers — for the best to David Ferguson ; for the second best to
Jerome Graff, gr. to C. Cope. Collection of twelve Plants — for the best to Thos. Robertson,
gr. to B. A. Falmestock. A Special Premium of one dollar to Peter Raabe, for a collection of
Hyacinths, Tulips, and Crocuses, in pots. Specimen Plant — for the best to Mark Hill, gr. to
M. W. Baldwin, for Acacia puhescens. Table Design — for the best to Barry Higgins, gr. to
I). R. King. Basket of cut Flowers — for the best to Mark Hill ; for the second best to '^ ^
Habermehl, gr. to John Lambert. Bouquets — for the best pair to the same.

editor's table.

By the Committee on Fruit. Pears — twelve specimens — for the best to Isaac B. Baxter,
Broom Park, B. Ranee, and St. Germains.

By the Committee on Vegetables. Special Premiums of one dollar each to Mark Hill, for a
brace of Cucumbers and a bunch of Asparagus, and to Barry Higgins for a dish of Mushrooms.

The Committee of Finance reported that the Treasurer's account was correct.

The appointment of the Standing Committee for the year 18.56, was announced.

A collection of dried specimens of indigenous plants, received through the hands of J. Jay
Smith, Esq., from Mrs. Isaac Clement, of Saratoga County, New York, was presented to the
Society, and it was, on motion, ordered that the thanks of the Society be tendered to the
donor. The following Preamble and Resolutions were adopted (which we have inserted,
with a comment, elsewhere. — Ed.).

Three gentlemen were elected members.

Objects exhibited xot before mentioned. — Plants from B. A. Fahnestock's house — twelve
plants: Acacia floribunda, A. (jraveolens, Azalea Bealii, A. triumphans, Burchellia capensis,
Brachysema acuminata, Billbugia sp., Centradenia floribunda, Chorozema varium, Eparris
cnnescens, E. alba odorata, and Kennedi/a monopJujlla. Specimen — Mahernia odorata, also eight
Primula sinensis.

From C. Cope's houses — cut Camellias, Henry Fourth, candidissima, Prattii, Jeffersonii,
Iiiibricata, Duchess of Orleans, Sarah Frost, Tentonia, Minuata, Princesse Borisschii, Duke of
Brabant, and Fimbriata.

From John Lambert's, twelve cut Camellias, and by Peter Mackenzie, twelve cut Camellias.

Chester Cou^jty Horticultural Society. — The stated meeting for March was held in the
Hall, on the 8th inst., at the usual hour, Vice-President, J. H. Bull, presiding.

The display of Apples, on the present occasion, has probably never been sui-passed at any
previous meeting of the Society at this season of the year.

The first premium for display of Apples, was awarded to Joshua Embree, who exhibited
twenty-nine varieties. The second premium for ditto, was awarded to Lewis P. Hoopes, who
deposited eight varieties.

Amos H. Darlington also exhibited a beautiful display.

A large collection of greenhouse plants was exhibited, from the nurseiy of Josiah Hoopes.
Also, a pair of pretty hand-bouciuets, by Mrs. S. H. Fergus.

An election for officers, to serve the ensuing year, was held, and the following were duly
elected, viz : President — Jonathan C. Baldwin. Vice-Presidents — Pierce Hoopes and J. H.
Bull, Esq. Rec. Sec^y — Josiah Hoopes. Cor. Sec^y — Joseph P. Wilson, Esq. Treasurer —
John Marshall. Josiah Hoopes, Secy.

(L'xlnlwx of (Ojjfrations.

APRIL.
BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS.

Vegetable Garden. — Order, regularity, and neatness, go hand in hand with good cultiva-
tion ; and nowhere is their appearance of more moment than in this department, whetlier in
respect to the enjoyment to be derived in contemplating the various developments of the
crops, or the beneficial influence it confers on their growth. The walks and paths should be
kejit clean, and all blanks in their edgings repaired. It will not pay one to grow weeds.

Tomatoes, er/g-plants, ^'-c, should now be removed from the seed-beds, and carefully trans-
planted either into a frame, or some sheltered spot, where the}^ can be readily protected from
cold and dry winds. Choose a rich vegetable soil, and plant a couple of inches asunder.
This encourages them to form numerous roots, and they will succeed better on final jjlanting
in the open ground. Prepare for planting Lima beans by inserting poles, digging the soil deep,
and mixing a portion of well-rooted manure, or leaf mould, in tlie hills. Tliere is notliing
gained by planting this crop too early. The soil must be warm, and in condition to accele-
rate vegetation before planting, to insure a speedy and vigorous growth. I have always
seen the earliest and best crops from those that have not been planted until these conditions
could be secured.

Peas should be sown every two or three weeks, to keep up a regular supply. Let the
ground be deeply worked for future sowings, otherwise they may not be profitable should
dry weather prevail.

g^^

Si:

Asparoffiis should now be uncovered, and, if growint? in rows, the soil sliould l)e forked
up hftween tliem. In euttint; it for use, it is well to hear in mind, that it is sui)erlluous to
cut below the surface, the white portion not being eatable. Beed may yet be sown for youii^
plantations. See to the clearing of this crop, and give an early check to tlie growth of weed.-..

Chaiiioiiiilc, sage, wormwood, tansy, and lavender, may have their roots divided, or in-
creased by slips where a stock is required.

Haudy Fiturr. — Pears grafted on quince require deep, rich soil, to derive full benefit from
this method of culture. Many failures have occurred, and much disai)pointment has been
occasioned, by those who have ])lanted these without knowing what they were about. Of
course, all such failures are attributed to the trees, and the system of grafting them ; few
people care about taking blame to themselves, if they can by any means shift the respon-
sibility.

Tear culture on this system is not for those who plant a tree as they do a gate-post, and
who look upon the after-treatment of both in the same light — that is, leave them till they
rot, and then put in a fresh one. In planting, surround the roots with a peck or so of leaf
or wood mould ; this starts them vigorously. Cover the whole of tlie quince, and about an
inch of the pear-stem, with soil. The quince roots freely from any part of its surface ;
therefore, deep planting in this case is not injurious, and it prevents the depredations of the
borer. If the roots appear stumpy, stunted, and destitute of fibres, cut sevei'al upward
slits on various parts of their surfaces, to encourage root formation.

The amount of pruning that trees require at planting, depends upon the degree of mutila-
tion and maltreatment the roots have been subjected to. The older the tree, the grc^ater
the mutilation the roots are likely to sufler, and, consequently, the more branch pruning
will be necessary. For this reason, young trees are better for general planting than older
ones ; two years from the bud is a favorite age for the removal of uurseiy trees. At this
age, too, they are just in condition for training to any desired form. Young trees that liave
been neglected during last summer, with reference to in-uuing, and have shoots three or
more feet in length, should have those luxuriant shoots bent down and fixed iu that position.
Close pruning such shoots only increases their vigor.

Care in disbudding where branches are not wanted, and pinching early the extreme points
of those shoots that seem to grow too strong, will early attract the attention of those who
wish to see a perfect and well furnished tree.

Grapery. — As the young shoots progress, tie the canes up to the rafters, but keep their
points pendant until the lower buds are well into growth. Attend early to disbudding — a
very necessary ojieration on close pruned vines ; of course leave the strongest slioot. Syringe
over the plants during the early portion of the day, and endeavor to have the house dry
towards evening, so long as frosty nights may be expected. If apix-aranccs indicate a sharjj
frost, and there is no other means of repelling it, filling the house with smoke will be found
a good preventive expedient. Damp hay, or any similar matter, will answer this purpose ;
tobacco stems may be used, if there are, as frequently happens, nectarine or peach-trees
trained on the back wall, as both the green and black aphis are very liable to attack them
when the leaves are developing. Admit air carefully, exclude dry, blustering winds, and
keep the bottom ventilators closed to avoid currents.

Greenhouse. — Watering, — The application, or, rather, the misapplication of water, kills
more pot plants than anything else. It is also a subject that will not admit of definite
rules, so much depends upon individual circumstances. When a plant is wet, it of course
requires no water, yet many water all their plants every day. When a plant is dry, suffi-
cient water should be given to reach every root, and wet all the soil ; yet many are content
by dribbling a little on the surface. Strong growing plants., and those that have filled th(!ir
pots with roots, will require more water than those irnder the opposite extremes. Plants
maturing their growth, or coming towards a state of rest, should have a gradually dimi-
nished supply, not, however, by curtailing the quantity at each application, but by lengthen-
ing the period between them. Merely wetting the surface only deceives the eye, as the
lower roots get none. Again, delicate rooting plants, as azaleas, heaths, epacris, leschenaultias,
&c., especially if recently repotted, will frequently apjiear dry on the surface, although not
in need of water. To ascertain accurately, give the side of the pot a shai-jj rap; if it pro-
duces a clear, ringing sound, it is a sure sign that there is not much moisture within.

Calceolarias and cinnerarias are difficult to keep over summer. The best method is to
plant them deep, in a rich, open soil, clear away a few of the lower leaves, and draw the soil
well up about the stems ; unless they emit a fresh supply of roots, and get hold of the soil
before summer, they will do but poorly.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

Pelargoniums will soon be in perfection. Keep tliem regularly supplied with water, and
cut off the faded blooms. They will keep in llower for some weeks, if regularly attended
to in these particulars.

Fuchsias. — Attend to repotting in time, that a speedy growth may receive no check, b^^t
do not give them very large pots, unless your object is a large plant and no flowers. They
only bloom well when growth is completely checked by the pots being filled with roots ; an
eight inch pot will grow a specimen large enough for ordinary decorative pui-poses.

Achenienes require rough, turfy soil, and one-fourth of the pot filled with drainage. Strong
growing sorts like pedunculata, grandiflora, hirsuta, &c., may be placed singly, or two or
three in a pot ; by constantly pinching out the young points, they may be grown very large,
even from single roots, but they increase so rapidly by the roots, that jilants are always
abundant. Longiflora, coccinea, rosea patens, &c., may be planted thickly ; they will thus
soon form a large mass, and a succession of flowering plants may be had by keeping a few
well pinched down. Syringe them frequently, and do not keep the soil too wet. Gesneras
and gloxinias reqixire similar treatment. The tuberous roots of the latter are apt to decay
if the soil is kept wet before the flbry roots extend.

The house will now be much crowded. Plants intended for the flower garden maybe set
out of doors ; so may, also, a few of the earliest flowered camellias, acacias, azaleas, together
with pittosporums, myrtles, oranges, &c., that are intended for out-door decorations. Be
guided, however, by the condition of their growth. They will certainly be checked, unless
the young shoots have completed their growth. Choose a spot where they will be shaded
from morning sun ; a few degrees of frost will then do no harm.

During the month of February last, I was shown into a small conservator}'', containing
more bloom than I ever saw in similar space. The vigor and health of the plants attracted
notice. I was informed, that a few days previous to my visit, through an accident, the
thermometer got down to 22°, thus subjecting the plants to 10° of frost ; shading was imme-
diately resorted to, and the temperature allowed to rise gradually. Not a leaf or flower was
harmed. Cinnerarias, geraniums, Kennedias, epacris, euphorbias, gesneras, and even the
cjTpripediums, insigne, and venusta, were all unhurt. This much for simply shading after
frost.

Chinese primrose, for seeding, may now be allowed to flower ; leave only one flower-stem
on a i^lant ; set them near the glass, where they will get air when the house is opened.

Climbing plants and rustic baskets, hanging about a greenhouse, create a pleasing variety.
Baskets for this purpose are readily made with small branches of trees, or pieces of oak and
hickory bark. Any jjlant that forms slender branches, or partakes of a spreading character,
is suitable. Climbing plants are not at all adapted for this .purpose. Nemophilas, lobelia
erinus, torenias, eschynanths, hoya bella,mahernias, mimulas, petunias, and lophosijernums,
if well pinched back when growing, lantana sellowii,and lycopodium denticvxlatum, are well
suited for this method of culture.

Orchids. — There are but few who have special structures for the growth of this family.
They are proverbially of easy culture, and many of them grow well under ordinary green-
house treatment. Like other plants, they have a season of growth, and one of rest. While
growing, they require a warm, humid atmosphere, and a dry and comparatively cool tem-
perature when growth is completed. Were these simple facts kept in view, we should see
them flower more profusely than when kept in continual growth, by maintaining a sufio-
cating atmosphere, saturated with moisture as they are generally treated. We shall never
see these curious plants come into general cultivation until the present mode of management
is completely changed.

Flower Gaeden. — Plants intended for the borders should be " hardened off'" — that is,
accustomed to the weather for two weeks before planting out. The hardier kinds, as vei--
benas, should be planted early. If left until the end of May, as is usually the case, the
■warm, dry weather sets them to flower instead of growth ; and, unless planted very thick at
first, the ground will not be covered for mouths. A few degrees of frost will not harm them,
and they will take to growth before overtaken by sultry weather.

A.iters, balsams, and other annual flowering jjlants, may bo sown in a fiame, or a sheltered
corner, in shallow drills, to be transplanted when of sufficient size.

Hollyhocks are very effective in masses, or singly, in shrubbery borders. Procure seed of
good varieties, and sow it at once ; transplant in nursery rows when about a couple of inches
high. The following season, they may be placed where wanted to flower.

Dahlia roots that have not commenced to grow, may be planted out towards the end of
the month. They are increased by division of the roots, and cuttings root quickly if not
kei)t too close and damp.

editor's table.

Violrt.1 should be divided and jilanted in rows, in rich soil. The tree violet is a useful
kind ; cuttings put in now, will form line llowering plauts for next winter.

Lxwxs. — When the soil is retentive and wet, the grasses are apt to he tlirown out hy the
winter frost. A top dressing of surface soil, raked and rolled to an even surface, will impart
fresh vigor to tlie roots. A great feature in keeping lawns is, to have them early and regu-
larly cut. EsjK'cially should they be kept closely mown in the early part of the season,
that the individual jjlants may spread, and form a thick surface, able to resist a dry season.
There is no reason why we should not have good lawns, if properly laid down at first, and
attended to afterwards.

Pleasure Grocnps. — In the arrangement of the grounds about country houses, a frequent
cause of dissatisfaction is the want of connection between the building and surrounding
scenery. A sloping lawn, running directly to the base of the house without any intervening
object, always appears defective. In some cases, where the grounds are contracted, even a
walk running' parallel with, and surrounding at least the principal fronts of the house, will
be found sufficient. But where a terrace can be introduced, although only of a few feet in
width, it conveys a pleasing air of propriety to the dwelling ; and, carrying art beyond the
mere form of the house, its vertical and horizontal lines are blended by degrees with the
accidental undulations of surface. It is not to be inferred that we recommend huge sod-
banks to be raised on a level with the first floor, as may frequently be seen. Many fine
builiiings have their just architectural proportions completely marred by the quantity of
earth piled round their base, looking as if half submerged. It is a wonder that architects
do not pay more attention to this subject, and not only suit the style of architecture to the
locality, but also provide for the necessary improvements being conducted without abridging
its beauty of composition. Houses finished with heavy cornices, are much improved M'lien
surrounded with a broad platform, or esplanade, supported by a low wall, with balustrade
on top ; a proper position for the display of vases and other artificial objects. An extended
terrace of this description on the private front, may embrace a small flower garden in the
strictly geometrical style, which will be in good keeping with statuary, sun-dials, fountains,
and other works of art.

The lateness of the season admonishes us to proceed, with all possible dispatch, with
planting. Deciduous trees and shrubs should be attended to first ; evergreens may be
transplanted with perfect safety even after growth lias commenced. The details of planting
have been so often ably reverted to in these pages, that it is unnecessary to enlarge upon
the subject here. The disposition of the trees with regard to individual or combined beauty,
will also exercise the mind of the judicious planter. Trees of distinct character, as the
weeping willow and Lombardy poplar, are said to be " dangerous in the hands of beginners ;"
yet, what a beautiful group they form when combined. Plantations of round-headed trees
alone, appear heavy and tiresome ; relieve them by a few larches, or deciduous c^-press, and
how changed the effect ! the contrasts give animation to the scene. Again, what variety
might be introduced by contrasting trees with reference to their changing colors in autumn,
or even in their various shades of green during budding spring ? No one who appreciates
the beauty and adaptability of trees, will be deterred from planting this because it is com-
mon, or that, because it is ugly. Beauty and deformity are only relative appellations.

Evergreen and deciduous trees should not be indiscriminately mixed. For summer shade,
the sugar, silver, and scarlet maples, ash, elm, &c., should be planted near the house ; ever-
greens are valuable for shelter, but have a disagreeable effect in winter when placed too near
the south side of buildings. A house nestling on the sunny side of an evergreen planta-
tion, suggests comfort and cheerfulness ; place too many evergreens in front, and the effect
is cold and gloomy. Free growing kinds, as Norway spruce, white pine, and Scotch fir, are
well adapted for planting where rapid growth and shelter are desired. Some of the finest
spruce and rare pines may be planted singly. Placing them on mounds slightly elevated
above the adjoining surface, increases and exhibits their beauty to the greatest advantage.
The evergreen and deciduous plantings may be made to blend gradually into each other,
by the skilful introduction of larches and deciduous cypress. These are deciduous, but
pai-take of the conical outline of the majority of evergreens.

It may not be a useless repetition to remark, that every care should be given to guard-
ing against the drying of the roots during the process of removal and planting ; and that
pruning of the branches should follow pruning of the roots — in other words, the branches
reipiire shortening back when there has been much mutilation of roots. Filling up the hole
to allow for sinkage of the soil, securing the plants by stakes, and mulching over the
face, are points which will not be overlooked.

V^^

^:

V,fi

I^US GHIAS .

I. E-mperoT 2/kpoIeozi
2,. Venvis ae Medici

gi |tto Mar^s on d^btrgrnns u)i

fiWltx glitttcrs.

CEDAR OF LEBANON.

MPORTANT to the landscape, for shelter,
and for winter and summer beauty, as ever-
green trees and shrubs are, we never lose an
opportunity of speaking a good word in their
behalf, though we run the risk of repeating
what has been said before. Their cultivation,
in England, is a perfect passion, carried some-
(Q times to a degree that appears almost unpar-
O donable in a country where the land would seem
^^"j to be required for food. The English climate is,
y\ undoubtedly, much better adapted for a pine-
'\] turn, or collection of pines, than our own.
^ Dropmore, not many miles from Windsor
Castle, presents as fine examples of Ever-
greens as it is well possible to conceive.
Its proprietor. Lord Grenville, had a love for the subject, and procured the newer
evergreens as soon as they were imported ; his trees (and those at Elvaston Castle)
present as large specimens of the new kinds as are to be found in cultivation ;
happily, his widow takes pride and pleasure in keeping them in condition. Most
of them have space to develop their beauty, and a system of feeding the trees was
early employed, that has been attended with most happy results. The operation
is a very simple one, and may be practised by every body. Trenches are dug in
radii that approach the body of the tree ; beginning at a distance of forty or
more feet from the body of a large specimen, a gutter, twelve to twenty-four
inches in depth, is excavated, and the soil carted away ; when the young rootlets
at the extremities of the roots are reached, they are gently raised and imbedded
in a composition of decayed leaves and virgin mould, that has been thoroughly
prepared and mixed ; or, if any particular description of food is known to be
better adapted to a given kind of tree, it is of course employed. In these nume-
rous radiated trenches the trees find their nourishment, and acquire a vigor and
beauty that is a perfect regale to the eye.

Carrying out the idea at home, the following experiment was tried on a Norway
fir, which is still the graduated thermometer to tell of the advantages of feeding
roots. It had the appearance of being quite healthy, but had been planted two
years before in a clay soil, in a hole about three feet wide. We had trenches dug
to its rootlets, beginning at a distance of seven feet and a half only from the tree.
The rootlets were found making a vain efi"ort to penetrate the clay which they
reached the previous autumn. Additional nourishment gave continued impetus
to the plant, which grew far beyond its contemporary neighbors, rarely increasing

Vol. YI.— May, 1856.

14

202 A FEW WORDS ON EVERGREENS AND OTHER MATTERS.

less than tlirec feet per annum. In three j'cars the roots were again at the bor
(Icrs of the clay, and, for the sake of an ex]tcriment, we then left them to battle
with their tUnicnlties as best they could. The annual growth began sensibly to
diminish, till the tliird year its leader grew but si.\ inehes ; the side branches
partook of the stunting, when we relented, and gave another course of feeding
by extending the trenches ; the growth immediately was sensibly increased ; the
second year it was as vigorous as of old, and is now one of our best specimens ;
but there it stands, its annual growth marked by the leader and side shoots, a
monument to the truth of the remark, that trees can be fed as readily as a Berkshire.

There is nothing surprising in this ; for, though trees do grow under difficulties,
and sometimes with only a few prongs penetrating between rocks, to have rapid
growth we must give them suitable soil ; merely planting a tree is not sufficient,
in the majority of cases, to insure its full beauty.

Two other specimens of the Norway fir, in which we take considerable pride,
have succeeded, till the past year, in a remarkable degree. Clay was dug out
and removed to the depth of five feet, till sand was found ; the holes were made
six feet wide ; leaf mould and fresh top soil were made ready, and the trees, pre-
viously dug around and left standing on a point that resembled a reversed acorn,
or a turnip, till thoroughly frozen, were put upon a sled, and carefully deposited ;
the holes had been receptacles of hundreds of cart loads of shavings, which
were burnt daily therein, for the sake of safety to a new building, and with a view
to the disintegration of the surrounding clay. For four years the trees flourished,
to the admiration of every one at all observant of nature ; but, the past season,
they grew less than half as much as during the previous years. On examination,
it was found that the rootlets had passed the made ground and some inches of
the burnt clay, and, having ceased to find their natural nourishment, had ceased
to be grateful for former kindness, and complained as plainly as if in words. This
day, while we write, the rootlets have been carefully approached, and treated to
another meal that will take them some years to devour.

The roots of evergreens rarely descend deep, so that we have them within
reach of our " feeding troughs." So simple an operation should not be neglected
whenever the trees, speaking their own language, implore the owner for assistance.
The omission of this duty will account for the stunted appearance of thousands of
evergreens in any neighborhood where the soil is deficient in the proper ingredients,
and too many neighborhoods are so, to expect favorable results without similar
care.

Disappointments have occurred in many attempts to imitate the planting abroad,
but it should not discourage us. If we cannot have all the variety that English-
men have, we have an abundance of superb trees for a plantation of great extent.
If the Cryptomeria Japonica is not hardy, or the Araucaria imbricata dies by slow
degrees, substitute something else ; the Pinus excelsa, the Cedar of Lebanon,

as a proud ship of the line among coasting vessels," hardy in the middle latitudes
the United States, and beautiful beyond compare— the Hemlock and N

Spruce, unquestionably our most valuable conifers, the White Pine, and numerous
others that have been tried, and which, on reference to the former pages of this
work, will be found to have proved hardy as far north as Northern New York and
Canada, would soon make up a list of sufficient variety to give the character of a
pinetura, where the winter winds would only penetrate to utter those harp-like
sounds that are so musical to the attuned ear. Shelter and beauty can thus be
combined in any climate of our Union ; at the South, by a greater variety ; at
the North and West, by greater numbers of the same kinds. But do not let us
hear, as we did the other day, that "the planting of evergreens is a humbug,"
because one or two specimens that much was expected from had partially failed ;
they were planted in a most exposed situation, and, probably, without proper care ;
to have a good collection of evergreens, you must give attention to the wants of
the plant in many ways ; two of these are, shelter while they are young, suitable
soil, and plenty of it.

It is a question not often mooted, whether evergreens do or do not require the
same cutting back as deciduous trees, when removed. Our own experience indi-
cates that a slight trimming is useful. The mode of operation on the Norway fir,
for instance, is this : Cut back the limbs of last year's growth, using the dis-
solved shell-lac on cuts, and leaving the leader untouched. The effect is the same
as that on deciduous trees, with this additional advantage : the plant throws out
at least two — probably more — leading limbs, and the result is that of thickening
the growth, and Improving the appearance. For the sake of experiment, we
carried this system to as great an extent, with a single specimen, as possible ; ere
many years elapsed, the limbs became so heavy with numerous branches, that they
broke with their own weight. Others, cut back once in every three years, have
attained rare beauty and a close habit.

One of the peculiarities attending a place newly planted, w^e have never seen
noticed by any writer. A tree recently set out always looks as if it were not at
home ; it is not in keeping with its new position, or, rather, it has not yet appro-
priated the position to itself ; hence, for the first few years of a new place, the
planting has an unnatural look that is often the source of disappointment. In
time, however, the trees put on a life-like garb, that appropriates the space as
their own, and they seem to fit into their niches so naturally, that they are scarcely
noticed by the careless observer ; they are now at home, and part and parcel of
the scenery. If the ground has been thoroughly trenched, you need not wait many
years for good results.

The first year or two of the suburban residence, where all the trees are new,
are thus not without their discouragements, and hence it is a good plan to
procure a few specimens of greater size, even though they are not of the most
valuable kinds, and to displace them one by one as better grow up. A few varie-
ties bear removal with more success than others ; the Horsechestnut is patient
even under ill-treatment ; the Silver Maple may be taken up without material
injury; the Willow, if planted in made ground, or ground that is loose and moist,

will rapidly attain importance. Evergreens should be at once set out, as a year's

delay is a year lost ; the Austrian Pine, and the Pinaster, arc among the most
rapid growers, while the Cembran pine is extremely slow. Such information is
obtainable from books, and no young planter should neglect their study.

It is a favorite plan with us, to intermingle the «///e with the (hdce in ])lanting
a new place. We can see no reason why many of our shade trees should be
neglected because they also produce fruit. There is scarcely a more ornamental
tree than the Spanish chestnut, and it yields a very profitable crop of excellent
nuts; why not plant this instead of the commonest maples ? A few fine cherry-
trees of the most select kinds, serve the purposes of shade nearly as well as the
most fashionable foreign deciduous trees, and they are an annual source of grati-
fication, not only to the old and young, but they bring round the house the favor-
ite robbin, and other singing birds. Reflect, while the latter enjoy themselves,
that you planted the cherry to share its fruits with your friends. The Shell-bark
hickory is one of the most beautiful American trees we possess ; procure the true
kind, and give a little space to what will long delight your successors. The
Walnut is an extremely productive tree, and its timber is worth more than most
others. The English walnut, or Madeira-nut, is also ornamental and useful. The
I'each, the Apricot, and the Crab-Apple, interspersed in your grounds in suitable
situations, are as picturesque as shrubbery, and, like the Filbert, yield valuable
products ; another argument for the use of these, is to be found in the fact, that
when they are placed within sight of the mansion, they are more under the eye of
the resident, and, consequently are less liable to depredations.

No country in the world is expending, on new rural improvements, more money
than our own ; it is of great importance that it should be laid out judiciously.
Whatever may be the natural taste of the beginner who is capable of enjoying
the happy efforts of others, he should be impressed with the fact, that many
tasteful persons fail when they employ their energies in a new field of operations,
precisely as they might do if they attempted a musical instrument without a mas-
ter ; they should consult some one whose business it is to lay out their grounds,
whose experience has been exhibited by some example, and who can give correct
information in such important points as what trees attain a great or a rapid height,
and which must be waited for in patience. Accomplished individuals, in this
department, are extremely rare ; landscape gardening is a fine art, and, in all the
fine arts, great masters are the exceptions.

One of the worst errors committed by citizens, when removing to " the country,"
is their congregating too near together in villages where the land is dear, the "lots"
small and shallow, and where, as a taste for rural art increases, there is no space
to expand. The citizen, accustomed to his small plot of 20 by 100 feet in town,
conceives that 100 by 200 is a magnificent allowance. Many purchase even much
less, and their country experiences end in disappointment ; whereas, if they had
gone but a little further from village streets, they would have possessed, at the
same cost, ground for a good orchard and a cow pasture. Our own neighborhood

is an example of this. Germantown has been cut up, by interested speculators,
into very small inclosures, where a few evergreens soon bid defiance to variety of
shade and scenery ; while the more thoughtful purchaser in the outskirts, has all
that can make his residence desirable, but has, also, a building-lot or two to spare
to a friend, at the cost of his whole original expenditure.* These remarks will
apply to thousands who have left our great cities for purer air, and who have great
reason to regret their want of foresight ; the hint will not be lost, we trust, on
future improvers.

On the other hand, do not undertake too much. Country, or even suburban
life, is not less expensive than that of the city ; to keep a set of assistants whom
you must always overlook, and perhaps two sets, one to go to tmvn, is onerous and
costly. It is more difficult to be " content with simplicity," and those habits which
do not engender expense, than most people imagine ; and "living in the country,"
be assured, does not necessarily decrease the difficulty. The really happy country
people are those who have graduated, as all sensible people should do, their ex-
penses within their income ; who have a fondness for country pursuits, a garden,
fruit, shrubbery, and who can find congenial employment when alone.

FUCHSIAS,

EMPEROR NAPOLEON (bANKS), AND VENUS DE MEDICI (BANKS).f

E. Banks, Esq., of Sholden Lodge, near Deal, has produced more really good
Fuchsias than any other raiser. His Glory, Queen of Hanover, Elegans, Van-
guard, Autocrat, and many others, even much older varieties, are universally
grown. The late Mr. Story has done a great deal in the way of procuring novel-
ties in Fuchsias, but he aimed chiefly at producing new characters, as in the
white and striped corolla'd varieties. Mr. Banks sought more to obtain varieties
excelling in form and of robust short-jointed habit, by means of carefully eflFected
crosses. We need only point to Queen of Hanover for perfection in habit, and
we much question if it is not still the finest white Fuchsia yet sent out. There
never was a finer batch of Fuchsias let out than those sent out in the spring
of 1854, of Mr. Banks's raising. There was Queen of Hanover, Clio, and Char-
mer, all light sorts ; and Elegans, the gem of the dark ones still when well grown ;
Autocrat, with its large bold dark flowers of a distinct character ; Vanguard,
which wants a well reflexed sepal to make it perfect, and should be the parent of
many for habit ; and Omega, with its exquisite slate blue corolla. Since then,

* One of the sources of independence that has proved valuable to nurserymen, has been
the rise in the value of their lands when they were near improving cities. We could
desic^nate many instances of this kind in various directions ; it is common to see nursery
stock advertised for sale, in consequence of the land having become valuable for building
purposes.

t See Frontispiece.

IJanks's Prince Albert, a good dark variety ; and Climax (Banks), a good habited

kind, but wanting substance in the sepals. Others of Mr. IJanks's raising reached
us last year, but we failed in blooming them. The two varieties we now figure
will be found acquisitions : Emperor Napoleon is a very fine dark variety, and
Venus de Medici highly deserves a place in every collection. The excei)tion is
"Wonderful, one of Mr. Banks's seedlings, we believe, and it is certainly a wonder-
fully large and coarse flower, with not a good quality to recommend it beyond
si/A'. — London Flurist.

METHOD OF USING SULPHUR FOR MILDEW.

BY JOHN J. HOWE, BIRMINGHAM, CONN.

I HAVE a small cold grapery, in which the vines have ])assed their fourth season,
and have borne two fair crops. One point in my experience may be worth com-
municating to the readers of the Ilortictdhirist. It relates to the manner of using
sulphur for the prevention of mildew. I have used it, in solution with quicklime,
in the following manner : Take, say a half Inishel of lime and 6 lbs. of flower of
sulphur. Mix them together in a large tub (a half hogshead), and pour on enough
water to slake the lime, and mix it to about the consistence of whitewash. After
this is thoroughly mixed, fill your tub with water, and stir it, so as to diffuse the
lime and sulphur through the water. Let it stand long enough to allow the lime
to settle, and you will have a clear, transparent liquor strongly impregnated with
sulphur, as will be manifest from its yellow color, and its strong, sulphurous taste
and smell. My practice has been to have the ground in the interior of the grapery
sprinkled with this liquor every evening through the season, as long as there is
any danger of mildew. The tub may be filled up with water, from time to time,
as the liquor is used, and the quantity of lime and sulphur mentioned, will be
enough for a grapery 3U to 50 feet long, the entire season. In a few instances, I
have used it diluted with about two parts of water to one of the liquor for syring-
ing the vines — but I have seldom thought it necessary to use it otherwise than by
sprinkling the ground as mentioned. My vines have never been attacked with
mildew in the least degree — and I have never used sulphur otherwise than as above
stated. There may be nothing new in the manner of using sulphur which I have
adopted, but I have never seen its use recommended precisely in that way — and
as I have found it entirely successful, and in no respect detrimental, I conclude
that it has not been as generally practised as it deserves to be.

I have Black Hamburgh Grapes now (March) as good as when taken from the
vines — and good enough, too — which have been laid down in dry beech sawdust.

^^9^:

DR. JOHN LINDLEY.

207

5:^-

'^

DR. JOHN LINDLP]Y.

FROM THE LONDON COTTAGE GARDENER.

Very recently we recorded a living example of a countrj' gardener's son de-
servedly elevated for his deeds of noble daring and honorable conduct, to be the
associate and the admired of our country's nobility. It is noble and animating to
see such examples of the gifted son of the poor man elevated upon the pinnacle
to which he has buffeted his way —

" Rougli'd to his point against the adverse stream ;"

and we have this day to place before our readers another such example in Dr.

John Lindlcy.

Dr. Liiulley was born at Catton, near Norwich, where his father, Mr. Georffe
Lindley, for many years earned on the business of a nurseryman and seedsman ;
but, being unsuccessful in business, he ultimately became foreman to Messrs.
Miller and Sweet, of Bristol Nursery, where, no doubt, many of our professional
readers knew him personally. The early life of the subject of this notice was not
distinguished by any reniarkalile occurrence. His rudimentary education being
obtained in his native country, he was subsequently sent to France to prosecute
the more advanced branches ; and, on his return, in consequence of his father's
reverses, he was early thrown upon his own resources. These resources were a
well-stored mind, great self-reliance, and a ready perception of the art of rising.
Soon after his return from the continent, he attracted the notice of Sir Joseph
Banks, by being engaged in a controversy with Sir James Edward Smith, late
President of the Linnean Society. Sir Joseph favored the opinion of Mr. Lind-
ley, and appreciating the ability of the young controversialist, he took him under
his patronage, and through his influence he was employed by the Horticultural
Society, to whose " Transactions" his father has been a contributor.

The Horticultural Society having determined, much against the wishes of many
of its fellows, to occupy an extensive garden, finally arranged in 1821, for that at
Chiswick.

The Garden required for its care a resident staff, and as Assistant Secretary of
the Garden we find, in 1822, Mr. Lindley was for the first time announced as
an officer of the society. As holder of that office, he had to superintend the col-
lection of plants, and other transactions in the Garden, besides keeping all ac-
counts and minutes of reports addressed to the Society's Council.

Mr. Sabine retired from the Secretaryship, and was succeeded by Mr. Bentham,
Mr. Lindley continuing his Assistant Secretary.

Mr. Lindley's connection with the Horticultural Society, sustained by his un-
doubted great acquirements as a Botanist, aided his rapid upward progress. The
Botanical liegister, established by Mr. Sydenham Edwards, in 1815, passed in
1826 to the editorship of Mr. Lindley, having previously been under the manage-
ment of his friend Mr. Bellenden Ker. The sound knowledge he here exhibited,
as well as in his Rosarum ^fonograjyhia, and Synopsis of the British Flora, pub-
lished in 1820, fully justified the University of London in placing him in the Chair
of Botany, from which, as Professor, he delivered his Introductory Lecture at the
close of April in 1829. In this he boldly made a stand in favor of the Natural
System of Botany, and announced his intention of adopting it as the basis of his
course of Instruction. Mr. Tegetmeier says, in a letter now before us :" I am a
very old pupil of Dr. Lindley's. Twenty years ago I took his gold medal at Uni-
versity College, and maintained the superiority of his teaching by taking the
botanical medal of the Apothecaries' Company, open to the competition of

the students in England. We have long been strangers ; but I can truly

as a lecturer, he was one of the best teachers I ever heard. Free and conversa-
tional in his manner, his matter was excellent, and methodically arranged. I
entered his class with little knowledge of, and less liking for. Botany, and left it
with the results that I have mentioned, having amongst my competitors Dr. W.
B. Carpenter, Dr. Lankester, Dr. Jenner, &c."

In 1832 Mr. Lindley procured from a German university the degree of " Doctor
of Philosophy." From that time he was known as Dr. Lindley. In 1838 he
became Yice-Secretary of the Horticultural Society — a post which he has ever
since continued to hold.

We have little more to chronicle of Dr. Lindley beyond a list of his principal
publications, in addition to those already noticed, and they deserve the general
criticism that they are all excellent.

In 1833 he published his Nixus planiarium (Approximations of Plants), and
in 1838, Flora Medica, and Sertum Orchidaceum, besides reporting upon the
short-comings at Keio Gardens.

In 1839 appeared his Ladies'' Botany, and School Botany, and in 1840, his
Tlieory of Horticxdture — decidedly one of the best efforts to illuminate and direct
practice by science.*

In 1841 he published his Elements of Botany, and in conjunction with Mr.
Paxton and Mr. Dilcke, founded the Gardener's Chronicle, over which he con-
tinues to preside as editor. The same year, also, he became Professor of Botany
at the Royal Institution, and published, in conjunction with Mr. Hutton, The
Fossil Flora of Great Britain.

In 1846 appeared his largest and valuable work, The Vegetable Kingdom.

AYe must here close our very imperfect notes, and will do so by expressing a
hope that for many years to come our generation may benefit by the high botanical
acquirements of Dr. Lindley.

THE WHITE GRAPE CURRANT.

BY P. BARRY, ROCHESTER, N. Y.

Never, in this country, has the cultivation of the currant received so much
attention as it does at the present moment.

We have it upon reliable authority, that all the skill and industry of our nur-
serymen are unequal to the propagation of a stock sufficiently large to meet the
demand, and that heavy importations are annually made from Europe, not of neio

* [This important work has been very greatly enlarged, and a new edition has just ap-
peared in London. Tlie wood-cuts are nearly completed for an American edition, which has
placed under our editorial care. It will probably be published in 1857, in Philadelphia
New York. — Ed.]

varieties alone, but of the old sorts that have been the occupants of our gardens
in some form or other for a hundred years or more.

Tliis at first sight appears strange, but it can very readily be accounted for.

The population of this country has increased, of late years, at an amazing rate,
and almost every man who is possessed of a piece of land, whether it be a small
plot in the village, or a thousand acres in the far West, plants a few currant
bushes.

"Whether he plants other fruit trees or not, he is sure to plant currants. They
thrive everywhere, and yield fruit under any sort of treatment. Above all, they
bear soon, and this, especially in a new country destitute of fruits, is of no small
importance.

In many parts of this country, loine is made from the currant to a very con-
siderable extent. A gentleman in Wisconsin wrote us lately, that he had sold
some to the druggists at $4 per gallon, and could sell a large quantity at that
price. lie is about making an extensive plantation for this purpose, and he
should do so if he can get $4 per gallon for the wine, or even half that sum. The
best currant wine we have ever tasted, indeed we may say the only sample deserv-
ing the name of wine, was made, last season, from the White Grape variety, the
subject of this notice. It was made thus : to every gallon of clear drained juice
was added two gallons of soft water, and 9 lbs. of extra refined loaf-sugar, making
three gallons of wine. Nearly all the currant wine we have tasted, has been
spoiled with alcohol being added in some form or other.

The currant is a fruit for the North, and we are perfectly satisfied that where
the Grape cannot be grown for wine, the Currant may become an excellent
substitute. This will apply to a very large tract of the Northern United States.

The introduction of improved varieties has given a great impetus to the culture
of the Currant in the old States. The Cherry in size, the Victoria in lateness,
arc great acquisitions. The White Grajye is by far the largest and finest White
Currant in existence. The bush is lower and more spreading than the White
Dutch,' with much darker foliage, easily distinguished. There is much confusion
among the White Currants ; both in this country and in England, the White Grape
and Dutch are confounded.

What we want above all things. In the Currant, is size, an important requisite
in all the small fruits, on account of the expense of gathering.

We have said that the Currant yields fruit under any sort of treatment, and
this is true, but no other fruit is more sensible of kindness, or less difficult to
spoil by it. To have large crops, large bunches, and large fruit, we must manure
highly, and give the shoots and branches a regular thinning and shortening in
the autumn or winter of every year.

WEIGELA AMABILIS.

S3^

WEIGELA AMABILIS.

WRINKLE-LEAVED WEIGELA,

Nat. Ord. Capkifoliace^ — Pentandkia Monogynia.
Weigela amabilis. "Planch. Fl. des Serres, v. 8, p. 855."

At our Tab. 4396, under Weigela rosea, we expressed our doubts as to the
propriety of separating Weigela, Lindley (Caljspliyrum, Bunge), from Diervilla,
with which Siebold and Zuc-
carini, and following thera,
Walpers, unite it ; and doubt-
ing, too, as to W. rosea being
distinct from D. jlorida,
Sieb. et Zucc. ; and, in re-
ply to the query of a corre-
spondent in the Gardener''s
Chronicle (vol. for 1853, p.
536), it is answered : "We
are uncertain how many spe-
cies of Weigela are known to
botanists. In the garden we
have W. rosea (just alluded
to), W. Minderdorfiana, W.
amahiUs, and W. lutea ; but
the last is often an alias of
Diervilla lutea, and we do not
know how far the others are
distinct. In books also oc-
cur W. paucifiora and Jlo-
rida ; but the latter is very
nearly, if not quite the same
as roseay We have now to
consider the question of the
distinctness of the one under
consideration from the last
mentioned. Certainly, with
flowering species of each in
our hand, the eye mayreadily
distinguish between them ;
but, with the exception of

the stronger reticulation of the leaves of the present plant, and the undulately
crenate lobes of the corolla, there is no character on which reliance can be pi

Weigela amabilis.

1. Calyx and pistil. 2. Corolla laid open,
from the inner base of tlie tube of the corolla,
verse section of ovary — magnified.

Gland
Trans-

REMEDY FOE GIRDLED FRUIT TREES.

Such as they arc, wc have included tlu'iii in tlic specific character; and we regret
we have not the oii])ortunity of consultinfi; the Flore dcs Serrcs, wlierc this s])ecies
is cstablislied by INI. rianclion. It is, we presume, like W. rosea, a native of
China or Japan, but by whom introduced to Europe, we have no means of knowinp^.

Descr. a shrub, prol)ably ('(pially hardy with Weir/ehi rosea (though our plant
blossomed in a cool frame in May), and with entirely the same habit : the younger
branches and foliage are more or less hairy. Leaves opposite, larger than those
of IV. rosea ; rather obovate than ovate, acuminated, serrated, tapering below into
a moderately long petiole. The surface is much and reticulately veined, with
impressed lines above, prominent on the nerves beneath. Flowers sessile, or on
very short, simple petioles, bearing two opposite, minute bracts, solitary in the
axils of the upper leaves, or in a terminal, many-flowered timhel, of beautiful rose-
colored powers. Calyx hairy, the tube adherent with the ovary, so slender as to
resemble a peduncle, angular : limb of five, erect, linear, appressed segments,
unequal in height. Corolla with the tube narrow, scarcely longer than the seg-
ments of the calyx : the limb campanulate, cut into five, nearly equal, spreading,
waved, and crenated, obtuse, broadly ovate lobes : the tube is, within, hairy, and
has a clavate, short, downy, conspicuous gland, attached to the base on one side.
Stamens inserted at the top of the tube, shorter than the limb : anther oblongo-
sagittate. Style shorter than the corolla, included. Stigma two to three-lobed,
lobes downy. — Curtis'' s Bot. Magazine.

[This plant flowers more than once during the season, and is a very decided
acquisition, lately introduced, and now for sale in many nurseries. — Ed.]

REMEDY FOR GIRDLED FRUIT TREES.

BY n. B. LUM, SANDUSKY, OHIO.

Believing that a few words on the above subject will be of interest to those
who may have suffered from the depredations of mice in their young orchards
during th6 past severe winter, I make the following communication, knowing,
however, that my theory of saving trees injured by mice, or from other causes, is
well understood, at the present time, by many experienced cultivators ; yet the
modus operandi, perhaps, may not be fully known by some of your readers whose
young trees have been completely girdled by mice.

For the benefit of such persons, I will describe a plan adopted by me some
years ago, for saving a girdled tree.

A friend, some time in April, expressed his regret at having lost the finest peach-
tree in his garden ; a tree of three inches in diameter, which had been girdled for
a space of six inches near the ground. I informed him that there was a possi-
bility of saving the tree ; he furnished me with a small i inch chisel, a piece of
coarse cloth, and a stout cord. I then proceeded to make three half-inch grooves
in the tree, equidistant from each other, and running from two inches above the
girdled part to two inches below.

DEUTZIA GRACILIS.

These grooves in the tree were made perfectly smooth, and the bark above and
below the girdle injured as little as possible.

I then took a straight, thrifty shoot of the tree, split it through the centre, and
shaved off each edge, so as to make it exactly fit the groove when of the right
length, and fitted one into each of the grooves, using care to have the outer sur-
face of the wood on the tree, and that on the piece inserted, to exactly match.

I now made a plaster of equal parts of cow manure and soil, spread it on the
cloth, and then bound it round the tree with the cord ; and, after banking the
earth well up against it, left the rest to nature.

The result was a partial crop of fruit on the tree the same season, and a com-
plete circulation of bark over the wounded part the year following. Other trees
than the peach may be treated in the same way, and, when the job is nicely done,
the sap will flow through the medium artificially supplied, until sufficient new
organizable matter is pushed out from the sides to completely cover the wound.

DEUTZIA GRACILIS.

BY EDWARD DEEKER, STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK.

This floricultural gem is worthy a place in every collection, large or small,
throughout the length and breadth of the land, as few plants can boast of the
grace and beauty of this, which must ere long become a great favorite with the
fair sex, both on account of its own merit and their nice discrimination of the
good and beautiful.

The plant is of the easiest possible culture; a mixture of leaf mould and good
loam with a little sand will be found to suit this elegant little bijou ; its increase
is easy, either by layers or by cuttings of the half ripened wood under a hand
glass, with a slight bottom heat to hasten their rooting. As soon as rooted, pot
them off singly into ^ pint pots and place them in a shady part of the green-
house till they begin to grow, then place them in a cold frame to harden off, and
as soon as they have filled the pots with roots, turn them out into a well selected
piece of ground fully exposed to the sun, and by the fall they will have made
nice little plants that will bloom the following spring. Take them up and repot
according to the size and strength of the plants ; they can then be stowed away
under the green-house stage, and treated precisely the same as Fuchsias; as
soon as the weather permits, again turn them into the open ground, and by the
end of the second summer's growth they will be respectable sized plants that will
be covered with their snow-white flowers through the winter and spring months,
by placing a few plants at a time into the early vinery forcing-house or even
the warmed part of the green-house.

They may also be obtained early by those possessing no other glass than that
of their dwelling-house windows, by placing them in a south window of a warm
room, and giving air on every favorable occasion, that is, when the thermometer

is above 40° ia the shade. As they produce their flowers on tlio previous year's
growth, good care must be taken in pruning them to remove none but the oM
wood or ugly cross shoots that spoil the shape of the jilaut ; a liberal su])ply of
water is absolutely necessary for the full development of its long spikes of snowy
flowers.

CLIMATOLOGY.

BY A CONSTANT READER. PHILADELPHIA.

The contributions of this country towards the science of climatology and physical
geography are matters of which we Americans may justly be proud. The Espynn
theory of rain is the only one which possesses all the requisites of a law of
nature. Lieutenant Maury's Charts of the winds and currents are of world wide
fame. Professor Coffin, of Lafayette College, Pa., has contributed to the Smith-
sonian Institute, a memoir on the winds of the northern hemisphere, which is a
fine specimen of laborious and philosophical investigation ; and we have from the
pen of Lorin Blodget, of Washington, two memoirs on the climate of the United
States, which may rank with the best European reports on the subject of cli-
mate.

The first of these is contained in the Patent Office Report for 1853, and is a
masterly discussion of the climatic conditions requisite for the successful cultiva-
tion of the great staples of our country — wheat, maize, the vine, tobacco, cotton
and sugar.

The second is just published by the authority of government at Washington, in
the large quarto volume entitled, " the Army Meteorological Register for twelve
years, compiled from the observations made by the officers of the Medical Depart-
ment of the array at the military posts of the United States."

These and other authorities have been most skilfully discussed and investigated,
and their results are presented in a tabular shape, and in charts containing the
regions of equal temperature and equal rains.

No country in the world possesses such facilities as our own for such an in-
vestigation. Extending over the whole breadth of the continent from east to
west, and through 25 degrees of latitude in the southern portion of the temperate
zone; the broad plains, the high table lands, the long ranges of mountain and
coast, give us every variety of climate that can be found in our zone.

The following statements, compiled from the Hyetal or rain map of the U. S.,
will no doubt interest many of your readers.

The eastern half of the United States — that portion lying south of lat. 48° and
east of a waving line, the mean direction of which passes through the meridian 1)5°
west long. : a region as large as all Europe this side of Russia, and south of
the Baltic — is the most equably and copiously watered portion of the world of
al extent and compactness.

The southern part of this region — comprising the States of Florida, Georgi

South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and the greater portions
of Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina — forms a district in which
fifty inches of rain fall in a year. In the southern part of Florida and along the
coast from Pensacola to New Orleans, sixty inches fall annually.

On the rest of the Atlantic seaboard, and along a tract lying on the northern
and western borders of the above, is the district of from 42 to 45 inches. The
whole lake country has 30 inches, and the district of 35 inches of rain lies between
the two last named.

When we compare this region with the western part of Europe, we perceive
that its fall of rain is twice as great. Excepting the extreme western coasts, and
the regions bordering on the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Apennines, where 30
inches of rain fall — no part of the continent has more than 25 inches ; the high
plains of Germany have 20 inches, and' the country east of a line' passing through
Berlin and Vienna has from 17 to 13 inches.

These numbers are the means of the observations of many years, and although
the whole subject of climatology is so new that perfectly reliable means are not
yet obtained in the majority of cases, they are sufiBciently so to give confidence to
the general results.

These rains are distributed throughout the seasons, with great uniformity.
Along the seaboard they are almost equally divided among the four seasons. In
Florida and the valley of the Lower Mississippi, the winter rains predominate.
In the Upper Mississippi and the lake country, the summer rains are in excess,
and the winter rains are light.

The greatest quantity of rain falls in the United States on the Pacific coast,
north of lat. 40°, where it amounts to 60 inches. One-half of this falls in the
winter months, and two-thirds of the remainder in the autumn. It never rains in
California, nor in the western part of Utah in summer, and the summer rains are
very light along the whole region of the United States west of the Rocky Moun-
tains.

The high table lands at the base of the Rocky Mountains and the great interior
basin of Utah are very scantily watered, and many parts of those regions are
dreary deserts.

The distribution of temperature forms a very interesting portion of the Report,
to which I will call your attention at another time.

Yalnable as these observations are, they omit one element of climate of the great-
est importance to the horticulturist. He wants to know not merely how much
rain falls in his district, but what is the average moisture of the atmosphere.
This can readily be learned from the wet-bulb thermometer, and ought always to
be taken into the account in the description of climate.

It is understood that Lieut. Maury means to extend his researches over the
interior of our country, as well as over the ocean. If he will include among the
elements of climate — the dampness of the air as well as the fall of rain, we think
he will find zealous co-operators among our intelligent horticulturists.

PEAR CULTURE.

PEAR CULTURE — NO. 3.

BY DR. J. M. WARD. — NEWARK, N. J.

The delay of tliis article on the comparative success of the pear on the quince and
its own stock, is owing, it must frankly be acknowledged, more to the reluctance
we have felt to approach the examination of this subject than to any other cause.
We arc well aware that in what we have to say, we shall opi)Ose the honest views
of many horticultural friends — amateurs, who have liberally fed and carefully nur-
tured their few pet dwarfs until the love they cherish for them is duly propor-
tioned to the labor bestowed upon them ; nurserymen and tree-growers, who,
believing they were subserving the cause of horticulture, have indorsed by their
name and influence the cultivation of the pear on quince, till their successful
general culture in their own minds was placed beyond all question. But we must
beg them to remember our disparaging remarks, if such they should be called,
are the result of the observations of but a solitary individual, made simply in his
own fruit orchards ; and should the facts thus given not be corroborated by the
testimony of others, they may be set down as anomalous experience, and if not
satisfactorily accounted for from mode of culture, climate, or soil, according to the
linguist's saying — "exceptio probat regulam," will serve to fortify their cherished
opinions on this subject. To render our statements more satisfactory, we shall
give the age, size, and height of trees, and in some cases their annual product,
not simply trusting to our memories for these data, but appealing to our veritable
fruit record, commenced with our first planting, ten years since, and faithfully con-
tinued to the present time.

In Darlington's Memorials of John Bartram will be found a letter bearing date
Jan. 1763, from P. Collinson, London, to John Bartram, in which we note the
following : " AVhat I am persuaded will prevent the ^^<?ar dropping its fruit, if
some quinces were planted in the lower part of this garden near the spring, and
graft them with the pear — it meliorates the fruit. By long experience, all our
pears are grafted on quince stocks, and succeed better than on pear stocks with
us." By which we infer in the moist climate of England, regard being had in
planting to the habit of the quince, which delights in moist situations, and espe-
cially with their uniformity of climate, results may be obtained, which we are not
warranted in looking for in our climate of dry summers with its scorching suns —
and severely cold winters with its prevailing north west winds.

Although this mode of culture was thus flatteringly indorsed in England nearly
a century ago, it does not seem to have taken that hold of the public mind that it
has in our country. The lamented Downing, in 1845, said : "The dwarf pear, how-
ever, it must be confessed, rather belongs to the small garden of the amateur, than
to the orchardist, or him who desires to have regular large crops, and long lived
trees ; it is usually short lived, seldom enduring more than a dozen years in bcar-
ind yet such we find has been the progress of the mania for dwarf trees, in

the popular mind, that now they are everywhere sought after. The amateur and
the nurseryman have not only vied with each other in its praises, but multii)lied
their experiments in the flattering though vain hope, that our native pears uni-
versally declared best, would be improved by working on quince, till such a state
of feeling has resulted as to make it difficult for a nurseryman to sell to the unin-
itiated anything but a dwarf tree. Good pears are talked of — the press chroni-
cles their excellences — now and then a sight or a taste of one is enjoyed, and
somehow or other the impression obtains that nothing but a dwarf tree, a verita-
ble pear on a quince stock, will produce such fruit. The consequence is that
our nurserymen are driven into the necessity of working upon quince everything
that can be made to grow upon that stock — and the most refractory varieties by
double working are thus made to grow — " whether they will or no." This neces-
sity seems laid upon them to fill their orders ; for the charge is peremptory,
" Send none but dxoarf trees.'''' Pear-trees cannot be tolerated by the uninitiated;
many will not accept them as a gift, for their grounds must be filled with dwarf
trees. O Fashion — how inexorable art thou ! Must thy capricious, imperious
sway rule in this Eden world of horticulture, as thou art wont to do over thy
votaries in the world of pleasure; if so, rest assured thy day of triumph here is short,
for the period of reaction is not far distant ; the signs of its speedy coming are
even now visible. The disappointment at the result under the culture that nine-
tenths of them will receive, after they have taken their place in the extended garden
or orchard, will, we fear, bring such an opprobrium upon the few that succeed so
much better upon the quince than upon their native stock, and are really so im-
proved in character as to demand their perpetual use, as to discredit even them.

In the spring of 1846 I planted 40 Bartletts, on pear stocks one year from
the bud. Of these, all live but such as have been lost from accident — have
made vigorous growth, and are from 12 to 18 feet in height ; their average product
the past j^ear was estimated at a bushel a piece. In the fall of 1849 I planted 10
Bartletts on the quince. Most of them were suffered to bear one or two pears the
first season ; they occupy decidedly the richest part of the same field with those
first planted, have been highly manured, and enjoyed as good culture as any trees
on my farm ; half of the number have died, are less than six feet in height ; their
united product the past season was less than a half-bushel, and this the largest
yield they have ever given. I will venture the opinion from their present appear-
ance, no one of those now living will enter its teens.

In 1849 I planted 10 Vicar of Winkfields on quince in an adjoining row to the
Bartletts ; for four years they made satisfactory growth, and yielded good crops in
view of their age and size, since which time most of thera have declined in health
and vigoi' — two have died — two others give indications of premature death.
Forty other Vicars on quince were planted at the same time on a distant part of
the same field, have made most wonderful growth, and have borne more or less
year,* and from the rapid development of the wood principle, give promise
g lives of usefulness and profit.

* The average height from 12 to 15 feet.

Vol. VI.— May, 1856. 15

In the same year I planted twenty Louise Bonne of Jersey on quince, all of wliich
are, as to tliriftiucss of fjrowth, symmetry of proportion, healthfulness of aspect,
and ])roductiveness of habit, all that could be desired. These stand contiguous
to the failing Bnrtletts on quince — indeed all the above arc on the same plat of
ground, and the physical condition of the soil, as far as the eye can judge of it,
being ^ iniilar.

In 1851 I jilanted twenty Louise Bonne on quince on another field. Great
care was taken in the preparation of the soil; all the I'equisite conditions were
secured in planting, for producing healthy, rapid growing trees, and yet to this
day their truly dwarf appearance is everything else but an object of attraction to
a lover of trees; have not borne in the aggregate a peck of fruit, while those
planted two years previously on another field, have yielded over a half bushel a
piece. Some have died — others are in the process — and all might, without regret
at their loss. The cause is involved in mystery, unless it is to be found in the fact
that the subsoil is a gravelly loam and shale, not as congenial to the quince as
the more retentive clay substratum. One hundred Bartletts on the pear stock planted
at the same time, occupy an adjoining row, and are making most satisfactory pro-
gress in the world, as well as doing the work for which they were planted.

Contiguous to these Bartletts are two rows of Onondagas, one on the quince,
and one on the pear stock ; those on the native stock are vigorous growing trees,
forming fine heads, and commencing to bear fruit, while those on the quince are
small, stunted stocks, irregular in their growth, and have borne but here and
there a solitary pear. All the above described trees were obtained from the late
James Wilson, of Albany, and have enjoyed the same culture with the previously
named one hundred Duchess D'Angoulcme on quince obtained fron Wm. Reid, of
Elizabethtown, which in their thrift and productiveness have far exceeded all ex-
pectation. The better to elucidate the subject, the reader will excuse us for
referring to some comments in a late number of the Country Gentleman, on a
previous article, in which it is supposed I committed an error of cultivation, in
giving to both trees, those on pear and quince, equal culture. My answer to the
esteemed reviewer is, that the data given him does not warrant the conclusion to
which he very naturally arrived. It is true, I found my soil " emphatically a worn
out one." But liberal draughts have been made upon a neighboring slavgJder
house yard, from which some hundreds of loads of the richest nitrogenized manure
have been obtained, of which, and other appropriate manure previously described,
the dwarf trees have annually had a liberal quantity forked in before mulching,
which, together with the detritus of the mulch, may be considered fair treatment
of the dwarf trees. If this is better treatment than the pear stocks are in the
habit of receiving, an error in this direction should not be used as an argument to
the disparagement of the dwarf. No I the failures above described of some varie-
ties, that ordinarily do well on the quince, and that in other portions on my own
farm have succeeded to admiration, we shall be able, we think, satisfactorily to
account for, and will constitute some of our objections against the general

NOTES ON PEARS.

duction of the quince stock, except in the small garden of the amateur. These
objections, together with a consideration of what kinds are decidedly valuable and
enduring on quince, and which the most, and which the least so, and other thoughts
germain to the topic, will be the subject of the next article, unless in your judgment,
Mr. Editor, what has already been written in the examination of this subject is so
much in advance of public sentiment, as to wake up more of a storm of opposition,
than should rest, even by implication, upon the shoulders of the Horticulturist.

[On the contrary, the HorticuUurist professes to be a seeker after truth. If the
country has gone far enough, or too far in introducing the dwarf pear, it is time
we knew it. The Pomological Society of New York, in their report, agree in
the main with Dr. "Ward — the pear stock for the orchard — the dwarf for the
smaller garden. — Ed.]

NOTES ON PEARS.

BY J. K. ESHLEMAN, CHESTER CO., PA.

As your very able contributors are giving us important instructions " When
and how to Plant," on " Planting and Pruning," and on " Cultivation," may we
not hope, in due time, to hear what to plant ?

My mite of experience, if worthy the place, may be added to the common stock.
If such valuable information as is contained in the articles above alluded to, and
in numerous publications now before the public, had been easily accessible years
earlier, what an amount of labor and mortification might have been spared. But
the producis of teti years, without these to guide, have not been too dearly bought.

The intention, at the outset, was to give a list, selected from one hundred varie-
ties fruited here, of " very good" pears. Most of these have fruited here twice,
thrice, or oftener, in sufficient quantity to test tolerably fairly.

Every amateur will desire to possess that beautiful, very early, small variety,
Doyenne d'Ete, and also Madeleine, neither of which can enter my list of "very
good." Both will probably be superseded by Beurre Giffard.

But to ray list, given in the order of ripening : Bloodgood, Dearborn's, Eliza-
beth (Man), Washington, Ott, Bostiezer, Hanna's, Henkel, Fondante de Malines,
Chancellor, Fulton, Camerling, Urbaniste, Kingsessing, Bufifum, Liberale, Capi-
aumont, Flemish Beauty — recently imported under the euphonious cognomen
Gagne t\ Heuse, Lawrence, Winter Nelis, Bleeker's Meadow, Passe Colmar, and
Glout Morceau.

The list of " Best" is easily added : Tyson, Bartlett, St. Ghislain, and Seckel.
Almost worthy admission to tliis last list, are Washington, Ott, and Fondante de
Malines.

Notwithstanding its position, if I were fruiting one hundred trees for profit,
three-fourths should be of Lawrence.

imiiiKjloion, Chester Co., Pa., March 10.

NOTES ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE Al'ttlCOT,

\OTES OX THE CULTIYATIOX OF THE APRICOT.

BY WILLIAM TOMPKINS, GERMANTOWN, NEW YORK.

A MODERN writer says : " It is remarkable tliat a fruit of so much excellence as
the Apricot, ripening before the best early peaches, should be so little known,
commanding as it does the highest price in the market." Inasmuch as I have
been quite successful in the cultivation of this fruit, and am willing to add my
mite of practical experience for the general good, I propose to say a few words
on this subject for the benefit of those persons who have failed in its culture, and
those, also, who are afraid to try, on account of its great enemy, the Curculio. I
will first state that I am located on the east bank of the Iludson Kiver, twelve
miles below the city of Iludson. The soil on the ridges is a strong loam, with a
clay subsoil, containing a very great percentage of lime. This is the favorite soil
of the Apricot ; the trees grow moderately fast, and make a good, firm growth of
wood, that generally stands our cold winters well. Owing to the heavy texture of
the soil, the circulation or flow of the sap is not so easily excited by the effects of
warm spells of weather, which we generally have during the fall and winter months,
consequently the fruit buds remain dormant during these trying spells nntil the
proper time of starting arrives. This, in my opinion, is the reason the fruit buds
of the Peach and Apricot are so seldom winter-killed in this locality. The most
trying time for the Apricot, with us, is when in full bloom ; at that period we
frequently have cold, windy weather, and sometimes frost. On referring to ray
journal, I find the following entries: April 16, 1854, commenced snowing very
fast ; wind, northwest ; snow fell a foot deep ; fruit buds of the Apricot just ready
to burst. May 1. Apricots in full bloom ; cold north wind ; made ice, at night,
fths of an inch in exposed places. Notwithstanding the cold and frosty weather
of the 1th of May, all Apricot-trees in sheltered ])laces had a pretty good crop of
fruit. Last season (1855), they produced an aljundant crop, especially where
they stood somewhat sheltered, setting twice as much fruit as they could with
safety mature. When the fruit was half-grown, I ])ickcd about two bushels off,
scarcely any of them showing the mark of the Curculio ; as the fruit advanced
towards maturity, it was quite evident there was not half enough taken off yet.
However, there was no more taken off the trees till the fruit got ripe, but if I
had taken twice the amount off, in a green state, that I before mentioned, the crop
would have sold for more. The crop during the past season has not only been
gratifying to my pride as a fruit-grower, but has proved eminently profitable con-
sidering the labor bestowed. From 25 trees, part nine years planted, and the
balance planted within the last four years, there were taken 12 bushels of this
delightful midsummer fruit, wdiich sold, in the New York market, at prices ranging
from $5 to $10 per bushel, the most of them for the latter price. At the time I
bought the farm where I now reside, there was an old Apricot-tree on an adjoin-
farm which was then 30 years old ; it was about eight inches in diameter, and
feet in height, with a fine, low, spreading head ; this tree stood near the

NOTES ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE APRICOT.

side of the dwelling-house, in a strong, loamy soil, and annually produced for its
owner from one to four bushels of handsome fruit. This Apricot ripens at the
usual season, is of medium size, aud possesses the remarkable quality of coloring
up to a handsome straw color some days before it is soft, with here and there a
dash of red on exposed specimens ; stone small, and nearly free, and not perforate ;
never cracks or rusts, as do some of the older sorts. Hardiest of all the Apricots
that I am acquainted with, the bark of the tree seldom cracks or gums, unless
planted in a damp soil, and in such soil should not be planted, unless well under-
drained. This variety is supposed to have originated here, as it is quite different
in appearance and habits from any of the other sorts that I have fruited (and I
fruited quite a number). My largest and most productive trees are of this sort.
One tree, 9 years planted, standing within seven feet of a building, has produced
heavy crops for the last four years ; there was, in 1853, one bushel taken from it;
in 1854, not quite so much ; 1855, one bushel and a quarter. To the nature of
the soil, and nothing else, do I attribute the immunity of the Apricot from the
ravages of the curculio in this locality ; in fact, I consider his labor rather
serviceable than otherwise.

In conclusion, I will say, brother fruit-growers, if you have tried to grow this
truly golden fruit, and have been disappointed, " try again" is the motto. Some
writers say : " Don't plant in warm situations, as on the warm side of a building,
or other sheltered site facing the hot sun." This advice may be proper in some
places, but it certainly is not here. If your soil is warm and sandy where you
wish to plant, dig large holes, and put in a cart load of clay, or other heavy soil,
in each hole before planting ; then with a wheelbarrow load of good soil, and a
few shovelfuls of compost, plant your tree, and, my word for it, you may expect
to get some good fruit the third year after planting. The large amount of heavy
soil in which the tree stands will not only make a bad harbor for the curculio, but will
retard the season of blossoming, which is always desirable. The Apricot should,
in all cases, be worked on the plum or almond stock (and be annually shortened in) ;
if worked on the peach, it is generally short lived, and liable to all the diseases
to which the peach is incident. By all means, plant in sheltered places if possi-
ble, for it is well known that a cold north wind is very destructive to this fruit,
when it is in full bloom. A tight board fence, 7 or 8 feet high, affords very good
shelter for the Apricot and Grape, &c. I made about 30 rods, last fall, in the
following manner : A ditch, three feet deep, running east and west, was dug, the
laud inclining gently towards the east ; posts, 10 feet in length, were then put in
so as not to obstruct water (the ground being damp, but not wet) ; the ditch was
then made half full of small stones, and filled up with surface soil ; string pieces
were then put on horizontally, and boards firmly and closely nailed on in a verti-
cal position. A fence of this sort not only drains the land, but breaks off the
north wind, and softens the atmosphere for many a rod on the sun side. Apricot-
trees can be planted on the sun side within three feet of the fence ; they should
cut back for two or three years, so as to form compact aud low headed tr

CRITIQUE ON MARCH HORTICULTURIST.

[We are iniicli pleased witli tliis article, and gratified to record such success
with a fruit that l)aflU's the most cxiicricnccd. And yet there are instances, in
our own neighborhood, which have had sufficient influence with us to induce
planting more Apricot-trees every year ; so far, our results have been half a dozen
good sized fruits per annum. In the garden of J. Francis Fisher, Esq., there are,
or were, lately, two specimens of the size of large apple-trees ; they produced,
annually, many bushels of perfect Apricots that were untouched by the eurculio,
and yet received no cultivation whatever. If the suggestions of our correspondent
are carried out, we may yet hope. — Eix]

CRITIQUE OX THE MARCU HORTICULTURIST.

Illinois and the Prairies. — "A wonderful country" is Illinois, and the States
which lie around it — incomprehensible, too, to those who have never seen the broad
territory they cover. Great efforts are making by the earnest men therein, to
develop the untold wealth which lies buried in their soils. Vast are the prairies,
too, and all the worse that they are so. A sprinkling of " rocks, trees, and run-
ning brooks" over their vast surfaces would make them abundantly richer in the
elements of agricultural life, and save — oh, how much of man's brief time, weary
labor, and anxious solicitude in planting trees, and pumping water I Doctor
Kennicott's Transactions is a commendable work, highly creditable to his own
industry and research, and full of promise to the future usefulness of the Illinois
State Society, and as your remarks, Mr. Editor, express all I have to say on
that subject, I have a word or two for the managers of that useful institution.
I learn that they have heretofore pursued a quite mistaken policy, in docking the
pay of their tcorking secretaries — the very men, in fact, to whose brain labor they
are chiefly indebted for the good show they make in the getting up of these valu-
able Transactions.

Now, gentlemen managers, this won't do. If you mean to have a society use-
ful to the people, and creditable to the agriculture of your State, you must have
an office at your seat of government for the depository of its papers, documents,
library, and Transactions, with a living, thinking, writing, talking man inside of
it — call him secretary, or what you like — as the New Yorkers do at Albany, to
attend to its business, and communicate with the farmers of your State on all
subjects appertaining to their agricultural advancement. And beyond this, you
must pay him a salary sufficient to compensate his time and labor. Brains are
not in the habit of working for nothing, unless there is a soft spot in them. In
that office should be the annual and other meetings of your society — the general
agricultural head-quarters of the State. Your great, big State cattle shows are
all verj well, but they should be only an incident, or high holiday of the year,
showing the results of your annual progress. Illinois is purely an agricultural
State, wide in territory, and probably, the fourth in population and agricultural

wealth in the Union ; and with agriculture its leading interest, why pursue a nar
row, picayune policy in its development ? No ; that is not the way. If the funds
of the society are not sufficient, compel, as you can do, your Legislature to give
you the means. This saving at the spigot, and losing at the bung, is no way
to perfection in agriculture. Try the thing, and my word for it, you will find it
pay.

Planting and Pruning. — A most complete and conclusive article from the pen
of an accomplished master. It needs not a word of comment, only to urge its
diligent reading upon every tree planter once a month throughout the entire
planting, pruning, and growing seasons. I hope we shall have further lessons
from so instructive a teacher.

The Apple Scale, or Barlz Louse. — It seems to be the destiny of us poor mortals
who are sent into this troublesome world to work out our own salvation, or some-
thing worse, to find every blessing with which we are surrounded in the way of
vegetable or animal life followed up by some destructive enemy, in the way of
disease, or living creature of prey, to cut it down before we can enjoy its benefits.
"Were it not for the labor of counteracting these scourges, the great command,
" In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread," would be shorn of half its bitter-
ness. We are told by the naturalists who use the solar microscope, that even
fleas get lousy ! No wonder then that cattle, some sorts of humanity, and even
our trees are thus affected. We are indebted to Mr. Hanford, and all others who
can assist us in extirpating these marauders into the peace and quietude of our
gardens and orchards. Thorough scraping, and soapsuds, or lye washing, with
good culture, are the best methods I have tried. It is a pottering job, and I hate
it, but it must be done, or the trees will suffer.

Ornamental Iron Work. — I like these specimens, for they don't require much
paint, and they never rot. With stone foundations, bedded in the ground below
frost, and the posts well drilled and leaded into them, fhei/ stand forever — that is,
as long as our human forevers are likely to want them.

The Pea-Bug and its Allies. — Yes ; the " allies," with the " bug," are quite as
fatal to the pea as allies of another kind, with the Turks, are to the Crimea — a
" pea" of another sort; but which they, "the enemy," are equally ready to ap-
propriate, as we are the less important vegetable. I'll file away this cure in the
same pigeon-hole with the bark louse.

Our Native Wines. — In the simplicity of my younger housekeeping days, I used
to drink wine, for years, as a daily beverage at the dinner table. But when I
found that, added to the folly of imitating a senseless fashion, it did me no good,
and more, that the bulk of the foreign wines in this country were a vile compound
of drugs, alcohol, and the cast-off washiugs of European wine-presses, I let
them alone; yet, I do not embargo the tastes or the appetites of those who choose
to indulge " temperately" in the use of a health-promoting, or life-enjoying stim-
ulant— if such a thing exists. The " native" wine interest is getting to be a
no" one in the neighborhood of Cincinnati, and if men will use it, I commend

WHICH ARE THE BEST ROSES ?

the home article over the foreign, by all means. I shall not tilt an argument with
Mr. IJuchanan on Xhcfact that native wines will do more to promote temperance
than the " Maine Law ;" but only say, that I have seen men rise — or try to rise —
from the dinner table, as well as from various other sittings, quite as "glorious"
as Tam O'Shanter when hob-a-nobbing over their ale with his "drouthy crony,"
Souter Johnny, and that, too, from their free libations of "native" wine, bottled
at Cincinnati — the "pure, sparkling" article itself!

Good and Bad Pruning. — This, with your cajjital illustration of the two
methods, is so conclusive, that anybody with a thimbleful of brains can under-
stand it better than if I should comment a whole chapter upon it.

Sweet Apples. — Long ago, when a youngster, I was dilating to an excellent
housekeeping lady friend, on the extraordinary virtues of baked sweet apples in
boy's bread and milk ; and in addition to that, how good the raw ones to fat pigs,
and geese. "Yes ;" she replied, "and they are just as good to fat children, and
grown people on as pigs !" I have believed it ever since.

Notes on Pears. — Next year Mr. Eaton can probably tell a very different story
about the growth and flavor of many of these same pears. The variety, soil, culti-
vation, climate, and season must determine what, in the way of pears, the grower
of them had best cultivate. I have attended sundry consultations of the savans
on this subject, and am still in doubt, beyond half a dozen standard varieties.

The Lowell Wire Fencing. — Too low in height, too expensive for farming, and
too frail for street fencing in the towns. Within the outer inclosure, they are
sufficient, and quite ornamental. For economy, and good appearance, in that
way, and for screeus to run vines and climbing plants upon, I hope they will be
adopted. Jeffreys.

WHICH ARE THE BEST ROSES?

RY ROBERT BUIST, PHILADELPHIA.

Mr. Editor : The above question is very frequently proposed, and is much
more concise than any reply that can be given. We would say that there are
none supremely beautiful, if they are not abundantly supplied with free soil, and
well incorporated with very rich material, such as decayed leaves, old, decayed
manure from the piggery or barnyard ; or, where there is a deficiency of these,
rich water, twice a week, must be applied. " What is rich water ?" There arises
another question. If you will not consider me too tedious, I will give you in
detail how it is manufactured. I have a half cask, containing about 30 gallons of
water, into which I put 6 lbs. of guano, half a bushel of horse droppings, or a
peck of chicken manure ; either of these, just as convenience suggests. I allow
the portion selected to remain in the tub 24 hours, when it is stirred up, and from
which I give my select plants a copious watering twice a week from May till the
middle of June. The soil round the plants must be frequently stirred, and

clean, and properly cared for, neatly tied up, and, when in bloom, shaded from
severe sunshine. Such is the treatment bestowed upon the finer and rarer sorts.

"We are confident that there are *700 varieties cultivated in the United States, and
we are also confident that 100 would embrace every color and character among them,
placing entirely in the shade many of the so-called new sorts. Permit me to hand
you for publication a few from each section of the perpetual or semiperpetual
blooming varieties. You will see that I have not placed the eulogized Augusta
amongst them, considering it only the solfatare, or a reproduction of that variety ;
this conclusion is arrived at after having had it three times from the firm that sent
it forth as the finest rose in the world.

REMONTANT, OR HYBRID PERPETUAL ROSES.

Augnste Mie ; a fine, glossy pink ; a new and exquisite rose, of perfect form.

Baron Prevost ; bright rose, large size ; strong growth.

Baron Halley ; reddish purple ; very perfect ; globe shape.

Geant des Batailles ; brilliant scarlet crimson ; an abundant bloomer — all quali-
ties good.

Jules Margottin ; bright crimson ; a companion to the former ; a new and magni-
ficent rose.

Lion of Combats ; crimson purple ; large, compact form ; very fragrant.

Louise Peyronny ; bright pink ; finer than La Reine.

Marquis Boccella ; the most abundant bloomer ; of a light blush color.

Madam Fremion ; bright carmine ; fine form.

Madam Rivers ; pale silver blush ; very perfect cup shape.

Queen "Victoria ; very large ; blush white, tinted with pink ; a magnificent flower.

Pius the 9th ; deep purple crimson ; a strong grower and profuse bloomei'.

"Wm. Griffiths ; rosy lilac ; very large ; cup form ; quite distinct ; a noble flower.

TH&, OR TEA SCENTED ROSES.

Adam ; flesh color ; very large ; cup form.

Devoniensis ; lemon white, tinted with pink ; very fragrant ; often called the

Magnolia Rose.
Gloire de Dijon ; very large ; buff color ; quite new ; was sent out as a fine yellow ;

because every person wants a yellow monthly rose.
Goubault; bright rose, tinted with blush ; very fine.
Julie Mansais ; lemon white, with yellow centre.
Laurette ; salmon, tinted with rose ; large and fine ; quite new.
Madame Bravey ; pure white ; a good grower, and fine bloomer.
Safrano ; buds, before being fully opened, are of the most beautiful apricot color ;

very desirable.
Souvenir d'un Amie ; rosy pink ; very large, handsome form, and one of the

grandest of roses.
Yicomtesse de Gazes ; yellow, Avith deeper centre ; a very delicate grower,
illermoz ; creamy white, with salmon centre ; a new and beautiful rose.

WHICH ARE THE BEST R08EB ?

NOISETTE ROSES.

Ainic Yihcrt ; pure wliite ; a very delicate f^rower.

Clotli of (n)kl ; pale straw color, with yellow centre ; a nohle rose, of exquisite

odor, and strong growth.
Fellenhorg ; red, changing, in the autumn, to bright crimson ; very profuse.
Isabella Gray ; uuuuiT yellow ; very highly scented ; a new rose, from the " sunny

South."
Jaune des prez ; yellow and buff, tinted with rose ; of spicy fragrance and free

growth.
Laraarque ; lemon white ; very large and splendid.
Ophirie ; salmon and orange ; a vigorous grower, with fine, dark-green, glossy

foliage.
Octavie ; bright red ; a rare variety.
Phillipart ; peach blossom color ; small flower, in large clusters ; a strong and

hardy rose.
Triumph de la Duchere ; pale rose, blooming in large clusters ; very profuse.

BENGAL, OR DAILY ROSES.

Arch Due Charles ; large ; rose changing to crimson.

Agrippina ; perfect globular shape ; brilliant crimson.

Cels ; blush, pink centre ; a very profuse bloomer.

Jacques Plantier ; shaded rosy crimson.

Lady Warrender ; pure white.

Louis Philippe; globular; crimson, with paler centre.

Lucullus ; vivid dark crimson.

JNIadame Breon ; bright, waxy rose, large and fine ; a very strong grower.

President d'Olbecque ; cherry-red ; fine form ; very profuse.

BOURBON ROSES.

Acidalie ; the only rose that is nearly white amongst the Bourbons.

Apolline ; pink ; surpasses the Ilermosa in form and clearness of color.

Bouquet de Flore ; bright rosy carmine ; a very strong grower.

Henry Clay ; bright carmine ; very large flower, though not a perfect form.

Louise Odier ; bright rose ; beautiful cup shape.

Queen ; fawn color ; a profuse bloomer, but not a very free grower.

Sir Jos. Paxton ; very bright rose ; strong growth ; as yet, very rare.

Souvenir d'Anseleme ; bright red ; a strong grower.

Souvenir de Malmaison ; pale blush ; the largest and finest of this group.

Vorace ; deep purple crimson.

[Mr. Buist is "authority" on the Rose; his communication is timely and to
the point. The late winter has been so severe upon most roses that a new stock

ill be required in many gardens, and fortunate will be those who can procure the
elties here noted. The amateur will not neglect the Crested Moss. — Ed

A THIRD WINTER ON THE NEW EVERGREENS.

A THIRD WINTER ON THE NEW EVERGREENS.

BY IIEXRY WINTHEOP SAKC.ENT, WODENgTUE, FISUKILL LANDING, DUTCHESS CO., NEW YORK.

I HAVE, upon two previous occasions, through the pages of the Horticulturist, given my
experience of the effect of our winter upon the new evergreens, and have recently had so
many applications for information as to the influence of the present winter upon this class
of trees, that, to save myself some trouble, I propose, with your consent, to answer these
questions through your valuable journal.

It is, I presume, unnecessary to remind your readers what sort of a winter we have had,
both as to the degree of cold, and the extent and continuance of snow — but the many are
not, perhaps, aware that, from this very circumstance, all low plants within 12 or 15 inches
of the surface of the ground, have wintered better than any previous year of my experience ;
and, as all the newer and rarer Evergreens belong so far to this low order, they have come
out through the snow wonderfully green and bright, especially when side by side. We see
white pines, hemlocks, and even our common roadside cedars, scorched the color of brick-
dust. The winter has been favorable in two respects ; in the first place, an even tempera-
ture, without much frost, has been preserved through the covering of snow about the roots
and the neck of the trees ; and the cold, though severe, has been uniform. I will conclude
these remarks by simply observing, that in my neighborhood, all Evergreens, from the rarest
to the commonest, are (above the snow) of a color varying from that of gingerbread to that
of a dull brick. I do not perceive that Deodar cedars, and cedars of Lebanon, are more
browned than hemlocks and white cedars, and the buds on all are uninjured. There is,
upon my place, one remarkable exception to this universal broivning. The cryptomerias —
which have been entirely uncovered all winter, are not injured ; in previous years, they
have been well protected, and I usually lose them. May it be that this plant is an excep-
tion to the advantage usually gained in protecting half-hardy plants ?

PiNPS. — Hartwegiis, destroyed. — Insignii, abandoned as an impossibility with me. —
Laricio, untouched. — Lambertiana, brown above ; green below the snow. — Macrocarpa,
brown above; green below the snow ; buds good. — Montezuma, brown above; green below
the snow ; buds good. — Ponderosa, untouched. I think this more hardy than our white pine.
— Sylvestris, uninjured. — Austriaca, uninjured. — Pinaster, buds good; foliage changed.
— Gerardiana, green, but protected all winter by snow. — Maritima, untouched. — Excelsa,
untouched ; superb tree. — Cembra, untouched. Of these 14 varieties, I think I can grow
all except the first two.

Abies. — Alba, hardy. — Argentea, hardy. — Brunoniana, abandoned. — Canadensis, hardy.
— Clanbrasiliensis, hardy. — Douglasii, brown, but buds good. — Excelsa, hardy. — Lezoensis,
leader gone ; green below snow. — Hudsonii, below snow, uninjured. — Morinda, little
browned. — Menzesii, little browned. — Pygmea, hardy, I think, but entirely under the snow.
— Pichta, perfectly untouched. — Pichta Pendula, browned. I do not know whether this is
Smith's Pendula or not. — Pinsapo, untouched. — Orientalis, brown above, green below the
snow. — Cephalonica, untouched. Of these 17 Abies, I think the Brunoniana the only one I
(3aunot grow.

PiCEA. — Pectinata, hardy. — Frascri, hardy. — Wobbiaia, hardy ; apt to lose its leader. —
Pindrow, hardy. — Normandiana, hardy, and beautiful. — Nobilis, perfectly green.

•JuNiPERus. — Virginiana variegata, hardy. — Sabina, hardy. — Sabina argentea, hardy. —
Sabina aurea, hardy. — Tamariscifolia, hardy. — Thurifera, hardy. — Pendula, hardy ; beau-
tiful.— Excelsa, liardy. — llibernica, hardy. — Squammata, hardy. — Recurva, hardy. — Chi
nensis, hardy.

A THIRD WINTER ON THE NEW EVERGREENS.

CrniKssrs. — Foliis varicgatis, liardy. — Funelnis, 1)io\vu above, green below the snow. —
Maorocarpa, certainly the most desirable and beautiful of the Cupressi ; but, I am afraid,
mine is killed to the ground. Wherever the Taxodium Sempervirens will grow, this, I think,
will also. — Horizoutalis, uninjured.

Taxi's. — Baceata, a little browned, but sale. — Dovaston (weeping), a little browned. —
Elegans, uninjured. — Elcgantissima, iminjurcd. — Adpressa, little touched.

Tui'JA. — Aurea, beautiful ; untouched. — Thuja variegata, untouched. — Thuja Orientalis,
perfectly hardy. — Thuja Siberica, perfectly hardy. — Thuja Plicata, perfectly hardy. — Thuja
Tcndula, or lilif<)rmis, very hardy, and very desirable.

LiBRO-cEDRus CiiiLiExsis. — Uuiujured ; a great acquisition.

Cedrps. — Libani, hardy, though quite brown this winter. — Deodara, hardy, Ihowjh 'juitc
brown this winter. — Deodara viridis, hardy ; less injured. — Africanus, hardy.

Araucaria. — Small plants ; under the snow all winter ; perfectly green.

Cryptomeria Japonica. — Plants unprotected, looking greener than those protected.

Cryptojieria Japonica — Nana, hardier than preceding.

Cryptomeria Japonica Viridis, ditto.

Cephaxotaxcs Fortuxi, Male and Female, have gone through the winter beautifully, with
only a few leaves round them. These trees, and the Libro cedrus, are the very greatest
acijuisition of last year, I believe, of the newer things. — Saxe Gotha Conspicua, and Fitzroya
Patagonica, will prove hardy ; perhaps Pordocarpus Taxifolia.

CtJNxiNGHAMiA SINENSIS. — Just manages to hold its own year after year ; I have little doubt
it would thrive planted mainly in sand on an elevation well drained, and in shadow of a
pine wood.

ToRREYA Taxifolia. — Is perhaps the most satisfactory of the rarer Evergreens. My speci-
men is 12 feet high, and uninjured, except the leader is a little whitened.

Of the Evergreen shrubs that stand here without protection, are the Rhododendron, Pon-
ticum, Catawbiensis, and the Belgic hybrids, and the Ferrugiani Andromeda floribunda, Ilex
Lancifolia (Latifolia I have given up), Cotoneaster Buxfolia, Kalmia Latifolia.

In recapitulation, I think I can grow upon this place 73 of the newer Evergreens, exclu-
sive of Evergreen shrubs, and of 12 varieties of Norway Spruce not yet wintered out, all
dwarf — never, I understand, at the end of 50 years, even exceeding three or four feet lihjh.

I recommend, among the new things, the Pampas Grass — a superb exotic — growth, of a
sort of reed, G to 12 feet high, and very ornamental, and Chamserops Chusan — a new Palm,
said to be entirely hardy in England ; Des fontainea spinosa, and Eugenia Ugni, both Ever-
green shrubs of rare beauty, and said to be quite hardy ; the latter bearing a fruit.

Very truly yours.
April 9, 1856.

[The above truly valuable and reliable information, will be received by its readers with
great satisfaction ; it agrees entirely with our own more limited experience ; the native
hepilock has been as severely handled, in our neighborhood, as many of the rarer evergreens,
and has not stood so well as the cryptomeria. The same information, in the main, is re-
ceived from Cincinnati, from our correspondent, K. Buchanan, Esq., so that there is much
reason to be gratified with our prospects in the cultivation of evergreens ; we are now more
advanced in the knowledge of what will suit us than ever before. Mr. Sargent's article
is timely, and highly useful. — Ed.] ^

''^^m

FOREIGN NOTICES.

New Plant. — Achimenes magxifica ; alias Locheria magnifica. Planclwn and Linden in
Fl. des Sevres, x. t. 1013, — Most people would call this an Acliimenes, of which it has all
tlie habit, and, as far as we can discover, all the essential points of structure. We must,
therefore, object to the introduction of a new name for which there is no sort of necessity,
either botanical or horticultural. It is said
that Locheria differs from Acliimenes in having
the cup in which the ovary is seated of a mem-
branous instead of a fleshy texture ; so that
the subdivision of genera is now to be made
dependent, not only upon the mere thickness
of an organ, but what is worse, of one of no
functional importance. To that doctrine few
in this country will subscribe.

Putting aside names, we must add that the
plant before us was introduced from Popayan
by Jlr. Triana, one of the collectors employed
by Mr. Linden. It would appear from the
published plate, a figure of which we copy of
the natural size, to be extremely handsome,
with thick, velvety leaves, and large flowers
of a rich, deep red color, spotted with lines of
black purple. It may be compared to a gigan- ijif'''^'^

tic form of Acliimenes hirsuta or pedunculata ; ^^^

like which it has the scaly rhizome and little

bulbs so common among plants of its class. We observe that Mr. Linden has it in his new
catalogue under the name of Locheria magnifica, at the price of 20 francs.

How TO TKEAT PLANTS WHICH HAVE BEEN DRIED UP, AS OrANGE TrEES, &C., RECEIVED FROM

abroad. — It may, perhaps, be worth while to detail the means by which a plant apparently
quite dead from drought was restored to vigorous growth. A large Gardenia florida was re-
ceived in such a condition as to appear worthless. The more succulent part of its stem and
branches were withered ; its leaves shrivelled up, and the whole asjject of the j)lant resem-
bled a newly -planted evergreen killed by the March winds. There were many circumstances
which rendered it desirable to restore the plant if possible, and what seemed hopeless was
attempted, and, as the sequel will show, accomplished. As a preliminary, the plant, pot
and all, was immersed in a tank of water, sufliciently large to cover every branch. Here
it remained until the bark became plump by absoi-ption, and after being removed, and the
now saturated soil washed from its roots, leaving them as bare as the branches, it was re-
potted in as small a pot as would conveniently hold the roots, using a compost suitable to
the nature of the plant. The entire stem, as well as the main branches, was now enveloped
in moss, and kept constantly damp by syringing. Of course the plant was shaded on sunny
days. Tlie pot being plunged in a gentle bottom-heat, and a damp atmosphere maintained
around the branches, in a short time the leaves began to drop off — a certain sign, under the
umstances, of returning health. Two or three weeks elapsed, and tiny buds be
leaves and shoots followed, and the plant was restored. True, most of the sm

brnnclips never recovered ; nor was that of nincli momont, as the vigorous growtlis from
their bases more than conipensatod them. In all cases of this kind, very gentle stimulants
must at first he given, and these with caution. Heat, injudiciously applied, or without the
necessary adjuncts, will often accelerate death ratlier than restore to health ; and the same
holds good with respect to both bulbs and seeds. The latter, when the vital principle is
become donnant by age, will often decay if subjected to the excitement of a tolerably high
temperature, when, if sown merely in a cool frame, they vegetate freely. And so of bulbs :
if these are received in a dry and shrivelled condition, the first care should be to restore the
lost juices ; when this has been accomplished, the vegetative principles may be aroused, but
not before. These necessary precautions are not always attended to, and the consequences
are the loss of many plants which might have been saved. Even in the cultivation of the
ordinary hyacinth this is not sufficiently observed, especially by amateur and lady cultiva-
tors. ^yhcn, as is often the case, the bulbs have lost much of their plumpness, they should
either be placed, for a day or two, in damp sand, or enveloped individually in a piece of
moistened flannel, before being placed in the glasses. And even when they are there, it is
an excellent plan to cover the crown of each with a piece of thick blotting-paper or thin
cloth, kept moist by a few threads connected to it, and touching the water below. I have
seen the best results follow this plan. — G. W. L.

A Model Flower Bed. — A quantity of larch stakes, three feet long, and two inches and a
half in diameter, were driven, side by side, eighteen inches into the ground, leaving one foot
and a half ovitside in an oval shape, eighteen feet long, eleven feet wide over the centre.
The interior was filled up rather above the level with the soil. Around the stakes, outside,
was planted, pretty thick, common Ivy, Avhich, when I saw it in September last, formed a
complete mass all round the bed, and kept the decaying stakes in position.

Now for the planting and arrangement of this raised bed, which, you must understand, was
designed as a break to a heavy part of the ground, and, as Mr, Abbot, the gardener, here
remarked, " with telling effect."

Immediately down the centre were six plants of scarlet Salvias ; at each end of those was
a i)lant of the variegated variety of Salvia fulgens; encircling those was the blue Ageratum ;
again, around those the Frogmore Scarlet Geranium ; then a circle of yellow Sultan Calceo-
laria, vrhich brought it to the edge, around which was planted the white /r^-Zeat-ef/ Geranium.
This was allowed to hang over quite down to the turf; and being full of white flowers, they
beautifully blended with the dark green of the common Ivy and yellow Calceolaria above ;
then, again, with their immediate neighbors, and so on to the top of the Salvias, forming as
rich and gorgeous a bank as, I am sure, none of your readers would ever regret imitating. —
Cottage Gardener.

PROorcTrvENESS OF A DoRKixG Hen. — As I am prepared to prove the truth of the following
statement of the performances of a hen, nearly pure Dorking, in the past year, I send it to
you for insertion, thinking it may interest some of your numerous poultry readers : —

On the 12th of January she hatched thirteen chickens ; slie reared twelve, and left them
at eight weeks old. Laid twenty -three eggs ; sat on seventeen ; hatched them all, and
reared them. Laid again nineteen eggs ; sat on and hatched thirteen, and reared them
all. — John Bailt.

Nature Printed Ferns. By Mr. Thomas Moore axd Dr. Likdley. — This must be accepted as
the greatest book of the year — 23 by If) inches : nor does its value rest on its size, for, with
conductors so eminent, it were strange indeed if it proved to be other than it is — faultle

GuTTA Pebcha. — Great interest naturally attaches to a plant furnishing an important
material like gutta percha, which has been found to be adapted to so many useful pui-poses.
The concrete juice of the tree was known in Europe and America before the tree which pro-
duced it was described. Mr. William Lobb, the indefatigable collector, had the honor of
first forwarding dried specimens, from which it obtained a name and station in systematic
botany ; the name is Isonandra Gutta, of the natural order Sapotaceae.

It is a large tree, attaining a height of 40 feet, and sometimes a diameter of 3 or 4 feet.
Tlie leaves are alternate on the branches, somewhat leathery in texture, and obovate, entire
in outline, attenuated at the base into the largish petiole, by which they are attached ; they
are green on the upper side, and orange shining beneath. The flowers are small, each singly
stalked, more or less drooping, and growing in fasciles from the axils of the leaves ; they are
subrotate, with a short tube and six ovate or spreading lobes ; twelve prominent stamens are
attached round the mouth of the tube. Tlie fruit is egg-shaped, each cell with one ovule.
It is a native of Singapore, Borneo, and other Malay islands ; its timber is of no value, the
wood being soft, fibrous and spongy, pale colored, and traversed by longitudinal recei^tacles
or reservoirs, filled with the gum, forming ebony-black lines. From the fruit is obtained
a concrete and edible oil, which is used by the natives with their food. The tree is not
hardy, and its beauty is scarcely sufficient even to introduce it into our hot-houses, except as
a curiosity.

Of the various uses to which gutta percha is already applied, the following lines, written
by a visitor to the great manufactory in London, will convey an idea, though he has by no
means exhausted the catalogue : —

1. Tlio gutta percha trees are tapped and they then
die.

2. Usedjabove and below ground.

1. "My Parent died when I leap'd from her side

To fill mankind with wonder,

2. And now I abound, in the wide world around,

The green sward above and under.

3. I hold the flower in the sunny bower;

4. I shelter the dead in their graves.

5. I circle the hair of the maiden fair;

3. Flower-pots.

4. Lining for coiDns.

5. Bonnet-caps.

FOREIGN NOTICES.

And Mil doflaiifp to knnvoa.
Till- inispr hi« goM often gives me to lioUl;

I aid to cxtiuguiHb tlie lire.
I am cliasod o'er the grcpu, wlicu tlio schoolboy is
soon ;

I wait at tho toper's dosiro ;
I ride on the wave, tlio sailor to gave,

Wlipn ho shrieketh aloud in denpair:
I whirl the machine, whoso arms dimly seen.

Hiss as they fly through the air.
I have been tried and am cast, with felons at last;

J am balm to tho wounded and torn.
I rival the oak, (16) the tell-tale I cloak;

17. I am fa.shiou'd as high and low born.

I constantly mind the sightless blind.

Many garments my long arms bear;
By the sick man's bed, (21) by the ship's mast
head —

In various forms I am there.
Deep in the earth, though unseen, is my worth ;

I faithfully serve mankind.
I hear the whisper of the softest lisper;

And hold that which traceth the mind!
When the emigrant lands on far-off strands,

Perchance he trcadoth on me.
On the rich man's table, (27) in the horse's stable,

My forms you may frequently see!
Kow I challenge your mind my secret to find,

Though I travel along by your bed.
I come from tho south ; (30) I may dwell in your
mouth ;

Or may rest on the top of your head."

6. Policemen's caps.

7. Money-bowls.

8. Water buckets and engino-plpes.

9. Cricket balls.

10. Mugs.

11. Life-buoys and boats.

12. Machine-driving belts.

13. Indestrnctible vessels for the use of prisoners.

14. Balsam for.slight wounds, instead of sticking i)laKter.
1.5. Ornamental mouldings. (16.) Coating of the Tele-
graph wires.

17. Medallions and casts of celebrated and notorious
persons.

15. Cord for window blinds.

19. Clothes-lines.

20. Utensils for sleeping apartments. (21.) Cordage

and speaking-tubes.

22. Pipes for draining, &c.

23. Acoustic tubes.

24. Inkstands.
'2.5. Soles of shoes.

26. Ornamental di.shos. (27.) Buckets and liarnoss.

28. Noiseless curtain rings.

29. From Singapore, &c. (30.) For filling decayed teeth

31. Son'-wester hats.

IcxoRAxcE OF CoMiiox Thixgs. — It is indeed to be deplored, that wliilst the clergy and
gentry are founding schools in almost every tillage, and duly providing " trained' ' masters and
mistres.ses to instruct the rising population in what is generally considered the most neces-
sary branches of learning, that botany, or, as your remarks last week have it, " the use of
the common things which surround them," should in no shape find a place in their studies ;
but the mere study of botany from books is not sufficient to bring the minds of young
children, such as are usually found in village schools, to understand plants in any useful
way ; their minds would become bewildered in the maze of technical terms. My impression
is that the instruction should consist in simple lectures, illustrated by the things themselves,
assisted by a simple question and answer book, got up without Latin or technical terms ;
and, as few schoolmasters or mistresses are at present sufficiently acquainted with the vege-
table kingdom to impart such instruction to their pupils, let the patrons of these schools
call in the aid of their gardeners, who are, or should be, sufficiently well informed to impart
information enough on the subject, to lead the minds of the pupils to inquire and desire
to know more of things with which they have every day to do : that done, books will be
resorted to to feed the growing desire for knowledge, and when such a system gets fairly into
practice, such deplorable accidents as you alluded to would doubtless become extremely rare ;
besides, a knowledge of botany would administer to the enjoyment of life, for, at every step,
the botanist meets something to attract and interest him, at every turn a friend, an old
acquaintance in every familiar plant that strikes his eye ; silent and unobtrusive, but
not the less a friend, it abstracts him for a while from the cares and anxieties of
H. HowLETT, Haverland. — Gardener's Chronicle.

editor's table.

Germantown, N. Y., Marct 22, 1856.
Dear Sir : On the night of the 25th of December last, we had an icy rain ; the following
morning, everything was completely enveloped with ice ; branches of fruit-trees no larger
than a straw, were frequently seen increased so much in thickness, as to measure an inch
in diameter, and fruit trees, in many instances, were laden with it so heavily as to be com-
pletely crushed with its weight. This ice remained on the fruit-trees about ten days, the
weather, in the mean time, being severely cold ; the ice never thawed off, but froze and shook
off with the wind. Its remaining on so long has been very injurious to the fruit buds of the
peach and apricot, completely spoiling them in this locality.

Yours, truly, Wsr. Tompkins.

Burlington, Iowa.

J. Jay Smith, Esq. — ^My dear Sir : If JeiFrey's Red Raspberry, alluded to in his review,
in the March number of your magazine, prove to be " as hardy as a currant bush," it will be
an acquisition to us worth many dollars.

The ravages of the past winter have been very severe. The damage cannot, as yet, be
ascertained ; but one feels sad enough in passing along the garden walks, and looking at
the destruction wrought among the shrubbery. Only think of it — from December 24 to
about the same date in February — two long, dreary months, with the mercury hybernating
in the bulb of the glass, only to note, if possible, a greater degree of cold. It is useless to
name dates, but, if 60 days of winter, below zero all the time, and, occasionally, even as low
as 32^ (we had it on two occasions, January 9, and February 15, at that), does not destroy
all our hopes of a fruit crop, it will be because our trees are hardier than we now regard
them. We usually have the mercury as low as 12^, 14^, and even 20^ below zero, once or
twice in the course of the winter, but our oldest residents cannot call to mind such continued
cold as we have recently experienced. Even on the 9th and 10th of the present month, we
had it 10^ and 11° below zero. Your theory, in your leader, with regard to Illinois, of a
tropical summer and arctic winter, is especially true of Iowa. Would it not be as well to
note these facts, that fruit growers, intending to come this way, may see both sides, as is
but fitting and proper ? It is to be hoped that due record will be made of such hardy fruits
as have escaped this winter, as guides for cultivators hereafter, both here and in more
northern latitudes. Your valued periodical grows monthly in interest, and in the regard of
its many readers in the West.

P. S. — Jeffrey's note of warning respecting our fruits, soil, &c., is not unheeded ; but, if
you can tell us more than we already know of blights — both sun and frozen sap — of curcu-
lios, apple borers, and the like, I trust it is to suggest some remedy for the pests. We have
almost abandoned plum culture here, as well as cherries, except a few pains-taking experiment-
makers, who yet hope for success. Bliglits, too, of all kinds, have stricken down many a
hundred beautiful and brave dwarf and standard pear-tree, to the profound grief of the
owners. Still, when one does succeed here, his triumph is complete. As to the flavor of
our fruits, ask Mr. Barry ; it is generally good enough for our visitors as well as ourselves.
If 32° below zero has not utterly destroyed our pear buds, I trust " JeflTrey" will see, at
Rochester, some of their products, even if none of the producers are there.

I remain, very respectfully, J. F. Tallant.

Gossip. — The coming event, expected with anxiety, but fully expected, is steam ploughing.
Who doubts it ? The same people who doubted ocean steamships and the telegraph. The
a2;ricultural papers describe a machine for sheep-shearing; we have seen one for clipping
hedges. — The Southern papers speak very highly of Mr. Axt's Catawba wine, made
the past season. Mr. A. is planting vineyards in various counties, at so much an acre

YoL. VI.— May, 1856.

16

editor's table.

corrt'spon<l<Mit says he has great cnnfidpnco in the benefit to bo derivcl from cutting branclios
from i)lum-treos, when in full bloom, to make tlicm imxlnctive; the i)roeess lias no influence
on thecurcnlio. — Keeping bou(iuets is an important consiileration. Let twoehisters of fresh
gatlnM-eil llowers be introduceil into a sitting-rtwim ; plaee the one in the mouth of a narrow-
neeked jar of water, and arrange the other over a shallow dish of water, and it will be found
that the latter will be perfectly fresh, days after the former are faded. If a la7-ger dish, with
water in it, is placed below, and a bell glass set in the water, so tliat no external air can
enter, the llowers m.ay remain perfect, say camellias, &c., for whole v:eelcs, because they are
surrounded by air incessantly nioistencl by vapor from the plates. — If you want to bo
successful in transplanting, don't be afraid of working in dull weather. If you are sl»y of
a "Scotch mist," buy an India-rubber mackintosh. Nothing is so cruel to many sorts of
trees as to let their tender fibres ])arch up in a dry wind, or a bright sun. Such weather
may be fun to you, but 'tis death to them. — A Neapolitan ambassador, at the English court,
said, that during a residence of ten years in London, he liad eaten but one ripe fruit, and
that was a hakid apple .' — The mistletoe is sometimes found on trees in New Jersey, as well
as further south. The berries are transparent, and enliven the whole plant. — There is no
plant lately introduced, that will give more ])leasure to the many lovers of fine shrubbery
than the Wiegelia rosea ; the amabilis is probably little inferior. These, and the various
spireas, are our best treasures for early blooming — displacing the lilac and other old favorites.
— We have, in Philadelphia, two successful cultivators of pine-apples, Mr. Anspach and Mr.
Tucker. They produce as good pines, at least, as are ever seen in Coveut Garden market,
or on the tables of the nobles of England, from which country it is best to import plants ;
those coming from the islands are apt to be so infested with vermin as to be a nuisance. — The
most skilfully constructed bouquets are those with the brightest colored of the llowers in the
centre, gradually decreasing in intensity of color from that centre to the edges of the groups.
One prevailing color of different degrees of intenseness will prevent a patchy or spotty appear-
ance. If bright crimson roses form the centre, paler roses should be near on either side as
well as above, and the same will hold good of geraniums, &c. — Some of our correspondents
insist that the Rhododendron figured in the .January number, is Catawbiense. It may be so,
but we shall not pronounce upon it till we see the plant in bloom — principally because Mr.
Van Buren, who communicated the description and the colored drawings, and who has the
opportunity of inspecting it carefully, and who is familiar with the Catawbiense, believes it
is not that species. — Mr. Rivers has exhibited, in England, dwarf cherry-trees on tlie mahaleb
stock, only one foot high, that have each borne nearly a quart of fruit. Our own dwarfed
cherries exhibit a great inclination to grow beyond dwarfing management, probably for want
of root-pruning, which has not yet been attempted. Remember that the ashes of anthracite
coal is a good manure for cherries ; they do not require much enrichment of the soil. — The
apricot may be dwarfed by budding it on the sloe. — The interest felt by so many landholders
in this country in the cultivation of fruit, causes an amount of practical intelligence to be
devoted to the subject that has no parallel on the other side of the water. It woulil be
impossible to assemble the same number of practical scientific cultivatoi-s in any other
country, as will meet, for instance, at Rochester, the next autumn. These conventions are
rapidly clearing up vexed questions, and establishing truths. — However unfortunate the
late winter may have been to private gardens, the nurserymen must not complain ; there
are few who will cry, " Hold ! enough 1" and orders will flow in for recruits to supply the
place of the soldiers killed off. Roses, especially, will be in demand. — Tulip beds may be
kept in perfect bloom for three weeks, by shading them with any kind of sheeting fastened
to a wooden frame. Without this their bloom is short. — All sensible people believe, by this
time, in the jwwer and virtue of the individual home ; combinations for health, and air, and
trees, and sunshine, need not partake of one iota of the " community system," which, till
human nature is altered, and that never will be in our time, is found, in practice, utterly at
variance with the constitution of the human mind. Men do combine satisfactorily to pave,
light, and procure good water, without a quarrel ; then why not unite to have a handsome
and healthy country park, instead of so many compacted towns as we often see ? — A family
in Scotland has been poisoned by a rustic servant mistaking monkshood for horseradish ;
the cook, also, not knowing the difference, scraped the former, sent it to the table, and
poisoned the guests, three of whom died in an hour or two. The Gardener^s Chronicle says
this comes of people being barbarously instructed, and employs the occasion to enforce the
necessity of instruction in common things. — The Herbaria, belonging to the London Horticul-
tural Society, has been brought to the hammer ; they were the collections of the ofiicials
sent abroad, and were made in order that the oflScers might be able to ascertain the names
and value of the seeds which were sent home ; that purpose served, they became mere

records of past discovery, of very great botanical interest, but with no further bearing upon the
objects of' their owners. Douglas's collection, formed in Northwest America and California,
amounting to 500 species, was purchased by the British Museum for $150. Hartweg's, for
$100. The whole realized about $1,200. — The Independence Beige informs its readers that
"in the Belgian colony of St. Thomas, a potato has been grown, weighing more than 50 lbs."
Good-by, big gooseberries. — Fronds of ferns are employed to embellish baskets of fruit for
the table ; they give the fruit an ornamental and somewhat foreign appearance. — The forcing
of shrubs is most successfully managed when the pots are full of roots from early potting,
and these roots receive the advantage of a mild bottom heat before a higher temperature
afl'ects the buds. — Hives, in which swarms of bees of the previous year have died, should
be kept clean and dry, and out of the way of mice, for the pui-pose of hiving swarms in
them. The time this precaution saves a swarm can scarcely be credited. — Do fishes hear ?
is a question just now debated abroad ; the conclusion come to seems to be that they do not ;
ooncussions of the air by thunder, and so forth, startle them, but the sense of hearing is
believed to be wanting. — An ornamental object for a window, or room, may be made by
placing a large pine cone in the mouth of a glass having a small quantity of water at the
bottom. The scales of the cone are first slightly opened, and lentil seeds are dropped into
the openings. Water is sprinkled over the cone as may be necessary, say twice a day,
and, in a short time, the lentils send up their small green shoots, and cover the cone. The
scales are opened by placing them in any moderately warm place for short time. — In Lind-
ley's Theory of Horticulture, it is stated that a M. Otto, of Berlin, employs oxalic acid to make
old seeds germinate. The seeds are put into a bottle filled with oxalic acid, and remain
there till the germination is observable, which generally takes place in from twenty-four to
forty-eight hours, when the seeds are taken out, and sown in the usual manner ; of course,
placed in a suitable temperature as the seeds may require. Another way is to take a wool-
len cloth, and wet it with oxalic acid, on which the seeds are placed and folded up, and
put into a suitably heated structure. By this method, seeds have been found to vegetate
equally as well as in the bottle. Essential care must be taken to remove the seeds oiit of
the acid as soon as vegetation is observable. M. Otto found, that by this means, seeds that
were from twenty to forty years old grew ; while the same kinds, sown in the usual manner,
did not grow at all. — Some of the old gardeners have an idea that old cucumber and melon
seeds produce plants more fruitful than those from new seeds. The most luxuriant plant is
produced from the good, sound, and plump new seed. — The last priced catalogue published
by Groom, lately deceased near London, contained three varieties of the tulij}, at the enor-
mous figure of five hundred dollars each ; they were all of his own raising ; there is also one
at two liundred and fifty dollars, twelve at a hundred dollars, and four at fifty dollars each.
Mr. G. succeeded best by mixing large quantities of coarse river sand in his soil. His
whole stock has been dispersed since his death.

The Cranberry, and its Culture, is the title of another manual, from C. M. Saxton & Co.,
New York, written by B. Eastwood, very well illustrated, and full of information. The cul-
ture of this fruit is of great importance ; it will pay well in soils suitable for little else. A
large demand, even for export, has grown up, and, from the easy transportation of the fruit,
it is very profitable. Tlie experience detailed in this work cannot be dispensed with by
those intending to plant the cranberry. From ten to fifteen dollars a barrel is the price now
obtained in the Boston market; a pint has been sold in London for nearly a dollar ; all tliat
can be raised will find a market. In the appendix, there is an estimate of the profit of the
culture, by Mr. A. Flint, as follows: In 1853, he sold fifty barrels, at thirteen dollars the
hnvviil, m-iik.ing six hundred and Jifty dollars as the product of two acres oi what was quite
recently an almost worthless bog meadow !

The American Pomological Society will hold its next meeting at Rochester, on the 24th of
September. The regular notice from the President was unaccountably omitted last month.

A. Looms, of the Byron Nurseries, Genesee Co., N. Y., has issued a very comprehensive
catalogue of fruit, and ornamental trees and shrubs, roses, vines, &c. We hope his neigh-
bors, and persons within reach, will consult the catalogue and plant the trees.

The interest attached to the pursuits of floriculture is well expressed by Tcschemacher,
who says : "Examples are exceedingly rare of men once engaged in it ever giving it up but
their latest breath —

What were life without a rose ?"

editor's table.

MoviNU Trees. — In roinoving trees early in the past month, it was interesting to remark
tliat nurserymen wlio liail nnderdrained tlieir grounds, were ena))led to eommence their
deliveries at least ten days, or two weeks, V)efore their neighbors wlio had neglected this
highly important precaution. A commentary, this, on draining, which speaks volumes. It
is stated that land worth but a dollar and a half an acre, in England, has been converted to
the value of fifty dollars, by drainage alone.

,^^/^Vh^

TiiR Lawton BLArKBKRRY. — TliG importance attached to the cultivation of the Lawton
Blackberry, has induced us to have an engraving made of the vine and fruit. Wo give,

also, its mode of culti-
vation, from Mr. Par-
dee's book on the
Strawhemj, fj-c, just
publislied by C. M.
Saxton & Co., of New
York :—

C'L'i/rivATiojf. — The
Blackberry rejoices in
a moist, loamy soil,
but will grow well in
higher exposures, and
is rather benefited by
a little shade and a
cool northern aspect.
When thus favored, it
will prolong its period
of bearing from four to
six weeks. Usual good
garden soil is favor-
able for the Black-
berry, and it will bear
being made pretty rich
with manures after
the first year, and
especially with muck
or woods'-mould. It
should be transplanted
as early in the spring
as possible, or in the
fall, and especial care
should be taken of its
fibrous roots, and its
whole general culture,
tlie first year, and then
it will grow, produce
fruit, and propagate it-
self rajiidly.
The canes which come up one season will bear fruit the next, and then die in the autumn,
and the dead branches must be carefully removed early every spring, in order to make room
for the new ones to take their place, and this beautiful process of reproduction thus goes on ;
so that a single plant, set out in a good, free soil, will send up two, three, or four i)lants,
and those will increase to a score or more the following season, if carefully pruned and kept
clean.

The ends of the canes should be shortened about one-quarter early in the spring, when
the old decayed ones are removed, and, if the laterals are too long, clip them also. They
usually require no support.

TKAssPLANTrac. — Particular care, we think, is needed in transplanting the Blackberry.
It should not be attempted late in the spring, otherwise a great share of the plants will
hardly survive the process. Mulching and watering are often useful, and even necessary,
when transplanting.

well to set the plants four or five feet apart in rows that are eight to ten feet distant,
they will soon cover the ground, and thus 500 plants will set an acre. Some large

editor's table.

growers in the vicinity of New York, have readily contracted their entire crop for the season
at 25 cents to 37^ cents per quart. We have given a large space to this variety, not only
because it is new, but because we believe it to be worthy of extensive cultivation by the
public, both as amateurs and for the market.

Portraits of the Fastolf and Eed Antwerp Raspberries, copied from Mr. Pardee's book, are
also given below : —

The Fastolf.

■Red Antwerp.

Tlie mode of cultivating these valuable varieties has been given so lately in the Horticul-
turist (see page 14 of this volume), that it is unnecessary to repeat them here.

Agricfltural. Foreign Seeds. — An interesting letter from the Patent Office to the Con-
gressional Committee on Agriculture, briefly reviewing what has been done in the way of
naturalizing foreign herbs and plants in the United States, has appeared. Everybody knows
that some years ago, on the representation of the Patent Office, instriictions were sent to our
repnisentatives abroad, and to the naval officers on foreign stations, to collect seeds and bulbs
and cuttings of foreign growth, and to send them home for trial here. The plan has been
in operation but a short while, and the appropriations made for it have been small, but the
results, as given in Mr. Brown's report, are already very gratifying. Most fanners are
acquainted with the "Mediterranean wheat," which ripens, in great abundance, earlier than
our connnon varieties ; a few years ago it was unknown here. From France we have obtained
two Chinese plants, which the enterprise of French agriculturists domiciliated some time
since on French soil — the " Chinese yam" — a very fair substitute for the potato, and the
" Chinese sugar-cane," one acre of which produces twenty-five tons of fodder, of the most
nutritious and excellent kind. Another good forage crop has been obtained from the " chufa,"
a plant of Spanish origin ; and yet a tliinl from the Mohd dc Jlotigric, from France. Cuttings
of foreign plum-trees have been imported in large (luantities, and engrafted iipon the com-
mon plum with such success, that we may shortly expect to produce all our own dried prunes.
It is now proposed to import more largely than heretofore, in fact, to obtain from abroad
every phmt, herb or tree which has been cultivated successfully anywliere. For this, larger
appropriations than usual will be necessary. That Congress ought to grant them, ther
be no question. — Nat. Intelligencer.

Thf Nbw York Horticultural Review. — A brief paragraph from the publisher of the above
work, last laoiith, announced that it had been merged in the Ilnrtiniltnrixf. After six months
of unbiiiiniled advertising, and efforts of varions kinds, that, if eiiii)lov'ed in aiiotlier <>c<uji;i-
tion would have led to haiipy results, it transferred to this periodical exactly one Imndrcd
and seventy-live sul)scril)ers, and many of those were obtained by sending agents abroad,
and at an expense of from four to fifteen dollars each ! The proprietor printed a large edition,
which was distributed monthly to postmasters, and agents of periodical works ; at least 500
copies were sent as exchanges with newspapers, &c. The result has been the loss of some
thousands of dollars, time thrown away, and talents niisa]i]>lied.

We give these facts as an evidence that another Horticultural Journal is not reqxiired at
the present time ; it is not the tirst, second, or third attempt, that has eminently failed,
both at the East and West, and it probably will satisfy any person desirous of emliarking
in such a dangerous experiment, that it would be better to seek an occupation more likely
to be rewarded for anxiety, trouble, and expense. The American people are deeply interested
in agriculture, and works on that subject have multiplied of late with remarkable rajudity ;
many are entirely successful, and are disseminating valuable infonnation ; but many of these
are obliged to combine the character of a news journal, and to make the fanning i)ortion of
their columns very brief. All of them more or less embrace the topics of horticulture ; they
appear, many at least, weekly, and are placed at very low prices ; the farmer's fireside
welcomes their arrival, because they diffuse a general knowledge of what is passing in the
world, and to members of the circle not interested in agriculture, convey something for each.

With a horticultural journal it is different. To make it of any real value, and offer it at
a cheap rate, it must confine itself to its legitimate topics ; the news of the month would
load it down, so as utterly to destroy the opportunity of discussing its subjects at any length.
The number of persons really sufficiently interested in horticulture to pay for such a journal,
is comparatively small. We have the whole American market, so to speak, and kindly
interested readers, of many years' standing, using great personal exertions to extend and
keep up our circulation, from an impression that the work is useful. Then, again, the con-
tributors are the best and most able writers on horticulture in the Union ; they have been
attracted to these pages by its original merits, have continued to read it, and to write in its
columns, till it has become more and more, by general consent, the medium of communica-
tion between the active and useful men of the country, in all the States and Tenitories .
This character it shall be our aim to support.

With all this, the gardening interest and the horticultural taste, and with large adver-
tising patronage, it has never reached a circulation of more than a few thousand, and,
till 1854, could not be considered a paying journal. Tlie additional patronage, which was
brought to it by the care and talents of Mr. Barry, elevated its circulation from twenty-four
huuflred to about four thousand ; it has now, thus early in the year, many hundreds of
subscribers more than at the close of 1855, thus showing that there is a gradual increase of
demand ; and there is every reason to believe that, in December, 1856, it will considerably
exceed five thousand ; this is after ten years of untiring devotion to the interests of its
readers, and the attention of careful and enterprising publishers.

We therefore could recommend, with a clear conscience, none to attempt very soon the
establishment of a horticultural journal, unless with plenty of money, wliich they are willing
to pai-t with.

Climatology. — A valued correspondent, in a previous page, has given our readers a very
interesting paper on Climate, a subject of the greatest importance to all of us. We would
caution the farmer, no less than the horticulturist, not to estimate the value of his climate
entirely bythe quantity of rain thatfalls in a given district. Water,as the universal solvent
of the nutritive matters, is indispensable, but much unnecessary trouble has been taken to
calculate the quantity of water, as rain or snow, thatfalls upon the surface of the earth. The
free water of the soil, many scientific men think, is seldom beneficial to plants, and only bog
plants, or those which grow in water, will exist in it. In those portions of the earth which
produce the most plants, water is only occasionally present (as after rain, &c.) as a coherent
fluid ; the normal condition of water in the soil is as hygroscopic water, or absorbed vapor.
The complete independence in vegetation of the atmospheric precipitation of rain in a liquid
form, is seen in the vegetation of the oasis, and of the cloudless coasts of Chili and Peru.
The sand of Sahara produces no vegetation, not because no rain falls upon it, but because it
has not the power of condensing aqueous vapor. Of the water that falls as rain, very little

used directly by the plant ; the greatest part runs off, or is evaporated into the atmosphere,
another part sinks into the earth and feeds the springs. There are but few observa-

tions on the quantity of water needed by plants, but those that have made any pretensions
to accuracy show that rain, after making allowances for that which flows away and is eva-
porated, does not supply more than a tenth part of what is necessary. It is unaccountable
and inexcusable, that not a single botanist, since the time of Hales, should have taken up
and carried on his important experiments on this subject.

The quantity of rain which falls in a given region, is not a measure of its fruitfulness ;
but the quantity of moisture, the absolute and relative quantity of vapor, which yearly,
and especially during those months which are most important for vegetation, is contained
in the atmosphere.

But water is not the only, nor the most important portion of the food of plants. They
require carbonic acid gas, and the volatile salts of ammonia, which must be derived from
the atmosphere ; they are absorbed — the carbonic acid partly, and the ammoniacal com-
pounds probably entirely, by means of the roots ; clay and soil must be present, as media to
convey them to the plant. Though, in England, but half the quantity of rain falls that we
find in a large portion of our country, the moisture of the air, and, consequently, with it the
proper food, is more regularly and constantly supplied than in our arid regions. Coniferous,
and other trees, flourish here better in situations where there is found to exist a succession
of damp nights and mornings, as in regions where the dew is not dispersed till long after
the rising of the sun.

Mk. J. J. Smitu. — Dear Sir : I think you would confer a favor on horticultural societies,
if you would publish a list of their corresponding secretaries, and thus enable them to
exchange publications. Yours, very tnily, Charles Gifford, Milicaukee.

It would doubtless prove useful to do so, and if the various horticultural secretaries will
at once forward their names and residences, we shall with pleasure comply with the sugges-
tion. Such a list, too, will, in fact, form a catalogue of existing horticultural societies in the
Union and Canada. It shall appear in June or July, if all will forward the information.

Strawberries. — There has been a rather warm discussion, in the Cincinnati Horticultural
Society, as to the merits of McAvoy's Superior, and Hovey's Seedling Strawberries, with the
majority and minority reports of a committee appointed on the subject. The discussion
and reports occupy nearly two columns of small print in the Daily Inquirer, The following
appears to be the conclusion arrived at by the Society : —

Mr. Orange then moved that the whole subject be laid on the table.

At the request of Mr. Hatch, the motion made by Mr. Orange was withdrawn, when Mr.
Hatch oflered the following resolution : —

" Resolved, That the opinion heretofore entertained by this Society, as to the excellence of
the strawberry known as McAvoy's Superior, remains unchanged, it having been fully tested
as a garden fruit, and, in this vicinity, proved to be delicious and hardy. As a fruit for
general field culture, and for market, the high price of plants has heretofore prevented its
being tested."

Tlie following amendment was then offered by Mr. Greene : —

" Hovey's Seedling, for field culture and market purposes, holding its position as superior
to all others tested."

The question being then taken on the amendment ofl'ered by Mr. Greene, it was carried by
the casting vote of the President. The resolution then, as amended, was carried by a large
vote.

The Society then ordered the reports of the majority and the minority on the Strawberry
question to be printed with the proceedings.

FRriT. — A cargo of fruit from Japan, is advertised in the California papers ; of what
descriptions, not stated. In New York, watermelons from Nicaragua have been pronounced
" excellent," in March last. Some of the California papers are printed on Chinese paper ;
significant facts, these.

Gctta Percha. — Tlie curious article on Gutta Percha, which we have compiled for this
number, will find many readers. The discoverer of this inspissated sap of an Indian tree,
was Dr. William Montgomerie, of the Indian medical service, and this only in 1845 ; ho
first observed that the handles of the knives of natives of Borneo were peculiar, and, on
examination, saw of what they were composed. Without this useful article, discovered just

time, the sea telegrai)h could not be employed. The son of the discoverer has lately
on the list of military promotions for this discovery of the father.

editor's tablb.

Illinois Catti.k. — Our enthusiastic fiieiul, Bross, of the Cliicaiio Press, never loses an
opportunity of siK'akini; woU of }iis own State, of wliich he is one of the most useful citizens.
The following information, abridged from liis i)aper, is worthy of record : —

"Cliiiago or Illinois beef will soon take as undisputed rank among the materials of pood
living as have the hams of Westphalia, Stilton cheese, (ioshen butter, New York oysters,
Lake Superior white lish, Connecticut River shad, or the wilt! celery-fed canvas-back ducks
of- the Delaware. What the savory mast of the Whestphalian forest does for tlie flesh of
the pig that feeds on it, how the wliite clover and sweet scented vernal grass of tlio rich
pastures of Orange County inlluenee the products of the dairy, so, and in some such man-
ner, the prairies of Illinois impart fat and flavor to the flesh of the cattle raised on them.

We have been led to these observations by the arrival in Cliicago, last week, of thirty
noble bullocks, a part of a lot of one hundred, en route for New York city.

These cattle belong to Mr. B. F. Harris, an extensive stock feeder, who resides near the
town of Urbana, and the Chicago branch of the Illinois Central Railroad. They are luujues-
tionably tlu! heaviest and fattest drove of one hundred bullocks in the world. They were
weighed at Mr. Harris's farm.

The aggregate gross weight of the 100 was 118 l,200-2,000th tons, or 2,373 pounds each.
Twenty-five of the best and fattest weighed on an average 2,662 pounds each. " The Baby"
of twenty-five, kicked the beam at 5,87(3 pounds. Three days were required and needed to
drive them to the railroad station, fourteen miles. The average age of tlie 100 is less than
five years. Not one has ever been housed a day in his life ; a half dozen pairs only have
been yoked, and a less number worked. They have been pastured and herded on the
prairies in the summer, and, in the winter, fed on corn in the shock, and sound timothy, and
yarded along the skirts of the Sangamon timber."

This appears to us more sensible "talk" than that of the late French papers about the
" baby" of the Empress. What would the Illinois prairie farmers say to having a boy born
to drive them about as Mr. Harris drives his cattle ?

The Hunt Botanical Garden is, for the present, not to be commenced. The chief donor
wished to have an observatory, to cost some $70,000, to which the committee objected, and,
in consequence, he has withdrawn his support. The energetic determination of W. S.
Degraw, Esq., and his other associates will, however, carry it through, only iu another
position.

The Massachusetts Hokticultural Society's Report of Committees, for 1855, with the
schedule of prizes for 185G, makes a pamphlet of 50 pages, and appears to be every way
worthy of the distinguished reputation of the Society. We have marked many passages
for reference, but have so devoted our space as to have little room for extracts the present
month. In many resiDccts this society is a model which might well be copied.

The Gooseberry on the Citrrant. — Sir: A former correspondent of the Jlortlculturist,
August, 1849, made some sensation by assuring us that he had succeeded in grafting the
gooseberry on the yellow flowering currant, on stocks five feet high, with a prodigious result.
It would be well to inform us whether the grafts continue to do well, and the fruit is still free
from mildew ? I have found that keeping the roots of gooseberry bushes cool with mulching,
and to plant them in cool situations, is useful, but I attribute my freedom from mildew, the
past few years, to sprinkling a handful of salt around each bush in winter, or early spring.
— M. C.

[We have the same results from the use of salt. — Ed.]

Dr. John Lindley's portrait, which we insert to-day, conveys almost a speaking likeness
of the botanist, about whom it is best to "gossip" but little before he completes his career.
To the article, which we copy from the Cottaije (lardencr, was appended considerable abuse
for certain doings of his in connection with the London Horticultural Society ; this is omit-
ted, but we may add that the doctor has little afTection for America, and considers, from
positive ignorance regarding it, its horticulture in a lamentable condition.* We learn,
incidentally, too, that he does not take the Horticulturist — quite unpardonable in so great a
maul

* Dr. Lindlpy's preat merits as a botanist are somewhat obscured in tbe eye of an American, by his inclination
for a satirical Hing at this country — a national sin, belonging to a large class, among whom we are sorry tc
include the editor of the London Athenjeum ; the fact undoubtedly is, that America is doing more th"^
other country fir pomology, and Dr. Lindley, it might be expected, would be the first to acknowledge
his own credit, this is to be regretted.

editor's table.

Transplanters. — Dibbers and trowels are well-known instruments for the removal of
plants of various kinds. In using the pointed or semicircular trowel, the young plants may
be taken up with a considerable ball of eartli attached to the roots, while tliey suffer no
injury by the process. A more perfect mode of transplanting by the use of the troM'el, is
tliat by taking two of these, one in each hand, thrusting tlieiu down on opposite sides of the
plant, at the same time drawing the handles slightly outwards ; the faces of the trowels are
thus made to collapse so much as to press the soil about the roots, and enable the operator
to take the plant, with ball entire, from the seed-bed to its destination, and to place it in its
new abode without the least check to its growth. We have iigured several transplanters,
which have been employed for such plants as the brassicse, &c. Fig. 1 is called Saul's trans-
planter. It may be thus described: The blades are opened by pressing the lever, a, towards
the handle, when they open outwards, and in this state are thrust into the ground, having
the plant within them; a counter-pressure causes them to collapse and embrace the ball
firmly, and, in this state, the instrument being drawn upwards, brings with it the plant and
ball entire ; it is then taken to its new place, when the handle is again pressed inwards, and
the blades open and are withdrawn, leaving the ball to be filled around with earth.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 2 shows a modification of the above instrument, wherein the blades are opened by
moving the slider, a, upwards, and when thrust down around the plant, the blades collapse
by pressing the slider downwards. The operation, afterwards, is the same as in Fig. 1.

Upon the same principle, but with much more mechanical ingenuity, is McGlashan's
transplanter, Fig. 3, constructed, which is admirably adapted to such operations. These
three collapse upon the ball firmly — and not only that, by their construction they embrace
it tighter at the bottom than at top, rendering it next to impossible that the ball should be
extracted, and, also, that it cannot slip out afterwards until relieved by the removal of the
pressure upon it. All these transplanters are merely modifications of Fig. 4, long used, in
France, for similar purposes. Its principle will be readily seen by the figure. The handles,
a a, are pulled outwards when the blades are thrust into the ground. They are pressed
inwards when the operation of lifting upwards is desired.

Drainage. — We have, from Albany, N. Y., a pamphlet setting forth the advantages and
profits of thorough drainage. It emanates from the manufacturers of tile, C. and W. McCam-
mon, and will convince the most incredulous.

W. L. Ferris, of Throg's Neck, Westchester Co., N. Y., has sent us a catalogue of his
extensive nurseries, in which is enumerated a largo collection of old and new descriptions
of desirable trees, shrubs, and greenhouse plants.

editor's table.

New Brighton, Statkn Island, April 5, 1856.

,T. Jay Smith, Esq. — Dear Sir : I do not wish to trespass upon your space witli anything
like a j>arty controvei-sy, but, if you will favor nie with a short t;xplanation to Mr. Jhtpp's
strictures in your April number, it will not bo repeated. I wished to keep you apprised of
what was going on amongst our horticultural societies, and accordingly sent on a report of
the exhibition at Brooklyn, in September. Particular attention was directed to the plans
(wliich wore publicly exhibited) for the intended botanical gardens. As regards Mr. llepp,
he had jjreviously made me aciiuainted with his ideas orally, so that it did not reiinire more
than an hour's close examination to judge of its merits. It so happens, that I have had a
good deal of experience with the pencil, and also in carrying such designs into execution
on the ground ; I was thus the better prepared to pass an opinion, and as this was a portion
of the exhibition, there was no liarm in mentioning it in the general report. If such things are
not to be ci-iticized, the parties presenting them should place a card upon them to that effect,
or else be prej^ared for the result. It appears, however, that Mr. Ih^pp takes exception only
to my inferior intellect, or, rather, as he states it, "a correct opinion of it calls for mental
acquirements different from those available to the author of that article." His knowledge
of my mental ac(iuiremonts must surely have been jmlged of at a "glance;" for he has
only seen me some half dozen times, and a part of those interviews were, on his own part,
for the purpose of getting information. I had no ill-feeling to him in that criticism, and am
sorry that he could not have replied to it in a more gentlemanly manner than by becoming
both judge and jury over my humble abilities. Whether he be correct or not in his verdict,
" requires more self-conceit than I would like to be possessed with to assume such nnques-
tionable authority." No one could be more willing than I to give him credit for his abilities,
so far as they go, but he has yet much to learn before he can fully comprehend the bold and
majestic scenery of America, or adapt his designs to the expansive and utilitarian views of
its society. That requires the mind of a Downing. We have already too many small notions,
and when we see more of them likely to occur, it becomes a duty to speak out. Such was
the case in this instance, and I would again say, with all deference, "take the hint."

It would be an easy matter to point out, before a competent committee, the " misplaced
utility," and if Mr. Hepp and that committee were to look over the many credentials of
merit that are in my possession, from reliable sources, not only for practical horticulture,
but also in his more immediate calling, it is probable, to say the least of it, they would
conclude that we are on a par ; with the advantage, on my side, of some " fifteen years' "
miore experience. Most respectfully yours, Wm. Chorlton.

Micuacx and Nuttall's Sylva. — By the late disastrous fire at the Artisans' Building, in
Philadelphia, the wliole of the remainder of the sheets of the edition of Michaux and Nuttall's
Sylra were destroyed. It will be immediately reprinted, but orders on hand will necessarily
be temporarily delayed.

Parsons & Co.'s Nurseries. — We have received a valuable bundle of new evergreen, and
other trees and plants, from the reliable nurseries of Parsons & Co., at Flushing, Long Island,
for experimental growth. Among them we notice Pinus Benthamiana, a new tree, of rapid
growth; P. pumilio ; Cunninghamia sinensis, somewhat resembling the Araucaria, but more
hardy ; Abies menzesii ; Juniperus ericoides ; Abies morinda and Douglasii, &c. &c., for
which they will accept our thanks.

Lawton Blackberry. — Thaddeus Davids, Esq., and Mr. Lawton, of New York, have for-
warded us a large allowance of the true Blackberry. (5'ee Mr. Lawton's Advertisement.)

Northern Spy Apple. — A box of this invaluable Apple of the Spitzenburgh family, received
by express on the 15tli of April, in the finest order, has placed us under obligations to Mr.
James H. Watts, of Rochester, N. Y., who has a special affection for this fruit, and evidently
cultivates it con amore. It is a fine keeper, even to June ; it is now as firm as when taken
from the tree, which is a great bearer, the branches weighed down to the ground with the
fruit. These are the best specimens we have ever seen, and they are pronounced very aupe-
rior. It originated near Rochester, where it seems to luxuriate. Mr. Watts may well be
gratified with the results of his horticulture.

Seedling Potatoes. — We have received, from Daniel A. Buckley, of Williamstown, Mass.,
some of his Stone Hill and Chili seedling potatoes, of the value of which, for this climate,
a report will in due time be made. The Stone Hills are noble fellows.

Mr. Editor : I was delighted to see you differed a little from tte resolutions of the Society,
to sell Penn Squares ! It reminds me of some would-be wise savans of the French Academy,
priding themselves on having ascertained the exact nature of the crab ; they submitted their
definition — tliat it was a red fish, which walked backwards — to Cuvier, who congratulated
them on its correctness, in all but three points — " that it was not a fish, nor was it red, nor
did it walk backwards !" It might be easy to demonstrate that the squares, all things con-
sidered, are not diminutive, that little boys are not in danger within the railings, and that
the Society, generally, would not " rejoice" to see their lungs destroyed.

A Fellow Member.

The Weather on Staten Island. — We have at last got a break-up of the late severe and
protracted winter. To-day (April 5th), for the first time, we have been enabled to use the
spade. Euonymus japonica, whiclx has stood, without injury, for the last seven years, has
become a never-green down to the snow line ; Deodar cedar, almost as shabby looking, but
likely to recover ; Tree box has braved it finely, and is none the worse in appearance ; Irish
yew, with a few cedar branches to cover, is in fine condition. The flowers of Paulownia all
killed. Peaches, to pi-esent appearance, only injured where the wood was iceakhj, or not
thoroughly ripened. Exotic grapes, planted outside, severely injured, and some late kinds I
saw the other day, in a cold grapery, were split right up. These, however, were neglected
last summer, and the wood not well ripened. Some cherries are likewise split. Pears not
injured where the roots have been mulched. If we can make up our minds to cease croak-
ing, and push along, now we have good weather, it is likely that things will turn up better
than expectation. W. C.

.ToHN A. and Charles Kennicott, have forwarded their " Descriptive catalogue of fruit and
ornamental shrubs, cultivated at the Grove Nursery, West Northfield, Cook County, Illinois."
It bears marks of their intelligence and zeal ; one of their remarks we extract : " We Mould
imjjress upon every tree planter the value and importance of taking some good horticultural
journal, and of providing themselves with a few of the many excellent standard works on
horticultural subjects." This is good advice ; the prejudice against book-gardening and
farming has long since been discarded, for the very good and simple reason that those who
read and stiidy surpass their more ignorant neighbors, get rich faster, but, better still, have
more intelligent minds, and enjoy life a thousand times more ; the amenities of life cannot
be fully appi'eciated by the unlettered. We have no doubt, from the names attached to this
catalogue, there is an intelligent neighborhood around the Kennicott Grove Nurseries.

Sensitive and Moving Plants. — In our notes of a Day at Kew, we omitted to notice a
singular plant, of which a few specimens only were seen in this country some years ago ; it
is the Desmodium gyrans, usually called the Moving Plant, and, in Bengal, the Telegraph Plant.
The movement is voluntary, not influenced by touch, only requiring a calm, warm atmosphere ;
it is therefore kept under a glass case. The leaves consist of three leaflets, one large, termi-
nal one, and two small, lateral ones. The latter alone are endowed with this wonderful pro-
perty. There are some or other of them always in motion, by jerks, and in circles, or gyra-
tions, in one direction, so as to return to the same point. Well naight CoUinson and Bartram
have given this their significative name — the Tipitiicichet Sensitive.

The Mimosa pudica difl'ers from the Mimosa sensitiva, or sensitive plant, and is more re-
markable. The best way to exhibit its strongly sensitive properties of the leaves, is to cut
ofl", suddenly and cautiously, the tip of one of the terminal leaflets, when all the other leaflets
on that stalk will close, a pair at a time, from above downwards ; thence the impulse is con-
tinued to the adjoining stalks and to the leaflets, from below upwards ; and then the whole
leaf will fall.

Trees for the Sea-coast. — The following are recommended, in the Gardeners'' Chronicle,
as suitable trees to plant near the sea-coast : Yew, Sycamore, Holly, Evergreen and Lucombe
Oak, Spanish Chestnut, English and Turkey Oak, Elm, White Poplar ; and, for shrubs, Aucuba,
Tamarisk, Pontic Azalea, Hydrangea, Aibutus, Sweet Bay, the China Roses, Cotoneaster, &c.

Strawberry Sir Harry. — The French catalogue of plants and seeds of Bossin, of Paris,
just received, says of the new strawberry Sir Harry: " This variety, which we place in our
list for the first time, is, without doubt, the most beautiful and the best of all the known
strawberries." It has not yet reached America that we are aware of, but doubtless will
here for the fall planting. Bossin's jn-ice is three francs each plant.

editor's table.

Answkiis ToCimuKsro.NnENTS. — Greenhouses have been mucli the Huhjectof former volunn'S
of the llorticulliirist. In vol. 5, pages 110 and 184, as well as elscwlicre, our correspondent
will find niueh information. It is a subject of great interest, and particularly the jioint lie
alludes to, that of cheap structures for tlie many. Eight and ten dollars a running foot, is
about the lowest price for anything ornamental, but, for three dollars a foot, a house that
will answer to protect and grow ilowers, vuiii be built. The tojjic shall bo discussed hereafter.
At present, we are overwheln»ed witli matter waiting admission.

(A. (t. H., Wisconsin,) will (ind a description of a "pit" for keeping and blooming winter
flowers in our last number. A more simple one also answers well for keeping plants ; sink
a jiit, of any size you want, below the ground entirely, and line it with brick, stone, or
planks; treat it just as you do a hotbed, omitting the manure at bottom. Such is the
one you incjuire about. Nothing could be more simi)lo ; but be sure it has a dry bottom.

(Wm. H. Rkad, Canada West.) John Fiske Allen, of Salem, Mass., authority on tbe sub-
ject, says : " See llovey's M<t<jazine for Jan. 185r>, page 44, for his article on Hybridizing the
(irape ; turn also to his book on the drape, pages 149, 150, 151, 3d edition, and you will liml a
plan to save the pollen for impregnation — the only practical one, I think ; the ])olU!n, if ki-pt
in tin or glass, from the air, and in a dry place, will keep good a year." Mr. Allen is about to
introduce to the public some of the results of his praiseworthy efforts, but sufficient plants
have not yet been grown to offer them the present spring.

(Hexky Sueldox.) The Golden Hamburgh Grape is quite new in England, and is sold at
a high price. It has not been received in this country yet.

(A. J. Caywood, Modeua.) We have no connection, and never had, with any commercial
nursery.

(C.) Consult "Parsons on the Rose," and use good manure, plenty of sun, and keeji the
roots in a soil that will not retain water too long.

(J. D. Ing Eiisoi.i-, Ilion.) We are not aware of any gardener who possesses the seedling
grapes you name.

(J. Powell, Dayton, Ohio.) Your kind notice came too late, and is now out of season.

A Constant Readek and Subsceibek, Baltimore, will find the information he wants in the
Encyclopedias.

Carlisle, Ky. — Bear Sir : I received your Horticulturist, and I am so highly pleased with
its contents, beauty, and value, that I feel disposed to exert my influence in its favor.
This locality is proverbially the most fertile and wealthy in Kentucky, and particularly
adapted to the cultivation of fruit. No place can be found where the apple, grape, and
])cach, grow more luxuriantly than in this State, or where the fruit is produced more perfect.
We frcijuently escape the late spring frosts ; when further north, they are very destructive
to the early blooming kinds. The peach here attains its largest size and highest flavor, but,
owing to its vigorous growth, the tree is not long lived. With all the natural advantages
possessed by tlie owners of the soil for the protitable culture of fruit, comparatively little
attention is paid to it ; they are suffering from neglect ; in this they could greatly add to
their yearly proiits, to themselves, families, and neighbors. Our farmers are intelligent and
enteiiirising, and ready to embark in anything that will pay. It must be that they are
uninformed upon the subject of the proiits and importance of fruit culture, and the sujierior
excellence of the new articles in comparison with the old familiar kinds. It is the want of
information on the subject, I am assured, from the following circumstance : Last fall, I men-
tioned to a few friends that I had some trees sent to me for sale. I soon had orders amount-
ing to over 400, and I have orders for spiing for more than 1,000, and, I think, the circulation
of your interesting and valuable work will much increase this year. William Duxn.

Waste Steam. — Mr. Editor : I was very glad to see your notice, in a late number,
respecting waste steam. How many steam-engines we have in Philadelphia (some estimate
them as high as six hundred, within the limits of the pavements), which are continually
throwing away, into the air, an amount of heat and moisture sufficient to supply luxuries to
the whole population. By depositing this heat in beds of stone, &(\, for night warmth, every
owner of a steam engine might grow his own grapes, pine-apples, &c. Even suj^pose he had
his grapery in the garret of his factory ! A few windows in the roof, easily constructed,
would give sun and light, and the steam, under control of a valve, could be injected with
perfect ease, without costing an additional copper. It might, too, be led by small, in
sive pipes, to considerable distances, instead of being jetted out into the blue vault

sky. Some wiseacre has suggested, that by going to the coal mines with plenty of sashes,
we could grow grapes, and other forced fruits, with comparatively no expense of fuel. Why not
grow them where they are to be sold, close to a market, by using this waste matter, within
the reach of everybody who has steam-works near him ? The suggestion is most important.
I am now treating for the waste steam of a neighbor, to be brought under ground 800 feet.

Philadelphus.

The Dioscorea. — The following is an extract of a letter to the Committee of Patents from
W. D. Brackenridge, late public gardener in Washington, and fonnerly of the U. S. Explor-
ing Expedition, residing at present at Govanstown, near Baltimore, Maryland : " The two
small tubers of Dioscorea batatas which you gave me last spring, I started in a hotbed, and
planted them out about the middle of May, in a deep, yellow, loamy soil. About the middle
of November I dug the roots, and found two of them over two feet in length, and four inches
in circumference. Next season I intend to plant these roots and the small tubers propagated
from the leaves, and allow them to remain in the ground during next winter, as I think, in
a second year, they will attain a large size, after protecting them from frost by covering with
straw or leaves." So says the Country Gentleman. Mr. H. A. Dreer, of this city, has received
a supply of this plant from France, of his own importation.

Grafting. — Dr. Lindley lately delivered a lecture on grafting before the Horticultural
Society of London; the following are the conclusions arrived at: 1. A scion will always
form a perfect and permanent union with its stock, if both are from the same individual.
2. A scion will generally form a perfect and permanent union with its stock, if one is a mere
variety of the other. 3. A durable, but not pennanent union, may be effected when one
species of a genus is worked on another species. 4. No union, either durable or perma-
nent, can be expected when stock and scion are widely different. 5. Bad workmanship will
render any kind of grafting perishable. Grafted plants, then, are not necessarily worse
than seedlings.

Auctions. — Wife. " Well, now, as sure as Fm alive, husband, you've been to auction and
brought a pack of cinnamon roses home, and I have had a man digging half a day to get
the pests out of my garden. Do throw them right into the street." — Husband. " Why here's
the list. Viburnum opulics, and the Symphora racemosa, and the Philadelphus coronarius, and
Syringa vulgaris, and Fm sure — " — Wife. " Pshaw ! You've paid away your money for a
pretty parcel of Latin names. I don't care what you call them, but they are nothing but
our old-fashioned syringas and lilacs, and snowballs, and waxberries." Alas, out of thirty
dollars' worth, the poor wife got a few new plants that she might have purchased of an
honest florist for two dollars. We are now in the vernal season of auctions.

The Weather m England. — We have had the coldest winter, in England, during 1855,
since 1784, the years 1795 and 1814 not excepted, and great injury has been done.

W. S. Aston, near Liverpool.

\n\m\\\m\ ^ndtim.

Pennsylvania Horticitltural Society. — The stated meeting of this Society was held at Concert Hall, on
Tuesday evptiin?, March 18, 1856, Gen. Patterson, President, in the chair. Premiums were awarded by the
Commitlcc ou Plants aud Klowers.

Azalea, S peri men riant — for.the best, and for the second best, to John Pollock, gr. to James Dundas. Azaleas
— fur I he bust six to Thos. Robertson, gr. to B. A. Falniestocl< ; for the second best to Kobert Buist. Cotkc-
tion (if liffh'e Plant.l — for the best to Tho.s. Robertson ; for the second best to Chas. Sutlierland, gr. to John
Ansp;irli, diillection of six Plnnti — for tlie best to J. J. Habcrnielil, gr. to John Lambert. Specimen Plant —
for till' best, the Choroznaa varinin. to Isaac Collins, gr. to (Jen. Patterson ; for the second best to Joliu Pollock.
Neio Plants — two dollars to Robert Buist, two dollars to Mark Hill, aud one dollar each to John Pollock and
Thos. Robertson. T(Me Design — for the best to B. Higgius, gr. to D. R. King. Basket— (ov the best to J. J.
Haborniehl, and for the second best to B. Higgins. Sowjuets — for the best pair to J. J. Habermehl, and for the
second best to B. Higgins.

Special Premiums. — Five dollars for a fine display of Hyacinths, in vases, to Peter Raabe ; four dollars to

John Pollock, for a collection of a dozen of Roses ; live dollars to Robert Buist, for a fine seedling Camellia : two

dollars, for a collection of twelve Plants, to Mark Hill ; two dollars, for a flue collection of Cinerarias, to James

Thomas, gr. to J. D. Whethani ; one dollar, for a collection of stocks, to the same; and one dollar, for a collection

" u'rarias, to J. J. Habermehl.

the Committee on Fruits. Pears — for the best twelve specimens, the Easter Bcurr6, to John Chambers,

editor's table.

nonr Mount Holly, N. J. They notice a jar of cxtraordlDarlly largo Strawberries, preserved In alcohol, ohowu
by Sjiiil. WiiRiuT.

Hy ilii' ('.uiiinilloe on Veifptablpfi. lifuxhroomx — for the best to n Higi^lnR. J>iiti>lfn/ — for the secnnil best, liv
an linialonr iranloner; to Murk Hill, gr. to M. W. BiiUhvin. Spt'-inl Prrtninms — two dnIlarK to CliH«. ButlirrlaiiJ,
for II neat displity of Cucuinberst, Tomatoes, and Beans; ouo dollar, for a braco of flue Cucumbers, to Wui.
Brinlit, gr. to Josoph S. Lovering.

(>ii motion, ordered that a committee of flvo be appointed to confer with a committee of the City Councils on
the snlijeet of laying out and planting the trees in Hunting Park Sijnaro.

Five gentlemen were elected resident members.

Onji;iTs KxiiiBiTKi) NOT nKFORK MENTIONED. — Plants by B. A. Fiihnestock's gr. : Neio Puya Allenxtrinii,
r>aplineFortuiiii, and Camellia, Mrs. Lurman. Collection of twelve — Bletia Tankervillea, Correa Kpeciosa. Acacia
uudulala. Epacris canescens, Centradenia rosea, Pultnea .'iubiimbellata, Camellia Lowci, Fagatelia bituininura,
Franciscea confertiflora. Azalea sp. Mabernia odorata, and Cliorozema vanum and six Azaleas.

By Robert Buist. — Ntio Hexacentris mysoriorisis, TelanlluTa ericoides, Seedling Petunia, and Seedling Camel-
lia«. Twelve plants — fJorrea speciosa ventricosa, Eriostomum ])ulclienam, Acacia pulchella. Cyclamen persicuni,
I'elarconium Kingsbury pet, P. flower of the day, Chorozema macroi)liyllum, Tropa;olura Lily .Schmidt, P. Iri-
colorum, Coutradeuialloribuuda, Khapheolcpit>iudicu,aud Deudrobium Wallichii. iSpecimcu — Mahernia odorata,
and six Azaleas.

By .lohn Anspach's gr.. collection of twelve — Azalea indica alba, A. phoinecca, A. bybrida, Mahernia odorata.
Begonia manicata. B. nitida. Franciscea confutitlora, Ccutradenia rosea, C. floribuuda, Chorozema varium,
Blelia Tankervillea, and Conocliuum ianthinum.

From .lames l)undas"s collection. — AV-!0 Petratbeca ericoides, Rhododendron jasminodes, Azalea Apollo. A.
magnilica, A. extranii, Sacolobium macranthemum ; two Orchids — Phalauopsis granditlora and Oncidiiim flexu-
osum. Collection of twelve — Azalea indica alba, Chorozema varium, Kennedya macrophylla, K. racemosa.
Begonia Lapcrousii, B. nitida, B. mauicata, Thyrsacanthus rutilans, Gardenia Stanleyana, Ueutzia gracilis, and
Couoclenium ianthcmunj. Specimen — Azaleas, A. indica alba and A. Phojnecca el'egans. Specimen Plant —
Chorozema varium, and a collection of twelve Roses.

From M. W. Baldwin's collection. — New Cytisus superba, C. elegans, Churanthera linearis. Twelve — Azalea
indica, A. phoonocea, A. alba, A. variegata (Craig's), A. Duke of Welliugtou, A. Williamsii, A. Hertsii snpiTba,
Polygala Dalraasiana, Conoclinum ianthemum, Mahernia odorata, BIctia Sheppardii, Cineraria climax, and
Eriostenium nereifolium.

By U. R. King's gr. — Bignonia capreolata, Boronia vimirea, Conoclinum ianthcmiun, Franciscea eximca,
Burchellia capensis, and Potroa vohibilis. Specimen — Camellia myrtifolia.

By .Tobn Lambert's gr. — Begonia semperflorens, B. sanguiuca, Mahernia odorata, Pentas carnea, Ilypericum
sp. and Pelargonium macrostcma, and a display of Cinerarias.

By J. D. Wlietham's gr. Specimen — Tropjeolum tricolorum, a collection of Cinerarias, and another of stocks.

By Gen. Patterson's gr. Specimen — Chorozema varium and Deudrobium nobilis.

By N. A. Smith. — Two baskets of growing Hyacinths, &c.

Dr.ngns, Bouquets, &c. — By D. R. King's gr. — A handsome taljle design, a basket, and a pair of bouquets.

By J. Lambert's. — A basket, and a pair of bouquets.

By M. W. Baldwin's.— A basket.

Fruit. — By Jolin Chambers. Easter Beurr6 Pears.

Vff/etaMes. — By M. W. Baldwin's gr. A small display.

By D. R. King's. — Mushrooms.

By J. Anspach's gr. — Cucumbers, Beans, and Tomatoes.

By Jos. S. Lovering's gr. — Cucumbers.

H.vRTFORD County (Con.v.), Horticultural Society. — At the annual meeting of the Hartford Co. Horticultnral
Society, held on the 12th of April, 1856, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year, viz: Prfsident
— WiLLi.A.M \V. Tdrner. Vice-Presidents — John M. Niles, John S. Butler, Henry W. Perry, Hartford ; Henrt
MvriATT, Farmington ; Charles L. Porter, East Hartford ; Noah W. Stanley, New Britain ; Norman Porter,
Beilin : E. A. Holcomb, Granby ; Salmon Lyman, Manchester ; S. D. Ca.sb, Canton ; H. A. Grant, Enfield. Re-
coriiiiifj SefrfPtry — Daniel S. Dewey, Hartford. Corresponding Secretar)/ — Thomas R. Dutton, Hartford. Trtrr-
surrr — P. D. Stii.lman. Auditor — H. S. Bidwell. Statiding Committee — Wm. F. Tuttle, H. W. Peret, and
Edward Goodbidge.

MAY.
BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS.

Vegetabi-e Garden. — As soon as crops appear above ground, the soil should be carefully
stirred around them. This is one of the advantages derived from drill culture, and a very
important one it is during dry seasons. The deeper the ground is loosened, the better will
it support vegetation ; the loose ground on the surface acts as a mulching, and prevents the
rapid evaporation of the moisture from below. The air is also allowed unimpeded access
to tlie roots, facilitating those electro-chemical changes upon which the growth of plants so
much depends. The most useful implement for this operation is the Dutch, or scuffle hoe ;
in using it, there is no occasion to tread on the loose ground. Heavy summer showers more
or less consolidate the surface of all soils ; surface stirring should therefore follow imme-
diately after rains, and never allow weeds to gain sufficient headway to suggest the use of
the hoe, but let the cleanliness and freedom from weeds be a consequence of repeated surface
cultivation.

In j^lanting Lima beans, guard against deep covering ; if the ground is prepared as
gested last month, they may be simply pressed under the surface with the hand ; ther

sometimes no small difficulty in getting a good start, with this crop, in close soils. The
principal sowings of parsnip, long beet, and orange carrot, if not already down, should
receive early attention.

Towards the end of the month, sow a few seeds of Walcheren cauliflower, to come in foj
fall and early winter use.

Flat Dutch cabbage, and curled Savoy seed, should also be sown at once for winter crops.

Celery should be sown for main crops ; choose enriched, friable soil, and mulch lightly
with manure, and water occasionally in dry weather.

Young asparagus plantations should be mulched between the rows, and an occasional
watering with salted water will be beneficial ; two ounces of salt to a gallon of water will
form a sufficiently strong solution.

Sweet corn, summer squash, and vegetable marrows, may be planted at intervals of two or
three weeks, if a constant supply of tender vegetables is anticipated.

Peas, tomatoes, Sfc., may be hastened to maturity by pinching out the points of the plants,
checking growth will induce a tendency to early fruiting.

In transplanting, always puddle the roots in a mortar of soil and water, unless the weather
is dull ancl showery.

Sweet potatoes may he raised to tolerable perfection, even in strong, loamy soil, by throwing
the ground into small mounds twelve or fourteen inches high, and inserting the plants on the
extreme top of the mound. Plants may be obtained in quantity by placing a few roots in a
hotbed, and cut out the young shoots when three or four inches grown ; three such plants
should be planted in a triangle on each hill.

Hardy Fruit. — In connection with the writing of these calendars, we have had various
inquiries in regard to the proper extent of enriching soil for fruit-trees. Trees that were
originally planted in rich compost, and have annually been liberally treated with manure, are,
after nine years, still growing vigorously, but showing little or no disposition to fruit. This
result is quite in accordance with experience. Trees have their periods of youth, maturity,
and old age. When young, and growing with vigor, or, if this vigor is upheld with high
culture, the wood-producing force is alone excited ; and if, in addition to this, they are
annually curtailed of the strong shoots by pruning, in winter, it further increases the pre-
ponderance of the roots over the branches. There are various expedients practically resorted
to with the view of checking wood growth. Grafting on a slow growing stock, which will
naturally afford a less supply of sap than the graft would otherwise take up ; digging round
the roots, and cutting through the strongest of them ; ringing, or cutting out a small piece
of bark round the stem ; tying the branches to a horizontal, or even a pendent position, are
means which have long ago been practised to attain this object. The true method of deriving
benefit from manuring fruit trees was not, then, as it is but imperfectly, even now, under-
stood. That is, by judicious and skilful sununer pruning. Equalizing the sap, and prevent-
ing the development of luxurious shoots, must receive attention during growth. The most
vigorous growing shoot will be effectually checked by simply breaking out the point. It is
perfectly possible to train trees in any desired shape, and keep them in a healthy and con-
stantly productive state, without the use of a knife, or any instrument sharper than the
finger and thumb. This subject will come under consideration again.

Strawberries. — Hoe between the rows, and cover with a mulching, either of straw, tan
bark, or short grass ; anything that will keep the fruit clean ; a thorough watering will be of
great use after the first flowers are set to fruit.

Gooseberries. — Mildew may be prevented, by watering with soapsuds, over the branches.
A radical cure for this pest may be formed by mixing a peck of lime, aud a pound of sulphur,
in 10 gallons of water ; let it stand and settle. A pint, in 4 gallons of water, syringed over
the bushes when the fruit is forming, will keep them clean ; cover the ground with manure,
and spread a small quantity of salt over it, to keep as much moisture as possible about the
roots.

Figs should be uncovered ; this fruit is much neglected ; planted in rather poor, well
drained soil, laid down and covered during winter, they are usually very productive.

Grapes. — Rub ott' all superfluous shoots as soon as the strongest can be ascertained. In
consequence of the extreme severity of the winter, much of the young wood is killed.
Young vines, that ripened their wood imperfectly last season, are most likely to sufl'er in
this way. Such shoots require to be cut back to a sound and healthy part. Even though
only injured slightly, they require cutting down, as such unhealthy shoots spread disease
over tbe whole plant.

APEKY. — -In well-drained borders (and all vine borders should be well drained), thorough
ations of rain water should be given at intervals of ten or twelve days, if the weather

editor's table.

ootitiimp<lrvRTid rlenr. Tliifl is indopondentof tli<^ daily sprinkling ncceswary on the floorand
paths of flu' house, to cliargo the atniosphcrt! with nioisturo. Air rt^crulariy, but gradually ;
notiiinL; can he nion^ injurious than sudiii-n checks, ])nMUiffd by a liasty oj»ening of the
wntilafors ; a fearful source of mildew. Towards tlu^ end of the month leave the toj) saslies
open all night, and allow the temperature to lluctuate in a similar maimer as the external
attnosphere. There is no climate in the world where the temperature is constantly the
same. Disbudding, and tying up the young shoots, will be the j)rincipal requirements. A
slight syringing when in flower, helps to thin, or, rather, luevents the thick sotting of the
berries ; of course, it must \w done cautiously.

GuEE.vHoi'SE. — The top sashes may now be lowered day and night, unless heavy rains, or
very strong winds prevail. Shading will now be requisite. An awning mounted on rollers
is the most complete method. Washing the glass with whitewash, or painting with boiled
oil and litharge, saves trouble, but the continued slK'id<^ is not always desirable. The syringe
may be used freely in distributing water over the house, and also those j)lants not in flower,
(.itiard against currents of dry air sweeping over the i)lants, by ventilating oidy by the top
openings. A shaded, moist atmosphere is most congenial to the majority of summer flowering
plants.

Pelargoniums will still be flowering ; pick off all decayed flowers, and gradually withhold
water as they cease growing. Save seed from the best varieties. They ripen seed most
perfectly out of doors, in a full exposure to sun.

Camellias and Azaleas may be withdrawn from the house as they finish growth ; plunge
the pots in tan bark or ashes. Greenhouse jdants are much injured by exposing the pots
to sun and wind.

Heaths. — Epacrises, and similar hard-wooded kinds, are better in the house during the
summer months, unless under skilful management. The great point is to get the growths
properly hardened and fitted for thorough exposure ; then they will stand the fiercest sun
witliout injury. In their natural habitats, they are subjected for months to parching sun
and intense aridity. The nearer we can imitate nature, the more likelihood of success. Young
plants may be kept in a steady growing condition, by repotting when necessary, and keep-
ing them in a moist shady position.

C'ac^/« will require liberal wateringwhile making growth ; see that the soil is well drained.

Achemenes, Gloxinias, Clerodendrons, Begonias, Fuchsias, and other plants, for summer
blooming, should be repotted as they require it, and attend in time to staking, pinching the
shoots, &c., to form well-shaped plants. There is no beauty in plants that are grown tall
and weak, and no surer indication of unskilful management.

Flower Garden. — Dahlias, heliotropes, balsams, and other tender plants, should be left
under cover until the middle of the month. The hardier kinds may be planted out at once.
In planting geometrical flower gardens, it has been usual to fill each bed with a separate
kind of plant. When properly carried out, the effect is good. Where the beds are irregu-
lar, a better eifect is produced by introducing several species, for instance a centre of scarlet
pelargoniums may be surrounded with white verbenas. Blue salvias and the yellow (Eon-
thera, heliotropes, and petunias, form good combinations. Beds of white roses are height-
ened in beauty when carpeted with scarlet verbenas. Much taste may be displayed in
contrasting colors, and arranging plants with reference to height, shape, and color. These
mental preliminaries should receive attention, and be decided upon previous to commencing
active operations. Chrysanthemum cuttings may be rooted readily at this season ; they will
come into flower for greenhouse and conservatory decoration in the fall.

Lawns must be frequently mown to look well ; rake the cut grass quite clean. A hard
broom will answer for small plots. In more extensive places, the patent grass or daisy rake,
is indispensable. Cut early in the morning, when there is copious dew, and clean up imme-
diately, if you wish to economize labor. A smooth, green lawn suggests rejwse and quiet ;
all necessary labor, in keeping, should therefore be performed in the most expeditious
manner.

i'r,EAsuRE Grounds. — Evergreens may be yet planted. Tlie past winter has abridged our
list of hardy sorts. Euonymus Japonica is done brown ; that graceful plant, the Deodar
cedar has also been sorely tried. It cannot be serviceable when a permanent evergreen tree
is desired. We must confide in our well-tried and trustworthy friends, the Norway and
hemlock spruce, white pine, Bhotan pine, Scotch and Austrian firs, arbor vitse, balsam,
and silver firs, and the red cedar. Prune out all dead wood at once ; many plants that
appear hurt, have their buds uninjured, therefore it may be necessary to proceed with
caution until growth commences. The remarks of last month on tliis head are still
season.

"^W^

Xv^

/

L:'0

■^j^^^wri:--'-

6nit,Uman larming.

OR any useful purpose, the old books on farming are
rarely resorted to ; new theories, new modes, and new ma-
chines, are the order of the day ; and yet, there is an amount
of curious information, and facts incidental to all human
labor, in some of the older writers, that should not be lost
sight of. The very best book on the subject of farming in
America, was published in 1825, after the death of the author,
Mr. John Lorain, who occupied a farm only a few miles from
our own residence. He was an enthusiast, and sufficiently
scientific to master all the theories then in vogue, some of
which he was instrumental in disproving. His chapters on
" Gentleman Farming" are so quaint, apt, and amusing, that
we propose to devote a short space to a brief notice of his own experience.

Poets, with other writers, attribute to rural pursuits all the rational pleasures
which constitute the chief happiness of man ; but they appear to have forgotten
that these beautiful scenes which they so elegantly describe, are the effect of
immense labor and fatigue : —

" Tlie bard who wrote
The silly trash of brushing dew away
To see the sun rise, hardly knew, I fancy,
What dew was made of, or the vile effect
That frequent soaking hath upon shoe leather."

These city gentlemen forget that agriculture, when properly pursued, under the
most favorable circumstances, requires very great attention, both early and late,
and that there are very few employments which have more crosses, losses, and
disappointments, necessarily attached to them. An epidemic sometimes sweeps off
live stock, as with the besom of destruction ; mildew, smut, with numerous blights,
excessive rains, storms, a scorching sun, drought, untimely nipping frosts, and
insects as destructive as an invading army, destroy the farmers' most flattering
expectations.

The gentleman commences his occupation with the information, perhaps ob-
tained from books, that full-bred farmers do not generally manage their agricul-
tural concerns anything like so advantageously as might be done ; the farm is
bought without duly observing that the different opinions of authors give contra-
dictory theories ; he has to learn, from his own practice, which is right, or whether
the whole of them may not be essentially wrong. What that experience usually
is, Mr. Lorain tells us some of the incidents.

The fish-pond and the icehouse have been constructed after all the details of
the alterations and enlargements of house and barn are complete ; the garden is
greatly added to ; exotic trees are introduced ; the gravel is hauled six or eight
besides the pleasure of seeing, displaying, and using, the rare products of

YoL. YI.— June, 1856.

17

nnturo, it is probable that the gentleman has been led to believe, from obeerving
that the imrscTynuMi obtain very liit:Ii jirices, that his gardener and market man
may readily dispose of the increase arising from the original stock to considerable
advantage.

Let us see him, now, with his summer-houses built, his lawn nicely sodded, the
old orchard that used to supply his predecessor, uprooted, and planted with new
fruit-trees, and every new implement of husbandry procured ; these his workmen
do not, probably, know how to use, and having a mortal enmity to novel imple-
ments, too often purposely break and destroy ; he has purchased plenty of work-
ing horses and oxen, of the best quality, and most exorljitant price ; he is deter-
mined to excel in the first cattle show, and cost is no consideration. How he will
rejoice to see his name in the lleport, as having carried off the first premiums !
But his fine, stately cows are carelessly milked, and become dry before the time
of the Fair; he has the mortification, instead of selling butter and cheese, of
depending on the plain, practical farmers around him, for more than half the year,
and his cheese, if any happen to be made, is never fit to appear at his own table.

Manure, he knows, is an important element, and his carts are employed in bring-
ing large quantities from the city, where he pays a high price — for straw ! His
manure, owing to his own ignorance, costs him twice that of the practical farmer,
who purchases it himself. When riding from a city, and we ask whose is that
cart filled with long straw dung, we generally find it belongs to some "gentleman
farmer."

All the alterations are completed ; the army of masons, carpenters, painters,
plumbers, and all who have waited on them, are dismissed ; the gardeners, tem-
porarily employed, are gone also, after the vast number of trees, shrubs, bushes,
vines, flowers, and small fruits, are in the ground ; the fence-makers, blasters,
ditchers, ploughmen, carters, and laborers, necessary to get the place in elegant
condition for the wife to see and admire, with their wanton waste, depredation,
and idleness, that usually take place on such occasions, are gone. The family is
moved from town, and a short scene of rural delight really ensues. Tom has a
pony, and Louisa a cob ; father and mother live over their bright expectations,
till Tom is thrown and breaks a leg, and Louisa declares she never will mount a
horse again. These two grain-eaters are to be sold, but will not bring half price !
How odd ! The owner begins to suspect he has expended, in useless brick and
useless mortar, in ornamental buildings, and animals, an amount that was scarcely
justifiable. But he says nothing of this to his wife. She, poor lady, finds the
neighbors have little sympathy for her ways, and she begins to think that all the
useless toys, only fit to divert little minds, have been collected at too great a cost ;
but she says nothing of this to her husband.

The gentleman farmer now believes it is time to get some returns for his vast
outlay. He has known, from experience, that country products command high
prices, especially when they consist of an early supply of such articles as the sea-
sons, with good management, produce ; that many living in the vicinity of cities

GENTLEMAN FARMING.

had, from small beginnings, amassed considerable estates in that way. Expensive
preparations are made for marketing, but, unfortunately, he forgets that people who
got rich in this mode, go with these articles to market themselves ; are acquainted
with the business, and, if anything is left after the usual hour of sale, they know
the dealer it will suit, and how to obtain the best price for it. The farmer returns
to his work as soon as market is over ; his wife and children are busily employed
in the gardens, or field, and their presence and example keep his laborers at work
while he is from home. The gentleman is very differently situated ; everything is
hired, and the examples set by one or another are exactly calculated to promote
idleness, chicanery, and fraud. However, a beginning is to be made, and his
golden project is commenced.

He hires a man, who, he is told, is well calculated to drive the wagon, and sell
what may be sent to town. Being now, as he believes, completely fixed, a well
assorted load is ordered, and the man is to start early the ensuing morning. This
finds employment for the market-man, and several other laborers, the whole after-
noon; for, after the vegetables, fruit, &c., have been gathered, they must be
properly arranged for sale, and the people take care not to hurry themselves in
this tedious employment. In fact, the gathering and fixing alone too often cost
the gentleman more money than he receives for the whole load. But the market-
man has overslept himself, and before he gets cleverly settled in market, the indus-
trious common farmer is gearing up to go home ; of course, the gentleman's load
hangs heavy on hand ; this is soon observed by some keen-eyed huckster, who, at
a proper time, makes a bid for the whole. As no purchaser had for a long time
appeared, the bargain is closed, and the salesman starts for the farm. The gen-
tleman is astonished when he sums up the scanty returns ; but the market-man
gives ingenious reasons why it so happened, taking care to keep the real cause out
of sight ; and, as he rises earlier the next trip, his returns are better, though far
below his employer's expectations. Thus the business generally goes on, some-
times better, and sometimes worse, till the expected golden shower is arrested.
The market-man is tempted to the tavern ; the horses are left standing at the
door ; hunger induces them to move off. The man returns at twelve at night,
and informs his employer that he stopped at a friend's house on the road ;
that the horses had run off with the wagon, and he could neither find nor hear
anything of them. All the men on the farm are immediately mounted, and sent
off in different directions, but the team is not found till the middle of the ensuing-
day, with the wagon fastened between two trees. Such was Mr. Lorain's own
experience.

This is a melancholy picture, too often realized by persons unused to farming ;
if the purse is able to bear such results, it is not so bad as where a deficiency,
caused by unforeseen expenses in ))uilding and improvements, is expected to be
made up by profitable sales.

The better plan is to begin moderately, with a moderate-sized farm, to study the
subject a little before incurring heavy outlays, and to make improvements by

BIOTA OttlENTALIS, BIOTA PYRAMIDALI8, AND TAXUS ADPRESSA.

grees. Happiness does not consist in costly elegance ; neatness, comfort in each
department, will be first sought by a well-balanced mind; the errors we have only
glanced at, it will be easy to avoid when they are pointed out in a friendly spirit ;
it should be the duty of friends to prevent the waste we have alluded to, by show-
ing to the incipient city farmer, that the expenses about to be incurred may be so
great as to prevent the enjoyment of the place after his death, by those for whom,
probably, he had hoped he was preparing it ; and even where this is not the case,
he may assemble so many niceties, and expensive arrangements, that no widow,
however wealthy, would choose to be burdened with maintaining them. As a
looker-on, during many years of prosperity among our mercantile and professional
friends, we have observed numerous instances of this mistaken policy which con-
founds expense with happiness, and have too often seeu the great establishment
abandoned, in disgust at gentleman farming.

After all, the true thing for the country is country life ; city habits, and city
furniture, late hours, and large parties, with accompanying headaches, do not
prepare the mind to enjoy the song of the robin and the oriole. Sunday quiet,
exchanged for a rush of city acquaintance, with their horses to be entertained as
well as themselves, are not very acceptable to your cook and ostler ; while a few
congenial minds to pass a week, more or less, with you in quiet intercourse,
is the sumnmm honum of retired leisure. It will not do to calculate, for the coun-
try, on too much enjoyment being crowded into a small space of time, for there,
as elsewhere, it is not to be found. Repose, and contemplation on the duties of
man's existence here, moderate work, study, and a daily effort to promote the
happiness of others, will give more real satisfaction than large mirrors, and a
service of gold.

BIOTA ORIENTALIS, BIOTA BYRAMIDALIS, AND
TAXUS ADPRESSA.

TRANSLATED FROM THE REVUE HORTICOLE.

My object in publishing this brief article is to clearly establish the difference
existing between two species, which, although perfectly distinct, have often been
confounded with each other, or regarded merely as varieties. Their frequent
culture from the seed during a long series of years, proves this to be the case.
M. Trove has long since established this fact. The drawing and accurate descrip-
tion of it given by him in the memoir of the Academy of Naples,* under the name
of Thuia pyramidalis, leave, in my mind, no doubt upon the subject.

One of the species, now under consideration, the Biota orientalis (Fig. 1),
commonly called the Chinese Thuia, is that generally used in the construction of
a blind or screen, as well as, in our cemeteries, to take the place of the cypress.
Its straight branches, its numerous and compact ramules, arranged in the shape

' Mem. Acad. Neap., 35, torn. 3.

of a palm-leaf, or a fan, clearly distinguish it from the following (Fig. 2), which
the gardeners, in France, generally designate under the name of TImia Nepalensis,
or T. tatarica; the latter is much more bushy; its branches, although numerous,
and straight, are furnished with delicate raraules, more elongated and divaricated
than the former, imparting to it a peculiar and distinctive appearance.

Independently of this very different aspect, the shape of the cones will not
permit us to confound it with the Biota orientalis (Fig. 1), in which each scale
of the cone, which is

regular, presents a Fig- 1- Fig. 2.

point or straight
prolongation, either
slightly curved at its
apex, and gibbous,
or somewhat dilated
and enlarged at its
base. In the Biota
pyramidalis (Y'lg. 2),
on the contrary, the
scales of the cones,
which are irregular,
are furnished, toward
the apex, with a long,
subcylindrical point,

curved at its extremity. The drawing of the ramules, accompanying the cones
in the two species, exhibits the difference much more clearly than any written
description.

We will avail ourselves of this opportunity to justify the name of Biota, and
recommend it to our brethren instead of that of T/mia ; for, if too great subdivi-
sion is wrong, too great generalization is equally so ; on the one hand, objects
which are closely suited, are too widely separated ; and, on the other, those which
have no affinity are included in the same class.

In the first place, the Biota is a native of the Old Hemisphere, while the Thuia,
properly so-called, has reached us from the Xew World ; no exception to this
geographical distribution is as yet known. In the Biota, the cones, which are
large and subglobular, are formed of thick and woody scales, having, at their
base, seeds which are almost osseous, and ovoid, rounded, or subconical, some-
times slightly compressed, and entirely unfurnished with wings. In the Thuia
(T. occidentalis), on the contrary, the cones are small, oblong, or subcylindrically
elongated, slightly thickened toward the middle, and formed of very thin, cartila-
ginous, and cork-like scales, having, at their base, very delicate, compressed seeds,
of cartilaginous consistence, always provided with a membranous, and nearly
transparent wing. By contrasting the two genera, their characteristic marks will
be more apparent.

BIOTA.

Jlabitat. — The Old Ileniispliere.
Cones. — Subglobular, with thick scales,

ligneous at maturity.
Seeds. — Ovoitl, or conical, or scarcely

compressed, bard, always unfurnished

with winery.

Fie 3.

TnUTA.

Habitat.— l!\iQ New World.
Cones. — Elongated, subcylindrical, with
thin, dry, and almost cork-like scales.
Seeds. — Slightly comjtresscd, almost
cork-like, always furnished with a
membranous wing.
Lastly, if we compare the characteristics of vegetation, we shall find that the
species of these two genera are very readily classified,
and that botanists were correct in separating them
generically.

Fructification is, undoubtedly, the most important
of all characters in establishing the generic differences
of plants, and that which leads to a most exact and
critical classification. The Taxus adpressa (Fig. 3)
is a manifest proof of the truth of this remark. Con-
sidered by some as belonging to the genus Cephalo-
taxus, and, by others, as a Taxus, it, in this way, wan-
dered between two genera, although intelligent horti-
culturists had practically recognized its relations with
the common yew, of which, perhaps, it is only a pecu-
liar form. This degree of affinity, or i)arentage, had
been developed by engrafting. In fact, when the
CepUalo-iaxus is engrafted on the Taxus, it either
does not take, or if it does, languishes, and lives but
a short time. But, if this pretended Cephalo-taxus is
inserted in a yew, it takes readily, and may flourish
for years. This mark of organic affinity refers it
most evidently to the Taxus, and the accompanying
figure leaves no doubt on the subject ; the Cephalo-taxus adpressa of our nurseries
should, therefore, most certainly bear the name of Taxus. Carriere.

THE LOYE OF NATURE.

BY C. L. SPENCER.

Beautiful sentiments, expressed in fitting language, take a strong hold upon
the heart, and are never entirely obliterated from the memory. The opening
Hues of our own Bryant's Thanatopsis, beautiful and truthful, as every lover of
nature must acknowledge, furnish food for cheerful thought and heart-ennobling
reflection : —

" To liim wlio ill the love of nature holds
Communion with her visible forms.
She speaks a vai-ious language."

Yes, nature speaks to the heart of man in a language which cannot be misunder-
stood. At every season, and in all her various aspects, she proclaims the good-
ness of Him whose face through her is made visible, the beauty of truth and
virtue, and the deformity of falsehood and vice.

Nature is always true and beautiful ; that which does not accord with nature
is always false and ugly. The painter who takes nature for his guide is sure to
succeed, while he who leaves nature for "the schools" is as sure to fail.

We love Cowper, Wordsworth, and Bryant, because they are nature's pupils,
singing of what they have seen and felt, and not of what migld have been.

There is no discord in nature ; all her operations are harmoniously performed.
The grass and the beautiful flowers spring up at their appointed season; the trees
put on their emerald robes ; the brooks pursue their wonted course ; the sunshine
and the showers invigorate the growing plants, and in the autumn we behold the
result.

Nature's laws are so harmonious that a superficial observer would suppose her

to be governed by no laws. Yet they are inflexible, and are never transgressed ;

and he who has an eye to see the beauties of the fields and woods, and an ear to

hear the anthems which swell in every valley, and on every hillside, cannot fail to

appreciate the vast store of enjoyment and instruction which is spread out before

him.

< » » » ►

NICKAJACK APPLE.*

This very fine and beautiful Southern Seedling Apple originated in Macon
County, North Carolina, among the Cherokee Indians, in the vicinity of Nickajack
Creek, from which the name is taken. It was first brought into notice by Silas
McDowell, Esq., of Franklin, North Carolina, a most industrious and enthusiastic
pomologist, who sent me scions and specimens of the fruit four years ago. It is
one of the best of our winter apples, keeps well until April, and, grown at the
North, will no doubt keep till June or July. Size, large. Form, rather more
oblong than flat. Skin, smooth. Color, dark-reddish purple to a lighter brown-
ish red, striped on an olive-green foundation. Stalk, short — about \ inch. Flesh,
yellow, subacid, and very palatable.

JOHN R. STANFORD, Clarhsville, Geo.

QUEEN APPLE, OR NIX'S GREEN.
This very beautiful Apple originated in North Carolina ; it is one of the best
fruits for early winter use, and was found in the orchard of Mr. John Nix, of
Habersham County, Georgia. Size, varies from large to very large. Form, flat,
or nearly so, and much the largest at the stem end. Skin, very smooth, of a
yellowish-green color. Flesh, tender, subacid, and very pleasant to the taste.
Ripens November to January, here ; further north, would keep till March.

JOHN R. STANFORD, Clarhsville, Geo.
* See Frontispiece.

cow SHED
I4X 5

CARRIAGE
14 X 14

-_l_

CARRIAGE HOUSE AND STABLE FOR A SMALL COTTAGE.

CARRIAGE nOUSE AND STABLE FOR A SMALL

COTTAGE.

A SUBSCRIBER Tcquests us to give a plan and elevation of a cheap carriage-house

and stal)]e, to have a neat exterior expression,
and, at the same time, not infringe on the con-
venience and space within ; he also limits the
expense to $250 — a very small sum, indeed, for
such an edifice. Tlie annexed plans will cor-
rectly convey the only manner in which so cheap
a barn can be constructed, without entirely losing
sight of ornamental effect. We will premise
that the material is wood. The posts should not
be less than 8 by 12 inches ; the sills should be
somewhat thicker ; the remaining sticks can be
6 by 9 joist, and 3 by 4 scantling. The weather boarding should be secured perpen-
dicularly to the frame, and the joints protected by narrow strips, bevelled ; finish

the inside with rough hemlock boards, filling
the space between the out and inside board-
ing with oat straw, rammed down compactly.
A stable cannot be too warm.

The ground plan exhibits a carriage room,
14 by 14, with an entrance from the front side
of the building, and is also in easy communi-
cation with the harness-room and stalls. The
stalls are each 14 by .5^, containing crib, feed-
ing troughs, &c. They also have a door in
the front. As a cow is indispensable to the
cottager, we have provided a suitable apart-
It is 14 by 5. The hay loft is arrived at by a
The loft is so arranged as to permit

To secure

ment for her winter quarters.

stairway contiguous to the harness-room.

of foddering both horse and cow from nearly the same openings.

proper ventilation, and also to add a decorative feature, a small cupola is attached

to the roof, rising from the centre.

A very durable and cheap paint for a barn is produced by mixing common
French yellow (worth about five cents a pound) with lamp-black, which creates a
beautiful, clear olive, and will keep color for several years. — Hort. Review.

Pteris argentea.— Adiantum formosum. Sarracenia Drummondi.— Adiautuiu cultiatum. Pteris macrophyUus. Daria diversifolia.

FLOWERS AND BOTANICAL NOTES.

BY W. S. COLEMAN.

Here spreads a range of level plots,

Of box-fringed beds, where lurking knots

Of buried flowers repose, to bring
Kind greeting to the early spriug.

The brightest flower of the winter garden— the very gem, nntil the
crocus (iomes to rival it — is the winter aconite. The old writers
called it yellow or winter wolf's-bane. Clare well describes this
flower —

The winter aconite.
With buttercup-like flowers, that shut at night ;
Its green leaf furling round its cup of gold,
Like tender maiden muftied from the cold.
The fern tribe may certainly claim our attention as possessing the
qualities most worthy of interest ; many of the species being ever-
greens, they give a fresh, verdant appearance to the conservatory
when it is forsaken by the gay flowers of summer; or, if grown
under a glass shade, or " temple," they form a delightful ornament
to the dwelling-house at all seasons.
In the above group a variety of these graceful forms are given,

and, as their attraction lies principally in their form and trans-
parent texture, our descriptions of each individual will be very
brief.

The large-leaved brake (Pterin mncrophyllus) is a very fine spe-
cies. The leaves are almost entirely surrounded by a thickened
margin containing the organs of fructification.

Adiantum furmomim and A. ctiUratum, two species of maiden-
hair, have the glossy black stems and delicate leaves so well
known in the British maiden-hair fern.

Pterix nrgenlea (the silver brake), and Daria diversifolia, are
the other two species represented.

The largo centre ooject is a most remarkable species of side-
saddle flower {Sarracenia Drummondi). In the summer it bears
curious purple flowers, but its cliief interest lies in its wonderfully-
formed tubular leaves: they have somewhat the shape of a post-
man's horn, are about two feet in heiglit, and of a vivid green
color, except at the upper expanded end, where they are most
beautifully marbled with red, green, and white. This plant re-
quires a very high temperature for its cultivation, as much as
from SO to 100 degrees.

A FEW REMARKS ON LATE QRAPE CROPS.

A FEW REMARKS ON LATE GRAPE CROPS

BY WILLIAM CIIORLTON, STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK.

T will, no doubt, be well remembered by many, that on the 4th Nov.,
1854, there was a severe frost, which entirely destroyed the leaves of
the grape-vines in most of the late graperies in this part of the coun-
try ; and also after the following severe winter, when the plants ought
to have burst with usual vigor, that the buds broke weak from excessive
bleeding, which proceeded from longitudinal strips along the canes,
and this to such an extent that, in some instances, heading back
had to be resorted to in order to again get healthy wood, the col-
lective consequences of which were, that some crops were below
medium, and others partially injured. So sudden and unexpected
was this frost, that it is doubtful if one in ten would have applied
fire heat if they had had the means ; notwithstanding, there was an opportunity
for assailing the principle of growing the exotic grape under glass without artifi-
cial heat. Now, while we admit that a temporary heating apparatus is of service
occasionally, there is no reason in condemning in toto, as is often done, either this
or any other equally economical qualification, when a little foresight and under-
standing will remedy the expected contingency; and perhaps there could not be a
better example than the one now before us to prove the necessity for a gardener
to possess some knowledge of the anatomy of plants. To make this appear plain
— supposing a man, in whom is combined physiological and practical experience,
on seeing the wholesale slaughter of the leaves, those sources of assimilation and
evaporation upon which, only the day before, he cast such a cheerful look, he
would thus soliloquize to himself : These leaves are destroyed too soon, before
they have done their destined duty ; they have not evaporated so much of the
moisture as they would have done provided they had not been cut so prematurely ;
consequently, it will be best to prune immediately, that the light and air may act
upon the surface of the bark more readily, by which the drying process will be
somewhat assisted ; they must also remain exposed so long as the weather will
permit, but with all that can be done, there will be an excess of fluid in the canes,
rendering the cells more than usually subject to distension and rupture during
severe frosts. Some extra covering will also be necessary, and this placed loosely,
so that a free circulation of air may pass amongst the vines. So far as can be,
cold must be excluded, and sudden changes of temperature avoided.

After such severe winters as the last and the previous, he would again
reason : With all the care taken into account, it is likely that some laceration of
the cells, which are formed longitudinally amongst the vascular tissue, may have
occurred in consequence of the expansion by frost of the over-abundant liquid
matter contained, and which ought to have been dissipated in the fall, and, to
prevent further mischief, it will be advisable to endeavor to obtain an even action

SUGGESTIONS ON THE CULTIVATION OP THE GLOXINIA.

over the ■whole structure ; this may, in part, be accomplished by keeping the vines
covered from the invigorating action of the sun's rays until a few more of the cold
"snaps" have passed over, and when the buds can no longer be kept back, instead
of tying down the tops as usual, which has a tendency to retard the upward pro-
gress of the rising fluid, or rather to compel it to take a lateral course, thereby
forcing it, while still in a watery state, to ooze out through the sides of the injured
cells. The better plan will be to tie the vines up at once, which will assist in
enabling it to flow more freely upwards, and over every part alike, the probability
being that it will the more surely combine with the stored-up and more solid
material, which is intended by nature, at this period, to furnish the substance for
fresh cellular matter, and so fill up all interstices in the form of a mucilage, that
will harden after a time, and repair the mischief in the same way as the healing
of a wound in the animal body. In this particular peculiarity there is no occa-
sion to be so exact about the lower buds, for if the injury that is to be apprehended
has been done, there will be sufficient stoppage to the upper permeation this sea-
son, without any extra curtailment of the plant's natural action, which, when once
obtained, will repair all former injury.

This simple reasoning may be thought " small talk" by some of your readers ;
but I can answer for it that one crop of grapes, at least, was received in fine con-
dition last year where it was put into practice, while some others in different
places showed the lack of it, and it is purposely sent at the present time to pre-
vent, if possible, a repetition of similar casualities, which are likely to occur from
the intense cold of the late winter.

I would add, in conclusion, that many of the cherries and a few other kinds of
trees here are being split from the bark to the centre, the whole length of the
trunks, by the action of the frost and dry, cold winter winds. {Query. — Is not
this the cause of " gumming ?")

SUGGESTIONS ON THE CULTIYATION OF THE

GLOXINIA.

BY DANIEL BARKER, UTICA, NEW YORK.

Amongst the numerous plants which are highly deserving of more universal
cultivation, and a greater degree of attention, than is usually bestowed upon
tliem, the Gloxinia stands conspicuous in an eminent degree. Although plants
are to be met with in many collections, it has but rarely been in that state of per-
fection of which it is susceptible, being, for the most part, subjected to only the
ordinary treatment of a miscellaneous collection of greenhouse plants.

The plants, comprehended in the natural order, to which the Gloxinia belongs,
are, many of them, inhabitants of deep-shaded dells, or of their immediate vicinity,
in the tropical parts of the world. Many of them have their habitation on old
decayed logs, and other rich decaying vegetable matter, while others grow upon

SUGGESTIONS ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE GLOXINIA.

more elevated and exposed situations : the genus under consideration belonprs to
that section whicli thrive, in all their native luxuriance, in the deep shaded valleys
of Pernambuco.

To cultivate it with success, the following conditions demand especial atten-
tion : that the roots be allowed abundant means of spreading in a horizonital
direction ; in order to effect this, I have used large garden pans, or feeders, in
lieu of pots, for the last shift, with the best success. If large specimens for ex-
hibition, or otherwise, were desired, I use them of the size of twelve inches over,
and five deep, allowing one inch for effectual drainage, which must be strictly
attended to throughout their entire growth, from the seed, or cutting, as the case
may be, to the final shift into the flowering pans.

The first process of raising the plants is by cuttings (leaves, with the entire
petiole attached) ; this can be done at any time after the leaves have attained
their full development, which, under ordinary circumstances, will be from June to
August — the earlier in the season the better, in order that the young bulbs may
become sufficiently strong to put forth their lovely blossoms in abundance during
the ensuing season.

Fill the cutting pots, to within three inches of the top, with broken crocks ;
upon these a layer of sphagnum (bog moss) ; then fill to the rim with clean sand,
and saturate with water ; afterwards, insert the cuttings (leaves), removing them
to a gentle hotbed, being careful to shade during the warmest part of the day ; in
this situation they may remain until they have attained a sufficient size to trans-
plant, which should be done into two-inch pots, using a compost of decayed vege-
table mould, with about one-third sandy loam, which should have the additional
care of being well and effectually drained. When potted, they are again placed
in a gentle hotbed, until sufficiently established to be placed in the greenhouse,
where they may remain until the leaves die down ; after which, they may be placed
under the stage of the greenhouse, being careful to place the pots upon their sides,
in order to prevent any moisture coming near the bulbs, and not too near the
flue, as this would cause the buds to shrivel up ; in this situation they may remain
until the following March or April, when they may be repotted, being careful to
shake all the mould from their roots ; to the above-named soil, add one-third of
partially decayed wood, with a few uneven pieces of charcoal, which, while they
have the effect of retaining moisture about the roots, will also be the means of
facilitating the escape of any which might be superfluous.

When repotted, place them in a shady part of the stove, or propagating-house,
in a close and moderately warm atmosphere, paying attention to repotting as often
as the plants require it, until finally removed into the flowering pans.

During their growth throughout the spring, and, indeed, until the flowering is
over, keep them in a position where they can enjoy a partial shade, with a tem-
perature of from 60° to 80°. As the season advances, the shady part of a green-
house will be all the protection they will require ; indeed, protected, in a cold
frame, during the warmest part of the day, from the sun's rays — in such a

tion, they will perfect their lovely blossoms, and last a much longer period in
bloom than if left in the stove or greenhouse. The period at which they will be
in bloom, if such a course be adopted, will be from about the end of June until
September, varying as their maturity may be encouraged or retarded.

IMPATIENS JERDONI^.

TRANSLATED FROM THE REVUE HORTICOLE.

The Balsams, to which the present species belongs, affect shady, damp locali-
ties, and the decayed mould of large forests in both hemispheres ; they are annual
or perennial plants, with cylindrical stalks and branches, smooth, frequently swol-
len at their articulations, and filled
with a VQry abundant watery juice ;
the leaves are alternate, or opposite,
nearly always dentated, and unpro-
vided with leaf scales.

The common Balsam, introduced
into Europe at the beginning of the
sixteenth century, has served as the
type of this family, to which the
earlier botanists added a plant of the
group of the Cucurbitaceae, the
Momordia halsamina ; a whimsical
connection, indeed, but one which
indicates a tendency to generic ap-
proximations, founded, in this case,
on the dehiscence of the fruit, which,
at maturity, bursts open with great
elasticity.

Like the Tropeolse (Capucines),
which resemble them, the Balsams
present us with a remarkable variety
in the color of their flowers, and the
species under consideration exhibits
this, in a high degree, in a mixture
more curious than harmonious of
green, yellow, and red.

The Impatiens Jerdonice is a na-
tive of the Neilgherry Hills ; its stalks, which are carneous, of a deep violet brown
color, and of the size of one's little finger, and very smooth, are generally provided
with joints, which render them very fragile ; the edges of its leaves, which are
thin, and of a bright green hue, are furnished with teeth, terminatin

IHFATIESS JEBDONI^.

ORNAMENT FOR DRIED FLOWERS.

sort of brown or violet-colored gland ; the flowers spring from the summit of short,
axillary peduncles, and are supported by long, straight pedicles, of a beautiful
carmine red color, the tops of which are lost in the bases of the calycine leaflets,
or these leaflets, the lateral ones are oval, lanceolate, of an herbaceous (greenish)
color, whilst the upper one, yellow, and hood-shaped, has merely a green line in
the centre ; therefore, as may be seen, the Impaticns Jerdonice owes all its quali-
ties to one of its petals ; this portion of the flower, which is of a beautiful carmine
red, and shaped like a bag, terminates, inferiorly, in a kind of hook, or straight-
ened point, in the species under consideration, whilst, in others, it is extended to
a cylindrical and delicate point, which has received the name of spur. In short,
the original character of the flower of the Impatiens Jerdonice, and its profuse
crop of flowers, make it desirable, and class it in our greenhouses with the Impa-
tiens platypetala, Hookeriana, etc. Like the latter, and the Imp. glandidigera,
Roijhana, fidva, etc., which so greatly contribute to the beauty of groups planted
in the shade, it requires the same care in cultivation. J. Decaisne.

ORNAMENT FOR DRIED FLOWERS.

The accompanying drawings, made for us by an accomplished lady, represent

a pasteboard hanging vase,
covered with moss, and at-
tached to an oak branch,
for a parlor ornament. From
the material employed, it is
better suited for dried flow-
ers than those which require
water.

The smaller basket repre-
sents the mode in which the
pasteboard is united after
being shaped, and the larger
exhibits the same covered
with moss. Every lady of the
least taste can make these
baskets, and ornament her
boudoir, parlor, or sitting-
room with her own handi-
work, which she will enjoy
more than expensive pur-
chased objects.

The oak-leaves may be re-
presented in winter in leath

PROTECTIOIS' TO FARMS.

FKOM A LETTER OF CHARLES DOWNING, OF NEWBPRG, NEW TORK, TO THE EDITOR OF THE
TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

When I saw the prairie land for the first time, it struck me very forcibly, and
I have often thought of it since, how much more comfortable the inhabitants
might be if they would plant hedges or wide belts of trees to screen them from
cold winter winds, and also be a protection to their crops, especially fruit. If
each owner of one or two hundred acres of land would plant their boundaries or
division lines with belts of trees, say from twenty to one hundred feet wide, they
would find it to their advantage and comfort.

Besides the protection, the trees would in a few years, when large enough to
thin out, be valuable for firewood and timber. An objector might say, " It would
be very expensive to procure and plant such wide belts of trees." To such I
would reply, that many kinds, one year old (which is large enough), could be
imported very cheap from the English and French nurseries by the 1000, such as
elms, ash, maples, beech, birch, linden, larch, alder, &c. Agents in New York
city would order them on application.

The ground should be ploughed a year previous to planting, and well worked
through the summer, with or without a crop, as most convenient. The following
spring put in the plants from three to six feet apart ; those which make the
largest growth, such as elms, &c., plant on the back line, and so on with the
different sizes, so as to have the lowest growing kind inside or front ; the last or
inside row it would be well to plant with evergreens, say Norway spruce, because
it is a faster grower than evergreens generally, and small plants can be obtained
cheap.

Osage orange, locust, and chestnut, being fast growers, would be desirable to
mix with the above-named kinds.

Another plan would be to procure seeds of any of the fast growing kinds of
trees, grow them in beds in the garden one year, and then transplant them in the
belts or screens. But there would be failures and disappointments, and it might
not prove as cheap and satisfactory as to import them.

But the quickest mode of obtaining a screen for protection would be to pro-
cure cuttings of some of the free and strong growing varieties of the willow, such
as Salix triandra, S. Beveridgii, S. Purpurea, &c., which grow from forty to sixty,
and seventy feet high, and very rapidly, too, in a deep moist soil, and very suit-
able, no doubt, to much of the prairie land. This, however, would not be so
valuable for general purposes, when grown, as elm, maple, &c. ; but would make
its growth in about half the time.

For profit and quick growth combined, there is nothing probably equal to the
common yellow locust (Robinia Pseudacacia) ; it will not only make a fine belt
for protection in a short time, but for fencing posts and durable timber (<

cially ship building), nothing equals it ; and it has always commanded a high
price ; and I think a portion of the western prairies might be planted with it, as
a profitable investment. It is said there are two kinds, one durable and the other
not ; but I know of only one kind. It is possible, if grown on deep, rich, mucky
soils, the timber would be coarse grained, spongy, and not as durable.

CRITIQUE OX THE APRIL HO RT I C UL TURI S T.

Parks versus Villages. — An accurate specimen of the taste and " designs" of
these suburban villa speculators, who seek to cram honest, well-meaning city
people into their contemptible seven-by-nine lots, called " sites for country resi-
dences," such as we see daily advertised in the newspapers. And a great many
of these city folks are just soft enough to be duped by the sharpers 1 Why, in
the name of wholesome air and sunshine, don't city people, who, with their fami-
lies, want to spend their summers in the country, go out and find some quiet nook,
or open spot of some acres, according to their wants, within striking distance of
a railway or steamboat landing, away from the vulgar noise of a daily bread-
wagon, milk-cart, or other town nuisance ? There they can build themselves a
quiet snuggery, with its cozy group of out-buildings among the trees, or under
the rocks, or near a brook or river, and, for a few months of the year, withdraw
from the cares of a vexatious world ; look out at the heavens by day, so gloriously
lighted up with the sun, and garnished with floating clouds ; or at the moon, with
its vast retinue of brilliant stars, by night ; upon the earth, with its emerald of
green, shadowed over with waving trees, or spangled with flowers giving out their
delicious odors ; and the happy birds, filling the whole air with music ; ay, and
the soul who has no sympathy with these, one and all, has no business in the
country at all !

Thousands of such spots are within a few miles of all northern cities, both cheap
and accessible. But, no. Such mode of summer life is 7iot the fashion ! Town
folks must, when summer comes, pack up their finery, and fizzle off behind a vulgar
steam-engine, of some sort, to some watering-place, where they vapor about for
weeks in the daily pursuit of some nonsense or other ; or, if not that, must have
a country villa in some starched-up, maccaroui village, or neighborhood, populated,
for the most part, with just such flunkies as themselves, where driving equipages
by day, and dressing matches by night, and other like vanities, are the standing
order. The " wimmin folks" must have " society," of course, to admire their
finery ; and the men, their dinner parties and wine drinkings, as if their eight or
nine months of annual city life, in that sort of indulgence, could not cut short their
lives fast enough. But, being too old-fashioned in my notions to set this wayward
world right-end-up, I must even take a shot at folly as it flies, and let the folks
their own " road to ruin."

CRITIQUE ON APRIL HORTICULTURIST.

Pear Culture. No. 2. — When Doctor Ward gets through, I'll " sum him up,"
as the lawyers say.

The Cotton Wood. — Go on, Mr. Allen. I will consider your "ease" with the
Doctor's.

Transformed Pears. — What will they do next out on the Mississippi ? I have
seen the prairie plum turn its young fruits into a sort of nodule, as they grew
through the summer, something like the gal/s on the oak-leaf; but this is a new
thing altogether.

Is the Kalmia Poisonous ? — I hope not ; although I have often heard that both
sheep and neat cattle have died after eating their leaves. I think, with Nuttall
and yourself, Mr. Editor, it is more probable that the indigestible quality of the
leaves was the cause of death in the animals than any poisonous quality they pos-
sessed ; for I have known thousands of cattle and sheep which grazed through the
summer, in safety, on the hill and mountain sides, where the laurel grew in full
luxuriance. How my old heart jumps back to early boyhood when I think of the
beautiful Kalmia latifolia ! I grew up among them ; and how many times, in the
joyous spirit of a young lamb, have I skipped among the rocks, and over the
hills, when their blushing, brilliant beauty lighted up the ground, and filled the
air with fragrance ! The memory of those long passed days saddens me, and I
will pass on to

Mr. Hodgeh Cold Weather. — If he, and his Lake Erie neighbors, haven't had
enough of that commodity the past winter, they had better remove down a few
degrees south, where I learn they have enjoyed the genial atmosphere of 32° below
zero, for days together. I hope the peach-trees have escaped this most humiliating
frost ; and with so great a body of snow on the ground to protect them, their
chances are better than if the roots had been equally exposed as the branches,
Mr. Hodge's pear experience is to the point, and I agree with him — that is, pro-
vided he and his neighbor, Mr. Allen, wall settle the real virtues of that aforesaid
" Orange" pear, which I recollect something about. The remarks of Mr. Hodge
quite confirm my belief of the capricious vagaries of the pear family, in their con-
temptuous denials of flavor and good appearance when placed on soils and situa-
tions they dislike.

Domestic Notices. — J. M. Thorburn, seedsman, of New York, asks if " you can-
not say a word in favor of ' Agrostis stolonifera' for lawns ?" I trust you will
say no such thing ; but /will take the liberty to say a word, by asking another
question. Is the humbuggery of these seedsmen, who would sell old Nick himself,
if they could get anybody to buy him, never to stop ? For lawns ! In simple
English, this " Agrostis stolonifera" is the Fiorin, one of the abominations of all
good gardeners and farmers, commonly called quack, couch, or twitch grass — a per-
fect pest wherever it obtains foothold, propagating itself by the coarse, stout-
jointed root, as tough as wire, and a vitality equal to the houseleek, or live-forever,
of the gardens. Nothing but burning will kill it. It loves a coarse, boggy soil,
for the credit of America, is not a native, but an European production)

YoL. YI.— June. 1856. 18

scribed in Sinclair's celebrated catalogue of crrasscs, which he made up for the
Duke of Bedford. Let the " South of Europe" cultivate it if they will, but
deliver it from American lawns ! Before this gets into print, perhaps a hundred
tom-noddy lawn-makers will order the pestilent stuff for their door-yards, where
they might better introduce the Canada thistle, for that can be extirpated. I
have heard these " lawn grasses" discussed till I am sick of the very name, as if
the beautiful turf of our natural pastures had neither beauty nor fragrance in
them.

The finest grasses for American lawns we can have, are what grow on every
roadside throughout the Middle and Northern States, and are, simply, the Poas
trivialis, compressa, and pratensis, known under the common denominations of
spear, June, and blue-grass ; to these may be added the Poa viridis, or green-
grass of Dr. Muhlenberg, and the common white clover — Trifolium repcns. A
mixture of all these, or either variety of the Poa, with the white clover, make
the best possible American lawn grasses. Every spring of my life I have met
people running about, half demented, inquiring where they could get "lawn
grass seed," as if there was but one grass fit for it. The " lawn" grasses,
advertised usually by the seedsmen, are either nothing but the common grasses
of the country, or some tender "foreign" variety, totally unfit to withstand
our heats and frosts, while the Poas, and white clover, make a soft, beautiful,
compact turf, thick as wool, and requiring less cutting than any other grasses
whatever.

Gardeners (page 1T9.) — A most sensible observer is Mr. Robert Weston. I
want no man about me as a designer in ground architecture, who is not fit to be
my companion, either in the parlor or at the table. A man of mind and cultiva-
tion he must be, to embrace all those requisites of taste and study which can
accomplish him in the modelling and laying out of grounds, and placing of
trees and shrubs. The sooner we Americans set about giving the right sort of
encouragement to men of this profession, the sooner we shall relieve ourselves of
the shoals of foreign charlatans, who throw themselves upon our credulity, and
impose upon our ignorance.

A Suburban Residence. — Very well in style, but too much outside wall for the
inside room it contains. I fear our house architects are running into the extreme
in this particular. Why not have the outer walls of a house, instead of single, in-
close douhle rooms ? They would thus get much more space within a given range
of wall, and at far less cost, and the rooms would be more compact, warmer, and,
I think, in better character. The peculiar Italian style, too, can be quite as well
preserved. The flat water-tables at the eaves in this house, are objectionable in
point of utility, subjecting the roof water to detention and frost, and, in conse-
quence, to leakage, which will stain and injure the walls. Our modern American
architecture is too much assuming the gossamer style. After all, the old-fashioned,
nearly square, compact form of our best country houses of fifty years ago, with
some modern improvements in outside style, and conveniences within, are nearer

the mark than many a fine palace under the reformation in architecture; and so
the public will say a dozen years hence.

How queer those women in the foreground of the picture look, with such a
mass of distending whalebone under their petticoats ! ' Jeffreys.

THE STRAWBERRY SEEDLING.

BY "EMILE TUE ELDEE," PHILADELPHIA.

In the autumn of 1846, if memory serves me riglit, our clever '• Aunt
Charlotte" was at Paris, with her two youngest daughters, and while
boarding at pleasant quarters in the great French capital (and capital it
surely is in the eating department), she was daily served with delightful
strawberries for dessert ; the advanced season, no less than
the very fine flavor of the fruit, made them a great luxury,
and Aunt Charlotte expressed some surprise to her host,
inquiring, at the same time, if the strawberries were from
neighboi-ing greenhouses ? But being told that they grew
in tha open air, and were constant bearers, the idea imme-
diately suggested itself of preserving some of the seeds for
friends at home, and among these, a letter from Paris noti-
fied us that we should not be forgotten. Accordingly, our kind utilitarian Aunt crushed
some of the finest berries upon thick brown paper, and, after exposing them to dry in the
sun, carefully rolled up the paper, and placed it in one of her travelling trunks.

During that winter, our friend returned to the United States, by way of England ; arriving
at New York, her next destination was their homestead at New Haven, and there Aunt
Charlotte took possession of her own furnished house, which had been rented for the term
of her absence. Among the first duties, she ordered her newly-hired servant woman (or,
as the good people of Connecticut sometimes call them — " helps" — probably because they
allow their employers to help themselves), was to unpack the trunks, and put the things into
the wardrobes and bureaus ; finding, as she performed this task, a roll of common brown
paper, she of course threw it into the fire, and, in another moment, the Paris Strawberry
seeds were so many useless grains of ashes. Thus seemed to perish all the good intentions
of our obliging Aunt Charlotte, who needed to be the cheerful and sensible Christian that
she is, in order to bear patiently the heedless act of her Irish " help."

It was but a few weeks after this sad event when Aunt Charlotte came to visit us at
"Clover Hill," and related the ill-fortune that had befallen her brown paper of seeds, some
of whicl\. she had designed for us ; and as she finished the account of her disappointment,
the thought suddenly came to her, and she said : " I have that very identical trunk here ivith
me now, and 1 wonder if some of the strawberry-seeds may not have been rubbed off from the
paper, and remained at the bottom of the trunk!"

She went to examine, and, accordingly, on very minute search in all the comers and
cracks, she returned ti'iumphantly to the sitting-room with three little specks upon the palm
of her hand, almost invisible to the naked eye, but which, she thought, inight be some of the
detached seeds. Handing them to me with a request that they should be tried, I went at
once in search of a small flower-pot, and, spite of laughing doubts, filled it with light soil,
and deposited the three grains of what seemed like just so much additional sand.

More merriment than hope attended my planting, and various were the speculations sug-
gested, as from day to day I anxiously watched for the result of what others thought to be
a hopeless experiment. The dispositions display themselves on small as well as great occa-

sions, and the inquiries from various members of our little family circle sufficiently evinced
the view each had taken of my proceeding, no less than of the feelings they associated with
its promises.

" How comes on the Utile pot of sand, to-dai/?" greeted me from one quarter.

" Ilai-e you nriy show of strawberries yet ?" said another.

" Please tell Rosanna to save all the cream, ?h case father should bring over a dish of Paris
strawberries, this aftenioon," was a playful order given in my hearing, as I was about visiting
my little pot of saud. And still, I daily went to the hotbed i)it to examine the result of my
supposed seed planting, and to sprinkle them from Lizzie's tiny watering pot.

Our good-natured gardener encouraged me to hope, and, with his Irish blarney, would
say : " AnythingiciU groiv, your honor, in sich an expose to the south." " But surely, Patrick,"
I replied, " not unless I have really planted the seeds," which seemed to puzzle oven Pat's
politeness.

How tedious and almost endless are the days of doubt and watchfulness, and, at this date,
I will not attempt to recall accurately the amount of time that gave a fixed number to those
of my expectation ; but, in the natural period required for seed to germinate, my patience
met with its reward, in the appearance of what seemed to be a single embryo Strawberry plant.
And when once its first feeble green shoot was fairly above the earth, and its tiny leaves
began to assume form, all doubt was removed, and it grew rapidly into a positive, undeniable
individual of the Alpine family. Nor was it until this state of progress in the character
and appearance of my little pet plant, that I gave tidings, at the house, of my success ; but,
when its existence was duly announced, all were eager to see and manifest interest in its
growth, and I received many warm congratulations.

It seems almost needless to attempt telling how anxiously, from that date, I watched and
cared for the tender solitary little life, that seemed like a thing of my own creating.

" As in the early spring
We see the appearing buds, which to prove fruit
Hope gives not so much warrant as despair
That frosts will bite them."

The seedling grew apace, and Patrick, the gardener, ere long placed another flower-pot by
the side of the first, and the running vine soon sent a sucker to take root there ; this simple
office being again and again repeated, ere the summer was spent we had about thirty plants
of the same family, and were able to set out our beginning of a new Strawberry-bed in the
open garden. There had been one or two blossoms on the original vine during its first sum-
mer's growth, but still, the fruit was unknown, and also the ability of the plant to endure
the climate to which it had been transplanted. These were matters yet to be developed,
but, meanwhile, the new-bom stranger must have a name — ay, and a christening !

After hearing an endless variety of suggestions, most of which had some reference to
myself — as "the ' Emile' Seedling" — "the Doctor Seedling," &c. — the ceremony of name-
giving was duly and gravely performed — the sprinkling being still from Lizzie's tiny water-
ing pot, pronouncing my bantling to be "The Clover Hill Seedling" — and thus rendering
back to kind mother Earth the merit that belonged to her.

Strawberry time, the following spring, was most impatiently waited for, and when it came,
our little bed did not disappoint us ; for it yielded fruit, and the fruit was pronounced good ;
the berries, it was soon discovered, had one peculiarity most acceptable to those who un-
willingly perform the task of hulling strawberries. " The Clover Hill Seedling" always leaves
its hull upon the vine ; indeed, it is almost impossible to pick them with the hulls on, and
the fruit comes to the basket ready for the table, needing no second handling. It was soon
ascertained, too, that our seedling possessed another gi-eat value or peculiarity, in being a
constant bearer, from early strawberry time, until quite late in the autumn. The plants

only take a rest of about one month in mid-siimmer, and I have seen the pale berries covered
with snow in December, when the sun had not the needed influence to color them.

Four summers have now so much increased our bed that we have an abundance of fruit,
and have supplied many plants to friends at a distance ; two families, in Virginia, have
largely cultivated the " Clover Hill Seedling," and, we hear, have extended it freely in their
neighborhoods ; it has also travelled to, and taken root, in New Haven (not exactly Phoenix-
like, rising from its own ashes), and in New York, and already the rare fruit has more than
once given unexpected pleasure to the sick and suflering. Poor little Harriet, an angel of
patience and humility, and the victim of a slow consumption, was made happy during the
last weeks of her feeble existence, by the enjoyment of these strawberries, so unexpected
in the autumnal months ; when all other food had ceased to be acceptable to her wasted
energies, and benevolent friends no longer could find other delicacies to tempt her appetite,
it was delightful to witness the gentle smile with which the good girl would still welcome
the " Clover Hill Seedlings." She was too feeble to utter words, but her countenance recalled

Talfourd's lines : —

" It is a little thing
To give a cup of water ; yet its draught
Of cool refreshment, drained by fever'd lips,
May give a shock of pleasure to the frame
More exquisite than when nectarian juice
Renews the life of joy in happiest hours."

Late in the month of November, 1850, Jenny Lind was presented with a dish of fine
"Clover Hill Seedlings" by little Lizzie ; it was diflicult to determine which was made the
most happy — the child whose feelings and fancy had been greatly excited by catching some
of the public enthusiasm, and was delighted to approach the " Queen of Song," or the gentle
woman, who, amid the extravagant attentions and adulation bestowed upon her, was sur-
prised and charmed by the rare and simple ofl"ering from a bright little girl.

But even better than this, " Aunt Charlotte," her children, and grandchildren, almost
annually enjoy the fruits of her single Paris seed : and if it be true, as a wise man has said,
that " he who plants a tree, confers a blessing on his fellow-men,' ' may it not be equally true
that he who plants three doubtful seeds in a pot of sand, may do good to others, and bring
infinite pleasure to himself ?

Shall there be a moral to our story ? and shall it not point to the blessings likely to ensue
from faith and perseverance ? It was the duty of faith to plant the supposed seeds ; perse-
verance watched over them" with interest, and Heaven has rewarded the work.

CLIMATOLOGY, NO. 2.

BY A CONSTANT KEADEK.

Speing Climate op the United States. — A careful examination of the highly interesting
Army Meteorological Register, shows that the mean temperature of the spring months is an
important element in the characteristics of climate. We subjoin a few extracts to illustrate
this fact. " The principal lines of the Isothermal chart differ five degrees in tempera-
ture, and east of the meridian of 100'' they divide distance on the meridian with great uni-
formity. On the Atlantic side, the range is 35° of temperature for 22° of latitude ; or,
excluding the lower part of the peninsula of Florida, 30° of temperature for 17° of latitude,
which is vejy nearly a decrease of temperature of one degree for forty miles of distance
northward. The same decrease is found in the Mississippi valley."

Taking the mean temperature, of the separate spring months, the mean temperature for
April nearly represents the spring mean. Places having a mean temperature of 65° for IVIay,

CLlMATOLOaY.

have 55° in April, and 45° in March. Tho following table gives the mean temperature for
Mairli, ami the increase of the moan temperature from month to month, until June.

Stations.
Eastport, Maine ....
I'ortliuid, Maine
Xew York (Governor's iHlaud) .
Moiuli of Js'iagara Kiver
I'itt.-lnirg (tliieo miles N. E. of city)
Haltiuioro (Fort Xlrllenry)
■NVasliingtou (14 inilo.'* S. of capitol)
Augusta (tlirco miles W.) .
St. Louis (throe miles lielow)
Xo-n-port (opposite Cincinnati) .

l>etrolt

San Francisco ....
Fort Vancouver (80 miles from the mouth
of tho Columbia)

Mean of March.

March to April.

April to May.

May to Juu

30.8

0.6

8.8

7.0

:i2..j

10.4

0.9

111.3

:«.:!

10.4

10.7

9.

■.H.5

B.7

J1.5

9.4

30.

10.9

11.

i 8.3

42.3

10.4

1(1.4

' .8.6

4ti.8

10.3

11.1

8.1

5.-..8

0.3

7.

•/ 7.

42.3

12.7

10.

5.2

iXi

10.

11.4

• 8.8

3.5,4

10.8

9.8

9.6

52*8

2.5

0.

■3.5

3.7

The increase from March to April, and from April to May is nearly alike ; While the
increase from May to June is less — showing that the uniformity in the advance of the tem-
perature belongs to a less period than three mouths. " The period we designate as Spring,
is, oh the whole, too long for identification as a single quantity in the continental temperate
regions of this hemisphere. The natural seasons are unequally divided in time ; in truth
the winter and summer being longer, and the spring and autumn shorter than ninety days.
An admirable analysis of ten years observations at Albion mines. Nova Scotia, has been
made by their author, Henry Poole, Esq., by which it appears that the seasons there are
naturally resolved into periods of sixty-six and sixty-three days for spring and autumn,
and 120 and 116 days for winter and summer. The winter minimum temperature is .Janu-
ary 20th, or thirty days after the solstice, and the summer maximum July 22d, or thirty-
one days after the solstice. The mean annual temperature is passed on May 1st, and No-
vember 1st, forty-one and forty-four days after the equinoxes respectively.

A taljle is given of the means and of the extreme variations of temperature for the three
spring months for thirty-four years from 1820 to 1854, at Fort Columbus, near New York,
Fort Gibson on the Arkansas, and Fort Snelling at the mouth of the St. Peters, on the Mis-
sissipjn.

FORT COLUMBUS

FORT GIBSOX.

FORT SNELLINO

Mar.

April.

May.

Spr'g.

Mar.

April

May.

Spr'g.

Mar.

April.

May.

Spr-g.

Mean

Average departure from )

the mean .... J

Greatest departure . . .

Year of ditto

3S°.3
23.30

48°.6
2.59

59°.3
2°.06

432.7
1'.80

52-'.2
3°.27

62=.l
3°.2

6S0.8
2°.32

«1°.
1°.72

31°.4

4°. 72

46°. 3
4°.20

r)9°.0
3°.40

45='. 6
2°.94

—8.

—50.4

+o°.6

-fS-'.O

-13°.7

6.8
-f-1839

—6.5

-1-5.4

-26.8

10.9
-f.1839

-1-9.2

-12.1

Greatest range ....

1S43
14='.3

1826
10°.3

1826
10°.5

1822
7.8

1843
23°. 7

—1850
13°.6

1838
11°. 8

1826
10°.2

1843
34^.9

—1850
21.8

1829
160.3

1843
17°.3

This table shows how irregular is our spring climate — how great are the oscillations of
temperature — and that the greatest deviations are below and not above the mean. The
extreme cold of March, 1843, was felt over the whole country. The extremes of tempe-
rature lessen as the spring advances. It is important to ascertain the districts in which the
thermometer falls to the freezing point once or more in the course of a month.

" On the coast of California an examination of the minima for five years, affords but two
instances of the observation of 32= in March ; while, in the interior, and in Oregon, it may
be anticipated several times in this month; though the lowest observed point at stations
not much elevated, is 19°. In April it is never reached in California at the sea-level, or near
it, and rarely in Oregon ; at Puget's Sound, three times in six years. In May, there are no
instances of its occurrence on the Pacific, except at stations elevated 2000 feet or more.

" At Fort Yuma, in the valley of the Colorado, the freezing point is never reached in
spring.

" At all the stations in New Mexico, the temperature constantly falls below 32° in every
month of spring, and at Fort Massachusetts and Fort Defiance, it usually does so in June.

" In Texas, there is no frost or ice in the lower Rio Grande Valley in these months, though
it twice occurs at Fort Duncan, and the posts of that vicinity, in March. Perhaps a more
extended series of years would give instances of severe frost in the principal portion of this
valley in March, though there could be none in the following mouths. All the remaining
portion of Texas has the occurrence of frosts in March regularly ; in April for the lower dis-
tricts very rarely, though they occur in half the years, or more, at the posts on the plateaux,
elevated one or two thousand feet ; but never in May, at any point not mountainous.

" In the principal area of the United States, eastward, the lower portion of the peninsula
of Florida, below Fort Brooke, is the only portion not liable to frosts in March, in extreme
years. From the year 1822, when observations were made either at that district, or so near
it as to decide the point, twelve years occur in which the thermometer fell to 32°, or lower,
as far south as Fort King, and, in two of these years, at least 1835 and 1843, it fell to the
freezing point as far southward as Fort Brooke. In something more than half the years of
the period now observed, the coast of the Gulf, and of the Atlantic to Charleston, experi-
ences one or more instances of a temperature of 32° in this month.

" In April, the line of ice and frosts, or a temperature at or near 32°, recedes to Fort Mon-
roe and Fort Gibson, and they are much more rare at either of these posts, than at Florida
stations in March. The depressions of temperature within which they occur, are, however,
frequently connected with falls of snow in the Atlantic States, and they usually affect the
more elevated portions of all the States east of Alabama. In 1854, a heavy fall of snow
occurred in the middle of the month in Virginia, and ice was formed in the vicinity of
Charleston. Though frosts are quite frequent in this month at St. Louis, there are few
instances of the formation of ice in the latitude of Fort Gibson ; light hoar frosts occur in
almost every year, however, and sometimes as far southward as Baton Rouge. These may
occur at an air temperature of 43°, in the ordinary positions of the thennometer.

" In May, the line of ice formation rises to St. Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New
York, and, at these points, the temperature of 32° is not found in every year. Ice is formed
during the first half of the month to this latitude, in the interior districts, however, quite
regularly, and hoar frosts occur in the remainder, where the altitude is noticeable, and at
some distance from the coast. At the close of this month, frosts disappear from all portions
of the United States territory, except at the highest altitudes cultivated."

THE YEAST PLANT.
Country Lady Housekeeper. — " Cook, we are out of yeast ; I wish you would make some."
Cook. " I never makes yeast ; I always buys it."

Lady. " Yes, but it is too far to send to to^vn for a pennith of yeast ! How do you make
yeast?"

Cook. " Well, I mixes flour, salt, and hop-water, and adds a pennith of yeast."
The poor lady is not able to discover how this will orifjinale what is so indispensable, and
hastens to the nearest neighbor with the question : " How do you make yeast ?" Answer as
before. "Mix flour, salt, aud hop-water, and add a pennith of yeast.^' This reply any
lady who chooses to make the experiment will receive every time she asks, whether from
neighbor, baker, or any one else. Let her try a scientific friend, and more probably than
the same will be the result, and she is sorely puzzled to know how it would be, if by
bad luck the whole country was to lose the source whence comes that important pennith !

THE YEAST PLANT.

So she inquires of everybody, gently insinuating that she wants the pennith left out in tlio
answer; but, getting no satisfaction, she recollects that we discovered tho vinegar plant, and
she drove over to us. All our books were silent on the subject, so we applied to a learned
botanist, who never allows anytliing that can be known to escape liim, and hero is his
satisfactory elucidation of tho mystery: —

Diastase is a peculiar nitrogenous substance, iwssessing the property of converting
a large proportion of fecula into dextrin, and is found in the germ of the cerealia and tuber-
cular vegetables ; it appears to be formed at the moment of germination, at the expense of
tho albuminous matter contained in the grain, as it resides in the very origin of tho germ,
and, in the eye of the tuber ; it is generally extracted from barley, which has sprouted by
digesting the grain in water ; it is applied in the arts for tho pui-poso of obtaining dextrin,
which is used in baking of pastry, and the manufacture of beer, &c. In tho solution of
sugar with albuminous substances, either vegetable or animal, after some time the solution
becomes cloudy, and small, oval bodies are deposited, gradually increasing in size until they
attain a visible diameter; during the first two hours, the globule exhibits nothing peculiar,
but, after this period, there forms at the point of the globule a rupture — a second globule —
which gradually increases until it has obtained the dimensions of the original ; this second
globule soon generates a third, which is attached to the side of the second, in the same way
as this grew on the first, and so on, and this is the way the yeast plant grows. This plant
is a species of microscopic vegetable, which is spontaneously developed in the organs of plants,
and in a large number of nitrogenous substances, when left to putrefy, and is also formed by
exposing to the ordinary temperature a solution of sugar mixed with albuminous substances,
of vegetable or animal origin, as decayed cheese, spoiled meat, &c. It will hence be seen,
that on adding an albuminous substance to a mixture of sugar and ferment, the sugar is
not alone affected by the ferment, as the albuminous matter itself undergoes several meta-
morphoses, and is converted into yeast, which fact explains the reason why, in breweries,
at the close of the operation, a quantity of yeast is made eight or ten times greater than
that which had been originally lased.

Raspail, in his Philosophy, says : " Starch consists of vesicles inclosing within them a fluid
resembling gum ; starch may be put into cold water without being dissolved ; but when
placed in hot water, these vesicles burst, and allow the escape of the liquid. This liquid
is the dextrin of Biot, so called because it possesses the property of turning the plane of the
polarization of light to the right hand." The way the pastry-cooks get it is, by putting starch
in hot water. To which it may be added, that the credit of establishing the true nature
and properties of the yeast plant is due toCaynard Latour, who, some years ago, proved that
the conversion of sugar into alcohol and carbonic acid was caused by the presence and
growth of the Torula cerevisiie, a cryptogamic plant, existing only in the form of globules,
and Blondeau subsequently has thus described the nature of yeast : "There are two species
of germs present in yeast, those of the Torula cerevisiae, and those of the Penicillium
glaucum ; the genus of the first (the true yeast plant) multii)ly with great rapidity, but
never form stems, or deviate from tho globular condition ; tho Penicillium glaucum also
multiply, first in globules, but they soon extend themselves, unite, and form an arborescent
vegetation, and are so much smaller than those of Torula cerevisise, that they can be readily
separated by filtration. Perfectly developed stems of Penicillium glaucum always form on
yeast when exposed for a length of time to the air, and always lose their property of fermen-
tation when exposed to a heat of 212=" Fahrenheit ; the plant being killed by that tempera-
ture ; the most favorable temperature is from 68° to 73°. It is now positively ascertained
that the yeast globule (Torula cerevisise) is a plant possessing a cellular structure, consist-
an external envelop resembling lignin, and of an azotized internal substance

WlSTEK.

Mrs. Catleugh's Nukseky, Hans Place, Chelsea. — This is one of those places in which
certain kinds of plants are grown hy the thousand for Covent Garden market. It is, there-
fore, not uncommon to see here a Large houseful of Pelargoniums all in full flower at one
time, another of Heliotropes, and frames some hundreds of yards long stocked with Mig-
nonette. Potfuls of the latter sown in September last, and wintered in low, cold frames,
will soon be in blossom. Mignonette, we need scarcely state, is sometimes sown in small
pots, with the view of economizing room ; but, where space is no object^ it gives less trouble,
and succeeds equally well sown at once in the pots in which it is to flower. It may be
wintered in a shallow frame, as has been done here, from wliich the lights should be re-
moved entirely in fine weather, so as to give as much light and air as possible. Many com-
plain that they lose their Mignonette in winter ; but this is, for the most part, owing to their
keeping it too damp. It should have little or no water for about three months during the
dull season, and care should be taken to keep it free from drip, which is sure to kill what-
ever plants it happens to fall on. When small pots are employed, particular care need not
be taken to have the soil very rich, provided it is light ; but, when sown at once in the
flowering pots, richer material should be used, draining well, and placing on the top of the
crocks flaky pieces of decayed manure, for the double purpose of afi'ording nourishment to
the plants when they are coming into bloom, and for keeping the soil from choking up the
drainage. Autumn sown plants, which were shifted into larger pots about Christmas, will
blossom from the present time till about May, and another sowing now will succeed them,
after which it may be had plentifully in the open ground. Even the worst potfuls should
not, however, be thrown away, for, if toj^ped back about this time, they come in nicely for
window-boxes in May, which may be managed in the following manner : Having some Tom
Tliumb Geraniums (any other drawf, showy plants, as Intermediate Stocks, would do), three
of these are placed in a box, one near each end, and one in the middle, and between them
are introduced carefully, so as not to break the balls, i)ots of Mignonette, filling the boxes up
with rich, light soil, and finishing with a good watering to settle the earth round the roots.
The after-treatment consists in keeping the boxes watered always when they require it, and,
be it remembered, that if Mignonette is ever allowed to flag, it seldom succeeds so well
afterwards. Boxes thus arranged are greatly admired during the summer months, the
Geraniums giving brilliancy of color, while the Mignonette furnishes all that is wanted in
the way of scent. In addition to the above, all kinds of spring bulbs are grown extensively
here, and are at present very gay. Hyacinths potted, and wintered out of doors under ashes,
are now moved into heat in succession as they are wanted, and soon burst into bloom.
Azaleas and other shrubs are also forced into flower for bouquets, for which, at this season,
there is always a good demand. Below the stages of different houses in which no more
fire-heat is used than just what will keep out frost, are large beds of most excellent Rhubarb,
from which the market supply for weeks has been derived. Tliis has been obtained from
roots which were moved under glass soon after Christmas, placed closely together, and
covered with soil. The sort is the Victoria, which, although, perhaps, not so red as Salt's
Perfection, and some other kinds, is a vigorous grower, and deservedly a general favorite.

Vegetable Pathology. — Venepicium (^Poisoninrj). — Plants having only very limited powers
of choice as regards the matter absorbed by the spongelets, whatever is really held in solu-

FOREIGN NOTICES.

tion by the water they imbibe must pass witli it into tlio ct-ll cavities, and in tlioso cases
whore substances such as sllcx are taken up more freely by one i>laut than anotlier, llie
(lillieulty depends probably on mechanical laws which, at present, we are unable to aiii>re-
ciatc. If, liowever, the choice of the spongelets is limited, that of the stomates is still less
so, so that whatever gaseous matter may be contained in the atmosjihore will find a ready
admission to the inward parts of the plant. It is obvious, therefore, that as the exigencies
of plants are very different, and the same nutritive matter, or, rather, the same proportions
of it, will not suffice for the maintenance of health in all, even under ordinary circumstances,
disease may arise from a deficiency or redundancy of particular elements in the soil and
atmosphere. The salt steppes of Asia produce only such plants as delight in the particular
mineral which abounds in them, or are as able to tolerate it in such largo proportions. In
land, again, over-manured with guano or other animal matters, health, or even vitality,
cannot be maintained, where the proportion is such as to exceed greatly the wants of the
species. AYheat, for instance, will not flourish where there is a total absence of silex, nor
cabbages where the proportion of nitrogenous matter is very small. In some cases, indeed,
superfluous matter which could never pass off by the stomates, is stored uj) in the cavities
of the cells, as the crystals of oxalate of lime which form such a prominent and interesting
feature in the leaf cells of figs, hops, and many other plants, the rhaphides with which so
many vegetable cells are gorged, or the carbonate of lime in charads. There is no reason
to believe that these matters are deposited with a view to any ulterior use, as is the case
with the magazines of starch, &c., which are intended to perform important functions at some
future and often distant period. Other matters, however, may bo present in the soil or atmo-
sphere which are never requisite for health in any proportion, and which in themselves may
be destructive. Different as vegetables are from animals in a multitude of respects, there
are species which so closely resemble each other, that it is difiicult to say to which great
division of the organized world they really belong. Both these exhibit vital phenomena,
and we may presume, therefore, that the principle of life, however it may be modified, is
essentially the same in each. If proof, however, were wanting in other respects, the identity
of the effects produced by many vegetable and mineral poisons upon plants and animals
would alone be sufficient. ^Vliether we take the principal organic poisons, as opium, hydro-
cyanic acid, chloroform, -&c., or inorganic, as arsenic, hydrochloric acid, iodine, &c., we find
that the effect produced is essentially the same, in some cases affecting the functions, in
some the organic structure. Opium, hydrocyanic acid, chloroform, &c., paralyze or sus-
pend the functions of vegetables, precisely as they do those of animals without injuring the
delicate tissues ; while arsenic, lead, &c., more or less impair their structure. Nor is gase-
ous matter indifferent ; the comparative barrenness of fens, at least as regards the majority
of the natural order of plants, depends, in all probability, on the condition of sulphuretted
hydrogen ; the impure carburetted hydrogen of gasworks is notoriously injurious to trees,
as is also the emanation from certain chemical works, which reduce their immediate neigh-
borhood to a treeless wilderness. The mischief may, in many cases, be purely functional at
first, but the suspension of functions, especially if long continued or often repeated, except
where it is of the nature of sleep, is apt to induce active disease, or the destruction of
particular organs, which may in the end prove generally fatal.

It is, however, curious what concentrated poison some vegetables are able to endure.
Moulds flourish in arsenical and other mineral solutions, which might have been supposed
utterly incapable of sustaining any vegetable. One species is the source of great annoyance
in electrotyping, as in the Map Office of the United States of Washington. The sulphate
of copper is deprived of its copper by the mould, which assimilates the sulphuric acid while
the copper is deposited as a tliin, metallic pellicle on its walls. A fungus again flour
in the water of tan-pits where no phtenogam could exist.

FOREIGN NOTICES.

Tliougli the action of many poisons upon plants, as opium, prussic acid, chloroform, &c.,
may be considered by the cultivator as mere matters of curiosity, which can never call for
any especial treatment at his hands, it is most important that he should attend to the prin-
ciple involved in them, for, if so, he will not over-manure his plants or trees. However
beneficial the substance may be when properly administered, he will not use coarse, putrid
manure as is the fashion with some, of treating vines, the most delicate, perhaps, of fi-uits,
and the most easily impaired by injudicious treatment, nor will he be mdiiferent to the
quality of air with which his houses are supplied. Ventilation will be of little use if poison-
ous vapors are constantly rising from beneath, and these are sometimes so intense as to
produce at once visible evil.

It is very doubtful whether plants are capable of rendering ground noxious by excretion
from their sound and entire roots. It is, however, easy to conceive that such plants as
poppies, if ploughed green into the ground in considerable quantities, might prove injurious.
— M. J. B., in Gardeners'' Chronicle.

The following article is taken from a French pajier : —

" Few people form an exact idea of the importance attained by many branches of oiir
rural industry, such, for example, as the product of eggs. France sends every year to Eng-
land about 7,780,000 kilogrammes of eggs, say 717,160,000 eggs, at a calculation of twenty-
two for the kilogramme. Reckoning that a hen lays 100 eggs in a year, which is a fair
average, it will be seen that this exportion is the produce of 1,711,600 hens. Our importa-
tions from other countries are only about 66,000 kilogrammes, and about the eighth of those
sent to England are supi^lied by Belgium, and the Sardinian States. As for the consumption
in Paris, it is not less than five or six millions of kilogrammes — that is to say, from 110 to
132 millions of eggs."

It will not be said there is not a demand, when it is proved that so many millions are
consumed over and above what the country can produce. Our own poultry -keepers have a
great advantage over foreigners. They have no freight, duty, nor expensive packing. Their
market is always close at hand. A still greater advantage is, that the expense incurred by
the foreign exporter, in collecting from Belgium and Sardinia, is just so much encouragement
to ourselves.

The first idea that strikes us is, that, in many large fann-yards, many more fowls might
be kept, without causing extra expense. Let us admit that the occu]3ier is not a poultry
fancier. A hen lays 100 eggs, and they are worth at least five shillings ; a Imndred hens
will then pay, in eggs, twenty-five pounds. But, with care in selecting the breed and the
birds, they may be made to produce more. We say nothing of food, because the fowls bred
at a farm will more than pay any expense. Near a large town, where there is a demand
for new-laid eggs in the winter, and at the commencement of the spring, they will realize
much more than we have stated above.

We will say nothing of the other mode of making poultry profitable, as we have so lately
treated of it. We desire only to call attention to the fact, that a great demand exists, that
all the advantage is on the side of the home producer, while his inattention to it throws i^
into the hands of others who are moi'e careful to look at small matters. — Cottage Gardener.

The Exi?rER Nuksekies. — Tlie city of Exeter is in the West of England, and is about 200
miles on the Great Western Railway. We very recently visited the two Exeter nurseries ;
that of James Veitch and Son was the first to which our attention was directed. Tliis is
one of the largest and best kept nurseries in the kingdom, in which will be found full
collections of all the principal classes of plants in cultivation. Here you find growin
luxuriantly such plants as Pix>tanthus nepalensis, Eleagnuses, Tittosporums, and a number

FOREIGN NOTICES.

of shrubs and plants tliat are treated as greenhouse plants in the more rigid north. Devon-
shire is indeed a favored locality, and a nnin))er of shruhs and plants live out during the
winter, that, wjtli lis, and especially further north, re<piirc considerable shelter, aud in
some eases, greenhouse protection. In the open ground are to be seen growing frooly, largo
patches of the rarer sorts of Arbutus, Uollies, Photinias, and many of that better class of
shrubs too seldom seen and cultivated ; and a large collection of Conifers are grown here,
and we noticed a very beautiful specimen of Araucaria inibricata, with the same regular
symmetrical form as the famed Dropmore specimen. How such an exquisite tree must
tempt many to become a purchaser of one or more of this noble plant ! Many fine specimens
of Conifers are to be seen, aud our attention was attracted by two varieties of Cupressus
Lambertiana, one throwing its shoots in a horizontal direction, and the other maintaining
an erect and close growth. Both varieties are handsome, and appear to be equally hardy.
A small plant of Picea amabilis, which promises to be a noble companion for Picea Nord-
manniana and Nobilis ; and small plants of Picea grandis and Bracteata, both of which give
promise of great beauty, are also planted out. These three species will prove valuable
additions.

Close by^the nursery is the private residence of Mr. Veitch, in the garden belonging to
which are some new species of Conifers. In a sheltered nook, close by the dwelling-house,
the beautiful Eugenia ugui had ripened its fruit, which is of the size of a large black
currant. It is our impression that the Eugenia ugni is destined to become an important
plant, and that it will be much valued and cultivated for its fruit, for when perfectly ripe,
the flavor bears a close resemblance to a good pine-apple ; in fact, it is a rich aromatic and
indescribable flavor, being something between that of a good pine and the Hautbois straw-
berry, and even in gathering this rich odor is left on the fingers. In the Camellia house is
a large plant of the Lapageria rosea trained over a portion of the house, and had then
several of its rich scarlet blossoms fully expanded. It is a most valuable and beautiful
climber, and seems to do best in a soil composed chiefly of peat and fibrous matter. This
plant is not sufficiently known yet, for on its first introduction many were puzzled as to the
treatment it should have, and in some instances it was treated as a hothouse plant, and in
others as a greenhouse plant. A cool and shaded situation seems to suit it best, and when
planted out in a border in a Camellia house, or in a cool and shady consei-vatory, it will no
doubt do well. In the same house Fuchsia pendulina was in full bloom, and the Camellias
were in most luxuriant health, and covered with a profusion of plump buds, such as are not
often seen. Geraniums are grown very well here, a house being devoted entirely to speci-
mens. We noticed at the outside end of one of the houses a large plant of Fuchsia
Dominiana, that had been flowering freely, and was now cased for the winter. This is
really a valuable winter blooming conservatory plant, but somehow or other it is sadly
mismanaged at times. It should be grown freely early in summer, and then checked, and
its wood ripened early in autumn, so as to induce freedom of blooming in winter. Two or
three houses, devoted expressly to new and rare plants, many of which are not yet proved,
are of the greatest interest, as well as one or two private gardens, in which new shrubs,
herbaceous plants, &c., are planted for proving. In one of these, we noticed the true
Embothrium coccineum, which has a broad leaf, and was well set with flower buds, and is
quite hardy.. We have, however, seen another species with a narrow leaf, under the same
name, but the latter seems to be Embothrium salicifolium, and is not hardy. We also
noticed a new hardy herbaceous plant named Phygelium capense, which of course was not
in bloom at that late season of the year, but we were told it was a welcome addition to this
very useful class of plants, as was a new scarlet hardy Delphinium cardinale, the entire
stock of which is in the hands of Veitch and Son. Will not this plant indeed be a valuable
acquisition? Tlie beautiful little Leptodactylom Califomicum was blooming freely, and

FOREIGN NOTICES.

seems to require the same treatment as Roallia ciliata, and is a delightful winter blooming
plant. In the Orchid house the charming little Sonerila margaritacea, with its spotted
foliage and pale pink flowers with bright yellow stamens, was blooming freely, and the
various species of Anaectochilus were growing freely in a much drier atmosphere, and with
less nursing than we generally see adopted, and wliich seems to be quite tmnecessary. In
this house was the beautiful Ouvirandra fenestralis, or lattice plant, immersed in tepid
water, and growing luxuriantly. What an interesting plant this is ! the leaf being so
totally different to that of other plants.

Close to the principal entrance of Lucombe, Pince and Co.'s home nursery, is the original
Lucombe Oak, now a noble tree, the trunk of which is several feet in circumference. At
the entrance to the show house are two superb pyramidal Irish Yews in tubs, and in the
show house, 120 feet in length by 18 feet in width, was a display of flowers such as we
seldom meet with at this dormant season of the year. Several fine plants of Fuchsia
Dominiana were in full bloom, as well as Primulas, Chrysanthemums, and other blooming
plants. Several plants of the Pampas Grass in bloom were grouped among other things,
and produced a very pleasing eS'ect. Close by is the Camellia house, a noble structure,
240 feet in length by 24 feet in width, and filled with splendid specimens of Camellias
loaded with buds. Passing through the Camellia house we enter upon the Rockery,
situated in a circle, the diameter of which is about 150 feet, and inclosed by a thick laurel
hedge, several feet in height. Here is to be found a piece of rockwork, arranged with truly
artistic skill. Wliat once was an ordinary basin for a fountain, has, by the skilful arrange-
ment of large blocks of stone, been converted into rocks and caverns, between which a
stream of water passes gently on. A natural ruggedness is thrown over the whole, and
various plants suitable to the locality are charmingiy interspersed. It would shame half
of our landscape gardeners of the present day. At one side of the rockwork is a splendid
specimen of the majestic Pampas Grass, about ten feet in height, and possessing twelve fine
spikes of silvery feathers glistening in the sunshine. AVliat a noble ornamental hardy
plant for a lawn, with its handsome drooping foliage ! Here, too, is a noble specimen of
Pinus insignis full 40 feet through, and about 50 feet in height, a fine specimen of Pinus
Sinclairi, 8 feet high ; Pinus macrocarpa, 15 feet high, and a beautiful specimen of Biota
japonica, 8 feet high. On the rockwork are Desfontania spinosa, Skimmia japonica, and
other new and ornamental plants. By the side of a long walk, reaching nearly half a mile,
are superb specimens of Pinus insignis, Abies Douglasi, Picea Nordmanniana, and various
other valuable Conifers, planted in large tubs composed of stout pieces of wood, banded
tolerably close together so as to admit of a partial egress of the roots, and to insure the safe
removal of the specimens, as many of the Pinus insignis and other conifers are of consider-
able height and size. At the end of the walk is a small Pinetum, in which we observed
one of the finest specimens of Picea pinsapo we have ever met with.

This nursery is remarkable for the immense stock of conifers it contains. There are
large quantities of Araucarias, all handsome well grown plants from 2 to 6 or 7 feet in height,
large quantities of Pinus cembra, Juniperus sinensis, Irish Yews of all sizes ; and, in short,
the finest stock of conifers in the kingdom. Great attention has been paid to standard
Portugal laurels, of which a quantity is to be seen with clean straight stems, and symmetri-
cally trained heads. Heaths and greenhouse plants are well done and extensively grown
here. We noticed the fragrant and beautiful Luculia in full bloom, as well as the graceful
winter blooming Thyrsacanthus rutilans, with its pendent racemes of scarlet blossoms.
Here also was a good plant of the Bouvardia longiflora, with its clear white Jasminum like
flowers. It is a charming winter blooming plant, and is very valuable for bouquets ; there
is a fine collection of Orchids here, several of which were in bloom. — London Florist

Evils op Deep Sovtino. — In many seeds, the vital principle is so strong, that to scatter
them upon the soil is sufficient to insure their speedy germination ; but in others, the power
of growth will only manifest itself under more favorable conditions. Moisture is necessary,
but not an unlimited quantity ; if a seed is thrown into water, and cxi)Osed to a proper tem-
perature, the act of geniiination will take place ; but, unless the jilant is an aquatic, it will
speedily perish ; no doubt, because its powers of respiration are impeded, and it is unable
to decompose the water it absorbs, which collects in its cavities, and becomes putrid. There
must, therefore, be some amount of water, which, to the dormant as well as the vegetating
plant, is naturally more suitable than any other ; and experience shows, that quantity to be
just so much as the particles of earth can retain around and among them by the mere force
of attraction. To this is to be ascribed the advantage derived from those mixtures of peat,
loam, and sand, which gardeners prefer for their seedlings ; the peat and sand, together,
keep asunder the particles of loam which would otherwise adhere, and prevent the percola-
tion of water ; the loam retains moisture with force enough to prevent its passing off too
quickly through the wide interstices of loam and peat.

Under what depth of earth seed should be buried, must always be judged by experience ;
but it should be obvious that minute seed, whose powers of growth must be feeble in pro-
portion to their size, will Ijear only a very slight covering, while those of a larger size, and
more vigor, will be capable, when their vital powers are put in action, of upheaving consider-
able weights of soil. As the extent of this power is usually uncertain, the judicious gardener
will take care to employ for a covering no more earth than is really necessary to preserve
around his seeds the requisite degree of darkness and moisture. An erroneous opinion
prevails that seeds must be "well" buried, in order that the young plants may have
" sufficient hold of the ground." But a seed, when it begins to grow, plunges its roots down-
wards, and throws its stem upwards from a common point, which is the seed itself; and,
consequently, all the space that intervenes between the surface of the soil and the seed, is
occupied by the base of the stem, and not by the roots. The seeds of the Araucaria illus-

Oermination of Araucaria imbricata; a, the seed after it has inserted its radicle in the soil, the stem and leaves
just appearing ; b, the same seed, at a later period, firmly fixed in the ground by its roots.

trate this, as remarked by Professor Lindley ; they always grow best when merely laid on
the surface of the soil with a little earth raised round their edges.

The finest oaks spring from acorns dropped in the forest, and covered by a few leaves.
The sycamore, the ash, the beech, the horse-chestnut, &c., will all sow themselves wherever
their seeds can stick to the ground, until a coverlet of leaves is moistened by an April shower,
and warmed by an April sun. Neither have such seeds any difficulty in steadying themselves
by their i-oots ; a fang is driven by a vital impulse into the earth, and it is to that, and not
to the buried neck of the stem, that the seedling trusts for support and nourishment.

It is not a little remarkable^ that not only do seeds germinate unwillingly if buried too
deep, but that, although they may grow, they cannot, even if forest-trees, develop with
vigor for many years. Atmospheric air, which is indispensable to germination, is too much
excluded ; the injury is not from the superincumbent pressure of the soil.

Tliouin, in his Cours d' Agriculture, remarks, that small seeds should be covered only a
line deep, with earth spread very loosely ; seeds, of the size of peas and beans, about three-
quarters of an inch deep, and the bulky seeds of our fruit-trees, such as the apricot, nuts,
peaches, almonds, with from two to three inches of soil.

" The Floicer Garden, or Breck's Book of Flowers," is the title of a large duodecimo, pub-
lished by J. P. Jewett & Co., of Boston, and a very good hand-book it is, being a revised
edition of the one published in 1851. It contains a chapter on the cultivation of plants in
the parlor, which we recommend to the ladies.

Gardening for the South. — Mr. William N. White, of Athens, Georgia, one of the esteemed
correspondents of the Horticulturist, has written, and C. M. Saxton & Co., of New York, have
published, a very clever book with the above title, which we desire to make fully known in
the large section of country for which it is designed. It is an able manual, with directions
for a jiractitioner in the kitchen and fruit garden, together with hints upon landscape and
flower gardening. Mr. W^liite is a practical man, and his book is evidence that he knows
what he inculcates ; if it is well studied and followed, it will prove a blessing to a land
where some climatic influences should be counteracted which render the northern books
unsuited to the wants of the learner. We hope to see many editions of this work, because
it fully deserves a large popularity.

Michigan Agricxdtural Societi/. — " A littlfe farm well tilled, a little house well filled, and a
little wife well willed, are three most desirable objects," says Mr. J. S. Tibbits, in the Trans-
actions of the Michigan Agricultural Society, a large octavo volume for 1854, which has been
kindly sent to our table by J. C. Holmes, Esq., its industrious and intelligent secretary.
Like the Illinois Transactions, already noticed, the work is full of intelligible facts, and is
a highly important contribution to the agricultural literature of the country; we pronounce
it a big book well distilled.

It embraces the Annual Report of the State Society, and takes up in detail the proceed-
ings of the subsidiary county societies, reports of the great fair, and of the county fairs,
statistics of farming, addresses delivered in various places, and incidentally strong argu-
ments in favor of a State Agricultural School, that cannot be gainsaid. Lands in abund-
ance belonging to the State are at its disposal, and we do not see how its legislators can
help themselves from prosecuting so truly valuable a scheme ; a scheme which is, or must
be adopted and patronized by every progressive State.

One of the reports alludes in strong language to the exhaiistive process of perpetual
cropping ; this sad but common error the farmers are becoming aware of, but do they realize
that the system of impoverishing our lands, without sustaining their natural strength and
fertility, will, sooner or later, end in barrenness ? and that if tlie present population may
rightfully exhaust one-third part of the arable lands of the United States of their natural
fertility, the population which will bo here at the close of the present century will, long
before that period, have consumed the remaining two-tliirds of all American territory ! By
a calculation which has appeared in a late report of the Patent Office at Washington, it is
estimated that one thousand millions of dollars would not more than restore to their original
richness and strength the one hundred millions of acres of lands in the United States, which
have been already exhausted of their fertility! As a nation of farmers, is it not time that
we inquire by what means, and on what terms, the fruitfulness of the earth and its invalua-
ble products may be forever maintained, if not forever improved.

Agricultural schools would furnish all classes an opportunity to acquire a definite laiow
ledge of all the known principles by which agricultural pursuits should be conducted. We

have a more perfect state of civil and religious liberty than Europeans. Even tho most free
of those nations have a State religion to support, and therefore liave no religious liberty ;
we have no great distinctions of caste which prevail abroad; wo are comparatively frrc
from taxes, and can thorefure be more liberal to schools ; tho cultivators of the soil here
are lisually the owners of it, while the laborers in Kurojio have little concern in the matter,
and take but little interest in getting up schools ; nay, they are ignorant enough to oppose
them, lost they should so improve agriculture as to diminish their wages!. But there is
no need to pursue the arguments so well enforced by this volume.

The advantages of railroads to an interior, are forcibly argued by several of the contri-
butors, one of whom, alluding to the old wagon mode, which obliged the fanner to take his
produce liimself to market, adds : " lie thus risked the temi)tation to appropriate a part of
the proceeds for liquid returns which freijuently floated off a goodly portion of the proceeds
of the harvest, as, possibly, some of you hare had occasion to know." In other words, the
iron transporter don't drink wliiskey! an advantage we had never thought of before. It
was soon found, too, in regard to live stock, that a steer worth SUO or S70 at the Bull's Head
in New York, cost no more for carriage from the oak openings of Michigan, or the prairies
of Illinois or Indiana, than one worth but S35 or S40, and shrewd dealers discovered that
they could afford to pay a better price for good animals of improved breeds than they could
for inferior. So it is that farmers opposed to progress have been obliged to move off, and
leave the field to the improvers, and a race of thoughtful, active men is usurj)ing the old
fogies. To be a successful farmer now, one must learn things that were never taught or
even dreamed of by the plain, straight-forward, strong-handed men, who had hewn their
way to a home, axe in hand, and who were still contented with the work of the old-
fashioned wooden plough, and the equally antique triangular harrow. Progress has become
a necessity, which these western Transactions chronicle and promote.

In 1835, there was but one periodical in the Union devoted solely to the interests of
agriculture ; now they are almost as numerous as the States themselves. The example of
the New York State Agricultural Society has aroused the minds of the farmers to their true
interests; State after State came into the ranks ; communities and counties marshalled their
companies of independent 3"eomanry and wheeled into line ; now, all are actively engaged
in battling the common enemy — the allied legions of ignorance and error. Twenty years
ago there was no opportunity of learning what is now learned each year from the pub-
lished reports of societies, in relation to the imjirovements being made in the methods of
tilling the soil ; or of examining new implements^ or of comparing the merits of the various
breeds of foreign and domestic animals, or inspecting the grains, fruits, and vegetables of
the best known descriptions. Whoever has attended a State Fair, with his mind awake,
and his eyes open, will never despair of the Republic ; whoever reads these Transactions
attentively will rise, from their perusal, a wiser and a better man.

Gossip. — The name of Larlcspur has been given, in consequence of the horn-shaped nectaiy
of the flower, being in form like the spur of a lark's foot. There are many beautiful varie-
ties now cultivated. — Some idea may be formed of the prodigiously increased drain ui)on
the functions of a plant, arising from an increase of dryness in the air, from the following
consideration : If we suppose the amount of its persinration, in a given time, to be 57 grains,
the temperature of the air being 75°, and the dew-point 70°, or the saturation of the air being
849°, the amount would be increased to 120 grains in the same time, if the dew-point were
to remain stationary, and the temperature were to rise to 80° ; or, in other words, if the
saturation of the air were to fall to 726°. Besides this power of transpiration, the leaves of
vegetables exercise also an absorbent function, which must be no less disarranged by any
deficiency of moisture. Some plants derive the greatest portion of their nutriment from the
vaporous atmosphere, and all are more or less dependent upon the same source. The Ne-
penthes distillatoria lays up a store of water in the cup formed at the end of its leaves, which
is probably secreted from the air, and applied to the exigencies of the plant when exposed
to drought ; and the quantity which is known to vary in the hothouse is, no doubt, connected
with the state of moisture of the atmosphere. — Double glass sashes are recommended by some
writers. The lights of many frames not in use, in winter, might be fitted to slide over the
hothouse during the severe season ; and, in the spring, their places might be supplied by
night mats, or canvas. — The Tamarisk, a very beautiful plant, not much known in America,
should be planted in the shrubbery, to mix with broad and fixed foliage, as the laurel or
holly. It is also calculated to cover the sides of hills, where it is desirable not to take off" the
view by taller trees ; in marine gardens, it soon acquires sufficient height to protect rose-
and other low flowering shrubs. The Tamarisk is deciduous, although, when in

foliage, it has all the character and appearance of an evergreen shrub. — The Whitlavia
grandiflora, among new hardy annuals of recent introduction, ranks with the prettiest. It
is a native of California, and grows from nine to eighteen inches high, branching freely, and
blooming profusely, if not in a very rich soil. The flowers are bell-shaped, of the richest
gentian-like blue color, with a tinge of rose inside. Each blossom is an incli long, and an
inch and a half across the mouth. — The Lily of the Valley does not grow well in very rich
or very dry soil. — Universal Compost. Turf cut from an old loamy pasture, such as is used
to lay down for lawns, about three inches thick, and laid in a heap to rot, is invaluable.
This rubbed through a sieve that would let a hazel-nut through, two barrowfuls ; peat earth,
full of fibre of a spongy, light nature, used for heaths, half a barrowful ; and cowdung rotted
into mould, half a barrowful, with a sprinkling of white sand, and]small pieces of charcoal, well
mixed together, form a compost for almost everything. — To kill rats and mice, cut cork
into thin slices, and fry them in fat, butter, or meat gravy ; the animals are very fond of
them, but cannot digest them. They are equally destructive of cats and dogs. — Observa-
tions which have extended over many years, prove that with the seasons the solar powers are,
relatively to each other, subject to an interesting change. In the spring, the actinic power
prevails, and during this period its agency is reqiiired for the development of the germ. As
the summer comes on, the actinic rays diminish, and those of light increase. We see the
necessity for this, since luminous power is required for the secretion of carbon, with which
the woody fibre is formed, and also the approximate principles of the plant. Autumn, the
season of fruit, is characterized by the increase of the heat rays, and a diminiition of the
others ; this change being necessary, as science now teaches us, for the production of flowers
and fruit. — There are now cultivated, pink and red fuchsias, with white corollas, and a scar-
let sepal, and snow-white corolla. — A garden can be kept in constant bloom by cultivating
larkspurs, lupins, coreopsis, sweet peas, nemophila, mignonette, convolvulas minor, and such
like plants, in small pots, very few seeds in a pot, and lightly covered ; give plenty of water.
These, with care, will grow strong and healthy, and may be used to fill up the places vacated
by others that decay. The removal of a plant, and filling its jDlace with one in good order,
is only the woi-k of a minute. — The London Gardeners^ Chronicle of April 12, Jirst inserted a
brief notice of the Lawton Blackben-y. Dr. Lindley might safely read one or two American
periodicals. — Another English paper, devoted to horticulture, says : " A correspondent asks
whether any attempts have been made to cultivate and improve the common blackberry,
and he wishes to know whether any of our readers can "show any just cause or impediment"
why a fruit should not be produced as much superior to the present as a Ribstone pippin is
to the original crab." — Italian rye-grass is much cultivated now in England, and the price
of the seed has nearly doubled, so that orders can scarcely be supplied. — Great frauds in
the seed trade have excited much remark in the London papers. By means of steam, sul-
phur, and old age, all sorts of rubbish are made to pass for articles of sterling value ; dead
rape does duty for turnip-seed, and so on. London is getting a very bad character for adul-
terations.— On the wall of a conservatory camellias may be trained, say varieties such as
colvillei and imbricata, both of which flower at one time, and their blossoms being of ditfer-
eut colors, contrast admirably with one another. Camellias managed in this way make
charming coverings for walls, and where a border for planting them in does not exist, boxes
either of slate or wood answer the same purpose. If made of the former material, they are
of course more durable than if wood is employed. — William Minards, of Palperro, says the
Cornwall Gazette, has in his possession a cat that is very expert in catching trout and eels.
When the water is low in the river that runs down the valley, near the outlet of which is
built the little town of Palperro, the cat watches on the margin of the river, and, when any
of tlie finny tril>e approaches within her reach, she lays aside the natural dislike that is
common to the feline race, that of wetting their feet, and instantly darts her paws into the
water, and fixes her talons in her prey, brings it from its natural element, and carries it in
triumph to her master's house. Tliis feat she will repeat several times a day. — A Scotch
newspaper declares that the following rather remarkable circumstance is worthy the con-
sideration of poultry breeders. A duck, rather under the ordinary size, belonging to Mr.
Hay, of Laggan, has this season deposited an egg every day for one hundred and forty-three_
days in succession. The little useful animal was hatched from the egg of a wild duck, and
laid an enormous number of eggs last year. Miglit it not add to the profits of the poultry-
yard if similar experiments in breeding were oftener tried ? — Orcliard-houses for peaches,
&c. &c., are now tlie rage abroad, and are even penetrating into the far north of Scotland. —
Picea Nordmanniana succeeds perfectly, grafted on the Silvt^f Fir. — " The Blood Manure
Company" is introducing a valuable manure, made from the blood of animals. It is
recommended for wheat, barley, oats, &c. This substance is lost in America, but steps

Vol. YI.— June, 1856. 19

EDITOR S TAIJLE.

be taken to use it. — Among the score of plants which show the effects of the different modes

of (i'rdf'liiKf, the most useful to know is, that all the rare Pinu.ses, or, rather, the whole race
of Conifers, should he grafted down as low as the collar of the plant which is used for a
stock ; then, hyiilanting such grafted plants suilicicntlv' deej) to bury the grafted ]>art, roots
will come from the scion, or graft, in time, so that the i>lant, ultimately grows on its own
roots. This is really a useful lesson. — Perhaps the most interesting object which has lately
tlowered abroad is a new Camellia from Chiua, discovered and sent home by Mr. Fortune.
It is a carnation strij^ed kind, very dilfereut, however, from any w^e have hitherto possessed,
inasmuch as the stripes, rosy pink, are much more brilliant than in any variety we now
have of this class, and the general outline and form of the llowers are all that the most
fastidious in such matters could desire. This, therefore, must be regarded as an acquisition
of no mean imjwrtance. It nuiy be mentioned that the plant which has llowercd, was half-
starved, and nearly destitute of foliage; therefore the blooms, handsome as they are, may
be expected to be much more so when produced by healthy si)ecimens. — There is, perhaps,
more injury done in a mild winter than in a severe one, amongst the tender or half-hardy
plants which the gardener has to deal with ; for it not unfretiuently happens, that a period
of dull, mild weather, throws the inexperienced off their guard, and towards the middle, or
it may be earlier, a sharp frost sets in suddenly, carrying death and destruction to many
things which had looked not only healthy but luxuriant. A mild winter is seldom followed
by a genial spring ; the consequence is, that plants which have survived, perhaps, in the
open air, are often killed. — Hartweg declared, that a woods of I'inus Beuthamiana was the
finest thing he saw in his extensive travels. It is now much planted on the hills of Scot-
land.— Thuja fjiijantea is one of the most singular trees ; it is not unlike Sequoia
giijanlea, only it has not so much of a cypress look. Like the Sequoia, it is a Califoruian
tree, of great size and beauty, attaining the height of one hundred and eighty feet, the
lower eighty feet of which is as bare as a May-pole ; but, with us, we shall not see it thus
in our day. — Another remarkable Conifer, from Asia Minor, is Thuiopsis horealia, a line,
graceful-looking tree, and said to be very hardy. The Wardiau Case has brought over a
large batch of seedlings of Araucaria Cookii to the other side of the world, and there they
are as if they were sown on the spot. — In Holland, no table is without cooked Endive, and
almost no day in the year. It is the most universally popular dish in the country, and the
most savory morsel. But the method of preparing it is somewhat different from that given
by you. Take two good Endives, not blanched, separate the leaves, and boil them in two
waters (to extract the bitter). If still bitter, use a third water, but ten minutes before
they are ready, throw in a handful of Sorrel leaves. When ready, take them out and strain
them, and put them back in the saucepan with a piece of butter, the size of a walnut, pep-
per and salt, q. s., and a tablespoonful of any rich gravj^ Shake them well over the fire
till all is incorporated, and send them in hot. On no account chop the leaves. Iota. — The
appropriate name of one of the exhibitors of the London Horticultural Society, is Cutbush.
— The Southern Cultivator says : " We believe, from all the lights before us, that more loine,
and of better quaHtij, can be made on a given quantity of land in the South, than in Europe
or at the West, and that the Calaicha is by far our most promising grape for the purpose.
We must not, however, be confined entirely to this variety, as the Warren, and, perhaps,
the Isabella may be found to produce wines which cannot be made from the former." — Robert
Nelson, in the same periodical, pronounces a new seedling peach, of Georgia origin, and called
the Pocahonta, the finest he has ever eaten. — Tansy, planted round the peach-tree, is obtain-
ing favor as a remedy against the borer. — A good oil can be produced from the seeds of
cotton, but they are too valuable for manure to be extensively employed in this manner.

Colombian Guano. — The Philadelphia Gruano Company have introduced, this spring, the
Colombian guano from the Venezuelan islands in the Caribbean Sea, and, from the analysis
of the article, it is jironoiinced the best fertilizer of the kind yet discovered. The best
contains eighty per cent, of phosphate of lime. Professors Stewart and Booth have analyzed
various specimens, and give certificates of the above fact. It is estimated that the islands
referred to contain an amount exceeding five millions of tons ; some of the deposits contain
a very large percentage of ammonia, while in that of others the superphosphate of lime
predominates, with but a small amount of ammonia. One analysis of Professor Booth gives
78 per cent, of superphosphate of lime, which is nearly fifty per cent, greater than that
obtained from bone dust.

A long lease of the islands^ including the famous Bird Island, has been obtained by the
Philadelphia Company. Their guano has been tested by farmers in Maryland to a consi
derable extent ; Dr. Stewart, chemist of the Maryland State Agricultural Society, says

= g^

" Highly as I appreciate the Mexican guano, still I do not hesitate to say that I would
rather have four tons of Colombian than ten tons of Mexican, and I would rather have
equal portions of Colombian and Peruvian applied to any wheat than Peruvian alone, or
any other superphosphate alone."

The price is for 1 to 5 tons cash for 2,000 lbs $40

" " " 51 to 100 " " « " » .... 35

The agents in this city are Richards & Miller, 92 South Front Street, of whom large or
small quantities may now be procured. We recommend its trial by farmers and horticul-
turists. For the Pear-tree it will be invaluable.

Flora of the Colosseum at Rome, is the title of a London volume, by Dr. Richard Deakin.
The author says that 420 species of plants are found growing upon the Colosseum, including
253 genera, and illustrations of 6G of the natural order of plants. There are 59 species of
grasses, 47 of the syngenesious plants, and 41 of the pea tribe. This is in an inclosed space
of six acres of ground, a limit that does not include the walls and ruins. This space includes
a great variety of soil and temperature. The lower north side is damp, while the upper
walls and accumulated mould are warm and dry ; and the south side is still hotter, and
more Italian. Strange miitation that one of the most innocent and poetical of the sciences
should now choose the Colosseum for its favorite haunt, where the swarth Egyptian, the
agile Moor, and the crisped-haired Nubian, struggled and died amid the shouts of Romans,
uproarious in their holidays, the more delighted, the more savage the scene !

BEURRfi Capiaumoctt Pear. — A correspondent writes: "I have been much edified, nay,
instructed, by Dr. Ward's chapters on Pears. I believe the Duchess d'Angouleme bears
more abundantly, in a young state, on the quince than any other kind, except, perhaps,
Beurre de Capiaumout, which, wherever I have met with it, shows its decided preference for
the quince, by uniformly producing large crops of very handsome and good fruit on it."

Travel and Health. — The Virginia Springs. — If one of the great pleasures of travel is
novelty, and observing changes in modes of life and modes of thought, the Southerner should
undoubtedly come Northwards, and the Northerner visit the South. The change affects the
observer as much as a trip from London to Brussels. We speak the same language, but our
usages are vastly different. A residence of a few weeks at the various springs of Virginia,
offers inducements to the healthy of this kind, with a cool atmosphere, and a mixing with
polite and agreeable peoj^le, whose thoughts, however, run in a refreshingly new channel,
that leaves out much that we glory in — such as love of stock securities, and a never-ceasing
talk of money. The railroad from Alexandria will carry you, this season, to the very doors
of the Rockbridge Alum Springs, now all the fashion, where a good table, and a gentleman
to administer to your society as well as comforts, give attractions of superior order. Then
these Alum Waters do really cure some of the worst ailments of our fragile race.

A short ride by good stages conveys you to the Warm Springs — a bath in whose waters
you will never forget, and a seat at whose table is a treat, even to the boarder at the Girard
House. A little further are the Red Sweet, the Sweet, the Healing, the Hot Springs, and,
further on, the Salt — a capital place, and, near by, the fashionable White Sulphur, where
stages by the dozen arrive full of people who know perfectly well they must sleep on the
floor ; but fashion is omnipotent, and you must be seen there if you want to get a partner
for life, or expect to be able to converse for tlie ensuing winter. A day's ride then brings
you to the Red Sulphur, famous for curing consumption.

For our own comfort, we should be perfectly satisfied with the Rockbridge Alum, and
could settle down there, for the season, on its venison and hot bread, making excursions to
the Natural Bridge and the Peaks of Otter, without any regrets for tide-water or lobsters.
There is here a daily mail, and a well-managed post-ofiice. People wlio have never tried
this summer atmosphere, have no proper notion of cool America in hot weather.

Answers to Correspondents. — (II. M., Burlington, N. J.) Set your Azaleas for the sum-
mer in a cool, shady place.

Grapes, of the Isabella kind, may be kept till March, by packing them in boxes with
alternate layers of ash-wood sawdust, and keeping them from frost. The boxes may be
set one on the other, without any other covering. The sawdust of the ash imparts no
flavor to tlie fruit.

W. A., Boston.) The Kew palm house is 362 feet long hy 100 feet wide in the
60 feet high. It is glazed with slieet glass, slightly tinged with green, the tint

m^-.

H ] J 284 EDlTOtt'S TABLE.

given by oxide of copper. This is to counteraot the injarions effects on vegetation, arising
from tlio use of white sheet glass. Tlic-re are 28,000 superficial feet of hot water pipes. A
high tower, at the <listaiue of ofjO feet, conveys the smoke ; to this, flues lead under ground.
Tlio coal is brought in ou a subterrancau railway. In ventilation, and otlier matters, the
building is eipially i)crfcct. Would that ire had l('i;islators alive to the importance of
instructing the people in such matters, but they are all engaged in horrible politics.

Hen Maxurk, again. — (H. D., Waterville, N. Y.) This is a powerful manure, equal in its
effects to guano, or nearly so. Its "actual value" will depend in a great measure on the
facility or othenvise of pnxuring different manures, and the nature of the soil to which it is
to be applied. As a general reply to your imjuiry, wo miglit say it would be worth about
fifty cents per bushel to you, and would be advantageously used wherever guano has been
found beneficial. In preparing it for use, mix an equal jjortion of dry soil and some charcoal
with it, and pulverize as much as possible.

PEAcn BouKR. — An Indiana correspondent writes : " A good plan to preserve peach-trees
from the grul), is first to wire* them, then throw fine sand round the stem, three or four
inches high ; it preserves them from the grub, and they grow very fast. One of your sub-
scribers takes this plan, and has no further trouble."

Mathews' Curculio Remedy. — (P. B. W., Picton, C. W.) "What has become of Mathews'
curculio remedy ? Why don't the committee report ?" Can't guess — probably because it is
a secret remedy.

(Hyacinth Bclbp.) " Will Uyacinth and other Dutch bulbs run out in this country ?"
Not if they are treated to the same care the Dutch florists bestow on them. To prevent
their deterioration — indeed, to see them at all in perfection, they require to be grown in the
open air, in sandy alluvial soil, well enriched with well decayed manure — cow-dung being
found most advantageous. Forcing, or growing them in rooms or windows, weakens them
to such a degree as to render them almost worthless for a second season.

Angers Quince Cuttings. — (H. S., Harrisburg, Ind.) You will only succeed with these
by taking them off early in the fall — in your latitude before the 1st of (Jctober — and planting
at once in rich, moist soil.

Belts for Screens. — Wliat are the directions for planting a l)elt of evergreens to screen
one from his neighbors ? There is in Downing's work, and through the Horticulturist, a lack
of definite information as to the size and number of trees, and tlie distance between them.
Can you give me a rule for a place of five acres, with a front of between two and tliree
hundred feet ? M. P.

No better evergreen screen can be planted, for your purpose, than either the Norway Fir or
the American Arbor Vita. If the first is employed, it will take considerably more space in
your premises than the second, as the Norway Fir spreads its lower branches to a con-
siderable extent ; if this is not objectionable, plant them four feet apart, and when they
have attained the required height, cut off the leaders annually, bring the whole to a conical
shape, and you obtain a superb screen. If space is an object, employ the Arbor Vitre ; plant
two and a half feet apart, and keep them well sheared to give a thick habit. If your climate
admits, and the plants are to be had, a Juniper hedge, well kept, is extremely ornamental.
We say nothing of the holly, because it is probably too slow in its growth, and as yet it is
not to be had in quantities, though from the demand for the seeds the past season, it is evi-
dent that many are now turning their attention to its cultivation. Our correspondent is
mistaken in stating the absence of this kind of information in former volumes of the Horti-
culturist— see, for instance, vol. ii. p. 492. 1848.

Burnt Soil. — (P. B.) When you are burning the brush, trimmings, &c. &c. of your
garden, make a semicircular mound with a few stones, and, as the heap begins to burn,
pile on it as much of your clay soil as can be, and burn it. During the first day or two, but
little care is required to keep the pile on fire ; but after this, if the fire is not allowed to
break through, and thus expand itself, it will spread through the whole heap, and a large
amount of soil may be burnt by still adding to the top. Burnt soil of this description seems
to possess even more nourishing properties than manure, and may be applied with great
advantage to fruit-trees as well as garden "truck."

Figs. — (S. T. T.) Figs require a poor soil ; gravel, lime-rubbish, &c. is better than ma-
nure; to have a full crop, shallow, dry subsoils are the best, and the growth requires to be
checked if fruit is wanted. Pinch off the new growth as you serve your pears

* Onr correspondent probably alludes to the plan of running a wire into the holes of any that may
already entered, to destroy them.

editor's table.

James W. Gray, of Ball's Pond, Fairfield County, Connecticut, has issued a catalogue bf
fruit and ornamental trees, vines, shrubs, &c., at very moderate prices, which we recommend
his neie;hbors and friends to consult.

No. 4 of Dr. Ward's remarks on Pear Culture, will appear in July.

Meehan's Seeds. — Mr. T. Meehan, who advertises his seeds of trees and shrubs, has been
very successful in disseminating a large quantity of the esteemed varieties, which heretofore
have been difficult to procure.

The Seedling Strawberry, noticed in Emile the Elder's pleasant story, we have cultivated
for some years, from the stock of " Aunt Charlotte's" single seed. It is of the Alpine family,
and all that Emile says of it we can confirm.

New Roses. — James Pentland, of Green Mount Garden, Baltimore, has introduced, this
spring, two new roses, for which he claims the following characteristics : " The Beauty of Green
Mount is decidedly one of the most distinct and desirable acquisitions ; it is a noisette, of
rich, brilliant carmine color, very large and double (flowering in large clusters), and a very
free bloomer, quite as free as the Hermosa, and of robust habit." " The Woodland Margaret
is very large, pure white, and double, free blooming, with a lilac fragrance ; blooms freely
in the house ;" both are now offered for sale for the first time.

United States Agricultural Society. — The journal of the fouii,h annual meeting of the
United States Agricultural Society for 1856, has been edited by the Secretary, W. S. King,
and Part I. is published. It forms an important contribution, and we hope will be exten-
sively read. Lieut. Maury's paper on the subject of Observations on Land with Regard to
Climatic Influences, is full, as usual, of truth and practical import. This Society is pre-
eminently useful, and its proceedings are replete with information. We shall take occasion
to allude to them again.

It is a settled matter, that the next exhibition of the United States Agricultural Society
will be held in this city, on the 7th of October. The objects of exhibition will be horses and
horned cattle, swine and sheep, agricultural implements, cereal and vegetable products,
poultry, native fruits, and wines. We anticipate the greatest turn-out ever seen in America.

By the way, we have on our table the speech of the Hon. John Bell, of Tennessee, to the
Senate, on the Naval Retiring Board, highly just to Lieut. Maury. At least, it was a mistake,
which the Legislature should rectify, to pass an unjust sentence on our most scientific officer,
one whom it is an honor to the country to honor. This mistake we look upon as no better
than a crime.

The Vine in France and Madeira. — At a recent meeting of the Paris Agricultural Asso-
ciation, its President, M. Chevreul, reported favorably upon the nature of the vine disease,
and the probability of its speedy disappearance. The Society regards the disease as purely
climatic ; not denoting degeneracy in the plant, but as likely wholly to cease with the
cessation of the atmospheric influences. An American vine-grower and projarietor in Madeira
thinks difi'erently ; he has been under the necessity of ploughing up nearly the whole of
his vineyard, and beginning afresh. So great, however, was his apprehension of finding tlije
European vine degenerated and liable to the malady, that he has come to the determinatioii
of replanting with American vines, as of newer and more vigorous growth, and trusting to
the climate to restore the character of the produce. We may thus receive Catawba wine
from Madeira. Cincinnati must look to her laurels.

Albany Agricultural Works, Annual Circular. — Tliis is an important catalogue of Emery
Brothers, with portraits and descriptions of a very large collection of farming implements,
which, we should suppose, would be good reading to those interested. Such extent and
variety of manufactures tell their own tale of progress.

Guano Convention. — Tliere is to be a guano convention at Washington on the 10th of June,
to protest against the Peruvian monopolies. The farmers are also determined to endeavor
to have an agricultural department of the general government, which surely is just
proper

The Weather in Louisiana, — A correspondent writes, that while the siigar-cane has been
much injurt'd in Louisiana, the orange-trees, wliich are usually killed with the degree of
frost they have experienced, are entirely uninjured.

The New York State Agricultckal Societies' premium lists have been issued in a han<l-
some fonn. The exhibition is to be at Watertown, Se])t. 30, and October 1, 2, 3, after the
Pomological Convention, at Rochester, on the 24th, making it convenient to attend both.

AfiRicri-TrRAL KxiiiBiTiox IN Tennessee. — There will bo a "Grand Exhibition and Trial of
Agricultural Inipkiuents and Machinery, at Nashville, Teiin., on the 4th and 5th of June,
under the supervision of the State Agricultural Bureau."

Experiment with Cherries. — Some of our readers, it is ho])ed, will try the following mode
of preserving cherries. It is from the last number of the London Gardeners^ Chronicle, the
note at the close being by the editor, Dr. Lindley : —

Cherries preserved hy Bl'rial. — On Monday last, I employed a man to excavate a portion
of an old strawberry-bed, in order to sink a well some three or four feet below the surface.
He found several cherries, plump, round, black, fleshy, and still retaining a sweet flavor.
How long they may have lain there I know not. Certainly the ground has not been dis-
turbed for four years, the period during which I have been in occupation. I intend trying
whether they yet retain the power of germination, and beg to inclose two, which you may,
perhaps, think it worth wliile to submit to a similar test. They appear to belong to the
variety termed caroons. C. A. Johns, Callipers, Herts. [The specimens sent us quite
answered to the above description.]

Downing's Monument. — Mr. Editor: I was one of the original subscribers to erect a monu-
ment to the late Mr. Downing, and can say I never subscribed to anything of the kind with
more pleasure. From the character of the committee who had charge of the plan, I have no
douT)t of its being well executed, but I, for one, should be Rlad to know the state of the affair,
and cannot but hope it is nearly finished. Uorticola.

We are pleased to be able to state, that a recent correspondence with the committee on
this subject, enables us to inform " Horticola," and tlie other subscribers, that the monument
is in a forward state, and will very soon be erected in the grounds of the Smithsonian Insti-
tute, at Washington, with suitable inscriptions. It is intended to express the refinement,
and delicate taste and gracefulness of the mind and nature it is to commemorate under the
form of a beautiful antique vase, covered with flowers in arabesque relief. We are assured
it will be worthy its object.

Early Peaches. — Mr. M. H. Simpson, of Saxonville, says the Boston Transcript, of last
month, to-day exhibited, at the rooms of the Horticultural Society, a box of the " Early York"
Peach. They were grown and ripened in his grape-house, on the principle of the " Simpso-
nian system of culture," viz : three crops in two years, which can be applied to peaches as
well as grapes. Tlie tree from which these peaches were plucked this morning, bore a crop
in Messrs. Hovey & Co.'s Nursery, last Septeml)er. The peaches on exhibition were grown
in three and a half months from the time of starting. His grapes grown upon this system,
are now fully ripe, and of a superior quality, the vines exhibiting no signs of having been
overtasked.

Jackson Apple. — Mr. Wilson Dennis, of Appleback (what a capital place to grow apples),
Bucks County, Pa., sends us specimens of the Jackson Seedling Apple, with the description,
as follows : "Tree a good grower, and bears early ; fruit always fair, which will keep till June,
and is in season from December till May. Growth of the tree rather upright — young wood,
dark brown." This apple is known and esteemed by pomologists — so much so, that Dr. Brinckle
had a coloi-ed drawing made of it, and has given us liberty to publish it with a description
by himself. We can speak very favorably of the taste of these specimens.

The Gardening Books, and Books on Agriculture and Science, for sale by J. Q. A. Warren,
of Boston, form a large and separate catalogue, embracing all the works on these subjects
esteemed in this country,

Rhoads & Gray, of Lyons, Wayne Co., N. Y., have issued a catalogue of their extensive
fruit and ornamental trees, with a " wholesale list," to which they ask attention.

editor's table.

The Liquid Fertilizer. — In 1852, the Horticulturist promulgated the mode of using a liquid
manure that was highly popular, and we may add, extremely satisfactory.

It consisted in simply dissolving half an ounce of sulphate of ammonia in a gallon of water.
Weak as the solution seems to be, if plants are watered with it daily they will die, but used
once a week, the most beneficial results are observed on roses, strawberries, early peas,
fuchsias, dwarf pears, dahlias ; in fact, it suits all plants. One pound will make a barrel.
The praise then given to sulphate of ammonia, caused it to be much sought for, and many
di'uggists now have it for sale.

John Feast's Catalogue of new and choice plants visits our table, from Baltimore, and con-
tains the usual varieties of the beautiful and useful. We shoiild be glad if Mr. Feast would
put pen to paper sometimes, and tell us what is doing in Maryland. Did the Camellias —
any of them — pass the last winter agreeably to themselves, as it is said in former volumes of
this work they promised to do. Let us hear about all this, and give us "a Feast of fat
thiuffs."

The Crops. — The fruit crop in this neighborhood is highly satisfactory. Pears and cher-
ries never promised better ; of peaches, too, we shall probably have an average crop, both
in Pennsylvania, New .Jersey, and Delaware. At the Northwest, and in Ohio, there is less
to hope for. Of the grain crops, the best accounts reach us.

Wodenethe, Fishkill Landing, 26th March, '56.

My dear Sir: In looking over, last evening, a back volume of 1837 of the English Gar-
deners' Chronicle, I found the annexed directions as to planting trees, which seem to me so
admirable, and so little known here, that I think them worthy of being quoted in the Horti-
culturist. I don't believe trees are ever planted so in this country — I at least never saw them,
and yet, the philosophy is excellent. I remember seeing a small Deodar Cedar planted in this
method at Eaton Hall, eight years ago, in holes 12 feet in diameter. Everybody, in this
country, plants either in round or square holes.

Truly yours, Henry Winthrop Sargent.

" All trees ought to be planted in pits of prepared soil. These pits ought to be 4 to 5 feet
deep, and not less than from 12 to 16 feet in diameter, or to occupy from 16 to 20 superficial
yards of surface. The pits should be neither round nor square, but star-shaped, or cross-shaped,
of such a form as would be produced by placing one equilateral triangle upon another, or
two parallelograms across

each other, so as to form a pi„_ \^ pjg_ 2.

Greek cross.

" The object of departing
from the square or round
form, is to introduce the
growing fibres of the young
trees into the frm and
poor soil, by degrees, and
not all at once, as in the
round or square hole
method.

" When a tree is planted
in the round or square pit,
dug ill hard, bad soil, it is
much in the same situa-
tion as if its roots icere con-
fined in a pot or tub. The
dovetailing, so to speak,
of the prepared soil, and
of the moisture which it

will retain, with the hard, impenetrable soil by which it is surrounded, will gradually pre-
pare the latter for being penetrated by the roots of the trees, and prevent the sides of the
pit from giving the same check to these roots which the sides of the pot or tub do to the
plant contained in it."

This advice is so admirable, that I trust you will publish it for the benefit of the few, and,
et to say, they are very few, who are willing to take the trouble and expense to
rly- H. W

editor's table.

Thaxkb to Mr. Wra. Bright, for a collection of now and beautiful bedding-out plants. Mr.
Bright is establishing a commercial garden and nursery near the city of Philadoliihia (in
fact, in it), from which good results may be (>xpectud. AVo have none too many — indefl,
we doubt if there are half enough. Mr. Buist leads the van with his extraordinary variety,
and if it were not for him, we should not have many of the novelties which make the mem-
bers of our Horticultural Society a sort of pioneers in America. Others are active and intel-
ligent, and we are glad to see Mr. Bright about to be added to the list. From Joshua I'ierco,
of Washington, we have his " IVrjJctual Raspberry," which is under trial by a jury of his
countrymen, who will all rejoice if it equals his expectations. Mr. Snow's verbenas promise
already more than could liave been expected. EUwanger and Barry have kindly sent us
two six>cimens of the great California tree, Sequoia Gigantea, in fine order, together with
handsome plants of Cryptomeria Japonica, and the Cupressus funebris ; the latter, in the
form of young, unestablished plants, lias not withstood the two last hard winters, but may
yet be found hardy. The cr^iHomerias came out of their last trial better than usual,partly,
we doubt not, from their increased age.

J. Jay Smith, Esq. — Dear Sir : As it is probable a number of your subscribers may pos-
sess the jllemoriah of Bartram and Marshall, published a few years since, the editor of that
work would like to jwint out, while he may, some of his unlucky mistakes. Believing the
Horticulturist to be an appropriate medium for the purpose, he begs permission thus to ask
the owners of the volume to make, with a pencil, the corrections hero indicated : —

At page 64, " the Virginian Guelder Rose" is inadvertently supposed to be the " Spiraea
opulifolia, L." — when it was intended to write Viburnum opuhis, L. ! At pages 241, 244, 249,
258, and 411, a remarkable plant is mentioned by the names of " Ti])itiwitcliet," and " Tipiti-
icitchet sensitive," which the editor rashly conjectured might be " Schrankia uncinata, Willd.,"
or sensitive Brier : whereas. Prof. T. C. Porter, of Franklin and Marshall College, has con-
clusively shown, in the Mercershurrj Review for March, 1850, that those names refer to the
Dionaea muscipula, Ellis, now commonly called Venus 's Fly-trap. At page 352, a "pretty
kind of Lychnis" was heedlessly supposed to be the " Arenaria stricta, Michaux." It is not
doubted, now, that the plant intended was the Phlox subitlata, L. At page 422, a little
" glorious evergreen" is mentioned ; and, by a lapsus pennce, suggested to be '^Ci/rilla racemi-
flora, L. ;" whereas, it was intended, at the time, to write the true name, viz : Ceratiola
ericoides, Michaux.

If these corrections may gain admittance to the "Editor's Table," or find a convenient
place among the familiar " Gossip" of your valuable joui'nal, the privilege will be esteemed
a favor by your obliged friend and well-wisher, William Daklisgton.

Westchester Pa., May 8, 1856.

Hedges. — Before the ITorticidturist for June appears, the season for setting hedges will have
passed, and, consequently, enthusiasts will not be prevented from experimenting. Nor,
indeed, is it desired by the record of the experience of the past unusually severe winter, to
deter others from demonstrating the advantages of live-fence.

Occasional additions of plants — made necessary by depredations of mice — (Aricola xanthog-
natus), and annual trimming, having failed to produce closeness at bottom, part of the
hedge (Madura aurantiacu) was cut off near the ground, and headed-in twice during the
season. The effect was satisfactory. My ardent desire to succeed, after years of trial, was
about to be realized. Alas, for ardor !

TTiree months' covering, three feet deep, of snow, and consequent revelling of mice under-
neath, has cured my enthusiasm. For yards together in extent, not a particle of bark was
left, six inches above, and three below the earth.

My only alternative was to dig it out and bum it ; the former accomplished, the latter to do.

A beautiful and perfect hedge of Honey Locust (Gleditschia triacanthos) , on the ground of
a friend, is badly injured, if not ruined, by the same animal. J. K. Esuleman.

Downingtown, April 25, 1856.

Rochester, N. Y., May 2. — Fruit-trees are looking finely. Mice have eaten up whole
orchards, nurseries, &c. We have but just three weeks in which to do our whole delivery
for the season. Now we are planting with 250 men, having delightful weather for the work,
and we are getting on finely. We have a good specimen of thePampas grass — all in good
and the Eugenia Ugni, but none for sale this spring.

Very truly, yours, P. Bakry

editor's table.

New York Fakmers' Club. — The Secretary read translated extracts from a paper in the
Revue Horticole of Paris, Sept., 1855, by M. Klotzsch, of the Royal Academy of Sciences,
Vienna, on the utility of hybrids. M. Klotzsch has crossed the Pin us Nigricans with the
Sylvestris, the Quercus rohur with the Quercus pedunculata. Their seeds produce trees,
which, in eight years, are one-third larger than trees from the seed of the parents sepa-
rately. They were all planted on the same day, and under similar circumstances.

The Secretary read a letter from Dr. Underbill, of Croton Point Vineyards, in which he
suggests, that by planting plum-trees so as to overhang water, they are very certain to be
free from the curculio and other insects, which are deterred by instinct from depositing eggs
where they will be likely to fall into the water. The doctor commenced his experiments
eight years ago, and now has about 200 plum-trees, the larger portion of which have come
into bearing, and over 50 have produced fine crops of fruit — and during this time they have
been entirely exempt from the ravages of all insects. The doctor constructed a small arti-
ficial lake, upon the margin of which the trees were planted.

Mr. Atwill, of Iowa, gave an interesting account of the climate, products, and social
condition of that State.

Mice axd Rabbits. — Mr. Editor : From diflferent sources I hear of the depredations com-
mitted upon trees, the past winter, by the mice and rabbits. Thinking the method, whereby
some can be yet saved (which will otherwise perish), may be new to some of your subscri-
bers, I give it, claiming no originality, however, for it is old. Tlie
annexed figure may give you a better idea of the modus operandi than
I could detail.

A, A. The trunk of a tree in part. B. The part barked all around.
C. A crooked scion, prepared to insert. D. A scion, inserted into
the bark below and above the girdled part. E. The bark of the tree.

Many trees of value are girdled all round, and, without something
like the foregoing, cannot easily be saved.

I this evening finished fixing some of my most valuable trees, three
inches in diameter, that have been barked all around for six inches
from the surface of the ground upwards ; they may be stuck all
round the tree, which, when the sap begins to rise, may be commu-
nicated from the root to the trunk, above the girdled part ; bank up
the earth so as to cover the whole of the scions.

Where the girdle is but narrow, and near the ground, the banking
of earth over it may sometimes save a tree, as there will be buds
sent out from the bark above the injury, but it is not always sure.

Trees barked high up by the rabljits, may be treated in like man-
ner, but, in that case, a grafting box must be used to cover the wounds,
keep air out, &c. Trees treated thus ought to be staked, so as to
prevent rocking about, otherwise the scions will not have a chance
to grow fast. If you can make anything out of the above, and have
nothing better on hand for the occasion, it is at your service ; if not,
all right, &c.

While on the subject of mice, let me tell those that are breathing
out vengeance against the little vixens, that if they will prune their
trees in the fall, throw the green brush under the trees, the mice will
feed upon them, and let the trees alone, as I observe, invariably, that
wherever I left cuttings or limbs under the trees, they were all peeled

off, while the tree, but one foot off, was untouched. Let horticulturists mark this for the
future. S- M.

Calmdale, Lebanon, Pa., April 15, 1856.

[To prevent the ravages of mice another winter, tread the snow firmly round the trees the
first time it falls, and keep up the process during the whole winter, after every successive
fall.— Ed.]

The Smokehouse Apple. — I suppose you are aware that many of our Eastern nurserymen,
and some of our own State, have been crying out against our favorite Lancaster County
Smokehouse Apple, or, as it is called by some, Millcreek Vandevere, for the very reason of its
being a straggling grower, and hard to raise a nice, straight sto.;k ; but when it becomes a
tree, it forms a fine head ; to avoid raising it from root-graft, the better way is to g"""
the same on a good, straight stock, standard height, and you will have a tree

editor's table.

short time that will bear you apples almost every year, and you will have an apple that
can't be beat, taking all into consideration ; it will come, too, in use for baking purposes
the last of July and beginning of August.

1 have eaten the last of mine this 14th day of May. We had them all along, for family
use. through the winter till last week.

Now, Mr. Editor, can you point mo out an apple that will go ahead of our Smokehouse ?
AVero I confined to one kind of apples, I would select this.

Yours, &c. J. Frantz.

[We are just now much attached to the Northern Spy, for reasons known to ourselves and
Mr. Watts!— Ed.]

Vegetadle Wax. — Dear Sir : In the Moniteur, I see remarks about the Myrica Pennsyl-
vanica, to the point. We have millions of pounds of that vegetable wax, which would
make our soirees a little cheaper. I translate it : —

" In the Moniteur des Cornices, we find some very useful hints on the production of vege-
table wax. Beeswax will always command high prices, although we can raise any quantity
of it in all the States, but the trouble and expenses to obtain it is a matter of great considera-
tion in the market. Vegetable wax can be obtained much cheaper ; we have the wax-tree
well adapted to all our Middle and Southern States ; besides, we have the myricas, which cover
our swamps and wastes by the million. Mr. Kellemian states, that he made very fine wax
candles of botli the mijrica ceriftra, growing even in Canada, and the mi/rica Permsi/hanica,
all over Pennsylvania. The wax is gathered from the seeds in the following way : —

" Fill bags with it ; dip these in boiling water ; the wax will soon come on the top, where
it can be collected by spatula, or by letting the water off when cold ; by submitting the
remainder of the seeds to a process of boiling, we get a second quality of wax. The bees-
wax contains 0.91 of ceriue, and 0.08 of myricine. The vegetable wax contains 0.8G of cerine,
0.13 of myricine."

Old settlers in the Southern States used to extract that wax, which was their only caudle
at the time ; we can do the same, and it will not cost half the price of the beeswax, all
expenses taken together.

Gas-Water for the Bugs. — Another remark, in the same paper, may prove very useful
for the destruction of bugs, insects, &c., attacking the roots of trees, chiefly the fruit-trees,
which seem to be more exposed to their attacks than any other of nature's productions ;
undoubtedly, because improved fruits are the result of art and human skill, and, conse-
quently, weaker or sweeter than the sturdy native or spontaneous productions.

"M. Fesjier applied to his currants, gooseberries, and pear-trees, covered at the time with
lice, a mixture of one-half of the amiuoniacal water from the distilleries of the coal gas, and
one-half of rain or well water ; he poured that composition, with a water-pot or spout, all
over bushes and trees ; the result was the immediate destruction of the lice, and when the
soil was stirred and removed at the foot of the plants, all the bugs, larvK, &c., were found
dead and destroyed. This solution ought not to be strong. Perhaps it would do better to
take two-thirds of a barrel of distillecl gas-water, and one barrel of common M'ater. We
should recommend, moreover, to do it in a rainy or cool day, wlien the action of the sun
would not shrink or injure the leaves. I am satisfied that the above proportion would
never harm the trees, and as eflfectually kill the insects. Soapsuds have the same result,
but it is easier to get any quantity of ammoniacal water than such a quantity of soapsuds.

" Salt, in moderate quantity, has a very good result, but its use for trees is not so safe — at
least, when we do not take a just proportion. One pound of salt, in a radius of four feet
from the body of the tree, will not injure the roots, and kill a great deal of those nuisances."

Savannah, Geo., April 23, 1856.
.1. Jay Smith, Esq. — It is delightful to be in a summer climate so early, and to see every-
thing almost in full leaf. They have the most beautiful shade trees here that I ever saw in
any city ; the finest are the oaks, a species called water-oaks. Every few squares an open
one occurs, on all the principal streets, and these are filled with these and other trees, making
the most beautiful moonlight views imaginable. The flower gardens are in full splendor (in
April). Every morning, before breakfast, you can buy in the market fine bunches of roses
for a quarter of a dollar. Green peas are plenty ; strawberries there are, but, owing to in-
attention, very scarce. The yellow jasmine is out of bloom, but as we came down
Macon, nearly two weeks ago, the woods were filled with it. Truly yours.

editor's table.

Gaedbneks. — Mr. Editor : I was much, pleased with your remarks on Robert Meston's
letter, about gardeners ; it is the greatest mistake that a young man can make, to suppose
that resi^ectability means absence of labor ; it is folly to say that the professions of law or
medicine are more genteel than gardening, or any other handicraft work. A skilled work-
man is more independent of charity, and in a more respectable and reliable position in
society than the skilled clerk, or the skilled professional man, so far as the mere callings of
each are concerned. A late emphatic writer asserts truly, that a larger proportion 6f the
clergymen, doctors, salesmen, tradesmen, merchants, speculators in land, and i)lanters, of
his country, are involved in debt, and will never pay their debts, than of the laborer, yeoman
farmers, mechanics, and artisans. Sensible and industrious farmers and nurserymen, who
have started in life with no capital but a good common school education, and a good farm-
boy's skill, and strength for labor, more often spend a happy and grateful old age among
children and children's children, of whom they are proud, than men of any other calling.

The idea that a muscular, or handicraft occupation, if directed with the genius and thought
it always may and should be, is lower or less fortunate, or less likely to be attended with
honor in a free country, than the occupations of transfer, copying and adapting forms and
precedents, is a most false and pernicious one. Genius, taste, energy, and dexterity, as
well as capital in general knowledge, and culture of mind, are even more valuable, and are
at this time more wanted in our market, and are better paid for in the artisan and mechanic,
than they are in the tradesman or professional man. As to gardeners, it will not do to say
they are under-paid ; they receive twice as much as a farm-hand, and, with the education
they acquire in their apprenticeship, even if they have not talent above the grade of an
ignorant field-laborer, they are sure, with steady habits, to anive at an enviable and happy
social position. An Old Gardener.

The "New Rochelle" Blackberry. — I wish to learn from practical cultivators, through
the '^ Horticulturist," how the "New Rochelle" Blackberry has endured the severe cold of
the last winter in the latitude of Boston and southern New Hampshire. I find all parts of
the plants in my grounds, that did not get buried in the deep snow, killed, as also are the
"Improved High Bush," or Dorchester Seedling. The "New Rochelle" having been recom-
mended as perfecth/ hardi/, and mine not proving so, thus far, has led me to make the inquiry
of the readers of the " Ilorticidturist,'" which, by the way, gives very general satisfaction to
all its readers with whom I have conversed, in Eastern Massachusetts.

Food for Travellers. — " Wholesome water, and wholesome, fresh fruits, are not to be
obtained by the traveller, in the largest part of the United States. Bacon, fat, and salt, is
the stock article of diet. He must satisfy his appetite with this, or with coarse or most in-
digestible forms of bread. In either case, he will have an unnatural thirst, and the only
means ordinarily offered him, at country-houses, for satisfying this, will be an exceedingly
dirty and unpalatable decoction of cofl'ee, of which the people usually consume an excessive
quantity ; or alcoholic liquors, of the most fiery and pernicious description.

There is no reason, I believe, why every farmer in the Union should not now make a wine
for his family use, which, with most jiersons, would be most advantageously and economi-
cally substituted for cofl'ee and tea, and which use would soon make more palatable than
any other beverage, for ordinary purposes." — Olmsted's Seaboard States.

City Taste for Rpral Things. — The Parisians have inaugurated horse-meat as an article
of excellent food, much to the liorror of John Bull and his brother. Punch says : " Wc do
not believe that even Soyer, with all his arts, could render horse-flesh palatable, or tliat a
fricandeau de cab-horse, or cotelettes of Shetland pony, will ever become an acceptable dish.
We must look forward to the time when, from eating horses, the members will jjroceed to
eating asses, and thus by an easy and natural step, arrive at the point where they will begin
eating each other. In this way, the society may possibly be extinguished, if it does not
previously poison itself quite out, by the trash it feeds upon."

A Bit of Fun. — The President of the club mentioned below, allows us to extract the
following proceedings from the " regular minutes": —

Farmers' Cluu, at Clifton, near Cincinnati. — At a meeting of the Amateur Farmers of
Clifton, held recently at the School-house, the following interesting discussion took place : —

Col. B. was called upon to preside, and .lolm Quill ai)pointed Secretary.

Upon taking the chair. Col. B. remarked, that the ol>ject of the meeting was to discuss
subjects connected with agriculture, and the more important branches of horticulture — as

EDITOR'S TABLK,

for floriculture, he would leave that to the ladies. For himself, he was willing to Impart
such information as lie had derived from ten years' experience as an amateiir farmer, in
hojies tliat the members present would express their views frankly on topics so interesting
to all.

The suhjects for discussion would be — The mode of preparing the ground for crops, manures,
and their application ; crops cultivated ; rotation in crops, and modes of culture ; the or-
chard ; the garden ; the i>oultry and tlie pig yard ; and the dairy, and stock raising, &c. &c.
Each of these deserved, and he liopcd would receive, due consideration.

To commence, he would call upon Farmer R., to state his experience in suhsoil plonghincj.

Deacon R. said that he was not entirely satisfied with his experiments in that way. He
had. employed a team of seven yoke of oxen, with five Irishmen as aids, on a three acre
field, for about ten days, with the subsoil plough ; broke two ploughs, and had to pay for
one of the oxen, for want of knowledge on the part of the Irishmen how to manage the
baafes ; had thought that the work might have been done better and cheaper with the spade.

Farmer R. B. thought the Irish plough — the spade — was the best, in the long run, for
amateur farming.

Farmer W. R. was of that opinion decidedly. He had trenched, with the spade, three and
oue-half acres, two feet deep, and under-drained it with tile, at an expense of not over $165
per acre.

Deacon S. would prefer three feet deep ; it would cost about fifty per cent. more. Had
tried it on his garden, and was well satisfied with the result.

Tlie Chairman stated that he was then experimenting in that way on a hill-side of several
acres, but as to the cost he could not say, for he had long since burnt his books of farming
expenditures as vexatious tell-tales.

W. R. said he had done the same thing with his mementos of that kind, considering
them nuisances.

The Chairman asked for the experience of the members in planting. He would give his
own. He was an admirer oi forest trees, for their beauty and utility. Most of those on his
fami, however, were, unfortunately, in the wrong place, and he had to cut them down and
plant young ones in the place where the old ones should have stood. Planting his fruit-trees
near the canal, he found to be an ingenious contrivance to keep depredators from his vege-
tables, as long as the fruit lasted.

Farmer D. said he had the same experience with his fruit, and had now to buy apples
for family use.

Brother W. had found planting fruit-trees near the roadside to answer the same purpose.
Other members concurred in this opinion.

Farmer S. had planted forest-trees around part of his farm, but more with a view to grow
fuel than rail timber. In fruit planting, he had selected the dwarf-trees, being more conve-
nient for children and visitors.

W. R., by high manuring, had lost most of his pear-trees by blight.

Brother W., by high culture, produced an immense growth of wood on his pear-trees, hut
no fruit ; he had taken them up and root-pruned them.

Fanner B. had tried a coating of coal tar on some of his young fruit-trees, to prevent the
rabbits from girdling them in winter. The remedy kept oflf the rabbits, hut it killed the trees.

" Poultry" was next called for by the Chair.

Deacon S. said he would give in his experience. His poiiltry yard was unexceptionable,
and he had x^jjocured some of the finest heavy-bodied, short-legged Cochin-China fowls, at
$25 per pair, and Brahma Pootas at $20, tall enough to pick com oflf the head of a flour-
barrel — (Shanghais he considered a humbug) — but he had been more successful in rearing
fancy chickens than in keeping them, for they were nearly all stolen in one night, about the
time they were fat enough to eat.

A new member remarked that the same accident had happened to his harness and garden-
tools, though he had no doubt but it was a very honest neighborhood. [The Chair called
to order.]

Farmer R. said that he had been tolerably successful with fancy chickens. Had reared
about half the broods, and succeeded in keeping and selling them. Part of his stock had
been spared to Jirother ,S. (Here Brother S. groaned in the affirmative.)

Farmer F. B. found no trouble in raising chickens ; but his valuable English greyhound
would eat them up about the time they were half-grown.

Farmer M. preferred the common stock. With proper attention, he generally raised half
the broods.

Farmer B. said he had an old hen that could beat that ; she seldom lost any ; but

EDITOR'S TABLE.

had some bad luck with the rest of them. In one night, four turkeys and six fine hens
were stolen from him. One of the hens was a fancy Cochin China, that he was petting up
to st'll to Brother .S'., at a fair price. On another night, fifteen of his best fowls were killed
by a rascally mink.

After some desultory remarks amongst the members, an adjournment was carried to meet
at the same place on Saturday, the 17th inst., at early candlelight. The next subject before
the meeting to be the culture of vegetables.

JouN Quill, Sec^y.

The Ladies. — It used to be said that ladies were " those pinks, carnations, roses, and tulips,
that required the iirotection of a bonnet!" Where are all these beauties of the streets ; the
bonnet part, at least, has disappeared.

Extensive Establishments. — Among the many large establishments in this city, there are
none, perhaps, that possess more interest to all classes of the community than those in which
fruit and other luxuries peculiar to the summer and autumnal seasons are preserved, in all
their flavor and sweetness, for tise in winter and spring. A few years ago, this was a very
trifling business, but enterprise and energy have built up a trade in Philadelphia, amount-
ing, in the aggregate, to upwards of $300,000. Employment is given to several hundred
persons during the year, and, in one establishment, nearly $12,000 were paid out for wages
during the fruit season of 1855. The capital invested in an establishment of this kind, is
far greater than a mere cursory glance through it would seem to indicate. In the prepara-
tion of the various kinds of fruit, there is a vast amount of care and prudence required, as
some kinds have to be cooked before being put in cans and bottles, while other varieties only
demand a certain kind and quantity of syrup. This is considered the most difiicult portion
of the business, and experience has taught many housekeepers that the knowledge of these
two important matters — cooking and making syrup — are of greater- utility than luck ; for,
where the latter is depended upon solely, losses of time and money much more frequently
occur than where the parties have the facilities for preserving the fruit, and possess the
knowledge of having it properly attended to.

The two principal dealers in this city are Mr. Mills B. Espy, No. 109 South Third Street,
and J. L. Wendell, No. 152 South Front Street. Mr. Espy does much the largest business,
and has a building 27 by 120 feet, and 5 stories high, in which every department is carried
on extensively. The cans used are made in the building, the sealing-wax prepared, the
fruit cleaned, pared, cooked (when rendered necessary), and put up, ready for foreign mar-
kets, or home use. Some idea may be formed of this trade when we state, that among the
articles put up in Mr. E.'s establishment, in 1855, were upwards of 20,000 pounds of cher-
ries, 10,000 quarts of strawberries, 4,000 baskets peaches, 6,000 baskets tomatoes, 3,000
bushels plums, 100 bushels gages, 100 barrels quinces, 15,000 pine-apples, 1,000 bushels of
gooseberries, 2,000 bushels each of corn, peas, and beans, besides 300 hogsheads of pickles,
&c. Although a comparatively small quantity of oysters are put up here, nearly 12,000 cans
were prepared in this house, as well as thousands of cans of fresh beef, mutton, veal, milk,
and other articles. The cooking of Mr. Espy is all done by steam. Tlie apparatus is con-
structed in a superior manner, and, from the peculiarity in cooking the fruit and vegetables,
and preparing the syrup by the same agency, the flavor and delicious taste are preserved,
and, when eating the articles prepared, it seems as if they were fresh from the vines or
trees. — Philadelphia Ledger,

Dwarf Cherries and Pears. — We have found great pleasure in the cultivation of dwarf
cherry-trees, and observe others are planting them. Cherries, as bushes on the mahaleb
stock, root pruned, should be planted four feet apart. The root pruning should be done
towards the end of September, and will be facilitated if the bushes are planted on a little
mound. Dig a trench round the tree, and introduce the spade below, to cut olf all the
perpendicular roots ; thus, all the spreading roots are shortened, precisely as is done with
dwarf pears ; this may be done with a knife, and the ends brought to the surface, previously
filling in the trench with light, friable soil, and covering with tlie soil taken out of the trencli ;
no dung, or manure of any kind, is refjuired, as this stock flourishes on the poorest soils.
Some short litter, or half-decayed leaves will, however, be of much benefit, placed on the
surface, near the stem. If not root-pruned, they should be six or eight feet apart, as they
are very apt to get large and lose the character of dwarfs ; great attention should be
to pinching the new growth to within three or four buds of the old wood, leaving the 1

editor's tahi,e.

slioots nntouched till the middle or end of August, when they must be shortened to eight or
ton buds. Tho three varieties, or groups, those of the habit of the Mon^llo trib(>, iho Higar-
roau family, im-luding the Heart Clierries, and those of the couiijact haijit of tlu! May Duke?,
sliould be planted in separate rows. For jxiftiiig, and forcing, clH;rrics on tlie Malialeb stork,
are highly eligilile, as they do not gum, and are vavy prolidu. They are often infested with
aphides and ants, but we have not found these insects injurious to any great extent. B.

Imtoktant. — His Majesty, the Emperor of France, has "graciously expressed his consent
to the proposal that he sliDuld be elected an honorary member of the Iloyal Agricultural
Society of England," and a diploma and sixteen bound volunn^s of the Transact Ions of the
Society have actually been forwarded to him ! He is a capital farmer, and irrigates with
his people's blood ; he may some time take it into his head to manure with " sui^erphosphate"
from English bones, as the English did with the bones from Waterloo. — Fiyaro.

f 0ttitult«rHl <^0tictic5.

Columbus (Ohio) Horticultural Society. — The annual meeting of this Society was held at the Society's room,
on Saturday evening, April 5 — the Pres-ident, M. B. Batoham, Esq., in the Chair.

Three varieties of apples were exhibited, viz : Willow, Liberty, and Komanite, each in a good state of
preservation.

Some very interesting remarks were made in reference to the effects of the late winter upon fruit-trees, in thi.s
and other sections of the country. In particular localities, little, if any, injury has been done; while, in
others, the effects have been disastrous.

The following gentlemen were rliosen officers for the current year: President — M. B. Bateham. First Vice
President — Benja.min Blake. ,S.rn,„} V!,-r Pn sidcnt—AhEX. E. Glenn. Treasurer— Hesry C. Noble. R&iorA-
ingSf.crefnry — Kobert Hume, r .;■,-. x/...,/'//,// s, cretary — Henry C. Noble. Council — Francis Stewart, George
Gerey, William G. Deshler. Cm-im I'uiiiiiulli-t — Henry C. Noble.

At the annual meeting of the Hartford County Horticultural Society, held on the 12th of April, the following
officers were elected for the ensuing year, viz : President — William W. Tirnrr. Vice-Pre-sidetifs — .Idhn M. Nilks,
John S. Butler, Henry W. Terry, Hartford ; Henry Myhatt, Farmington ; Charles L. Porter, East Hartford ;
Noah W. Stanley, New Britain ; Norman Porter, Berlin ; E. A. HolcoiMB, Granby ; Salmon Lyman, Manches-
ter; S.D. Case, Canton ; H. A. Gra\t, Enfield. i?««;rrfm<7 6>cjY^ari/— Daniel S. Dewey, Hartford. Correspond-
ing, Secretary — Thomas K. Dutton, Hartford. Treasurei — P. U. Stillman. Auditor — H. L. Bidwell. standing
Cjmrniftee—'^^M. T. Tuttle, H. W. Ti'TTLE, H. W. Terry, Edward Goudridhe.

Brooklyn Horticultural Society. — This Society held its first general meeting on the 16th and 17th inst., and
it has not lost any of its former superiority. To enumerate all (lie best things that were there, would require
more space than, I presume, you have at present to spare. Suflice it, then, to say, tliat the plants were more than
excellent. It has been a custom, hitherto, for us to be continually reverting to the quality of Chiswick, but, in
this instance, at least, there is no occasion to do so, for the greater part of the specimens exhibited were all that
the best skill of the cultivator can accomplish. All plant lovers who were not there, missed a gi'cat treat, and
the opportunity of seeing the difference between what are ordinarily termed good, and the best specimen grofiim
plants. The fact was there clearly demonstrated, that we can grow to perfection in our climate, notwithstanding
the general say to the contrary, the Jioronias and Pimelins of Australia, and the Ericris of Caffraria, for they
were produced in the most magnificent bloom and robust health. Erica Boweana, and Pimelia spectabilis, were
eacli over three feet in diameter. The azaleas were really gorgeous, and the more intertropical examples were
equally represented. Taken as a whole, it is doubtful if such an elegantly-formed and well-grown collection of
plants was ever before seen in the States, and we may hope that the men who produced them will be able to
continue their exertions until the general host of scarecrows, which are too often seen, become numbered with
the things that were. W. C.

Pennsylvania Horticultukal Society. — The stated meeting of this Society was held at Concert Hall, on
Tuesday evening, April \:), 1856, M. W. Baldwin in the chair. The following awards \yere made by the
Committee on Plants and Flowers: —

Roses — twelve plants, twelve varieties — for the best to Henry A. Dreer ; for the second best to John Pollock,
gr. to James Dundas. Azaleas, dwarf variety, Speciitu h I'hml — for the best to the same. Hyacinths, six plants,
six varietie.s — for the best to Peter Kaabe. Pausi<s. i. n |.|,i nis — for the host to Henry A. Dreer ; for the second
best to James Thomas, gr. to Jas. D. Whetham. ( '..//mV/..// !■/ Iin/re P/fints— for the best to Isaac Collins, gr. to
Gen. Patterson ; for the second best to John Pollock. Colltrtion of si.v Plants — for the besttoChds. Sutherland,
gr. to John Anspach. Specimen Plant — for the best to Chas. Sutherland, gr. to John Anspach ; for the second
best to Thos. Robertson, gr. to B. A. Fahnestock. Aew Plants — two dollars for Boronia Druramondii, B. serru-
lata, and Gastrolobium trilobatum, to Thos. Kobertsou. lyiblf. Design, new and tasteful — for the best to Barry
Higgins, gr. to D. R. King. Basket of ctd Fhncers, averaging sixteen inches — for the best to J. J. Habermehl, gr.
to John Lambert. Basket (over sixteen inches) — a special premium of two dollars to Barry Higgins. Bouquets,
over eight inches — a special premium of two dollars to J. J. Habermehl.

Speei'd Premiums. — For a beautiful collection of Verbenas and Stocks, two dollars to J. J. Habermehl ; for a
fine collection of Cinerarias, two dollars to Chas Sutherland ; for a collection of Cinerarias one dollar, and for a
beautiful Seedling Verbena, one dollar to Robert Buist ; for a line collection of Plants, two dollars to Thos.
Robertson; for a collection of Mimula"s, one dollar to James Thomas; for a rare collection of Orchids, three
dollars to John Pollock, and for a beautiful pair of vases filled with Hyacinths, five dollars to Peter Ra:ibe.

By the Committee on Fruits. Special Premiums — five dollars, for two varieties of Grape Vines, in full fruit,

the Grizzly Rontignac, and Black Hamburgh, grown in pots, to Wm. Bright, gr. to Jos. S. Levering ; three dollars,
for a display of cut bunches for grapes, consisting of five varieties : Hamburgh, Frankiuthal, Cochin China,
White Funtignac, and White Muscat, to Mark Hill, gr. to M. W. Baldwin.

The Committee called the attention of tlie Society to specimens of Peaches preserved in tin cans, hermetically
sealed, which retained the flavor of the fresh fruit to a remarkable degree, presented by Edward Tatuall, of
Wilmington, Del.

By the Committee on Vegetables. Cucumbers, two specimens — for the best to Mark Hill, gr. to M. W. Baldwin.
Spi'iilal Premium — one dollar, for six heads of fine Lettuce, to J. J.'Habermehl.

Fiiur gentlemen were elected resident members.

OiijECTS EXHIBITED. — Plants from the conservatory of Gen. Patterson — collection of twelve — Azalea, a white
Seedling, Chorozema varium, Acacia pulchella, A. speciosissima, A. coccinea, A. elegans. Begonia sanguinea, B.
raanicata, Franciscea latifolia, Euphorbia splendens, and White Banksia Rose. Specimen — Yellow Banksia
Rose.

From James Dundas's houses. — Collection of twelve — Cuphea platycentra. Genista hybrida, Centradenia rosea,
Begonia nitida, B. laperousia, B. manicata, Gardenia Stanleyana, Franciscea eximia, Chorozema varium, Vinca
alba, Mahernia picta, and Cyrtoceras multiflora. Specimens — Conoclinum ianthemum, dwarf Azalea variegata.
Orchids — Phalanopsis grandiflora, Cattleya margiuata, Deudrobium agregatum, and Oncidium tiexuosum.
Twelve Roses — Terre de St. Cyr, Cels, Compte de Paris, Devoniensis, Souvenir do Malmaisou, Lyonais, Madam
Bousanque, Agrippina, Hermosa, Vicompt de Cayes, Satfrana, and Aurora.

From B. A. Fahnestock's greenhouses. — Collection of twelve— Polygala, Dalmatiana, Epacris liBvigata, Tro-
pjeolum Jaretii, Chorozema varium, C. elegans, A. albo-maculata, A. splendens, Cytisus racemosus. Geranium
Jehu superbum, Mahernia odorata. Camellia de Etna superba, and Correa speciosa. Specimen — Pimelia specta-
bilis. Neio Plants — Boronia Drummondii, B. serrulata, and Gastralobium trilobatura.

From John Anspach's houses. — Collection of .six — Ixora coccinea, Franciscea confertiflora, Azalea variegata,
Bletia Tankervilliie, Deiitzia gracilis, and Stretilzia reginse. Specimen — Tropaeolum tricolorum, Azalia indica
allia, and a number of Cinerarias.

From John Lambert's houses. — A collection of Verbenas and Stocks.

By Henry A. Dreer. — Twelve Roses — Lion du Combat, Madame Elliott, Madame Remont, Brion, Madame Braay,
Bougere, Hermosa, Archduke Charles, Madame Bredell, Solfatere, Phaloe, and Fortune's Double Yellow, and ten
Pansies.

By Robert Buist. — Six fine Cinerarias and a Seedling Verbena (Jack).

From James D. Whetham's. — Collection of ten Pansies, and another of Miniuli.

By Peter Raabe. — Two very large vases of Hyacinths, growing in moss, and twelve pots of Hyacinths.

fiesigns, &c. — By D. R. King's gr. — A beautiful and novel table design, and a fine basket of flowers.

By J. J. Habermehl. — A basket, and pair of bouquets.

By Robert Kilvington. — A bouquet.

By J. F. Knorr's gr. — Three bouquets, not in competition.

Fruit. — From Jos. S. Lovering's grapery. — Two pots of Grape-vines in fruit — the Hamburgh and Frontignac.

From M. W. Baldwin's. — Cut bunches of five kinds of Grapes.

From E. Tatnall, of Wilmington, Del. — Cans of preserved Peaches, hermetically scaled, preserving the freshness
of tlie fruit.

VegetrMes. — By M. W. Baldwin's gr. — Cucumbers and Lettuce.

From John Anspach's. — HoUoway's Defiance Cucumbers.

From D. R. King's. — Mushrooms.

From John Lambert's. — Fine Lettuce.

JUNE.

BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS.

Vegetable Garden. — Tliinning, hoeing, and cultivating the growing crops, are the princi-
pal routine operations. Fork the ground between the rows of onions, carrots, and, indeed,
all crops that it is desirable to keep in active growth, and the drier the weather, the more
necessary the operation. The advantage of drained soils will again be apparent from the
continued vigor and growth of the plants upon them. The increased porosity of the soil,
consequent upon the admission of air to all its parts, enables it to absorb, to its fullest ex-
tent, the rain-water as it falls from the clouds. On the other hand, undrained lands (unless
gravel or sand) cannot absorb an appreciable quantity of water during a heavy summer
shower. It runs off at the surface to the lowest point ; for this reason, drained lands really
contain and have constantly present, more moisture than those unventilated.

Par.snips and beets may' be transplanted to fill up vacancies ; these will grow readily, if
dull weather can be had for their removal ; if not, pick off most of their leaves, to lessen
their evaporating surface.

Celery. — Young plants, at least for the early crops, should be transplanted from the seed-
bed into a rich pulverized soil ; set them about three inches apart, and they will remove
with small balls of roots when wanted for final planting.

The striped bug is frequently on hand just as young melon and cucumber plants are at
their most tendei-^ stage. We "have seen them completely routed by watering the plants
a liquid mortar of clayey soil and cow manure, without any apparent injury
plants.

Mdlcuiko. — If possible, mulcli between the rows of all crops, short grass from lawns, refuse
hav, leaves — anything, in fact, that will loosely cover the ground, should be employed for
this purpose. This will retain the moisture, and very effectually prevent the growth of
woods.

Hahdy Fkdit. — The results of the past severe winter are now becoming apparent. Young
fruit-trees that were seemingly unhurt, and commenced growth as usual, have jjroduced a
few sickly leaves, of a yellowish color, and ceased growing. On examination, it will be
found that the bark is discolored, and parts easily from the wood, especially on the south
side of the stem. They should be cut down at once to healthy wood.

Peaks on Quikce. — Tliere are various opinions on the merits of so-called dwarf pears. "We
are too liable, in our horticultural zeal, to push matters to extremes. It requires a long
series of well-tried and closely observed experiments to establish a horticultural fact. With
the same treatment, a Bartlett will fruit as early on the pear as a Glout Morceau on the
quince stock, and, in nine out of ten cases, the latter will excel the former in growth. No
doubt, grafting the pear on the quiitce was at first resorted to, with a view of rendering a
fcAv of tlie most luxuriant growing varieties more productive, and their success led to an
indiscriminate use of the quince as a stock for the pear, without reference to the degree of
vigor possessed by the numerous varieties. The same has happened with roses, and budded
roses are now condemned by many, although amateur rose growers well know that many of
their finest sorts are never seen in their greatest perfection, unless grafted on a suitable
stock. Many pears grow with great vigor even on quince, and, unless skilfully managed
during summer, by checking growth, they will not fruit earlier than when on a pear stock.*

The most essential point in the culture of fruit-trees undoubtedly lies in summer pruning.
Without this, our best treatment will not prove continually remunerative.

Strawberries. — Clean away all the young runners, unless required for increase, and keep
the plants distinct, and free of weeds. '

Raspberries. — Thin out the young canes as they grow, and cut out the old stems as soon
as the fruiting season is over.

Grapes. — Pinch the points out of the fruit bearing branches four or five eyes beyond the
fruit, but do not, as yet, disturb any of the lateral, or young side shoots, from the present
year's growth. Thin the branches to one for each shoot. It is a notorious fact, that most
of our hardy grapes are rendered unhealthy and unproductive through excessive cropping.

Grapery. — Thinning the bunches having already been attended to, thinning the berries
will now require attention. Shouldered bunches may require tying up and spreading to
allow the berries to swell. It is difficult to establish definite rules as regards the exact
amount of fruit a vine is able to mature. Attempts have been made to form rules according
to the diameter of the stem. This may be found tolerably accurate when all are under
similar treatment ; but a well-ripened cane, half an inch in diameter, may perfect a crop of
eight lbs., when a cane double the thickness, would not ripen as many ounces. It is not
the quantity or size of shoot that is all-desirable, but its quality as regards matured growth.
The great error, in most of our horticultural advice, is a tendency to generalize upon insuffi-
cient data. It is a mistake for any one to suppose, that what he finds good for his own guid-
ance, under his system of management, will be equally suitable for the million under their
various modes of management. Keep the atmosphere moist by frequently sprinkling the
house with water ; this will tend to prevent mildew, but when it does show itself, use sul-
phur dusted over the hotise. Syringe the vines occasionally, but dashing water through a
force pump on the tender foliage, is not beneficial or natural. Ventilate exclusively by the
top, and leave them open, to a certain extent, both day and night. If managed as above, there
will be no danger of bad colored grapes. " Ventilate early in the morning, and shut up
early in the evening," is common advice, and those who adopt such a course need not be
surprised if their fruit is deficient V)oth in color and flavor. The fruit will ripen earlier when
the temperature is kept cool in the absence of light.

Vines that are treated on the short spur pruning system, must be stopped an eye, or, at
most, two, above the fruit bunch. It is well to encourage all growth that is possible. Close
summer pruning is sooner or later ruinous to the plant if persevered in. We confess to
having advocated a different course several years ago, but experience, that best of all moni-
tors, has taught us otherwise, and, as a celebrated writer has remarked, " of what use is life
without the hope of improvement ?"

* [The period when dwarf trees require attention from the pinclier having arrived, we refer the learner to
Barry's book of frnits, and particularly to the volume of the Horticulturist for 1853, page 254, for informa-

the subject. — Ed.]

.■di^-

I BUVFUM" PEAR. 2 BKURRE RAITTAIS PEAR

DECENNIAL.

THE HORTICULTURIST.

ROBABLY there have been few periodicals of its limited
circulation that have had around it a more attached and
select list of readers. It was pojmlar, in the truest sense,
from the moment it was known ; though it never at-
tained a very large patronage in comparison with some
works of similar price, it found at once an apprecia-
tive audience all over the country. Like a new railroad
through a not over populous tract, it made its own cus-
tomers, if we leave out of view the few who were found
ready-made ; but the latter were not numerous. As
time progressed, the tract settled, the passengers in-
creased, and, with every rolling year, those numbers
Itiplied. It was undertaken with a view to the public
t it was never very successful, in a commercial view, till the
4, from which period its increase of readers to a reason-
ing point may be dated.

amber was issued on July 1, 1846, just ten years since ; it
ged from the press ; its plan has been adhered to with
iation ; its topics are much the same as they were at first ; the
progress of knowledge that has been made by cultivators, is regularly
marked in its pages ; in some things, on which the ideas of many were crude and
unformed, principles have been established ; the writers themselves have made
progress ; false notions have given place to correct views ; in rural architecture,
the best lessons have been taught, and are largely practised. In some matters,
the standard is so well established, that it would be useless to dwell any longer
upon them, while new topics are constantly coming forward, where, indeed, the
topics are Inexhaustible.

In Pomology, and all the branches of fruit culture, the Horticulturist has been
a pioneer ; aided by the best minds in the country, this topic early attracted
attention, and its founder, in this pursuit, was an acknowledged master, under
whose direction the subject was safe. The strides made in this department are per-
fectly astonishing. And yet this ten years has been a period of a most desperately
fought battle, in which it is to be regretted that the pomologists have been very
partially the conquerors. The armies and implements em})loyed for the siege have
been pigs, poultry, and mallets; for powder, lime and sulphur; tree quaking and
shaking, and the whole paraphernalia of deadly weapons have not routed the
enemy, who, from the crescent-shaped puncture he makes in our fruits, is called
" The Turk," Most heroically has he stood the siege, looking down upon his
enemies with an equanimity and contempt highly creditable to his stoicism. The
curculio has been a more " fruitful" topic of this work than any other ; it is quite
curious to trace in its pages the progress of the war ; the bulletins, proclamations,
sieges, mines, syringings, hard knocks, and anathemas, that have been expended
in vain ; he remains very much master of the field, not having been alarmed in
the least by the committee appointed to blow him up, or the secret remedy which
has been held so long in tcrrorum over his head. He is the wealthiest enemy ever
attacked, being worth millions of plums!

Vol. VI.— July, 1856.

20

In architecture, the work soon took a position which produced the happiest re-
sults. The mock Grecian fiisliion, then at its liei^'^ht, foil like a pack of loose cards ;
tlio IforticidtHrist was soon an authority to coax or to shame the builder in the coun-
trv. We do not mean to say, that every one of the desif^ns presented in the work
was perfect — far from it. The editor, as must be the case with all successful con-
ductors of the press, was himself a leafier * yet he enunciated so many truths,
that the public taste was, at least, bent in the ri[!:ht direction. But for this effort,
our extensive land would have been strewed witli abortive attempts at the sublime,
the beautiful, and the iirodii;-ious. Perfection is not to be reached in a ten years'
journey in any great art, but we are much nearer to it than we were in those days
of ignorant pretension, and consequent erroneous execution.

Gardening has received an impetus during this decade that is very marked. The
experience of " old diggers" and young delvers, has been freely communicated —
line upon line, and jtrecept upon precept, till here, too, we have settled some
]»rinciples of the greatest moment, and we now produce, with the aid of guano and
i)L'tter adapted manures than formerly, nearly twice as much in a garden of given ex-
tent, and more valuable products by far than we did a few years ago; this too, at
less cost, and of better quality. The strawberry culture is improved and under-
stood, and better varieties have become abundant. New introductions of vari-
ous kinds have been adopted, and in all cases this periodical has been the pioneer
in announcing the coming benefit, no less than in recording the best modes for its
culture.

It is very true in this as in architecture, we have yet much to learn ; it is also
true, that like good scholars, we are conning over our lessons with praiseworthy
attention, but, in the midst of it all, it is remarkable that we let some things that
we once knew slip by us and be forgotten. As an instance : in an early number,
we were informed that the best Black Hamburgh Grapes were obtained, and prizes
given for them, from a mere shed built on a fence for the back, and with the melon
frames, when done with in spring, used for the roofs ; and yet, we still go on with
expensive buildings for raising grapes, and have, not yet ])roduced the foreign fruit
in such abundance as to be either cheap or plenty ; on the contrary, these grapes
command double the price they did in 1846. How is this ? The necessity for
glass at all, is to prevent mildew; it may yet be found, that a fence and prepared
or oiled muslin, will answer every purpose, as we know that, in some seasons, these
foreigners succeed very well without any covering whatever. But this in paren-
thesis, and by the way, for there are many forgotten good things in the ten past
volumes, as we can testify after a recent careful reperusal of the whole. f

A marked improvement has taken place within the period we are commenting
on, in the cliaructe.r of the nursery business, and the nurserymen engaged in it.
Not that all have Ijecome more honest, for there were many good men in the
business before ; but we allude to the correctness with which fruit-trees are named
and sold. The kinds of fruits are now so much better known and understood,
that to be successful, the nurseryman has to be correct ; honesty is his best policy,
as it is known to be in other matters ; formerly, detection was more difficult,

* To teacli is to learn ; according to an old experience, it is the very best mode of learning
— the surest and the shortest. And hence, perhaps, it may be, that in the middle ages,
bv the monkish word scholaris was meant, indifferently, he that learned, and he that
taught.

t It is a work of reference as well as for its regular monthly reading, that the Horticulturist
is especially valuable. We have been much pleased to find the whole ten volumes extremely
interesting, and cannot point out any other periodical work that bears a reperusal so
A complete set is a valuable possession, now rare.

HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF THE HORTICULTURIST.

because neither the purchaser nor his neighbors could tell whether he had been
deceived or not.

One great benefit of the work was its calling forth the latent talent of numerous
writers who had no suitable vehicle through which to communicate with kindred
minds. In a pursuit where there should be no patents, and where but few are
ever taken out, a pursuit the pleasure of which is so eminently enhanced by
sympathy and association, it was to be expected that good and true disciples would
be willing to distribute their information. It has so proved.

The example was highly beneficial to the farming interests throughout the
States. In theory, the sister arts are the same ; when this periodical taught the
true modes of going to work, and that it could be conducted without petty jealousies
and wranglings, the agricultural caught some of the tone and spirit of the horti-
cultural mind ; books on agriculture have multiplied immensely, and are read by
thousands who have happily discarded the old opinion, that book knowledge was
only fitted for what are called professional men ; getting rid of that fancy is a
great good. That horticulture is not as prominent or as popular a topic as
agriculture, is proved by the great increase of periodicals on the latter, and the slow
multiplication of the former. Various attempts have been made, almost yearly,
to graft other horticultural periodicals on the public tree, but all of them have
been unsuccessful ; they lived a sickly, short-lived existence, got " the blight,"
and were cut down. So far, the Horticulturist, and Hovey's Magazine, the latter
a forerunner of Downing's, are the sole representatives of their species in America.

We have alluded to the slow though regular increase of the patrons of this
work ; as we wish to have no concealments with our readers, we may again state
that the increase in its circulation is steady and gratifying. More than a thousand
additional names have been added since the year just expired came in, when it was
placed in the hands of the present publisher ; the prospect is now certain that its
patrons will number between five and six thousand before the close of the present
volume.*

The custom pursued by the publishers of this work, is the true one to insure a
wholesome circulation. At the expiration of the year, the subscription book is
thrown aside, and a new one procured, in which the names are entered as pay-
ments are made, so that it is not sent, from year to year, to persons who do not
desire to receive it ; the publisher knows that all who get it, want it. This method
is not the one which counts the largest number of subscribers, but, in a circle of
readers extending over the whole Union, and even beyond it, this method is found
to be the most satisfactory to all parties. We mention it now, because some
regular readers did not understand their non-reception of the January number, and
wrote to the editor to inquire.

It would be easy to prove that it is strongly the interest of men engaged in the
sale of fruit and ornamental trees, and flowers, to promote our circulation,
because the more a taste is diffused for horticulture, the greater must be the
demand for their products. When Lindley's Gardeners^ Chronicle was first
issued, the most ignorant gardeners of England concluded that the more informa-

* Some readers who liave not taken tlie work frotn the commencement, are sometimes
puzzled to know how the Horticulturist numbered ten volumes in nine and a half years. It
commenced July 1, 184(;, but it was found, that to date from January to December was a
more convenient arrangement to both subscriber and publisher, and the last six months of
1850, or half a year, was called a volume, for the purpose of commencing in January, 1851,
with a new one ; so that, though this is the eleventh volume, to-day commences the decen
nial or tenth year of its existence. The original price was three dollars a year, without any
colored edition, and with illustrations very inferior in execution to the present

tion ffWon to the employer, tlie less would be the dematicl for tlieir services I This
absurd idea was easily dissipated, and time has auiply jiroved its error. It has
even been argued successfully, that it will answer a ^.^lod ]»urpose to the nursery-
man to f/ire ((irat/\\\s products for a time, till neighborhoods have imbibed a taste
for their possession. These are great steps in a forward direction.

As Dr. Ward remarked, in his first article on the Culture of the Pear, " the
rubbish is but just cleared away." Tliis will apply to otlier horticultural topics ;
l)Ooks are now multiplied on horticultural subjects to an extent that was unheard
of ten years ago ; we have separate reliable works on the Pear, the Grape, the
Apple, the Peach, the Cherry, Strawberry, and even the Cranberry and Black-
berry, and a handbook on Ornamental Trees, and many on Flowers and Gardening
in general ; these are so cheap as to be accessible to all, and most of them may
date their existence to the taste created by the Horticulturist* Then we have the
State and the Pomological reports, annually giving the collected wisdom of the most
practical men, for reference and study ; the news]iapers, too, have taken up our
topics ; the ball set in motion, the discussion and comparison of facts has cleared
the atmosphere ; what is yet needed is doing, or to be done, by practical minds,
leaving the -^o/Y/c?//f;/mUo chronicle results rather than entirely to pioneer opinion,
or more than suggest future action. The rubbish being cleared away, Pomology
an established science, and every year revealing its facts, the present and future
course of this work is one of pleasure ; the walks arc dug, the stone drains laid,
the gravel is placed and rolled, and we are in the position of visitors to a culti-
vated garden, with liberty to amuse and enjoy ourselves ; to point out improve-
ments annually, select our best fruits and most imposing trees and shrubbery, and
as good fortune and science offer an opportunity, or bring something better.
Impart the knowledge to one's neighbors ; the house is built, the dirt of the cellar
is carted away, and, under these circumstances, the position of the resident is a
pleasure rather than a task ; such wc feel it to be, and while we can count as many
friends and interested contributors and readers as the last year has assembled
around us, however incompetent to the whole scope of its duties, we hope, and
intend to be contented and happy in our chair.

BUFFUM PEAR.f

If, in the classification of fruits, we take in consideration not only the quality,
but the vigor of the tree, its constant fertility, its fitness to succeed in almost
all kinds of soils, and to yield handsome, healthy crops, certainly the Buffum must
take a prominent rank in the catalogue of good pears.

As an orchard tree, in a pyramidal, or widely spread shape, perhaps it is
unrivalled. As a good bearer, we can safely depend upon its crops. Grafted on
the quince, or on the standard, it soon sets to bearing, and those bearing habits
keep up with the vigorous development of the tree.

The original tree in Mr. Prescott Ilall's fine residence at Newport, Rhode Island,
is still vigorous, although not in a well-selected spot, being too close to one of the

* A publislier has oven found it to his advantage to devote his energies, and a large estab-
lishment, to the publication of books devoted to horticulture and kindred subjects. C. M.
Saxton & Co. disseminate, annually, information on the subject, that will compare, in
amount, with that of the whole of Europe — not so much in expensive and magnificent pub-
lications as in usefulness. Tlie more recherche will come in time ; the demand for Michaux
and Nuttall's costly Sylva is increasing annually ; a fact in itself that speaks strongly of
progressive study and interest.

t See Frontispiece.

stone walls of Mr. H.'s new building. We horticulturists have to thank that gentle-
man for the special care he took of the fine parent tree, which continues to yield
abundant crops. As a proof of the vigor of the variety, we can state that there
are to be found many trees grafted on the pear stock from the scions of the parent,
which are now as large, and better filled than the original seedling.

The Buffum pear is middle sized, obovate, tapering a little toward the stem. The
skin is dull green, overspread with russet, which color goes over to yellow ochre,
and dull brown, occasionally dotted or tinged with red and rich brown, when the
fruit is about to ripen. The ripening process is slow, and can be retarded by
keeping the fruit in cool places without danger of sudden decay ; this is almost
always the case with fruit of a firm, heavy texture.

Flesh firm, but melting and juicy, with a very pleasant peculiar flavor, and
sweetness enough ; a little grit around the core is the only defect, which will
perhaps be removed by longer cultivation. In some localities the Buffum grows
to a larger size, and we could not find that this artificial increase took away any
of its rich qualities, as is so often the case with pears and apples. We can safely
recommend the Buffum as an orchard or a garden fruit. It can be barrelled, as
the Lawrence, when picked in proper season, and carried to distant markets with-
out injury ; the pear, when full grown, but still green, being as firm and as solid
as any market fruit ought to be.

BEURRE NANTAIS— BEUHRE DE NANTES PEAH.*

One of the very best of the lately imported varieties ; this fruit seems fitted to
our climate, as it is found as good in Rochester as in Massachusetts and New Jer-
sey. Fruit, long, pyriform, sometimes a little obovate, richly colored with green,
yellow, and crimson. Skin, smooth and glossy. Stem, about one inch, and vai-y-
ing, slender, mostly not inserted. Calyx, open in a shallow, wide basin. Flesh,
melting, very juicy, richly flavored, sweet, pleasant, and without any grit or coarse-
ness. Ripens about the beginning of September, and, as all pears of that season,
should be picked when grown to its full size, but before the process of ripening
commences. We cannot insist too much on the necessity of picking the summer
and early fall pears in proper time. Much first-rate fruit is spoiled by being
picked too late. With very few exceptions, no pear ought to ripen on the tree.
Summer pears soon completely decay when left to ripen on the branches ; fall
fruit is blown off, or ripens badly, and is more exposed to all kinds of injuries, and
winter pears will not improve after the leaves have been attacked by the first fall
frosts.

ROOT GRAFTING ROSES.

BY ROBERT MESTON, ASHWOOD, TENN.

Mr. Editor : In the Horticulturist (Jan. T, 1856), you publish a short jiiece on
" Root Grafting Roses," by " an English gardener ;" as I have practised this
mode of propagating the rose for the past ten years, I forward you a detail of my
experience.

I adopted the mode somewhat from necessity, as I could not afford to wait the
slow process of buds and cuttings ; and, as fruit-trees did so well by root grafting,
it occurred to me that roses would do equally so.

The best kinds of roots I have ever used for the purpose, were taken from a

* See Frontispiece.

GRAFTING BY APPROACH.

wild species, very common about Nashville, probably the original ])rairie rose of
the gardens ; but any strong growing roots from tlic strong growing kinds will
do ; choosing those from a quarter to one inch through, and cutting them in pieces
of from four to six inches long. Rub olf the thorns on the back of the scion, as
far as the bandage will extend, with the back of the knife. Make the cut on the
root about two and a half inches long, and the cut on the scion to correspond,
using the same process as in apyde grafting.

I generally prepared my ground for jjlanting the previous fall or winter, select-
ing a piece of sod when I could, and trenching it up 18 inches or two feet deep.
As early as possible in spring, I lined the ground off into beds five feet wide, and
planted the grafted roots one foot apart in tlie row, and two feet from row to row.
Care must be taken to make the plants firm in the ground, leaving one or two
eyes only out.

As soon as the buds begin to push, loosen the surface of the soil with a hoe.
Pinch out all the flower-buds as they appear, and when they have made shoots six
or eight inches long, pinch them back. In the fall, after a growth of only six
months, these plants will be from two to five feet high, according to the strength
of the variety.

I have more particularly alluded to the remontants, mosses, and hardy garden
roses ; and these varieties, I am perfectly well satisfied, after years of experience,
can be propagated in no way with such ease and rai)idity as by this.

The other varieties I have, for the most part, rooted in jiots. The Noisettes, I
have found, do better than the Tea or Bourbons ; in fact, the kinds which produce
the stoutest wood do best by root grafting.

I may remark, that when the graft grows, the stock root never suckers ; but
when the scion dies, the roots nevertheless grow, showing that that variety can
be propagated by the roots.

[An excellent practical article. — Ed.]

GRAFTING BY APPROACH.

BY PROFESSOR EDWARD NORTH, HAMILTON COLLEGE, CLINTON, NEW YORK.

More than two hundred methods of grafting are described by the horticultural
artists of France, a large share of them being curious rather than useful. Graft-
ing by approach is an oi>cration easily performed, and, in some cases, preferable
to any other. Its peculiarity is in the fact, that the scion is not separated from
the parent stool until after its union with the stock, or that the stems of two
trees are united, while each retains its original roots.

The history of approach grafting may be traced l)ack to a remote antiquity.
Those who first practised it, probably followed a hint furnished by nature. In
the forest, we sometimes meet with examples of grafting by accidental approach.
Two branches crossing each other, are rubbed together by the wind, until the
bark is mutually removed at the points of contact. A period of calm weather
follows, and the two branches unite. The roots of trees frequently grow together
in like manner.

In the process of grafting by approach, the steps to be taken are these: 1.
Remove a part of the bark and wood from each of the branches that are to be
joined. These wounds should answer to each other in shape and size ; should bo
neatly cut ; and should reach through the sap wood, and sometimes even to the pith.

2. The wounded parts should be brought together, so that they shall exactly
cover each other, and touch at all points.

THE UPAS TREE.

3. The united branches are to be kept firmly together by means of ligatures
and props.

4. Grafting wax should be applied, to keep out air and moisture.

5. The scion should not be separated from the stool until its union with the
stock is complete. This will ordinarily happen at the end of a year. Sometimes,
when the parts unite reluctantly, the ligatures should be allowed to remain until
the end of a second year.

It is in favor of this kind of grafting that it can be performed in midsummer.
The opening of spring is, however, the most propitious time.

In forming live palisades or hedges, grafting by approach is especially useful.
Young trees or shrubs with straight and flexible stems, are planted near to each
other in rows, and then so bent that they cross each other after the manner of
lattice-work. At the points of intersection, wounds are made as above described,
and the stems are kept firmly together by means of ligatures and wax. In time,
the interstices of this trellis-work will be filled up with small shoots, and the
whole will form a living hedge more compact and impenetrable than any other.
The most favorable subjects for this kind of grafting are the hornbeam, beech,
elm, privet, willow, and their like.

When fruit-trees are to be grafted by the approach method, the subject must
be planted beside a stool, or placed near to it in a pot.

In other respects, the process will be similar. At the end of a year, the head
of the subject can be cut off just above the point of contact, and the graft just
below. The subject is then removed to its permanent place. It is only in rare
cases that fruit growers will resort to this troublesome method.

THE UPAS TREE.

BY W. S.

I "WAS glad to see in that article, fertile of thought and facts, the visit to Kew
Gardens that you had a favorable word for the tlpas tree (Antiaris toxicaria).
It has had fearful qualities attached to it by some travellers, but these exaggera-
tions have been proved to exist wholly in fancy, and in the love of the marvellous
with which travellers were wont to excite the curiosity of their readers. The
juice of the Upas is a virulent poison, and, when mixed with the blood, is speedily
fatal to animal life. It is a native of Java, where also there is a tract of country,
which, owing to a constant emission of carbonic acid gas from its surface, is
totally uninhabitable by animals, and even destructive to vegetation. These two
independent facts have been united and worked up into a tale of mystery and awe.
In the midst of a desert, caused by its own exhalations, and surrounded on all
sides by barren hills, a tree was said to grow, stretching wide its branches, and
reigning in awful majesty over the devastation it had occasioned. Not only were
animals deprived of life by its poisonous effluvia, but for miles around vegetation
was destroyed, and the ground covered with the skeletons of its victims. The
juice of the tree was gathered for envenoming arrow-heads, and the task of col-
lecting it was assigned to criminals under sentence of death, who were pardoned
if they succeeded. By the registers that were kept, it was said that not one in
six returned. Two young trees were said to be the only plants of the same kind
existing in the locality. This was a fit subject for romance and poetry, conse-
quently we find the following in allusion to those fabulous tales : —

"Where seas of glass, with gay reflections smile,
Round the green coast of Java's palmy isle,
A spacious plain extends its upland scene.
Rocks rise on rocks, and fountains gush between ;

BIOUKAl'IlIES OF I'OMOLOGISTS, BOTANISTS, AND GARDENERS

Soft zephyrs blow, eternal summers roign,

And showers prolific bless the soil — in vain !

Fierce, in dread silence, on the blasted lioath

Fell Upas sits — the hydra-tree of death.

Lo ! from one root, the envenomed soil below,

A thousand vegetative serpents grow ;

In shining rays the scaly nionster sjireads

O'er ten square leagues, his far diverging heads ;

Or, in one trunk entwists his tangled form,

Looks o'er the clouds, and hisses in the storm.

Steeped in fell poison, as his sharp teeth part,

A thousand tongues in quick vibration dart ;

Snatch the proud eagle, tow'ring o'er the heath,

Or pounce the lion as he stalks beneath ;

Or strew — as marshalled hosts contend in vain —

With human skeletons the whitened plain.

Chained at his root two scion-demons dwell ;

Breathe the faint hiss or try the shriller yell ;

Rise fluttering in the air ou callow wings,

And aim at insect prey their little stings.

So Time's strong arms, with sweeping scj^the, erase

Art's cumbrous works and empires from their base;

While each young hour its sickle fine employs,

And crops the sweet buds of domestic joys."

Of coarse these poetical fancies have no other foundation than the tales above
noticed. The Upas cannot exist in the poisoned valley any more than other
plants, but flourishes in the woods among other trees. The fact of its growing
harmlessly among other plants in botanical collections under cultivation, is suffi-
cient to dispel all these idle fumes of fancy.

BIOGRAPHIES OF DISTINGUISHED POMOLOGISTS,
BOTANISTS, AND GARDENERS.

It is the intention of the editor of this work to prepare, occasionally, short
biographies of men who have been distinguished in the walks of Pomology, Botany,
Gardening, &c. The number of these will depend upon the material that may
be accessible ; they will be, perhaps, distributed over a considerable period, but
in no instance shall they emljrace the names of living individuals.

We have prepared two such : the first is that of William Coxe, the able pomo-
logist, of Burlington, N. J., whom we well remember, and who was connected with
the writer by marriage ; the second will be the life of J. C. Loudon, the eminent
Botanist and writer on Gardens and Gardening ; the latter will l)e accompanied by a
handsome portrait. The materials for his life have been supplied by his widow, in a
most agreeable form, though on too extensive a scale for this periodical. We have
been obliged to omit some unessential particulars of Mr. Loudon's career connected
with local matters, but we can promise the reader, when it appears, a vast amount
of information in this history of one of the most industrious and indefatigable men
that ever lived to adorn a profession. To-day, we present a short sketch of

WILLIAM COXE, THE POMOLOGIST.

William Coxe, Esq., of Burlington, New Jersey, was the pioneer pomologist of
America. His work is entitled : " A View of the Cultivation of Fruit-Trees, and
the Management of Orchards and Cider, with accurate descriptions of the most
estimable varieties of native and foreign apples, pears, peaches, plums, and chcr-
cultivated in the Middle States of America — illustrated by cuts of two hun-
kinds of fruits of the natural size," was printed in Burlington, and published

BIOGRAPHIES OF POMOLOGISTS, BOTANISTS, AND GARDENERS.

by M. Carey & Son, in 181t. It is a work exhibiting study, nice observation,
and an amount of practical knowledge highly creditable to the research of the
author; it continues to be valued by pomologists, and to be quoted by them with
approbation. The author left among his papers considerable additions, the result
of his succeeding efforts to promote the cultivation of fruit.

Mr. Coxe was born in Philadelphia, May 3, 1162 ; his father's name was "Wil-
liam, and his mother's was Mary Frances ; their names will be recognized by
Philadelphians, as belonging to families of the first stations, and having preten-
sions to be enrolled among the best informed, and most refined circles.

An early grant of the Jerseys was made by the English crown to an ancestor
of Mr. Coxe, but was afterwards revoked from an idea that it was too large a
gift to be held by a private individual. A large tract given in exchange near
the northern lakes was accepted, a part of which has continued in the family until
very recently.

He received a most imperfect education. The war, which eventuated in the
glorious liberty of our country, in its early stages checked all efforts for private
improvement, and few or no good schools were open for the instruction of the
youth of the land. At nine years of age, he, with some small assistance from
a member of his family, began his efforts to acquire' knowledge, and being truly
industrious, laid the foundation of a remarkably accurate and extended informa-
tion; his fondness for reading continued through life. Well do we remember
his extensive library in his fine mansion on the " Bank" at Burlington, when,
as a little boy, we were assigned the duty of bringing away, or taking home, some
book or pamphlet from his ever open stores of information. Years, we will not
say how many, have since rolled over us, and all but whitened a head even then
prying into gardens and conservatories with pleasurable sensations ; we have since
stood before kings, and the mighty of the earth, but never have felt greater respect
and veneration for them than we did when a boy for William Coxe. His person
was handsome, and his bearing that of the "old-fashioned" gentleman, improved
by mixing in the best society, but retaining the forms of the greatest politeness
and suavity, that modern usages are too rapidly casting off.

An errand to Mr. Coxe's was a cherished privilege; never was the opportunity
neglected by him, to place in the hand of his visitor some fruit that he so well
knew would ))e appreciated by a youthful appetite. The finest Seckel pears we
have ever seen were not unfrequent deposits ; for this fine fruit he had an especial
fondness ; and, by careful cultivation, he had brought it to great perfection ; it is
by the absence of this cultivation that it has depreciated, and hy this alone.

In 1789, Mr. Coxe married Rachel Smith, a most estimable and benevolent
lady, a descendant of the first and honorable settlers of that district of New
Jersey, a name that was so well known there, and so numerous, that a fine old
French emigre used to say, that when any one spoke to him, in Burlington, whom
he did not recognize, he always took off his hat, and said : " How do you do,
3Ir. Smith!" Mr. Coxe, at the time of his marriage, was settled as a merchant
in Philadelphia, but being unfortunate in business, he removed to Burlington,
where he improved his wife's large property, and materially beautified that ])retty
little town, now a city, particularly by extending the front of the "Green Bank,"
and planting it tastefully with fine trees ; either the first poplar or the first willow
there, his daughter remembers him frequently to have said, was brought in his
hand from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The natural activity of his mind, and his strong desire for improvement, led him
to the cultivation of fruit, which he introduced in his collection from all parts of tl
United States, as well as from England and France. His orchards and his

BIOORAPniES OF POMOLOOISTS, BOTANISTS, AND OARDENEUS.

were the talk of the country. So frequent were the demands upon bis time for
information, and the recjucsts for grafts, tliat lie determined to give the results of
his experience in the form of jiriiit ; the volume now so celebrated, and so scarce,
was the result. lie i)reviously enliuhtened his fellow-citizens by furnishin<:^ tho
capital for a nursery business, consigning it to the hands of a partner, Daniel
Smith, one of whose lists of trees, for the year 18UG, is now before us, and is quite
a curiosity in itself.

Mr. Coxe was interested in the profits of the nursery, but formed, ])erbaps,
erroneous views of the demand for that period ; the sales never amounted to more
thau five thousand dollars a year; the half profits on this could have been of little
moment to a gentleman then living in the style of the wealthiest people of the
period, l)ut it was in the line of his studies so to do, and we all know, that for a
favorite hobby wc can attempt anything we fancy. The business not l)eing of
sullicient moment, it was abandoned to his partner, who continued it for some
years with moderate success.

Mr. Coxe was made an honorary member of the Horticultural Society of Lon-
don, and received, annually, their splendid works, with' colored engravings, ia
consequence of his making known to the members the great value of the Seckel
pear, a painting of which, executed by one of the accomplished members of his
family, was sent by him through Dr. Hosack to that Institution ; but in a few
years, he declined this honor, being unwilling to receive their valuable publications
for so trifling a contrilnition.

He was for many years a member of the State Legislature, and afterwards was
elected a member of Congress about the time of the last war with England, where
he was intimately associated with DanielWebster, and one of his earliest admirers.
Some unfortunate investments in real estate induced him to consider it prudent
to dispose of his beautiful residence in Burlington, and remove to his farm on the
borders of the Delaware, near the town, which he improved and cultivated with
great interest. The cider made there, much of it from his favorite crab-aitple,
was sought after from all parts of the country, and made as much noise in the
then little American world, as the wine of Ohio does now.

From this period he led a very retired life — devoted to his family and his books,
always manifesting a warm interest in the church of which he was a member, and
keenly alive to the comfort of the poor families by whom he was surrounded, fre-
quently making sacrifices to give them employment, especially through the winter
mouths.

A sudden and violent cold, terminating in bronchitis, caused his death on the
25th of February, 1831, in the 69th year of his age. He left several children,
one of whom, Richard Smith Coxe, has made a considerable figure at the bar, and
is a resident of Washington, D. C. One of his daughters is the wife of Bishop
Mcllvaine, of Ohio.

Such is the bare outline of the life of William Coxe, the pioneer of American
pomology, on which it would be useless to enlarge further than to say that his
book is a very good one. Much that we moderns plume ourselves upon as new,
is old. Even Evelyn, in 1686, said: "Water lately planted trees, and put moist
and half-rotten fern, &c., about the foot of their stems, having first cleared chem
of weeds and a little stirred the earth." This is our modern "mulching" and
"stirring." Again, in October, he says: "Trench grounds for orcharding, and
the kitchen garden, to lie for a winter mellowing." This is now ranch insisted on.
" Gather winter fruit, that remains, weather dry ; take heed of bruising; lay them
up clean lest they taint." Evelyn, too, has his select list of pears, as foil
"Messire Jean, Lord-pear, long Bergamot, Warden (to bake). Burnt-cat, S

pear, Lady-pear, Ice-pear, Dove-pair, Deadmans-pear, Winter bergamot, Bell-
pear, etc.;" no doubt great "acquisitions" in their day. His apples, too, were
doubtless sought after under the following appellations: "Rousseting, Leather-
coat, Winter reed, Chestnut apple, Great-belly, the Go-no-further or Cat's-head,"
&c. In January, you are to "set your traps for vermin ; especially in your nur-
series of kernels and stones, and amongst your bulbous roots," and in December,
"As in January, continue your hostility against vermin." Perhaps if these good
rules were observed now, we should hear less of the depredations of mice.

In short, though Pomology has made immense strides in our day, the more the
subject is looked into, the more will it be found that we are often treading in the
footsteps of our ancestors. Mr. Coxe's treatise deserves every praise that can
be given to it, considering its date, and we are sure the most modern of our fruit-
growers may still consult it with advantage, though it has been pretty thoroughly
culled by recent authors. Among the advantages they can claim is the descrip-
tion of the best and more modern varieties, with a more thorough knowledge of
the best modes of planting, pruning, and cultivation.

< • • » »

DWARF PEARS.

BY "WILLIAM BACON, RICHMOND, MASS.

With many it appears to be an unsettled question whether the propagation of
pears on the quince is to meet with sufficient success to warrant increasing atten-
tion. In settling the matter to our satisfaction, there are several points to be
considered before adopting any definite conclusion.

In the first place, we must consider the manner of working the pear upon the
stock through which it is to receive its future nourishment. We have noticed
that different nurserymen have different ways of doing the thing. In some in-
stances we have seen them inoculated from six to ten inches from the ground,
thus leaving a long shank of the quince, whose growth is slow, between the pear
wood and the root. Now, we hold that, under judicious management, the quince,
whose roots become the base of the tree, will attain to a great age, and so will
the pear. But this horrid shank between the root of the former and the place of
union with the latter, breaks all connection by its comparative slow growth
between their prosperity and the advancement of the one through the nourishment
of the other, by not affording sufficient strength to sustain the top which has
risen from it, and for a like reason, being unable to give the nourishment the in-
creasing growth of the pear demands. Hence, the pear becomes sickly, a sepa-
ration at the point of improper union commences, and death follows. Then come
bitter denunciations against dwarf trees, and the inexperienced cultivator declares
them all a humbug to get money, and abandons their culture.

There is another class of nurserymen, who either understand their business
better, or act from more honorable principles. These, inoculate their stock nearer
the earth, so that only a little space is left between the root and the uew top.
Such trees, we are confident, can be so managed as to secure a vigorous growth
and a good old age.

In order to secure these objects, the tree should be set so that the whole of
the stock, and a part of the scion will be covered with the earth. With some
kinds of trees, we are aware this operation would be injurious, if not dangerous,
but the habits of the quince, if the soil is favorable, will fully warrant it, as all
ho have cultivated it must be aware from the freedom with which it takes
cuttings. This same freedom will be indulged in by the entire wood

stock, so that an increase of nourisliing: power will be p^iven by jilaiitinj? it under
prronncl. Aiul in this manner of proceeding:, the collar of the tree, or point where
the roots and top are united, will be formed of the more thrifty wood of the pear
— perhaps at the point of inoculation, where, in the course of growth, a change
of habit will develop itself.

It has been held by some writers, whose experience entitles their opinion to full
credit, that when dwarfs are planted out so that a part of the ])ear is covered by
earth, roots will issue from it, which will increase the age and strength of the
tree. Our individual experience is yet too limited to speak confidently on the
subject, yet we are certain that roots will be so thrown out, and where proper
culture is given we can see no satisfactory reason why they will not become
healthy, supporting roots. Admitting it to be so, there can be no doubt but
pears jiropagated in this way will attain an ample size, and fruitful old age.

We have alluded to the dilferent course pursued by nurserymen in propagating
dwarfs. The evils of failure, however, do not rest altogether on their way of
doing things. Cultivators are cpiite too ajot to neglect their labors, and then, in
course of failure, throwback the blame on the nurseryman, his manner of growing,
or taking up his trees, or almost anything else that will excuse their own negli-
gence. How often we have seen the roots of trees warmed in the sun, dried in
the wind for hours before ])lanting out, and then set in holes dug in hard earth
hardly large enough to receive them, and then covered with as much haste as
though they were infected with smallpox, with the very first material that comes
to hand — turf, stone, hard earth — anything that will fill the hole and kill the suf-
fering tree thrown in, while to give it firmness, a half-a-dozen stamps of a heavy
man are made on the earth as the closing act of a hasty operation. When will
men learn that trees are things of life, and possess, in delicate proportions, the
organs of healthy and successful vegetation ? Until they do, there is no wonder
that their trees, allowed to suffer from management so foreign to their nature and
habits, die, and blast the expectations of their murderers.

It is an admitted fact, by those best acquainted with vegetable physiology, we
believe, that all care should be taken in planting out trees to give the root
as much of the ease and freedom of nature as possible, and that the space
unoccupied by the root, not only in juxtaposition, but its surroundings, should
be occupied by a soil best adapted to its future nourishment. The hardy trees of
the forest, to thrive well, require this, and how much more do fruit-trees. That
dwarfs require it in a much greater amount, no one conversant with their growth
and habits will deny. Of course, then, the ground they are to occupy should be
well prepared before they are placed in it, by a thorough subsoiling or deep and
uniform spading, not confined merely to the few feet the tree occupies, but all the
space between the trees. Spading is preferable, because it enables the operator
to disturb the minutest particle of soil, and what is better yet, to invest it com-
pletely, that is, to throw the top soil, well ameliorated by previous culture, to the
bottom, and bring earth which has never felt the rays of the sun, to the surface,
where atmospheric influence will, in due time, improve and fertilize it.

How seldom this thorough preparation of soil is given, we vshall not attempt to
decide, but where it is given, and proper trees are properly planted, we have not
a doubt but the culture of dwarfs may be sufficiently successful to warrant its
adoption in every garden.

In the midst of diseases to which such trees are liable, we have as yet discovered
none but the blight. The trees should be carefully watched to discover its
earliest approach, and as soon as it shows itself, the infected part should all be
removed with a sharp knife, and grafting wax applied over the wound. We '

tried this in a few cases, and in all of them the disease was stopped, and a sound,
healthy bark had entirely covered the wounds in autumn. It requires only just
the amount of time which every cultivator ought, for pleasure's sake, to spend
among his trees daily, and a little close watchfulness to discover the small black
spot in the bark and remove it.

HYBRIDIZING,

BY A. N. WYLIE, CHESTERVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA.

I HAVE been experimenting, for several years, in hybridizing. I have about
fifty trees, some of which have been tested, and the greater number of them will
bear this summer ; they are chiefly peaches and nectarines. My chief purpose is,
to fill up the space between the time of ripening of the heath cling (which ripens
here from 10th of Aug. to the 1st of Sept.) and our peaches, which ripen the last
of Oct. and 1st of Nov. I have, in late falls, seen soft peaches the 15th of Nov.
I am satisfied, that by the process of crossing, we can produce fine varieties,
ripening here from the last of May to the 1st of Nov. I will take occasion, this
summer, to make drawings, and give a full history of the result of my experiments.
Inclosed I send you an exact drawing, as regards size and form, of a peach which
was one of the last three remaining on the tree on the 15th of Sept. ; it was
produced by impregnating the heath cling with a large yellow freestone peach,

PEACU FROM A HEATH CLIXO AKD A YELLOW FKEESTONE.

PRUNING OF PEAR-TREES.

somcwhnt rescmhlirifr Crawford's late malocoton. Tt is a large, heavy freestone
poach, seed sinall, flesh yellow, with ratlior dark-red skin where ex])osed to the
sun, of excellent flavor, and, I think, will ])rovc quite an ac(|uisition for that
season. I have tested two or three very superior varieties, ])ro(luced Ity impreg-
nating the heath cling with the Colunihia. In all my experiments, I find that, in
crossing clingstone and free peaches, the variety produced is always a freestone
— ])roving that the freestone is the original form. Also, in crossing nectarines
and peaches, and I produced a nundjcr, I have never yet produced a smooth-
skinned peach or nectarine ; proving what is already kiiown, that the nectarine
is merely a sport. 1 have some Stanwick nectarines which will bear, or, at least,
bloom, this spring ; it is my intention to cross them with a number of our best
and largest varieties of peaches. A few years ago, I sent for the monstrous Pom-
])onne Peach, for the purpose chiefly of crossing it with other peaches, as it was
represented to be of great size, but I find it is not true, the blossoms being small.
"Will you do me the favor to inform me where the true kind is to be procured ?
My only purpose is to use it as a base for crossing other superior varieties.

I have procured some tubers of the Dioscorea batatas, and have sent for some
tubers of the Dioscorea sativa alata, for the purpose of hybridizing, so as to
produce a large variety suited to our climate. As I have no work which gives
any particular account of the latter varieties, their botanical description, or mode
of cultivation, I would take it as quite a favor to give mc some informatioii on the
subject which may further my object.

PRUNING OF PEAR-TREES.

BY B.

NEW JERSEY.

Barry, in his Fruit Garden, very truly remarks : " Too many people imagine
that trees can take care of themselves, as trees in the forest, on the ground
that nature preserves a balance in all her works ; but it should be borne in mind
that a fruit-tree is not exactly a natural production. It is far removed from the
natural state by culture, and, the further it is removed, the more care it requires.''^

Upon this theory is based the whole management of tlie improved fruit varieties.
Civilized fruit (as Van Mous used to call the more reflned varieties) are the off-
spring of art and human skill ; and, as all artificial, and of course more delicate
products do, require artificial treatment. Hence the endless treatises on pruning
and training; so many, indeed, that one feels deterred from their perusal by their
length and dogmatical appearance. Let us try to compress in a few hints and
facts, the main principles of that most important operation.

\Ve confine ourselves to the pear-tree for the present, and chiefly to the pear-
tree of the garden, which requires a i)yramidal or conical shape, and a mode of
treatment difiCercnt from other species of fruit-trees.

In planting a tree in its ultimate site, few persons pay any attention to the
bent or direction of the tree. This ought to be our first care ; for scarcely any
tree of a certain size is so straight as not to show a curving or arching disposi-
tion. This curve or arch must always be turned towards the southwest to be able
to resist, in some measure, that peculiar influence which, in this country, with the
ocean in the rear, affects the tree just in the same way as in the old continent with
the ocean in our face. In P^urope, we generally think that this repulsive influence
ing to the combined action of the sun in its greatest power (2 or 3 o'clock)
the prevailing winds of the Atlantic. Whatever may be the reason

PRUNING OF PEAR-TEEES.

same result takes place here with the western land winds ; and the isolated trees
recede /row that point, body and limbs ; the pear and peach-tree more than any
others.

This influence is very marked on the limbs — always plenty of them on the
north and east side ; and a deficiency on the southwest side. We have, there-
fore, to keep the tree as well supplied as possible on that quarter, cut the leading
shoot just above a bud pointing to the south or west, and remove what is too
abundant on the north or east side.

The best, sturdiest trees, the handsomest pyramids, are those that have been
often cut back (recepe), to increase the strength of their basis and to compel
them to make " their own wood in their ultimate place ;" the French call that
" faire bois neuf sur place."

The position of the buds, and consequently of the branches, is beautifully
symmetrical and spiral, as if nature intended to give her products the best chances
for equilibrium. We must take advantage of it ; and, if we do not neglect a
tree, symmetry will be the law of its general shape.

Nothing is more irrational than to preserve every branch which the tree brought
from the nursery, where there is not leisure enough to make pyramids in the pro-
per time (say two or three years from the bud). It is not advisable to suppress
too many stout limbs at once in planting. We have already hinted at the proper
mode of removing those branches gradually, without much injury to the tree ; but
when, afterwards, we have the tree under full control, we must not allow a branch
"to make opposition (to compete) with the hodij,^^ as Yan Mous termed it. He
says : whenever such competition takes place, cut the limb, wherever it may be,
till equilibrium is restored. Those kind of limbs, when loaded with fruit, split
from the main body, and I have seen scores of fine trees destroyed in that way.
They are ill-looking things, unmanageable, and do not bear more fruit, on an
average, than regular, well-pruned branches would do, with infinitely more safety.

Great is the number of persons who would not cut a limb, nor suppress a fruit-bud.
They have no patience, and mtist have the fruit, let the tree afterwards be spoiled !
This is not a wise policy. By the time /should have my trees mature, fitted and
able to bear sound fruit on well-disposed branches, you will have to go back,
and, to save your tree, to commence the operation I just finished. The loss of a
few fruits on a young tree is nothing compared with an interruption of regular
croi)S in the proper time of bearing. Let us first have well-trained students
before we have doctors and lawyers. Let your tree shape, educate, and strengthen
itself under good management, u'hile young and of small crops, and afterwards you
may safely rely on yearly increasing crops, with full security, and without props,
straps, and all kind of odd looking, and disgraceful supports. We planted, and
enjoyed the fruits of thousands of trees, and rarely, if ever, had to support a tree
in an erect and proper position. A pole bound to the tree ridis that side, destroys
the limbs there, and makes bare s})ots forever. The pruning knife, with a proper
dose of patience, is the safest propping and the most satisfactory in its ultimate
results.

When a tree is well shaped, and of the required age and size, it will bear its
fruit with a symmetry and equipoise truly astonishing ; but, to attain that result,
the branches ought to be nearly all of proportional size with the size of the main
body ; more slender and shorter when coming nearer to the top of the pyramid.

For a garden, the best shape is undoubtedly the ])yramid, or the conical. We
always found the pyramidal form best, the most graceful, and the most easily
ed. With some varieties, indeed, it seems almost the only possible form ;
re the St. Michael Archangel, Baronne de Mello, Fondante de Noel, Due de

PRUNING OP PEAR-TREES.

Jinihant, &c. &c., which cannot be brought xmder any other form. Another
ailvantnge is that, by the pyramidal shape you get tlie fruit-spurs closer to tlic
main body, with light and air enough to ripen all, and without exposing your
fruit to be rocked and swung, stunted and smashed, by the autumnal winds, going
the rounds of the compass at every blow ; while the " accidental" loss of a branch
is comparatively nothing, and easily remedied.

Some varieties, it is true, bear only at the end of their branches, as the Made-
leine, Catillac, &c. ; but when they grow old enough under the pyramidal form,
they bear closer, and I have seen pyramids of Catillacs, Franc-r(!'als, and Jose-
])hi"ues, just as fid I as any orchard tree could be with its open and distended
form.

A great deal has been said about the proper time for pruning. As applied to
large orchard trees, the removal of stout limbs can remain sub jvdich, although we
think the spring the best time. We only intend to speak about the regular
pruning of moderate, or full-sized pyramids, or, of such trees as have been sub-
mitted to some previous treatment. Our long experience has couCrraed us in the
truth of the old French rule,

" Taille tot, taille tar.i,
Rien ne vaut taille de Mars ;"

which, translated, sounds as —

" Prune early or late,
No better time than March."

"We have different reasons for this. Our first and principal is, that some varieties,
chiefly in severe winters, will not bear pruning before winter or during cold
weather. Secondly, the healing process commences right after the operation,
without injury by frost or exposure of wounded limbs. Thirdly, we see the
blossom-buds more swollen, and can distinguish those at a glance ; and last, but,
by no means least, we retard the blossoming and the starting of the vegetation,
at least for some days ; which, in our uncertain climate, is a matter of no small
consideration ; for hardy varieties, which can bear the operation before winter
(as Lawrence, Sterling, BuQ'am, &c. &c.), with impunity, come out rapidly in the
spring.

If you wish a pear-tree to bear early, to test a new or favorite variety, let the
pruning be very moderate. A severe pruning will cause the spurs to go over to
^oood or shoots instead of fruit bearers ; and the blossom will drop, or set with
deficient fruit in consequence of the disturbance of the general economy of the
sap. But, we again repeat, if you want sound, handsome, and good bearing trees,
" have patience," and do not spoil a valuable colt by driving it, before it is fitted
to the harness. Please remember that a pear-tree is not a currant bush, nor a
wild peach-tree ; which last, by the by, would be all the better also for a sys-
tematic pruning.

In pruning young thrifty trees, take off a good part of the terminal shoot. The
sap flows with great power to the top, and that part of the tree is much exposed
to be overfed, and in consequence, to droop and bend down for want of propor-
tional strength.

These are, in a brief way, the main rules. Everybody knows that in pruning
we must avoid forks, or too many branches starting from one limb, because if
that limb should die, an irremediable void is formed, and because it disturbs and
destroys the equilibrium of the tree by calling for too much food. Everybody
knows that all good pruning must consist in filling vamums, and thinnin "
thickly branched parts. That a shoot ought to be cut, clean, just above a

THE OLD TOPIARY WORK.

which bud must be on the under, or outside part of the shoot, rarely or never in
a vertical position, because it would tend to bring in the construction of the tree
more of those vertical or upright shoots, every one of which ought to be carefully
cut away, as absorbing, by a natural privilege of its vertical position, all the sap,
and destroying the harmony of the tree. It follows that a limb inclined at an
angle of 45^, or a lower bend, is more fitted to make spurs, and go over to bear-
ing by the deprivation of superabundant sap. Inclined, or down-hent limbs, of
course, make a tree bear, but are so injurious to the growth of the tree that we
have seen many of the stoutest pyramids, and most vigorous varieties, give up at
once and linger or die, if not immediately submitted to a regular mode of pruning.
An angle of 45° is the best direction for the limbs of a pyramid. They make good
bearers, without injuring the health and vigor of the tree.

I fear, Mr. Editor, that my remarks have taken more room than I intended to
give them," and still there is so much more to be said ; but I hope that some may
be induced to let trees be trees, instead of bushes, and wait a little longer for
better and more fruit, by a rational treatment of that invaluable ornament of our
gardens and desserts.

THE OLD TOPIARY WORK.

Old-fashioned gardening embraced a great amount of topiary work, or trim-
ming shrubbery into figures, without which the grounds adjoining the house were
considered incomplete. This continued till the time of Addison and Pope, whose
better taste attempted a reform.

AN CLD CLIPPED YEW-TEEE.

Vol. VI.— July, 1856.

21

AVe introduce a specimen from Elvaston Castle. It is an old clip])e(l Yew,
funiiiiiir an arl)or 14 feet square, and 18 feet liij^li. Il was moved twenty-five
miles nniny years ago, and is supposed to be u))wards of one hundred years old.
It is one tree, the stem running nj) tlie centre, and is jjcrhaps one of the best
examples of the topiary treatment extant.

Though some might object to the figures on the top, a l)ush or tree, in this
manner, so as to form a bower, or shelter, is not impro}»er ; it is allowal)le to make
utility the subject of ornament, a rule founded in nature and reason ; few objects
are more interesting than an arbor made by training the limbs of a weeping ash,
grafted high up, or trimming a yew into a useful shape. IJox-trees and bushes
are sometimes thus treated, to the great amusement of young persons.

Fantastic topiary work may be said to have been killed by Pope, who wrote
the following satirical article in the Guardian, No. 173. Our readers will pardon
the si)acc it occui)ies for its information and humor. After describing the Garden
of Alcinous from Homer's Odi/ssey, he goes on : —

" How contrary to this simplicity is the modern practice of gardening ! We
seem to make it our study to recede from nature, not only in the various tonsure
of greens into the most regular and formal sha[)cs, but even in monstrous attempts
beyond the reach of the art itself. We run into sculpture, and are yet better pleased
to have our trees in the most awkward figures of men and animals, than in the
most regular of their own.

' Here interwoven branches form a wall,
And from the living fence green turrets rise ;
There ships of myrtle Scail in seas of box ;
A green encampment yonder meets the eye,
And loaded citrons bearing shields and spears.'

I believe it is no wrong observation, that persons of genius, and those who are
most capable of art, are always most fond of nature ; as such are chiefly sensible,
that all art consists in the imitation and study of nature. On the contrary, ])eople
of the common level of understanding are principally delighted with the little
niceties and fantastical operations of art, and constantly think that finest which is
least natural. A citizen is no sooner proprietor of a couple of yews, but he enter-
tains thoughts of erecting them into giants, like those of Gnild-ilall. I know an
eminent cook, who beautified his country-seat with a coronation dinner in greens ;
where you see the champion flourishing on horseback at one end of the table, and
the queen, in perpetual youth, at the other.

For the benefit of all my loving countrymen of this curious taste, I shall here
publish a catalogue of greens to be disposed of by an eminent town gardener, who
has lately applied to me upon this head. He represents, that for the advancement
of a politer sort of ornament in the villas and gardens adjacent to this great city,
and, in order to distinguish those places from the mere barbarous countries of gross
nature, the world stands much in need of a virtuoso gardener who has a turn to
sculpture, and is thereby capable of improving upon the ancients of his profes-
sion in the imagery of evergreens. My correspondent is arrived to such perfec-
tion, that he cuts family pieces of men, women, or children. Any ladies that
please, may have their own effigies in myrtle, or their husbands in horn-beam.
He is a i)uritan wag, and never fails when he shows his garden, to repeat that
passage in the Psalms : ' Thy wife shall be as the fruitful vine, and thy children
as olive branches round thy table.' I shall proceed to his catalogue, as he sent it
for my recommendation.

idara and Eve in yew ; Adam a little shattered by the fall of the tree of
ledge in the great storm ; Eve and the serpent very flourishing.

CRITIQUE ON MAY HORTICULTURIST.

' The tower of Babel not yet finished,

' St. George in box ; his arm scarce long enough, but will be in condition to
stick the dragon by next April.

' A green dragon of the same, with a tail of ground-ivy for the present.

' N. B. These two not to be sold separately.

' Edward, the Black Prince, in cypress.

' A laurestine bear in blossom, with a juniper hunter in berries.

' A pair of giants, stunted, to be sold cheap.

' A Queen Elizabeth in phylyreea, a little inclining to the green sickness, but of
full growth.

' Another Queen Elizabeth in myrtle, which was very forward, but was injured
by being too near a savine.

' An old maid of honor in wormwood.

' A topping Ben Jonson in laurel.

' Divers eminent modern poets in bays, somewhat blighted, to be disposed of, a
pennyworth.

' A quickset hog- shot up into a porcupine, by its being forgot a week in rainy
weather.

' A lavender pig, with sage growing in his belly.

' Noah's ark in holly, standing on the mount ; the ribs a little damaged for want
of water.' "

Lord Bacon, in the forty-sixth of his essays, describes what he calls the platform
of a princely gardeii, which is very superior to the description which Sir William
Temple has given in his essay, entitled The Gardens of Epicurus, written in a
subsequent age. This is alluded to by Mason, in his English Garden, thus : —

" Yes, sagest Verulam,
'Twas thine to banish from the royal groves
Each childish vanity of crisped knot
And sculptur'd foliage ; to tlie lawn restore
Its ample space, and bid it feast the sight
With verdure pure, unbroken, iinabridg'd :
For verdure soothes the eye, as roseate sweets
The smell, or music's melting strains the ear."

CRITIQUE ON THE MAY HORTICULTURIST.

Evergreens, and other Hatters Evergreens are picturesque in many grounds —

beautiful, too, when both soil and climate suit them. Otherwise, they had better
be let alone. A foxy looking Evergreen, studded with bare spines, striking out
like " quills upon the fretful porcupine," is anything but agreeable to the eye or
taste of one who loves luxuriant vegetation in trees. The great difficulty which
1 have observed with Evergreens in park or lawn culture is, that they are stowed
in promiscuously and thickly among the deciduous trees, and, after a few years of
Cue conical growth, they become crowded, the lower branches fade and die, and
their entire beauty is lost in bare poles, with frizzled tufts of spiny leaves at the
tops, a burlesque only upon the noble family of which they should be honored
specimens. If you affect Evergreens at all, give them abundant breadth of space ;
then let them have their entire will of sweep, and range, and spray, and they
become striking objects of admiration and beauty. My heart has been so often
saddened by seeing the poor crippled things stuck into a crowded door-yard, or
passage, and then barbarously clipped into some grotesque imitation of
othing which a tree should be, that I have wished for the moment they wer

of sight and existence. I have serious doubts, after all our trials of exotic Ever-
greens, whether our own grand and stately ]>ines, and hemlocks, and spruces, and
cedars, are not the best, as well as the most effective, lor all ordinary purposes,
that we can cultivate.

You have so well handled " other matters," Mr. Editor, that I have not a word
to say about them.

Dr. John Lindley. — A self-satisfied gentleman, as the y)icture shows him. I
wonder how he'd look if he should discover a hitf/ on the other side of the leaf he
is so quietly admiring ! A great man in his way, Mr. Lindley ! and, like most
other men of genius, possessing peculiarities which he would be quite as well with-
out. That he should speak lightly of America, as you observe on page 240, is not
remarkable, for these one-idea people are apt to fancy, that a subject of which
they know little is hardly worth investigation. A man, no matter how high his
pretensions or attainments in science, who looks contemptuously on a country like
ours, is quite apt to be a flatterer of the rich or great at home. Instance the great
lexicographer, Johnson, who, while sneering at Scotland and its profoundest men,
poured out his humblest adulations to the wife, successively, of a wealthy London
brewer, and an Italian musician.

The White Grape Currant. — A good fruit, no doubt ; but, in the long run,
scarce equal to the White Dutch, under the best cultivation. This latter fruit, in
its long bunch, fine size, transparent berry, and delicacy of flavor, coupled with
its exceeding hardiness, stands yet without a rival, as a housekeeping currant,
among the white ones. By the way, why is it that almost everybody stows
away these excellent, useful fruits thickly under their fences, where they can get
scarcely any sun or flavor, when by planting them in open grounds, six feet apart,
and giving them good cultivation, they are among the choicest fruits of the season,
and, in eating for six or eight weeks ?

Remedy for Girdled Fruit-Trees "The sovereign 'st thing on earth was

parraaceti, for an inward bruise." I never knew a disease, from the itch to the
cholera — from the meazles to the consumption, for which somebody could not
prescribe a certain remedy. You may save the girdled tree, by following the
prescription of Mr. Lumm, for a few yeai's ; but where the bark is eaten clean off,
the trunk will decay, and leave a deformed, defective body. Better at once root
it out, if you want a per7nane7it tree, than attempt to patch a thing that is destined,
under ordinary circumstances, to outlive both you and your family. I have tried
all these nostrums with mice-bitten trees, when the girdling has been thorongh, and
know them, for all efficient purposes, to be a temporary benefit. If a strip of living
bark is left, or only the outer skin be eaten off, binding up the tree with cloth, or
the application of a salve, will restore it in time, as the sap, through even a hair's-
breadth of continuous bark will do wonders ; but, as a rule, cleanly girdled trees
are not worth -the trouble of nursing.

Climatology. — A good paper. There is a great deal in the subject of acclimating
vegetables from their native climate into a colder or warmer one. Many years
ago, the sweet potatoe was not grown north of Virginia. Now, abundance of
the finest are raised in Jersey, Long Island, and some even in Connecticut, and,
they say, in West,ern New York. So with the sugar-cane. It is now grown two
degrees further north in Louisiana than fifty years ago, and equally good in
quality. This subject will bear any amount of study, and experiment with profit.

Pear Cidture, No. 3. — I hope Dr. Ward is not done with the subject ; when he
has, I have a word or two to say. Till then, I noio say, en passa7it, he is perfectly
The cat will come out of the bag, in this dwarf pear business, after awh"
nurserymen have had a capital run of them for years past, and not a

one out of me, for a moderate man. I wish we orchard pear growers, not nur-
serymen, could have a " protracted meeting," and opportunity to " tell our indi-
vidual experience ;" I g^^ess we'd have a sympathizing time of it, and that without
declaring a " dividend" in the way of profits !

Notes on the G%dtivation of the Apricot. — Just one of those revelations of fact
that illustrate what strange, capricious subjects these light-skinned stone fruits are.
The Hudson Yalley proper, with a few miles up its tributaries, between Pough-
keepsie and Sandy Hill, is the only existing natural plum and apricot region I
know. These fruits usually grow successfully in that section of country. What
the cause, is yet to be shown ; climate, soil, and something else, all three put to-
gether, probably. In many other places, to my certain knowledge, with all the
care and pains-taking recommended by Mr. Tompkins, a dead failure has resulted
in these fruits. Still, I would by no means dissuade any one wishing to cultivate
them from trying every possible experiment.

A Third Winter on the New Evergreens. — Mr. Sargent is entitled to the appel-
lation of a public benefactor to Evergreen admirers. With a position to give
them a thorough trial, and a determination to mark their individual progress and
success, or the want of it, he is reliable authority on the subject for all localities
of 40^° and upwards, north latitude.

Guttapercha. — A wonderful plant; and made into as many uses as the elephant
makes of his trunk. But you don't enumerate all of them. I am told that even
consciences are made of it. Is that usual ?

Gossip. — I like this. Half the mental pleasure of this hum-drum world is
drawn in from the colloquial interchange of ideas commonly called "gossip."
There are as many varieties of gossip extant in the difiTerent ranks of humanity as
Mrs. Opie enumerates there to be of " lying." There is loiv gossip, and scandal-
ous gossip, and "gossip about town." Then there is gossip of the " upper ten"
— all these don't amount to much. And then there is the gossip of literary, pro-
fessional, and political coteries, over their after-dinner wines — rare, rich, and racy,
according to the calibre of the brains concerned in it. And, last of all, is the
" gossip" of the Horticulturist ! Very capital in its way, too, Mr. Editor — full
of information and suggestion. But I wish you would split it up a little ; that is
to say, divide it into paragraphs. You drive it into such continuous density of
type, that one scarcely knows when to pause and take breath. Do give us a
page or two each number, and so subdivide the different heads of it that we can
take in one idea at a time, for my old head is so obtuse, that so many different
topics makes it all of a jumble before I get through with it.*

The Lawton Blachherry. — " They say" that Mr. Lawton has no business to
give his name to a blackberry which another man discovered growing ivild in New
Rochelle, and the growers thereof — the aforesaid Mr. Lawton excepted — prefer
to call it the "New Rochelle Blackberry." If half the stories related of this
wonderful fruit are true — and, from the characters of those who tell them, I cannot
doubt — it should be in everybody's garden. I am trying the thing in a small way
myself; but the fruit is yet in futuro.

Tlte New York Horticidtural Review. — So, "out brief candle," is added to this,

* Tlie object we had in view in not splitting it up, was to pack away a large amount of
suggestions in a small space, for Jeffreys and others. We have a strong suspicion that our
valued correspondent is joking, as he sometimes does ; but just as we are finishing this para-
graph, we are setting off to see after our friends in his direction, and shall endeavor to pre-
scribe for his head, and teach him to mind our stops, read the matter slowly, say a para-
every hour or two, and make notes of what is memorable ; so that the tangle or
"gets into may be avoided in his future dips into our " gossip." — Ed.

as to sundry other serials which annually expire, embracinp^ quite as popular, but
much less valuable to|)ics. I ref^retted to see that nia<,^azine started, as with
yours and Ilovey's Magazine, already in extensive circulation, I felt assured it
coulil not pay. You, Mr. Editor, have <riven the ])lain reasons why another
elaI)orate horticultural publication cannot Ije sui)ported Jiow in America. We are
yet youucT, in the business of rclincd cultivation, in pretty much everything. We
are learning slowly, though surely, and when the Jlorticitltnrist has ten or twenty
thousand subscribers, it may do to talk about another magazine of the kind some
hundreds of miles west or south, or north of you. Meantime, your paper will do;
and if it had three contributors where it now has one, it would be all the better,
for then would there be a chance for my gossiping to be crowded out, to its
readers' profit, I presume. Jeffreys.

FAMILIAR BOTANY. —HATE FERNS SEXES?

Our fathers believed that when a fern produced its seed, the little brown grains

at the back of a fern-leaf were all that
nature had provided for the purpose.
Linnajus thought so, and so did every-
body else till a quick-eyed Polish gentle-
man. Count Leszezye-Suminski, found out
the mistake. I will not ask you to pro-
nounce both the noble naturalist's names,
for letters arranged like these are unfami-
liar to our English mouths ; but it is
proper that so great a discoverer should
enjoy such immortality as the Gardeners^
Chronicle can confer. This great event
happened in the year 1848, when it was made known to His most gracious
Majesty King Frederick William IV. of Prussia.

The reason, or at least one of the reasons, why nobody saw^ before what Count
Suminski saw in 18-48, was that nobody began at the beginning when they studied
the nature of ferns. It is indeed to be doubted whether many people, even in
this enlightened age, know what the beginning is. Let me endeavor to make
this clearer.

If you look upon the damp ground where ferns shed their seeds, you may find
it covered with tiny green scales not very unlike the spots called hearts in a pack
of cards, only with a few hairs for roots, sprouting from near the pointed end
(see Fig. 1). The easiest place to find them in, is the surface of a garden pot or
of an old wall, in a damp and shaded fernery. There they lie flat upon the ground,
looking like infant liverworts. They are the beginnings of ferns, as you will
presently see.

Lift carefully one of these bodies and place it under a microscope (one of Smith
and Beck's educationals will do), the underside upwards ; you will find that it is
a little convex, and on the convexity stand a few very small projections looking
like blisters, but of two sorts. One sort has a hole in the end (Fig. 2), the other is
something like a netted ball (Fig. 3). They have received various names ; let us
call the first a pistiUid, the second an antherid.

Here we have what are now styled the sexes of ferns. The pistillid is the
lady, the antherid is the gentleman ; strange ladies and gentlemen it must be
confessed.

Mrs. Pistillid is only a nest, with a little egg hidden at the bottom. Mr.
Antherid is a sort of pimple. You may see the egg by looking into the nest ;
but when you east your eyes upon the pimple you will probably see nothing except
a netted surface. 13ut if you squeeze it, out come little transparent bags, in each
of which is rolled up spirally a sort of vegetable worm. In time, the worm un-
coils, gets out of his bag and shows himself. In Fig. 4 he is seen half extricated ;
Fig. 5 you have him wriggling about. And a very surprising fellow he is with a
tail like a corkscrew, and a head furnished with a bristly beard.

When the worm aforesaid sets out upon his travels, he moves over the surface
of the fern-scale in search of a nest (pistillid), and when he finds one he gets in if
he can ; at least so says Count Suminski. That feat being accomplished, a won-
drous change takes place. The egg grows up into a perfect fern-leaf; at the
same time the green beginning shrivels and disappears. When a start has once
been made, the leaf becomes longer and longer, and broader and broader, another
leaf unfolds from its bosom, in its turn to give Ijirth to more, till at last all are
old enough to bear brown grains upon their back or edge. And then the destiny
of the fern is accomplished.

It is out of one of these grains that the seed falls, which sprouts into new
beginning such as I have first described (Fig. 1).

Is all this really true ? A good deal of it certainly is. Acute observers, since
Surainski's time, have so far verified his statements that no doubt exists about the
antherids, and the pistillids, and the crawling vegetable worms, and the uprising
of a perfect fern-leaf from the nest-like pistillid. Such things are, however,
extremely difficult to see, and can only be witnessed by well-trained eyes, armed
with well-made achromatic microscopes, in the hands of dexterous observers.
They must be taken on trust, as are mountains in the moon, by those who have
no telescopes. What is really doubtful is, whether the worm crawls into the
nest, and how it gets there. Men, however, have come to believe in the pheno-
menon ; and we cannot contradict them, for it is hard to prove a negative.

And these are what are now called the sexes of ferns. — R. E., in Gardeners^
Clironicle.

AN OCTAGON HOUSE.

Mr. Editor. — Dear Sir : Can you give me any information in regard to an octa-
gon cottage or villa ? Have you ever seen one ? How does it answer the expecta-
tions of the occupant ? And where is it ? are three questions I would much like
to have answered. In Yol. 4, p. 616, May, 1850, of the Horticulturist, I find a
plan that seems to combine almost everything that taste and convenience can
desire ; and to such a degree, that I am perplexed to understand why houses of
this kind are not common with us. Is there some difficulty not apparent in the
plan ? And will anyone let us into the secret ? I have heard the remark, "that
no man who builds one octagon house will ever build another," but the reason of
it I cannot learn. Respectfully yours,

M. P., Sing Sing,N. Y.

Our correspondent wishes us to give him some light upon the subject of octagon
houses, and the reason for the remark, that "no one who has built an octagon
bouse will ever build another." The objections to this description of house are
three : 1. The poor architectural appearance. 2. The inconvenience of the
"conveniences." 3. That the superior cheapness of this description of house is
not so great as it has been made out to be. Mr. Page, the author of the pi
which will be found in the ^Nlay (1850) number of this magazine, has, however

dealinfr with this form of house, made the best that can possibly, we think, be
luiule of it. He has shown great taste and knowledge of the " agreniens" coveted
by an American family of average wealth, and, if possible, greater ingenuity in
j)aeking these within the smallest possible compass ; and the rustic Italian forms
into which he has cast the exterior, are the most suitable which could have been
selected, making, out of the ungraceful general outline imposed upon him by the
plan, quite a tolerable picture. Imagine, however, that octangular prism, a
magnified copy of the little wooden parallelojiipeds used in teaching children solid
geometry, dropped into the middle of any sweet, natural landscajjc, with its care-
less graced, and flowing lines of river, mountain, and tree. Would not the very
trees, with their grand and lovely irregularity of sjjray and mass, seem to stare
upon it and laugh with all their leaves at it I One would think no one retired
from business, and with an eye to economy, would wish to build such a copy of a
pill-box, or, rather, of an eight-sided bottle, which Mr. Page's observatory (a
great convenience internally, and rather an improvement to the appearance)
supplies with the appropriate stopper !

The pyramid harmonizes with the dead level of the Egyptian sands, or of the
plain of Waterloo, but even this, the most pleasing of simi)le geometric forms,
would seem ill at ease on an American hillside, and much more so the octangular
prism. The only way to soften the abrujjt perpendicularity of this form, and
carry its lines* gradually into those of the landscape, would be to throw out (as
Palladio has done in the Villa di Capri, which is of this form), on four of the
eight sides a portico (or other wing), of about a story and three-quarters in height,
and carry them down to the ground lines by flights of steps ; but then, this would
destroy the only beauty of the plan, its cheapness ! Another difficulty of the
appearance is, that chimney-tops, an ornament to any other building, become a
terrible thing in this, as the draftsman has not failed to perceive, but has judiciously
shaded them dark, and put a dark tree behind each, so that they are hardly no-
ticeable. As to the second part, the conveniences, they are certainly many and
good in Mr. Page's plans, but the mistake is in supposing that these conveniences,
obtained, as they are, at a less cost than in the square plan, arc yet equal, in every
respect, to those obtained in that plan. It will be found to be a great mistake to
expect the same accommodation in a 15 by 19.8 r£)om, with the corners cut off, as
in one finished square. The furniture is comparatively crowded in such a room.
Imagine, for instance, a lady at the piano in the " sitting-room ;" her position will
be thrown much further from the long partition, and more toward the middle of the
room, than if the piano were placed in the corner of a square-room of that size.
The same crowding will take place in the chambers, in wdiich, by the way, all the
beds are drawn too small by one-third at least. Again, the glass " vestibule" is
thrown out of the side of the house as a porch would be in a square house, but,
though outside of the building, it is not a porch, and if a porch were wanted, one
would have to be built extra. It is not even a " vestibule" proper, being the only
space between the parlor door and outer air. This is to be considered in estimat-
ing the alleged su))erior cheapness of this over the square plan. Look, again, at
the "boudoir." This appears to have what would be in a square house, a bay
window, outside of, and extra to the size of the room. Here it constitutes half
the room, which is thus half outside the octagon. A defect in this mode of plan-
ning is placing the kitchen so near the living-rooms. This could be obviated just
as in a square house, by making a back-building, but then this would darken one
side of the octagon, besides destroying its symmetry, its only pretension to beauty
that, as Mr. Page says, it looks equally w^ell (?) on all sides. Then, wh
look at the pitiful narrow passages, the multiplicity of corners (each of w' "

as every mechanic knows, increases the expense), the skew angles, and the cutting
of joists and rafters necessary for the octagon, we shall find the supposed cheap-
ness gradually melting away, and be convinced that he who buys a small saving
at the expense of such a hot, crowded, and eccentric house, will be decidedly
" sold" in the bargain.

In a square house of the same length and breadth, and similar accommodation,
all the rooms are larger and more convenient. Of course, a square house, with
rooms no larger than those of the octagon, would be less than it in length and
breadth, and, consequently, as cheap, or cheaper.

DESIGNS FOR IMPROYINa COUNTRY RESIDENCES.

No. 2.

BY WM. SAUNDERS, LANDSCAPE GARDENER, GERMANTOWN, PA,

This design represents a place of about one acre and a fourth in extent. Its
square form excludes variety of outline, rendering its tasteful improvement more
difficult. This place has been planted about five years, and is now beginning to
develop the judiciousness of its arrangements. Many of the trees being of large
size when transplanted, have now a decided effect. The arrangements possess
considerable interest, on account of the great variety of trees, both fruit and orna-
mental, the agreeable yet diversified direction of the walks, the skilful introduc-
tion of evergreen hedges as screens, and the occasional breadth of lawn seen in
vistas at particular points. The single specimens of choice ornamental trees,
also form objects of much interest, placed, as they are, in conspicuous positions.

The front entrance-walk had to take its present outline to avoid cutting down
an old tree ; the original surface had also to be lowered at this point ; a rounded
mound was therefore formed at the base of the tree, creating at once a pleasing
feature, and an apparent reason for the curve in the walk. A similar reason occa-
sioned the abrupt bend in the walk at the southeast corner of the veranda, b.
Both of these old trees are now covered with English ivy, and thus rendered of
double interest. The grape arbors are placed to intercept the view on entering ;
the principal lawn view is, therefore, not seen until the best position is reached at
the veranda step. The hedges are ingeniously introduced ; they are of American
arbor vitse, the best of all plants for quick growing, evergreen hedges. The
offices, g, are very completely hid from the walk leading to the stable ; the yard
is also separated by a thick hedge, which is carried round the dwarf pear-trees at
k, to the rustic house, e. The view to the east, from the rustic summer-house, is
pleasingly terminated by the pedestal and vase, v, set in a projecting mass of
shrubbery ; the triangular bed of choice low-growing shrubs in front, also assists
in rendering the boundary line indistinct at this point. A similar feature is seen
when looking up the walk, standing at a point immediately in front of the green-
house. The position of the greenhouse and flower-garden might be objected to,
abridging, as it does, the vegetable ground. Had the greenhouse been placed on
the spot of ground occupied by the dwarf pears at k, and the flower garden in
front of it, the vegetable ground would have been enlarged, and the whole arrange-
ment more distinct and compact. Such an arrangement was at one time contem-
plated, but was set aside for the present one, first, because that part of the grounds
was too much shaded by the house to admit of that freedom of flowering so neces-
sary in a well-kept flower garden ; but, chiefly, on account of the superior beauty
well-kept lawn in winter, instead of the neglected appearance that flow

ardens usually present at that season. In walking through the grounds

DESIGNS FOR IMPROVINQ COUNTRY RESIDENCES,

contrast between the vegetable and flower ground is scarcely observed — at all
events, it does not appear intrusive. The transition from the lawn through the

9.. -i^'S

■■%.'■

©;

rustic house to the greenhouse, is rendered appropriate by the masses of flowering
shrubbery through which it is carried, and the row of fruit-trees on the left breaks
the view in that direction. It will be observed that the trees in the vegetable
ground are placed principally on the south side of the walks. This is a very
judicious method, as it throws the shade of them on the walk, and being kept
dwarf, they do not interfere with the growth of the vegetables. Other arrange-
ments and details are further explained by the following : —

REFERENCES TO PLAN.
a. Mansion house, b. Veranda, c. Gardener's cottage, d. Carriage house and stable.
e. Rustic summer-house, overrun with grapes, and tlie posts with ivy. /. Grajie arbors.
<7. Offices, h. Stable yard. /j. Dwarf pears. ?;!. Raspberries, n. Strawberries, o. Green-
house. ;). Vegetable quarters, r. Arbor vitfe hedges, s. Flower garden.

Frames, y. Manure heap. 1. Norway firs. 2. European silver firs. 3. Araucaria

DOINGS IN CALIFORNIA.

imbricata. 4. Purple beech. 5. Gordonia pubescens. 6. Double flowering horse-cliestnut.
7. English, hollies — vars. 8. Black ash. 9. English laurel bay. 10. Scarlet hawthorn.
11. Cotoneaster macrophylla. 12. Aucuba Japonica. 13. Tree box. 14. Irish yew. 15.
Sugar maple. 16. Magnolia obovata. 17. Magnolia Soulangiana. 18. Magnolia longifolia.
19. Magnolia purpurea. 20. Magnolia cordata. 21. Magnolia conspicua. 22. Magnolia
macrophylla. 23. Magnolia tripetela. 24. Magnolia auriculata. 25. Magnolia grandiflora.
2(3. Magnolia glauca. 27. Deodar cedar. 28. Virgilea lutea. 29. European larch. 30.
Laburnum. 31. Flowering ash. 32. Hemlock spruce. 33. Cedar of Lebanon. 34. Weep-
ing beech. 35. Rhododendrons. 36. Kalmia latifolia. 37. Weigelia rosea. 38. Spirea
Reevsii. 39. Mist bush. 40. White birch, 41. Sweet gum. 42. Mespilus pyracantha.
43. Kolreuteria paniculata. 44. Salisburia adiantifolia. 45. Sophora Japonica pendiila.
46. Halesia tetraptera. 47. Finns Austriaca. 48. Pinus ponderosa. 49. Madura auran-
tiaca. 50. Black English mulberry. 51. Pinus pinea. 52. Alnus glutinosa. 53. Judas
tree. 54. Cryptomeria Japonica. 55. Yucca gloriosa. 56. English ye'W. 57. Cupressus
funebris. 58. Mahonia aquifolia. 59. Prinos glabra. 60. Siberian crab apple. Gl. Fil-
berts. 62. Euonymus latifolia — var. 63. Cherries.

In so small a space as the engraving gives us, it was impossible to embody all
the references necessary to catalogue all the trees and plants collected in this
garden, which presents a great variety of rare evergreens, and over 200 fruit-trees
of the choicest kinds. The whole is an example of what may be accomplished on
a small piece of ground, and is given for the encouragement of others.

DOINGS IN CALIFORNIA.

All accounts agree in ascribing a most genial horticultural climate to the
settled portions of California. A correspondent, dating from San Jose, May 3,
1856, says:—

" Having made this valley my permanent place of residence, about eighteen
months since I built me a small house, in order to surround myself with some of
the comforts and pleasures of a home. As soon as it was finished, I began, for
the first time in my life, to turn my attention, in a moderate way, to the cultiva-
tion of such fruits and flowers as I thought would add most to the enjoyment of
myself and family. To my surprise, I found myself utterly ignorant of the first
principles and knowledge necessary to guide me in such matters.

The first, and I can say the best books, were Downing's and Barry's, of those
to which my attention was directed. With their aid, I did the best I could, the
first year.

Recently, a friend loaned me some books to read, and among them, all the
numbers of the Horticulturist for a year past.

Here was what I wanted — something that would combine good practical fruit-
culture with that of plants, shx'ubs, and flowers. I immediately subscribed for it,
through Mr. Daniels, your agent here, and set about getting others to do so ;
and, to induce them, have given them all the benefit of the club prices. With
this, I send you a list of twenty-two names, and a check for the amount of their
subscriptions. I shall increase the number of names, with more time. I have
not got up the names for any premium, but rather because of the pleasure it
afforded me to help along the good book, as much as my leisure permitted me.
Among articles that are very rare, and hard to be obtained in this country, are
Hyacinth bulbs, Amarillis do.. Rhododendron seed. Azalea, Cineraria, Gera-
niums, choice kinds mixed, Delphinum, Viola Odorata, Auricula, Anemone,
Polyanthus, Ranunculus, Pansy, &c.

We have a horticultural society in this place, and it is rapidly increasing in
members and usefulness. I am yours, very respectfully,

ELLIOT REED

Mr. Reed is now one of onr parish. The California Farmer gives a pflowinj?
description of San Jose and its gardens, whicli are irrigated from artesian wells,
occasioning a moisture in the atmosphere, highly useful to vegetation. Tlie
Stockton Kanch, under the care of W. F. Kennedy, Esq., is called one of the
most beautiful si)ots in the State ; L. Prevost's is highly spoken of, and A. Delmas
has one adjoining, of great interest. In the latter much attention is given to the
grape, which seems perfectly at home in California. Mr. I), exhibited a vine in a
pot, the growth of a graft brought from Frauce the same year, aud inserted upon
a native stock, bearing 29 bunches.

The orchards in the neighborhood of San Jose are said to be very superior.
Mr. John McMurtrie has one in high cultivation, of 3200 a])ple trees; he
allows no other crop to grow with the trees, and employs a cultivator that moves
the earth 12 inches deep; the soil is kept moving " by running the cultivator
both ways." A frost sufficient to cut down the tender vegetation, in exposed
situations, on the 2'Ith of April, when strawberries were ripe.* The editor, how-
ever, says — "There is nothing like a visit to Smith's Strawberry Gardens, to
make a person forget trouble."

In another number, the Farmer speaks of the Mission Orchard, at San Jose ;
and chronicles an apricot-tree whose crop, the present year, is worth $200.
"Among the large pear-trees, were several that did not produce fruit equal to
others, or in so large quantities. These the proprietor caused to be headed down,
and grafted with the choice varieties, such as the Bartlett, Seckel, St. Michael, &c.,
and the growth of these grafts is most remarkable ; many of them will be in full
bearing the present year, this being but the second year, aud the grafts are, many
of them, four, five, and six feet long, and very vigorous.

The editor copies, at full length, our "Day at Kew Garden," and says : —

" We give the sketch, by the editor of the Horticulturist, of his visit to the Kew
Gardens, London ; and to his fine description of this gorgeous place we are in-
debted for a great pleasure, for it brought back to our own minds again, the visit
we paid to these wonderful specimens of Flora and Pomona. One exquisite plant,
named by the sketcher, the Anrectochilus setaceus — the King Plant of the Cingalese,
so highly spoken of — we remember with deep pleasure, for we brought one of
these exquisite plants (a very small one, of only two leaves, and the only one for
sale, for wiiich we paid a guinea) from the Belgian Gardens across to London,
thence to the steamer at Liverpool, by hand, and thence in our state-room to
Boston. We rememl)cr how we nursed it, as the heart nurses a treasure ; and we
remember the sensations of joy experienced when we placed it in our home, in all
its beauty and glory — that feeling can only be enjoyed hy afeio — they must love a
jioiver as the loving heart loves its own treasured flower, and our own joy w\as twin
to that experienced when such a heart has borne ' home' that treasure, and calls
it ALL ITS OWN. We know few of our readers can hardly realize or conceive the
beauty of such a place. We have often revelled in this and other ' homes of the
beautiful,' and we look forward in faith when, upon these bright shores, the
glorious science of horticulture, advancing with giant strides, shall rear a Temple
of Fame that shall outshine even the Kew Gardens of London, the Jardin des
Plantes of Paris, or the Jardin des Belgic at Ghent ; for, when our legislators
shall regard the true wealth of California, and labor to develop her real and true
interests — then will she quickly be what God and nature designed — The Garden
of the World."

* We clironicle ice around Philadelpliia, on the 30th of May.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

The Horticulturist. — We liave thrown together a few thoughts in the opening article of
this month, which were called forth by the period of ten years which have elapsed since the
commencement of this work. At the close of 1852, when it passed into the hands of Mr.
Barry, its publisher, Luther Tucker, Esq., truly remarked: —

" The Horticulturist was a pioneer work, and has held its ground almost without competi-
tion. It has formed a taste for the scientific pursuit of horticulture in all its branches, and
has exerted no inconsiderable influence in placing the arts of taste upon a new basis.
The design of the journal has proved to be one of those happy thoughts which come only
now and then, and lead one to wonder why it had not occurred before — a thought which,
though new, strikes forcibly upon public sentiment, and soon becomes as common property,
as though it never had an originator. The extent to which the editorials in the Horticultu-
rist have been copied, and the high eulogiums that have been passed Upon them, prove this to
a demonstration. But the Horticulturist has done more than to inculcate the principles of
taste, and teach the pleasures of rural life. It has been a scientific and practical work, and
by exciting a generous rivalry among gardeners and amateur cultivators, has raised the
standard of horticulture, and increased the number engaged in its pursuit. To be assured
of this, one need only to refer to the reports of horticultural exhibitions in the early volumes,
and contrast them with those of the present year. The competitors, the variety of fruits,
flowers, and vegetables grown, and the products, have increased four-fold — and we are only
new beginners. One needs a prophetic vision to say what the future of horticulture, in
this country, is destined to be. Favored as we are by soil and climate, we may certainly
anticipate brilliant results."

Our readers will pardon the space we have thus occupied, for they also feel not only a
great interest in the topics treated of in the work, but retain an afl'ection for its founder
which will only terminate with their lives.

Gossip. — A London friend writes us, that " a party of French swindlers opened in the spring
a bazaar of extraordinary seeds, near Regent Street, where great interest was excited by a
display of colored drawings of large scarlet and crimson pansies, which, they declared, had
gained the prizes at the great French exposition ! They had, also, drawings of currants as
large as grapes, and raspberries as big as plums, of which I was near obtaining plants to
send you, when I was warned of the whole being a take in !" Scarlet and red pansies ! would
be a novelty, indeed. — Mr. Brandegee, Secretary of the Brooklyn Horticultural Society, con-
firms the report of the excellence of the April exhibition, given in our last, and adds, that
there were six blooms from seedling camellias, of Mr. Becar's raising, all very good, and
one magnificent, which he has called Doivning. The stock of this plant will shortly be
ofiered for sale, and it is the intention of the owner to apply the proceeds in some way to
keep fresh the memory of that lover of flowers, the fruit of whose labors we are now enjoy-
ing. The Azalea " Beauty of Europe," was exhibited for the first time in this country. This
Society is one of the most spirited in America. — Flea powder is an article of considerable
commerce in Persia, Caucasia, &c. It is made from the red pyrethrum, Pyrethrum caineum,

a bri^'ht preen, tufted tiling, with rose-colored flower heads, and leaves not unlike chamomile
It is largely cultivated in Southern Russia, where it is dried to the amount of five-and-thirty
tons. How many bushels of fleas this will destroy is not stated. It also kills flies, gnats,
and lice, and the maggots which breed in the wounds of domestic animals ; for winged crea-
tures, it is mixed with anything they like. It is figured in the 1,080th plate of the Botani-
cal Maf/azine. The powder is called Piro-oti, and was very important to tlio Englisli and
French oflBcers in the Turkish barracks. Possibly, tliis might jirove a remedy for the cur-
culio. Boydell's traction steam-engine, an English invention, is pronounced " a great suc-
cess." It ascends a declivity of one in three, walks on a common road, with a heavy load
behind it, backs, advances, or stops, instantaneously, and its impress is scarcely perceptible
where a horse's foot left a deep impression in a turnip field. This success is owing to the
endless and wide railway attached to the circumference of the wheels, which gives a fulcrum
for the lever, and a bearing sufficiently wide to carry a great weight on soft ground. We
shall doubtless hear more of this soon. — In drying plants for preservation, each specimen
should be placed between a sheet of brown or blotting-paper, and between each filled sheet
several empty ones should be placed : for the first day or two, the pressure should be only
just sufficient to prevent the leaves and flowers from shrivelling. When the papers are
damp, the plants should be placed in dry ones, increasing the pressure after every shift till
the specimens are perfectly dry. — The prizes to be given at the three London Crystal Palace
Shows, this season, exceed, in the aggregate, eleven thousand dollars. The lists embrace
a wide extent of subjects, and provision is made to encourage the humbler class of visitors.

Roses pecced down to the ground make superb beds. The Red Geant de Bataillos, mixed

with the White Aimee Vibert, forms one of the best mixtures. Devoniensis makes a noble
bed on dry, warm soil, as does Souvenir de Malmaison and Mrs. Bosanquet. — A good friend
writes us, "That was a capital article on the treatment of Evergreens in May. It is just tlie
way I treated mine at my old country-seat in Europe, though a lighter soil made it less
necessary to dig the radii, but a supply of ashes and rotten leaves was plentifully dug in.
I have followed one root of a Scotch pine, for thirty-eight feet, till it came up under the high-
way, where, most probably, its spongioles were gathering all the benefit of passing cattle,
horses, &c., to carry those materials to the general store. And as for pruning, this can be
efiected, by gradual processes, to a great extent, even to the pruning of Norway firs with shears,
any time during the summer. Tliese hedges look very thick and green, but are not so long
lived as Thuja hedges, although stronger and impassable for cattle; but I prefer the Thuja
occidentalis closely shaved till a hedge of eight or ten years is not over eight inches thick,
and as well filled as one can wish."— A correspondent, in New Jersey, says : " I find my wife,
as well as myself, devours the Horticulturist. Strange that it should do us so much good,
who have only a plum-tree in the bricks, and a bed of horseradish 1 The latter we pull
up every Sunday morning, grate a bit ofi" the lower end, and replant it to grow again I so
as to have a taste from our own garden. This you may set down as an evidence of the
advantages of root-pruning, or of cutting off the tap root !" We hardly know whether this
would prove anytliing except great economy, or, possibly, the advantage of saving at the
tap, and drawing on the spile (spoil).— Another, in the editorial line, says : "Your gossip is
capital ; that for May was so spicy, that I ground it over into a splendid editorial leader .'"
What an excellent newspaper he must publish, and how profitable to be thus able to drive
tandem .'—Another correspondent says, he attempted to tell the story of Mr. Rivers' dwarf
cherry-trees, only one foot high, bearing a quart of fruit, when a listener put him to the
blush, by assuring him, a neighbor of his had a cherry-tree, in full bearing, which he carried
about in his snuff-box ! If true, these might be sent under cover by mail to Mr. Rivers, as a
specimen of American improvement of races ! — Philadelphia is the great centre of camellia
propagation. We have uuirieries which enumerate forty thousands of these beautiful

editor's table.

and from here they spread to all parts of the Union, and even foreign parts, — Recent experi
ments, as stated in the Mark Lane Express, go to show, that common salt is a valuable addi-
tion to all applications of guano. It not only has a tendency to give strength and hardness
to the straw (which guano weakens), but prevents the loss of ammonia, which is constantly
going on even in a dry atmosphere. M. Barral, the French editor, says : " We left in the
open air, in plates, during 15 days, equal weights of the pure guano and the guano pre-
viously mixed with salt. At the end of that time, we examined anew the amount of nitro-
gen, and found that the pure guano had lost 11.6 per cent, of its nitrogen, while that mixed
with salt had only lost 5 per cent." The Express recommends the use of refuse salt from
fish packers for this purjiose, and any refuse salt would probably answer the purpose. — We
have recently conversed with two gentlemen — both practical men, and of critical observa-
tion— who infoi-med us that they have now fields in grass, and yielding good crops, laid
down some five, six, and seven years ago, manuring them solely with guano, and receiving
little or no manuring since. — A correspondent of the London Times, in commenting upon
the progress of Irish agriculture, states that, during the past fourteen years, the value of
farm stock, in Ireland, has increased from £22,000,000 to £35,000,000 sterling, and that the
number of horned cattle has risen from 2,000,000 to 3,250,000, while the quality has corre-
spondingly improved. Still, however, of the 20,000,000 of acres which Ireland comprises,
only about one-fourth is under direct tillage, and fully one-third in pasture. — Nothing is in
worse taste than an evergreen with its branches lopped off half way up. It is but hal'f a
tree. It resembles some wretched man, who has undergone a surgical operation that has
taken off his arms up to his shoulders ; it would be as correct to shave off the wavy silken
tresses of a fair girl up to the crown of her head. — A travelled lady recently sent us some
honey from Hymettus, with the true poetic flavor still distinguishable. The humble thyme
plant, nourishing the Grecian apiaries, lives in the recollection of mankind, whilst the loftiest
platanus on the Ohio, awakens no retrospective sentiment whatever. Thus, one of the
sources of the pleasures of foreign travel, is denied to the American tourist. — Pteridology,
some may be glad to be told, is the botany of ferns. — John Reeves, Esq., for a long series of
years Tea-taster to the East India Company, and to whom England was greatly indebted for
many of the most interesting Chinese plants, died in April last. The Spirea Reevesiana,
and many other plants, derive their specific names from him. He was 82. — The Impatiens
Jerdonic-e, figured in our May number, is easy of culture, so showy and princely in appear-
ance, and continuing in bloom fully six months, is so invaluable, says the Cottage Gardener,
that no amateur, be his collection ever so small, should be without this gem. It is easily
propagated, in the same manner as the fuchsia. — To prevent chickens from fighting, tie an
empty bag to the end of a long stick, and, when the birds are intent on their encounter,
buffet them with the bag one after the other, and they will soon "give it up." — Fruit
growers have racked their brains to discover new forms of training fruit-trees. Enough
importance is not attached to those conditions, to which all the others ought to be sub-
servient, that their branches should take that form which involves the least delay, the least
care, and the least space, compatible with the greatest amount of fertility — that is, such a
form as will give the greatest profit with the least outlay. — From the frequent allusions, in
Punch, to gardening matters, we have a strong suspicion, tliat at one period of his life he
must have been a cultivator. His last hit is, " A paper to make people smart. A gardener
has succeeded in making paper out of common broom. We should say, it would be a
capital paper for schoolmasters, satirical writers, and political antagonists, if the broom in
question is a birch broom." — Glycerine is a liquid obtained in quantity in the manufacture
of soap, candles, and stearic acid, but, till recently, was thrown away. It is now found to
be one of the most efficacious agents for softening the skin and healing wounds
serves burns and wounds from the action of the air, and keeps the margin of the scar

state of suppleness ; it prevents the drying of cataplasms, is a valuable ingredient in
pomatum, cerate, and soap, and gives perfumes of a liigbly cosmetic quality ; is useful in
baths aud lotions ; alimentary and other substances, coated with it, retain their fresluiesB
for a long time, and it improves salted meats ; and, in weaving and facing woven goods, it is
said to excel any kind of mucilage or paste. It is even supposed, that the meat and vegetablea
exhibited at Paris, as keeping for an indefinite length of time, were prepared with glyce-
rine ; it is also administered internally, as a medicine, and horse doctors have availed them-
selves of it with the happiest results. — There is now but one opinion regarding the irresist-
ible remedy for the grape-vine disease ; sulphur, dusted copiously upon the parts aflfected as
soon as it appears, the precaution being first taken to syringe the vines. — A monument is
to be erected to Alexander Wilson, the most able writer upon North American ornithology,
in his native place of Paisley, Scotland, during the present summer. — Rats are the annoy-
ance of everybody. We gave a receipt, lately, of fried cork cut in small pieces, which they
will eat and cannot digest. Waterton got rid of a houseful, by catching one and dipping
his hinder parts in warm tar, and then turning liim loose in his old run. Tlie others, see-
ing his condition, and smelling such a rat, thought it prudent to take themselves off. On
examination, it was found they had actually gnawed away the comer of a peculiarly hard
brick which had obstructed their thoroughfare. — Were I asked, says the same remarkable
naturalist, my opinion of a highly cultivated flower-garden, I should say it is the loveliest
sight in rural nature ; and, moreover, that if it afforded me an opportunity of listening to
the song of birds, I should pronounce it little short of absolute perfection. But, in general,
the charming melody of birds is of too rare occurrence in the modern flower garden. — Cats,
he says, amongst birds, are like the devil amongst us ; they go up and down, seeking whom
they may devour. You must absolutely chase them away for good and all, othei-wise there
will be no place for your birds. A small quantity of arsenic, about as much as the point
of your penknife will contain, rubbed into a bit of meat, either cooked or raw, will do their
business effectually. — Gardeners are, in general, choice observers ; to them

" Not a tree,
A plant, a leaf, a blossom, but contains
A folio volume."

— Rational people now-a-days, will scarcely believe, that near the close of the last century,
most men considered that the appearance of the horse was considerably improved by de-
priving the poor beast of one-half of its ears. Yet this was the case ; then the tail was
cropped, and both fashions coming at the same time, it was no uncommon sight, each ex-
tremity presenting a distressing picture of mutilation and deformity. People were found
who took horses to board, to have their ears properly clipped, and their tails docked. A
sticking plaster was attached to the back, and the tail fastened to this canvas, to mount it
in the air. About as rational, you will say, as some of our more modern/as/t«ons. — A corre-
spondent says : " I have the ten volumes of the Horticulturist bound, and they could not be
bought of me for money ; I consider them indispensable for reference on fruits or flowers,
and they are all as valuable to me as they were the day I first received them." — Five agri-
cultural warehouses, in Boston, sell, annually, two and a half millions of dollars' worth of
agricultural tools. — Okra is proposed for making paper and rope, and, probably, it will
answer a good purpose. It is readily stripped of its bark by threshing. — A New Property
OF Steam. Persons in the city, who are in the habit of receiving winter fruit, such as apples,
&c., per railroad, complain frequently of the great reduction in quantity, which the fruit
suffers in transitu. This, we presume, is attributable to the motion of the cars, or the whistle
of the steam, although a suspicious friend suggests, that steam would hardly be able to force
out of barrels, and cram them into the mouths of the brakesmen. — A California letter,
ing of the extravagant spirit that prevails everywhere in that State, says : " Appl

large size, to be sure) were offered at fruit stands for sale, at four dollars and fifty cents
apiece. The price is not more remarkable than tbat there are many persons indiscreet'
enough to purchase and eat them e^en at this rate. If this taste continues, who will say
that the orchards of Oregon shall not come to be as valuable as the gold mines of California ?
—A reminiscence of the late winter, which it may be as well to put on record, partakes of
the fun and exaggeration of our people, as follows : The Syracuse (N. Y.) Journal says, that
the plank roads in that section are so drifted with snow, that the gate-keeper comes up
through the scuttle in the roof of his house, and receives the toll by reaching up through a
hole in the middle of the road. The additions made to the drifts by the recent fall have
been so great, that all communication through the scuttle is cut off, and the toll is now paid
to the gate-keeper by dropping the money down the chimney! — The Detroit Advertiser
states, that they have exported to Chicago something over 800,000,000 feet of lumber, about
100,000,000 feet to Wisconsin, leaving only 100,000,000 for home consumption, which is a
very low estimate. The whole value of the exports of lumber exceeds a million of dollars
per annum.

More Matter. — By consulting the economy of our type, we have at length succeeded,
without reducing its size, in giving one-third more matter, in each number of the Horticul-
turist, than was the case six months ago. This addition is brought about by omitting the
very tliin lead between each line in the majority of our pages. The appearance is slightly
affected, but the increased amount of reading is extremely enlarged. This has enabled us
to insert most of the favors of our correspondents, opening the way for new contributions.

Answers to Correspondents. — Food fob Grape-Vines. — (W. B.) You have, on your own
premises, excellent manure for your grape-vines. Make a basin round the roots, get the
sweepings or manure of the poultry -yard, and keep it constantly diluted or dissolved in a
barrel, at the rate of a peck to a barrel of water. Every week, on washing day, empty a
pailful of the manure-water upon the roots of the vine, and, afterwards, as much " suds" as
the vine will take up. The result will be a healthy vine, and fine crops, the frait about
twice the size of a neglected vine.

Evergreens. — (J. C. S.) Any well-decomposed compost will suit evergreens. Animal
manure, especially in a fresh state, should never be employed.

Hedges. If your arbor vits hedge is not well supplied with branches near the ground,
peg down, and bring into the earth, a few of the lowermost ones, and, with mulching, they
will soon form new, and, as it were, a separate tree, which, by training, will cover all defects.

The mulching for evergreens should be fine chips, spent tan, sawdust, &c. These are
among the very best manures for evergreens. If stones are employed for mulching, leaf
mould should be occasionally put under them.

(W. B. B., South Carolina.) The evergreen oak, Quercus ilex, suitable to your climate,
bears the influence of sea air perfectly, and would be a very profitable tree to plant as well
as extremely ornamental — none more so. The Laurustinus, it will interest you to know,
may also be included in your list of shrubs to plant within the influence of the sea ; it
succeeds well in such places, and may be even used at the South as a hedge plant, than
which nothing could be more superb. The Araucaria and Cedrus Deodara will also suit
you. Ah ! if we only had some climates and situations that we know of at the South, we
could make such a little earthly paradise as it would be hard to leave.

Old Seeds.— (E. R. H., New York.) We shall be glad to hear the results of your experi-
ments, although we fear that you will destroy their vitality in the process you propose try-
iuc'. Various agents have been employed, with a view to assist and hasten germination by

YoL. y I.— July, 1856. 22

an increased supply of oxygen. Chlorine, in a diluted state, has been used with advantage.
It may bo obtained by mixing a tablespoonful of muriatic acid with a like proportion of
black oxide of manganese, and a pint of water. The seeds are steeped for two or three
hours, and then sown. A better way would be, to introduce a weak stream of chlorine gas
into the so\\, after the seeds are sown ; this you may obtain by mixing the above ingredients
in a retort, and applying a gentle heat.

Oxalic acid has also been used as a steep, and found to be very effective, removing the
seeds as soon as vegetation commences.

Seeds moistened with water, and then rolled in newly slacked lime, are said to vegetate
more readily, but experiments on this subject have not been much extended, and you have,
therefore, an ample field for indulging, as you say, your " fancy for horticultural experi-
ments." It may be well to remember, that seeds will not germinate unless in contact with
atmospheric air. And we have the authority of Saussure, that light forms no impediment
to this process, and that the development of the plant is more rapid than when the seeds
vegetate in darkness. Light has been considered injurious, but this may proceed from the
difficulty of keeping seeds uniformly moist when placed on the surface.

New axd Valuable Trees and Fruits. — One of the most remarkable catalogues ever pub-
lished has just appeared in Leyden ; it contains a priced list of the Japanese plants actually
cultivated in the nursery of Siebold & Co., of that place. As is well known, the Dutch
monopolize the intercourse of Europeans with Japan, the country most in climate like the
British Isles, but resplendent with a vegetation infinitely richer and more varied. Camellia,
Cephalotaxus, Cryi)tomeria, Aucuba, Chimonanthus, Clematis, and Pyrus Japonica, suffi-
ciently indicate how beautiful and hardy is the Flora of Japan, to say nothing of Weigela,
Forsythia, and the whole race of Moutans. Availing themselves of their commercial privi-
leges, the Dutch have sedulously occupied themselves with the acquisition of everything
most worthy of introduction to Europe, and the result is already a total number of 3 or 400
species and varieties offered for sale by the firm above mentioned. Of so curious an assem-
blage we are sure that a brief account will be interesting to all lovers of gardens. We shall,
however, confine our remarks to what are represented to be hardy races.

In the first rank stand Conifers, among which we find four species of Cephalotaxus, Ju7ii-
perus japonica and procumbens, Pinus densiflora and "the true" P. Massoniana, Podocarpus
Coraiana, Retinospora srjuarrosa, and that famous Thuja dolahrata. The last has no price
attached.

Among forest-trees are mentioned two Sycamores, Acer japonicum and polymorphum, the
stock of which is held by Van Houtte, and Ulmus Kejaki, which, we are assured, furnishes
the most valuable timber known in Japan.

Fruit-trees comprehend a very early Apricot called Armeniaca Mume, whose early rose-
colored flowers are extremely ornamental, while the fruit, owing to the firmness of the flesh,
is particularly well adapted for preserving. There is also a plant allied to Pyrus japonica,
named Chcenomeles umhilicata, thus described : " The fruit of this variety is perfumed like
Violets, and, in the hands of the confectioner, surpasses in flavor all the fruit in our gar-
dens." Mention, moreover, is made of a Japanese variety of Peach.

Small flowering trees and shrubs form a considerable part of the catalogue. The follow-
ing appear to be the most remarkable : Acacia Nemu ; a weeping Apricot named Armeniaca
pendula, whose branches are described as falling almost perpendicularly ; a new variety or
two oi Aucuba japonica ; Catalpa Kcempferi ; a Judas tree, C'ercis chinensis ; Corylopsis spicata,
a small bush resembling the Hazel ; Weiyela hortensis ; Indiyofera Iwafusi ; a variety of
It euteria japonica ; a new Privet ; Litsoea glauca, a yellow -berried Laurel ; Malus Torinyo
unda, and Rinzo, three dwarf Apples, abundant flowerers, well adapted for forcing ;

EDITOR'S TABLE.

Rhus OsbecJcii, " on whose leaves galls are formed of better quality than those of Aleppo ;"
Ligustrum Ibota, the true wax Privet, on which the wax insect (Asiraca cerifera) naturally
feeds ; two Roses, called Iwara and Camellia ; Spiraea rupestris ; Tamarix chinensis ; and a
great may sorts of Tree Pseony.

Climbing shrubs include Tecotna Thunbergii, the true Bignonia gratidljlora of Thunberg ;
some new Wistarias ; Aristolochia Kcempferi, and Ampelopsis heterophylla.

Finally, there is a considerable number of herbaceous plants, among which are included
several new kinds of Funkia and Lillian, a Burdock called Lappa edulis, the roots of which
are eaten like Scorzonera ; a couple of Irises ; Polygonatum japonicum, whose roots are a
substitute for Asparagus ; a Polygonum called Sieboldi, recommended as a green crop for
cattle food, as an excellent bee plant, &c. &c. ; and the Chinese Yam, which M. Siebold calls
Dioscorea opposita, and to the hardiness of which he fully testifies. He also offers seeds of
the Soja japonica, the real plant from which the sauce called Soy is prepared.

Some of these novelties have been already introduced into England, and are offered for
sale by E. Gr. Henderson. Who will be the first to advertise these interesting articles in
America ?

Washington City, D. C, June 3, 1856.

J. Jay Smith, Esq. Dear Sir: I have just sent to your address a box of Strawberries, a
new French variety — Vicomtesse Hericast de Thury (one which I received under the name
of Duchesse de Travese proves to be the same). I have grown this strawberry two seasons,
and have no hesitation in pronouncing it first rate in every respect — its foliage is large and
firm, and not subject to scorch or bum under the fierce rays of our summer's sun. And
through the last intense cold winter it passed unhurt without the slightest protection —
here then are the two first and most essential qualities for a strawberry to possess, namely,
hardiness and capability of withstanding brilliant sun. The fruit you will perceive is of
good size, bright color, firm flesh, and exquisite flavor — in addition it is a most abundant
bearer, swelling off a fine crop of fruit of uniform size.

I have now fruiting Omar Pacha, Nimrod, Comtesse de Mame, Princess Royal, with many
other new French and English kinds. Respectfully yours,

John Saul.

[The box was received and the berries were in the finest condition. We pronounce the
Vicomtesse a valuable fruit, with the qualities given above. It will be an excellent market
variety, some of the berries having kept perfectly, after their journey, for five days, without
the least decay. — Ed.]

Training and Pruning. — Training and pruning are two important operations in horticul-
ture, and closely connected together. In a previous page, we gave some examples of the former,
and shall here present additional modes. The principles upon which both are founded vary
according to the object in view. Training depends more or less on these facts — namely, that
as the sap in all trees has a natural tendency to flow in an upward direction, it follows that
the buds at the highest points above the roots will be the strongest and most disposed to
produce leaves and shoots ; and, therefore, when the formation of wood is desired, the
nearer to the perpendicular a tree is trained the better ; whereas, if the formation of blos-
som buds be the object in view, the very opposite direction should be given them. In fact,
training is the power which governs the flow of sap in trees and plants. Hence, nursery-
men train weakly growing young plants nearly in a vertical direction, while they place the
strong growing kinds nearly horizontally, and even, in some cases, nearly pendulous.
During the growing season they have an eye to the progress each is making, and elevate or
depress the shoots according to circumstances.

EDITOU'S TABLE.

The following figures show the leading methods of training wall and espalier trees, with

tlio names by which they are designated,
reference.

We insert them together, in this form, for

.^'

o. The herring-bone fan. 6. The irregular fan. c. The stellate fan. d. The drooping fan. e. The wavy fan.
/. The horizontal, ff. The horizontal, with screw-stem. h. The horizontal, with double stem. i. The vertical,
with screw shoots, k. The vertical, with upright shoots.

Besides these, espaliers are trained horizontally, or in form of a table, the stem rising
through the centre of the trellis, and the branches being trained in a radiating form. Some-
times the espalier is placed vertically, sometimes placed at one or other angle of elevation,
either accordiug to the latitude of the place, or the whim of the owner. All pruning and
training must be considered subordinate to a proper selection of stock, and to operations
on the roots. The true balancing of the power of the roots to that of the branches is most
important.

In pruning, the following practical rules should be attended to. Commence on hardy
trees soon after the gathering of the fruit and the fall of the leaves. Avoid frosty weather,
or when it is approaching. In cutting, always draw the knife in an upward direction, and
leave the wound smooth, to prevent the lodgement of water. In removing young wood, leave
about an inch of the branch above the last bud ; make the cut on the side opposite to it.
But, in removing an old branch, cut it as close to the stem or branch left as possible, in
order that the bark of the latter may cover the wound sooner. Use a sharp knife, a due
share of consideration, and be not in too great a hurry, lest you remove the branch which
ought to have been left. Cover the wound with a solution of shellac in alcohol, which you
should have always at hand. For more particular directions in regard to the various kinds
of vines and fruit-trees, refer to the several valuable American fruit books, such as Barry's,
Elliot's, and Thomas's.

Budding Roses. — In roses, as in many other things, climate has a great influenc,e in modi-
fying our operations. For instance, budding can seldom be perfonned successfully with us
till July, and, in many seasons, may be continued till October. The condition of the stock
is a better rule to go by than any given period of time. Budding ought not to be done when
the sap is too watery, which may be known by the bark being very thin and delicate, on
being raised with the budding-knife. It should be quite hard and firm, at the same time
separating readily and easily from the wood. The condition of the scions is also of import-

editor's table.

333

ance. Buds taken from shoots in active growth, are not so good as those selected from
branches that have partially exhausted themselves. To this end, stopping a strong grow-
ing shoot a few days before we intend to use it for budding, checks the circulation upwards,
and throws more organizable matter into the buds. With us, also, it is not of importance
to take out the wood after cutting out our bud ; the best operators take as little as possible
with the bark. A great cause of failure is in not taking out the bud with a straight, clean
cut. The edges of the bark, after the bud is cut out, must not be split and cracked up as
if a jackplane or shingle-shaver had been employed, or failure will be certain. Use a thin
bladed knife, and keep its back well away from you, or downwards, while using it.

Seed and Fish Experiments. — Mr. Darwin, the eminent naturalist, says the Gardeners''
Chronicle, is continuing his experiments on the vitality of seeds, with a view to arrive at
data as to the distribution of plants. Among the points involved in this interesting inquiry
are — the length of time in which a seed will live in the intestines of a bird or other animal,
and the circumstances under which it may be dropped in a distant place, and germinate :
also, how long will seeds retain their vitality when floating in the currents of the sea ?
The last question is now under investigation with seeds collected on the coast of Norway,
a'nd at the Azores, whither they had been drifted by the Gulf-Stream. Another branch of
the inquiry relates to the distribution of species of fish. Naturalists want to know, for
instance, whether the eggs of salmon will retain their vitality sufficiently long to produce
fish, when carried through varying temperatures to places wide apart. In one way, the
question has been answered in the affirmative by the piscicultural experiments to which we
have more than once called attention. Dr. Davy has now solved it in another way. He
took impregnated ova of the char, from a stream falling into Windermere, and subjected
them to temperatures varying from 70° to 98°. The result showed, that the older the eggs
the better they resisted the heat : the youngest died in the first experiments. Another
mode was sending ova packed in wet wool, inclosed in a tin box, from Ambleside to Pen-
zance, and back again — more than a thousand miles — and with like results. And such
being the case with the very delicate char, there is good reason to believe of the more hardy
salmon species, that the strength of vitality of the impregnated ovum, or its power of re-
sisting agencies unfavorable to its life, gradually increases with age, and the progress of
foetal development.

The MACL0EA. — A valued correspondent calls our attention to an article that has had some
currency in the West, respecting a change of name for the Madura. The writer, who is a
large cultivator of this hedge plant, wishes it to be called " the Prairie Hedge Plant," to
which our correspondent very properly objects ; he says : " ' Osage Orange' is beautiful,
romantic, grateful, appropriate ; all but universal ; these kind of people are no better than
the Tame plum, Tame gooseberries, and Tame grapemen ! Why don't they call the Hickory
the Axe-Helve-Tree ? If one has a foolish whim that a horse ought to be called a saddle,
let him do so himself quietly, but not disturb conventional Anglo-Saxondom, by printing
silly arguments in support of his whim." We apprehend there is no great danger of his
succeeding.

Michigan Transactions. — We have received a complete set of the Michigan Agricultural
Transactions from J. C. Holmes, Esq., its estimable Secretary, and another copy for the
Philadelphia Library, an institution with which we have long been, and still are, connected,
and to which we shall be happy to forward pamphlets, books, &c., on this subject, or any
other, that are worthy of preservation. Mr. Holmes has our thanks, and he will be offic
informed of the estimation felt for his gift by the proper officer o; tlie Library.

editor's table.

Ugkxia Uoni. — We regret to loam, from Mr. Buist, that the Ugenia Ugni, a fruit bearing
slirub, mentioned several times lately in tliis work, and recommended lately by Mr.
S.irgi-nt, is not likely to be liardy here. It will ro<iuiro eitlior to l>e taken up every winter,
nr Icept as a greenhouse plant in this latitude. At the youth, it will prove of great value.

TnF, Pampas Grass. — Several paragraphs in this journal have lately alluded to the Pampas
Grass as highly ornamental. A number of questions regarding it have reached us, to which
we reply, that it is scarcely known among us yet, though two or three friends have it coming
forward. Tlie following description is from the London Gardeners^ Chronicle : —

" One of the most interesting plants, now in flower at Turnham Green Gardens, is the
Pampas Grass of Brazil Hiynerium argenteiim). Tliis plant has twelve flower stems, each
some eight feet long, about the thickness of the thumb, and supported by an erect panicle
of inflorescence at least eighteen inches in length, which, beneath the bright sunshine, looks
a beautiful, light-colored feather, spangled with silver ; the panicle is in the form of the
beautiful Arundo phragmites. The leaves, which are some seven or eight feet long, with a
hard, flinty skin, grow in tussocks, which, in situations at all favorable, soon acquire a large
size ; when in flower, certainly few plants are more striking or magnificent in appearance
than this gigantic grass, which, being perfectly hardy, will be found to be a great acquisition
to ornamental grounds."

Bees. — Here is something about bees which quite abates our early prejudice in favor of
those always instanced little creatures that '■'■improve each shining hour."

" Many curious instances have been noticed by naturalists, illustrative of the instinct
which directs various animals to proportion the amount and nature of their labor to the
exigencies of particular cases. Bees transported from Europe to Bermuda, omitted, after
the experience of one season, to make the annual provision for the winter ; and, laying
aside their habits of industry with the necessity of exertion, became idlers and sources of
vexation to the inhabitants."

Dr. Ward's article on the Pear will appear in our next.

Pruning the Pear-Tkee.- — We recommend to all practical men the article by "B., New
Jersey," in our present issue, on pruning the Pear-tree. It contains the essence of what it
is desirable to know on the subject, in a condensed form, and we are mistaken, if there will
not be found in it much that many practical men have yet to learn.

We have received the rules of the British Pomological Society, established in London, in
1854, of which Sir Joseph Paxton is President. This is the first in Great Britain, but we
hear nothing of its reports. Will one of our English correspondents send them as they
appear ?

The Transactions of the Northwestern Fruit Growers^ Association, held at Burlington, Iowa,
last September, have at length reached our table. It is the fourth session ; the discussions
are of great interest ; practical men have given their experience ; facts are settled, syno-
nymes determined ; the pamphlet, in short, is necessary to the Western fruit grower.

Plum culture was first discussed, and, of course, our acquaintance "the little Turk,"
received complimentary attention. Mr. Barry said the plan of paving under trees, gave
him the idea of beating the earth hard; a boy, at the same time, jarred the trees, and
picked up the punctured plums ; and thus the larvije and insects are destroyed, not only
X>rotecting the present crop, but lessening the next year's crop of insects. He thinks the

editor's table.

idea tliat we shall ever find a remedy without labor is fallacious, and he admitted that
Matthews' remedy, whatever it may be, will require as much or more labor than the above.
In short, this pest is left just where he was — on the plums. Dr. Hull said he had invented
a labor-saving machine, not heavier than a wheelbarrow, to jar oif the punctured fniit, which
falls into canvas, with the insects. He said the curculio attacked his peaches.

It was agreed to recommend the free growing varieties of the American Wild Plum
(Prunus Americana) as the most suitable stock on which to work the plum.

Fire-blight ; Mr. Fahnestock said, where they cut off the affected spur, they saved the
tree, but, if that remained, the disease spread over the trees, and destroyed them clear to
the body. Mr. Barry said this virulent form of blight makes its appearance in warm, humid
atmosphere, and prompt amputation saves the trees ; some varieties are more liable to it.
The Buffum Pear is exempt from this disease. This Pear is figured the present month.

Mr. Barry's address was an excellent and practical one. He thought pomology was to
make its greatest triumphs in the West. " Who ever saw, before, such apples or such
pears as are displayed here ? I never have, in all my travels, either at home or abroad.
* * * Twenty years ago, two or three nurseries around New York, and an equal number
in Massachusetts, supplied the Union. Now, nurseries may be counted by the thousand,
even to the shores of the Pacific. * * * Our pomological literature has been created,
one may say, within the last ten or fifteen years. * * * Eobert Manning, of Salem,
Mass., was one of the first who made systematic attempts at a pomological garden ; this
was in 1823, and, in 1838, he enumerated 160 varieties of apples, 620 of pears, &c., in all,
922 varieties ; in 1842, the number was estimated at 2,000 varieties." Mr. Barry made no
allusion to Wm. Coxe, who commenced long before. * * * " Mr. Wilder, at the present
time, enumerates 1,000 varieties." * * * Mr. J. S. Cabot, Samuel Walker, B. N. French,
Hovey & Co., Wm. Kenrick, &c., received honorable mention, as did the late Mr. Prince,
Charles Downing, A. Saul, A. J. Downing, David Thomas, and his son ; Thorp, Smith,
Hanchett & Co., F. R. Elliott, A. H. Ernst, &c. &c. Some highly valuable portions of Mr.
B.'s address we shall print hereafter.

The subjects of taxation of nurseries, and of tree peddlers, attracted considerable atten-
tion, and were discussed in a business-like way. Root grafting, the cultivation of the
cherry, the strawberry, &c., were discussed, but we do not find any recommendation from
the association of any particular kinds.

Of apples, however, the early Joe, Dutchess of Oldenburg, Mother, Hubbardston, Nonsucli,
and the Spice Sweet, were continued for further trial.

Peck's Pleasant and Primate were recommended for moderate cultivation ; the Willow
Twig for extensive cultivation ; the Newtown Pippin for cultivation in particular localities.

The Bark louse was discussed at some length, and Mr. A. G. Hanford has communicated
the remedy he furnished the description of in the Ilortiatlturist, viz : a mixture of tar and
oil, put on in the form of paint. Mr. Dunlap was of opinion that the height of this difficulty
was now reached, and that the insect would become less troublesome. He uses one pound
of potash in sdven gallons of water, as a wash, with success.

The Report is satisfactory, and will be, we trust, largely distributed.

Stopping Summer Growths. — You would hardly suppose that there is a man, woman, or
child, in all the world, who could not learn the art of " stopping" the shoots of plants and
trees at one lesson — pinch out the top of the shoot with the forefinger and thumb, and the
thing is done in a moment. So it is, sure enough ; but there is no art in that way of doing
it at all ; and may be a great deal of mischief in it, and there often is.

I once lived with a gentleman who never went about in the country without his walking-
stick, which had a " spud" on the bottom end, with which he was constantly routing out

editor's table.

docks, thistles, and other nozions weeds, in and round the fields and plantations, wherev
he wont ; also the plantains and daisies on the lawn, and such weeds as he could see in the
heds or borders ; and, to the last, I could never convince him that he often did more harm
than good by so doing. It was his way, and ho could no more help it than I could. A
Groundsel, or a Shepherd's Purse, or a Dandelion, and many more such common weeds,
take several days after the flowers open before they seed, or do any more harm than is done
already ; meantime, some one passes by that way who pulls out the weed, and carries it
out of the way at once, or sends some one else to weed that bed or border ; but the " governor"
gets there before him, with the everlasting spud and the ruling passion, twists down the
Groundsel with one turn of the spud, cuts the neck of the dandelion in two, or makes a
hole in the grass, big enough to play marbles into, trying to root out a plantain or a daisy
— all of which is doing more harm than good. The Groundsel has sap enough in it to
ripen its seeds while it lies unperceived till the mischief is done, till a fresh crop of seed-
lings spring up. So the bottom half of the broken neck of the dandelion sends up four
heads for the lost one, and there are thus four chances that the mischief will run mucli
further than it would were it not for the spud. In short, I would as soon let a Welsh goat
into the shrubbery, as let an amateur spudder into any part of my own garden.

There are other people, and most of them are nice, amiable people, who never do any
real harm in a garden, save one kind of mischief, and that they do unknowingly to them-
selves. It is their way of " stopping." If they stop a thing, they think it is stopped for
good, and there is an end of it ; but the end is no better than from spudding ; they pull
up the weed, and, may be, shake the soil from the roots ; but they throw it down in the
same place, and if it is of the seedling class, a crop of seeds is sown there before the gar-
dener sees that a dead or a dying weed was there at all ; whereas, if this weed had been
left standing, he would have seen it the next time he passed that way ; and he would " stop"
it according to the rules of his own art ; he would have it up, root and branch, and carried
off at once ; and all those who stop weeds on any other j)lan do, or may do, more harm than
good.

There are other masters, and some mistresses, too, who read a great deal about gardening
without ever studying one single word on the subject. You would take them to be very
clever on gardening from their conversation, but if you saw their " stopping," you would
just think as I do, and I think a great deal, at times, about such things. The meaning of
a sentence of much import may be lost by putting the comma, the smallest " stop," in the
wrong place ; and it is the same if you apply the smallest stopping to plants and trees ;
stopping a shoot at the wrong time, or in the wrong place, may spoil the shape of a speci-
men, the flowering of the best geranium, the fruiting or the future crop of a vine or a peach,
or any one plant you may think of ; and yet these superficial people think there is no art
in stopping, beyond the mere process of doing the act, from the weeding of the walks, up
to the regulation of the branches of the Mangosteen itself. You have only to put their
stopper on, and all is right ; and must be right, for they have read of it, and knew it years
ago ! — Cottage Gardener.

Olden Mode of Heatixg. — That quaint old writer, John Evelyn, in his Gardeners^ Calendar
for November, gives the following directions for heating a greenhouse ; the date is 1676, about
the period of the settlement of Pennsylvania : " If the season prove exceeding i)iercing
(which you may know by the freezing of a dish of water, or moistened cloth, set for that
purpose in your greenhouse), kindle some charcoals, and when they have done smoking, i>ut
them in a hole sunk a little into the ^oor, about the middle of it. This is the safest stove.'"
The cloth for a thermometer ! The " charcoals" would have been a poor protection last
winter !

editor's table.

Agricultural, — Washington, April 19, 1856. — Much activity exists in the agricultural
branch of the Patent Office, under the direction of Mr. J. D. Brown. A number of gentle-
men, in various parts of the country, are engaged in making experiments in agricultui-al
chemistry, and several interesting reports have just been received.

One, from Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, who has analyzed the corn cob, acquaints
the Bureau that it contains four and a half parts of nutritive matter, consisting of gum,
starch, and dextrine.

Another, from the same gentleman, who has made geological excursions through the
States of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, furnishes the result of chemical
researches on the seed of the cotton plant. He says that cotton seed may be profitably
employed in the production of a rich, fat oil, and that the woolly fibre adhering to the hulls
may be economized in the manufacture of paper, while the substance of the seeds, or their
" meats," after having the oil extracted, may be employed for feeding animals, and also as
an excellent fertilizer.

The following is the analysis of the oil cake, made from the cotton seed : Carbon, 37,740 ;
oxygen, 39,663 ; nitrogen, 7,753 ; hydrogen, 5,869 ; salts (inorganic), 8,960 ; total, 99,985.

On separating the various salts, and reducing them to their ratios for one hundred grains
of the oil cake, the following results were ascertained : Alkaline salts, soluble in water,
0.13 ; phosphate of lime, 3.04 ; potash, 0.46 ; soda, 0.53 ; phosphoric acid, with traces of
sulphuric acid and chlorine, 0.80; silica and oxides of iron and manganese, 0.18 ; loss, 0.35.
Total, 5.50.

The analysis of cotton seed justifies and explains the use made of them by the Southern
planters in preparing the soil with the rotted seeds, as a special manure for Indian corn, which
draws so largely on the oil for phosphates.

The Bureau has been sending out small tubers of the Chinese yam, which was recently
introduced into France from the North of China, and bids fair to serve as a substitute for
the potato.

Akispe, Bureau Co., Ill,, March 9, 1856.
Dear Sir : Our winter has been the most severe that has been known lately. Peach-trees
are all dead, old and young ; cherries also, all the Heart and Bigarreau varieties. Pears,
also, are nearly all dead ; few varieties, probably, will leaf out ; but whether they will live
through the summer, time will only tell. Plums are also badly used. Roses are killed to
the ground — all the ever-blooming sorts that I have examined. Apples, I think, are not
injured. I have two Napoleon Bigarreau trees, six years old, budded upon the Morello
stock, four feet up from the ground ; they are unharmed. Also, one other variety, name
not known, budded up nearly as high, unharmed. My loss in trees, &c., winter killed,
about 2,000 dollars ; rather hard luck for a new beginner, but I am not the only one ; it is
universal all through this section of country.

Citizens New to the Country. — Dear Mr. Editor : I live in an old village which has
suddenly become the vogue. A perfect rush of city merchants, and others, has destroyed
all my old nooks and solitary rambling grounds. The springs of water have been dammed
into fish-ponds, and my trout stream made to wander through tame gardens. Gardens, did
I say ! Why, some that are so-called are a curiosity for a museum. I say nothing of the
silver maples that do duty for ornament in long, straight rows, nor of the hideous specimens
of evergreens which disfigure, rather than ornament, my poor old town. It is the kitchen
gardening that I object to ; the new " vegetables" that are introduced, and the rush that is
made for "good gardeners." Mine has been induced to leave me, after ten years of faithful
service, because he was ofl"ered ten dollars a month more than was ever paid in the

old times. Well, if people can afford to pay so high for their eatables, so bo it ; some of us
uuist raise our own, or go without our truck. But I want to know what business anybody
has to " live in the country" who has no kind of knowledge of country things ?

My illustrations must take the conversational strain ; the following lucid talk actually
occurred in the parlor of one of my new neighbors, last evening, and the provoking jjart of
it was, the interlocutors never appealed to me for information ; me, who had lived all my
life in the country ! I was voted an ignoramus, because I knew nothing of silks or Irish
linens. But, to our evening conversation.

First Lady. " Oh! Mrs. Firkin, I'm going to keep bees !"

Second Lady. " Are you, indeed ! I should like to make honey, myself ; but where do
you get bees ?"

First I^ady. " Why, just as you get birds. The carpenter was here to-day, making wren
boxes, and I got him to make me a pair of bee-hives, and a shelf just under the bay-window.
Won't it be nice ?"

Second Lady. " Do the bees come and take possession like the bluebirds and wrens ?"

First Lady. " I expect so ; don't you know ?"

Husband. " My dear wife ! you have made a great mistake. Bees sicarm, and have to
be carefully hived. You might wait a century for a swarm to take possession. You ourjht
not, my love, to attempt things you don't understand. This is the fourth or fifth time you
have — "

First Lady. " Do be quiet ! I don't believe you know anything about it !"

Tliird Lady. " Oh! how charming it is to have a good, large garden. Our man has been
planting Lima beans, and has scoured the whole country for poles ! I do believe the fellow
has been away a whole week getting poles !"

Note. — I had been looking into this " fellow's" gardening, and know it to be a fact, that
he has staked morning glories that came up all over the ground, ami, being vines, he thought
they were Lima beans ! Most of the time he was away for the poles, he was loitering at the
tavern.

Fourth Lady. " Well, I declare, I'm almost sick of this gardening. Last year, we ordered
a large quantity of early beets cultivated, and, when they came up, they were all sun-
flowers ! Our man was cheated into buying six pounds of sunflower seeds, for beets !"

Fourth Lady^s Husband. " You forget, my dear, that you bi'ought them home, after a day's
shopping, yourself ; and — "

Fifth Lady. "I should be well contented to live here all the year round, for the sake of
having a cow. But, do you know, the calf takes all the milk !"

First Lady. " Oh dear ! Why, how old is the calf ?"

Fifth Lady. " Only eight months ! We never get a drop of milk."

Guffaw from poor me ! " Oh ! oh ! ! oh ! ! !" and I am voted A Great Bore.

The Three Crop System. — Tlie Boston Transcript gives so intelligible an account of Mr.
Simpson's mode of obtaining three crops of grapes in two years, that we copy it for the
information of our readers.

" Mr. Simpson states, as the foundation of his theory, the following principles : —

1. To perfectly ripen the wood, leaf, and bud.

2. To secure a thorough resting of the vine, by withholding moisture from the roots ; and

3. To keep up a brisk root action throughout the growth of the crop.

By imitating the dry season of tropical countries, he effects the ripening of the wood, and
the fall of the leaves of the vines that have produced his early spring crop, and the vines
are then laid down to rest until the period of three or four months, the season of rest
have passed, when they are again set up, and encouraged to bearing.

editor's table.

It is obvious that Ms vines that bore his late crop, say in September, ripen their fruit, and
their wood, and let fall their leaves through the influence of autumnal cold.

His chief improvement appears to be in ajiplying drought as a substitute for the cold of
winter, and in managing to have his vines in bearing every eight months, so as to prodiice
three crops of grapes in two years. This gain he effects without any injury to his vines, as
sufficient practical trials have already proved.

With regard to the method of cultivation of these vines ; ten days before starting the
buds, the earth is warmed, and in three weeks the vines are ready to be set up. They were
started on the 15th of December, 1854, and bloomed in five weeks. The first swell of grapes
was four weeks after blooming ; four weeks later, the seeds are hardened, and, during this
most important vital process of the plant, there seems to be a suspension of growth of the
juicy portion of the fruit. In four weeks more the grapes ripen. In all, the time is about
sixteen weeks. On the 20th inst., the early grapes — ' Macready's Early White' — had been
ripe for some time, and the Black Hamburgh, Chasselas, and other late varieties, were nearly
ripe — some of the bunches being quite perfect and of high flavor.

The vines, now loaded with ripe grapes, will be laid down to rest, and not be again
awakened iintil next August, when they will be set up for their next crop, which will be
ripe in January.

They will next be started in April, and will ripen in September following, and then again
they will be started in December. Thus the three crops will be produced in twenty-four
months, or eight months for each crop."

Remedy for the Apple Bark Louse. — The best remedy for this insect is, probably, the
following : Boil leaf tobacco in strong lye until it is reduced to a pulp, and mix it with soft
soap (made cold — not the jelly-like boiled soap), to make the mass about the consistence of
thin paint, which will not be washed from the tree by the first rain. The fibres of the
tobacco cause it to remain for some time. First trim the trees well, and apply the prepara-
tion, with a paint-brush, to every twig and limb, before the buds have much swelled in the
spring. One hundred and fifty large trees can be gone thoroughly over, by two men, in a
fortnight. These insects from neighboring vards will not attack trees thus treated.

Bridgewater, March 24, 1856.
The Rhode Island Greening. — Mr. Editor : The Rhode Island Greening was a famous
apple here twenty years ago. Is this becoming an extinct variety ? Of late years, the
fruit is abundant, but it does not set well, and, by the time the apples are as large as a
walnut, the tree is bare ; or, perhaps, a peck where there should be a barrel, is found in
October ; and so for ten or fifteen years it has been. Trees ten and fifteen years old, succeed
no better than those of forty and fifty years. To make our greening-trees bear, must we
change the soil, or manure, or add manufactured manure ? Must we seek out a new stock,
on the theory that the old Rhode Island Greening stock has run out ? Or is the cause of
this defect to be sought for in the atmosphere ? is it in the climate ? I trust that some one of
your readers will give us the result of his experience with this formerly noble fruit.

A SUBSCRIBEB.

Homemade Wine. — Dr. Tliompson, of W^ihnington, Del., has furnished the editor of the
American Farmer with the following receipt for making domestic champagne, pronoimced
equal to any imported : —

Dr. Thompson's Recipe for Making the Domestic Catawba and Isabella Wine. — The
Catawba is, I think, much the best. Select the ripest and cleanest Catawba grapes. Mash
and squeeze them up thoroughly — then strain the liquor through a fine sieve — then through

editor's table.

flannel. To 2 to 2i gallons of this juice, add 3 gallons of water, and from If) to 20 lbs. ol
imlvcrizod white sugar — these proportions to a five-gallon demijohn is, I think, the best
mole of making it — always having enough left to keep filling up the vent — leaving the
cork out until the fermentation is done — then decant, and put up in champagne bottles,
and you have the wine you drank here. The very finest and dryest grapes should bo
selected.

The first number, for May, of the South Carolina Agriculturist, edited by A. G. Sumner, and
published by the State Agricultural Society of S. C, has been received, and speaks well for
an increased interest in the matter in that State. It " promises well," and we shall be
pleased to welcome it to our table. This number has good horticultural articles in it.

Seedlings of Pennsylvania. — Mr. J. Jay Smith : \Vliy is it that we Pennsylvanians do not
improve and discriminate our seedling fruits ? We certainly have some amongst the best
apjiles and pears in the country ; should any fine fruit come under the notice of our friend,
Dr. Brinckle, or some few others, it will be brought into notice. We have many good seed-
ling apples and pears that are hardly known out of the locality where they originated. I
have often thought why it was so, and I have even gone so far as to introduce the subject
among our horticulturists, particularly at agricultural and horticultural fairs, but that
would be about the last of it. If I ofiered a half dozen of the best seedlings at any of
our exhibitions, I heard no more of them. It is not the first time my humble self has tried
to draw the attention of committees, but could not get a passing notice. Now, you know,
Mr. Editor, that is rather discouraging to a new hand ; but should, by accident, some of our
seedlings get out of the county or State where they were originated, some other State will
generally lay claim to it ; for instance, the Smokehouse Apple is set down, by Mr. Elliott's
American Fruit-growers' Guide, as a native of the State of Delaware ; the Gate or Waxen
Apple is said, by Downing's and Elliott's, to be a native of Virginia ; but, as it hapi)ens,
there are persons yet living who know something about those apples. The Gate Apple is a
seedling of Paradise, Lancaster County ; the seed of said apple was planted by Mrs. Beam,
more than 100 years ago, her family being amongst the first settlers of this county ; the
apple went, for many years, by the name of Mother Beam Apple. In the course of time,
there was a gate planted close to the Apple-tree, and, aftei-wards, it assumed the name of
Gate Apple.

Mr. Niesby married into the family of the Beams — was one amongst the first settlers of
Ohio ; he took scions, from this same tree, out to Ohio with him, and, in course of time, the
Apple was extensively cultivated in the County of Belmont, Ohio. I suppose some one
thought proper to call it Belmont, which name it bears in many localities.

The Smokehouse Apple, set down to the credit of little Delaware, I now will bring home
to old Lancaster County ; the original tree I recollect very well when in its glory, at Mrs.
Gibbon's smokehouse, near Mill Creek ; from the appearance when standing, I should suppose
it to have been at least 80 years old, but it is now gone. We have many trees, now, from
said original, in this neighborhood, from 40 to 50 years old, and they are amongst the best
kitchen or bake apples we have, coming in use in August, and lasting till March. If quite
green, they make a good pie. A Pennsylvanian.

Speaking of a late article on hedges, a valued correspondent, who knows all about it,
says : " Ah ! if people could be prevailed on to jiay the same attention to their fruit-trees !
They, too, are highly ornamental, and nothing can be more beautiful than a fine garden of
large pyramids, as was, and still is, the garden of my late friend, Esperen. I often spent
happy moments, in the morning, at the window of my bed-room, when there, overlooking

that fine spot, that masterly piece of human skill and perseverance, and can tell you that
it was a delicious sight, either in their May dress, in their summer attire, or loaded with
their rich crops of luscious treasures. Intermix these with evergreens, so as to have, as
Boileau says, something to cheer us up, and to break the monotony of the dismal snow-
carpeting, and you will find it a great benefit to the mind depressed by the gloom of a
wintry day." Another writes as follows : —

Me. Editor : I was much pleased with your leader in the May number, respecting " Ever-
greens, and other matters." What you said respecting /eec/jwf/ trees interested me, for I have
tried the same thing for two years past, but without your success. I have dug trenches at
what seemed to be the extremities of the roots of many of my trees, and filled the holes
with rich soil, but the trees have not as yet shown any decided improvement. While the
digging was going on about the trees fed last fall, I examined very carefully some of the
poor soil which was thrown out from the trenches, and, to my surprise, found it full of
minute fibres, the little roots of the tree, which the careless eye could not see, and which
offered no resistance to the gardener's spade. I concluded that my trees were injured as
much by the digging as they were benefited by the feeding. And as the circles I had dug
around the trees — twelve feet in diameter — had evidently encroached upon the roots, I
concluded that I must either plough up my grounds, and thoroughly manure the whole, or
else let the trees take their chance undisturbed. What think you ? Inquirer.

This was careless ; you should not examine the earth after it is dug out, but expend a
little time in approaching the roots, examining for the first rootlets as you go. — Ed.

i0rtitultttnil SotittifS.

Pennsylvania HoRTicn.TCRAL Society.— The stated meeting of this Society was held at Concert Hall, on
Tuesday evening, Jlay 20, 1S56. E. W. Keyser, Vice-President, in the chair. The following awards were
made by the Committee on Plants and Flowers : —

Pelargoniums — six plants — for the second best to Thos. Eobertson, gr. to B. A. Fahnestock. Specimen Pelar-
gonium— for the best to Chas. Sutherland, gr. to Jno. Anspach. Tulips, cut flowers, twelve varieties — for the
best to Geo. W. Earl ; for the second best to Theodore Walter. Collection of twelve plants — for the best to
Thos. Robertson; for the second best to John Pollock, gr. to Jas. Dundas. Specimen plant — for the best to the
same ; for the second best to Robert Buist. Basket — for the best to John J. Habcrmehl, gr. to J. Lambert. Bo-
qiuts — for the best pair to the same.

Special Premiums. — Five dollars to Robert Buist, for a very fine collection of seedling Calceolarias ; two
dollars to John Pollock ; two dollars to Wm. Armstrong, gr. to Alex. Brown, for a display of Verbenas. New
Plants — shown for the first time ; a premium of three dollars to John Pollock, for Fuchsias, Queen Victoria,
Prince Albert, and Mrs. Story ; and one dollar to Mark Hill, gr. to M. W. Baldwin, for Veronica hybrida.

By the Committee on Fruits. Special Premiums — three dollars to Mark Hill, for seven varieties of Grapes ;
and two dollars to Wm. Grassie, gr. to Jno. Tucker, for three bunches of White Prontignac Grapes.

By the Committee on Vegetables. Rhubarb, twelve stalks — for the best to Saml. Cooper ; for the second best
to A. L. Felten. Cucumbers— for the best to Chas. Sutherland, gr. to Jno. Anspach. Asparagus, twenty-four
stalks — for the best to James Jones, gr. at Girard College. Mushrooms — for the best to James Thomas, gr. to
J. D. Whetham. Display by a market gardener— for the best to A. L. Feltea. And a special premium of two
dollars, for six very fine heads of cauliflowers, to J. J. Habermehl.

One gentleman elected a member.

Objects exhibited.— Piaiits from B. A. Fahnestock's— Pelargonium var. Tom Thumb, Allamanda nerifolia,
Fucjisia Psyche, F. Banks of Glory, Pentas carnoa, Cuphea platycentra. Azalea Mackenzie, A. variegata, Cyr-
tolepis longitiora, Franciscea angustifolia, Rhynchosplrmum jasminoides. Erica ventricosa minor. Specimen
Plant — Medinilla magnifica, and a collection of Pelargoniums.

From James Dundas's. — Boronia alata, Cuphea platycentra, Centradenia rosea, Chirita mornii, Maheruia
hecta, Begonia scraperflorens, Fuchsia speciosa, Nurembergia gracilis. Cineraria King, Franciscea hydrangroi-
formis. Petunia Hermona, Columuca Scheidiana. Specimen — Medinilla magnifica. Mw — Fuchsia Mrs. Story,
Prince Albert, and Queen Victoria. Orchids — Acanthophippium bicolor, Cattleya mossia, and Oncidium
subulatura.

From Robert Buist. New — Zychia rotundifolia. Specimen — Rhynchospermum jasminoides, eight seedling
Calceolarias, six seedling Cinerarias and Epiphyllum creuatum.

From John Anspach's — Pelargonium, Madame Rosatta, Azalea india: variegata, Leschenatiltia formosa,
Begonea Drujii, Ixora cocciuia, and iEaschynanthus speciosus.

From J. D. Whetham's. — Six Cinerarias.

From Alex. Brown's. — Six Verbenas.

From M. W. Baldwin's. — Tetratheca virticillata. New — Veronica hybrida, and Fuchsia magnifica.

Cut Tulip flowers, by Geo. W. Earl, Theo. Walter, and J. J. Jennings.

Basket, and a i)air of bouquets, from John Lambert's.

Fruii. — From M. W. Baldwin's — Grapes : Black Hamburg, White Muscat, Cochin China, and Isabella

From John Tucker's. — Wblto Prontlgnac Orapes.

Veijrtohh's. — Hy A. L. Fplton. — A fine collection.

From John Aii^piich'o. — CucumberH.

By Saiiil. Cooper. — Uliiiliarb.

By Jaiiies Jones. — Asparagus.

Kroni J. 1). Wliotliam'i*. — MuNlirooms.

By J. J. HalxTinolil. — Caiilitlowors.

By Jno. MrLauglilin. — Uhubarb.

Ti'iK lIi)KTini-i,Ti-R.ti. SociKTV OF MARTf,ANT> held Us third monthly exhibition at tho Hall of tho Maryland
Inctitule, on the loth of May. Tlie disjjlay of Hower.s and plant.s wa.s very fine, as also were tho vegetables for
the season. More visitors were in attendance than at any previous monthly exhibition, and they seemed to
enjoy the beauties of nature with more than common delight. Dr. Edmuudsou exhibited some fine plants, in
bloom, and excellent vegetables.

Mr. Edward Kurtz, some excellent Pelargoniums, Azaleas, and a sprout of tlie Latcrila Azalea, measuring three
feet in diameter, half of head white, which, for beauty, was a complete gem ; he also had a collection of Tulips.

Wm. C. Wilson, Calceolarias, Cinerarias, and Verbenas, Ate, and a fliue blue seedling Verbena, of excellent
habit.

James Penfland, a collection of Calceolarias, Tulips, and Tree Peony.

Kubert Halliday, a basket of flowers, a bouquet, and a collection of Verbenas, Pelargoniums, Boses, &c.

Thos. Fairley, six flne Pelargoniums and Verbenas ; also, a fine Anueligia, which deserves credit for the
manner it was" got up" for exhibition.

Will. F. Worthingtou, some fine Victoria Rhubarb.

Jacob Standemeyer, gr. to Mr. Geo. Brown, four splendid Cauliflowers, Beets, Asparagus, Cabbage, Lettuce,
and Cucumbers ; very good for the season.

Painl. Feast & Sons, Tame Fuchsias, and Cinerarias, cut flowers, and a hand bouquet.

Loudon Feast, a design for the table.

Linnoius Feast, a hand bou((uet.

John Feast, a numerous collection, including some of the rarest new plants in cultivation.

JoHJJ Feast, ,Sec., H. S. M.

Cithnbiu of (i3jJcrations.

JULY.
BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS, GERMANTOWN.

Vegetable Garden. — Keep up a succession of tender, eatable vegetables, by sowing at
intervals during the season. Early horn carrot, dwarf beans, turnip-rooted beet, radishes,
lettuce, squash, and peas, may yet be sown. In a well-managed garden, a constant supply
of young vegetables should be maintained. The chief requirement to insure success, is
depth of loosened soil ; unless trenched 18 inches deep, vegetable growth must cease in dry
weather. It has been observed, that peas saved from the earliest spring sowings, and sown
immediately, will afford a fall crop, exempt from mildew. In sowing seeds during droughts,
a stream of water should be first run into the drills ; a much better method of insuring
germination than soaking the seeds.

Succory, for winter salad, should be sown now ; a deep, rich soil is necessary. This
valuable esculent only re(iuires to be known to be appreciated.

The main crops of winter cabbages, savoys, cauliflower, &c., should be planted out ; if the
plants are hardy, and have not got drawn and weakly, they will not suffer by removal,
especially if the roots are j>uddled before planting.

Preparation should be in progress for setting out the main crops of celery. This plant
requires a deep, moist soil ; the custom of digging out trenches is a very questionable mode
of preparation. In doing so, the Viest soil is cast aside, and the plants have nothing but the
subsoil, and what manure is applied at the time, to grow in. Manure and trench the ground
thoroughly, and plant on the surface ; the roots will then have a depth of good soil to depelid
ujion, instead of the watering-pot. The soil required for blanching can be taken from the
adjoining surface, and, if taken out to a greater depth than the roots, so much the better,
as it will prevent it from rotting by excess of moisture during winter.

Planting in single rows takes up much ground ; where it is an object to economize space,
the plants may be set in a bed, say five feet wide; plant across the bed in rows, 14 inches
apart, the plants 6 or 8 inches apart in the row. In hilling up for blanching, the soil is
thrown in between the rows.

Herbs for winter use should be gathered when in flower; just as the flowers begin to fade
is said to be the best time for preserving most of their properties. The herbary was a branch
of gardening of greater importance formerly than it is in these days of patent medicines
To dry them, tie in small bundles, and hang up in an airy shed.

Loosening the soil among growing crops can hardly be overdone. A broad-tined fork

very useful implement for this purpose ; grass cuttings from the lavm may also be used, as
a mulching ; taking care that it is not laid down thick enough to ferment, which would
render it more injurious than useful.

Hardy Fruit. — The season of growth is the proper time to prune and train fruit-bearing
trees. Look over peach-trees, and shorten in the points of those branches having fmit.
This slight check to wood growth will enhance the size and flavor of the fruit. Towards
the end of the month, the points of all strong shoots should be pinched off, and some re-
moved altogether if the trees are producing much wood. An early and thorough ripening
of the wood is the most important desideratum with fruit-trees. Goosebei'ries and currant
bushes will be improved by thinning the wood, and shortening the side shoots. The fruit
should also be thinned, if superior fruit is an object. Raspberries will have their fruiting
period much extended by a good watering ; thin out the shoots for next year's crop, and cut
out the old canes as soon as the fruit is all gathered.

Strawberry plantations may be made as soon as young plants can be lifted ; this is a
favorable time for their removal ; puddle the roots in mud before planting, and they will
scarcely fail to grow, even should the weather be very dry.

Remove the mulching from old plantations, and hoe or fork the ground about them ; cut
out all runners, and keep all clear from weeds.

Lawton Blackbekry. — This important acquisition to our available fruits deserves special
attention. If you have any doubts with regard to their value, call upon your nearest friend
who has been fortunate enough to secure them, and judge for yourself. A heavy mulching
of well-rotted manure increases the size and quantity of fruit.

Grapery. — As the fruit indicates maturity, both the atmosphere and soil should be gra-
dually rendered drier. Leading shoots that have advanced to the desired length for next
year's fruiting, should be stopped at the points ; and, towards the end of the month, pinch
the point out of every shoot. These gradual checks to growth hasten maturity, without
paralyzing the plants. It is a ruinous practice to defer thinning the wood to a late period,
and then cut it out in bundles, under the pretence of " letting in light and air."

Greenhouse. — Plants that have completed growth, may be now taken out of the house.
It is a prevalent custom to set the plants out at a stated period, without reference to their
condition ; a practice which deprives those who follow it from having a good crop of flowers
at the expected time. This is one reason why we see so many starved-looking and flower-
less camellias. Most plants make their growth immediately after flowering, and, during
that process, they require their maximum proportion of humidity and warmth. The con-
sequence of exposing them, in this tender condition, to an atmosphere and temperature so
comfdetely opposite, is so apparent, even to a novice, that a secluded, shady locality, either
ui tlie shade or under the branches of trees, is chosen to prevent total destruction of the
young and tender growths. Before removing i>lants, therefore, to the open air, attention
must be directed to their fitness ; the wood must be approaching to matixrity, and a degree
of hardiness should be induced by a gradual withdrawal of water to the roots. A situation
whei'e they will have a full exposure to air and sun, will then be the most favorable towards
a completion of wood growth and development of flower buds. The pots should also be
placed on boards, or other impervious material, in order to prevent rooting through the
bottom of the pots, and if they are covered with ashes, tan bark, sawdust, &c., an unnatural
extraction of water from the roots, by evaporation through the porous substance of the pots,
will be prevented.

Towards the end of the month, pelargoniums should be pruned close down, and cuttings
put in to root ; a week's exposure to the sun will harden the wood, and cause the plants to
break afresh, much stronger than when pruned in a soft and succulent state. Cuttings may
be planted under the shade of a wall or hedge.

Calceolaria seed should be sown this montli, in order to have good plants before winter.
Prepare a well-drained pot of light, sandy soil, press the surface level and sow the seed, but
do not cover it. Cover with a pane of glass, and set in a shaded part out doors. To obviate
disturbing the seed by surface watering, insert the pot into another, three or four inclies
larger, fill the space between the two with moss, and keep it always wet. The soil will
absorb suflicient moisture for germination.

Cinneraria, and Chinese primrose seed, should also be sown, and treated as above.

Chrysanthemums in pots should be closely topped, to keep them bushy, and prevent early
flowering, so that they may be available for the greenhouse and conservatory in early win-
ter. Two or three cuttings, placed in small pots, will form roots, and flower weU if not
subjected to further pinchings.

Heaths. — Epacris, and New Holland plants in general, may be set out of doors, for

weoks after their seasonal growth is completed. To grow many of them well, they should
be kept constantly under cover. This is the only way to grow good heaths, provided tliat
they are planted in good, turfy, well-drained, loamji soil. Bog earth will soon Guish them ;
rather use a little leaf mould that has beeu well decomjwsed.

Cactuses. — As soon as they are past blooming, give them a shift into good, turfy, rich
soil, keep them in the house, and give abundance of water, both at roots and top, by syring-
ing. When they have made good growth, gradually withhold water, and ultimately place
them in the suu, on a hard gravel-walk if possible ; keep dry and cool during winter, and
they will llower profusely. Avoid the common practice of growing them iu brick-dust and
coal ashes, if you wish to see them flower in perfection.

Begonias are a valuable class for winter and spring flowering ; shift now, and get a good
growth before winter. Put in cuttings of heliotropes, salvias, cupheas, torenias, &c., for
winter flowering, and sow mignonette and pansy seed for the same object.

The house should now be a mass of flowers ; achimenes, gloxinias, and fuchsias, will be
in perfection. Keep a moist atmosphere, and shade sliglitly during the hottest portion of
the day. Exclude currents of dry air from passing over the plants, and keep the top lights
oiKjn constantly, except, of course, during heavy rains. Trop;eolum bulbs should be kept
perfectly dry ; shake them out of the soil, and hang up in a basket in an open shed.

Flower Garden. — Cut the faded flowers of rose bushes, and make cuttings of the stems ;
they root readily at this season, in a shaded spot, if well-ripened cuttings arc chosen. China
roses, and their hybrids, that are going out of bloom, should be pruned well down ; they will
flower again in the autumn. An occasional watering with manure water will extend the
flowering season, as Avell as enhance the beauty of the flowers individually.

Hollyhocks and dahlias must be securely, but neatly staked ; remove lateral and weak
shoots from the latter, and propagate choice sorts, by inserting cuttings singly in small
pots ; they will root well in the shade. Plants procured in this manner will be dried off,
and the roots kept iu the pots all winter. Such roots are more to be depended on next
sprinir, and will grow more vigorously than those lifted in the usual manner out of the
borders.

The coral-tree, Erythrina crystagalli, is a beautiful plant as a single specimen. The roots
can be annually lifted, and wintered in a dry cellar.

Flower beds and borders should be kept scrupulously neat and clean ; hoe all vacant
spaces, but do not rake the ground. Stake all plants that absolutely require it, and let it
be done neatly, using as few and as short stakes as possible, and tie loosely. Give constant
attention to the removal of dead plants, withered leaves and flowers, and remove seed-pods,
unless specially required to perpetuate choice varieties. •

Keep box edgings neatly clipped and repaired ; it can be transplanted at any season,
therefore, there is no excuse for imperfections.

Lawns. — Constant attention must be given to mowing, sweeping, and rolling. There are
machines which perfonn the three operations at one time, which might be very profitably
introduced into extensive pleasure grounds.

Shrubbery and Pleasure Grounds. — The application of water to recently planted trees,
requires discrimination. Where the soil has been prepared as formerly recommended, there
will be no necessity for watering deciduous trees, unless they are growing luxuriantly, and
the weather prove very dry. Evergreens have a greater extent of active foliage, and, in
consequence, require a more regialar and constant supply of moisture to meet the continued
evaporation by the leaves. When water is applied, draw a little of the soil from the base
of the plant, so as to form a small basin, and give a good soaking ; then return the soil
loosely into its former position. Mulching with stones is a good practice in deep soils ; the
heat they absorb draws up the moisture from below by capillary contraction, producing a
somewhat different eS'ect from a mulching of loose matter, as manure, &c., which acts rather
as a preventive from surface evaporation than furnishing the contained water in this
available manner. The latter practice is perhaps the best in shallow ground.

Now is a good time to observe and take notes of the various effects of grouping trees and
shrubs, and marking those for removal where they are crowded. Defects are more apparent
now than when planting season arrives. Live fences, hedges of Osage orange, honey locust,
&c., should be cut frequently during growth, if well established. The greatest fault of these
fences, especially with the Osage orange, is its excessive growth. Summer pruning is the
best means of counteracting this ; if allowed to grow at random, and pruned only in win-
ter, it will be impossible to keep a neat and satisfactory hedge. This will prove to be its
greatest drawback as a fence for general farming purposes. All farmers cannot give proper
attention to these matters while they are busily engaged with their crops.

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DOYEmrE D ' ALU^QO]^ FEAR

%xm\ €tmtinit$.

The poor chrysalis, in liis lonely grave, *

Seemed sinking hopeless in oblivion's wave.
But lo ! what magic bursts the dreary tomb !

What voice angelic bids the sleeper rise !
He wakes arrayed in beauty's living bloom.

His new-born plumage tinged with rainbow dyes ;
In air gay floating, wliile the sunbeam flings
A blaze of splendor o'er his glossy wings.
Thy emblem this *****

Samuel J. Smith.

HE following communication from a valued cor-
respondent, leaves us little choice but to en-
deavor to comply with its requisition : —

Office of the Cemetery of Spring Grove,
CixciNNATi, Marcli 4, 1856.

Dear Sir : You will confer a favor on many
readers of the Horticulturist, by publishing in
that valuable magazine an article on the "Proper
Selection of Inclosures for Lots, and of Trees
and Shrubs for planting in Rural Cemeteries."
It gives me pleasure to state, that a taste for
these laudable improvements is rapidly increas-
ing throughout the West, and, to our Eastern
brethren, we look for such instruction in the adorn-
ment of cemetery grounds as their judgment, from
experience of many years' standing, may be able to
afford. Very respectfully,

R. Buchanan, President.
To John Jay Smith, Esq.,

President Laurel Hill Cemeterij, Philadelphia.

W In the first place, it will be proper to remark, that in
*>w/ ' the history of a permanent cemetery, a century is but a short
^'^ period ; hence, preparations for its embellishment by the
7 _" managers as well as the individual owners of lots, should be
"^^ made on different principles from those usually employed about
a house or a garden ; and this leads to the further remark, founded upon the
transitory nature of man's existence, by which it happens that often in less than
twenty years, there is no interested party, unless it be the Cemetery Company
itself (which cannot, in all cases, be calculated on), left to care for, keep in order,
and cultivate the sacred spot where we have placed our most cherished friends, and
where we ex])ect to be deposited ourselves. What folly it is, then, to inclose a
lot with poor iron railing, that we know, beforehand, will rust and decay in a very
few years, and even sooner if it is not regularly painted ; indeed, iron may be
said to rot, when exposed to all the atmospheric influences, just as paper decays ;
the process is only less rapid.

In looking about us, then, and taking into view the lapse of time, it might be
supposed we should employ at least as much care for our slightly more extended
prospects of earthly immortality, as the chrysalis does when it wraps its mantle
around it, and protects itself with such wonderful care, to guard against a single
winter's cold.

As a general rule, all this is neglected, especially by those who inclose lot
many of whom it cannot have failed to be a cherished hope that they '

Vol. VI.— August, 1856.

23

pnnidt'fl, in perpetuity, for their places of sepulture. Vain hope ! in a century
from tills time, it itiay not be too much to say, at least a majority of all the so-
called " improvements" will l)e dissolved into their orij^inal elements, and, "like
the baseless fabric of a vision," be no more. A little reflection will convince any
one of this, if we except vaults below ground, which, being built of brick, and
properly constructed, arc much more imperishable ; we sjjeak of the surface ; the
parts exposed to the atmosphere, and to public scrutiny.

Of the monuments, it will only be necessary to say, that no limestone (marble)
has yet been discovered which is indestructible, or even what might be called
enduring. Granite is much more so, l)ut, wherever this is imperfectly jointed, the
inexorable tooth of time, aided by moisture, fungi, and frost, must sooner or later
be the concpicror in this climate. This is a slower process than that which
attacks the iron, and need not, perhaps, detain us ; but, wherever metal and
stone are united, as they frequently are, rust must discolor, and destruction ensue.

How, then, shall we improve cemetery lots ? becomes a very nice and delicate
question, which we shall endeavor to answer, with all the lights which we yet
possess.

There are two descriptions of rural cemeteries adopted in this country ; very
different in their general outline, and necessarily differing extremely in their natu-
ral and artificial styles. The first is the wooded cemetery ; of this kind are Green-
wood, at New York, Mount Auburn, near Boston, Green Lawn, Baltimore, and
the one over which our correspondent so ably presides, at Cincinnati. They are
essentially very extensive, and calculated to accommodate a large population for
a long series of years ; they are the type with which the rural burial-place became
identified in the American mind ; with which, in short, our people, the moment
they saw Mount Auburn, were not only satisfied, as contradistinguished from the
close city graveyard, but gratified. From this truly rural specimen have arisen
the many successors we now see distributed around our cities, mostly with good taste.

Of the second, or garden cemetery, Laurel Hill, at Philadelphia, which we
have planted and tended, with a sedulous affection, for twenty years, maybe taken
as the example. No suitable spot, of very large dimensions, was to be found near
our comparatively old city,* and, moreover, till the experiment was tried, it was
firmly believed, by thoughtful people, that the habits of the citizens would be op-
posed to departing from the vicinity of the church ; this might have been true,
had the churches made proper preparations for a rapidly increasing population ;
but they neglected to do so, though very often their charges amounted to sums
that the bereaved could illy afford to meet. Country accommodation became a
necessity from the crowded condition of city receptacles ; rural cemeteries were
at once established in popular favor in every educated community where the want
was felt, no less than where it was not.

In a large rural cemetery, trees offer the first means of improvement, and afford
the greatest beauty'; they arc, if there were but one essential beauty to be studied,
the essential ; fortunately, where ample space exists, there are few trees that are
utterly unsuitable, nature having formed but few floral adornments that even the
instructed eye utterly disclaims. There is, however, a choice, and we shall pro-
ceed to point out what exjjerience has shown are the best. In doing so, we shall
first consider those that are to constitute the permanent investments, if we may so
speak, and, afterwards, those trees or shrubs which are more suitable to individual
lots, inclosed or otherwise.

* Tlie Laurel Hill Company commenced with but twenty acres ; tliis has been gradually
extended till the corporation possesses about sixty acres.

DOYENNE D'ALENCON PEAR.

A judicious selection and apportionment of evergreens is essential ; their partial
gloom is favorable to contemplation, and yet they afford a cheerfulness, in winter,
highly agreeable. As in the material of monuments, and in inclosures, we are
to provide for the future, to prepare a sylvan shade in which our successors may
walk, and ruminate on the deeds and men of a former time, we should suit our
plantations to the objects around us, and yet have the eye prominently fixed on
what our plantations will become. The landscape gardener is nowhere so much
required as in the laying out of a large cemetery. He knows, or ought to know,
to what height each tree may be expected to attain ; his eye should look with
critical judgment, to the future more than the present, in selecting a tree for
yonder knoll, or to border the I'iver, stream, and lake. He must also remember
his climate, the soil, and what particular trees flourish best in them ;

" Or sucli as, by experience once approv'd,
Are found adopted by the climes tliey lov'd.
All other foreign plants with caution try,
Kor aim at infinite variety."

So says the poet, and yet we highly recommend variety, though an " infinite"
variety should be avoided. It is an error, in planting a large cemetery, to employ
only the trees that succeed in the immediate neighborhood ; even in a well-wooded
site, where, to the eye of the citizen, there is shade in abundance, and perhaps to
spare, a judicious addition of hardy trees and shrubs, with a foreign air, are of
great importance. Thousands of persons who visit Laurel Hill do not define this
source of gratification, though they are sensible of something novel and pleasing.
Had they been accustomed to the study of foliage, they would at once ascertain
that they were surrounded, not only by the beautiful in form, but by the rare ;
they, perhaps, carry away with them an impression that it is the monuments, and
the river, and the general views, that have so struck their minds ; but the element
of variety in the trees was still one of the charms. We are planting, in this age,
for posterity, among whose countless throngs there will be a larger proportion of
educated observers than there is now. These burial places, too, have a perma-
nency of character that no other spots can aspire to, and here the next genera-
tions will expect to find examples of well-grown trees from which they can form
some ideas of what they should plant themselves, in grounds of their own ; the
time taken to attain certain heights will here be studied. It is, in fact, as leaders
of public taste that we look upon public cemeteries as of much importance. One
can form a tolerably correct idea of the neighboring community, by seeing the
condition of the best cemetery of a city ; the evidences of the cultivation of the
people will here be displayed, and judged of accordingly.

We have exhausted the space designed to name the trees that we deem suitable
for the purposes requested, and must postpone to another date some further
remarks on the subject.

DOYENNE D'ALENCON TEAR.*

Among the European winter or late pears, perhaps we have no better than the
Doyenne D'Alencon (or new Easter Beurre, Doyenne D'Hivcr Nouveau). Its
qualities have been fully tested in many States, and prove to be uniformly good.

Tree, a fine, handsome grower, succeeding well on both stocks, quince or pear ;
a good bearer, and requiring but little pruning. Frvit, obovate, pyriform, medium
size, heavy and solid. Stem, about one inch in length, medium size, and swollen

* See Frontispiece.

PEAR CULTUBE.

nt the base, and inserted in a sliallow cavity, sometimes without any depression ;
eye closed, niedivim, and not decitly sunk. S/ci/i, ruddy, pale ^^reen at the bottom,
but dotted and sj)ecklod all over with numerous dots and siiades, ripening, in some
localities, with very rich, decided colors, which explain its synonyme of Doyenne
^[arbre (or marked, spotted Doyenne.) F/csI/, white, firm, buttery, juicy, with
flavor and sugar euougli to make it a very fine winter fruit ; not so high flavored
as its congener, the old Doyenne D'lliver (or Easter IJuerrc), but very pleasant,
and destitute of grit, stones, and bitter spots, which so often render that fine fruit
worthless.

Taking into consideration that the Easter Buerrd yields only an average of one-
half or one-third of a full crop of " very good" pears, we must look to the D'Alen-
yon, if not as a substitute for the old Easter, at least as a valuable addition to our
scanty stock of winter pears.

We ought to designate this pear under one of its synonymcs, but its other
name. Doyenne D'Hiver Nouvcau, is altogether too long. " Six-legged" names
should be avoided, when possible, in naming fruits.

PEAR CULTURE, NO. 4

BY DR. J. M. WARD, NE\YARK, N. J.

To redeem the promise with which my last article closed, I shall proceed at
once to consider the causes of the failures of some varieties of pear that ordinarily
do well on the quince, and that, in other positions on my own farm, are among
the thriftiest of my trees. These causes constitute some of the most prominent
objections to the substitution of the quince for the pear stock, in the cultivation
of the pear.

The quince is a native of Japan. "The climate," Malte-Brun says, "is vari-
able, abounding in genial rains ;" that " during the autumnal months, particularly,"
the season of all others most trying to our fruit-trees, " much rain falls ;" and
adds, " it is a country in which thunder is heard almost every night in summer,
and where showers and hurricanes abound." In the recognition of the fact that
nature has adapted the quince to those of its native islands, may we not divine
the reason of the admission by horticulturists, that the quince delights in moist
places, and are warranted in saying it still retains, and, in obedience to nature's
law, ever will retain, a demand for those conditions of soil its constitutional
adaptations require.

With this stand-point, w^e can respect the authority of our fruit culturists, when
they tell us " it will thrive where the cultivation is rich and deep," for the reason
that if the substratum of soil is highly retentive of water, there the requisite
degree of moisture for thrifty growth may be secured. Without this, failures will
occur that will disappoint the expectation of the culturists, and give discrepancy
of testimony to their teachings, while each may be in perfect harmony with their
experience.

In one part of my orchard, the dwarfs have proved a decided failure — the part,
too, where, the reader will bear in mind, the trees had enjoyed the richest culture,
and received the greatest care — while those removed to a distant part of the same
field, exhibit great precocity of growth. The cause is to be found unquestion-
ably in the fact that the soil of the latter is underlaid by a clay substratum, while
of the former is a gravelly loam.

PEAR CULTURE.

Downing says : " The quince grows naturally in rather moist soil, by the side
of rivulets and streams of water." Thomas adds : " The soil for the quince should
be deep and rich — a i-athcr moist soil has been preferred by many, though not
essential — deep and enriching cultivation being of incalculably more importance."
The importance of deep and rich cultivation we admit, but unless it be in connec-
tion with a moist soil — such as a proper substratum only will give you in our
climate — failures will be the rule, and successful culture the exception, as fruit
culturists will testify when their observations are made matter of record. And
since, in all probability, but few of those who have embarked in the growing of
the Pear on the quince have been aware of the necessity of studying the habitudes
of the stock, it will be strange, indeed, if expectations of success should fail to
be realized from this cause alone.

But the most weighty objection to the general introduction of the dwarfing of
the Pear is, that in a great majority of cases the orchard-trees, especially, will not
receive sufficient attention to secure success. A Pear-tree, once established in any
soil of moderate tilth, will take care of itself, will ordinarily find nutriment enough
to secure vigorous growth, will at least make progress in the world, and bear fruit.
Not so with the dwarf. The range its rootlets travel for food is circumscribed.
Numerous as those rootlets are, they will soon exhaust the soil of the food nature
has supplied, and if attention is not given it — and good attention, too — it very
soon shows its neglect. And good feeding is not all that is required. If well
fed, it will give you towering shoots ; these you must repress. But, with this,
your work is not done. Your spring pruuiug, laboriously completed, is soon
followed by a call for June pinching. And, again, your autumn shortening must
not be neglected, or your reward for high culture will consist in great luxuriance
of growth, which, though pleasing to the eye, will not satisfy the palate. And,
furthermore, in orchard culture, in our country of abounding high winds, with
occasional thunder-storms, the culturist who neglects to shorten-in will sometimes
find the reward for his labor unexpectedly given in a prostration of his heavy-
laden trees, and his hopes together. The separation is so readily made at the
usual swelling over — just at the junction of the graft with the stock — that it is not
unusual, under these circumstances, for this accident to occur.

This repressing of the ivood force by the usual spring pruning, June pinching,
and August shortening-in of the shoots, when described to the novice, appears
more like play than work ; and, when demanded by the few pet dwarfs in the
garden of the amateur, is truly pleasant recreation, but, to the orchardist — with
knife in hand — the work of thus preserving a due relation between the wood and
fruit principles in his hundreds of trees that have already attained the size good
cultivation for a number of years has given them, is the imposition of no slight
task. Very few have any adequate idea of the labor demanded, and fewei", still,
when they learn it have moral courage manfully to meet it. Untrained laborers
cannot here be trusted — one's own hands, or those of a judicious gardener, must
do the work.

Cowper has well expressed the feelings of the orchardist on this subject, when

he says : —

" These, therefore, are his own peculiar charge ;
No meaner hand may discipline the shoots,
None but his steel approach them."

" He disposes neat
At measured distances, that air and sun,
Admitted freely, may afford their aid,
And ventilate and warm the swelling buds."

THE WALTONIAN PROPAGATING CASE

TtMicliine: the vnrietics worthy of pcncral cultivation on the qnincc, I wonM
fiiin speak reservedly. As yet, my experienee is too limited to warrant sayinjjf
much, llajipy would I he, >Ir. Kditor, if some one of your able correspondents
would come to my relief, and take u]) the thread of the sul)ject just at this point.

!Mr. Rivers, that most accomplished PJnglish pomolofrist, says, out of one
thousand varieties of Pear in cultivation, he j^rows but four for the Covcnt Garden
market — three of these are on Pear stock, the Louise Bonne de Jersey alone on
quince. No judfje of Pears will dare to lift his voice dispara<xinp:ly to the charac-
ter of that most rapid frrowinp; variety, ilniformly bearing abundant crops of well-
formed fruit, which, thoucrh not of the highest flavor, is yet such a pleasant sub-
acid, as to be a universal favorite.

Our e.\])erience in this country certaiidy demands that the Duchess d'Angou-
lerae should, of all others, be cultivated on the quince — the more vigorous growth
of the tree — together with the improvement in the quality of the fruit, secures to it,
in my judgment, a))ove all others, a substitution of the quince for the Pear stock.

I have not, INIr. Editor, said all of what I had designed to say on this sub-
ject ; and, if you will accept as an apology my present pressing engagements,
even to weai'iness, in the garden and orchard, for discontinuing, for a time, the
completion of the series, when another season has enlarged my observations, I
promise a return to it, unless, in the mean time, some abler hand shall render the
labor superfluous.

THE WALTONIAN PROPAGATING CASE.

EY D. BEATON, LONDON.

HE application of hot water to the heating of horticul-
tural structures, was a long step in the advance of pro-
gress. Since then, efforts have been constantly made to
improve on and simplify the principle, so as to obtain the
greatest results at the smallest possible cost.

The Waltonian Case, of which we give, herewith, cuts
from the Cottage Gardener, is one of the latest improve-
ments, the chief feature being that the water is heated l)y a
lamp, instead of an ordinary fire. It seems to answer its pur-
pose very well, and will be quite the thing for many of our
amateur friends, while the principle on which it is heated
will afford a hint to many of our more professional
readers.
Mr. Beaton, one of the most practical of English gardeners, thus speaks of its
success there : —

"I must repeat, that I never saw a better contrivance for amateurs to strike
cuttings and raise seedlings with than this of Mr. Walton's, and that there is not
a better mode in existence as far as I am aware of. There is nothing better in
any of the London nurseries I have seen ; nor at any of the botanic gardens ;
nor, in short, anywhere.

Hot water, without circulation, is now proved to be as good, on a small scale,
as it is by circulation on a large one. Mr. Walton's first idea was to apply the
heat of a lamp, or gas jet, to the bottom of a tin can, by means of a double bottom
false bottom," and on that principle his own Case is still worked. In the present
of it, the heat is brought direct into the body of the water in a zinc tube,

THE WALTONIAN PROPAGATING CASE.

coiling round and round, then out through the back of the Case, to carry off the
smoke and smell ; and the principle is the same as that by which the water in the
basins in the Crystal Palace is kept warm ; hot water-pipes heat the water in the
basins, and a zinc pipe heats that in this apparatus, being heated itself either by
gas or oil. But, where gas can be applied, I would recommend it as far prefer-
able to a lamp, because there is no bother about snuffing, trimming wicks, or keep-
ing a lamp clean. A lamp must be trusted to a servant when the master is out,
and if he neglects it, your -batch of cuttings may be dead and gone before you
come home. But as gas cannot be had everywhere, I subjoin Mr. Walton's de-
scription of his own Case, with sketches to illustrate the working, premising that
his fears about the draught from the lamp through a coil of tubing were ground-
less when the gas was applied, and that nothing acts more satisfactorily with a
very small jet of gas. Neither is it necessary to begin with hot water if that in
the tin case should get cold at any time. Also, that what he means by the lamp
burning for eight hours, is not that the half pint of oil is consumed in that time,
but that the lamp requires trimming at the end of eight hours."

Mr. Walton, the inventor, thus describes his Case : —

" The box I used was an old one, to which I added a top, so as to give an in-
clination, as in a garden frame. Half way down, in the inside, a moulding is
nailed, on which the zinc frame rests. The pots are placed on the zinc frame.
The boiler is of tin, surrounded by a false cover of tin, which I found necessary
to create a draught for the lamp. A small chimney runs from the inner boiler,
through the false cover, into the frame; and, although the water does not boil,
the steam, or moisture, keeps the frame damp. The false cover has a chimney
which runs through the frame and out at the back, to carry off the smoke, if an}^ but
there ought to be very little. The lights are divided into three, and are merely
fixed in zinc frames, not wood, and let into the top, to lift on and off, or tilt.
This is better and cheaper than glass in a wood frame, as the water (why, I can-
not tell) does not drop inside, but rests on the outside, and may be tilted off.
The lamp was made by Smithurst, of Bond Street, but is quite plain and circular,
holding more than half a pint of Colza oil. It must be well trimmed, so as not
to smoke, and then will burn eight hours. A tin lamp will do just as well. The
smoke does not get at the plants, but would collect at the bottom of the boiler,
and fall on the lamp.

" The lamp is three inches high, and four inches across. If trimmed at night,
it will be alight in the morning, and should be trimmed in the middle of the day.
If the lamp should go out, and the water become quite cold, draw off some and
add hot water, otherwise the lamp will not burn. I have raised from cuttings,
Roses, Verbenas, Fuchsias, and Dielytra spectahilis, and it is excellent for forcing
seeds of all sorts. Mr. Beaton, our gardening authority here, says it will raise any-
thing that can be raised by heat, as it is so clean and moist. He has suggested
an improvement, which I intend to try ; which is, to do away with the outer tin
case, and to insert, at the ])ottom of the boiler, a coil of zinc tubing, and to carry
it out through the case as my smoke is now. This would be more simjile, but I
very much doul)t if the lamp would have sufficient draught to burn. Mr. West,
the ironmonger here, has made them complete for 35s. ; but he could make the
boiler apparatus, tin lamp, &c., separate, and you could have the zinc tray and
box made in the country to fit the boiler."

The following description of one by Mr. Beaton, will fully explain the structure
in all its details. It is no doubt capable of many improvements, of which our

Yankee genius" will not be slow to avail itself : —

My lamp is copper, but tin would do as well. It has an extra head to

•niK WAI.TO.NIAN PROPAOATINO CASE.

three wicks instead of one, wbich add much to the heat, but I fonnd one sufficient.

The lamp liolds
more than lialf a
pint of oil, is three
iiiclics lii^h, and
four inches across.
"The best size for
the bo.x is thirty-
four inches long,
seventeen Indies
wide, thirteen deep
in front, and eigh-
teen inches at the
back, all inside
measure. Such a
box will hold three
rows of Xo. 48 pots,
and six pots in a
row ; or four rows
of No. 00, and eight pots in the row. When making a smaller, or a larger box,
one ought to fix on how many of those two sizes of ])ots the box would hold con-
veniently without loss of space. An amateur should never use a pot larger than
a 48 for striking cuttings, and that size is large enough for all his seeds. The tin
case to hold the water should not be less than four inclics shorter or narrower than
the box inside, which leaves two inches between the tin and wooden boxes at the
ends and sides, and it should 1)e four inches deep ; then, when the heat is raised
to 80*^ or 85°, it matters not if the lamp, or jet of gas, should go out for some

A to E, 2 feet 8 inches. A to C, 1 foot 9 inclies.
D to E, 2 feet 7 inches. X, door for lamp.

C to E, 1 foot.

Boiler. B. Steam chimney, opening into the middle of box through the zinc tray.

Zinc tray. D D D. Outer cover to boiler, through which the heat is conveyed from

lamp round the boiler, and the smoke out throiigh E. H. Tap to draw off the water.

THE WALTONIAN PROPAGATING CASE.

hours, or as long as the heat keeps up to 10°. If the size of the tin box is so
small that the body of water in it is not sufficient to keep up the heat for several
hours without a constant burning of gas, or oil, the first expense will be less, but
the disadvantage would be in greater proportion. The lid of the tin case is made
in the shape of a tray, with the edges raised about half an inch, so as to hold sand
on which the pots stand ; a tube, five or six inches long, and about an inch in
diameter, is soldered to the lid to let up vapor, not steam, from the hot water,
so as to keep the air sufficiently moist for the health of the cuttings or seedlings.
If too much vapor rises, cork the tube. Make the tube also to index the depth
of water by a float — a piece of cork with a small stick fixed in it, and rising through
the tube ; but it might be sup-
plied from the outside by another
tube, and a tap to empty the
water may be applied. But I see
no use in that, as the lid is not
fixed in the present case ; it fits
like the lid of a teakettle, and as
closely, so as to let off no steam
or vapor, and the raised rim of
the lid projects an inch beyond
the edge of the box. You begin
in February, and, when you leave

off in summer, the whole should ^_ Gas jet mider the funnel head. B. Coil of zinc
be opened, and receive a coat ot tube, one inch in diameter. C. Lid covered with
paint, and there is no occasion to sand. D. Pots of cuttings or seeds. E. VajDor
draw off the water by a tap in tube. F. Smoke or smell tube,
the mean time. The tin box rests

on the bottom of the wooden box without anything between them ; but the two-
inch spaces at the sides and ends should be filled up with sand to the level of the
sand on the lid. The end of the tube for heating passes down through both the
boxes, and ends with a funnel head to receive the jet, and there is a ' nest' for
holding a lamp. The wooden box stands five or six inches from the ground, on
legs, after the manner of a chest of drawers. The sashes to cover with may be
like garden-lights, or in one piece of stout glass let into a zinc frame, to move
' off and on ;' or the top may be hinged on and locked, like a desk ; and, as I
said before, the whole may be made to suit a drawing-room, where it would ' work'
just as well as anywhere else. It is not calculated for the open air."

In a subsequent article, Mr. Beaton says : " My anticipations about the success
of this simi)le method of striking cuttings on a small scale, are more than verified
already. From the middle of last February — the only time left to Mr. West for
testing the practicability of the contrivance — he has been unremitting in his ex-
periments with cuttings, plants, and seeds, under a lock and key. He has sim-
])lified tlie contrivance, and lessened the expense of working it with oil or gas.
Ilis own lamp will burn twelve hours without trimming, and heats the Case just
as easily as the gas ; but still, a jet of gas is more handy, and less trouble.

"We have discovered another very important use of the Waltonian system : it
may be successfully applied as bottom and toi)-heat to a Wardian Case, full of
orchids, or of any other section of plants — Ferns, Alpines, and all ; a portable
hothouse system, in fact, which will do for the top and bottom-heat equally well
at the same time. The whole family of An<rctoclilU(h and Pliysurads may be grown
drawing-room by this means, in a close Wardian Case of the higliest finish,
as easily as in an orchid-house. By the vapor tube you may admit as much

moisture as the air will hold ; or. by corking it, the heated air inside raifrht be
rendered sulliciently dry for a Melocactus or a Maniniillaria. You may lix on
the proper degree of heat wliieh will best suit your "Wardian Case, from 4(i'^ to
05^ or 70^, or more, and with a common lamp, quite out of sight, the refpiired
degree is kej^t uj) nobody knows how. I should not wonder to see one of thera
at work in the Crystal Palace. If I wished to push the Wardian Drawing-room
Case into the world, I would place one or two of them there, to be heated to the
right pitch by the "Waltonian system of bottom and top heat. With the Waltonian
Case for propagation, you cannot have the cuttings too close, but, if you raise
seedlings in it, they must have fresh air as soon as they are up."

Y I SITS TO COUNTRY PLACES, NO. 1.
AROUND NEW YORK.

The vicinity of New York, as might naturally be expected where commerce has
left its most remarkable imprints, and has consigned to the industrious and suc-
cessful au amount of spending money nowhere else, in this country, to be paral-
leled, presents some remarkable features of rural life and adornment which it is
well to chronicle.

Breaking away from our editorial chair, we have lately made excursions to
some of these spots, omitting, for the present, many places that are worthy of
remark.

We first visited Dr. J. M. Ward, near Newark, N. J. The doctor is engaged
in the laudable pursuit of fruit culture, for the New York market. This he does
from a love of the subject, no less than with a view to the bencGt of himself and
his family ; his example is one which we should be glad to see followed by other
gentlemen, who, by showing what may be done by the employment of capital and
intelligence, will be the means of teaching others, and thus a better supply of
wholesome fruit will be at the command of our great cities, now but half supplied.
The demand appears to be unlimited ; in New York, for instance, his agents, the
middle men, a class of honest dealers who have risen up since the mode of sending
fruit by wholesale, instead of accompanying it, and chalfering for the market value,
keep an account of the quantity received from each cultivator, and allow full re-
turns in a most business-like way. Thus one of the most serious difficulties is
obviated. Dr. Ward employs pickers at so much a bushel or quart, and by the
hour ; he can be mostly at home to superintend these operations ; the fruit is
forwarded by a regular steamboat, consigned to the middle-man, who receives it
within an hour or two, has his market engaged for each variety, and the distribu-
tion goes on like clock-work. You may leave Dr. Ward's at breakfast-time, and
dine at Dclmonico's, on his strawberries, which were being picked when you started ;
or be at a private party in the Fifth Avenue, in the evening, enjoying his grapes
or pears, which left Newark at four o'clock.

The proprietor enjoys a great advantage of his own ; as the fruit ripens by
degrees, the first picking of grapes, blackberries, or strawberries, being insufficient
for market, the family have the earliest for themselves and their friends, and, by
the time the period of abundance has arrived, they have probably had sufficient
to satisfy all, and can devote the whole remaining crop to sales. Dr. Ward has
five acres of strawberries, an acre and a half of raspberries, one acre of grapes,
" undred cherry-trees planted along his paths and roads, in such positions as
to injure the other crops by their shade, one thousand pear-trees, standards

VISITS TO COUNTRY PLACES.

and dwarfs, half an acre or more of currants, and his place is beautified with shade
and ornamental trees, forming a tout ensemble of plenty and beauty such as thou-
sands living in cities might envy, and if they would study the subject as the doctor
studies it, might reap rich returns from.

Though this place has been in the tenure of its present owner but ten years,
the returns are already nearly sufficient for the wants of a large family. The
strawberry culture is of recent introduction, and we shall be surprised if the entire
returns of the present season do not considerably exceed three thousand dollars,
with abundance of all farm produce for himself. Surrounded by beautiful scenery,
fine wood and water, an intelligent home and visiting circle, our friend and corre-
spondent enjoys a life much to his own taste, and confers a useful boon on his
fellow-men. In winter, the family remove to Philadelphia, where the doctor lec-
tures to a class of medical students, and attends to the education of his family.
This is a picture so pleasing to the mind, and so eminently worthy of imitation
for its utility, that our host will pardon our holding it up in this way as an ex-
ample to others. Already his neighborhood is benefited and improved by seeing
his success ; in a few years, this section of New Jersey will be a main prop in
supplying the greedy maw of its neighbor, New York, to the advantage of both.

Dr. Ward, after much examination, has adopted the Iowa or Washington
Strawberry, as producing a large and valuable crop. Burr's new Pine, he thinks,
will prove too soft for a carrying crop, though its flavor is unsurpassed. The
Early Scarlet follows Iowa in ripening, and is a good market kind. Hovey's
Seedling he considers an excellent market crop, and that it must always continue
to be valuable. Several other kinds are under experimental cultivation. We were
so fortunate as to be there at the earliest picking, when the citizens were paying
any price demanded for the first berries of a good size and from the neighborhood,
the Southern ones being discarded as soon as the Jersey crop made its appearance.
The pear-trees here will yield an average crop, which may be worth a thousand
dollars ; much more than this sum will, no doubt, be realized per annum, when
the standard trees come into bearing. Dr. Ward has himself enlightened our
readers on his mode of pear culture, so that we need not enter now on the subject.
All the larger cities of the Union, and even very many small ones, offer induce-
ments to cultivators to pursue the system we have faintly indicated. A few years
only will elapse before this gentlemanly system will be extensively imitated.

We also visited the nursery grounds of Mr. William Reed, of Elizabethtown,
N. J., which are among the neatest and best kept in America. His lawn
around his house was so neatly sheared, and in such fine condition, as to put
to the blush many grand gentlemen's seats, Mr. Reed is famous for the beauty
of his specimen hedges, which he shears twice a year, in June and September,
The three-thorned locust, GJeditcMa iriacanthos, he considers to be the best for a
farm hedge, superior to the Madura for turning cattle, and having this advantage,
that when planted close, if neglected, it still forms an impenetrable fence. His
beech, arbor vita), holly, juniper, Japan quince, and other hedges, arc fine exam-
ples of beauty added to scenery by this method.

We saw here fine specimens of the Magnolia conspicua. Purple Elm, Pinus
palustris, or long-leaved Pine, White Spruce, Juniperus oblonga pendula, and
Communis pendula or Cracovia, Savin, Halesia diptera, a plant now much sought
after, the Holly-leaved Cherry, and many of the new Evergeens and rarities which
he takes pleasure in introducing. Mr. Reed's nurseries are all drained, and he
therefore lifts his trees for spring sales at an earlier date than others ; broad ave-
nues of well pastured grass intersect his grounds, and through these the
from the drains trickles in the driest seasons. Every nurseryman should see

:i.^ ^-

'<»

DECORATIVE ARTS.

Reed's establishment ; there are few who could not reap advantage from his
cxain|ilc.

Our next will conduct the reader to Staten Island and the Xorth River.

DECORATIVE ARTS.

To those who know the power of art to educate and refine the taste, the social
life and character of a people, it has always been a cause of regret that the appre-
ciation and enjoyment of it should have been long confined to the few wlujse
wealth was equal to the purchase of its costly decorations. \Vc believe that art

is capable of accomplishing all that is claimed for it by its most enthusiastic friends,
when our life, in all its pursuits, is brought into daily contact with its producti
its works are no longer a monopoly, but an cvery-day possession, w

the reach of the workman as well as the millionaire. Within a few years, this
has become possible, by the discovery of new methods and materials capable of
producing works of high art, with beauty unimpaired, and at a price which makes
them accessible to all. The introduction of Parian, a comparatively new mate-
rial, has given to these manufactures a feeling of art, and a power of expressing
it unknown in other materials. Sculpture is rendered by it more faithfully than
pictures by engraving. The rich, trans-
parent tone, and semi-opaque shadows
of marble, preserve all their softness in
Parian.

The first group above is a collection
of pillars, vases, and seats, for the garden,
and here is a hanging basket in terra
cotta, intended for the parlor cultivation
of orchidaceous or trailing plants, now
happily becoming an enlightened pastime
with the ladies. A cultivated taste for
flowers ranks with connaissance in the
Fine Arts, as indicating intelligence and
refinement. It is a pity that any one
should wait for expensive greenhouses, to
gratify that taste. A few vases and
hanging baskets are all that is requisite to realize as much pleasure as can be
gained from the princely gardens of Chatsworth.

LOMBARDY POPLARS, &c.

BY P. Q. BERTHOLET, BUCKS COUNTY, PENNA.

Dear Editor : L. F. A. has contributed an article on "Lombardy Poplars,"
to your excellent journal. He seems to hold it in very high estimation for orna-
mental purposes, calling it a " universal tree," and after presenting it as an en-
tirely faultless tree, even not suckering, &c., finally urges us to " give renewed
life to this long-neglected Lombardy Poplar."

" Not suckering !" it may behave so well about Black Rock, but certainly, in
this locality, I could point out places where it has spread over acres by no other
process, and so densely, presenting an appearance not unlike the impenetrable
cane-brake ; the ground being overgrown with its roots, to the exclusion of
everything else, all sending up shoots from every available point. Would that be
desirable for the ploughman ? Who would like such an acquisition for our gardens
and lawns ?

It is a tree that, with us, has had its day for planting — but, unfortunately, it
takes care of itself. It has become inextcrminable, and acts the part of a weed
rather than an ornament (unless you make no distinctions as to conduct) ; yet we
prefer a proper name by which to know all things, and arrange accordingly — for
everything should have its place, and nowhere is this more essential than in land-
scape gardening to be carried out with good taste.

We have all the requisite materials in our own S3'lva, for (all) ornamental pur-
poses ; these are, unfortunately, the too much neylectcd. There is entirely too
much desire — a morbid taste — for foreign acquisitions in planting, by which
natives and oft far superior materials are left uncultivated and neglected

>5>-

LOMBARDY POPLARS, ETC.

this is wrong, and American journals on horticulture should lend encouragement
in the direction it is most needed.

Nature has furnished us with the most complete patterns for plantinj^, and asso-
ciated her particular varieties of trees, rocks, water, and lawn, most desirable for
us, and wherever we trespass upon this rule, we lose sight of the great object for
which landscape gardening was instituted, namely : to re-establish by art, genius,
&c., as though planted by the hand of nature, what have become to us so lovely
in their original form and comiiosition. It is simi)ly to re-establish, in some
cherished spots, this state of things, where the unrelenting axe of the woodman
has destroyed the last remnant of nature's superior i)laMtiug.

According to some this tree is too stiff ; so it is. AVe want the more graceful
elms, sublime tulips, and majestic oaks, and regret tliat men with taste would
sui)ersede these, in any way, with thin, tall, gaudy, dandy-like L. poplars. They
won't do for Americans.

If such a thing as straight lines are essential in landscape gardening, why can-
not such be effected by our red cedars, junipers, arbor vittcs, &c., of our own
country, which are certainly more effective, graceful, and beautiful, than the L.
po]ilar ?

There is the Ailanthus, worst of all. It proved a deceiver to those who first
brought it from its native shores in Asia (they took it for an improved sumac),
and when these speculators found out their error,* they contrived to retrieve their
loss by presenting it to the public as an oriental ornamental tree, calling it Tree
of Taradise, &c. But it has equally cheated those who were, by these high-sound-
ing names and false graces, misled to plant it for ornament, in place of our own
trees, far superior in beauty, and I doubt whether any spot was ever rendered
more celestial by planting it with this misnamed " Tree of Heaven."

We do not want this Asiatic trash in America ; let us devote our attention
to those we have, and something will be accomplished of real stability ; and,
besides the objectionable qualities, its suekering propensities are fully equal
to the Paper Mulberry (a cousin from the same country), and then, when the
season of blooming roses is at hand, and lilies render the air redolent with sweet
perfume, how contrast the exhaling fumes of the Ailanthus ! if not actually
unwholesome, it is certainly very obnoxious.

It is said that these trees grow fast, and this quality is sometimes urged in their
behalf, as an inducement to plant them. It is often the case, too fast things have
a bad end.

No fair lady is prized or appreciated more than the one who is won after an
anxious and attentive course of courtship ; and so in this case. Our native trees
may not grow so readily nor so ra])iilly as these exotic weeds ; they may require
a little extra attention — courting, if you like — but, if once gained, if once estab-
lished, would not by me be exchanged for the whole catalogue of these foreign
trees that have been of late crowded upon us.

Let us cultivate our own — these are at home with us — and note to what degree
of perfection we can attain, and not until this great catalogue is exhausted, let us
call in foreigners for our ornamental planting.

* It proved indeed a Tartar.

GOLD OF PLEASURE. — CAMELINA SATIVA.

Packages of seed of the above
plant having been distributed from
the Patent Office, and having had
numerous inquiries respecting its
nature and use, we may state that
it is cultivated for its seeds, which
yield oil of a useful nature, either
for purposes of illumination, lubri-
cating machinery, or mixing with
paints. The cake formed after
extraction has also been found
highly nutritious in the fattening
of oxen and sheep.

It appears, from statements that
have been made, that 10 lbs. of
seed are required to an acre of
land, which will produce, under
favorable circumstances, 40 bushels.
Eight bushels weighed 448 lbs.,
and gave 112 lbs. of oil, and 336
lbs. of cake. Thus it appears that
an acre will produce 560 lbs. of
oil, and 1,680 lbs. of oil-cake.

It will flourish on poor soils,
unfit for ordinary grain crops, and
stands drought well. The seed is
ripe as soon as the pods change
from a green to a gold color, and
should be cut before over matured.
It may be worthy of trial ; the
illustration will give an idea of the
plant, which is annual. It requires
similar treatment to buckweat.

GRAPES AND WINE.

REMARKS ON THE GRAPE DISEASE OF EUROPE.
BY J. P. ALLEN, OF SALEM, ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

A FEW years since, the " mildew," a parasitic fungus, made its appearance upon
the grape-vines of Madeira, and has since been extending itself over the vineyards
of Europe, upon which I propose to make the following remarks, having given
much attention to grape culture, and investigated, as well as I was able to do, the
diseases to which the vine was subject in the United States. I felt sure, after
reading the first printed descriptions of the evil, that it would prove to be the

OllAPES AND WINE.

mildew of America, attackinj?, as it does, the Eastern and European varieties of
tlio ,tini])c at niidsiiniiiKT, destroyiiip^ the entire croj) of fruit, so frt(iiifully as to
discotiraij^e its cultivation. The occurrence of very dry, ticar weather, in July,
will prevent the vciretation of the sporules or seeds of the funj^us ; and thus the
Chussdas and the IJlack and White Cluster Grapes will ripen fully in most of the
New Enjjland States. This will hapi)eu not oftencr than once in ten years ;
and it is then said we have had a One, warm season, when the average tempera-
ture has not been greater than usual, and the actual cause, the dryness of the
air in July and August, is overlooked.

The climate of a large section of the Northern States is well adapted to the
cultivation of the gra]>e. There are many varieties of the vine that will withstand
winters of equal severity ; such, for instance, as are cultivated in Germany, on the
Rhine, &c. Why, then, have all attempts to grow these varieties in vineyards in
this country proved failures ? Because of the attacks of this fungus, as stated
above. It usually appears, in Massachusetts, in foggy weather, in July and August,
and not earlier. When first seen, it resembles white mould ; and, if examined when
in this fresh condition through a powerful microscope, it is very beautiful. In
the Agricultural Report of the I'atent Office for the year 1853, page 311, there
may be found an engraved illustration of this mildew fungus. It appears in a
communication to the State Department from Nicholas Pike, Consul of the United
States at Oporto. This is a correct representation of the American mildew, and
leaves no room for doubt as to the identity of the two species. The marks of the
mildew can be found on the imported grapes and raisins brought here from Malaga.
This is similar to those made by our mildew on the same varieties of the grape.
On page 312 of the same Report, is an illustrated specimen, showing its effects
upon the fruit. When a grape becomes affected* by it, the fruit will either dry
up or crack open, as in this specimen, unless checked or destroyed before it
makes much jirogress.

This so-called disease is a living plant, most rapid in its growth, and wonder-
ful in its powers of reproduction and multiplication. It would appear to be a
most serious evil to the people of the countries dependent upon the cultivation
of the grape for their subsistence. W^hen a vine has once l)een infected by it, the
seeds or sporules, in countless millions, lie waiting a favorable atmospheric change
to spring into life ; and when this does occur, so rapid is their growth, that in
the short space of one day, the under side of the leaf will be almost covered. If
the vines are constantly watched, particularly on the under side, and, when the
first appearance of the fungus is noted, the flour of sulphur is dusted upon the
leaves ; this will kill the fungus wherever it comes in contact with it, changing
it from white to black, and then it is dead. The difficulty here is in applying the
suli)liur to the under side of the leaf. It is hard to make it remain in this
dry state ; and it requires so much labor to go through a vineyard in this man-
ner, as to make the cost, perhaps, an unwarrantable outlay ; unless it should prove
to be the case, which I think may be so, that after two or three years' application
of the sulphur, the seeds of the fungus would be exterminated. I have found a
wash quite effectual in destroying this fungus. It can be applied more easily and
surely, and with less cost of labor and material. It can be applied on a large
scale, with the garden engine ; on a smaller, by the syringe or the rose of a
watering-pot.

To prepare this wash, take one peck of lime, not slaked, and one pound of
sulphur ; put them together in a barrel, and pour hot water over them sufficient
to slake the lime ; see that the sulphur is well mixed with the lime ; pour on th'
gallons of soft water, and stir the mixture well together. In twenty

CLIMATOLOGY, GRAPE CULTURE, ETC. 361

hours, it will have settled and become perfectly clear. This should be drawn off
as clear as possible. Half a pint of this mixture, added to three gallons of water,
will be sufficiently strong, and may be applied over the fruit and every part of the
vine when the mildew first appears. It can be repeated every few days, if occa-
sion requires. The first application, I have found, would kill the most of it ; a
second and a third is all that I have ever found necessary for tlie season. The
fruit and foliage have ripened fully on the p]uropean varieties. The American or
native varieties are less subject to the attacks of this fungus than the European.
There is also a difference in these, the " Catawba" and " Isabella" being more
attacked than some other kinds.

That this mildew, or fungus, requires a peculiar condition of the atmosphere to
allow of its vegetating, is a hopeful fact for the people of the European grape
growing regions, A series of seasons unpropitious to its growth may destroy the
millions of sporules, or seed vessels, deposited upon their vineyards. Should not
this occur, they are not without hope, as sulphur, and a preparation of sulphur,
will destroy it. Perseverance with its application, will keep it in subjugation
until the favoring season arrives for its final extermination.

CLIMATOLOGY, G K A P E CULTURE, &c.

BY A. HUIDEKOPER, MEADVILLE, TENNA.

KoT being a Doctor of Horticulture, with any specialty to advocate, I will
have to ask indulgence if my present article is a little promiscuous in its character.

To 'begin with that very trite subject, the weather, we have had within the last
thirty-six months a very dry season, a very wet, a very hot, and a very cold one.
All the weather prophets have been at fault, and the auguries, whether based
upon bird, or animal, or vegetable phenomena, have been alike deceptive. If the
weather is not the result of a present exercise of the Divine will, but is governed
by established rules, they are certainly thus far inscrutable to humanity.

In this section of the county, according to a very conservative thermometer
kept by Professor T. F. Thickstun, who makes observations for the Smithsonian
Institute, the mercury has stood, between the 26th of December and the 2 1st day
of March, twenty-four times below zero, the lowest degree reached being 27°
below 0. Instruments in other parts of the village gave four or five degrees
below this. Another unusual feature in the weather was the absence of any rain
from the 22d of Dec. to the 2d of April, a period of over 14 weeks. On the
other hand, the snow, which commenced falling about Christmas, lasted until the
middle of April, and accumulated in many places until it was tlnrty inches deep
on the level.

A temperature, several times reached, of from sixty-five to seventy-three degrees
below freezing point, of course left its mark pretty deeply on the orchards and
ornamental shrubbery.

There is a sad list of killed and wounded, and a very crymean air of grief
about amateur cultivators. Quinces and roses are killed down to the snow line ;
Chinese arbor vitae and many other evergreens are done up brown ; the box wood
is blanched ; peach-trees, if they have any vitality left, will have to submit to
severe amputation when new buds have formed ; and dwarf pears are more or less
affected. Notwithstanding all this, there is much of beauty left in our groves
and fields. The snow has protected the winter grain, apple and standard pears
are showing their blossom-buds, and we shall probably have a good supply of
strawberries and the smaller fruits. Cultivators will hardly relinquish shru

Vol. YI.— August, 1856. 24

of rare im rit because once in tbe course of many years it is destroyed by an Artie
winter. Yet i)opular attention will be directed, as it slionld be, to llie hardier
class of trees and slinil)s in our conntry, which we arc tDO ajit to overlook. In
making: a selection of the former, however, I can hardly say that I agree with
friend Allen (who always writes a spirited and sensible article) iu adoptinj^ tlie
Balm of (riload, Athenian Poplar, or Cottonwood.

I carefully eradicated them from my own gronnds some years ago, and induced
one of my neighbors to do the same thing by the proller of some sugar-maples as
a substitute. They undoubtedly grow rapidly, and look well when young ; but
they are softwooded, easily broken by storms, great monopolists of soil and S])ace,
much given to sprouting, and lack durability. Iking large when grown, an equal
and more permanent amount of beauty can be obtained by the selection of trees
of less objectionable habits. Friend Allen has almost redeemed his tree by that
story of tiie oriole's, but I can assure him that I parted with no birds when I laid
an axe to the roots of the cottonwood.

In speaking of ^ir. Allen, I fully concur with him in the report he makes to
tbe Western New York Fruit Grower's Association about the " Ladle's sweeting
apple." After trying it for two or three years, I have rejected it, as quite below
in this region the qualities attributed to it by jSlr. Downing,

The failures of fruits from frosts and severe winters will turn attention to the
growing of grapes under glass, and in connection with this subject, I would
mention that having occasion this spring to remove an old grapery, I found the
studding and boards much dry rotted by the tan, with which the walls of the
building had been filled. The tan seems to be unnecessary, and for the reason I
have given had better be dispensed with. A span roof on a north and south line
gives the vines a much greater amount of solar light and heat during the day
than a lean-to grapery, with a southern exposure, and the temperature is more
equal. As we have sometimes violent winds when it is too warm to dose a
grapery, fine wire screens over sliding sashes in the ends of the building admit
of ventilation, while they break the force of the wind ; they also exclude beetles
and other insects.

There seems to me to be a debatable philosophy in the reasons given by some
of our best writers on grape culture on the subject of ventilation.

Keep the head cool and the feet warm, says Mr. Chorlton (page 24), is advice
often given by physicians, and the same rule, with very slight modifications, applies
to plants generally. " Nature has no fixed canopy over ])lants to prevent heat
passing upwards," &c. Now we keep our feet warm with cork soles and other
appliances, counteracting and not conforming to nature. A seed to germinate
requires warmth in the soil, but when the plant or tree is grown, if the soil be
kept damp and cool, it will stand the blaze of a July sun on its top without
injury. If nature has any rule about it, it would seem to be to keep the roots
cool, and the head of a plant warm.

In unison with Mr. Chorlton is a remark of Mr. Saunders in the May number
of HortimUurist : " Towards the end of this month leave the top sashes open all
night, and allow the temperature to fluctuate with the external atmosphere.
There is no climate in the world where the temperature is constantly the same."

As a general rule, to give a good deal of ventilation when the weather is warm
is good practice, but a grapery should be closed in cold nights, even in midsummer.
Analogies are often deceptive, but the analogy with regard to climate and grape
culture, if closely observed, would, we think, lead to a difierent conclusion from
that given by Mr. Saunders.

The climates in the world best adapted to grape growing are those whi

marked by uniformity of temperature and tlie absence of extremes. Uniformity
of temperature is then the desideratum, and if we can secure it artificially in a
grapery, it may be that we can excel any natnral climate in the matter of grape
culture. Though the vine will be uninjured l)y the slight fluctuations of tempe-
rature in countries where it is indigenous, it seems hardly to follow that the more
violent and sudden changes of our North American climate should be innocuous
to it. Light frosts, even in June, with us are not unusual.

I merely call attention to what strikes me as eccentricity of theory in these
gentlemen, because I know that in mulching, and sprinkling, and keeping the
borders in right condition, and in the regulation of temperature, they arc practi-
cally no doubt as reliable guides as any we have in the country.

Some of our best writers on fruit culture, investigating new diseases, pear
blight, black knot, &c., I notice endeavor to account for them by climatology,
cold, unseasonable winds, &c., to all which it may be objected that sudden clianges
of temperature are not modern inventions. They have always been common, and
of wide extent, while these diseases break out locally, even as to orchards, and
extend themselves from place to place, apparently without dependence on tempe-
rature. Atmospheric causes, such as produce cliolera, yellow fever, and other
destructive epidemics, may have a kindred malaria destructive to vegetation.
Insects, fungoid productions, which have escaped microscopic observation, may
account for the evils we are considering, but a sudden change of temperature, as
a reason, does not accord with all the facts.

We close with the hope that some shrewd observer may do something better
than raise objections to present theories by giving us new ones in unison with
reason and observation on this " knotty" question.

June 1, 1856.

NEW PLANTS.

ECHEVERIA NUDA.

E. foliis in caulem strictum altum sparsis obovatis apiculatisglabris obsolete carinatis, spicS,

longa nuda teiminali.

This addition to the pretty genus Echeveria has been received by the Horticul-
tural Society from Mexico, where it was found on Orizaba by Mr. Botteri. It has a
tall, erect stem, covered with smooth, ol)Ovate ajjiculate leaves, and terminated by
a leafless spike of flowers, eight or nine inches long. They appear to have been
crimson, but the dried specimens, from which alone they are at present known,
have only their remains surrounding the fruit. The present species is most like
E. coccinea, which has narrower leaves and long bracts, giving the spike a leafy
appearance.

NoTYLTA ALBlDA, Klotzsch. Rchb. f. Xenia, p. 48.

A graceful little thing, deliciously scented, and beautifully formed, although its
flowers are no bigger thati Peppercorns, and the whole inflorescence the size of an
ear of wheat. From a few thin, ol)long leaves, not unlike those of Jiodricptezia
secunda, its natural companion, there droops a graceful, dense raceme of whitish
flowers, perfumed like a Lily of the Valley. Their liack sepal is oblong, convex,
pale apricot colored, very firm and convex, and being in all cases turned to the
outside of the inflorescence, the flowers are not unlike little fairy shells. The
rest of the blossom is transparent white, exce[)t one little pale apricot spot at the
base of each petal.

Clintonia ruLCiiELLA {varieties). Nut. Ord. Lobcliacece. — Many of our re

;{(;t

THE liATK WINTER, ETC. ETC.

know and bavc admired the beautiful low-growinjj, annual plant, Clintonia pulchella.
In M. \'M\ lloutte's Flor. dcs Serves, there are rn!:ure(l three i)retty varieties ; they
are of simihir j^rowth, size, and habit, as tlic abovc-Uiimed species, the dilfereneo
is in the flowers. Yar. o : the flowers are blue, with a hirfrc w/iile centre, tinired
witli yellow at the eye. Yar. b : the flowers are ir/tite, tinj^a'd at the eye with
yellow. Yar. c : the flowers are of a violet color, with a larp:e white centre, tinjrcd
at the eye with yellow. They arc very distinct varieties, neat and pretty. The
Clintonia pulchella differs from the C. elegans ])rincipally by the ripper lubes of
the blossom, which are divergent, and not contiguous.

AnDisiA SiEBOLDii. — Tliis very handsome species was introduced from China
by Dr. Siebold. It is a graceful shrubby plant ; the leaves arc about five inches
long, notched, of a shining green. It blooms in profusion, and produces a pro-
portionate mass of brilliant scarlet berries ; even small plants, not more than a
foot high, arc almost covered with these splendid ornaments, and which continue
in perfection during the entire winter and spring. It is one of the most valuable
plants for decoration of the stove, conservatory, etc., we possess. Plants may be
had at 21s. each.

Camellia Jenny Lind. — Messrs. Henderson and Son gave £200 to Mr.
Makenzie, of Philadelphia, in America, for the stock of this variety. The form
of the flower is most erquisite ; the arrangement of the petals to the very centre
is perfection itself forming a true half globe ; white, streaked with rosy pink. The
present price is from 21s. to Gos. per plant.

Begoxia picta. — This beautiful new species has been introduced into England
by Messrs. Low & Co., of Clapton Nursery. The foliage is exceedingly orna-
mental, and the plant forms a neat, dwarfish bush, having large leaves. The leaf-
stalks and under part of the young foliage are thickly clothed with short, bright
red hairs. The upper side of the leaves are a velvety green, with ^frosted, white
zone in the centre ; sometimes the frosted white extends so near the edge as only
to leave a narrow margin of green ; the under side of the leaves is of a purple-
red color, extending from the stalk half-way through, the remainder of the leaf
being green, margined with red. — Cottage Gardener.

THE LATE WINTER, &c. &c.

BY YARDLEY TAYLOR, LOUDON COUNTY, VIRGINIA.

The effect of the late severe winter being now, in some measure, apparent, it
may not be amiss to compare its effects in different localities. We can hardly
account for the effect produced on trees and plants here, from the degree of cold
indicated by the thermometer, unless we allow something for the long continuation
of the cold weather. No thermometer was seen, in this locality, lower than 13'^
below zero ; mine was seen only at 8^ below. But I cannot help thinking they
have been lower than this. Soon after New Year's day, the wind blew for seve-
ral days from the northwest, and was very cold ; the morning of the "Ith, my
thermometer was 2^ below zero, at sunrise, but, I may observe that, as my situa-
tion is much sheltered from the west, the thermometer here does not fall as low as
at other places in the neighborhood. On the morning of the 9th, it was again 2°
below, and did not rise, during the day, to more than about L5° above. The wind
having ceased blowing from the northwest, it began, about noon, to blow from
the south, and continued about 24 hours to blow moderately from that quarter.
A southerly wind following a cold one from the northwest, is always, for the fi
urs, more piercing and unpleasant than the other, being accompanied

a moisture in the atmosphere that makes it exceedingly unpleasant; but, if con
tinned more than that length of time, it always becomes warmer. So, in this case,
when the south wind began, the thermometer was about 15° at noon; at sundown
it was at zero, at 8 o'clock, at night, 5° below, and, next morning, again at zero.
One of my neighbors says his was 13° below at 7 o'clock P. M., so that I cannot
help suspecting that the thermometers were lower, during that night, than any of
us were aware of.

The peach buds, in many places, are much injured, particularly iu valleys and
low grounds, while, on high lands, they are uninjured. Iu my orchard, the more
tender varieties are generally destroyed, particularly in the lower part of it.
Higher up, the more prominent buds are killed, while a few of the apparently
weather buds are now pushing out into bloom. On still higher ground, they are
still less injured, but, even there, many buds are dead.

I have a Deodar Cedar, full twelve feet high and twelve inches in circumference
at the base, and well branched from the ground, that last fall was a beautiful object,
but now presents a sorrowful appearance. All the leaves, with very few excep-
tions, above the snow line are dead, and the branches look so, too. The lower
branches near the ground being covered up with the snow, are not injured, and
are now pushing out young buds. The bark and wood beneath looks dark, as if
killed, but whether the larger limbs will put out leaves or not, remains to be seen ;
the smaller twigs are certainly dead. A few green leaves still remain a few feet
from the top, near the main stem. This tree was planted, I believe, in 1851, and
survived the winters of 1851, 1852, and last winter, except a few of the extremities
of the branches.

A Japan Cedar, ten feet high, that was planted out in 1852, has survived the
past winter with but little injury ; a few of the extremities of the small branches
of last year's growth only are killed, and the tree now looks in good condition.
It stands on ground about fifteen feet higher than the Deodar ; otherwise I know
of no difference in situation. This would indicate the Japan Cedar to be more
hardy than the Deodar, while the reverse was supposed to be the fact ; and, if
experience should elsewhere confirm this instance, it would give additional value
to the Japan Cedar. The Himalaya Spruce and Menzies Spruce both have lost
some leaves, and the latter some small shoots. Irish Yew sufTercd severely ; two
specimens were killed down to the snow line, and the third, on higher ground, lost
all its outer leaves ; the Ivy, too, lost all its outer leaves. Most of our rose
bushes were killed above the snow, even when they were inclosed in straw, while
those that were laid on the ground and covered up have come out in fine condition.
The Evergreen Honeysuckle was killed down to the roots. Panlowonia Imperialis
has suffered in its flower buds, and its leaf buds look as if injured, while the bark
of the branches looks well. The Pride of India has often its extreme shoots
killed for a few inches, but now it appears more hurt — time will only show to what
extent.

B. Hodge, of Buffalo, asks for the experience of peach growers in other sections,
in regard to the effect of extreme cold weather on peach-trees. In answer, I will
relate occurrences that took place here more than twenty years ago. On the
morning of the 5th of 1st month (Jan.), 1835, the mercury in the thermometer
fell to from 18° to 20° below zero in this part of the country. The consequence
was, the peach buds were killed, except on our mountain ranges, and the trees
themselves looked dark beneath the bark, and many supposed them killed, and
some were actually cut down. But, as spring opened, it was found that only the

all branches of less than about the size of one's finger, were actually dead
e the larger branches put out shoots, though late, and grew finely, and

MR. BARRY'S ADDRESS,

layer of wood was deposited Iwiicalh the bark, and covered up the dark wood.
Ttiis dark wood was visible for a number of years after, and after a time bepan to
deeav, wliile tiie outside wood was sound. This effect is still visible in our old
trees, being decayed inside while still bearinj^ fruit. Trees often live here to V)e
thirty years old, and I am not sure that it injured their liearing' afterwards, thouph,
by causing the larger branches to be weaker, tiiey were more liable to be broken
down when loaded with fruit. AVe find the Grosse Mignoue here our most tender
variety.

It was rather remarkable, that the cold was more intense across the middle of
this State, this winter, than ou its northern border, the thermometers, in some
places, indicating 26° below zero, and the ice at Fredericksburg, on the Rappa-
hannock, was said to have been twenty-five inches thick.

In several numbers of the Horticulturist lately, there have been articles com-
mending the Lombardy Poplar as an ornamental tree. That it has its peculiari-
ties, which render it particularly desirable in certain situations, none can doubt ;
but all through this region it has died outright, and I know not of a single thrifty
specimen anywhere. What can be the cause of so general a destruction ? This
might be worth while for arboricultui'ists to inquire into. One suggestion that
has been made is, that as the plant is dioecious, and as we have had only the stami-
nate variety, and, consequently, no reproduction from seed, this may be the cause
of their failure. If this should be the fact, it might be an easy matter to intro-
duce both kinds from their native regions, and again ha able to disseminate them.

I have noticed quite a number of plans recommended as specifics against the

depredations of insects on young plants, particularly young cucumbers. The best

remedy I have ever seen tried is a decoction of Quassia, say one pound to two

gallons of water, boiled so as to get its strength, then, with a small sprinkler or

watering-pot, wet the ])lants well all over, by turning up the under side of the

leaves, and, if this is carefully done, no insects will injure them ; as new leaves

push out, or when rains wash the plants, a repetition will be needed. Quassia

can be obtained at the wholesale apothecaries, at about sixteen cents per pound,

and its bitter principle seems peculiarly distasteful to insects. A desire to benefit

my brother horticulturists, is my excuse for so many different subjects in one

communication.

May 1, 1856.

« •• • >

Mil. BARRY'S ADDRESS,

AT THE FRUIT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION, BURLINGTON, IOWA,

Contains the following remarks, so valuable in themselves, that we have thought
it a duty to preserve them here : —

" Let us look at the list of our best foreign pears. The Bartlett is supposed
to be English, originated in 1760, and it is certainly the best variety ever obtained
in that country. Gunsell's Bergamot is the next best, but it is uncertain, and a
poor tree while young. Dunmore, one of Knight's, stands next — a large, fine
fruit, but too uncertain. These, then, are about all the English varieties admissible
to our list of select sorts. White Doyenne and Brown Beurrc are old French sorts,
supposed to date back almost to the days of the Roman Empire.

"The Louise Bonne de Jersey originated as a chance seedling, at Longueval,
in France, in 1188 — originally 'Bonne de Longueval.'

" The Flemish Beauty, originally called ' Davy,' originated by chance in a
Flemish village called Deftinge.

The Duchess d'Angouleme sprung up by accident, in a garden, in 1800

MR. Barry's address. 367

bore in 1819, and, the year before, the gardener had ordered it cut down, and only
changed his mind after it had received several blows with the axe. The Urbauiste
was raised by the Comte Colonia, in ItSS.

" Beurre Diel was found on a farm, near Brussels. Doyenne Boussock is an
old Belgian sort, called 'Double Philippe,' 'Beurre de Merode,' etc., origin not
known.

"Belle Lucrative was one of Esperin's seedlings, one of the first and best ; he
called it Seigneur, the French renamed it. His method was, I believe, to sow the
seeds of good pears.

" Beurre Capiamont was raised at Mons, in HSt.

" Winter Nelis, at Malines, some seventy or eighty years ago, and called Bonne
de Maline ; Van Mons Leon le Clere, was raised from the seed by Leon le Clere ; the
seeds sown were said to be Easter Beurre, Beurre d'Aremberg, and St. Germain.

" Beurre d'Aremberg w^as a chance seedling, at Enghein.

" Easter Beurre, known as Pastorale, Bergamotte de la Pentacole, Doyenne
d'Hiver, etc., was found at Lourain, in an old garden of the Capucins — the original
tree was standing in 1825.

" Glout Morceau, by M. Hardenpont, in 1789, and called to this day 'Beurre
Hardenpont.' Napoleon, at Mons, in 1808. Beurre Superfin, by Goubault ;
Beurre Clairgeau, by a man named Clairgeau, at Nantes, in 1850 or 1851 ; so we
might proceed with Beurre GifiPard, B. Goubault, Beurre Gris de Hiver, B. Lan-
gelier, Triomphe de Jodoigne, Jalousie Fontenay Vardee, Epine Dumas, Rostizier,
Yicar of Winkefield, and, indeed, all the leading foreign varieties in our catalogues.
B. Bosc, Beurre d'Anjou, and Doyenne d'Ete, are said to be seedlings of Yan Mons,
but the facts concerning their origin are not very clear ; so that, although the
world is greatly indebted to Van Mons for his devotion, through long years, to
what he regarded as the regeneration of fruits, upon philosophical principles, yet
his seedlings, so far, have not yielded any great treasure. The Belle Lucrative,
of Esperin, is perhaps the finest pear, all in all, produced in the last century.
Esperin, in it, left a noble monument to his memory, and his seedlings have pro-
duced many other fine fruits. At his death, he placed them in the hands of his
friend, Mr. Berckmans, who has them now planted in Nev/ Jersey, and we are in
hopes to hear from them in a few years.

" Knight's attempted improvement in England, by hylridization, but produced
only a few good fruits. His pears, with the exception of Dunmore, which I have
already mentioned, are of no value in this country. He gained the Black Eagle,
Elton, and a few other good cherries. Dr. Brinckle, of Philadelphia, has attempted
the same thing in this country, and has already a large number of very promising
seedlings in the hands of Mr. Berckmans, for trial. They are all grafted in strong
stocks, and will soon bear.

"The learned doctor has great faith in this method. He believes it to be as
certain to raise a good new fruit by crossing two good ones, as it is to raise a good
animal on the same principle. The art of hybridization of fruits, however, is a
very nice one, and requires time, labor, and precaution, that few people can or
will undertake and execute with accuracy.

" In this country, as in Europe, our new fruits have either sprung up by acci-
dent, or have been produced from the sowing of the seeds of good varieties.
Thus we obtained nearly all our peaches, all our hardy grapes, most of our best
plums and apples. Of pears we have already a noble list ; all of them either
picked up wild in hedges, or from the seeds of good pears.

The whole of Europe has not produced a pear so fine as the Seckel
hich succeeds over a wider territory ; and then we have the Brandy

:t>

ncs

>rR. darky's ADDRESa

T\'Son, Slicldo'n, IloweU, Lawrence, Onondafja, and many otheis nearly ns good
ns these. There are, at tliis moment, many thousands of seedlin^^-'s from onr best
frnits on trial, and we may reasonaI)ly anticipate some important accjuisitions.
Indeed, I believe that before the end of the present centnry, our liest i)ears, as
well as our apples, will be those orijrinated on onr own soil. The facts which
1 have stated eoncerninff the oricrin of our best fruits, both native and foreign,
hold out great encouragement for the prosecution of this work. My advice to
you, here in the West, is to sow every good seed yon can get. I mean the seeds
of those fruits which succeed best here. When your seedlings have made one
season's growth, you can bud or graft the most promising on strong stocks or
bearing trees, and test them in three or four years.

"For several years we have been sowing in this way, and if we get one good
one in five hundred, we shall feel satisfied ; we may get twenty. The interest and
excitement which the work awakens, is no mean recompense in itself.

" No other fact connected with fruit culture is more fully substantiated by every
day's experience than this, viz: To insure successful cultivation, we must have
varieties that are adapted to the peculiarities of our soil and climate. !Many of
your most valuable apples for this country prove utterly n-orthless with us, whilst
many of onr best fruits fail entirely with you. This Society, and others of a
similar character, are collecting information on this head, of the highest value.

" The fact is well established, that the fruits which succeed best in particular
localities are those which originate there, or in others slightly different. I believe
the Baldwin, Iluhhardsoii's Nonsuch, and Porter apples, are nowhere quite so
good as in New England. The Newtown Pippin, Swaar, Esopus, Sjntzenbvrg,
and Northern Spy, are scarcely anywhere so good as in New York. Our northern
apples. are of little value in the south, and the very finest southern apples are
utterly worthless in the north. The reason why those seedling fruits obtained in
certain localities are more successful there than elsewhere, cannot be that the climate
and soil exercise such an influence upon the seed or the seedling, but because, when
the seedlings show fruit, those only are preserved which possess qualities that are
desirable tliere. The 11. I. Greening would not have been preserved in Georgia,
nor the Rawles Janet in Massachusetts. The true way to advance in this matter
will be for the cultivators of each district to sow the seeds of those varieties which
succeed best, or which possess the most important qualities. Every successive
generation will be more and more acclimated, and thus, in time, fruits will be ob-
tained capable of resisting all the changes and severities of climate, and peculiari-
ties of soil.

"In the hurry of our first planting, this experimental culture has been neglected,
but it is now high time that it should be taken up in earnest. It may be said that
our varieties are already numerous enough, and so they are ; indeed, we have far
too many, but who will say that even the best are good enough, or that improve-
■ -jBent is not necessary or desirable ? No, indeed; the work of improvement has
scarcely begun.

"The rel'orm which has, within a very few years, been effected in the nomencla-
ture of fruits, is not the least important part of our progress. What a labyrinth
of error and confusion the names of fruits were in, some dozen years ago. Not
more than seven years ago, full one-half of all the fruits exhibited were incorrectly
named, or not named at all. The specimen trees which we collected between 1839
and 1843, were full one-half incorrect, and they were obtained from the most re-
liable sources then in existence. Of thirty or forty specimen i)cach-trees from one
estal)lishment, scarcely one proved true to name.

" In the course of ray business as nurseryman, and during my connection

MR. BARRY'S ADDRESS.

horticultural journals, I have often been surprised, of late, at the number of per-
sons who are particular and discriminating.

" One man writes, on reception of some trees he has purchased, such and such
a variety has dark shoots — the books say they ought to be light. Another says
the habit, or the foliage, or the flowers, of his trees do not answer the description.
A third says his strawberries are staminate — they ought to be pistillate ; and so
on. These are all indications of that spirit of inquiry and observation which is a
sure presage of intelligent and successful culture. Tlie time has come when
nurserymen must be observing and accurate, or they will lose their business charac-
ter and customers both. They must plant specimen orchards, test and compare
their varieties, read and study, attend exhibitions and meetings, such as this, and
by these means acquire such knowledge of their profession as will enable them to
prosecute it successfully and honorably. The facilities which dwarf trees now
offer for testing a large collection rapidly, on a small plat of ground, and at a
moderate expense, leave no excuse whatever for the neglect of this work.

" The cultivation and management of trees in orchards and gardens are im-
proving rapidly, but much yet remains to be done before we attain even mediocrity.
The loss which the United States sustain annually in the careless and unskilful plant-
ing and miinagement of trees, if accurately summed up, would be almost incredible.

" At the Fruit Growers' Meeting in Western New York, a few days ago, the
question was raised : What becomes of all the trees that are propagated and sold
in the nurseries of that section ?

" The opinion of the meeting, as expressed in the discussion, was, that although
many trees were lost and worthless from defective or improper treatment in the
nursery, and many from damage sustained in transportation, yet more were lost
by unskilful planting, and neglect afterwards, than from any and all other causes
combined.

" This I believe to be the case. In all ray observations of travel, I think I can
safely say that I have not seen one orchard or one garden in a hundred even tole-
rably managed. By far the greater number look as though the proprietor had
abandoned his trees to ruin.

" Blown over to one side, anchored in a tough grass sod, buried up in groves
of cornstalks, torn and broken by cattle, barked and bruised with the plough,
pruned with an axe — thus they perish in their youth, or become old, deformed,
covered with lichens, and a prey to swarms of insects, before they have yielded
their first fruits. What folly it is in men to invest their money in trees, and then
wilfully ruin them in this way 1 In Western New York, where cultivation is about
as good as in any other section, a man who cultivates his orchard or his garden
thoroughly, whose trees are healthy and handsome, making vigorous growth, and
yielding fine fruit, is talked of as a rarity — and so he is.

" The specimen trees in the establishment with which I am connected, are but
tolerably well managed ; the ground is kept clean around them, and is occasion-
ally dressed with manure or compost ; so that, in all seasons, we get a fair growth
and a fair crop — but amateurs might have theirs vastly better. Yet we are daily
asked what we do to our trees ? and many seem to think that we have some secret
art — some system of 'terra-culture' — with which the world at large is unacquainted.

" We need a complete revolution in these matters. I cannot now detain you
to go into the details of planting, and pruning, and mulching ; but I beg you
who understand these matters, to constitute yourselves missionaries, and preach
this doctrine of high cultivation zealously in your respective jiarishcs, and give
examples of it in your own grounds, that your practice may correspond with
precept."

CIUTIQUE ON JUNE UORTICCLTURIST.

CRITIQUE ON THE JUNE HORTICULTURIST.

Genikman Farnu'in/. — Very pleasant to talk altoiit — that is, to those who know
notliinj; at nil abont larniinir, cither " pcntlemanly" or vul^i^arly. After exhaust-
ing " Lorain,'' read the " Sparrowgrass Papers." I have witnessed sundry editions
of frentlenianly fanning which didn't last a great while, and ending either in dis-
gust, with a suuiniary tiirowing-np of the oeeupation, or toning down into a i)rac-
tical, positive reality, like any other business in which a man proposed to make an
honest livelihood.

Wonderful ideas many people liave of the profession of farming ! A deal of
poetry and imagination, into which arc intermingled Sylphs and Dryads; Phyl-
lisses and Damons ; shepherds' crooks, cottage girls, and country swains ; inno-
cent birds, bleating lambs, and various other romantic dreamings. But it is won-
derful to find how soon these delectable images of agricultural bliss become spirited
away on the trial. If a man have fifty thousand dollars well invested, on which
he can draw punctual semi-annual dividends at six or eight per cent., then put
himself and family on to a farm, well conditioned in all particulars, and children
well-behaved, and not over-extravagant in their notions, and, moreover, a fjood
uun/s out of toicn, lie may, possibly, with a good deal of hard and vexatious labor,
bring the year about at " gentleman farming." Otherwise, like the cobbler, he
had " better stick to his last."

AVhy don't we hear of gentleman printers, gentleman merchants, gentleman
doctors, gentleman editors, and gentleman everything else in the professional and
business pursuits of life ? Simply because every profession or calling in the world
which amounts to anything, and by which men get their living, is followed in
earnest, and those who engage in them, lay their whole talents and labors into the
work, whatever it be. The great, popular mistake of those who talk of gentle-
manly ^Sivmmg is, that they suppose the practical farmer to be a boor, of necessity,
and that his calling is a vulgar one, unfit for an educated mind ; yet, when subli-
mated by intelligence, education, and refined associations, may be made respect-
able ! "Gentleman farming" is a rank humbug, as any other profession or trade
would be, followed in the same fashion — that is, by hanging out a sign, furnishing
the shop, store, office, or other establishment, with its stock in trade, library, or
what not, and then leaving the students, clerks, and shop-boys to take care of it,
while the principal goes about the streets, talking politics, spending his daylight
at the bar-room, sucking down brandy-smashes and mint juleps, or fooling away
his time in any other nonsense. That is the " gentleman" way of doing any sort
of business, " farming," or otherwise. The upshot of the matter is, a man may
be a gentleman in any calling which demands the exercise of brains, ingenuity,
and industry. I never yet knew a useful profession which demanded low intellect
or clownish manners as a qualification for its pursuit.

Biota Orientalis, and other items, pp. 252-255. — I don't know anything about
thera.

Carriage- House and Stable for a Small Cottage. — A capital plan. The floor
accommodations cannot be bettered ; yet, if the roof were steeper, and, instead of
being hipped, gables were run up at each end, the hay-loft would have twice the
room in it, and cost no more than the plan now given. Builders of such things
should always recollect that half the beauty connected with them is their utility
for the purposes to which they are designed.

Flowers, and Botanical Notes. — "A thing of beauty is a joy forever," said
young Keats, who would have stayed in this troublesome world to the present

could liis admirers have had their own short-siffhted way about it. A group of
wild flowers — and they are always beautiful — in the hands of a laughing, innocent
girl — no matter about her age — where a dozen such are rambling over the grass,
or among the trees, always draws the sunny side of my heart into their very midst,
from the hopeful days of boyhood even to yesterday, v/hen a score of the hapjiy,
wayward things made fearful havoc through the tall grass in my lawn, and among
ray snowballs, honeysuckles, and peonies ; it was lucky the tulips were passe, for
every one would have been beheaded. One-half the every-day charm of woman
is, her love of, and attention to, flowers in their season ; and all parents, having
the opportunity, who neglect to educate their daughters in the knowledge and care
of flowers, leave out one of the elements of education, which makes them better
children, better wives, better mothers — indeed, better everything belonging to the
gentler nature of woman.

A Feio Remarls on Late Grape Crops. — I like William Chorlton, and his way
of growing grapes, and talking about them. A sensiljle, practical man, with no
nonsense about him. Read Chorlton, wherever you find his mark. If you grow
grapes, you'll be all the wiser for it ; and if you don't, it will interest you.

Protection to Farms. — Yery well said by Mr. Cliarles Downing ; but, for ray
part, I prefer a farm where tree protection comes by nature. For those who have
pitched their homes on the wide Western prairies, his suggestions are valual)le.
I could talk somewhat on that subject myself, but Mr. Downing has said quite
enough to set ten thousand tree planters at work for the next twenty years.

The Strati'berry Seedling. — A delightful story. " The Elder,'''' Emile may be,
but that imagination, so full of simple narrative, poetry, and refinement, can never
be "old." The " Clover Hill Seedling!" — a charming name for a new strawberry I
A good, Christian man, too, is "Emile the Elder," as his " moral" testifies. What
a poor, heartless race of men we should be, in the absence of such gentle spirits
to guide us in our daily paths, and restrain us within the exercise of the humani-
ties of life! Let us, most rare " Emile," again hear your genial conversation.

Michigan Agricrdtural Society. — Those annual volumes of Transactions which
issue from the various State societies of our country, are most gratifying evidences
of the advancement of American agriculture. They commenced, long years ago,
in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and, now and then, in other States ; yet, after
awhile, from the want of systematic action, gradually died out. In 1842, New
York adopted a vigorous, well devised plan of publishing the annual transactions
of its agricultural societies, which it still keeps up, to its great advantage ; and
its example has been followed by sundry other States, until such States as don't
do it, have not much celebrity in agricultural spirit and improvement.

Why is it that the newer States, like Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and, perhaps,
another one or two, are so far in advance of some of the older ones in such enter-
prises ? I trust that these " old fogies" are not to be gathered up among the
fossil remains of our agricultural enterprise. Their worn and stubborn soils still
yield kindly fruits and harvests when properly tilled, and it only needs the active
minds of their young farmers to put them rectus in curia, as the lawyers say, by
the side of their younger brethren.

Colombian Guano. — " Eighty per cent, of the phosphate of lime !" Is that
so ? and "five millions of tons !" Well, that will do — for awhile, at least. " A
Philadelphia Company," the owners, too, of all this fertilizing wealth ! What is
the stock worth, Mr. Editor ? We must look into this matter, and if it be " true to
the card," somebody must make a heap of money out of those odoriferous heaps
in question. I think, however, I'll look on and see how the guano works for a
year or two, before I invest in it. Jeffreys.

SPRINU MOVING,

SPRINd MOVING.

HY KMII.K TUK KI.DEl!, rillLADKLrHIA.

The bustling commercial people of New York City liavo cstablislieJ the Ist of May as an
annual perioil for removals among its inhabitants, and we have sometimes taken the liberty
to doubt the wisdom or convenience of this fixed periodical exchange of residences. The
natTiral increased demand for carts and furniture-cars, and consequent higher tax upon
hoi-scflesh and men, and on the purses of those in competition, furnish no bad argument
against a single period for all movings, instead of permitting them to occur at any time
throughout the year. We can scarcely imagine a good reason in favor of the New York
custom, and hence rejoice that the " spring moving" we are about to tell of is of a different
descrii>tion, and where the proper period is fixed by the unerring laws of nature, at the first
swelling of spring buds in the month of April.

Our srood family doctor, and whom we may be proud to call friend, could not content
himself with the mere performance of professional duties ; and yet, in a considerable prac-
tice, no physician was ever known to labor more arduously and punctually, or more un-
sparingly of himself. His benevolent heart was not satisfied with curing disease in man,
and relieving suflTerings through the performance of professional duty ; he had the generous
ambition to do good to all mankind — to bestow something philanthropically upon his race,
and without remuneration, except in the consciousness of being useful. lie found hours of
leisure in the early morning, which he could devote to plants and trees in his yard, and,
with an enthusiastic love of science, his knowledge of botany was readily followed by inves-
tigations in pomology and horticulture.

The narrow strip of ground, about sixteen inches wide, that lies beside the division fence
between city plots having the usual back buildings, had for many years been the limited
field of the doctor's experiments in horticulture, and, more especially, perhaps, in pomology.
This little strip of ground, unfortunately, too, had a northern exposure, and yet, 'spite of
stinted space and all other difficulties, the " garden" of the doctor presented a rare and ex-
traordinary display of fruit, of various kinds, in season. We cannot be rery precise in
details, but to convey some idea of this fruit orchard in his town-yard, we inform the reader
that it contained one goodly size seedling apple-tree, the seed planted by the doctor fifteen
years iireviously, and for the first fruiting of which he still patiently waits ; then there were
ten pear-trees, dwarfs and standards, upon which were grafted about seventy-five varieties
— many that have already borne fruit, and others as yet only giving promise ; one large and
thrifty high-bush blackberry, that has produced a great crop of large and beautiful fruit.
Six or eight varieties of seedling and fine raspberries, mostly of his own creating, and that
have already become celebrated for their high qualities.

Besides these plants in the ground, the yard contained over eighty boxes, filled witli
living trees or shrubs, grafted young trees and seedlings, to say nothing of smaller pots in
great numbers, a Chinese peach-tree, the Salmon Berry, or California Raspberry, &c. &c.
All these, foraiing the basis of numerous experiments, have from year to year accumulated,
and now filled the doctor's small premises, almost to the exclusion of a reasonable passage-
way througlL it.

Such was the state of things in the spring of 1856, when the health of members of the
family induced a plan of removal to the country — at least, for two or three years — the doctor
remaining in the city, devoted as usual to his profession. With this scheme cauie the
necessity of relinquishing the ample city residence, and procuring offices for the doctor ;
and also came a necessity of providing a new home for the trees, and plants, and boxes.
Here was a sad dilemma : one in which the good pomologist was scarcely less concerned for

SPRING MOVING.

the well-being and prosperity of his favorite and long- watched trees, than the good man was
anxious for the comfort and happiness of his family. The mute but grateful objects of his
scientific care, all unconscious of domestic changes in contemplation, were still uninfluenced
by the late spring, while the doctor from time to time, among friends, referred sadly to his
difficiilty of parting with his trees, &c. : he could readily send them to the country, and
have them in good care, but then he would be deprived the pleasure of seeing them daily,
and of prosecuting his experiments — of patiently watching the fruit buds each spring as
they slowly developed, and gave hope of a new variety — a seedling, perchance, that would
deserve a name and high rank in the calendar of American pomology. It is but justice to
say here, that such would be no new event in the useful life of our medical pomologist, as
is testified by his seedling raspberries and strawberries, the " French," the " Gushing," the
" Orange," the " Wilder," &c. &c. &c.

Among those whose privilege it is to hear the good practitioner let out the simple wishes
of his heart, there was one who early thought to ofler the use of his goodly-sized garden for
the reception of the favorite trees and plants ; the proii'er was unexpected, and though very
agreeable, was accepted with great hesitation. Tliere was evidently a modest, delicate
doubt in the mind of the doctor, as to how he could have free access to fhe garden of his
friends, and, no less, how far it was consistent to accept what he regarded as a rare favor.
But these impediments were soon removed, and the proposal was definitely agreed upon long
before the proper period had arrived for the " spring moving."

The accepted city yard possessed some advantages of space and exposure over that in
which the doctor's nursery had thus far struggled into existence, but with increased dimen-
sions, and a fine southern exposure, there also came drawbacks. A very large locust-tree
had long-standing possession of one end of the ground ; its far reaching roots, and over-
shadowing branches, were no friends to the health of fruit-trees, and a considerable grape-
vine arbor occupied room at the other end. lu their leafless condition, at the period of the
friendly arrangement, but little heed or thought was taken of these impediments to an act
of intended kindness, certainly not by the owner of the premises, at least, and a delicate
sense of propriety would not permit the subject to come from the doctor. But, when the
time of tree moving was near at hand, a mutual friend, listening to the design, impulsively
exclaimed : " Oh, if that big locust was only out of the way, no spot could be more suitable !"
It was not difiicult to read in his countenance the sympathetic thought passing througli the
mind of the doctor, and though little else was said, the question of cutting down the locust-
tree at once seriously occupied the thoughts of its owner. And this was no light subject for
consideration ; the old tree had its peculiar history, and one which deserves to be told here,
if the patient reader will permit such an episode.

The city lot, now the scene of our story, had been purchased and built upon, many years
before, by a Scotch gentleman — afterward a Unitarian clergyman — who, faithful to cherished
associations, planted in his yard a young locust-tree sent him by a friend. When the growth
of years had made his tree of goodly size, a severe winter storm came upon it with such
unfortunate violence as to separate its forked trunk through the centre, and to the very earth,
each half falling in an opposite direction, and making sad havoc with the dividing fences
of neighbors. The storm over, our Scotchman sought such aid as was required with strong
ropes, to bring the split divisions of the trunk together, and, as in surgery, the edge? of the
wound being closely in contact, a strong bandage was needed to keep them so ; a hoop or
band of iron was soon prepared, and, with the blacksmith in lieu of the surgeon, the iron
bandage was applied three or four feet above the ground, and the locust-tree was again up-
right and firm. Thus it prospered for a few years, until the injury to the bark by the iron
band, gave symptoms of general disease in the tree ; the bandage was in consequence re-
moved, and placed about three feet liigher, and again the locust flourished for some years.

:^--

:JS^>

374

Sl'IUNG MO VI NO.

But, nt a later date, when the old Uiiitarinn clergyman had sold his property, and told tlio
liistoiy of his treo with garrulous fondness, again the iron girdlcMvas doing evident miKchief :
but Iho Btory of the tree, besido its beauty, gave it value and interest to the new owner, and
with pcrhapd better mechanical conception, he sought a new remedy for the evil. A straight
iron rod, having a head at one end, and a screw upon the other, was now passed hori-
zoutally through the centre of each trunk, and, by means of an iron nut on the screw end,
the security of the tree was accomplished without injury. The bark in time grew over
the ends of the iron rod, and for nineteen years tlie locust-tree had llouri.slied, at the period
of tlie intended coming of the doctor's fruit-trees and plants. Sympathy with the past, and
even witli the far-famed ballad of George P. Morris, " Woodman, Hf)aro that Tree," came
into conflict with tlie claims of the doctor, with the desire to gratify a valuable and excel-
lent man : it was April, the time for tree moving had arrived, and when the medical pomo-
logist came to make his next friendly visit, the old locust-tree lay in sections upon the grass
plat.

It is now scarce a month since this city clearing, and the seedling pears, with their many
grafts, the raspberries of different varieties, &c. &c., gratefully occupy the space so long
monopolized, if not hallowed, by the Scotch gentleman's gift of friendship. And with early
sunrise, may be seen daily from the back windows, the doctor inspecting and enjoying the
new nursery, thus renewing the sentiment associated with the first planting there, and cer-
tainly no less valuable or interesting to a warm and honest friendship.*

* May 1, 1856. — We cannot resist the desire to give vahic to our little narrative, by adding an article from tlie
gifted pen of a mutual friend, and which lias reference to the same distinguished poinologist. We quote from
the columns of the Korth American and United States Gazette of July 20, 1S17. So just and eloquent a tribute
to merit deserves a more enduring form than that afforded by the passing sheet of a daily newspaper.

The Love of the Beautiful and Useful.

There is a class of human beings — its name is legion — who are good and benevolent to an infinite degree, in
theory. Tlioy would perform wonders if they had the power ; but their vast ambition to pursue the ideal
beautiful and good, cannot stoop to any of the achievements within their own contracted sphere. Their imagi-
native benevolence travels over boundless fields of usefulness ; they endow, with unearned wealth, hospitals in
the air ; indulge their vanity in erecting colleges upon vast foundations of imagination ; gather fruits that require
no culture ; rejoice over ores that are not dug from the mines ; and are good and great, in their own esbmation,
upon this aerial principle. Those men are loud in their lip-love of all that is good and great ; but, because tlioy
cannot enjoy the princely advantages required to carry out their magniflccnt schemes, they do nothing. There
are others to whom no opportunity to do good, or cultivate a grace, is lost — who would be useful to their race
even in a dungeon, and would discover some beauty upon a barren rock in the ocean. We were impressed with
this truth, by becoming ca.sually acquainted with the secret pursuitsof oneof our most estimable and enlightened
citizens, in the fragmentary periods of leisure that fall olf from a life of intense and persevering professional
labor His life has lieen devoted, day and night, to the studies and duties of his science ; and no one would

dream that Dr. had leisure for any thought or purpose beyond it. But who has not leisure tliat practises

economy of time, and learns to relieve one species of labor by another of a differept character, all swelling the
amount of his tribute of good to the Author of all good ? In the midst of a most active life, and in the centre of
a crowded city, he has been for years engaged in practical experiments in horticulture, and has succeeded in
attaining results that contribute more to the race than the best fought battle-field of the age. Of course, it will
be supposed that he has a large space of ground for these experiments, and every aid that can further them ;
but, on the contrary, his garden lot is twenty by twenty feet, on the most fashionable square in Chestnut Street.
Within that limited space, and in the midst of a large practice, he has still found time and means to make the
most important contributions to the horticulture of the country. By the application of science to the culture of
most valuable plants, he has been enabled to add new and rich varieties; to discover and illustrate important
laws, and to etfect, in the offcast minutes which others fail to improve, results that will make millions more
happy, when his career of graceful, modest, and untiring goodness and usefulness shall have been closed.

We dare not refer to him in such a manner that even he may discover the allusion ; and we mention the fact
with the sole purpose of illustrating the truth, that there is no sphere so crowded that it has hot room for a new
light, a new grace, a fresh achievement for the good, a novel enjoyment for the lovers of nature. The posses-
sors of thousands of acres might envy, and must admire, the student who, in his twenty by twenty lot,
noble resources of enjoyment, and attains results which add to the comforts and happiness of his race.

CLIMATOLOGY,

CLIMATOLOGY, NO. 3.

BY A CONSTANT READER.

The summer climate of the United States is remarkable in many respects. The mean
temperature of its southern portion exceeds that of the tropical region to the south of it.
The Isotheral line, or Isothere (that is, the line of equal summer temperature) of 80°,
follows the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, from the southern point of Texas
to that of North Carolina. It then, in latitude 340, sweeps round to the W. and S. \V.,
bending very gradually to the N., till, in the N. E. part of Texas, it again approaches lati-
tude 34^. It is then bent to the S. by the high table-lands of Texas, crosses the Pecos in
latitude 29^, and sweeps to the N. W., till, in the neighborhood of Lake Humboldt, it reaches
the' parallel of 40°; and is then bent suddenly round by the Sierra Nevada Mountains,
and sweeps S. S. E. along the eastern coast of the Califomian Peninsula.

The space within the Isothere thus described, includes one of the hottest regions of the
globe. Its focus is the district from the head of the Gulf of California to the mouth of the
Gila, where the mean summer heat is 90O, while that of the West India Islands is 81^.
West of the Sierra Nevada, along the valley of the San Joaqiiim, is another district of intense
summer heat, the mean of the thermometer at Fort Miller in that valley being 850. This
belt of intensely heated country follows the southern line of the coast along the Gulf, and
is limited in the interior by the Mexican table-lands, which extend to lat. 30°, and of which
the height is six or eight thousand feet, and the mean summer heat is 680. Within this hot
belt the mean heat ranges from S20 to 85°. The influences of this intense heat are modified
by the moisture or dryness of the climate.

In the southern part of the Peninsula of Florida, twenty-five inches of rain fall in the
three summer months ; twenty-two inches fall in the rest of the peninsula ; twenty inches
in the remaining region east of the Mississippi. Through Eastern Texas the summer rains
average twelve inches, gradually lessening to ten and eight inches at the W. and S. W.
Three inches fall along the valley of the Rio Grande ; one and a half inches on the Gila,
and the prolonged point of the belt to the N. W., traverses the rainless desert of Utah.

We have, then, in our southern borders, an extensive range of summer tropical climate,
capable, in its eastern portion, of maturing all the annual fruits and plants of the hottest
regions of the globe ; and, wherever it can be irrigated in its western portion, susceptible of
the highest fertility ; for the Basaltic rocks of that region disintegrate into one of the most
genial of soils, which will, at some future day, when science shall direct the industry of its
people, rival the ancient fertility of the now desert valleys of Persia and Syria, and " blossom
like the rose." It is highly favorable to the future prospects of these sterile regions, that
the summer rains on the mountains are copious and frequent ; so that, by damming uj) the
ravines and mountain valleys, artificial lakes may be formed for the irrigation of the subja-
cent districts.

Tlic adaptation of this hot belt to the cultivation of tropical trees, is controlled by its
winter climate. The Isocheimal line, or Isocheim (the line of mean winter temperature) of
650, passes through the peninsula in latitude 27^, say 120 miles from the cape. South of
that line, it is probable that neither ice nor frost is ever known, and that the Clove-tree,
the Pimcnta, the Date Palm, the Coffee-tree, and the Cacao, would thrive luxuriantly. The
Isocheim of 60° passes across the peninsula at St. Augustine, and enters Texas in latitude
270. South of that line, the olive, the fig, the orange, and the lemon, would flourish.

The Isocheim of 55° crosses the mouth of the St. Johns, and passes along the northern
of the Gulf to Matagorda, thence W. and W. N. W. to the mouth of the Gila. South
line, winter frosts occasionally occur, and cut oQ" the orange-trees of Northern F'

Tlio extreme N. W. point of tlie hot district under Purvey, has a moan winter heat of 35'^
for the Isothere of 830, and the Isochcim of 35°, nearly touch each other at Lake Humboldt,
in Utah. It is only, therefore, in the southeastern ])art of this district that the cultivation
of the intertroiiical fruit-trees can be successful.

It is true that there may be spots found in the interior protected from the cold winter
winds, and from frosts, where the hardier trees of the tropics, especially of the hills and
table-lands, such as the cinchonas, may bo introduced.

If the winter and summer climates of the district round Uumboldt's Lake be thus strongly
contrasted, the summer climates of the coast, and of the mountain valleys of California,
are equally so. The Isothere of Fort Miller, on the San Joaquim, is 85^, and that of Mon-
terey, 150 miles to the west, is 57° 1

The summer mean of the Pacific coast does not vary from 57^, between Monterey and
Sitka, a space of 22° of latitude, and near two thousand miles of coast.

This extraordinary fact is no doubt caused by the cold waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Although there is no steady superficial polar current to be traced near the shore, it would
seem tliat such a current prevails in the deep sea beyond, and that the cold waters, as they
approach the land, are forced upwards by the shelving of the bottom.

There is at all times a belt of cold sea-water, of the temperature of 57° to 60°, along the
northwestern coast of America, extending many hundred miles out to sea, which controls
the climate of the coast, and almost equalizes the temperature of the four seasons !

A similar but narrow belt of cold water borders the Atlantic coast, inside of the Gulf
Stream, which, tliough it does not influence the summer climate, is distinctly felt in the cool
northeast winds which sometimes prevail with a clear sky for weeks during spring and
early summer.

The Isothere of 750 passes through the Bermuda Islands in latitude 32^, and strikes our
coast in latitude 39^°. It is bent to the S. W., by the Virginia Mountains, to the parallel
of 340, along the northern line of North Carolina and Tennessee. West of the AUeghanies
it again bends to the N., and then to the W., crosses the Mississippi in latitude 390, near
the mouth of the Illinois, and continues west to longitude 103°. It is then deflected to the
S., by the Rocky Mountains, to latitude 32°, in the valley of the Piio Grande. It then bends
again to the K. W., strikes the Great Salt Lake — the Lake Timpinagos of Humboldt — passes
W. in latitude 41 -^-O, till it is again bent S. by the cold atmosphere of the Pacific coast, and
strikes that coast in latitude 26^.

The Isothere of 70^ crosses the Hudson at "West Point, touches the parallel of 40° in
Western Pennsylvania, passes through Sandusky and Chicago, thence N. W. to Fort Snelling,
crosses the Missouri near Fort Union, reaches the parallel of 49°, and is then bent to the
E. of S., by the Rocky Mountains, till it reaches latitude 35°, in the valley of the Rio Grande.
West of the Rocky Mountains it bends to the north, and reaches the parallel of 47^° in
longitude II80. It then bends suddenly to the south, and strikes the coast in latitude 34°.

" There is a great identity," says the report, " of the temperatures of this large area, em-
braced by the Isothermals (Isotheres) of 70^ and 75° east of the plain, including Iowa, Illi-
nois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Upper Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Lower Penn-
sylvania, and New Jersey, excepting from these some points of coast exposure, ajid of the
mountainous districts, the summer temperatures are more nearly uniform than almost any
continental area of like magnitude."

ON THE UNION OF EMBRYOS.

FROM THE gardeners' CHRONICLE.

It will have been seen by a communication in our last number, that experimentalists
are puzzled to understand how it is possible to make two embryos grow together by
grafting. It seems to be considered impracticable so to unite the seeds of an orange and a
lemon as to blend them into one single plant from the very beginning of their growth.
Undoubtedly, the operation is attended with some difficulty. Skill, and a sound knowledge
of the nature and structure of seeds, are demanded of those who would perform it. For
that reason, indeed, it was, that we offered a valuable reward to the first who should succeed.
Had it been a mere puzzle, which could be solved by some lucky accident, we should
have consigned it to the limbo of rebuses, charades, and similar puerilities. But knowledge
and the power of applying it were demanded, and for this reason it apjieared to be an ex-
cellent subject for experiment ; certainly not merely for the sake of a trifacial orange, which
might be easily obtained in Alexandria.

We have already stated, in reply to an inquirer, that it would probably facilitate the
operation if the surfaces to be united are pared down, just as is done when common grafts
are united. But we are by no means sure that this is indispensable. On the contrary,
many facts indicate that mere contact will produce the necessary union. No one can be
ignorant that cucumbers often come as
twins ; so do nectarines ; and we have
now before us a pair of Coe's Golden
Drop Plums completely united for about
half their length. In all such cases, no
removal of the surface of the parts took
place where they joined. They united
in consequence of being firmly pressed
together when very young, and in the
early stage of growth, while the tissues
were young, tender, and fonning fast.

A similar example is presented by the
monstrous apple of which a figure is
annexed. In this instance, two apple
flowers, accidentally brought into close
contact in the earliest state of the bud,
being kept firmly in contact as they ad-
vanced in growth, ended by becoming
half incorporated ; notwithstanding
which, they finally became a twin fruit,

consisting of two very unequal halves. In the smaller only four cells of the seed were
formed ; in the larger, but three. In other respects the structiire was complete ; but each
was furnished with a pair of elevated lines on the side next the line of junction, as shown
in the figure. The nature of these lines is unknown to us. Wliat is particularly deserving
of attention here is, that the hairy surface of the young apple flower offered no obstacle
to the junction in question ; possibly it took place before the hairs had formed.

Such being the case, it becomes a question whether, in grafting seeds, it is at all necessary
that the embryos should themselves unite. It may be indeed conceived that the firm, solid,
highly carbonized, and scarcely azotized tissue of which such an embryo as that of the orange
consists, would, from its very nature, be unlikely to form an adhesion ; just, indeed, as

Vol. YI.— August, 1856.

25

ON TIIK UNION OF KMURVOS,

graftorfl find that old wood is very difficult to operate upon. It is by the young tisBuo,

when first growing, soft, tender, suc-
culent, and rich in azotized matter,
that junctions are effected. Is it not,
then, highly prohahlo, that if embryos
are to be grafted on each other, the
union must take place between the
surfaces of the young radicle and the
tender lengthening stem when first
bom ? We think so. And upon that
supposition, it may be a question
whether the operation now under dis-
cussion may not be most easily and
certainly performed by allowing the
embryos to enter upon the early stage
of germination before they are finally
tied together.

Suppose a couple of orange pips
were allowed to grow just long enough to be handled, and then had, in each case, one of
the cotyledons removed, so that the nascent stems could be secured to each other with col-
lodion, or a film of India-rubber, or some such elastic matter. We only throw this out as a
suggestion.

editor's table.

h^^^y^'^

l^g' Exchanges. — Those periodicals with wliich we exchange, as well as letters for the
Editor, should be directed to the Horticulturist, Germantown, Pa.

National Agricultural Society. — The following are the premiums for fruit and wines, to
be awarded at the National Exhibition of the United States Agricultural Society, to be held
in Philadelphia the 7th, 8th, 9th, lOtli, and 11th of October next. The whole of the premiums
amount to fourteen thousand dollars. We shall have a show which will attract a larger
audience than any heretofore held in our consolidated city : —

Class VII. Fruits. — All fruits must be arranged on the tables by 9 o'clock, of Tuesday
morning.

All fruits offered in competition must be grown by the competitor.

Fruits receiving a premium in one class cannot compete in another.

Judges may withhold premiums when fruits of sufficient merit are not presented.

Fruits once placed on the tables are under the control of the judges, and cannot be removed
until the close of the Exhibition.

Exhibitors must present to the Secretary a list of the fruit exhibited, with the names of
the fruit, and a certificate, when required, that the same luas grown by the exhibitor.

Apples. — For the largest and best exhibition of named varieties, not less than three speci-
mens of each, $50 ; for the second best, $30 ; for the third best, $20.

For the best thirty varieties, not less than six specimens each, $30 ; for the second best,
$20 ; for the third best, $10.

For the best twelve varieties, not less than six specimens each, $15 ; for the second best,
$10 ; for the third best, $5.

For the best dish of apples, of one variety, $5 ; for the second best, $4 ; for the third best,
$3 ; for the fourth best, $2.

Pears. — For the largest and best exhibition of named varieties, not less than three speci-
mens of each, $50 ; for the second best, $30 ; for the third best, $20.

For the best thirty varieties, of six specimens each, $30 ; for the second best, $20 ; for the
third best, $15.

For the best twelve varieties, six specimens each, $15 ; for the second best, $10 ; for the
third, $5.

For the best dish of pears, of one variety, $5 ; for the second best, $4 ; for the third best,
$3 ; for the fourth best, $2.

Peaches. — For the best collection of peaches, $15 ; for the second best, $10 ; for the third
best, $5.

For the best dish, not less than twelve specimens of one variety, $5 ; for the second best, $3.

Quinces. — For the best bushel, $5 ; for the second best, $3.

Grapes. — For the best native or seedling grape, hardy, and equal or superior to the Isa-
bella, a premium of $20 ; second best, $10.

the best display of Isabella grapes, not less than twelve bunches, $10 ; for the second
$5.

W ;jgO editor's table.

For the best display of Catawba grapes, not loss than twelve bunches, $10 ; for the second

best, $5.

For the best display of native grapes, $10 ; for tlie second best, $10.

For the best display of foreign grapes, $15 ; for the second best, $10.

Sjiecial premiums will be awarded on melons, plums, and other fruits not enumerated, if
creditable specimens are presented.

Class VIII. Native Wines. — For the best dry Catawba, 1855, $10 ; for the second best do.,
1S55, So.

For the best dry Catawba (older), $10; for the second best do., do., $5.

For the best wine from the Herbemont Grape, $10 ; for the second best from do., $5.

For the best Avine from the Schuylkill or Cape, $10 ; for the second best from do., $5.

For the best wine from Isabella GrajKi, $10 ; for the second best from do., $5.

For the best wine from any other grape, $10 ; for the second best from do., $5.

For the best sparkling Catawba wine, $10 ; for the second best do., $5.

For the best sparkling wine from any other grape, $10 ; for the second best do., from do., $5.

With Mr. Wilder to carry out the grand programme of this National Exhibition, no one
doubts of eminent success.

Gossip. — Pyramus, a resident of Babylon, became enamored of Tliisbe. Their parents
forbade marriage, but the lovers interchanged sentiments through the aperture of a wall.
They agreed to meet at a given time at the tomb of Ninus, which was overshadowed by a
mulberry-tree. Thisbe, first to come, was frightened by a lioness ; as she fled, she dropped
her veil, which the lioness left covered with blood. The lover soon arrived, and seeing
Thisbe's bloody veil, concluded she had been torn to pieces by wild beasts, and instantly
stabbed himself. When Thisbe returned, and saw the dying Pyramus, she, too, fell upon
the sword, and the mulberry -tree was stained with the blood of the lovers, and ever after-
wards bore fruit of that color. Think of it, when you eat mulberries ! — The leaves of the
olive-tree are not green ; they resemble those of a hedge covered with dust. " I am like a
green olive-tree in the house of God," should be translated vigorous. It is, notwithstanding,
a lovely tree in an arid climate, and a favorite haunt for singing birds, having a thin
shade, sufficient to shelter them from excessive heat, yet not excluding much light. The
leaves resemble somewhat those of a willow, and the plant is classed among evergreens. —
The superstitious ceremonies and histories belonging to some vegetables, have been not less
surprising than ludicrous ; the Druids are said to have cropped the mistletoe with a golden
sickle, and the bryony was said to utter a scream when its root was drawn from the ground ;
the animal that drew became diseased, and died ; on which account, when it was wanted
for medicine, it was usual to loosen and remove the earth, and then, to tie it by a cord to a
dog's tail, who was whipped to pull it up, and was then supposed to suffer for the impiety
of the action. More recently, bits of the dried root of bryony were rubbed smooth, and
strung, and sold under the name of anodyne necklaces, to facilitate the growth of children's
teeth ; we have met lately with people of education who believed and practised carrying a
horse-chestnut in each coat-tail pocket, as a remedial agent ! — In Gerarde's Herlall, printed
in 1633, he says : " Wine made of the juice of pears, being taken in small quantities, com-
forteth and warmeth the stomach, and causeth good digestion." Of a certain Parson Bod-
nome's apples, is this quaint remark : " The hogs are fed with the fallings of them, which
are so many, that they make choice of those apples that they do eat, who will not taste of
any but the best. An example, doubtless, to be followed of gentlemen who have lands and
livings." — One of the processes employed by the Chinese and Japanese for dwarfing their
little, stunted, specimen trees, is, as soon as they have germinated, to smear them with fluid
honey, or dissolved sugar ; they keep them in a little box, with a small glass for light, and intro-

EDITOR'S TABLE,

duce a nest of ants, wliose eggs soon hatch and produce an active colony, greedy of sugar,
and incessantly running over the plants. The everlasting play of these insects keeps up a
peculiar excitement, which ends by producing the state of dwarfness so much admired by
the fashion of that part of the world. They will sometimes show you a fir-tree, in perfect
health, three inches high. After the late Chinese war, some magnificently small trees were
sent as a present to Queen Victoria ; Sir Wm. Hooker examined them, and found their roots
shackled in every conceivable way with wires, to promote their dwarf habit. — One of the
great errors in keeping parlor plants is, to assemble too great a variety. A few kinds bear
the heat of a living room very well ; one plant, well tended, and in fine health, will afford
more pleasure than twenty half-nurtured ; we are induced to the remark, by having lately
seen a Catalonia jasmine covering a large space, and running over the inside of a window.
Mr. Kilvington, of this city, unites a number of elegant climbers in one pot, and, when in
fine health and vigor, nothing can be more beautiful. But there can be no such thing as
floral health without fresh air, and enough of it. — It is often asked, what plants will best
protect a loose or sliding bank of earth, such as is made by a deep cut of a railroad ?
The Silver Poi)lar for trees, and the Osage Orange, and the Sea Buckthorn, for shrubs, and
the Lucerne and the Arundo arenaria among grasses, are the best available. The roots of the
Lucerne grow three feet in a season, and form a very strong mat of fibres. It will continue,
in a good soil, about fifteen years. — Two of the great errors of American gardens will be
found to be the following : The walks are not kept/wZZ of gravel, which gives them a harsh
and depressed look. Secondly, the flower beds are not kept covered with foliage ; they thus
expose unsightly patches of soil, which dries and bakes in the sun ; verbenas, by regular
pegging down their shoots, cover the ground thoroughly, with proper care. — A correspondent
calls our attention to the circumstance, that when writing of the Persimmon, we omitted to
mention the efforts made in France to improve this American wilding. M. Audibert produced,
some years ago, a seedling with large, round fruit, as large as a hen's egg, of a golden yellow
color, and an agreeable flavor. Vague rumors have reached us that this new variety has
been introduced in one of the Southern States. If so, we should be glad to hear more of it.
— Old John Evelyn, in his " Philosophical Discourse of Earth, &c.," printed in 1676, says :
" Fruit-trees do generally thrive with the soil of neats and hogs ; most flowers with that of
sheep, but especially roots. Peter Hondius tells us, that by the sole application of sheep's
dung, he produced a raddish-root as big as half a man's middle, which, being hung up for
some time in a butcher's shop, people took it for a hog." — What plant is this, described by
the same quaint old writer ? " Some vast timber-trees have little or no mould adhering to
their roots ; such is that beautiful stranger, the Japan Lily, called by those of Gurnsey, la
belle de nuit ; and a certain Palm of the same .Japan, which shrinks and dries at the least
touch of water, as if it were laid before the fire, which is, it seems, the only remedy that
restores it, or the sudden replanting it in scales of iron, or the most burning sand." — To
convert cheap cotton stuff to a substance for sheltering or forcing plants, after the cloth is
stretched to its place, paint it with a mixture of three pints of best boiled linseed oil, four
ounces of white resin, and one ounce of sugar of lead ; the oil and resin must be a little
heated to mix them, and the sugar of lead must be first groimd with a little of the oil, and
then mixed with the remainder. Thus treated, the cotton becomes semi-lucent, retentive of
heat, and is not one-fifth the cost of glass. — Extraordinary accounts of the effects of electricity
on vegetation were circulated ten or twelve years ago, but careful experiments have not
proved its utility ; those experiments were detailed in the Journal of the London Hortictdtural
Society, and were copied into the Horticulturist, vol. i. page 524, but nothing since has been
proved to give the subject importance. — Willis, in his amusing " Letters from under a Bridge,"
speaking of the selection of a site to make a paradise in the country, remarks : " I am
posing you want a patch of the globe's surface to yourself, and room enough to scream

off champagne corks, or throw stones, without disturbance to your neiglihor." " I^ut," he rods
on to say, " this desire for seclusion has led some further into the wilderness than neces-
sary, two or tliree miles being (juite far enougli to send your liorse to be sliod, or to send for
doctor or waslierwoiuan, and half the distance would be better, if there was no prospect of
the extension of the village limits. Ihit the common diameter of idle boy's rambles is a
mile out of the village, and to be beyond that is very necessary, if you care for plums or
apples." There is philosophy and common sense in this and much of tliose letters. — By-
way of London ! we learn that the Mormons have founded a Horticultural Society, W. Wood-
ruff, President ; the first meeting was opened with prayer ; peaches were the only objects of
exhibition, by two ladies, whose husbands were absent preaching their gospel ; we are told,
" the whole appearance of the stand was sufficient to excite tlie epicurean taste of the most
refined, and was a feast never before equalled in these vast mountain regions. The people
seem very ignorant of horticulture. — Is it not a curious circumstance, that we rarely or never
hear even the name of the greatest living botanist in Europe ? It is Robert Brown, a retiring
gentleman, residing in London. " Humboldt," said Sir 11. H. Inglis, at a meeting of the
British Association, " desci'ibed him as le premier botaniste de V Europe, accurate, sagacious,
arid profound, and whose knowledge is only equalled by his modesty. May I add," he
continued, " the expression of e\ery one's wish that he would deposit more of his knowledge
in print ?" Mr. Brown, when a young man, accompanied Captain Flinders in his voyage to
New South Wales, and, on his return, published an account of the botany of that region.
Sir Joseph Banks, seeing his extraordinary aptitude for science, made him his librarian and
curator of his botanical collection, which is now in the British Museum ; he left him a house
to live in, but nothing to keep it, and he has enjoyed since a moderate income from the
Museum, where he has a light employment, and must be now more than eighty years old.
A greater authority in botany than Humboldt, De Candolle, said of him : Facile princeps
Botanicorum. — A French physician has lately propounded a theory on the effect of color on
health. Observations for many years show that workers who occupied rooms thoroughly
lighted and ventilated, were more healthy than those in rooms lighted with small windows,
and from one side only. In two adjoining rooms, equally well ventilated, one set of work-
men were healthy and cheerful, and the other melancholy, and often unable to work. The
cheerful workers were in a room wholly whitewashed, and the melancholy men occupied a
room colored with yellow ochre, which on being well whitened, the men recovered, and were
cheerful and healthy. It was found in extensive practice, that whenever occupiers of yellow
or buff-colored rooms could be induced to whitewash them, a corresponding improvement in
health and si>irits resulted. This is most important for schools, asylums, and hospitals, as
well as manufacturers' rooms. — The French Exposition, last year, was visited by four
million and a half of people ; the Great Exhibition in London, in 1851, numbered over six
millions ; 40,000 English visited the French, but only 27,000 came to London from France.
— The eccentric Lord Holland used to give his horses a weekly concert in a covered gallery,
specially erected for the purpose. He maintained that it cheered their hearts, and improved
their temper, and an eye-witness says that they seemed to be greatly delighted therewith;
— George Don, the editor of Don's Miller's Gardeners' Dictionary, a work of celebrity and
usefulness, died in February last, at the age of fifty-eight ; he was the last of a well-known
family of botanists. He travelled as collector of the London Horticultural Society, in Brazil,
the West Indies, and Sierra Leone, and added largely to their collections. — Petunias, so
peculiarly adapted to our warm and dry climate, improve little less rapidly than the ver-
bena ; striped and mottled varieties are not now very uncommon. The English advertise a
new Double White. The following is from a London paper: "Petonia Imperial, Two plants
of this novelty in the petunia way, have been in flower for the last three weeks. Tlie blooms
measure considerably over two inches across, and are quite as double as those of any first-

^Si:

editor's table.

rate carnation. It is very sweet, the scent resembling that of a rich stock. It will prove
a great acquisition for bouquet making, and room decoration, vases, &c. The habit in pots
is dwarf and good, flowering early, and it has every appearance of continuing in blossom
for a length of time." — Mr. Fortune, the introducer of Weigela rosea, Dicentra spectabilis,
and so many of our other valuable new plants, is still collecting in China. — Our transatlantic
friends are not often found guilty of honoring our cultivators or celebrities and their pro-
ductions, by naming them accordingly. In a French catalogue, however, we find amongst
the new roses, " Madame Knorr," " Capitaine Ingraam," and "Frederic Soulie." — The new
Japan Lettuce seems likely to be a favorite. The heat of summer has little effect ou its
hard, compact heads, when even the Drum-Head " runs" to seed.

Answers to Cokrespondents. — Lois-Weedon Culture. — I see in the agricultural papers
from abroad, frequent notices of the success of the " Lois-Weedon" mode of culture. Can
you oblige your readers witk a brief account of it ? W. P. S.

The Lois-Weedon plan consists in thorough drainage, deep culture, and the aeration of
the soil and crops ; to which is added, in j^ractice, the absence of much or any manure,
which is procured from that " second farm" which lies below the old cultivated ground.
They are beginning to promulgate the doctrine that thorough stirring of the soil, on old
Jethro TuU's plan, admits so much ammonia, that other fertilizers may, in many soils, be
almost entirely dispensed with. An old farmer, named Moore, was so convinced of having
solved the golden problem of steam ploughing, that he sold his farm horses !

Tlie whole story of cultivation may be condensed into a few words, thus : The roots of
delicate plants will not travel through earth that has never seen daylight. Dr. Clark once
said : " The frost is God's plough, which he drives through every inch of ground," pulverizing
and fructifying all.

(Calla.) Thanks; appreciation is reward ; we have no other aim or compensation, and,
of course, her beaiitiful thoughts are deeply impressed. If we were obliged to choose,
preference would be given to young ladies like her for critics, even over her favorite
"Jefl'reys." We are sorry to inform her, "Jeffreys" «s en r/a^ec/.'

Philadelphia, June 13, 1856.
Dear Sir : The silver maples which line our streets in diiferent parts of the city, have
been, for two years past, nearly destroyed by caterpillars. These trees have been much
recommended for their beauty and rapid growth, and, at the same time, said to be free from
attacks of insects. You would confer a favor on many of your friends, if you would give
us some light as to the manner of preserving these trees, in theHorticulticrist.

Respectfully, yours, P- S. P.

The idea that there is any tree free from the attacks of some kind of insect or another, is
a pleasant fiction. In this respect, every tree has its natural enemy, not excepting even the
notorious ailanthus. When these trees are in their native localities, the abundance of them,
and of their protectors, the birds, keeps the "enemy" from making much show. When
cultivated, circumstances are just reversed, till, year by year, insects so increase, that we
first observe, then wonder where they come from. In the tovrns, we must take the places of
the birds. In the case of the maple, this can very readily be done. The caterpillars you
speak of are the larvae of the dropworm. They hang like tassels on the trees before the
leaves expand. A half hour to each tree, with a pole and pruning shears, would rid you of
your share ; but they will come from your neighbors \ Induce them, if possible, to go and do
likewise. If they be too negligent, use your influence with the City Councils to make
them. No man should be subjected to a nuisance, by the neglect of his neighbor.

KDITOR S TABLE.

TnR I^Tew York State AgRiccltitbal Colleoe is attracting general attention. The chatter
ohtaint^il, a location bpfomes a matter of great importance. The citizens of the coautiea of
Seucca Cavnga, and Tompkins, have had a meeting, and designated Sheldrake Point as a
desirable location.

New Test for the Strawberry. — At a late meeting of Strawlierry tasters, amateurs, a
decision as to the best variety not having been agreed upon, it was proposed to leave the
question to the birds. A careful watch was set, and it was discovered the rogues gave a
preference to Burr's New Pine, and we are not sure but they have good reasons for their
preference.

Roses akd Hail-Storms. — A friend near Chicago writes us tluTS : " Really, I have never
seen such a show of roses, in Illinois, as there is this year. My bushes were nearly, if not
quite, covered with snow during all the severity of the winter,-*and were very little killed ;
in fact, the shortening-in that they received from the frost seems to have caused an excess
of flower buds to put forth. I was afraid the hail-storm of the 6th of June ! would have
done much damage, but the strength of the storm was over and near the lake. I have
never seen such large hail-stones as fell in the city ; I saw them an inch and a half in
diameter — larger than in the Southern Ocean, when we used to say that a volcano had
broken out in an iceberg !"

Frfits of the Crimea. — New apples, of extraordinary excellence, have been discovered in
the Crimea, which will, no doubt, find their way to Europe and America. Pallas speaks of one
called Sinap Alma, which keeps till July, and only acquires its excellence before the new year.
Wagon loads are annually sent to Moscow, and even St. Petersburg. There is also an autumn
apple, thought to be far the best ever tasted in any country. A larger cobnut than hereto-
fore known, is also recorded. Twenty -four varieties of grapes are cultivated, either for wine
or the table. None of them appear to be of importance. — Edinburgh Philosophical Journal.

Wire Fencing, Again.— James E. Butts, Jr. & Co., of Boston, have been much encouraged
by the demand for their woven wire fencing ; it is obtaining an extensive popularity. A
pamphlet of their publication has reached us, containing descriptions and prices, which may
be had on application to the above address. It contains many strong arguments in favor of

The Calendar. — We could more frequently refer to the value of the Calendar of Opera-
tions than we do, to express our high estimation of its value, but it is so evidently appre-
ciated, that this is unnecessary. It occupies so much of a limited space, that in all proba-
bility, it cannot be repeated in our columns, at least so much in extenso. Thus the volume
of 185G will be one of reference, and the numbers should be, as they probably are, generally
carefully preserved. We know of no more valuable instruction in the same space.

Ohio Fair. — The seventh annual fair of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, comes off at
Cleveland on the 23d, 24th, 25th, and 26th of September next, and is open to competition
from other States. The premium list is excellent and liberal, and the arrangements making,
show that the committee are in earnest, and know what they are about. It would give us
great pleasure to be present.

Meehan's Catalogue of tree and shrub seeds, this season, fills a large sheet. It includes a
great many seeds that have been long sought in vain by purchasers, such as the Buffalo

berry, Virgilia lutea, Cryptomeria Japonica, Prinos glabra, Wistaria frutescens, Frasiniis
quadrangiilata, Halesia diptera, &c. &c. A stamp inclosed and directed to Mr. M., German-
town, Penn., will procure it, and any of the articles may be ordered in twenty-five cent
papers. Sucb. collectors are public benefactors.

The New Seedling Roses of Mr. James Pentland, Baltimore, are now added to our collec-
tion, by the kindness of tbe proprietor. We sball report on them when they bloom.

Coach-Makers^ Magazine. — It was news to us, as it may be to many of our readers, to
learn that there was a publication devoted to coach-making, and a capital periodical of its
kind it is, coming within the scope of notice in a work devoted to rural art. The Coach-
Makers' Illustrated Magazine is published at New York, by C. W. Saladee, at three dollars
per annum ; it is a quarto, profusely illustrated, and doubtless a very useful publication.
There is also another, issued in Ohio. What next ?

Seed!? fkom California. — We are greatly indebted to B. B. Redding & Co., of the State
Journal, Sacramento, California, for a package of seeds of value. Among them is one of the
greatest vegetable curiosities, called the Sing, or Vegetable Chestnut, sold by almost every
Chinese vender of edibles in Califor-
nia, and brought from China in a
cooked state. It resembles the horns
of a bull.

Tl\e editors say that they have
found but one place where these odd
nuts are sold uncooked, ajid these
are so damaged by age and mould,
that there is no possibility of making
them grow.

The plant producing this nut is
well known to botanists. It is the

Chinese Trapa bicornis — the word is Trapa bicoinis.

abridged from calcitrapa, the Latin

name of a dangerous instrument furnished with four spines, which was formerly used in
war to impede the progress of cavalry. Both this and the T. natans are aquatics ; the nuts
are farinaceous, and are esteemed nourishing and pectoral. The skin, with the spines, being
removed, there is a white, sweet kernel within, somewhat like a chestnut. The natans are
sold in the markets of Venice, under the name of Jesuits' nuts. They are also much eaten
in Switzerland, and the South of France. Some of the canals at Versailles are covered with
the plant. Pliny says that the Thracians made them into bread ; and Thunberg states that
the seeds of the T. bicornis are commonly put into broth in Japan. The plant flourishes in
a cistern in the stove, and was fruited in England, in 1815. It is cultivated, by the Chinese, in
marshes, and is a favorite article of food, which accounts for its being common in the oriental
shops of California.

Accompanying these curious water-chestnuts are specimens of an apparently new walnut,
lately discovered in California, in appearance between our native walnut and the Madeira-
nut. Mr. Redding brought from a distance suckers from some old stools, and has them
growing at Sacramento. We shall pay every attention to our specimens, and endeavor to
raise them. The tree is recommended for shade and ornament. Other specimens were sent
to the Patent Office, but no leaves or flowers having been received, we are unable to say
more of it at present ; it does not appear to be described either by Michaux or Nuttall.

Swift's Improvbd Lawn Mowing Machine, on the basis of " Sluinks's," we have lately seen
at work, aiul we are free to say that its operation is perfect; it cuts, picks up the gra*w, and
rolls at the same time ; the cutting is even, and, after a few weeks, a lawn presents the
ai)pe;iranc'o that it sliould always do, and soon accjuiros an even, firm sod.

It is one of the greatest labor-saving machines ever invented, and is getting generally
diffused. Address II. N. Swift, Fishkill Landing, Dutcliess County, New York.

Atnt Charlotte's Seedling Strawbekky is in request, one correspondent having actually
sent the large sum of ten cents ! for some seeds ! We do hope some of our readers sujjpo.se
there are disinterested articles which are not disguised puffs, occasionally, at least, in the
Horticulturist, The story was not written to sell the plant — quite the contrary, for the ex-
cellent penman and amiable gentleman who wrote that article, is too happy whenever he
can gratify a friend ; he was amused, however, with the remittance, which is expended in
stamps, to tell the writer as much!

Parks for Piiiladelpuia. — Will it be believed, by future generations, that twelve years
have elapsed since the great city of Philadelphia purchased ground for a park, and that, up
to this day, the site is a desert ? We possess about fifty acres in Lemon Hill, above the
Water-Works, a site of great beauty, once the abode of wealth and taste, but now a lager-
beer and ice-honse waste ! A pamphlet, on our table, appeals ably and forcibly to the Coun-
cilmen to improve it now. Shall another twelve years elapse before these politicians obey
the wishes of their constituents ? We fear it, and we fear that thiice twelve years will go
by with a like result. The tax payer who contributes $100 a year to the public funds, need
pay in addition but six cents per annum, to keep Lemon Hill as a beautiful public park, and
yet we have waited twelve years for a beginning to be made, and, meantime, it grows yearly
more hopeless by the destruction of its former beauty and its trees ! Alas ! how penny-wise
and pound-foolish is most of our legislation.

Hunting Park Course, a level spot of forty-five acres, presented hy a few patriotic geijtle-
men to the city of Philadelphia, seems to be under better auspices, and is, we understand,
soon to be improved.

TuE Portuguese Vineyards. — In the late circular of Mr. Forrester, the great wine manu-
facturer, he gives a most gloomy picture of the Portuguese vineyards. So great is the fall-
ing off of the produce, that fabulous prices are demanded, and it now appears that the
great proprietors have jdanted Indian corn to supersede the vine, and, moreover, that a new
disease, caused by an insect, has made its appearance, and threatens the vines of Portugal
with the fate of those in Madeira and Teneriffe. The indications are strong that Europe
must ultimately receive her supplies of wine from America, or elsewhere.

The Vinegar Plant. — The editor of the Rural Intelligencer gives his own treatment of the
vinegar plant thus : —

" We spoke last April of a vinegar plant given us by a lady. We took it home, pro-
cured at an apothecary's store one of his largest glass jars, holding some two gallons,
filled it with common sweetened water committed the plant to it, and there it has been
ever since, spreading its folds upon the surface, till it was evident the vinegar had become
strong enough almost for the death of the j^lant ; whereupon, this week, we removed
the original sweetened water, and supplied its place with new, for the plant to work upon.
On drawing off the vinegar, it was found very strong indeed — almost as strong as lye, and,
for ordinary table purposes, it will require to be diluted with fresh water. There is no mis-
take about it — this vinegar plant will keep our family in the purest vinegar as long as wo
need such an article."
ur own experiments with the vinegar plant have also been entirely successful,

EDITOR'S TABLE

Fruit in the West. — The dreadful effect of tlie last awful winter on the fruits of the
West, is recorded in the following articles. We place them on record for the information of
our readers, and for future reference.

Fruit in Wisconsin. — J. C. Brayton, the horticultural editor of the Wisconsin Farmer,
writes to the Ohio Farmer from Aztalan Nurseries, Wisconsin, May 28 : —

" The following varieties of the cherry and other fruits, have endured the cold of the past
winter, nearly in the order in which the names of the several species are written: —

" C/ierries. — Early Purple, Guigne, Cleveland Bigarreau, Florence, Elton, Downer's late
Red, Gov. Wood, Holland Bigarreau. Next to these, Knight's Early Black, and Black Tar-
tarian. All others are killed down, of the Heart and Bigarreau classes.

" Plums. — Nearly all killed down ; White and Red Maguum Bonums, and Smith's Orleans,
form the exceptions.

" Pears. — Onondaga, Flemish Beauty, Virgalieu, Oswego Beurre, Stevens' Genesee,
Doyenne d'Ete, Duchess d'Angouleme, Sisson, and Seckel. Nearly all others killed.

^^ Apples. — Those that were uninjured are: Early Pennock, Fall Stripe, Autumn Swaar,
Fall Wine Sap, Fameuse, or Snow Apple, Fulton Strawberry, Fall Orange, Sweet June, Vance's
Harvest, Sops of Wine, Lowell, or Tallow, Red Gilliflower, Rosseau, St. Lawrence, Sweet Pear,
Utter's Large, Belleliower Yellow, Baily Sweet, Blue Pearmain, Black Vandevere, English
Russet, Perry Russet, Red Spitzenburgh, Rawle's Jennet, Herefordshire Pearmain, Talmau's
Sweet, White Winter Pearmain, Westfield Seek-no-further, Wine-sap."

Fruit in Illinois. — E. S. Cooper, of Henderson, Illinois, writes thus to the Knoxville
Journal : —

" The severe effects of the cold of last winter upon fruit and other trees, are without a
jiarallel in the history of this country. During the most intense cold, the mercury sank to
about thirty degrees below the zero of Fahrenheit.

" The more tender varieties of fruits, as peach, nectarine, and apricot, are generally killed
to the ground.

" Even some of the young shoots of the hickory, butternut, and some other indigenous
forest-trees, have suifered to a considerable extent.

" Quinces are generally killed. The more hardy varieties of fruit, as apple and pear, have
suffered far less on high, rolling land, than the same kinds on level soil. "

" Young trees from Eastern nurseries have fared as well, oi- even better, than those reared
from seed in our vicinity. Dwarf apple and pear-trees have almost entirely escaped.

" In an orchard of over four hundred dwarf pear-trees, including almost every variety recom-
mended by Downing, I have not had more than three or four killed, and these were all the
Summer Franc Real. I only lost one dwarf apple, and it was on a wet piece of land. The
Yellow Belleflower, Lady Apple, Fameuse, and Herefordshire Pearmain, appear to have en-
tirely escaped in every locality.

"The following varieties of apples have not been seriously injured, except on lands de-
cidedly wet, viz : American Summer Pearmain, Red Astrachan, Benoni, Prince's Harvest,
Early Strawberry, Golden Sweeting, Keswick Codlin, Autumn Strawberry, Cooper, Duchess
of Oldenburg, Fleiner, Hawley, Lowell, Maiden Blush, St. Lawrence, Baily Sweet, Yellow
Belleliower, Belmont, Danvers' Winter Sweet, Hubbardston, None Such, Lady Apple, Lady's
Sweet, Mother, Newtown Pippin, Golden Russet, Spitzenburgh, Talman's Sweeting, Wagoner,
Cole's Quince, Genesee Chief, Scarlet Pearmain, and Well's Sweeting.

" The following varieties have been severely injured, and in many cases killed outright,
viz : Large Sweet Bough, Summer Rose, Fall Pippin, Holland Pippin, William's Favorite,
Drap d'Or, Gravenstein, Hawthornden, Jersey Sweets, Porter, Pumpkin, Sweet, Baldwin,
Bourassa, Norton's Melon, Nortliern Spy, Rawl's Janet, Beauty of Kent, Winter Swaar,
Summer Queen, and Mylum.

"The following varieties of pears have generally escaped, viz : Bloodgood, Beurre Giffard,
Doyenne d'Ete, Osborne's Summer, Tyson, Buffum, Beurr-? d'Amalis, Beurre Goubault, Beurre
Golden of Bilboa, Bergamot, Crassanne, Belle Lucrative, Dix, Doyenne White, Doj'enne Gray,
Forelle, Fulton, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Oswego Beurre, Oswego Incomparable, Seckel,
Stephen's Genesee, Swan's Orange, Beurre d'Areniburg, Passe Collinar.

_" The following varieties have generally been severely, if not fatally injured, viz : Bartlett,
Madeleine, Rostiezer, Summer Franc-Real, Brown Beurre, Beurre Bosc, Beurre Diel, Duchess
d'Angouleme, Flemish Beauty, Henry IV., Marie Louise, Easter Beurre, Glout Morceau,
Prince's St. German, Vicar of Winkfield, Angora, Winter Nelis, Ott

le following varieties of cherries are fatally injured, viz : Black Eagle, Black Tartarian
Seedling, Downton, Downer's Late, Elton, and Yellow Spanish.

" The following varieties have entirely escaped, viz: Belle do Choisy, Bolle MnfOiifl<|Ui'
Carnation, Karly Kicbmond, Montmorency, May Duke, English Monello, Hoiiie Hortense.

" T1k> following varieties of plums have escaped, viz : Coe's fiolden l)n»p, Magnum Hunum
Yellow, Rod Magnum Bonum, Orange, Washingttm, Yellow <»age, and Hmith's Orleans.

" The following varieties are mostly killed, viz : Bleekcr's Gage, Duane's I'uqjle, Jeflerson,
Lawrence's Favorite, Heine Clamh^ de Bavay, and Cherry.

"Among roses, the Hybrid I'erpetuals have almost entirely escaped.

" The above has been made out, after carefully examining very many fmit-trees in various
localities."

G. C. Thoeburn's New Plants. — We noticed the spring Catalogue for 1856, issued by Mr.
G. C. Tliouburn, of Newark, N. J., lately, and had the pleasxiro of unpacking a box of his
varieties, the other day, which promise to add lustre of no common kind to our summer
greenhouse and bedding-out iilants.

Among them we notice, with particular favor: —

Fuchsias. — Empress Eugenie ; wide, reflexed sepals, of a rosy crimson, with a violet
shading ; corolla, fine white ; graceful habit, and beautiful foliage.

Lady of the Lake ; fine, deep crimson tube and sepals, with hlush white corolla.

Duke of Wellington ; crimson sepals, and lilac stained corolla.
. Duchess of Lancaster ; wliite tube and sepals ; lovely violet corolla ; very large and fine.

Sir John Falstaff, Vesta, &c. &c.

Geraniums. — Enchantress; large, white; top petals clouded with purple; lower petals
white ; showy.

Beauty of Combe Park, Chepstead Beauty, Cerise Unique, Cottage Maid, King of Nepaul,
White Unique, &c. &c.

JIdiotropes. — Beauty of the Boudoir ; the finest in cultivation ; violet blue, with light eye,
of the most exquisite perfume, fine foliage, and extra habit ; now first sent out.

Gem, Grandiflora, &c. &c.

Verbenas. — Brilliant de Base, Lord Raglan, Eblouii^sante, Flirt, Hector, Honeysuckle,
Admiration, Kurtz Defiance, &c. ; together with several rare evergreens, including the Fune-
bral Cypress, &c. &c.

The Thorburns, both of New York and Newark, have done, and are doing, much for horti-
culture and floriculture, and orders sent to either house, will be promptly and carefully
executed.

Mr. a. Fahnestock, the con-esponding partner of the Syracuse Nurseries, has sold out his
interest there, and removed to Toledo, Ohio, where he carries on the nursery business in
all its varieties, and, we doubt not, with the approbation of his friends.

Ma>-ly and Mason's Trade List for 1856, and spring of 1857, from the Bufi'alo nurseries
and Oakland gardens, just issued, contains a large variety of ornamental trees, evergreens,
fruit-trees, esculent roots, &c. &c., togetlier with greenhouse and bedding-out plants.

Useful Hints to Improvers. — Sir Uvedale Price has the following judicious remarks : " In
all that relates to cottages, hamlets, and villages, to the grouping of them, and their mixture
with trees and climbing plants, the best instructions may be gained from the works of the
Dutch and Flemish masters, which aflford a greater variety of useful hints to the generality
of improvers, and such as might more easily be carried into practice, than those grander
scenes which are exhibited in the higher schools of painting. All the splendid effects of
architecture, and of assemblages of magnificent buildings, whether in cities, or amidst
rural scenery, can only be displayed by princes, and men of princely revenues. But it is
in the power of men of moderate fortunes, by means of slight additions and alterations, to
produce a very essential change in the appearance of farm buildings, cottages, &c., and
ouping of them in villages ; and such effects, though less splendid than tho

editor's table.

regular architecture, are not less interesting. There is, indeed, no scene where such a
variety of forms and embellishments may be introduced at so small an expense, and with-
out anything fantastic or unnatural, as that of a village ; none where the lover of painting,
and the lover of humanity, may find so many sources of amusement and interest."

Deak Sik: I cannot forego a remarkable passage of Mr. Cretin's speech in the Commice of
St. Symphorier. He says : —

a * * * Agriculture and business are twin sisters ; they aid each other. Wlien one
is suffering, the other feels the eifect of it. * * * Agriculture is the most moral of all
arts ; we are going to prove this. * * * We often hear people say : This industry, set
up in that State, is going to interfere with a rival industry in another State or town ; not so
with agriculture. Never did good cultivation impede the progress, or diminish the benefits
of another good cultivation. But, two firms in the same city or town transact the same
kind of business ; they are rivals, and conceal their operations. Two farmers produce the
same crops ; they give each other all information, and promote, at large, the best methods
of cultivation ; they emulate, and do not rival. What is the reason ? The first have a
certain, limited number of customers, who can leave them ; the others, have all the world
for customers, and God and nature for stock."

Industry works on a given capital ; what one gets, he takes it (as more than his share)
out of that capital. Agriculturists depend upon that inexhaustible source which comes
from nature's bountiful treasure. It does not take away what ought to be the share of
others ; there is no competition, and, of course, no angry feelings. B.

fnrtitttltMral S0tietics.

New York Horticfltural Society's Exhibition. — ^The show of plants, flo-wers, and garden vegetables, In
June, at Clinton Hall, was worthy of note in several points of view. In the first place, it was the show of a
society numbering some three hundred paying members, at a season of the year when earth's plants were in
full bloom, and when every gai'dener who cultivates vegetables for the city market should boast of his abundant
productions. The Society published a liberal list of premiums. * * *

In fruit the show was better. There were perhaps a dozen quarts of strawberries, and some of them very hand-
some. Two dishes of Longworth's Prolific, exhibited by Edward Decker, gr. of J. Q. Jones, took a five dollar
premium, and were considered much the finest specimen exhibited, though severr.l others were handsome, both
of this variety, Hovey's Seedlings, and some others. There were several fine seedlings.

Rare plants were indeed rare. Not a single one of the celebrated new Chinese ■pl&ui, Bielytra Spectabalis, was
shown, and only a meagre bunch of the flowers. There were four pots of Erica, iu full bloom, one of them
bearing flowers of pale green, shown by Alex. Gordon, gr. to Edwin Hoyt, that could not be easily exceeded in
beauty.

The same gardener exhibited a plant, we think, quite unknown to florists generally in this country, called
Parritia Borbonica. It is not in flower, but the leaves are very beautiful, and attracted much attention. It was
awarded a premium of ten dollars.

The collection of cut roses was as fine as the most ardent lover of this, the Queen of Flora's Kingdom, could
desire. The first premium, fifteen dollars, was awarded to Win. A. Burges, of Glenwood, near Roslyu, L. I.,
for the best collection of roses, and a premium of ten dollars for a bunch iu a pot. He has some seventy varie-
ties, most of which he brought from England three years ago, of the choicest in the kingdom. This fifteen dollar
premium was the one ofl'ered by W. G. Hunt.

Dr. G. Knight showed a pretty collection of ferns, a beautiful plant which is very much neglected, because
it is so common in a wild state. Ilis new arrangement of long, tin tubes, filled with water for cut flowers, is a
great improvement on the old style, of vials set iu boles in a board.

The great lack of interest iu the public of New York, is the most remarkable thing connected with the show and
the Society. True, there was a fair amount of visitors in the evening, but, through the day, the rooms were
nearly empty, and no wonder ; the exhibition was not ono to attract a crowd, or one worthy their attention, or
creditable to the city, however much it might bo to the active few who have so long struggled to maintain it in
a state of respectability. — Kew York Paper.

Pennsylvania Hokticultural Society. — The stated meeting of this Society was held at Concert Hall, Phila-
delphia, on Tuesday evening, June 17, lb.J6, E. W. Keyser, Vice-President, in the chair. Premiums were awarded
by the Committee on Plants and Flowers, viz: —

Fuchsias — eight plants— for the best to Thos. Koberlson, gr. to B. A. Fahnestock ; for the second best to John
Pollock, gr. to James Dundas. Gloxinias^ight plants — for the best to Thos. Robertson ; for the second best to
John Pollock. Herbaceous cut flowers — for the best to Peter Kaabe. Collection of twelve plants — for the best
rt Buist ; for the .second best to Chas Sutherland, gr. to John Anspach. Collection of six i)lants-
Mark Hill, gr. to M. W. Baldwin. Specimen plant — for the best to Thomas Robertson, for fiti'j^
ibunda ; for the second best to John Pollock, for MediniUu rrutgnifica. F^r New Plants — four dollars

rollook ; ono dollar toThomasRobortson. TiiHiUVe.tign — for the best toChnK. fiiithorland. Hniiktt — fnrtho licsl
to J. J. llalHTiiK'lil, gr. to Jiihn Laiiilicrt ; for tlieiiccuod best to Mark Hill. Bouqvuiii — pair — for tUo bent to II. A.
Dr^cr : for the .'ipcnnd bo.n to J. J. llabormehl.

Si'iriiil I'rrmiurnM. — Four dollars, for a collection of Orchids, to John Pollock ; two dollars, for a collpclinn of
cut Ko>i"i, lo Ilonry A. Dropr. Tlin Coininittpc noticed a flno colloction of Verbenas and I'lilox Drumniondii,
now variolies, and a handsome collection of rotunias. by Murk Mill.

Hy the roinniittoe on Fruits. Strawberries — for the best — A. L. Felten, for the Moyamensing ; for the oeeond
best to the same, for Ilovey's Seedlings. Cherries — for the best to 0. W. Earl ; for the second l)est to Isaac H.
Baxter. Grape.'* — three bunches — for the best Black to Chas. Sutherland ; for the second best lo Win. Orassie,
gT. lo John Tucker. Currants — for the best Ked and White, to Isaac B. Baxter. Sj>erifU PrrniinniM — for a flno
display of Strawberries, embracing thirteen varieties, three dollars to A. h. Felten ; and, for the Quest ispecimen
of i'ineapple ever exhibited, and weighing nine pounds, live dollars to Wm. Grassie.

By the Committee on Vegetables. Display — for the best, ny a market gardener, to A. L. Felten.

T!:t Conimittee on Plants and Flowers, to whom was referred the samples of labels of the names of fruits and
plant ', to be attached to trees and plants presented to the Society by Aiulre Leroy, of France, reported that they
had examined them, had tested them hy immersion in water, to which they were impervious, and recommend
Ihem as worthy of general use, being at once ornamcutal, durable, and moderate in price.

Five gentlemen were elected to membership.

OiMKcrs KXiiiBiTBD ; PLANTS. — From James Dundas's collection. Orchids — Oncidium flcxuosum, 0. am-
pliatum, Cattleia Mossiie, C. M. major, Calanthe veratrifolia, Acanthnphippium bicolor, Saccolabium micran-
thum. New Plants — Isolonia Decasncana, Hydrangea variegata, Camphylobotrys discolor, Allopectus Schlemmii,
Begonia zanthina marmonii, Phrynium micans, Fuclusia Kmpiess Eugenia, F. Water Nymph. Eif/lil FucliMim —
Voliigenr, Ajax, Clapton Hero, Magnificent, Alpha, Glory, Sidonia, Prince Albert. Eig/U Gloxinias — CJueen,
Fyfiana gianditlora, Cartonii superba, Scottii, Caulesceus, Kubra, Rubra violacca, and Arago. Colleiiuin o/
tweliie — Plouroma ele.gans, Nicrenbergia gracili.s. Begonia sempeitiorens, I'elargonium Ilendersonii, I*. Madam
Latfery, P. Medaill d'Or, P. Elise Meillez, AUamanda nereifolia, Pctralheca vcrlicilluta, Agapanlhus umbellalus,
Cupliea platycentra, Bilbergia amelioides, and Specimen Medinilla magnifica.

From B. A. Fahnestock's. 2few Plants — Fuchsia Empress Eugenie, Achimenes gaintice, A. Sir F. Frentham.
Eight Farluiins — Madam Sontag, Glory, Magiiificus, Mrs. Lloyd, Pearl of England, Psyche, Alpha, Diadem of
Flora. Oloxinirut — Imperialis, Princess Lamballe, Godliey, Wilsonii, Alba sanguinea, Huntleyana, Compless
Bocarmi, and Fyfiana. Twelve Plants — AUamanda nereifolia, Medinilla urophylla, Mahernia Diana, Pelargo-
nium Tom Thumb, Cryptolcpis longiflora, Erica ventricosa superba, E. V. coccinca, Fuchsia Prince Arthur,
Amaryllis Johnsonia, Oncidium lanceanum, Pitcarnia puricca, Adamia versicolor. Specimen — Slephanotis
florlbunda.

By Robert Buist. Tioelve Plants — Pelargonium Flower of the Day, P. Kingsbury Pet, Fuchsia Clio, F. volti-
geur. Seedling Calceolaria, Oncidium pulvinatum, Siphocampylus magnificus, Mahernia incisa, Gardoquia
Hookerii, Teooma jasminoidcs rosea, Torenia asiatica, and Diplodenia urophylla. Mew Plants — Veronica
variegata, and Verbena Mrs. Woodroffe.

From John Anspach's. Hydrangea hortensis, Clerodendrum fallax. Fuchsia specio.sa, F. Honey Cell, F. Psyche,
Cereus cylindrieus, Nerembergia grandiflora, Begonia Drezii, B. nitida, Cuphcaca platycentra, Tremandra ver-
ticillata, and Vinca occulata.

From M. W. Baldwin's. Ts'ew Petiinias — Kennedy's Lone Star, Attraction, Queen of the West, Rose Bank
Beauty. Six Plants — Fuchsia magnifica, Pelargonium Witch, Fuchsia expansion, Ixora coccinea, Aphelandra
cristaia, and Geranium Senora.

By John Gray. Twelve Seedling Verbenas, and three new Phlox Drummondii.

By Thomas Median. Cut flowers of Clerodendrum Bungoi, and Hovey'e new Petunias — Excelsior, Glory of
Ami riia, and Inimitable.

Fr an Samuel Welsh's. A Seedling Gloxinia.

From John An»pach's. Grapes — two varieties.

By A. L. Felten. Thirteen varieties of Strawberries, Gooseberries, and Currants.

AUGUST,
BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS.

Vegetable Garden. — Sowings of early beet, turnip.s, kidney beans, and peas, may yet be
put in. They will afford a desirable dish when tender vegetables of that kind are scarce.
Spinach, to stand the winter, should now be sown ; prepare a well drained border, and
mnniire and dig deeply. The savoy spinach is the hardiest. At the same time, throw in a
few seeds of lettuce, to be lifted by and by, and transplanted into frames for using about
Christmas. Cauliflower for frames should now be sown, as also Early York and flat Dutch
cabbage, to stand over winter.

IMantations of canteloupes, melons, Lima beans, &c., that are growing slowly, should receive
an extra deep forking-up of the ground between the rows. This will give them a stimulus
to growth which will enable them to carry out a crop. This loosening allows a free access
of air to the roots and the soil by which they are surrounded. The air furnishes the roots
with an increased supply of substances essential to their growth, such as carbonic acid and
ammonia, either generated by the air favoring the decay of organic matters naturally in the

or absorbed direct from the atmosphere. The mineral ingredients of the soil are
liberated, and brought into a fitting state for the use of plants. The subsequent effec

EDITOR'S TABLE.

such cultivation is apparent in the increased vigor and deeper colored verdure of the plants.
Stir the ground about celery plants, and do not begin to earth it up until the plants are
growing freely.

Hakdy Fruit. — Grapes. — The points of all the leading shoots should now be pinched out,
and thin out some of the lateral or side shoots on the fruit bearing branches, so that a free
circulation of air may reach the fi-uit, but not by any means endeavor to expose it fully to
the sun. It will ripen more perfectly, and attain a deeper color under the shade of the.
leaves. It is not too late yet to cut out some of the bunches, if the crop is too heavy ; the
grape is a free and large bearer, but a continued yearly supply can only be insured by allow-
ing regular and moderate crops.

Steawbekries. — Plants for forcing early nest spring should be secured, and potted early
this month. Select young runners of the pi-esent year's growth, and place them singly into
five-inch pots. Use a good, loamy soil ; let it be rather di-y when used, and press it firmly
in the pots. If advantage can be taken of a shaded spot, they should be placed there for a
week or so, until they commence growth ; then they cannot have too much sun, but see that
they are always well supplied with water. By slightly diminishing the foliage, they may
be set out in the sun at once.

Root Pruning. — Pruning the roots of trees is an operation conducive to fruitfulness not
practised to that extent which it merits. In the hands of intelligent cultivators it is a
valuable expedient, much more certain in its etfects than many of the so-called dwarfing
systems by grafting. Indeed, many of the stocks used for this purpose grow so vigorously
in this climate, as to defeat the object in view. The mahalab is used as a stock for dwarfing
cherries, in Europe ; here, they grow as strong upon it as on the mazzard. Even the quince
will not check the vigorous growth of some pears, and are, in consequence, many years in
arriving at a bearing state. Pear culture on the quince, although beautiful in theory, does
not seem to give entire satisfaction in general practice. Many are inclined to believe that
they are short-lived when thus grafted. To such it may be useful to know, that all the
advantages claimed for dwarf stocks can be derived from skilful root pruning.

Many expedients in the culture of trees that we are apt to consider only of recent appli-
cation, have long been practised. Such operations to induce fruitfulness, as bending down
the shoots, cutting the bark, or ringing the branches, root pruning, &c., were practised during
the last century. Darwin, seventy years ago, alludes to these practices in the following
comprehensive sentences : —

" If prouder branches, with exuberance rude,
Point their green germs, their barren shoots protrude,
Wound tiiem, ye >yli>hs, with little knives, or bind
A wiry ringlet nniml the swelling rind :
Bisect, with chisel Sue, the roots below,
Or bend to earth the lunospitable bough."
I

The advantage of root pruning is, that you can plant a young tree in a favorable position
for luxuriant growth, and, after it has attained a size to bear a crop, throw it into fruit at
once. This is effected by checking the giowth in time to admit of the formation of wood
buds. By digging a trench rouml the tree a few feet from the stem, at the present time, and
cutting through the strongest roots, wood growth is checked, and fruit buds are formed before
the trees become deciduous. Spring has been recommended for the operation, but the period
of giowth is the proper time to protluce immediate eflect. This treatment may be performed
on all fruit-trees that have attained a size for bearing a crop.

Grapery. — When the fruit is ripening, the supply of water at the root should be gradually
curtailed. Syringing over the foliage should alrso be discontinued, but still, keep a slight
humidity in the atmosphere by sprinkling water on the floor of the house. Keep the house
well aired, both night and day, and pinch the young points out of all growing shoots. When
a bunch of fruit is cut, immediately prune back the shoot to within two or thiet; eyes of the
stem, and use means to get the wood well matured. The ripening and hardening of th6
wood is now the principal object, as upon it depends the next season's production. The
soil and atmosphere should he kept perftictly dry as soon as the crop is fit for use. Many
grajteries are destroyed by being overtaken witli frost while in a succulent and immature
state.

Outside borders should be covered with leaves or manure, to throw oflT heavy fall rains.
Everything, for the future, depends upon a thoio«<;h and proper termination of growth.

ENiiousE. — The gayety of the house will still be kept up with fuchsias, gesneras,
ias, and those beautiful and indispensable summer flowers, the achemenes. Endeavor

^

392

EDITOR'S TABLE.

to ki-t'p (ho atmosiihero huiniJ, by a liberal application of water over tlie floor, stagiug, &c.
AVattr .siu'li plants as require it, imlividually, early in the morning; shade as the day ad-
vances, and use the s^-ringe freely over the foliage, liy attention to these details, and elosing
the house partly, at least, keeping front sashes closed, preventing the dry, external air from
reacliing the i)lants, a comparatively cool atmosphere can be maintained. During the night,
all the air possible may be given, that the i)lants may participate of the lowering of tempe-
rature universally conseijuent upon the absence of light.

Attention must now be directed to the stock of winter flowering plants, such as bouvardias,
linensis, heliotropes, cinerarias, Chinese jirimrose, scarlet pelargoniums, coronillas, cytisus,
iScc. Shift such as ivquire it into larger pots, and pinch the points of tlie shoots, in order to
increase the number of flowering branches.

PoTTixG. — In removing young growing plants into larger sized pots, the roots should not
be disturbed ; indeed, they should be removed before the roots become so numerous as to
spread round the sides of the pots. Any check now will throw them prematurely into flower,
and thus partly defeat the object in view. For the same reason, watering must be regularly
performed. The application of water is the most powerful controlling influence we possess
in the artificial culture of plants. By limiting the supply, we can induce a state of rest,
hasten tlie development of the flowering principle, and induce maturity of the wood, that
will enable them the better to withstand the vicissitudes of winter.

Mignonette for early winter flowering may now be sown ; prepare well-drained five-inch
pots, by filling them with good, turfy soil, rather dry, and firmly pressed ; sow the seeds on
the surface, and, instead of covering, simply press them in. Set the pots in the shade, and
keep moist ; but be careful in watering after the plants appear, otherwise they will speedily
disappear.

Pelargoniums that have been cut down, will now be making fresh growths ; as soon as
these are about a couple of inches in length, the plants should be taken out of the pot, all
the soil shaken from the roots, so that they may be pruned, then place them in as small
pots as the roots will admit of, and again set them in a sheltered spot to grow.

Cyclamen. — Water sparingly as they start into growth, and increase the supply as they
approach the flowering state.

A few of the earliest camellias and azaleas may be brought into the house this month.
All greenhouse plants that are out of doors, should be gradually brought into a condition
of rest. Protect them from heavy rains by throwing them on their sides, if no better means
of protection is at hand.

Flower Garden and Pleasure Grounds. — Tlie operations in these departments, at present,
are principally of a routine character. In geometrical gardens, the outlines of the beds
ought to be kept distinct, and trim the plants when they grow out over the edging. In
tying climbing and trailing plants, do not aim at over-neatness ; close tying tends to destroy
that gracefulness of disposition which such plants naturally assume when left to themselves.
In general, the main stems only will require fastening, allowing the side shoots to take a
natural position.

Many shrubs and plants that are difiicult to raise by cuttings, maybe increased by layers.
A layer may be defined as a cutting only partially separated from the plant. The branch is

bent down to the ground,
and, at the bend, a cut is
made half through the
shoot, cutting upwards for
about half an inch. Some
plants do as well if the
shoot is twisted at the
bend ; anything to check
the flow of sap will cause a
root fonnation. The figure
shows the appearance of a
layer. The line at 1 repre-
sents the surface. At 2,
the cut part is shown, and
strong branches will require
to be kept in place by a
stout peg, as here represented. Nearly all plants, even fir-trees, may be increased by this

•■w-^

•^•■?^i5L

■/

■/

THE KING APPLE.

^^:

gunil

Ctmtterics, '^a, 2, |ljtntiiig, ^t.

Art, Glory, Freedom, fail, but
Nature still is fair. — Bykox.

What trees may best adorn the mountain's brow,

And spread promiscuous o'er the plains below ?

"What, singly, lift the high-aspiring head,

Or, mix'd in grouj^s, their quivering shadows shed ?

What best in lofty groves may tow"r around,

Or creep in underwood along the ground ;

Or, in low copses, skirt the hillock's side,

Or, form the thicket, some defect to hide ?

I now inquire.

HE remarks in a former article re-
'^ specting iron railings, materials for
monuments, &e., apply with force to
the selection of trees for a rural ceme-
tery ; they should be of a permanent
kind, but, as they will grow while the
other improvements are perishing,
and may attain either a moderate or a
great height and bulk of body, discri-
mination is eminently required. The
planter must look forward to future
years. Those trees which maybe en-
tirely suitable for ground not intended
to be used for interments may be
utterly unfitted, by their manner of
growth, for a family lot. As instances
of this difference, we may cite two of
evergreen, and two of deciduous ■\\abit. The hemlock may do very well for either
situation ; in a lot it will, without annual shortening, lose its lower branches, grow up,
and overshadow the spot ; without its lower limbs, it is an eminently handsome tree ;
the Norway fir, on the contrary, has lost its principal beauty when its "feathering
near the ground" is removed ; this feathering soon increases to such an extent as to
cover any moderate lot ; when a tombstone or a monument is to be erected, it becomes
necessary to remove its chief attraction. The same remarks will apply to the Cedar
of Lebanon, and many others ; the rule being established to plant, in individual
property, only those trees which grow upwards without low-spreading limbs, or
trees which sweep from the top downwards, of which there is now a considerable
list, no difficulty will be experienced ; the company should adopt trees iv/'fh lower
branches, for variety and effect, where the situations are suitable to receive them.
Deciduous trees, like the Buttonwood or the native Chestnut, would interfere by
their bulk, and their large roots, with individual improvements, while they would
be eminently proper in many sites not to be inclosed by individual owners. This
rule will be perfectly understood on a little examination, and is a very important
one in the first laying out of the grounds of a cemetery.

Again. Low, round-headed trees will be more permanently ornamental in
individual cemetery property than those of tall or fastigiate habit ; the Nor-
way or Black Maple is one of the most decided ornaments of a burial plot ; it
spreads, in the most beautiful manner, over a large space, while its shade is per
the most impenetrable of any we have ; the Lombardy Poplar, on the con

(2^

Vol. YL — September, 1856.

26

RURAL OEMJBTEllIES

trary, would be in bad keepins^ with a monument or a tombstone, by overtoppini^
thi'ili, roilnoing their apparent height, and yieUling little or no shade below. Ilere
will be observed a distinction which we are anxious to impress on those interested.
AVith these simple rules remembered, and a knowledge of the habits of trees, it
will l)e an easy task to plant a Cemetery with a due regard to the individual hold-
ings as well as the company's duty of giving a finish to their de])artment, which
will consist, as before remarked, in jjlanting the boundaries as well as the borders
of tlic roads, and those spots not suitable, or likely to be wanted, for interments.

"We shall now proceed to give a list, 1st, of evergrecu-trees suitable for general
purposes, to be planted l)y the company ; 2d, of deciduous kinds ; 3d, trees and
shrubljery for individual planters; 4th, the best and newer weejting kinds that
may be admitted with propriety and effect; 5th, a list of hedge-plants, to super-
sede the necessity of iron for inclosures ; and Gth, vines suitable for individual
lots, &c. : —

I. EVERGREEN-TREES SUITABLE EGR GENERAL PURPOSES, TO BE PLANTED BY THE

COMPANY.

y^oncay Spruce Fir,

Hemlock Spruce,

The Cedar of Lebanon, and the African Cedar,

The Pinchster,

The Ccphalonian Pine,

The Weijmouth Pine,

The White Spruce Fir,

The Black " "

The Balm of Gilead ; if tliis is planted in
the youth of the cemetery, it will, in
twenty years, serve as a tree to be thin-
ned out and destroyed, and, ansvrering
for present effect, is useful.

Cri/ptomeria Japonica ; a very desirable ever-
green for cemeteries ; not entirely hardy
at the North.

Ahies Dou(jlasii,
" Morinda,

Pinus Benthamiana,
" Sylvestris,
" Gerardiana,

Pinus Lambertiana,

" cembra,

" monticola,
Picea pinsapo,

" pichta,

" nob His,

" amabilis,

" spectabilis,

" Fraserii,

" Menziesii,
and others. At the South, and perhaps
in the Middle States, the Sequoia Gigantea,
or Great Tree of California, should not be
forgotten.
Podocarpus Japonica resembles the Irish Yew,
with larger foliage, and is perfectly hardy.
We could name many others, but a little
study will give a longer list of trees of
similar habit with the above, as well as
those that follow.

n. DECIDUOUS TREES FOR THE SAME PURPOSES.

Oaks ; all the varieties, but, especially, the

Overcup and the "White Oak.
Magnolia macrophylla, or long-leaved mag-
nolia,
" conspicua,
" acuminata,
" cor data,
" aiiricnlata, ^'C,
all the family that are hardy in your
latitude.
Tulip-tree,

American Lime-tree, or Tilia,

Maples ; most of these should be employed,

but, as in the case of the single lot-holder,

we recommend the Acer Platanoides, or

Norway, especially.

The common Horse-Chestnut, and the Red

and Double Chinese. The Buckeye loses

its leaves too early in the autumn.
Virgilia lutea, or Yellow Wood,
All the liobinias, or Locusts,
Kentucky Coffee-tree,
The Judas-tree,
The Florida Dogivood,
The Buttonu-ood, for some sites, would make

a fine boundary.
The Mountain Ash,
The Ash-trees,

The Copper, and other Beeches,
The Sassafras, in groups of three and five.
The Elm, and, especially, the Slippery Elm,

the latter forming a beautiful head,
The Hickories, on high ground,
Weeping Willows, in dells, &c.

RURAL CEMETERIES.

The Aspen,

The Lombard}) Poplar, in selected spots,

The White and Paper Birches,

The Liquidambar,

The Ginko tree.

European and American Larches,
Deciduous Ci/press,
White Frinye tree,
Laburnum,
Tulip-tree.

ni. TREES AND SHRUBS SUITABLE FOR INDIVIDUAL PLANTERS,

Dwarf Oaks,

Magnolia grandijlora, or Evergreen,
" The Glaucous, or Swamp,
" tripetela, or Umbrella-tree,
" conspicua, or Chandelier-tree,
" purpurea, and Soulangeana,

Berberries,

Mahonias,

Stuartia Virginica, and Manjlandica,

Gordonia pubescens (formerly Franklinia).

The Black, or Noricay Maple ; no tree will
produce a better head, or a more impene-
trable shade, and, as it does not attain a
great height, there is no more suitable
large tree for a single lot.

Dwarf Horse- Chestnut,

Kolreuteria paniculata,

The Hop tree,

The Bladder nut tree,

Japan Euonymus, Evergreen,

The Hollies,

Venetian Sumac, or Mist-tree,

Virgilia lutea, or Yellowwood,

Spanish Broom,

The Laburnums,

The Rose Acacia,

The Bird Cherry,

Roses; select the hardiest ever-blooming
kinds.

The Common Ivy will spread gracefully over
a lot, instead of grass, but is found, in
practice, to collect the leaves in winter,
and they prove diificult to displace.

The Rhododemlrons, &c., which we should
recommend, would be
Kalmia Latifolia, or Common Laurel,
Rhododendron maximum, ^ g^^ceed in the
; catawbiense, V ^^^^^^^^

" ponticum, J

These are superb bloomers, and beautiful
evergreens in addition. When they attain
considerable size, nothing can be more
desirable.

The Common White Jasmine, and the midifora.
The Periwinkles are admirably adapted to
cover the surface of graves, and to trail
over the grounds.
The Halesias, or Snowdrop trees.
The Fringe tree.
The Copper Beech,
The Silver, Variegated, and Golden, and the

common tree Boxes,
Cryptomeria Japonica,
Pinus pumilio,
Juniperus Suecica,
" Hibernica,
" Sabiniana,

" Chinensis,

" pendula,
The Yews,
Deutzia gracilis,
The Spireas,
The Tamarisks,
Wiegela Rosea and Amabilis,
The Mahonias,
The Forsythia viridissima.

IV. WEEPING TREES FOR INDR^DUAL LOTS, ETC

Sophora Pendula, or Weeping Sophora,
European Weeping Ash,
Weeping Golden Ash,

" Mountain Ash,

" Birch,

" Beech,

" Larch,

" Elm,

" Oaks,

" Poplars,

" lAnden,

" Laburnum,

" Thorns,
The T^entiscus Weeping Ash,
Fraxinus lentiscifolia pendula is a fine-
spreading, and somewhat drooping tree,
well worthy of a place.

The Weeping Sophora, first on this list,
one of the most remarkable and elegant of
the drooping shrubs, is but little introduced,
but we are convinced that, when it is more
generally known, it will be much employed
in cemeteries. The round head, and deeply-
weeping, long, slender, green shoots, are quite
ornamental, both in summer and winter.
The foliage and flowers resemble somewhat
the White Locust and the Laburnum. It
could be procured in quantities from Europe,
at very moderate cost, and will be, when it
becomes known, extensively propagated
here, where it is quite hardy.

V. n EDGE-PLANTS SUITABLE FOR THE INCLOSURE OF CEMETERY LOTS.

The Amtri'cnn IIolli/ will bo tbe first choice
of all who can procure it, both for its
beauty and durability.

The Juni]>cr.i will form a very beautiful and
suitable hedge, south of Pennsylvania.

Arbor Vila-, both Chinese and American,
Golden, Oriental, Tartarian, and Japan,
are highly suitable and ornamental for
lots, especially the latter, but require
annual shearing.

T/ie Siberian Arbor Vit(t is particularly suit-
able for a cemetery hedge ; of slow growth,
compact habit, and requires but little
trimming,

TJie Hemlock, treated as a hedge-plant, would
be exceedingly ornamental.

The Yeu-.t, but, especially, the upright, or
Irish variety.

Tlie Bucl'thorn, and Berberries.

Jlotiei/sucklen, carefully attended to, are grace-
ful and proper, particularly the Chinese
Evergreen.

The Tree-Box is of slow growth, hardy, and
tnaly superb as a cemetery hedge, requir-
ing less attention than any other.

The Savin, with its dark-green foliage, is
only second to the above.

The Evergreen Privet.

The Lilac, Syringa, Pyracantha, Snowball,
and similar straggling plants, should
never be allowed.

\^. VINES SUITABLE FOR TOE ADORNMENT OF INDIVIDUAL LOTS.

The Clematis; most of the varieties, but,
especially, the Sweet Scented, which will
cover a monument or inclosure with its
delicate tendrils and flowers in the most
beautiful manner.

T7ie Sweet Scented, or Male Grape, will run

over a tree or large shruli, and annually
produce its regale of delicious odor.
The Wistarias may be used, with caution,
where there is a large space or railing to
entwine.

BULBS, &C.

Lily of the Valley,
Christmas Rose,
Monkshood,

Sweet Violets,
Lilies, Phlox, jj-c.

FOE COVERING GEAVES.

Periwinkle, orVinca minor, forms a beautiful
evergreen for the hillock over a grave. A
little attention in keeping free from grass

and weeds will give an entirely satisfac-
tory mound.
Moneywort and Ivy.

VINES AND SHRUBBERY FOR GENERAL PURPOSES.

The Trumpet Flowers, American and Chinese,

to mount the larger trees.
Ivy, the Giant, ditto ; the English is hardiest.

" Three-Fingered, ditto.
Aristolochia, or Birthwort,
The Fragrant Wild Grape,
The Evergreen Honeysuckle, and other vaiie-

ties.
Jasminum Officinale, the White Jasmine.

The Yelloiv Jasmine, south of Philadelphia,

would be eminently suitalile for both the

public and private grounds.

In the Southern States, there are many

additions to these lists that will strike the

planter there ; our observations are made

principally for the latitude of Philadelphia,

but apply, in the main, to both Korth and

South.

We find the sul)ject has grown upon us so much that a third article will lie
necessary. We shall give a list of trees, shrubs, and plants, that will succeed
under the shade of trees, a desideratum to many in private gardens ; with a few
additional remarks pertinent to the subject of cemeteries.

Tree of most vigorous growth, with stout limbs ; bark greenish-brown, more
colored in the young shoots. Leaves thick, large round-oblong, slightly serrated
and downy beneath. The form is handsome, and this variety seems to be hardy and
suited to most of our soils. Fruit large, round or sometimes obovate, slightly ribbed
towards top. Stem, half an inch long, inserted in a deep smooth basin. Eye
small, not deeply sunk, in an irregular cavity. Core large, seeds middle sized,
differing in form and size, some abortive, in spacious capsules. Skin smooth,
glossy dark-red with stripe of a darker red when about ripe, and covered with fine
marblings of the same hue. Flesli firm, replete with juice ; of a brisk, sprightly,
vinous subacid, with sufficient sugar and flavor, making it a very refreshing fruit.
Keeps well, ripens slowly, and lasts as far as April. Indeed, one of our most
valuable winter apples. The fruit has much of the Esopus Spitzenburg character.

RESTALRIG HOUSE, RESIDENCE OF G. G. LOGAN,
ESQ., AT GERMANTOWN, PA.

BY R. MORRIS SMITH, ARCHITECT, Y4 SOUTH FOURTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA. f

Before venturing to contribute another design to the Horticulturist, it may be
well to say a word of apology for my last little contribution (April), which was
so unfortunate as to be " walked into" by the formidable "Jeffreys."

" Jeffreys" expresses his anxiety lest our " house architects" should run into
extremes as to the quantity of outside wall employed to inclose a given amount of
inside accommodation, and asks : " Why not have the outer walls inclose double
instead of single rooms ?" thus "getting much more space at far less cost," &c.
If Jeffreys will look again at the plan, he will perceive that there is provision for
double chambers over the parlor. On the other side of the hall, there are only
two ways to get a double instead of the single room ; first, by adding a room
above, and one below stairs, retaining the back-building, and, secondly, by omit-
ting the back-building, and making a double room in place of the single one, the
rear half doing duty as a kitchen, thus drawing the kitchen into the main building.
Is it possible that " Jeffreys" would recommend the latter course to any one who
could afford the comfort of a back-building kitchen? There would, undoubtedly,
be a saving thus effected, but it would be emphatically one of the description
known as " dear savings." I am perfectly willing to admit that the rooms gene-
rally would be " warmer" (especially in summer) by this arrangement. I will go
further, and grant that they would be much more odoriferous. But I cannot suj)-
pose the people of America so far behind the age as generally to build in a
mode obsolete in this vicinity for twenty years, and now only used in the cheapest
farm-houses, and must, therefore, suppose that "Jeffreys'" saving is to be effected
in the first-mentioned way — that is, by adding two rooms, one above, and one
below stairs ! Really, the economy of such a procedure by a family who didn't
want the two extra rooms is difficult to appreciate. Every one who has the
slightest acquaintance with building of course knows that these extra rooms
would be obtained at a less proportio?ial cost than the rest, and this, no doubt, is
what " Jeffreys" intends to convey, but, if he had read the descriptive article (I
am perfectly aware of, and do not wish to infringe the time-honored privilege, the
almost prescriptive right of critics, not to read the productions they select for the

See Frontispiece of August number.
f This article was intended tor the last number, to accompany the engraving, but was
crowded out. — Ed.

exercise of their ncnmen, bnt still, I sny, if, as an act of condescension entirely,
he had read the article), he Avould have found that the house is therein described
part-icularly as an attenii>t to obtain, at a minimum cost, accommodation for a
small family requiring: only the y/iv??. number of rooms, for whom to have increased
that number, and with it (though in a less i)roportion) the cost, would have been
like the economy of the boy who fills his pockets with cheap thin<;s he does not
want, HECAUSE they are cheap. As for the flat cornices (which "Jeffreys" comi-
cally calls " water-tables I" and which, he informs us, " subject the roof-water to
detention and frost, and, in consequence, to leaknjre, which will stain and injure
the walls !"), is it possible he can be iprnorant tliat this description of cornice
(with a sunk gutter formed in it just outside the wall, and below the rake of rafters)
is universally in favor for use with flat tin roofs,/br the express purpose of prevent-
ing the hakac/e which is apt to occur in such roofs Avith the ordinary roof-gutter,
owing to its backing the water up on the roof. Further on, he expresses his dis-
approbation of the "reform in architecture," and his belief that, in ten years, the
public will return to the " old-fashioned square house." I hope " Jeffreys" is not
going to embark his ability and information, as an architectural critic, in a crusade
against the reform in architecture, and undo the earnest labors of Downing, and
many others, by throwing us back to the old-fashioned square house.

As to the plan in the last number, there is little to remark in it beyond the
attempt, by the peculiar dormers (which are uncommonly pleasant internally), to
give a picturesque variety to the stale outline of the " old-fashioned square house."
The roof-water, from the bay between the dormers, is conducted by a lead-pipe
built into the wall down to the veranda-roof. That from the corner bay, by the
usual corner conductor, to the ground. The rest of the roof-wat.er is collected in
a cistern, which gives a head in every room in the house. The plan is a slight
variation on the " old-fashioned square house," and ought, therefore, to propitiate
" Jeffreys." The proportions of the rooms are not quite as I could have Avished
to have had them, the plan being, in some measure, imposed upon me by the
circumstance of the house having been already commenced when I was called to
superintend it. It possesses, however, the compactness, and a certain dignity,
which " Jeffreys" rightly ascribes to the old square form of house. The want of
length in dining-room is somewhat compensated by its capability of being thrown
into one with tlie library; the bay-window is uncommonly effective; internally, the
pantry is convenient, and it is altogether a very enjoyable house. It might be
i)uilt cheaply, or moderately, for from $5,000 to $8,000. As executed, it stands
on a noble ancient manor, near Philadelphia.

ROOTS.

In a former number, page Tl, we commenced to make some remarks on roots,
a subject which has more interest, perhaps, to the planter than any other, but
which is very generally neglected ; carelessness marks the 2}lacin(j of the part on
which the vitality of the tree is mainly to depend. A critic remarks, on the con-
tinually absorbing power of the roots, that the simile of a wick of a candle is
certainly one of the most appropriate. The wick (as well as the spongioles of the
root), by its hygrometric quality, conducts fluids to the flame, only the spongioles,
being continually renewed by their constant formation onwards, are permanent.
If cut, they will bleed, and occasionally discharge sap in abundance. A case is
mentioned of a very fine birch-tree, whose roots were cut through in making a
walk near it. They were about five in number, and averaged about an inch
half in diameter, and continued bleeding so incessantly for a fortnight

the walk, at the end of that time, stood in puddles, and the sap still bubbled np
through the gravel. On examining the roots with an ordinary microscope, the
discharge will be found to proceed from the whole of the exposed cells through
the section, and bubbles of air are frequently formed on the cut surface, evidently
showing that some kind of gas was present, either in the sap or in the cells.

Such cases are doubtless much more common than is supposed. The sunflower,
bulk for bulk, imbibes and perspires seventeen more times fresh liquor than a
man, every twenty-four hours. A tree may be assumed to be a combination of
hollow tubes, freely communicating with each other, and inclosed in a skin through
which fluids ai'e capable of being absorbed on the one hand, and expelled on the
other. If we conceive a body of this kind, in which the tubes are nearly empty,
to have its lower extremity plunged in water, the absorbing power of the skin at
that part will begin to introduce the water into the interior, and this continuing
to go on for a sufficient time, the tubes must necessarily become at last filled with
water, rising up from below. To eifect this, no attracting force at the upper end
of the cylinder was necessary ; every particle of water which was absorbed by the
lower end having driven before it a corresponding volume of the water previously
existing in the apparatus. Under the influence of this operation, the tubes would
in time become full, and if unelastic, the introduction of more water would be
impossible. But if such tubes, and the skin that incloses them, were elastic and
extensible, then any such quantity of water might be introduced as the apparatus
could receive without bursting. If we, then, suppose that the one end of the
apparatus were cut open, the sides of the tubes would collapse, and the water
would be forced out till there was no more left than the tubes held in their ori-
ginal unstretched condition. A tree is just such an apparatus. Its tubes are
nearly empty at the fall of the leaf. During winter, the roots absorb water, and
fill the tubes again. By the arrival of spring, they are filled almost to bursting,
and then, if the stem is cut, it bleeds ; or, if the roots are cut, they bleed.
Bleeding ceases as the leaves unfold. The vine, the walnut, and the birch, are
all as incapable of bleeding as other trees, when their leaves are formed ; because
the leaves gradually empty the tubes, put an end to their distension, and prevent
its recurrence as long as they remain in an active state.

The excessive loss of sap would not have taken place if the roots had been
wounded or cut in the summer or autumn. In the adjoining cut (Fig. 1) is
represented a tree ready for removal, with the rootlets carefully preserved from
injury, which should be done whenever practicable, but in practice these rootlets
are too often de-
stroyed ; and, in
that case, it would

have been better ^^

to cut them ^^

while the tree had ^^ -vA ^ f h>\M ^ C^,,../:^^

its leaves on it -^^-^^^^^^^^^Illvi^JI^^XI^

the summer pre-
vious to the in-
tended removal.
There is no
period of the year
when the roots be-
come altogether
inactive, sayl'ro-
fessor Lindley

400

U00T8.

nnd other authorities, except when they are actually frozen. At all other times
during the winter, they are ])cri)etually attracting food from the earth, and con-
veying it into the interior of the plant, where, at that season, it is stored up till
it is required by the young shoots of the succeeding year. The whole tissue of a
jdant will therefore become distended with fluid by the return of spring, and tlie
degree of distension will be in i)roi)ortion to the mildness and length of the pre-
ceding winter. As the new shoots of spring arc vigorous or feeble in ])roportion
to the quantity of food that may be prepared for them, it follows that the longer
the period of rest from growth, the more vigorous the vegetation of a i)hint will
become when once reuewcd, if that period is not excessively i)rotractcd.

No plants which are expected to attain a large size should ever be grown in
pots, but should be treated on the same principle as our common forest-trees, with
this difference, that they never should be allowed to remain more than two years,
and, in some cases, not so much, without being transplanted, by which means the
main roots would radiate naturally from the common centre, as in Fig. 2, and
become sutTiciently numerous to insure a ball of earth to adhere to them. Plants
would thus be furnished of a very superior quality, and at a much cheaper rate
than those mutilated and expensive deformities nurtured in pots.

In our next figure (Fig. 3) is represented a tree circumscribed by the limits of
pot culture. In the former, the roots arc extending in all directions near the
surface in search of food ; in the latter, they have a direct tendency downwards,
where they neither can derive food, nor, from their position, have the same effect
as the former in maintaining the perpendicular position of the tree. Camellias
will be found in such and worse conditions, where care has not been taken at
shifting to disentangle them, and afford them more space for their horizontal
extension.

Our next figure (Fig. 4) shows the state of a fruit or forest-tree, subjected, in
early life, to pot culture ; where the roots have been most confined and contorted.

Fiff. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

■ the supply of sap thrown into the side of the tree immediately above them has
been limited and irregular, as seen by the smaller and irregular portions of th
annular rings in the transverse section of the trunk; whereas, again, wher

Fig. 5.

Yl&lTS TO COUNTRY PLACES.

root, a, has had the means of penetrating deeper into the soil, and, consequently,
been able to collect a greater amount of
sap food, the annular rings above it are
larger, and more uniform in size. Sick-
liness, deformity, and premature death
are the results. The greatest care should
be employed, in planting such a specimen,
to disentangle and spread the roots care-
fully. The Cedar of Lebanon is frequently
planted from pots, and this is one reason
we see such poor specimens in this
country.

Where the corkscrew, or spiral direc-
tion has been once taken by the roots,
they are very apt to retain it during their
lives ; and if, when they have become
large trees, they are exposed to a gale
of wind, they readily blow out of the
ground, as was continually the case with
a number of rare evergreens formerly
kept for sale in pots. To prevent the
possibility of this occurrence, it is a good
plan to place trees intended for trans-
plantation in old baskets. Through
their wicker sides the roots readily pene-
trate, and when this has happened, the
half-decayed baskets are lifted, and
" potted" in other baskets, of a larger
size.

The adjoining cut (Fig. 5) is a sketch of a root of a Laricio after having been
planted ten years, illustrating the effects of corkscrewing better than any descrip-
tion.

VISITS TO COUNTRY PLACES, NO. 2.
AROUND NEW YORK.

Taking a carriage at New Brighton, we first called upon Mr. William Chorlton,
an esteemed correspondent, gardener to John C. Greene, Esq. Mr. Chorlton has
under his charge twelve acres, two acres of which are vegetable garden, four
acres pleasure-grounds, consisting of lawns, flower-bed, and shrubberies, and six
acres of pasture-land and meadows, that supply three cows with food the year
round. The whole is in the nicest order, sufficiently so to satisfy the most fastidious.
The views of the Bay of New York are exquisitely beautiful, and advantage is
judiciously taken, in the planting, to conceal defects, and open the finest vistas.
Altogether, the scene about the house presents an appearance of rural luxury and
ease, and though so near to neighbors as the place is, it is, for all purposes of
privacy, complete.

There are four plant houses, from which are produced a very fine show of regu-
lar succession flowers. The camellia house is seventy-eight feet long, and is filled
with large and fine plants, from which were cut, last winter, some four thousand
flowers. The vineries are devoted to the grape entirely, and produce an average
500 pounds of the finest quality, which have always taken the first prizes

wljcn exhibked. Includinpf cold frames, in which are pn^wn Netlpolitan violets,
and tnaiiy other frairrant i)lantR, there is, at Mr. Greene's, a total of 8,000 square
feet of glass. Mr. C. cuts the lawns every two weeks, excepting in very severe
droughts, and we found thera in the highest keeping. Beyond adoubt, there might
be a great saving of labor, here as elsewhere, by employing II. N. Swift's improved
lawn-mower, made by him at Fishkill Landing, New York, respecting which we
shall have more to say hereafter. For this amount of ground and glass, Mr. C.
has, besides himself, two regular assistants, and two others for about eight months.
The whole produce of this highly beautiful place is made use of by the proprietor's
family, excepting a liberal sup])ly which he generously distributes among his
friends, but, were it to be sold, Mr. Chorlton has no doubt the aggregate value
would amount to 3,500 or 4,000 dollars annually, at wholesale prices, besides the
grounds being always kept in the nicest order. Here are valuable results for
imitation, exhil)iting Mr. Chorlton in the character of a master of his business.
Mr. Greene resides here only during the summer.

We next called at the country residence of J. Q. Jones, Esq., w'hose gardener,
Mr. Edward Decker, also occasionally enlivens our pages with his facts. The
place is small, being about an acre and a half, but it is " well tilled, and well filled."
There are two small plant-houses, and a quantity of frames, that supply abundance
of winter salad, and a very good quantity of succession flowers; the vegetable
department is about one-half acre, but from this small plot is obtained enough of
the finest edibles for the use of the family. The remainder is lawn, shrubs, and
flowers, which is kept in adraira1:)le condition, and docs great credit to the gar-
dener, who is a talented and persevering man, well qualified for the charge of an
extensive establishment. He has a little assistance in spring, but manages by
himself the remainder of the year. Mr. Jones's place has an air of domestic com-
fort and family repose highly attractive. These two places are within walking
distance of the New Brighton ferry,

We next called at the place of McCall, Esq. (John Nichol, gardener).

This spot has become one of the most improved in the neighborhood. The owner
has not hesitated in making a judicious outlay. He encountered many difficulties
from the nature of the situation, which is rather low, but, with effectual drainage
and good and deep tillage, these difficulties have been surmounted, and his success
is proof of what may be accomplished in many similar cases. Here we found a
good vegetable garden, a fine collection of fruit-trees, with a well kept lawn, and
flowers and shrubbery. There is also about 6,000 feet of glass, consisting of a
small conservatory attached to the dwelling, a warm greenhouse, forty feet in
length, and a newly erected range of four connected houses, divided into two
graperies and two plant-houses ; the whole, extremely convenient and artistic,
were designed by Mr. Chorlton, the object being to combine utility with beauty
in appearance, which in this case has been accomplished, the structure being one
of the handsomest we have lately seen. It was quite new — the grapes lately
planted, and the greenhouses nearly unfurnished. When filled, the " expression of
purpose" will add materially to the effect.

After calling on some friends, who were all in the pursuit of horticultural pro-
jects, looking over their newly-planted trees, or projecting new structures, we
called at "the Cedars," the country residence of a schoolmate in days gone by,
Samuel T. Jones, Esq. His place is on very high ground, overlooking, from the
drawing-room windows, the bay and city of New York, and, from the dining-room,
the ocean is seen in the distance, with Long Island, and the intervening waters and
s, at yonr feet ; altogether one of the loveliest spots on this or any other
Mr. Jones has left, with good taste, the original growth of wood, consist-

TREATMENT OF WINTER PEARS.

ing mostly of the native cedar, -u-hicli here assumes an erect and highly beautiful
form ; the roads and walks are in fine condition, and the lawn promises soon to
be such as any one might envy. We think Mr. J. should employ the improved
lawn-mower, in order to economize time. His specialities are grapes and a fruit
garden, and certainly there is no better example than both exhibit. His large,
grapery is a " Lean-to" to the house, and produces, with his own and his gardener's
care, as fine grapes as are ever eaten. The border outside is an example of extreme
neatness. Fruit from this house we have partaken of in former years, when we
thought nothing could he finer.

The fruit garden here is a model which we should like all our amateur friends
to imitate. The peach-trees are of sixteen years' growth, and enormous specimens,
some on espaliers, and others in the open ground, but headed back annually. The
pears, dwarf and standard, receive the best treatment ; these, and the peaches,
have scarcely felt the last severe winter, and give promise of a good crop ; both
pears and peaches receive spring and fall dressings of guano — a handful to a
small tree, and more to a large — mixed with plaster ; this is dug in in the fall, and
the whole covered all winter with a good mulching of stable manure. Here is the
whole treatment ; we venture to say, no garden in Amei'ica can exhibit better
fruit, which is so abundant, that it has often to be buried in the earth to prevent
its becoming a nuisance ! With the New York market so near, this should not
be ; better give it away than destroy it. The whole garden here is dug over
before winter, and left in its rough state for the frosts to plough through the
ground and pulverize it.

W^e could dwell long on the beauty of these Staten Island sites, the kind and
generous hospitality of its inhabitants, describe Mr. Aspinwall's noble mansion
and fine views, but we are called to visit the beauties of the North River, and, in
these hasty remarks, must endeavor to be concise.

TREATMENT OF WINTER PEARS.

BY D. S. DEWEY, HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

It is now generally conceded, I believe, that the pear world does " move."
Seeing is believing, so far as it goes; eating, is proof positive. Delicious winter
pears are raised ; not merely as " tasters," by the half-dozen or so, but by the
bushel ; and preserved, too, in good condition, for months. But, as scepticism
on this subject is not wholly removed from the public mind, and as the subject is
one of some importance, additional evidence in the matter may not be deemed
unworthy of record.

On the evening of the 22d of February last, a few horticultural friends of the
worthy Ex-President of our Society — Alfred Smith, Esq. — met him, by appoint-
ment, at his residence, to witness some of the results of his judicious experiments
in raising and keeping winter pears. He placed before us a superb collection of
the three following varieties: Reurre d'Aremberg, Winter Nelis, and Glout
Morceau. They were truly beautiful to the sight, and delicious to the taste, and
were not only well developed in color, but also in form, having, apparently, lost
but little, if any, of their original fulness of outline.

In answer to the very natural inquiry which immediately arises, as to the cause
of such success, I submit the following brief rule, in Mr. Smith's own words

Pick late, and keep cool."

His practice is to allow his pears to remain on the trees much longer than hud
jrciKTiilly been sa])itosed advisaljle.*

His \Viiiler Nelis were {rathcred until the 20lh of November, 1855 — Beurre
d'Aremburg and Glout Morceau on the 1 0th of Novcmljer.f

The fruit is, of course, very carefully handled in picking, and then ])ut into
baskets and boxes, and placed in a cool room, over a shed, which can be well
ventilated and well closed at projier times. AVhen winter has evidently "set in,"|
the jiears are all carefully examined, and put into boxes, § say one or two
tiers in a box, and removed to a room on the first floor of the dwelling-house, in
the northwest corner, adjoining a hall which is always moderately warm. The
temperature of this fruit-room, for the present winter, has been about 40^ — the
average a trifle less.

The Beurre d'Arembergs are on pear stocks (^. e., grafted on old trees), the
Glout Morceau on quince, and the Winter Nelis double-worked, the last two being
about twelve years from the bud. ||

These pears have gradually ripened, and become in good eating condition — a
few every day — for a period of three months. None of them were brought out,
to ripen, into a room of a warmer temperature. Mr. Smith's opinion is that the
13. d'A. does not need such treatment, although he admits that the Winter Nelis
and Glout Morceau might be somewhat improved by it.

One word about another pear, the Beurre Diel. Mr. S. grows this both on
pear and quince. The difference, in his opinion, in the quality of the fruit, is not
very great. Those on ([uince are, perhaps, more melting, and of somewhat better
flavor ; those on pear closer-grained, and later kee])ers. Some few of his Beurre
Diels were preserved through January ; in fact, the very last one was eaten on the
tenth day of February !

WARDIAN CASE AND AQUARIUM COMBINED.

Not being aware that a fresh-water aquarium has before been connected with a
Wardian Case, I ))cg to furnish you with a sketch of a contrivance combining the
two, which I have had in operation for some time.

The apparatus consists of four parts, made of flint glass, with a little cobalt to
give it a tinge of blue. Contrivances of this kind are made of various sizes. In
the one from which the sketch was taken, the tank which contains the water in

* In tMs connection, the action of frost ; the flow and elaboration of sap, before and after
the fall of the leaves ; the inspissation of saccharine and preservative particles, as connected
with the exudation of aciueous matter ; the absorption and exhalation of gases, &c., were
bi-iefly discussed, and may foi-m the material of a future communication. Meanwhile, this
branch of the subject is particularly commended to the attention of the numerous readers
and correspondents of the llorticnUiirist, many of whom are doubtless well qualified to im-
part much valuable information derived from recent developments and experiments.

t Differences in latitude, and variety in seasons, will bear very materially upon this
point.

t Pears removed to house 29th of December, 1855.

§ The boxes are mostly round ones, with close-fitting covers ; of the form and dimensions
of large cheese-boxes.

11 As regards the Winter Nelis, the fact, as above stated, might mislead some as to the
iiecemty of its being double-worked. Such, I think, is not the case. It is one of those
valuable pears which, in addition to its other good qualities, generally succeeds well, either
on pear or on quince, or on both.

which are the aquatic plants, fishes, raollusks, and insects, is about twelve inches
in diameter, and about nine inches deep ; near the top in the inside is a flange,
with a groove, into which runs the
condensed water from the bell-
glass, which forms the Wardian
Case for the ferns, lycopods, &c. ;
from this groove it descends to the
tank below. Into the centre of
this vessel I put the glass pedestal.
I then cover the bottom with about
two and a half inches of fresh, but
not very rich, soil, in which I plant
my aquatics ; I use for this pur-
pose, Valisneria spiralis, Apono-
geton distachyon, Nymphcea odo-
rata minor, and N. macrantha.
On the soil I put one inch of well-
washed flints, or sea gravel, which
prevents the insects, or mollusks,
from making the water foul. I
then introduce the water through
a fine rose, to about four or five
inches deep, into which I put gold
fish (small), or sticklebacks, or any
other small fish, mollucks, Succinea
putris, Planorbis corneus, carina-
tus, and marginalis, Cyclas rivicola,
and cornea ; insects — any species
of colymbetes, hygrotes, hadaticus,
gyrinus, and several other aquatic
genera; care must be taken not to
introduce any of the large carnivo-
rous larvEe. I then prepare for
introducing the plants proper for
a small Wardian Case. I put the
soil into a blue glass dish, with a
rim at the bottom to keep it steady
on the pedestal ; this dish is one
and a half inch deep by seven in
diameter, the soil is raised in the
centre about two inches ; in this
I plant the tallest ferns or lycopods, and the smaller round the edge of the dish.
The ferns I ])lant are Adiantum capillus veneris, Lastraja dilatata Schofieldi, a
beautiful small Yorkshire variety ; Asplenium viride and trichomanes ; Asplenium
fontanum, &c. ; Ijycopods Wildenovi, umbrosum, stolonifcrum, mutabile, densum,
and lepidophyllum. When planted, I cover the soil, in imitation of rockwork,
with agates and pebbles of any sort. I then give the whole a good watering
before placing the dish on the pedestal ; the whole is then covered with the bell-
glass. One before me at the present time has been standing in a window eight
months ; the water has never been changed, or any addition made, except a small
tity once given to the ferns, &c., in the dish. Should the water becon
, in the summer, a small piece of gutta percha pipe, with a small rose

^S^aSi-^WK^AV

end, will draw oflF the water, which may be replaced. The bell-j?lass may likewise
lie removed, with Ijonofit to the plants, and a sprinkling of water given tliem.
llvnrrj Ihiincs, York, Emjland, in Gardener^s Vhronicle.

THE WHITE DOYENNE PEAR, AND ITS ENEMY.

BY JOHN B. EATON, BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

It has been the custom with us, in Western New York, as far back as my re-
collection extends, to compare all other pears with the White Doyenne. It has
been, by common consent, considered the standard of excellence, and, until very
recently, it was by most persons considered as having no equal. Even now, it is
with difficulty that any pear is conceded to be its superior.

Such being its reputation here, and it being well known that, while Eastern
poinologists found great difficulty in growing it in perfection, they still retained
vivid recollections of its many excellences, numberless cultivators planted trees
to a greater or less extent, feeling certain that, if the demand at home should not
keep pace with the supply, there was always a good price and a ready sale awaiting
them in New York.

It being the favorite theory with many cultivators, that the cracking of the fruit
was owing to a want of some constituent in the soil, which had beeu abstracted
by long cultivation, it was supposed by many, and asserted by some, that in the
deep and fertile soils of the AVest, it would be many years before the enemy, which
had almost driven it from the Eastern orchards, would follow it to the banks of
the Genesee and the Niagara, The fact that, in some cases, fair fruit had been
produced on trees which had formerly borne only diseased specimens, and which
had been subjected to a severe process of pruning, both root and top, and " reno-
vation" of the soil, naturally strengthened this supposition, and many pear orchards
have been planted within a few years, some with the White Doyenn(5 alone, and
some with a large proportion of this variety.

It is a number of years since the fruit in this vicinity began to give indications
of the presence of the disease which had proved so disastrous elsewhere. For
some time, it was chiefly confined to individual trees, generally under poor culti-
vation, or quite neglected. In some cases, the " renovating" system was tried
on such specimens, with different degrees of success, and I have known a few trees
which were for some years quite free from the pest, after having been well pruned
and cultivated.

The disease has been, however, continually increasing. It has been for some
years a matter of custom with cultivators who possessed many trees to select from
their annual crop a large proportion of cracked and spotted fruit, since it was
found that, if all were allowed to ripen together, much fruit, which was stored in
an apparently perfect state, was sure to become affected from the contact of that
which was unsound.

For two or three years past, I have closely observed the various phases which
this malady has assumed, and have made some experiments with trees which were
affected, in order to prevent, if possible, the destruction of the crop, but never
with entire success. I tried the " renovation" system, to a greater or less extent,
on a number of trees. In one case, I effected some improvement in the fruit, but,
usually, the application of the various ingredients which were recommended was
of no use. During the last season, I examined nearly every fruiting tree that
came under my notice, and I cannot now call to mind more than two or th
which bore uniformly perfect specimens. Many cultivators with whom I con

THE "WHITE DOYENNE PEAR, AND ITS ENEMY.

stated that their fruit was nearly all affected, and rarely oue claimed to be even
measurably exempt.

The conclusion to which I was forced to arrive VA'as, that the " exhaustion"
theory is incorrect, for I have seen many trees fruiting for the first time, and on
land which never grew a pear-tree before, bearing cracked fruit under as good
cultivation as pear-trees ordinarily require, and far better than they frequently
receive. The " running out" theory I have always considered as being inore
ingenious than plausible, and not sustained by the facts.

The fungus which occasions the disease I conceive to be somewhat similar to
that which causes the mildew in grapes, and the minute particles by which it is
disseminated being carried by currents of air in contact with the fruit, will account
for its rapid increase. The fruit borne by aged or diseased trees naturally affords
a more suitable situation for the growth of the fungus than the vigorous and rapidly
swelling specimens produced by young, healthy, and highly cultivated trees ; and
while the former falls an easy prey to its ravages, and becomes so entirely covered
with it as to crack in all directions, the latter exhibits but a few spots of mildew
upon the surface. It frequently happens, however, that these fruits, which appear
but slightly affected when gathered, will be found, when ripe, to have gained a
large accession of mildew, and to be utterly uneatable, in consequence of the in-
tense and sickening bitterness with which they are Impregnated.

I have found no difference in the liability of dwarf and standard trees to become
attacked, although Mr. Hovey, in a late number of the Fruits of America, gives
it as the result of his experience that the fruit on dwarf-trees remains unhurt,
while that on standards, in the immediate vicinity, is destroyed.

This is already a serious matter, involving the loss of large sums to those who
have planted largely of the White Doyenne, and a remedy is of great importance.
Who can discover one ? It is an established fact, that the fumes of sulphur are
of great benefit in preventing the ravages of the mildew in graperies, but it would
be no easy matter to fumigate an orchard, or even a single large tree, effectually.

Shall we have a remedy ? or must we abandon the White Doyenne ? I confess
to a desire to see this subject discussed by more experienced pear-growers, and
to know the results of their experiments.

Remarks. — The White Doyenne, in Pennsylvania, became utterly worthless long
before we heard of its injury nearer the sea, in New York City and neighborhood.
Some fruit of our own was as hard as a ripe walnut, cracked, shrivelled, and un-
worthy the patronage even of a pig; "renovating the outcast" produced no more
good than confining an old rogue in the penitentiary. Not discouraged, we planted
young, vigorous standards, and the result, with the best cultivation, was the same
as Mr. Eaton has described. Has the salt air anything to do with this ? Will
salt at the root, in suitable quantities, do anything for this as it has for some other
fruits. We advise a trial, and know no better experimenter than our correspond-
ent. There is no proof that fungi exist in solutions of sulphur ; seeds will vege-
tate in crude sulphur, l)ut this is insoluble in water ; in an impalpable powder, it
is a deadly poison to those parasitic moulds which grow on the vine, the hop, the
peach, and the rose, &c. Pereira says that a few grains of sulphate of soda, put
into a bottle with a fermentable juice, are equally efficacious, the acid decomposing
the salt, which evolves sulphurous acid. Bisuljjhate of soda destroys the curious
vegetable production which attacks the stomach. Caustic soda is efficacious in the
case of fungi, which attack cereals ; the combination of carbonate of lime with
sulphate of soda, by which caustic soda is set free on the combination of the
huric acid with the lime, should be experimented with. Ilere is a field which
be profitably investigated till we obtain control over this scourge. — Ed

PLAIN, PRACTICABLE DIRECTIONS FOR DRAIN-
ING, S U R S O I L I N G , AND P R E P A RING AN A C R E O F
GROUND SUITABLE FOR A GARDEN OR A FRUIT-
TREE ORCHARD.

BY WILLIAM REED, ELIZABETIITOWN, N. J.

It may be considered presumptuous in rac to say anything about draining, wlicn
we have so many treatises by scientific men, avIio have given us a history of all
tlie newest improvements and various methods in practice at the present day. To
enter into a discussion on the various systems is not the object that I have in view,
but simply to give directions for performing the work efl'ectually.

We will sujipose the ground to be drained, nearly level, or with a fall of two to
three feet to the 100, more or less ; the first thing to be done is to secure an out-
let, or main trunk drain, to carry the water out of the parallel drains, which ought
to be, if possible, not less than three feet, although two feet to thirty inches, if
no greater depth can be got, will answer when the ground is ascending, as the
depth will be gained after digging the parallel drains a short distance. It is some-
times necessary, to get an outlet to the trunk drains, to dig some distance to get
a fall to carry the water olf, but, without this, the whole labor would be lost. An
open ditch will answer for this purpose, or a tile drain, where there is much water
to carry off ; the tile ought not to be less than four inches diameter ; the £[, or
tube tile 0 ; either will answer, but, for a soft, sandy ))ottom, the tube tile is pre-
ferable, on account of settling. After the trunk drain has been made, then measure
off the parallel drains to lead into the trunk drain, twenty-five to thirty feet distant
from each drain. These ought not to be less than thirty-three inches, but three
feet will be better where there is only surface water to be carried off; three feet
deep at this width will answer the purpose perfectly well, but, on hilly ground,
where there are springs flowing out on the surface, it will be necessary, sometimes,
to sink them deeper, to tap the vein of sand that the water flows from, and cany
it off below the surface.

The usual way, and the quickest, is to stretch a line in the direction that the
drain is to be dug, and mark it with the spade, as a guide to dig by, on both sides ;
twenty inches or two feet wide, on the top, will answer for drains of this depth,
and let them draw in gradually, so that, when finished, they are wide enough to let
a spade or narrow shovel run in the bottom ; narrow spades are sometimes used
for the last spit, made expressly for this purpose, with a small scraper to take up
the bottom. A narrow No. 1 spade, with a long handle, I think is equally as
good, and leaves a smoother bottom for the tile. Where grounds are limited,
draining is always done with spades ; the two first spits being good, soil is put on one
side which will take out twentyinches to two feet ; if the shoveling has been taken
clean out after each spit, then the bottom, the poorest of the soil is laid on the
opposite side, to be first filled in on the tiles, leaving the best soil for the top.
The cost of digging will depend on the kind of soil ; if the bottom spit is hard,
so that the pick has to be used, it will make a material difference in the expense ;
fifty feet a day for a man, including laying tile and filling in the earth, will be as
much as he will be able to do, if the bottom proves hard ; but, where the digging
is easy, and the ground soft, he will accomplish seventy-five to one hundred feet,
hen the depth docs not exceed thirty-three inches to three feet ; it requires about
feet to drain an acre thoroughly, and the same number two-inch drawn tile ;

PLAIN, PRACTICABLE DIRECTIONS FOR DRAINING, SUBSOILING, ETC.

the ji, or tube tile, may be used, should the bottom be soft ; tube tile is the best.
The XI tiles, where the bottom is hard, require nothing under them, but, in spongy,
soft spots, to keep them from sinking, a piece of board is sometimes used ; the
usual price of two-inch tile is ten dollars per 1,000 ; the larger size, three to four
inches, twelve to fifteen dollars ; each tile lays a foot good measure ; when the
ground is flat, and nearly level, the person digging must be careful to carry the
bottom the proper depth, which can easily be done by those that are accustomed
to the work by the eye ; it ought never to be dug so that the water will stand,
but have a gentle fall, enough to carry it all off; the tiles, also, require to be laid
as close as the joints will permit, to prevent the earth from falling through, which
would impede the run of the water on the tile ; care must also be used when con-
necting the parallel drains with the trunk or main drain, which can be done by
breaking out a small piece of the tile with a hammer or pick, covering it up carefully
with pieces of broken tiles, so that no obstruction may be made to the water run-
ning freely out of the parallel drains. Some people put a few shavings or straw
over the tiles before filling in the earth ; if they are to be had conveniently, they
will do no harm, but it is not very essential. If the tiles have been carefully laid,
this form of draining is the most simple and effectual, and never fails to dry the
ground of both surface and spring water, as it is impossible to miss any spring, if
the drains are run parallel all through the ground.

When stones are in the way, they may be used in the place of tiles, but not
otherwise, as the cost of carting and filling will be more than the cost of tiles ;
when used, they are sometimes, if of small size, filled in ten to twelve inches in
depth, but, when the run of water is great, they are generally made by laying
stones on each side, and covering with a flat one on the top, then, filling over this
six inches of small stones, which makes a capital drain ; the cost, however, is
double the expense of tile.

Where neither stone nor tiles are to be had, brush is sometimes used, and, if well-
packed and cut up, so that it will pack very close together, say eight to ten inches
in depth, will run water very well, and last for a number of years, if the outlet is
kept clear. Where grounds are extensive and rolling, and the grade falling off in
different directions, it will be necessary, sometimes, on account of its level, to make
more than one trunk drain, but, in whatever w\ay the ground may be, the same
system may be used to any extent, where labor is an object ; and, for farming pur-
poses, the digging might be nearly saved by using the plough and subsoil. I am
satisfied that drains three feet deep may be all done with horses, except the bottom
spit, which would require the spade ; the filling-iu of the earth can be done in the
same way, and one-half the expense saved.

Draining is not necessary in all soils, but only in such as are of heavy clay, with
a hard subsoil, or in wet, spongy grounds. Where the subsoil is gravelly and
porous, and leaves no water on the surface after heavy rains in summer, draining
is not required. I find that, on heavy soils, plants suffer much more from heavy
rains in summer than in the winter, if undrained, there being no other way for it
to dry but by evaporation, and, before this takes place, the water in the soil becomes
putrid, particularly in warm weather ; but, when this kind of ground is under-
drained, the drains run out the water from below, and the surface dries rapidly by
the sun, so that, in two days after the heaviest rain, the ground will be in working
order.

Undrained grounds, again, in the winter and spring, are very injurious to the
roots of trees, grass, and all kinds of grain, causing them to lift out of the ground
frost, and leaving the roots exposed, and (almost sure) a great part of them

perish.

Vol. VI.— September, 1856.

27

TILE PEAR SLUQ-WORM.

Hnvinc: extended these notes on draining to a greater length than I intended,
I will now close with a few brief remarks on the jtreparatiou of the soil.

Tlie ground wc will sni)i»osc to have been all under-drained, and all the grading
and levelling that the ground requires to take out all the ine(iualities, to have been
finished ; this is better to be done before sul)soiling than afterwards, which leaves
all the ground of regular depth ; if done afterwards, there would be some places
not so deep as others. Then api)ly twenty cords of good barnyard manure, with
two hundred bushels of air-slaked lime, spreading it regularly over the surface ;
this will make it ready for the plough and subsoil. To do this well, it requires a
good, strong span of horses or cattle ; but, when to be had conveniently, four
would be better than two, particularly when the subsoil is hard. The best way to
have this done well, is to make openings with the plough, by ploughing out the
first furrows thirty feet apart ; then commence with the subsoil plough first in the
bottom of the open furrow, which will leave nothing undone, as would be the case
if these furrows were not thoroughly opened ; with a good jilough and subsoil,
now keep going round, and working into this until a fair opening is made, which
will be in the course of three or four rounds ; furrows ought not to be taken more
than ten inches to a foot wide, to enable the subsoil plough to break up the bottom
well. Half an acre a day for one team is quite enough, if the work is well and
regularly done, which ought to be fifteen to sixteen inches deep ; one span of
horses will break up this depth. The first furrow to be made with the common
plough, going round both sides ; the subsoil ])lough being at hand, slip the horses
on the subsoil, and follow round in the same furrow ; this causes very little delay
when once fairly commenced, but, when two teams are at hand, this of course
would not be necessary ; by continuing this fifteen feet on each side of the furrow,
will finish a land, making it thirty feet wide ; then commence again on the next,
and so through the whole piece to be ploughed ; the harrowing and levelling the
ground afterwards completes the whole operation. It can then be laid out in
whatever form or shape the proprietor may wish for a garden, fruit orchard, or a
lawn ; and, if the work has been thoroughly done, according to the directions here
given, I have no hesitation in saying it will be in fit condition to grow any kind
of crop; on grounds of limited dimensions, the spade may be used in place of the
plough.

[This is all plain and practical. Mr. Reed's own nursery grounds are an evi-
dence of success that we are always pleased with an opportunity of pointing out. —
Ed.]

4-»-» ♦■■ »

THE PEAR SLUG- WORM.

BY MTS8 INIARGARETTA MORRIS, GERMANTOWN, PA.

The slug-fly is of a glossy black color, except the first two i)airs of legs, which
are dirty yellow or clay colored, with blackish thighs, and the hind legs, which are
dull black, with clay colored knees. The wings are somewhat convex and
rumpled or uneven on the upper side, like the wings of the sand-flies generally.
They are transparent, reflecting the changeable colors of the rainbow, and have
a smoky tinge, forming a cloud or broad band across the middle of the first
pair ; the veins are brownish. The body of the female measures rather more
than one-fifth of -in inch in length; that of the male is smaller. In the year 18'28
these sand-flies were observed on the cherry and plum-trees, in Milton, Mass., on
the tenth of May, but they usually appear towards the end of May or early in
June. Soon afterwards some of them begin to lay their eggs, and all of them

THE PEAK SLUG- WORM.

finish this business and disappear within the space of three weeks. Their eggs
are placed, singly, within little semicircular incisions through the skin of the leaf,
and generally on the lower side of it. The flies have not the timidity of many
other insects, and are not easily disturbed while laying their eggs. On the four-
teenth day afterwards, the eggs begin to hatch, and the young slug-worms con-
tinue to come forth from the fifth of June to the twentieth of July, according as
the flies have appeared early or late in the spring. At first the slugs are white ;
but a slimy matter soon oozes out of their skin and covers their backs with an
olive-colored sticky coat.

They have twenty very short legs, or a pair under each segment of the body,
except the fourth and the last. The largest of the slugs are about nine-twentieths
of an inch in length when fully grown.

The head of a dark chestnut color, is small, and entirely concealed under the
forepart of the body.

They ai'e largest before, and taper behind, and in form somewhat resemble
minute tadpoles.

They have the faculty of swelling out the forepart of the body, and resting
with the tail up.

These slugs live mostly on the upper side of the leaves, and eat away the sub-
stance, leaving only the veins and skins untouched. The trees attacked by them
are forced to throw out new leaves during the heat of the summer; this unseason-
able foliage, which should not have appeared until the following spring, exhausts
the vigor of the trees and cuts off the prospect of fruit.

The slug-worms come to their growth in twenty-six days, during which period
they cast their skins five times. After the last skin is thrown ofi", they no longer
retain their slimy appearance and olive color, but have a clear yellow skin, entirely
free from viscidity. They change also in form and become proportionably longer,
and their head and the marks between the rings are plainly to be seen. In a few
hours after this change, they leave the trees, and having crept or fallen to the
ground, they burrow to the depth of from one inch to three or four inches in the
ground, according to the nature of the soil. By moving their bodies, the earth
around them becomes pressed equally on both sides, and an oblong oval cavity is
thus formed, and is afterwards lined with a sticky and glossy substance, to which
the grains of earth closely adhere. Within these little earthen cells or cocoons
the change to chrysalids takes place ; and in sixteen days after the descent of
the slug-worms, they finish their transformations, break open their cells and crawl
to the surface of the ground, where they appear in the fly form. These flies
usually come forth between the middle of July and the first of August, and lay
their eggs for a second brood of slug-worms. The latter come to their growth,
and go into the ground in September and October, and remain there till the fol-
lowing spring, when tliey change to flies.

It seems that all do not finish their transformations at this time ; some are
found to remain unchanged in the ground till the following year ; so that if all
the slugs of any one hatch should happen to be destroyed, enough from a former
brood would remain in the earth to coiuinue the species.

Ashes and quicklime, sifted on the trees l)y means of a sieve fastened to a pole,
was recommended by the late Hon. John Luwell, of Roxbury, for the destruction
of the pear and cherry slug-worm, and it is found to answer the purpose.

A NEW ORNAMENTAL JIANUFACTLHE.

wmmmmm^Symm

A NEW ORNAMENTAL MANUFACTURE.

There has long existed at Milan, in Italy, studios where are manufactured
very artistic ornaments for lawns, terraces, piazzas, (fee, which are much esteemed

throughout Europe. We lately
saw some of these articles at a
country-seat near New York, and
took some pains to discover the
agent for their sale, whom we found
to be G. Alliinola, Esq., at the store
of Sturgis, Shaw & Co., 52 Broad-
way, where some very fine speci-
mens are now on sale, consisting of
vases of elegant forms, very higlily
ornamented, see Fig. 1, and carv-

iil'ltllH^i

|M, III

Fig. 1.

ings pierced for fountains, of which
Fig. 2 will give a good idea.

The material is secondary lime-
stone and breccia, of a hard cha-
racter and good color, capable at
the same time of being readily
worked, and yet of withstanding
the elements so thoroughly that
houses are frequently constructed
of it in Italy. The artists have
exhibited great taste in forming
these ornaments, among which, be-
sides statues and statuettes, there
are tables, and small single and
double chairs, and even long sofas

Fig. 3.

of beautiful carved work. An elaborate arm-chair, of which we also give a design,

is represented by Fig. 3. , ^ t i xi i • 4..

In consequence of Mr. Albinola not having a warehouse to display these objects,
they have not made their way to the general knowledge of the public, and as they
are bulky and heavy, it will be too expensive even to expect another importation ot
them, unless it is through special orders. _ . , ^e

The getting of these engravings has been tedious and expensive, and but tor our
wish to present agreeable and novel objects for rural embellishment, we should
not have willingly undertaken to make them thus known. The carving is deep and
bold, and many of the articles will be much admired by the tasteful amateur.

CULTURE OF TUB HELIOTROPE FOR WINTER FLOWERINU.

CULTURE OF THE HELIOTROPE FOR WINTER
FLOWERING.

BY DANIEL BARKER, UTICA, NEW YORK.

Although the Hcliotropium corvmbosum, and Pcruvianutn, with many beauti-
ful varieties of more reoent introduction, have been known, in collections, for years,
and arc by no means diflicult to nninage, yet, good flowerinjz; specimens are seldom
to be met with dnrinji: the winter months, when it is so desirable to have them in
flower, emitting their delightful fragrance all around. The suitability of the Hclio-
tropium for greenhouse decoration, during the flowerless and dreary months of
winter, does not appear to be so generally known as it should be.

To grow them for this purpose, the cuttings should be rooted in March or April ;
afterwards potted into three-inch pots, and placed in a frame, with a gentle bottom
heat, and, in al)ont three weeks or a month later, shifted into larger pots, when, if
the season is sufficiently advanced, they may be ])lunged in a sheltered, warm
border, being careful to shift them, from time to time, as the pots become filled
with roots, until they are finally in ten or twelve-inch pots ; keep them plunged
until the weather becomes too precarious to leave them exposed longer, l:)y which
time they will have become fine, strong, bushy plants, well furnished with flower-
ing shoots, and should be taken up, the pots washed clean, and have a good top
dressing of rotten manure and leaf mould ; the plants tied nicely into shape and
removed into the greenhouse or conservatory, where they will continue in flower
the whole of the winter. When in their winter quarters, be careful they never
want for water, otherwise they will lose their leaves, and, although retaining their
flowers when denuded of their foliage, they become unsightly. Where circum-
stances admit, a good location for the stronger grown varieties is the back wall of
the greenhouse or conservatory, where it will soon cover a large space, and flower
freely throughout the winter months. For such a situation, the Intermedia,
Corymbosum, Peruvianum, Souvenir de Liege, and Triomphe de Liege, are well
adapted.

We need scarcely add, that to form a correct knowledge of the full value of the
Heliotrope as a winter flowering plant, can only be by seeing well-grown speci-
mens loaded with their sweet and beautiful flowers in rich profusion, fresh and
lovely from the hand of nature.

Those who may feel desirous to have this beautiful ])lant to flower during the
ensuing winter (it being now too late for cuttings to root and become sufficiently
established for that purpose), can do so by purchasing of any florist or nursery-
man, being careful to repot them and stoj) them back, placing them in some well-
sheltered situation, and treating them as formerly mentioned ; they will then amply
repay any care and attention which may have been bestowed on them.

The following are well adapted for winter flowering in pots : —

Beauty of the Boudoir. — Best of all Heliotropes.

Marguerite Wilson. — A splendid variety, with large flowers like Triomphe de
Liege, with a dwarf, compact habit.

Corymhosum. — An old, but beautiful kind.

Lucien Tardiff. — One of the best for winter flowering.

Reptans. — A most beautiful variety, with an incomparable perfume.

Reptans Major. — Said to be superior to Reptans ; raised by Mr. Geo. C.
Thorburn, of Newark, N. J.

Pendidum. — A new and beautiful variety, well adapted for vases, &c.
Aug. 1, 1856.

CRITIQUE ON JULY HORTICULTURIST.

CRITIQUE OX THE JULY HORTICULTURIST.

The Horticulturist, its History, Progress, S)-c. — As Junius said to the Duke of
Grafton, " If I should happen inadvertently to say anything in praise of your
Lordship, it would be imputed a slander upon my usually expressed opinions,"
or something of the sort, as I only quote from memory what I read some thirty
years ago, and as I am not much in the habit of praising anybody or anything, I
have only to say, in the classic style of Davy Crockett, alas, that he left not his
fellow ! " Go ahead." The discourses of its own pages are the best commenta-
tors on the merits of the Horticulturist.

Buffum Pear. — A good fruit ; and when our pomologists confine their chief
attention to the best selections from our native pears, they will succeed much
better than in cultivating the refined and overworked fancy things from abroad.
Rely upon it, every country produces something of its own, which, in its line, will
prove the most valuable for permanent cultivation. It has, thus far, proved so
with American pears.

Grafting by approach. — One of W\q fancy ways of doing a very necessary piece
of work. When a man wants something to keep him out of mischief, and hasn't
a pile of shingles at hand for whittling, he may set himself to "grafting by
approach."

The Upas-tree. — With what horror did I use to read that dreadful story of
the Bohon Upas in the A7nerican Preceptor at school, when a boy I Any man of
observation ought to have known that the story was a downright Munchausen,
but with that sagacity common to most school-book compilers, into the book the
story went, and so we, young noodles, believed it then, as half of the older ones
believe it now.

William Coxe, the Pomologist. — A fresh racy sketch of a useful man ; worth, to
the American world, more than half its politicians put together. You can do no
better service, Mr. Editor, than to thus chronicle the good deeds of such bene-
factors to their race. Coxe was one of the first fruit authors I ever read ; a
delightful book it was to me, and, for the times, one of rare merit. Imperishable
honor to William Coxe, of Burlington, New Jersey !

Dwarf Pears. — Yery well for the garden, but not otit of it ; provided you
confine yourself to half a dozen varieties.

Pruning of Pear-trees. — Another most valuable article from your correspond-
ent "B." Read it, everybody who grows a pear-tree, and wants to cultivate it
right.

The Old Topiary Work. — One of the old time absurdities which I hope may
never be revived in America. Any extent of waggery and burlesque may be
applied to such nonsense with justice. I have seen now and then an abortive
effort at the thing in this country, but with a thorough contempt of the puerile
taste that dictated it.

Have Ferns Sexes ? — Wliy not ? It is pretty much a settled principle that all
vegetables have sexes. If so, ferns must. I fancy it to be the organic law with
vegetables, as with animals, that sexes are indispensable to the renewal of their
species, although the continuation of life may be i)rolonged indefinitely in the one
by layering, cuttings, and ingrafting, while the other has its individual vitality
bounded by the inexorable laws of its creation.

An Octagon House. — Why inquire, ]Mr. M. F. of Sing Sing, N. Y., about such
an absurdity ? I would as soon undertake to live in a tee-to-tum,
anchored balloon as in a house that has every side and corner alike, and no

mul rear approaches. ITavb all the world been simpletons for the iiast six
thousaml voars and upwards, that they never adopted octagon houses '( Your
remarks, Mr. Editor, are to the jxjint, hut "the ])]ay is not worth the candle."

J )(>.<( i;/ns for Jmjiron'in/ Coii/ifri/ licsidences^. — Midtum in parvo. These articles
of ^Ir. Saunders arc sujigestive, therefore valuable. An acre and a quarter of
ground, as in this plan, contains a great many family comforts and lu.xuries in its
vegctal)lcs and fruits; as well as retirement, and positive enjoyment in its pleasure
grounds with its trees, shrubs, and flowers. An elTective plan for a given piece
of ground and buildings can only be made after an accurate observation of its
character in position, variety of surface, views, &c. Limited space, with various
requirements, must be ewiro/f/ererf like the one before us ; and, when effectively
done, it becomes a beautiful and complete home. Yet the dwelling upon it must
not be ambitious ; nothing above the cottage. A pretentious house must have
ample grounds, and wide plantations, otherwise it appears wonderfully belittled
by its petty surroundings.

Citizens new to the Country, p. 33T. — My dear old fogy brother, what else can
you expect, if you live within striking distance of a large city, and your quiet
old village has an air of decided repose and comfort about it ? You might have
known that the town Goths and Yandals would make a descent upon you, and
the wonder is, why they have delayed it so long. There is no way but to submit
to the present and coming state of things ; and unless you can crib and cabin
yourself within your own grounds by a high fence, hedge, or wall, just sell out to
these destroyers of your peace for five times as much money as you ever before
supposed your place to be worth, as you can do, and let the money you receive
for it compensate the sacrifice of your quietude. I know of no more sensible way
to be revenged on such intolerable snobbery as you describe. Jeffreys.

CULTURE OF THE STAN WICK NECTARINE.

BY T. L. HARRIS, GARDENER TO H. H. HUNNEWELL, ESQ., WEST NEEDHAM, MASS.

[On a late visit to the country residence of H. H. Hunnewell, Esq., thirteen miles from
Boston, on the 19th of July, we were handed a large plate of the most exquisite Stanwick
Nectarines raised by his gardener, Mr. Harris. To say this fruit in perfection is excelled by
no other now cultivated in America, is only its just praise. The following is Mr. Harris's
account of his treatment of the tree. It seems so simple that no one need fail in pursuing
it ; every person with a peach-house or even a grapery may succeed. — Ed.]

When you visited the residence of H. H. Hunnewell, Esq., West Needham,
Mass., you were gratified with a taste of the Stanwick Nectarine, a fruit un-
surpassed by any other Nectarine, and one I have been exceedingly fortunate in
ripening to perfection.

In compliance with your wish, I send you my mode of treatment, which I
hope will be an inducement for others to cultivate more extensively this most
luscious fruit.

It appears from reports received from England that the Stanwick Nectarine,
from some cause or other, has not given that general satisfaction we were led to
suppose would have been the case from the encomiums bestowed upon its first
introduction, and even in America it has turned out, comparatively, a failure
byjiiany who attempted its culture.

e two trees in Mr. Hunnewell's possession were obtained four years ago.
New York, and were planted in tubs containing one and a half bushel of

earth each ; the soil was composed of about equal parts sandy loam and old hot
bed manure ; in this compost they grew rapidly, and in the succeeding spring
each tree set about thirty nice fruit. On the first day of May, 1854, my engage-
ment with Mr. Hunnevvell commenced, and within one week from the above date
every fruit fell off (the fruit were evidently undergoing the process of stoning, a
critical period with all stone fruits) ; this misfortune I attributed entirely to the
low temperature they were sometimes subjected to, the young man who had part
charge of the house informing me the temperature inside was often as low as 40°
at sunrise.

This disappointment made me determined if possible to ripen them another
year ; in order to do this I felt it was important to secure well ripened, short
jointed wood ; this I achieved to my entire satisfaction. On the 20th November,
1854, I put them inside the grapery, and withheld water from them until the
15th January, 1855 ; when I commenced starting them at a temperature of
40° to 45° at night, and 50° to 55° by day ; syringing them three or four
times a day until the blossoms began to expand on the 5th of February ; by this
time the trees were really magnificent, being literally covered with large deep
pink blossoms. I assisted their setting by the use of a camel's-hair pencil, and
in about a fortnight, as soon as the blossoms began to decay, I had the satis-
faction of seeing every shoot covered with embryo fruit. I then increased the
temperature to 45° to 50° by night, and 60° to 10° and even 80° in bright days,
syringing them frequently ; cautiously admitting air in cold weather, and giving
the trees just sufficient water to keep them in a growing state. Just previous to
their stoning, or when the fruit are about the size of chestnuts, I thinned out
the fruit, and left one, and sometimes as many as three, on each shoot. When
about the size of walnuts, or as soon as the stoning process is over, I com-
menced watering in earnest, giving each tree not less than eight gallons of water
daily, with a moist temperature of 10° to 90° by day, and 55° to 60° by night.
Three or four times a week I watered them with a weak solution of guano, the
quantity used about one ounce of guano to one gallon of water, always apply-
ing the liquids at about 65° — this I conceive of the first importance.

Under this treatment the fruit swelled with astonishing rapidity. As the fruit
approached maturity, I ceased syringing altogether, and applied pure water only
at the rate of five gallons daily, keeping the air as dry as possible, but admitting
as much fresh air as circumstances would admit of. By the 4th July each tree
bore thirty and forty large well ripened and highly colored fruit.

My success having surpassed my expectations, and being perfectly satisfied that
the treatment adopted was such as the tree required, I have pursued the same
course since, and this season I have been again successful ; one tree producing
nearly four dozen, and the other six dozen of the finest fruit imaginable, some speci-
mens measuring 1^ inches in circumference, and all beautifully colored, where not
shaded by the foliage. Those persons who have tasted the fruit have expressed them-
selves in the strongest manner in its praise, and I believe it has been the general
opinion that the flavor was superior to any other variety cultivated in this section
of the country ; indeed, coming up fully to the glowing descriptions given when
it was first introduced into England.

There is an impression that this fruit is particularly liable to crack, but from
ray observation in its culture, I should not say it had any very strong tendency
that way, though it is very likely to be the case if kept too damp or allowed to
be wet in the last stage of its growth. I feel confident no one will be disap-
ted in this respect, if they follow strictly the treatment I have just indicated

West Needham, July 18, 1856.

PLANTING — A THEORY FOE AMERICA.

PLANTING.— A THEORY FOR AMERICA.

BY TUOMAS MEEIIAN, OERMANTOWN, PA.

"When a s^ardener first arrives in this country he is told that in a great measure
lie has his business to learn over again. This is a matter of surprise to him. Are
not, he inquires, the principles of gardening the same all the world over ? Know-
ing the theory of Horticulture, can I not vary my practice to suit circumstances ?
This would be all very well if this " theory" were perfect, which unfortunately it
is not yet found to be.

In nothing more have we been mystified by theory, or rather left to our own
dark ways, than in the matter of the best time to plant trees. After all that
has been said and written, where are there two who will agree to any well de-
fined principle? "I have found spring to be the best time," says one ; "but," says
his friend, " I have found autumn to be a better." Now if our theory were
truly perfect, would there be any difference of opinion on this point ? I think
not.

All the aid we have received from physiological writers is, as stated byLindley,
by whom we are accustomed to swear, that, as the roots of plants grow in winter,
except when actually encased in frozen soil, it is better to plant in fall and winter
than in spring, because the extra supply of roots before the period of spring
growth, renders the plant better able to meet the demands for moisture the foliage
makes on it.

This theory is right in this, that it assumes the importance of preparing the fullest
supply of moisture and food for an expected heavy demand; but it is faulty in
supposing that that demand does not occur till spring. In England it would be
right enough, but in America it is all wrong.

If we cut a branch from a tree, and expose it to a clear sun, it is dried up in
a few hours ; but if it be a foggy, misty time, it will not dry up as ranch in a day.
So much depends on a dry or moist atmosphere. Evaporation rises from a living
tree, as well as from a cut branch, and in proportion to the saturation of the
atmosphere. In England, during the winter months, its atmosphere is as nearly
saturated with moisture as possible, but in America, is nearly as dry as in summer.
Indeed, it is a question whether it is not dryer in our severest frosty days, than
it ever is under our blazing midsummer sun. Hence a living tree in England
would be storing moisture every day during winter, while the same tree in Ame-
rica may have it drying out faster than it comes in by the root.

In choosing the best time to plant trees, therefore, we have to make it, as I
have said in my Handbook of Trees, " a question of evaporation," rather than
one of growth by the roots merely. Then we can understand the varying success
of different individuals with different seasons, which before seemed unaccountable.
One man plants a quantity of hemlocks or junipers in November ; the roots
commence to grow at once, but also at once, sets in a dry cold " spell," and the
moisture evaporating faster than it comes in, the plants dry up, are in fact
" scorched," as truly, literally, scorched as if by the influence of a July sun.
He goes at it again in spring, a moist time ensues, not rainy, perhaps, or even
foggy; but a genial, mild, "even tempered" time, and they succeed. Then the
time, not the circumstances, suggests itself, and with him there is no time to
plant like the spring. Not so with his neighbor; he also planted in Novem
" didn't take any particular care either." For a few days there was
moisture in the atmosphere that the roots had time to " get a fair '

FRUITS OF KENTUCKY.

before moisture was much wanted. The winter was not severe — twenty or thirty
degrees of frost were not day after day bringing the moisture to the surface of
the branches by expansion, and on the south side the sun drying it off as fast as
it froze out — they had nothing of all this to endure, and they succeeded.^ You
don't catch my friend planting hemlocks and junipers at any other time than the
fall or winter after this. And so it goes, the world outside all the while exclaim-
ing : " How the doctors disagree."

The subject is capable of much further elucidation. What I have said will,
however, be sufficient to show that to know when best to plant trees, will require
us to study more than we have done, how to promote or check evaporation.

FRIJITS OF KENTUCKY

BY DILATRIO, NEAR ELKTON, KENTUCKY,

It has been with feelings of astonishment, mortification, and disappointment,
that I have searched the Horticultural periodicals of our country for at least an
occasional hint of the progress of that science in Kentucky. Almost every
other State in the Union has its watchman on the walls, ready to proclaim the
welcome tidings of Horticultural advancement in his particular locality, ex-
cept Kentucky. I have waited with becoming patience for some one competent
to the work, to come forward and perform this pleasant task for Western Ken-
tucky, but have waited in vain. Why is this ? In point of energy, industry, and
intelligence of our citizens ; mildness of climate and general adaptation of soil
and climate to the production of all the fine fruits and flowers of a temperate
climate, Kentucky is behind no other State, perhaps, in the Union.

It is but little more than half a century since the savage Indian held entire
possession of this vast valley, and as is customary in the settlement of new
countries, the first care of the settlers was to secure the necessaries of life, and
after this the comforts, conveniences, and luxuries. These having been secured to
some extent, our progress in "rural taste" is astonishing. Ornamental trees,
shrubs, flowering plants, in short every plant adapted to this latitude having the
reputation of beautiful, or even pretty, is eagerly sought, and quite a number of
our citizens are also cultivating the finest species of gi'eenhouse plants.

Our improvement in fruits and fruit culture has been no less rapid. The first
apple-trees planted were seedlings, brought by the emigrants from Yirginia,
Carolina, &c., and nine-tenths of them could only be tolerated where there was no
better fruit. Many of these trees are yet in a healthy productive condition, and
seem to bid fair to remain so for half a century to come. But now how changed
the scene. Fine young orchards of apple, peaches, pear, and plum trees, of the
best varieties to be had in the country, are almost everywhere to be seen in this
section of country.

Tens of thousands of apple-trees of the finest varieties that can be obtained,
in this or any of the adjacent States, are put out every year, and the demand
still on the increase. Most of the new varieties of high reputation in the older
States have found their way here. Our climate and soil are wonderfully adapted
to the growth of the apple, and it is believed that no State in the Union pro-
duces them in higher perfection than Kentucky.

With few exceptions, the varieties of the Northern States succeed well here, the
principal difference being in the time of ripening. Most of the winter apples of
Massachusetts, New York, &c., ripen here in the autumn. The Rhode I "

NEW PLANTS.

Grceninjr, however, is wortliless here. Not one specimen in five hnndrcd, perhaps,
remains sound until it ripens. It is also a very shy bearer, and too acid even
for hop:s.

The Baldwin succeeds pretty well here, and with care will keep through winter.
The Mela Carla fully maintains its high Italian character. The Jonathan is also
at home with ns.

The Large Striped Winter Pearmain is a large fine winter apjile, and is per-
haps the best market apple we have, on account of its size and beauty. The
Prior's Red and Jciiett, however, are the great favorites here for winter use. The
Golden Pearmain, Columbia Russet, Renette Franche, Peck's Pleasant, Green
Cheese, AViue Sap, Crow's Egg, Hall's Seedling, and a host of others, are culti-
vated here. We also cultivate a few varieties of apples here of first-rate quality,
that I think are not known elsewhere. The following are some of the principal
ones: —

Ben Davis, a large fine winter apple ; Holland's Red Winter, is also a fine
winter apple. The Homony Apple is perhaps the best very early apple that we
have, ripening generally a little before the Early Harvest. Matlock's Summer,
which originated in an adjoining county, is an apple of large size and very good
quality, ripening in August. But as I have already transcended ray intended
limit, I will for the present close.

NEW PLANTS.

CupRESSUS M'Nabiana. Nat. Ord. Coniferce. — This beautiful Conifer was raised
by Messrs. Yeitch, from seeds gathered by Mr. W. Lobb, who found it on the
Sierra Nevada of North California, where it forms a bush from eight to ten feet
high. It presents a most striking appearance, with green and glaucous scales
associated with the deep rich brown of Tamarix gallica on their branches, and
shows that in youth and vigor the species must be exceedingly handsome.

Dahlia, Crystal Palace Scarlet {Dwarf Bedding). — The qualities of this
new bedding Dahlia are such that henceforth no garden with but half a dozen
flower-beds will be complete without it. It fills up that void so long felt by
many, namely, having a bed composed of large bold flowers, brilliant in color,
jjrofuse bloomers, and of dwarf habit. This Dahlia possesses all the above
requisites ; it will, therefore, be easily imagined how the smaller and more
diminutive flowers are lost beside it; added to which, it is one of the easiest
])lants to preserve throughout the winter, and can be propagated in spring by
dividing the roots, in the same way as an ordinary herbaceous i)lant. Persons in
the habit of visiting the Crystal Palace last season must have been struck with the
noble effect the Dahlia there made when pegged down ; but this variety, from its
dwarfness of growth, will not require such care ; and those who have had the
jjleasure of viewing the noted gardens of Tedworth House last summer, will be
able to appreciate the following particulars given of it by the able superintendent
there : " In color, this beautiful dwarf Dahlia is equal to the most glowing scarlet
Geranium ; the flowers are of a medium size, very double, and full to the centre,
of very compact habit, its growth averaging one foot and a half, and having fine
dark leaves, which contrast admirably with the brilliant color of the flower ; it
commences blooming early in July, throwing up great quantities of flowers together,
and remains one perfect sheet of bloom, until cut off by the autumn frosts. As
a bedding plant, it will stand pre-eminent, and will be found unequalled for the
decoration of the flower-garden during the autumnal months ; another and not '

NEW PLANTS.

excellent quality of this plant is, that neither rain nor sunshine has any effect on
its brilliancy."

JuxiPERUS PYRiFORMis. Xat. Ord. Ooniferce. — Another of Mr. Lobb's intro-
ductions, when on his Californian tour. He discovered it growing on Mount
Bernadiuo. It is a fine, distinct species, the fruit of which resembles small pears
when young. The berries are deep purple, with a glaucous bloom on them. It
grows as a low tree, from ten to twelve feet high, and is perfectly hardy in
England.

Pholidota suaveolexs. Nat. Ord. Orchidece. — Much resembling a Lily of
the Valley, but is an orchid, possessing like-formed leaves, flowers, color, and
charming scent. It has been flowered by the Bishop of Winchester, at Faruham
Castle. Its origin is not known. {Gard. Chron.)

RiBES sub%t;stittjm. Nat. Ord. Grossulacece. — A very pretty flowering hardy
shrub, sent from California by Mr. W. Lobb, and belonging to the same section
as our R. speciosum. The flowers, however, are considerably larger than those
of that species, and of a deep crimson color. This will be a beautiful addition
to our shrub borders, and deserves extensive cultivation.

B. Falcoxeri. — Another of the beautiful Himalayan Bhododendrons which
have bloomed this year for the first time. The present species has been flowered
by Messrs. Standish and Noble, of Bagshot, in an open frame, merely protected
at night by a mat ; also witli Mr. Fairie, near Liverpool. It is a very striking
species, not only from the color and size of its heads of flowers, but also from the
magnificence of its foliage. It grows on the summit of the Tonglo Mountain, in
Sikkim — Himalaya, at an elevation of 10,000 feet. The flowers are produced in
large heads, pale sulphur-yellow, broadly bell-shaped, upwards of two inches across
the mouth ; the leaves are from eight to ten inches long, about four inches across,
dark green, and beneath ochreous ; leafstalks pale green, somewhat woolly. {Bot.
Mag., 4924.)

FOREION NOTICES.

O.v Composts spitable fob orowiko Florists' Flowers. — Having often experienced tlie
inconvenience of being obliged to refer from one book to another for a description of the
composts suitable for dilTerent flowers, I have collected some of the most approved together,
thinking they might be useful to many of your readers. I send them for your insertion.
Carnations : 1. Two-thirds fresh loam ; one-third rotten frame-dung, with a little sand. 2.
One-half loam ; one-half rotten frame-dung, with a little sand. 3. Five-sixths of No. 1 or
No. 2 ; one-sixth leaf-mould, good for Picotees. 4. One-third loam ; one-third peat ; one-
third two-year-old cow dung. Ranunculuses and Anemones: Two-thirds loam; one-third
rotten cow-dung. Dahlias and Narcissus : Loam well manured. Hyacinths: 1. One-third
sea or river sand ; one-third loam ; one-fourth rotten cow-dung ; one-twelfth leaf-mould.
2. Two-sixths gray sand ; two-sixths well-rotted cow-dung ; one-sixth tanners' bark, quite
rotted ; one-sixth tree leaves, well rotted. Pinks : Two-thirds loam ; one-third two-year-
old cow-dung. Tulips: Good sound loam. Auriculas: 1. One barrowful of loam; one
barrowful of leaf-mould; one barrowful of old frame-dung; one barrowful of two-year-old
cow-dung ; one peck of river sand. 2. Two barrowfuls of sandy loam ; one barrowful of
leaf-mould ; one barrowful of two-year-old cow-dung. 3. One-half rotten cow-dung ; one-
sixth loam ; one-eighth leaf-mould ; one-twelfth sand ; one-twenty-fourth decayed willow
wood ; one-twenty-fourth peat ; one-twenty-fourth ashes of burnt vegetables. Polyanthuses :
1. One barrowful of sandy loam ; one peck of leaf-mould ; one peck of old cow-dung. 2.
One barrowful of well-rotted cow-dung, or leaf-mould ; one-half barrowful of white sand ;
two barrowfuls of good loam. Ileartsease : Three barrowfuls of fresh loam ; one barrowful
of one-year-old horse-dung ; one jjeck of sand. — D. Pearce, Wakejield, England.

CnoKozEMAS. — This ti-ibe is generally considered by amateurs difficult to cultivate ; but
they can be grown well by pursuing the following method : The soil should be a sandy
peat, well broken with the spade, but not sifted. The best time for potting is March or
April. Care must be taken not to over-pot the plants, or injure the roots while potting ; the
soil must be made very firm and compact about the roots, and the pots well drained ; then
they should be placed in the greenhouse in an airy situation, and not crowded among other
plants. It is also well to keep them in the greenhouse during summer ; but in hot weather
they should be shaded for two or three hours each day during sunshine. They require a
reasonable supply of water ; that is, they must not be sodden, nor left too dry. They may
be propagated in the following manner : the cuttings should be taken off and carefully pre-
pared while the wood is young ; take off the bottom leaves with a sharp knife, and make a
clean cut horizontally just through the joint ; the cutting-pot should be drained, and then
filled to within an inch of the top with the soil above mentioned ; on the top of this put a
layer of white sand, into which put the cuttings, making a hole for their reception with a
small stick. When the pot is full, give them a little water with a fine rose ; after which,
place a clean glass over them : in this state they may be removed to the propagating house,
where the temperature should be 70 degrees. They should be shaded from the sun, which
can be done by placing a sheet of coarse paper over the glasses. As soon as the cuttings
are rooted, which may be known by their appearance of growth, they must be potted off ;
but care must be taken not to injure the roots, and they must be shaded again for a week
or ten days, until they make fresh ones ; they must then be gradually hardened, and placed
with the old plants in the greenhouse. — Alpha (Gard. Chron.).

OxALis Floribcnda. — Were I desired to select the most picturesque plant, yielding a long-
continued and profuse crop of flowers without artificial attention to its after-growth, I should
without hesitation fix upon this. It is a dwarf, tuberous, herbaceous plant, rising from two
to four inches in height, each plant forming a terminal crown of leaves (similar to a small-
growing Clover), from the centre of which arises a profusion of bright rose-colored flowers,
continuing in succession from June until September. The principal precaution required for
its successful management consists in adapting the soil to the tuberous structure of its
roots, which difi"er from most others in their thick, fleshy, unbranched form, capable of
absorbing an excessive amount of fluid, beyond what is required for the support of the
simple crown of leaves upon their summit. As a general rule, the amount of soil, and the
nutritive properties which it contains (when applied to plants), should always bear a strict
relation to the extent of growth which they are capable of maturing during the current
year. Every degree beyond this is an evil, which lessens the vital energy of their organs.
To induce fertility in the plant, an artificial soil should be prepared in equal portions of old
light garden loam, heath mould, and well-washed river or silver sand, and well incorporated
with finely-broken brick refuse, equal to one-third of the whole amount. Thus treated, it
forms a very beautiful object, either for edging or in the parterre, and when seen expanding
its bright blossoms for successive weeks, it appears as one of the few objects of which it
raay be remarked that it has " few equals, and no superiors." In common with some
others, this interesting plant is much degenerated by the inferior varieties from seed, which
have almost supplanted the original species, the former being much less compact in their
growth, and less brilliant in their flowers. The latter is known by its leaves being not more
than from two to three inches in length, and by its flowers being uniformly circular, and
firm in their texture, varying from bright to darker shades of rose color, and when found
in favorable situations, the profusion of bloom almost covers the foliage. — W. Wood.

Propagation of the Anemone Japo^ica. — If a root of this plant be taken from the ground,
after flowering, it will be found to resemble brown cord, divided into a great number of
ramifications. Upon its surface will be perceived a great multitude of little white conical
projections, sometimes growing singly, sometimes springing up in clusters, and occasionally
I)roducing scales on their sides. They are young buds, every one of which, if cut from the
parent, will grow, and form a strong young plant in a few weeks. These buds are not con-
fined to the main trunk of the root, but extend even towards its extremities, so that every
fragment of the plant is reproductive. Such being the case, he who possesses an Anemone
Japonica, has nothing to do but turn it out of its pot, when at rest, clean its roots, chop
them into pieces about half an inch long, and then place them in some light fibrous soil,
near the surface, in a gentle hotbed, and in a few weeks he will have as many healthy young
plants as he may have chopped the root into pieces. Such is the wonderful power of repro-
duction in this plant, to which, indeed, we have few parallels. — G. C.

On Supporting Plants by Stakes. — Primary importance must be attached to the time at
which support of any kind is to be afforded. The principal evils to bo corrected in the
methods at present pursued are staking plants at too late a period, and doing it with un-
suitable materials, or in a slovenly way. If a si)ecimen be not early staked, however
neatly this operation may be afterwards performed, it will ever betray the neglect from
which it has suffered, and can very rarely be brought into the required position. Beyond
this, there is the danger of being broken or injured from wind and other causes, to which it
is exposed prior to staking, and the fact that it is not necessary for stakes, when timeously
applied, to be so strong ; when, by consequence, they are not rendered so prominent or per-
ceptible. Let a plant be staked while it is small or young, and its appearance will remain

FOREIGN NOTICKS.

as natural as if it had not been staked at all ; but wait till it has begun to straggle, and no
suhsiMjuent care will suffice to relieve it of the conBtrainofl unnatural aspect it must then
be made to wear. Whatever material be employed for supporting plants*, the chief ol)ject
should be to conceal the stakes ; and hence they ought to bo as straight and free from jiro-
jecting parts as possible, and as short and slender as comports with the purpose for which
they are designed. Crooked stakes, those which have irregular and broken branches, such
as are unnecessarily stout or tall, and stakes made of a soft pliable wood, or having too
rugged an exterior, are exceedingly unfit for ornamental uses in the case of erect-growing
species. The most proper are those which are smooth, straight, free from irregularities,
just strong enough to elTect their object, and so long as to reach only within a few inches of
the top of the specimen, or as high as support may be needed. There are likewise many
objections to the ordinary modes of applying stakes, or fastening plants to them. It is
wrong to place the stake between the plant and the path from which it is looked at ; for
the object that ought to be hidden is thus made most conspicuous. It is improper to thrust
the stake into the earth near the stem of the plant, particularly if it be a tuberous-rooted
or bulbous species ; since much damage may be done to the specimen, and probably some
of its main roots and sources of sustenance be cut off thereby. For the same reason, it is
equally erroneous to use a stick that is not prepared with a long smooth tapering point, or
has any considerable asperities on that portion that is to enter the ground. — M. S.

Shrubby Calceolarias. — A very great improvement has lately been effected in this most
useful decorative plant by Mr. Cole and others, who have devoted some attention to hybrid-
izing for the purpose of obtaining improved varieties. We have this season bloomed a
full collection in pots, for the purpose of testing their respective merits, and ascertaining
which of them are most useful for bedding uses. Many of them have proved most valual)le
for this purpose ; others are only suitable for pot culture, and are not shrubby enough, in
habit, to stand the wear and tear of out-door work, and give a succession of bloom for the
season. Our aim now is to give some account of all the varieties we have grown, and par-
ticularly to show which are really useful as bedding plants. And, with regard to the culture
of Calceolarias in pots, our opinion is, that the shrubby varieties are far superior to the
herbaceous kinds for pot culture. In habit, and in duration of blooming, especially, they
are greatly superior, as they yield a succession of flowers for the season, while the herbace-
ous varieties do not remain in bloom half so long. They are also not so subject to green-
fly. The shrubby varieties are very easily grown from cuttings, and require much less
attention in wintering, as well as in their culture. Our method of growing them is this :
The plants are just cut down from which cuttings will be taken in September. During the
winter, they will be kept in dry, cold frames or pits, provided with small hot-water pipes in
front, to keep out frost and damp, and the plants will be ke^it as near the glass as possible,
to prevent drawing. They should be kept well aired and hardy, and quite free from green-
fly, by repeatedly fumigating them. Especial care should be taken to keep them growing,
and not allow them to receive a check, either from want of water, too much water, or any-
other cause. The soil we use consists of maiden loam, leaf-mould, and sand, mixed in a
rough state, and not sifted. The plants should be stopped two or three times at various
periods, and shifted as required, and 8-inch pots are quite large enough for full-sized speci-
mens. Plenty of air, kept fjrowinr/, arid cleanliness, are most important jjoiuts to be kept in
view.

Dectzia Gracilis. — Few plants, among the recent introductions to our gardens, possess
more interest, or have proved more valuable than the Deutzia gracilis, not only as an orna-
ment for the shrubbery border, but also for pot cultivation. As a plant for early forcing.

for the decoration of the conservatory, and also for cuttings for bouquets, it is one of the
most useful. Like its congeners, it is readily propagated by cuttings of the young wood, in
a half-ripened state. If the wood is strong and healthy, cut the cuttings at a joint, as they
will strike just as freely ; if a leaf-bud and about an inch below is taken with it, each joint
or bud will make a plant. To insure the cuttings rooting quickly, a gentle bottom heat will
be necessary, and they must also be covered with a glass, to prevent the undue evaporation
of the moisture. Any light rich soil will be suitable, such as a mixture of turfy loam, leaf-
mould, and gritty sand ; and, when planted out, any enriched garden soil will suit it. As a
pot plant, it will require much the same treatment as Wiegela rosea — that is, the wood must
be thoroughly matured in the autumn, to insure its blooming profusely when forced.

The Garden Raspberry. — Editor Horticulturist: In all the American books, I can find
no mention of a Jirst quality, hardy raspberry. In the several varieties recommended for
cultivation, they are spoken of as requiring winter protection by bending down and covering
with earth, which is a great labor, besides breaking many of the canes. Now I have had
two varieties of red raspberry in cultivation for eight or ten years past, which are perfectly
hardy, and have withstood every winter without shelter or protection. I never saw better
bearers — the fruit is large, delicious in flavor, and the two together are a month (in open
grounds) to six weeks in bearing, according to exposure. If located on the north side of a
fence, they are longer in bearing, yet the south exposure will be earlier.

I pretend to no originality in, or invention of, these fruits. I obtained them from a garden
in my neighborhood, which had been planted at great cost, by a gentleman of taste in such
matters; the fruits, so far as I could learn, were "far fetched and dear bought." Tlie
owner dying, the ground was devoted to other uses by his successor. Tlie gardener who
sold them to me called one the Red Prolific, the other the Red Antwerp ; but I can find
neither of them described in the pomological books, or nursery catalogues, and I am
certain that neither of them is the true Red Antwerp, which is not hardy. Mine grow
much stronger, higher, and larger than the Red Antwerps do in this vicinity. Hearing so
much said about winter covering for the raspberry, I had them carefully bent down and
covered one winter, and nearly ruined them by the process. Since then they have had no
protection whatever. They withstand the cold of this latitude, 420 45/ north, as well as
the wild raspberry of the woods, or anything else — never missing a full crop, and my small
plantation giving me several bushels every season. They have never been marketed till
this summer, and having leased my farm-garden grounds to a Scotch gardener, he sends
them to town, where they are pronounced by the fruit dealers the best they have had,
although the true Red Antwerps, requiring winter protection, are sent in for sale.

Having seen frequent inquiries in the papers for hardy raspberries, and believing that the
varieties I have so long cultivated comprise the most desirable qualities for popular culture,
I have advised my gardenei; to offer a part of his yoimg plants for sale, which will be seen
in the advertisement accompanying this. I grow them together promiscuously in the rows,
which I think is an advantage to their abundant bearing, and they are easily distinguished
by the color and character of their wood and fruit. They should be fairly cultivated in good
ground, three to five canes in the hill, and cut down in the fall or spring to three or four feet in
height, according to the strength of the canes. Tied at the top with a piece of twinS, they
need no additional support. Owing to their strong growth, I set the rows six feet apart, so
as to use the place between them, and four feet apart in the row. When first planting, I
put but one cane in a hill, as that throws up plenty of suckers for the coming year. The
"true" Red or Hudson River Antwerp, compared with mine, has proved a failure in this
vicinity. Yours, truly, Lewis F. Allen.

Black Rock, N. Y., August, 1856.

YoL. VI.— September, 1856. 28

KW

^^M-cJ^ -iS^;-^\

The Masgosteen. — An early number of the Uorticulturist will contain a superb plate of
the Mangosteen, •which has lately been fruited in England. By general consent it is the
best of fruits, but all attempts to cultivate it beyond its natural habitat, the Malay penin-
sula, and islands to the eastward of the Bay of Bengal, have heretofore been unsuccessful.
We hope by figuring this superb fruit to induce some of our cultivators to attempt it in
this country.

Fixes Sabixiana, or Pkickly-leaved Pine.* — The frontispiece represents the cone of the
Pinus Sabiniana, about one-half its natural size, a splendid and useful species, found by the
late Mr. Douglass on the western flank of the Cordilleras, at a great elevation above the
level of the sea, being only 1600 feet below the range of perpetual snow, in the parallel
of 40C>, and likewise on the less elevated mountains near the sea coast, in the parallel
of 373.

The Indians were found to make use of the kernels as food ; they are nearly as jileasant
as almonds, except that they leave behind a slightly resinous taste.

The stems of these pines are of a very regular form, and grow straight and tapering to the
height of 40 to 140 feet. A copious transparent resin exudes from the tree when cut. It
was named after Mr. Joseph Sabine, Secretary of the London Horticultural Society ; about
London it appears to be as hardy as the Pinus pinaster. We observe it is advertised in this
number by Ellwanger & Barry, and it is probable plants may be for sale by others. (See
NuttalVs Supplement to Michaux, vol. iii. page 110.)

TuE Dioscokea. — A correspondent of the Sacramento Journal having heard that one of tlio
objections raised against the new potato was, that the Chinese themselves knew little about
it, he made inquiry among the Chinese shops, and was successful at the first place he called.
The storekeeper could not understand him, nor could the purchaser him, except when the
inquirer picked up the roots to examine, when he said : " Good — all same as potato ; mak'ee
boil ; two bits pound." This sets at rest one of the great arguments of certain doubters.
We have said from the first, wait in patience till the roots grow before condemning them
in toto. Time sufficient to prove them has not yet elapsed.

Home. — The favorite sitting-rooms of many families in Paris and Berlin, as the evening
hour comes on, are the balconies and terraces near the roofs of the houses, under the shade
of trellises covered with flowers and foliage. They are often five or six feet wide, and are
often furnished and decked out with great taste, even to the gilding of the railing, and the
hanging of fancy curtains. For, let it not be supposed that those who live at the top of a
house having such a terrace, are merely poor needle-women, or obscure artists. By no
means ; they are, more probably, people who can afl"ord to have their chairs and sofas
covered with velvet, and lounge away their evenings in looking down from their giddy

* See Frontispiece.

height on the equipages and promeneurs tlxat crowd the Boulevards and streets of these
magnificent capitals.

Some have young trees of lime, maple, and «lm, six or seven feet high, with wide-spread-
ing branches over head, which aiford as much shade as is wanted ; and there is, besides,
what is called a Berceau, at one end of the balcony, neatly trellised over, and covered with
vines, and in which there is a divan, or one or two seats. This is a perfect screen when
the sitter is in the open air, but as private as within doors ; sometimes a window is left,
and a curtain, to drop as required, is left among the branches ; an elegant aviary at one
end, in which a dozen happy birds, of various colors, keep up a continual concert, are often
an accompaniment, or a large cage, with a richly plumed parrot, may be seen in the centre,
with the lady and children intent upon their books or needles. Many a charming Havana
is consumed here after dinner, in the warm evenings, and many a litre of ruby wine.

In order to prevent anything like litter in the interior of the house, from frequent carrying
out and in of plants, requiring fresh soil, or other attentions, a quantity of soil, with pots, and
sticks, and trowels, and scissors, are kept in a cupboard-like box, under a seat. Such is one
mode by which the European cheats time of its ennui, and lives in a civilizing atmosphere.

Home, and Home Education, is the title of an Address at the opening of the schoolhouse
at Evergreen Hamlet, near Pittsburg, by William N. Shinn, May, 185 6. It consists of a
vast deal of common sense, aided by good feelings, and, if we had more space at our com-
mand, we should be glad to insert one-half of it ; as it is, the following passage possesses so
much merit, that we copy it alone : —

" There should subsist between the teacher and the learners a sort of community of pur-
pose— a mutuality of object, as though all were learners in different stages of progress ; and
the respect felt for the master, as the head of the school, should be that kind which natu-
rally follows an exhibition of superior wisdom, and not such only as may be exacted by
the fear of punishment. The pupils should be co-workers with their tutor, and not merely
passengers, having nothing to do but show their tickets at meal time, and answer "yes"
when questioned about the payment of the "fare." Ten wrong answers, in aiming to give
the reason of a fact, are of more utility, in education, than twenty correct reasons committed
to memory and repeated verbatim ; for, every answer implies an exercise of intelligence
which adds strength, and, should success crown the last efiFort, there is a permanent lodg-
ment made in the understanding ; whereas, in the other case, it may only be in the memory,
and may or may not remain there as a permanent investment in the stock of knowledge.
We say, tritely, that ' knowledge is power !' and so it is, just as powder and ball are destruc-
tion. But it is true of the one as of the other, that without appropriate application no
sequence follows. Without a cultivated intellect to guide knowledge to its end, it is not a
whit less inert than the cannon ball when no impetus is given to it."

The pamphlet has a good picture of a very neat and substantial schoolhouse, such as we
should be glad to see more of in our land.

A Pear Orchard. — It will be recollected that Messrs. Parsons, of Flushing, Long Island,
parted with a large portion of their standard pears, which were set out as an orchard for
market fruit, on account of the land they occupied being reqtxired for building lots. Many
of these and some smaller ones found their way to our own neighborhood. Mr. Abraham
Barker has 300 of these fine trees in excellent condition, and giving promise in a few years
of most abundant returns. Among them we noticed 125 Lawrence, a pear that is said to
be easily barrelled up, and keeping as well in that form as apples. His assortment com-
prises, besides the above, Bartlett, Duchess D'Angouleme, Louise Bonne de Jersey
Bergamot, Henry Fourth, Howard, Seckel, Aremberg, Andrews, &c. &c. Tlie blight

carricil oflf about 8 per cent, of the above, and the slugs have attacked many of the trees
very voraciously, but the latter depredator Mr. Barker has eoncjuercd by constant killing:.
Tlie Seckel jiear has been least subject to the blight, the Louise Bonne the most so, and
Piatt's Bergamot the next. Mr. Barker is just tlie enthusiastic planter we like to see; ho
has not expended all his money on houses, though these are all-sufficient for comfort, but
has given lus attention to garden and orchard, and ornamental planting, in a manner that
promises to make his place in a short time one of the most attractive within the distance of
a daily drive from Philadelpliia. He is realizing the enjoyments of true country life, at the
same time that a large city business receives its due attention ; in short, we can say Mr. B.
lias begun ri<jltt, precisely as we have so often recommended.

Gossip. — Agriculturists have their jokes as well as literary men. Judge Peters, of punning
memory, one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, commenced a
reform in butter making, as an example that should render Philadelphia what it is, the
best butter market in the world. At his first experiment of making sales in the market
house, his butter was seized as being of short weight, and his weights were consequently
sent to the examiner, coming home stamped, C. P., for Commonivealth of Pennsylvania.
"Ah!" said the inveterate and veteran wit to his wife, "they've found us out and marked us

C. P., Cheating Peters!" A lady of our acquaintance has lately been much interested by

a family of flying squirrels which were born inside a latticed shutter of her boudoir win-
dow. At Dr. Ward's we saw a wren's nest in a similar situation in the library window of
the good doctor, who, to give no disturbance to his welcome visitor, kept liis shutters closed
till the brood was gone. This kind of attention humanizes and delights the lover of

nature. Of late years many beautiful wall flowers have been raised in Germany, such

as crimson with white stripes. These have been originated between the wall-flower and

the stock, and well deserve attention. The great verbena, in England, now is the

Favorite, with exceedingly large trusses of flowers, of a rich dark scarlet. To destroy

mice in a garden, bury pickling jars in the groiind, with their mouths even with the surface ;

pour a little water in them, and the mice will fall in during the night and be drowned.

Mr. Snow, of Chicopee, Mass., has devoted himself to a speciality, cultivating verbenas
alone. The idea is a good one, and might be successfully followed by others. Rhododen-
drons should be taken up in this way, and every hardy kind dejnonstrated to be so. The
Messrs. Waterer, of England, have done this ; they get fifty guineas sometimes for a fine
new plant. They have hybridized the Himalayan and American kinds till the variety is
infinite. The Belgian rhododendrons, hardy and fragrant, are a great acquisition among
lis, but we have failed in introducing some of the best of our own country. The dande-
lion is very prolific of seeds, as many as two hundred ripening on a single plant. To
exterminate them they must be cut very low down, for without this treatment numerous
new sprouts appear, and getting rid of them becomes yearly more diflicult. The manu-
facture of beet-root sugar continues to prosper in France. There is a company established at
Dresles, with a capital of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, dividing 15 per cent, annu-
ally. Last year they grew 1200 acres of beet, from which they made sugar and alcohol, and
with the pulp fed an enormous herd of animals. The State exacts an onerous tax of two

hundred dollars the hectare of two and a half acres. The waterworks of the new crystal

palace, near London, are spoken of on all hands as beautiful in the extreme. Tlie number
of jets is nearly 12,000, discharging 120,000 gallons of water per minute; jet succeeds jet,
fountains of all kinds sparkle and dash into fantastic forms, and on each hand a vast
torrent struggling perpendicularly to the sky, sighing and surging, and panting, like some
fierce water god endeavoring to force its way upwards from a subterranean prison, surrounded
by a crowd of attendants clustering round its base, and giving solidity to the space he stood

EDITOR'S TABLE.

upon. Tlie height is the greatest ever attained in fountains, ascending to the level of the

crown of the nave. Sir David Brewster, in his life of Newton, has discovered that the great

philosopher had a taste for gardening, perhaps a new feature in the imaginary picture we form
of him. It is fully corroborated by some letters, in which we find him anxiously and criti-
cally dilating on the best varieties of apple from whicb to obtain grafts, and expressing a wise

preference for the genuine "red streaks." Goldfish, as well as others, are attacked by a

fungus like the yeast plant, which attaches itself to their scales and finally kills them.

The plant is saprelogenia ferox. A very fine new radish has been introduced into France

from China. It swells at the bottom, where its diameter is about two inches ; it is from

three and a half to four and a half inches in length, and of a clear carmine color. A most

remarkable fact has been discovered by naturalists in Madeira, of the frequently wingless
condition of the beetles ; out of 550 coleoptera there collected, 200 are more or less without
wings. As in the caverns of North America and Styria, the beetles, &c., which inhabit
these eternally dark recesses, are eyeless, inasmuch as sight would be useless to them, so
on the small island of Madeira the beetles are wingless, because powers of flight would be
of little use or injurious to them, as when once on the wing they would be liable to be blown

out to sea and lost. The number of sheep in the British islands is estimated at 35,000,000,

worth two hundred and fifty millions of dollars ! producing 157,000,000 pounds of wool,
worth fifty millions of dollars anually ; this is independent of 60,000,000 pounds imported

each year. The last remedy for the curculio is to smoke the trees with tobacco on the

first appearance of the enemy. Smoke them well night and morning, for one week. Very

probably the best remedy proposed. We found Mr. Hovey, of Boston, in possession of a

number of new varieties of the strawberry, and among them the " Sir Harry," which we
were not aware had been received in this country. He has also " Admiral Dundas," of
which it is said 18 weigh a pound. " Sir Charles Napier" is also a much esteemed variety.
Wlien we come to the description of places around Boston, we shall notice several of Mr.

Hovey's novelties. They had a discussion respecting the strawberry at the Fruit Growers'

Convention of Western New York, which is well reported in Moore's Rural New Yorker

of July 26th. The cherry also claimed a large share of attention. Tlie Quercus gramuntia

produces edible acorns quite equal to chestnuts. These were much eaten by the ancients,
and were believed by them to fatten the tunny-fish on their passage from the ocean to
the Mediterranean, and are the bellotas which Teresa, the wife of Sancho Panza, gathered

in La Mancha, where they still grow in the greatest perfection, and sent to the duchess.

Spain has at last attempted a reform in her agriculture, and in place of her old bull-fights
has had a cattle show, which is to be triennial. A prize was awarded to an English
Durham bull. With great capabilities, Spain remains in the rear in the march of improve-
ment, though symptoms of her awakening are becoming apparent in railroads and manu-
factories, and at last the cattle show for the bull-fight. Lime-water poured freely on the

nests and burrows of ants will cause them to flit, if it does not kill them. Arsenic in a
solution of sugar and water is a certain remedy, but care must be taken that it is not
accessible to other living things ; therefore, cover the saucer with a slate and a stone,
leaving a couple of pegs between the slate and saucer to let the ants in freely. By using
honey and water you may trap them by myriads as the honey holds their feet like bird-
lime. A new white grape, a seedling of the Black Hamburgh, is spoken of favorably. It

was raised by Mr. Carpenter, near Birmingham, is a distinct grape, much flattened at the
eye, and of a clear amber color and ricli flavor. Mr. Beaton tliinks the pollen of the sweet

water grape produced this seedling, and that it is well worth growing. Not yet named.

The hollyhock continues to grow in favor abroad. Instead of the tall single flowered varie-
we have them now with close spikes of beautifully formed, compact, double flowers,
clear colors ranging from fine white to nearly black, and lasting, as all double flowers

editor's table.

do, much longer than single ones. They seem to be faToritea In "Boston. A plant may

lose half its weight by drying, and yet bo restored by care. De CandoUo has recorded an
iustaiKO of a Stiiipervirum ctrspitositin, which had been placed in a hiM-barium for eighteen
luontlis, and from wliich he afterwards detaclied a living bnd and reared a plant. But the
tenacity of vegetable life is best exhibited in the property which seeds jiossess of retaining
their powers of germination, after having 1)cen exposed to very considerable degrees of lieat
and cold. Some, also, which have partially germinated, may be again dried and kept for
montlis, without losing the power of germinating afresh, although they are sensibly weakened
by such treatment. The revival of plants among the cryptogamic tribes, after a very long

suspension of the vital functions, is well authenticated. Trees are the indispensable

objects in scenery ; indeed, they are the essence of a true landscape. Scenery unadorned
by trees is like a beautiful bird stripped of its plumage ; creation is there, but it is without
its usual charms.

Answers to Corkespoxdexts. — I'kepared Insects, of the several parts of the United States,
are desired by A. Z., for friends abroad. We can recommend a neighbor of our own, who,
in his leisure moments after daily toil, collects and prepares with taste and accuracy most
of the insects, butterflies, &c., of this part of the country, and who will be most grateful for
orders, which he fills at very moderate prices.

Packing Plants (W. H. Alexander) is an art few are masters of, and yet so important
that, as our friend Mr. Barry once wrote, " he who cannot pack properly had better have
nothing to do with the nursery business ;" yet it is a very simple affair. Not merely " three
days" but months sometimes elapse before plants reach their destination ; and if properly
packed, with complete success. A practical friend has promised us a complete essay on the
subject for an early number.

Protection to Plants in Winter, by W. E., not inserted, and will be returned if requested.

An Earnest Follower of Horticulture. — We should be glad to receive specimens of the
" white worm," though we strongly suspect your plants are infested by the red spider, which
is often more destructive to verbenas in the open air than many imagine.

A Box OF Pears, with a few grafts, has been received from some kind friend, but unac-
companied by any letter by which to designate the donor.

(JosKPU LoNGWORTH, Esq., Cincinnati.) Your beautiful running vine is Ampelopsis bipin-
nata, or the Pepper Vine of the Rocky Mountains. It is certainly one of the most orna-
mental runners we have ever seen, and will, we hope, be generally disseminated.

(S. W. H.) Yes ; you will find a note to that effect in the third volume of Michaux, page
37 : " An ash leaf, rubbed upon the swellings caused by mosquitos, removes the itching
and soreness immediately. The same effect is produced on the poison occasioned by the
sting of the bee. The leaves and branches of the white ash are said to be poisonous to
serpents, and the leaf to cure their bite. No rattlesnakes are found in white-ash swamps."

Forsyth's Dressing. — (A. T.) The dressing for large wounds in trees is as follows : One
bushel of fresh cow-dung is intimately mixed with half a bushel of lime rubbish, as from
ceilings or walls, the same quantity of wood ashes, and one-sixteenth of a bushel of river
sand, all finely sifted. The edges of the wound and surface being made perfectly smooth,
the composition is laid on about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, care being taken to
thin it off gradually at the edges. A powder of wood ashes, and one-sixth of the same
quantity of burnt bones, is then applied, with a dredger, till the whole is covered, allowing
it to remain half an hour to absorb the moisture. More powder is then rubbed on witli
hand, till the whole acquires a dry, smooth surface. The composition is best applie

liquid state, and may be made of the proper consistence by mixture with, chamber lye, or
soapsuds, and laid on with a brush. The surface will want occasional examination, to see
that the plaster is not removed by the growth of the young bark. The object is to apply
some varnish or cement which shall not be so thick as to impede growth at the edge, or
shall not be of such an irritating nature as to affect the neighboring living tissues, but
which shall effectually prevent the admission of moisture, and the growth of injurious
fungi. For small cuts use the dissolved shellac.

(Edwakd Aborn, South Seekonk, Mass.) We have submitted your four leading questions
to the proper authorities in each, and are happy to sujjply you with answers that, on trial,
will prove satisfactory : —

WHAT ARE THE TWELVE BEST VARIETIES OF AZALEA INDICA ? BY CRITIC.

The varieties of Indian or Chinese Azaleas are now so numerous, that to select twelve
only, " doctors will disagree," yet I do unceremoniously say, that for all decorative puqioses,
the dozen is ample.

Alba maculata, large, pure white, spotted with greenish yellow.

Beauty of Ecrope, blush white, strij)ed with dark red.

Duke of Wellington, bright scarlet crimson.

Lateeitia, salmon — a dwarf variety, and shows best when grafted,

Maitlandii, pure rose and white striped ; is also a dwarf kind, and should be grafted on a
stronger sort.

Narcissiflora, a very double pure white.

Optima, rosy salmon.

Pride of Dorking, dark crimson purple.

RuBRO-PLENO, very large, double orange scarlet.

Splendens, salmon ; not so handsome in shape, but very abundant of bloom,

Vittata PUNCTATA, Spotted salmon white and rose.

Vesta, pure icy white — dwarf habit. Amongst these you see some of our oldest varieties,
with a sprinkling of the very rarest, omitting Amsena, Bealii, and some other of our nursery-
men's CRACK sorts, which are, for all useful purposes, really useless, except for the attraction
of their high prices.

Twelve Best Camellias — By A. — So varied and beautiful are the floral characters of this
plant, that I fear all tastes will not unite on a dozen ; very few, comparatively, of the new
and imaginary beautiful kinds, are placed among what I call standards.

1. Alba pleno, the old double white,

1. Candadissima, pure white ; desirable for its late blooming properties,

2. Elegans (Chandler's), very large, irregular flower; dark rose, interior petals white.
1. FiMBRiATA, fringed white.

1. Lmbricata, crimson, spotted with white.

1. Ladies' Blush, beautiful blush ; plant of rather loose habit.
.3. Landretiiii, beautiful pink ; requires rich culture.
2.,Lowii, dark crimson.

3. Mrs. Cope, rose white, spotted with pink.

2. Queen of Flowers, very handsome form ; rosy crimson.

3. Sarah Frost, crimson ; one of the earliest bloomers — first rate in all its parts.
3. WiLDERii, rosy pink ; exquisite form.

No. 1 are Chinese sorts. No. 2 are English, and No. 3 are American.

Twelve Pelargoniums — Show Kinds — By A. — The Pelargonium is now subdivided by florists
into several branches, such as Fancies, Fragrant Sorts, Spotted or French Sorts, kc. ; good
collections consist of sorts that bloom nearly the whole year. Those named are the very

finost, selpctod from those that have taken prizes before the Pennsylvania ' Horticultural
Society, in 185C.

Ajax, dark crimson and pink.

Bi'TTERi'LY, rose and crimson.

FoKOKT-ME-NOT, bright scarlet crimson.

Generalissimo, largo, scarlet crimson, with salmon lower petals.

Leonora, rich, waxy pink.

OcELLATUM, Orange, crimson, and pink.

ONoraE, blush white, striped with crimson.

Prince of Orange, bright scarlet.

Sarau Rose, each petal with a crimson spot.

Snow Flake, pure white, with dark velvet spot in upper petals.

Vulcan, dark crimson upper petals, bottom rose.

Wii.mer's Sl'Rprise, rosy carmine ; nothing similar in shape or color ; very showy.

Tliese are all English sorts. Plants at our May meeting have been two feet high and nine
feet in circumference. Buist is the leading grower, and frequently imports them at a guinea
per plant.

Twelve Fuchsias — By P. — The dozen takes them all ; the balance are worthless where the
following can be had : —

Ariel, Clio, King, Prince Arthur, light colors, with purple or red corollas.

Alpha, Glory, Hendeksonii, Omega, Perfection, President, Prince Albert, scarlet colors,
with crimson, purple, or blue corollas.

Queen Victoria, red, with white centre or corolla.

Magnolia Grandiflora. — Frequent allusion has been made in this journal to two fine
trees of the evergreen magnolia, which flourished eight miles north of Philadelphia, without
any particular care or shelter. Considerable curiosity has been manifested to ascertain how
they withstood the past winter. We regret to state that they Avere both utterly killed.
Smaller specimens in the neighborhood, while they lost their leaves, survived the unpar-
alleled cold and are looking well. We think it established that Baltimore is the most
northern limit for its successful growth in the open ground, and even there it is sometimes
injured. A few degrees south of that place it flourishes in brilliant beauty.

The Deodar. — Tlie Cedrus Deodara has not proved sufficiently hardy at Philadelphia and
north of it, to be any longer a tree to plant in quantities. In consequence, now is a good
time for southern planters to lay in a supply. We saw at the Parson's nurseries large
numbers which it was said would bo sold a bargain. They are injured at the top, but
would soon recuperate in a genial atmosphere.

The Late Winter. — Numerous communications respecting the eflfects of the late winter have
reached us. From the number we have selected several which have been published latjely,
and have to regret that space precludes the insertion of all. One in particular, from our
valued correspondent George L. Taylor, Esq., of Chicago, Illinois, we should have been glad
to copy. He says : " I, for one, am not discouraged, though we fared badly here with our
fniit-trees. The motto of the arboriculturist should ever be, 'Nil desperandum.' The
Garden City, each recurring spring, looks and becomes more worthy of the name, and that
the Horticulturist has within the past two years more than doubled its list of Chicago sub-
scribers, evinces a more settled purpose and growing taste in these matters, which are
sources of congratulation to every friend of the cause and lover of his country."

The Pear Crop, &c., writes a valued correspondent, is light in Rochester, N. Y., and
vicinity. The same remark applies here, and in Boston, though Mr. Hovey's fine trees
have more than an average. The trees flowered well in most neighborhoods, but much of
the fruit fell before it was fully established. Mr. Wilder's extensive collection will pro-
duce rather more than half a crop. We should say, after an extensive tour, that pears this
year would nowhere be as abundant as was hoped, and the peach crop poor.

The Forest-trees of America, by R. U. Piper, M. D., Woburn, Mass., is the title of a
quarto livraison well printed, which we picked up in Boston the other day. It appears to
us to aim at describing many things which have been described before ; the Horticulturist,
old and new, is quoted extensively ; the pictures are well drawn and printed, but we do not
yet quite discover its aim or drift.

The Flower Garden, or Breck's Book of Flowers, is a new edition revised and enlarged
of the excellent Boston Seedsman and Cultivator, Mr. Joseph Breck. It contains much
valuable information of a practical kind, and may usefully be employed as a guide.

H. A. Dreer, Seedsman, 117 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, advertises seeds suitable for the
season. Especially he recommends his Extra Pansies, which took the premium in April
last, and have been saved with care.

Transactions of the Connecticut State Agricultural Society, 1855. — This well printed
and well written volume of 350 pages, has been placed before us, by Henry A. Dyer, Esq.,
of Hartford, Corresponding Secretary.

Connecticut deserves every honor for having been the first American State to set apart a
fund for the maintenance of free schools, thus inaugurating a policy of the deepest moment,
which has been followed throughout the Union ; it was also the first to urge the establish-
ment of a Normal School, for the education of teachers ; and the first to make provision
for the teaching of the Deaf and Dumb. Education, indeed, has been her wealth, and we
now see its results in increased attention to the culture of the earth ; her citizens are pio-
neers everywhere ; as members of useful Boards in other States to which they emigrate
they take the lead in agriculture, and are rarely in the rear. The perusal of these
Transactions has afforded us great pleasure. Mr. Huntingdon, their late President, has
contributed his Address, a most lucid and agreeable one. Altogether this volume is credit-
able to its authors, and we could wish it may be perused in other States as well as at home.
The addresses delivered before these societies are wells of thought and information ; they
form a new species of literature, engaging the thoughts and experiences of some of our
wisest men, so that Transactions which might be thought, on a casual sight of such volumes,
to be dry and dull, are among the best reading our presses produce. The work under con-
sideration is not a whit behind its now numerous compeers.

Pamphlets and Circulars Received. — List of Premiums of the Brooklyn Horticultural
Society for September Exhibition, September 17, 18, and 19, 1856.

Fourth National Exhibition of the National Agricultural Society, at Philadelphia, October
7th to 10th. Fourteen thousand dollars offered in premiums.

List of Premiums and Regulations of tlie Sixth Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania
State Agricultural Society at Pittsburg, Sept. 30, Oct. 1, 2, and 3, 185G.

Premiums and Regulations for the Seventh Annual Fair of the Ohio State Board of Agri-
culture, at Cleveland, September 23, 24, 25, and 2(3, 1856. Competition open to other States.

editor's table.

List of Premiums of the St. Louis Agricultural Association, to be held at St. Louis, Sep-
tember 23, 185(}.

Cliartor, Constitution, and By-Laws of the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Asso-
ciation.

Annual Report of the President of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture of the General
Assembly of Ohio, for 1855. Chillicothe, Baker & Miller, Printers.

Wholesale Catalogue, for Autumn of 1856 and Spring of 1857, of Ellwanger and Barry,
Rochester, New York.

Descriptive Catalogue of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, and Plants, cultivated and
for sale by Hubbard and Davis, at the Detroit Horticultural Garden.

"Wholesale Catalogue of ditto.

Descriptive Catalogue of Strawberries, comprised in the collection of Wm. R. Prince &. Co.,
Flushing.

Catalogue of the Fruit-Trees, Plants, &c., for sale by C. B. Swasey & Co., Yazoo, Miss.,
wholesale.

Premium List of the First Annual Fair, to be held in Columbia, S. C, 11th to 14th of
November.

Cheap Glass SxEucTrRES. — Tlie ensuing number will contain some illustrations of a cheap
glass structure which has been built in Belgium for sixty cents a running foot, the most
economical we have ever heard of. It is a subject of extreme interest to discover a mode
of having cold orchard and grape houses at a moderate cost ; they may be attended almost
without expense when the plants are established, so that the man who goes out to daily
labor may grow his ton of Black Hamburghs and reap a reward proportionate to his intel-
ligence. His wife, if there was no other assistance, with the least exertion, could regulate
the ventilation, and shut it up in high winds or during rain ; but there are hundreds who
"work at home, who could obtain an income equal to that from a small farm by a simple
grapery. At the latest exhibition in London, the prizes for grapes were taken from all the
expensive houses, by a gardener who built a small shed for growing vhies for sale ; a few of
them were left to run over the structure, as will be more fully detailed in our next number,
with a neglected little border and but little attention.

It is the season now when all will be looking about how to protect their valuable plants,
and to facilitate this object, we give the dimensions of a complete pit of very simple con-
struction, which we know to have produced a succession of bloom that shamed some finer
structures.

It is in form something like the pit described in the April number, page 105, but has no
flue, and from it the plants are taken to a little conservatory, made by simply inclosing a
portion of the piazza communicating with the drawing-room, as fast as they appear likely
to bloom. It is built of one and a half inch plank made double, and the space between
the two sides filled with tan, which is cheaper than manure, renewing it every two or three
years. Charcoal, where it is to be had cheaply, would answer equally well.

DIMENSIOXS.

Length of the outside

Breadth " "

Height in front "
" back "

Length of the inside .
Probably another foot in breadth, making 9 feet, would be preferable.
It fronts S. S. E. with the door of entrance at the W. S. W. end, which in winter is closed,

DIMEXSIOSS.

27 ft.

Breadth of the inside . .

5 ft

8 ft.

Height in front " . .

4 ft

3 ft.

6 in.

" back " . .

6 ft

7 ft.

6 in.

Outside front above ground

1 ft

24 ft.

4 in.

back "

4 ft

6 in.

in addition to the door, with mattings of straw. There are 8 sashes of 6 by 8 glass, with
straw mats, and half-inch board covers.

There is one shelf on the interior front, running the whole length for small pots, and
behind, three shelves of half the length of the pit, to allow room for the largest plants to
stand on the ground.

This pit should be drained in some way, say by digging down to sand, but if that is im-
practicable, dig one or more holes and fill them with broken stones, to keep the bottom dry.

Again, as to graperies : Lean-to houses are considered better adapted for forcing-houses
than those having span roofs, not so much in respect to the quantity of light which passes
into them, as in their longer retention of the heat which enters with light, and which, as
every gardener knows, escapes more rapidly from houses having glass on all sides, than
from those having only one side, and that facing the south. To carry out, says an authority
on this topic, the ripening of fruit to its highest point of excellence, the leaves, from their
earliest development, must be kept fully exposed to light, to insure the healthy action of
their organs in furnishing an abundant supply of the necessary food for the fruit while in a
young and growing state ; and as the fruit approaches maturity, light, and a more full
exposure to air than what may even be necessary during the period of growth, should be
admitted, to enable the vital force within the fruit itself to perform the changes requisite to
give flavor and proper consistence to its component parts. To effect this, forced fruits
should be allowed to ripen slowly, that the processes whereby their characteristic qualities
are obtained, may be formed without being hurried, and the fniit consequently may attain
its fullest development of size, color, and flavor.

Pears in New Jersey. — E. B. Edwards gives us as his experience of pears, in the neigh-
borhood of Haddonfield, N. J., as follows : —

Duchess d'Angouleme (dwarfs), prolific bearers.
Louise Bonne de Jersey, " " "

Honey Pear, ripe in August (dwarfs), prolific bearers.
Belle Lucrative, " " "

Doyenne Robin (first season), " very full of pears.

" Boussock, " moderate bearer.

Glout Morceau (five years from bud), dwarf; no fruit.
Doyenne Gouliault, dwarf; fair show of fruit.
Columbia, dwarf (five years from bud), no fruit.

I have between forty and fifty kinds of dwarf pears, about half of them obtained four
years ago ; the remainder last fall. The Doyenne Boussock, described by Downing as Gray
Doyenne, we kept till Christmas, and thought it unsurpassed, in flavor, by any pear.

The MicnifiAN State Agricultural Society will hold its eighth annual fair at Detroit, Sept.
30th, Oct. 1st, 2d, and 3d. "We have examined the premium list which embraces a wide
range of subjects, and is on a liberal scale. The Michigan Society is very far from being
on the " old fogy" list alluded to with justice by Jeffreys, in August.

Lombardy Poplar. — A gentleman of Illinois writes us as follows : "Please record my vote
for Mr. Allen, on the Lombardy Poplar quistion, with an express restriction, by way of
amendment, that planters are not to set them out h la ten-pin alley. There is no tree, native
or foreign, that will flourish in this climate, and exactly fill the place of the Lombardy
Poplar for a break in the scenery of low, flat tracts. When set from cuttings, as it ought
to be, it will never sucker. The L. Poplar man has lazily i^lanted a sucker, grown from a
that suckered by reason of its lower buds not being removed from the cuttin;
has naturally suckered again.

The ExiuniTio-vp. — Tlie period of exhibitions is upon us. Our readers will not forget tlio
p.ithcrinp of tlio American Pomological Society, at Rochester, on the li4tli of this mouth, and
at tlie United States National here on the 7th of October, wo expect to meet many friends.
As a matter of reference, wo insert a table of the dates of the several shows in the various
States, and the names of the Corresponding Secretaries : —

NATIONAL AND STATE SHOWS FOR ISflO.

rniieii States,

Amoricau Pomological,

Aliibaina,

California,

Canada East,

Canada West,

Connecticut,

Georgia,

Illinoia,

Indiana,

Iowa,

Kentucky,

Maine,

Maryland,

Michigan,

Missouri,

Now Hampshire,

New Jersey,

New York,

North Carolina,

Ohio.

Pennsylvania,

South Carolina,

Tennessee,

Vermont,

Virginia,

Wisconsin,

Cor. Secretary.
Wm. S. King,

Warren,
Wm, Evans,
J. P. Litchlield,
Heiirv A. Dyer,
J. W.' Lewis,
.1. A. Kennicott,
J. A. Wright,
M. Warden,
W. C. Lyte,

Samuel Sands,
J. C. Holmes,
J. S. Miner,
J. O. Adams,
J. H. Frazee,
B. P. Johnson,
T. J. Lcman,
George Sprague,
R. C. Walker,
A. G. Sumner,

E. G. Eastman,
J. A. Beckwith,

F. G. Ruffin,

G. 0. Tiflany,

Place.
Philadelphia,
Rochester, New York,
Montgomery,
Kan Jose,
Three Rivers,
Kingston,
New Haven,
Atalanta,
Alton,

Indianapolis,
Muscotine,
Paris,

Baltimore,
Detroit,
St. Louis,

Newark,

Watertown,

Raleigh,

Cleveland,

Pittsburg,

Columbia,

Nashville,

Burlington,

Richmond,

Milwaukie,

Time.
October? to 10.
September 21.
November 1 1 to 14.
October; to 10.
September 16 to IS.
September 23 to 20.
October? to 10.
October 20 to 23.
September .30 to October 3.
September 20 to 25.
October 8 to 10.
September 30 to October 4.
October 28 to 31.
October 21 to 24.
September 30 to October 3.
September 23.
Octobers to 10.
September 10 to 12.
September 30 to October 3.
October 14 to 17.
September 23 to 26.
September 30 to October 3.
November 11 to 14.
October 7 to 10.
September 9 to 12.
October 28 to November 1.
October 8 to 10.

Strawberries. — The Cincinnati Valley Farmer rejoices greatly over the strawberry busi-
ness of this season, and says, in June : " Mr. Culbertson, alone, is now bringing daily into
market one hundred bushels of strawberries."

Brown and Grat. — In our last " gossip," we gave a short notice of Robert Brown, the
great botanist ; this recalled to the memory of a friend, the following happy jcti (V esprit,
written by a lady on the closing of Dr. Gray's botanical lectures at the Odeon, Boston : —

" Though Flora's bright colors her children adorn,
Iler apostles are clad in more sober array ;
In England, they boast nothing better than Brown,
In our happy land, nothing brighter than Gray."

Hermann, Missouri, June 25, 1856.
J. J. Smith, Esq. — In the May number of your Uorticulturist, I found a notice to the Cor-
responding Secretaries of the horticultural societies, to send in their names, as you intend
to j>ublish a list of them. This seems to me to be an excellent idea, as it will make it much
easier for all to send each other such notices and communications as may serve to promote
the common cause. We have reorganized a society here, to promote the culture of the grape,
pomology, and horticulture. Our means are small, yet all the members take a lively interest
in the matter, and I hope we shall do somethii% in time. I think this country peculiarly
adapted to fruit culture, and the culture of the grape, in which we have engaged pretty
extensively. Although the Catawba has failed us several seasons, we have several other
varieties which, I think, will prove very valuable, and make wine growing the most profit-
able business we can engage in. We make an excellent wine here from the Catawba, of
which I shall tafce the liberty of sending you a sample next fall, as, also, some specimens
of apples. The Catawba is much subjected to mildew and rot, but will, nevertheless, even in

the worst season, always pay the diligent cultivator for his trouble ; we have had examples
here even of extraordinary yields. The vines suffered much last winter, and, in some vine-
yards, were killed to tlie ground, hut the grapes we have look very fine. Our fruit-trees
also suffered much, but I hope the most of them will live. I have an orchard of 1,500 bear-
ing trees, and am confident, from long experience, that apples and peaches succeed here
better than in most parts of the Union. From four trees of the Yellow Bellflower, planted
in 1847, I gathered, last fall, 49 bushels of such apples, as would have done your heart good
to look at, after making two barrels of cider from the apples that dropped before the final
gathering. About peaches, if you will pardon my gossiping, L can tell you, that a friend
from Jersey declared that they fairly beat all New Jersey peaches he had ever seen. This
will serve to show what we can do in peach culture. The pear also promises well, but has
not been tried long enough yet. The Bartlett, Beurre Bosc, Frederick of Wurtemberg,
Charles of Austria, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Beurre Capiaumont, and St. Germain, produce
very fine fruit, and are regular and abundant bearers. Plums, nectarines, and apricots, I
have given up, as the little " Turk" destroys them all. The Mayduke, Early Purple Guigne,
Belle de Choisy, and Black Tartarian Cherries, all do well here, but all the other Heart
Cherries I have tried are poor bearers. We can also raise all the smaller fruit in abundance,
except gooseberries, which mildew. Wishing you and your valuable journal (which, by
the by, is worth four times the money it costs) all possible success,

I remain yours, respectfully,

George Husmaxn,
Cor. Sec. of Western Fruit Growers'' Asso. and Ilort. Soc, at Hermann, Gasconade Co., Mo.
[We are pleased with Mr. Husmann's letter, and shall hope to hear from him again,
regarding fruit culture in Missouri. — Ed.]

Alton, Illinois, July 11, 1856.

Dear Sir : The season has now so far advanced, that the effect of the winter's cold is
plainly discernible. Much more injury has been done than at first sight appeared. One
fact is plainly proven. The condition of a tree, as to growth, has much to do with its ability
to stand excessive cold. Trees that were very vigorous, that made a fine growth, and also
those that made scarce any, escaped, while those that made a partial growth — that is, those
that seemed intermediate — have been killed.

Is it not for this reason : the strong growers, full of vigor, ripened and perfected their wood ; the
feeble growers, making but little effort, were not so filled with sap as to be affected, going to
rest early, from their inability to make further effort, wliile the medium grower was caught
by the cold before it had accomplished its purpose ? The result is as stated, and that, too,
without regard to sorts. Brinkle's Oregon Raspberry is a great acquisition. It has stood
the severe cold without injury, is very prolific, and of fine flavor. The drought has injured
all our early apples, rendering them small, and comparatively worthless.

Yours, James E. Starr.

i0rticullurnl Sotidics.

Pe.v.vstlvania HoKTicrLTURAL SociETt. — The stated meeting of this Society occurred on Tuesday Evening,
July 15, K. W. Keyser, Vico-l'resident, in the chair. Premiums awarded on this occasion were as follows; —

Hy the Committee on Plants and Flowers. — Petunian — for the hest display, and the second best display, to
J. J. Haberraehl, gr. to .1. Lambert. Collection of tioelve PUtnts — for the best, to Chas. Sutherland, gr. to John
Anspach ; for the .second best, to Thos. Ilobertson, gr. to B. A. Fahnestock. Colketinn of sij; Plonti — for the
best to Mark llill, gr. to M. W. Baldwin. Specimen Plant — for the best, to Chas. Sutherland, for Clerodendr
fallax ; for the second best, to John Pollock, gr. to James Dundas, for Adamia versicolor. Table design — for
best, to H. A. Dreer. Baskets — for the best, to J. J. Ilabermehl ; for the second best, to Mark Hill. Bouqiiets

for tho bpst pair, to J. J. Hiiberinplil ; for fho second best, to H. A. Dreor. A special premium for a Ad* colleo-

tioii >•!" doiiliU' llollyhockn, frmu Tlios. Kichanlson, Now York.

By the C'oinniittoo on Kniit. Grapes — for the bc«t grown in pots, to Richard Mathews, gr. to Jos. 8. Loyerlng ;
for the host llirije bunches of a black variety, to James Bouner, gr. to C. P. Fox ; for tlio second best, to Chas.
Puthorlaud, gr. to J. Anspach ; for the best of a wliite variety, to James Bonnor ; for tlio serornl best, to John
Keilly, gr. at Insnno Asylum. Apricots — for the best twelve to John McLaughlin, gr. to Isaac B. Baxter, fmrs
— for llio best, to tlic same. (rongrJ/errie.s — for the best, to the same ; for the second best, to Wm. Grassie, gr. to
John Tucker. Riutjiherrks — for the best and for the second best, to tlie same. Nprrifd PreriiinroM — one dollar
each for Rod Currants and for Black Currants, to Wm. Grassio, and for White Currants, to A. L. Felten. Also,
for a fine display of various fruits, a premium of three dollars to A. L. Felten.

By the Committee on Vegetables. Timiatoi'Ji — for the best, to James Jones, gr. at the Girard College ; for the
second best, to Wm. Grassio; for the best display by a market gardener, to A. L. Kolton. A special premium
of one dollar, to James Miller, gr. to K. Cornelius, for four fine specimens of the Lord Sherbourne Cucumber.

Objects siiow.v. — Plants — From J. Anspach's collection. — Begonia I'rostoniensis, Cuphea plalyccnlra, Viuca
rosea, V. oculata, Hydrangea horlensis, H. japonica, Rondcletia speciosa, Taborna; moutana coronaria, Nerim-
bergia grandiflora. Fuchsia Fair Kosamoud, Clerodendrum Kajmpheri, and C. fallax.

From B. A. Faliuestock's. Clerodendrum Kiempheri, C. sciuamatum. Fuchsia Macbeth, F. Mad. Sontag, Medi-
nilla magnifica, M. urophylla, Achimenes vcuusta, A. grandillora, A. Boothij, Gloxinia rubra, G. imperialis, and
ilydrangea hortensis.

From James Dundas's. Cuphea platycentra, Nerimbergia gracilis, Torrenia Asiatica, Clerodendrum Devoni-
anum. Begonia semperflorens, B. nitida, Vinca alba, V. rosea, Isoleria Dicaisneana, Adamia versicolor, Jnsticia
bicolor. Fuchsia Darling, and F. Sidonea.

From M. W. Baldwin's. Pentas carnea, Ixora coccinea, Fuchsia Mad. Sontag, F. Kerrii, Allamanda nereifolia,
and Musendra frondosa. 2i'eio. — Petinca superba.

From John Lambert's. Two extensive displays of Petunias, comprising seventy pots.

By A. L. Felten. A Cereus grandiflorus.

From Thomas Richardson, New York. Some forty cut flowers of Double Hollyhocks.

Designs, Baskets and Botif/iiets. — By Henry A. Dreer. — A large table design.

Bv J. J. Habermehl. — A fine basket and a pair of bouquets.

By Mark Hill.— A basket.

By H. A. Dreer. — A pair of hand bouquets.

By R. Kilvington. — A bouquet.

Fruit. — From J. S. Lovering's. — Nine pots of Grape-vines in full bearing.

From John Tucker's. — A very large Pineapple in a pot. Rasj)l)erries, two kinds, and Black Currants.

From John Anspach. — Grapes — three hunches Black Fraukenihal and three white Frontiguac.

From C. P. Fox's. — Grapes — three bunches of each, a black and white variety.

From the Insane Asylum. — Grapes — white and black varieties.

From Isaac B. Baxter. — Apricots — twelve Baxter's seedling. Pears — moulebouche. Gooseberries — three kinds.
Wilder and Red Seedling Raspberries, and Black Currants.

From A. L. Felten. — Raspberries — Antwerp and early blue. Gooseberries — three varieties. Large Black,
Wliite, and Red Currants. Early harvest Pears. Mulberries and Cherries.

\''ffetables.—By A. L. Felten. — A large and fine display.

By James Jones, Girard College. — Tomatoes.

From John Tucker's. — Tomatoes.

From R. Cornelius's. — Four fine Cucumbers.

By M. S. AVickersham. — Specimens of the Chick Pea — Cicer arietinum.

G liXESEE Valley Hoeticcltckal Society, at Rochester, Kew York. — Theu.snal June exhibition of the above-
named Society, was held at Corinthian Hall for two days, and the display of cut flowers, floral ornaments, and
greenhouse plants was equal to former ones. The Strawberries were in perfection, and some forty varieties were
shown.

EUwanger and Barry, H. E. Hooker & Co., Selah Matthews, and George Newland, were the principal com-
petitors.

"Hooker's Seedling" was admired by all, and your readers maybe assured that we can boast of a most
superior berry in this new seedling. It will rank with " Bnrrs's New Pine," although distinct from that in
character. It is uncommonly juicy and high flavored, a large berry, and a most prolific bearer. I subjoin a
particular description of it, only adding that its parentage may be either from the British Queen or Leviathan
seedling.

Description. — Very large size, some of the berries measuring five and a half inches, of dark red, almost black
when very ripe, with beautiful gloss, form conical, but very frequently flattened at the top and sides in large
specimens.

The flowers arc perfect, and the vine a strong grower, enduring the severest cold without injury. The fruit
is produced lor a great length of time, having ripe berries and blossoms upon the same fruit stalk. For four
years, during whicli time it has been cultivated, it has never failed to produce an abundant crop.

The "Hooker's Seedling" will prove a most valuable market berry, it being of a uniform large size, and
showy. The premium for best quart was awarded to this berry.

While I deem the "Bnrrs's New Pine" the very best berry (for flavor) now extant, I am satisfied that all the
excellence of the " Hovey's Seedling," " Bicton Pine," " McAvoy's Superior," or any of the best fruits of this
class are combined in the " Hooker's Seedling." It is a great acquisition, and is, no doubt, to become a popular
fruit.

EUwanger and Barry, amongst their numerous collection, presented their own " Genesee Seedling" and No. 1,
which last is a high-flavored berry. The "Trollops Victoria," an English variety introduced by thern, is a
mammoth berry of good flavor, and will become much valued for the amateur, and should be in all collections.

Jlr. Newland presented, amongst his large collection, the "Chilian Pyramidal," which deserves attention for
its high flavor ; it is said to be a good bearer, and ranks No. 1.

We can now enumerate to represent —

Keio Ynrk. — "Genesee Seedling," of EUwanger and Barry ; their "No. 1," of EUwanger and Barry; and
"Hooker's Seedling."

MasKachusetts. — Hovey's Seedling, Walker's Seedling, Jenney's Seedling, and Bicton Pine.

Pennsylvania. — " Moyamensing" and "Cushing."

Oldo. — " Bnrrs's New Pine," " McAvoy's Superior." All first class berries.

"" e Editor of the Horticulturist was looked for here; and with our regrets that he did not come, we shall
that in being absent he was the loser. — J. H. Watts.

fully coincide with the latter sentiment. How clever it would be for an editor to be ubiquitous

Chester Cocntt HoRTicnLTURAi. Society. — The stated meeting for July was held in the Society's Hall, on the
12th inst., Vice-President J. H. Bull, Esq., presiding.

Plants and Flowers. — From the collection of Josiah Hoopes, viz: Ten specimen plants of Gloxinias : Begonia
parviflora, B. lanceolata, B. Prestonien.sis, Ruellia formosa, Russellia juncea, Cissus discolor, Torrenia asiatica,
Centradenia florabunda, Nepeuthus distillatorius, Lycopodium arborenm, L. denticulatum, Hoya bella, Echitcs
picta, E. Nutens, Acrostichium alcicorue. New. — Fuchsia Mrs. Story and Prince Albert, Cephalotus foUicularis,
Geraniums amazon, and golden chain.

From J. L. Darlington & Co. Fine plant of Fuchsia Empress Eugenia, and a splendid collection of seedling
double Hollyhocks. Also, a handsome bouquet.

Fruit. — From J. & M. Bennett's. Red and purple Antwerp and common black Raspberries, red Dutch and
black Naples Currants, Kentish, and two seedling varieties of Cherries.

From J. H. Bull's. Orange, Red Antwerp, and Gushing Raspberries.

From S. P. Hoopes's. Franconia Raspberries.

From M. B. Thomas's. Three varieties of Gooseberries.

From Josiah Hoopes's. Raspberries, viz: River's Monthly, Knevett's Giant, Fastolff, Orange, Hudson River
Antwerp, Franconia, Gushing, River's Antwerp, Common Red Antwerp, Vice-President French, Ohio Everbear-
ing, Col. Wilder, Thunderer, and Common Black.

Troth's early Red Peaches (forced), and Red Dutch Currants.

Two gentlemen were elected members.

By order of the

PrBLicATioN Committee.

SEPTEMBER.

BY T\T:LLIAM SAUNDERS.

Vegetable Garden. — All vacant ground should be turned over, and left in a rough
state that it may be pulverized by frosts. Strong loamy soils cannot be profitably cultivated
unless advantage is taken of the meliorating and gratuitous fertilizing properties of the
atmosphere. A small portion of the subsoil may be annually brought to the surface, in
order to liberate and render available any inorganic substances in its composition. Soils
of a ferruginous character, especially, require such treatment, and it is of much importance
to turn them over occasionally, in order to expose new surfaces and bring the hitherto
excluded earths to the action of the atmosphere. Frost is a valuable auxiliary in this
matter. In freezing the water expands and the earthy particles are separated, and d.uriug
the thawing process a gradual crumbling and granulation take place, producing a friability
not readily attained by any other means.

There are few soils actually deficient in inorganic materials, were they duly exposed to
the air, so that their latent principles of fertility would be rendered actjve and available
for the uses of vegetation.

A further object of much moment, resulting from the exposure of soil to winter frosts,
is the destruction it occasions to insects and their larvre, by disturbing and breaking up
their lurking places and nests. This mode of destroying insects is more effectual than is
generally supposed. Indeed, when a thorough system of cultivation is pursued, it is sel-
dom found necessary to resort to expedients which are frequently rendered necessary to
counteract defective management.

The winter crops should be encouraged towards maturity by freqxient cultivation. Celery
should be slightly earthed up as it progresses in growth. Some cultivators prefer growing
it to its full size before earthing up, others earth up so closely as to injure growth. A
medium course is perhaps preferable. When the earthing up is delayed too long, blanch-
ing will be imperfect, and size will be gained at the expense of quality.

Lettuce should be planted in frames, for early winter use, a few radish seeds may be
sprinkled among the plants.

Hardy Frpit. — Strawberry plantations may be set out this month. Select plants from
healthy vines, and mulch immediately after planting, if convenient. Those potted last
month for forcing, should receive plenty of water, and be kept clear of runners.

Gathering Fruit. — Pears should be gathered before being fully ripe. All of them are
improved when ripened in the house, and many of our best sorts may be ripened to insipidity
by hanging too long on the tree. Fruit that is to be kept for months must be very care-
fully handled ; the slightest bruise favors early decay. A good criterion is to gather
as the seeds change to a brown color, which is easily ascertained.

(iRArERY. — If the treatment recommended in former calendars with reference to air and
tenii)or;iture lias been fully carried out, the yuun^' wooil will he well rijiened, the hest
safeiruard against rigorous winters. Still keep the house open night and day. Closing up
only during heavy rains.

CiUKEMiorsE. — As the summer flowers wane, and jirevious to arranging the plants for
winter, the house should undergo all necessary repairs. Fumigating strongly witli suljihur
will completely rout all the spider and hug families. After the plants are taken in, ample
ventilation should be given. The house should not be closed until there is indication of
frost. The advantage and necessity for cool, low uiglit temperature will, in a few years, bo
more generally understood. The preserving of a uniform temperature has been the cause
of many disappointments in the artificial cultivation of j)lants. Water must be judiciously
applied. The supply must be gradually withdrawn as cold weather approaches, that plants
may be better enabled to stand cold without injury. Let the quantity at each ajiplication
be sufficient to thoroughly moisten all the soil, but lengthen the periods between the appli-
cations.

Withhold water from achemenes as soon as the leaves fade. Encourage young calceola-
rias, and cinerarias by careful watering. Syringe them slightly in the morning. All
watering should be done in the early portion of the day. Cuttings of all half hardy green-
house plants will strike root very readily at this season. Keep them regularly moist but
not wet ; a small frame with sash is the most convenient mode of propagating. Keep close
and shaded during sunlight ; remove the shade evening and morning, and open the sash
at night.

Chinese Primroses may be shifted into six inch pots to flower. All plants intended for
winter flowering should not be over-potted. The more roots the more flowers, or rather, the
plants will flower most profusely when the pots are well filled with roots.

Many of the flower garden plants, carefully lifted and potted will afl"ord a show of flowers
during winter. Scarlet pelargoniums, salvias, spireas, wiegelas, Forsythia virsidissima are
suitable for this purpose ; place them in a shady and sheltered spot for a week or two, to
encourage rooting.

Hyacinths and other bulbs should he potted early. A friable light turfy soil will suit
them well ; let the pots be particularly well drained. After jjotting, cover them with 8
or 10 inches of soil, or coal ashes. Here they will make roots, and when wanted to flower
a few can be taken into the greenhouse. A succession of bloom can thus be kept up for
many months.

Planting Trees. — Tliose who intend to plant in the fall should immediately attend both to
the preparation of the ground and selecting the trees. With regard to the latter, a better esti-
mate can be made of the general habit and health of a plant before the fall of the leaves. It
may be necessary to caution beginners against the prevailing error of selecting the largest
trees. Medium sized trees come up with better roots, are easier handled, less liable to
casualties in transportation, and grow faster than those that have been drawn up tall,
weak, and unshapely in nursery rows. Old trees have strong roots, and these must neces-
sarily be cut in removing. The tops must then be iiruned down, to correspond with this
mutilation, in order to secure a healthy start. So that there is nothing gained in the way
of size. Even should they live, it is only an eking out a miserable existence for two or
three years ; meanwhile the smaller tree far exceeds it both in health and height.

The question as to whether autumn or spring planting is most successful, has been often
discussed. The arguments favoring autumn planting are based upon the well-known fact
that the roots and branches may be separately excited to growth. This is well exemplified
in the rooting of slips or cuttings. To favor root formation the cuttings are placed in soil
kept warmer than the surrounding atmosphere. In the fall the soil is warmer than the
air; the formation of roots proceeds while the branches are dormant ; when spring arrives,
the balance of the tree being in a great measure restored, growth commences vigorously,
and the plant becomes established and able to bear up against summer aridity.

But to insure these good results, planting should be proceeded with immediately after the
leai-es have fallen; if delayed beyond October success will be less certain.

Holes should be made 6 or 8 feet in diameter and 14 to 18 inches deep. In clayey sub-
soils, breadth should be considered of more importance than dejjth. A portion of well pul-
verized soil should be in readiness when planting season arrives. It is poor economy to
pay a couple of dollars for a tree and then begrudge a shilling for planting it.

KITIG-ZT'S EARLY EIACK

" Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave, solemnizing nativi-
ties and deaths with equal lustre, not omitting ceremonies of bravery in the infamy of his
nature." — Sir Thomas Bkowne.

HE great difficulty experienced by planters of indi-
vidual cemetery lots, is in their want of knowledge
as to plants that will succeed in particular situa-
tions. Many lots are in shade either totally or
partially; to place roses in such spots, would
be sure to be attended with disappointment,
while, with a proper selection of shrubbery, suc-
cess would be insured. Our list, as in the former
b number, is not complete, but will prove sugges-
tive to lot-holders in cemeteries as well as for
private gardens.

LIST OP SHRUBS AND PLANTS THAT SUCCEED IN THE SHADE.

Uliododendrons and Kahnias,

The Belffian Azaleas,

The Hollies,

Hemlock,

Aucuba Japonica,

Dwarf Horsechestnut,

Box- Trees,

Stuartia's,

Yews,

American Arbor Vitce,

Siberian " "

The Chinese will not succeed.

Dogwoods ; the Sanguinea is very ornamental

and suitable.
Snowberries,

Junipers,

Euonymus Japonica,

Privet,

Clethra Alnifolia,

Spice Wood,

Hawthorns,

Hydrangea,

Lily of the Valley,

Periwinkle,

Ivy and Ferns,

Mahonias,

Daphne Pontica,

Wild Violets,

Hemerocallis,

Anemone Pennsylvanica,

Monuments. — With regard to the material of which monuments may be con-
structed with a view to durability, it is acknowledged that the best sandstones
are every way suitable. They should be made of the compact, fine, light colored
kinds, in order that they may be easily worked into form as sharp and delicate as
marble itself. The stains of weather, and the falling of leaves, would not dis-
figure them. Granite we have already indicated, but Bronze is better adapted to
statues and reliefs, as well as to vault entrances, than any other substance, and is
as enduring as could be desired. In Greenwood Cemetery, New York, there are
several good examples, especially the monument to De Witt Clinton, executed
by Brown, an excellent artist of that city, who works in bronze equal to any
European. Effigies are particularly suitable in this material, and we hope to see
it much more generally employed, as it unquestionably will be ; this is the enduring
and yet plastic material so much wanted.

As it is not to be expected, however, that we shall very soon give up the best
marble, this should be protected by a canopy or temple. In the continental ceme-
teries, it is usual for a portion of the ground to be appropriated for sculpture, by
the erection of covered ways for numerous families who patronize the fine arts ;
such may be seen at Frankfort on the Maine, where we especially remember the
temple of the Bethman family, occupied by some of the finest statuary of Thor
walsden.

Vol. YI.— October, 1856.

29

While we write, a very sensible little volume has l)ecn laid on our table, entitled
" Hints oonccniing Greenwood, its Monuments and Improvements, by N. Cleve-
land," from which we make a few brief extracts to the point : —

" St/mholic Devices. — Symbols, in monumental sculpture, if happily conceived
and well executed, arc always frratifyiiifr. The rareness of success shows the
ditticulty of the umlertakinjj^. On the other hand, in no do])artment of art, per-
haps, is failure so j^larintr or so shockinjr. It is painful to be forced to smile at
objects which arc designed, and which ought to compose and to elevate our
thoughts. Let the man who contem})lates such a work, remember that he is
about to invite scrutiny, and to challenge criticism. Ijct it be well considered,
lest, peradvcnture, he record some expensive folly, in a material whose durability
would then be its greatest objection. Such a work should call into rccjuisition
the choicest talent and the highest skill. Genius and i>iety should furnish the
design ; judgment and taste should superintend the task.

" Ou a point of this nature, our suggestions must, of necessity, be general.
Not a few derive their symbolism from the ancients. The lachrymatory, the
mutilated column, the inverted torch, are very frequent. To be classic is the
highest ambition of some. With them, ai)propriatencss and consistency are
matters of small importance. Were there no other objection to the class of
objects in question, it would, in my mind, be sufficient, that imitation and repeti-
tion are fatal to sentiment, and nullify, if they do not reverse, the intended eU'ect.
Let it also be considered that these symbols are pagan, not only in origin, but
in purport. They are the mute language of a grief, to which consolation was
unknown — the sad hieroglyphics of despair. They say nothing of faith, or hope,
or immortality, or heaven. What have Christians to do with such emblems ?

" One other kind of mortuary memorial asks our attention, and it is the highest
of all. I refer to personal representations in the form of statues and reliefs.
These may be copies from nature, or ideal forms ; they may be human, angelic,
or allegorical. They all belong to the province of sculpture, and many of her
best triumphs have been won on this field. Would that it were far more common
to resort to this mode of adorning the tomb and commemorating the dead.

" To those who have the desire and the means of securing these most beau-
tiful and expressive of all memorials, our advice is summed up in a word : em-
ploy the sculi)tor. The term is sufficiently definite, and certainly does not include
all who have learned to chip and hew in stone. Here, as in poetry, to fall short
of excellence, is to be nothing, or worse. When commissions in sculpture shall
be confined to able and educated artists, we shall, at least, be spared some gross
absurdities. Cherubs, with babies in their arms, will no longer be seen in down-
ward Q]ght ; and marble seraphs will cease to tceep, and break their harps, because
a mortal has exchanged the woes of earth for heavenly bliss."

The danger incurred by copying other monuments, is set forth in the following
passages : —

" In naming examples with commendation, let it not be imagined that we
advise any to copy them. To this, there are weighty objections. Towards the
sculptor or the architect who conceived the beautiful design, such a course is
meanly piratical. It invades also the rights of the proprietor, who has paid
liberally that he might have something peculiar and unique.

" A copy made by common workmen (and no others will attempt the wrong) is
rarely successful. Often it is only a caricature. To copy is slavish, as well as
mean. It discourages originality, and creates that monotony which is a positive
vice in the province of taste. If you see a design which you like, apply to the
artist who jiroduced it. If he deserve the name, he will give you, not a repetition

RURAL CEMETERIES.

of his owQ idea, but another conception, perhaps a happier one. Surely this is
far more honorable than the course of those who employ mere artisans to steal
the property of genius."

Enough has been said, perhaps, to convey leading ideas on this interesting
topic, and though the subject is by no means exhausted, we shall not detain the
reader much further than to remark, that simply to designate the boundaries of
lots by stones, six or eight inches high, at each corner, with the name or initials of
the owner, so that the grass may be mowed uniformly, may be sufficient where a
hedge is not desired ; to plant no large trees in small lots ; to avoid straggling
shrubbery, or anything that throws up suckers; to eschew poor iron railings or
tawdry monuments ; in short, to improve durably rather than super6cially, for
the present.

There is a subject connected with the interment of the dead, in this country,
which it will be proper only to allude to in a journal like the present. It is
one to which our advancing civilization and increasing population will, ere long,
command attention. We mean, the right of control over the remains of deceased
persons. It has been generally conceded, that it exists in the nearest relative, and
to that individual it is supposed the power attaches of giving an order for removal
from one spot to another. We know of no law in practice which says how this
shall be regulated ; the practice, in fact, is loose in the extreme. Almost any
individual, in our great city, may go to the Board of Health, and receive a
" permit" to remove the body of any other person from one grave to another,
or from one cemetery to another, and the nearest relative may never hear of the
circumstance. It is true, cases where improper motives may exist for such im-
proper interference are rare, but still, they may and do occur. The Board of
Health, itself irresponsible, gives very little attention, if any, to the matter ; the
permission is granted as a matter of course, without due inquiry, and the deed
is done without any ofiicial having had the slightest evidence of the nearness of
relationship, or of the right to interfere. At least, such was the loose system
when the writer was formerly a member of the Board.

In Europe, especially in France, every check is placed upon irregular action in
this matter. Offices exist to which application must be made before any person
can take an initiatory step in such a proceeding, and any one attempting such an
act is dealt with as a felon. It appears to us, that no removal should be allowed
without minute scrutiny as to the right to the possession of the deceased, and
that wise legislation must sooner or later be introduced among us to insure the
proper respect for the cherished remains of mortality. The first steps have been
taken for this purpose, by the formation of rural cemeteries ; it would be completed
by attention to the point we have indicated.

With these remarks we conclude our own experiences, for the present, with the
single additional suggestion, that whatever the improvements may consist in, high
keeping is one of the most essential parts of the management of rural cemeteries.
The roads and walks must be regularly and carefully attended to; the grass should
be cut early and frequently ; weeds and brambles of all kinds should be extermi-
nated as soon as they appear, never being allowed, on any account, to scatter
their seeds. Iron railings must be regularly painted with good materials, if thoy
are desired to be even temporarily what they were designed to be. It should be
the duty of the Superintendent, or an assistant, to pace every walk daily, with a
basket, to pick up the loose papers which visitors, and children especially, are
so apt to unroll from their eating stores, and throw carelessly about ; to trim off

dead limb or branch whenever it appears, and generally to exercise those duti
a good eye for all that is neat so readily learns to understand ; without

care, the visitor and lot-holder will often have tlieir fcolinjr.s jmint'd ; with it, iiml
with attention to what we have already enforced, a rural cemetery serves more to
console the bereaved than volumes of poetry, or cold dissertations on the duty of
resiffuation.

C n E 11 R I E S — T 11 E KNIGHT'S EARLY BLACK.*

BY P. BARRY, ROCHESTER, N. Y.

In all parts of the United States where the free growing sorts of cherries,
classed under the heads of " Hearts," and " Bigarreans," succeed well, the Early
Black of Knight proves to be one of the very best of all the black varieties. I
think it superior to the Black Tartarian in flavor, equally productive but less
rapid and symmetrical in its growth. It is as good us the Black Eagle, and
more productive.

It entirely supersedes the old Black Heart and several varieties of it that are
in cultivation. The tree is hardy for its class, a moderate grower, forming like
the Black Eagle a round regular head. The fruit, when well ripened, is nearly
black, with that uneven surface which characterizes the Black Tartarian. The
flesh or pulp is rather firm, deep purple, abounding in rich high flavored juice.

Ripe here, lat. 43°, usually first week in July; this season being late, 12th to
15th July. When I say ripe, I mean fuUy ripe, not half ripe, as cherries are
usually i)icked and sold.

It is said to be, in common with the Black Eagle and Elton, a cross of Mr.
Knight's, between the May Duke and Bigarrean or Yellow Spanish, but I have
still doubted this. The Black Eagle and this variety are evidently from the same
parents, as both trees and fruit have many common characteristics, but the Elton,
as almost everybody knows, is altogether diiferent. The tree in vigor, habit of
growth, foliage, and uU. The fruit in shape, color, flavor, and almost everything.
My impression is that Mr. Knight, who was not infallible, any more than you or
I, made a mistake here, and that the Black Eagle and Early Black were produced
by a cross between the Bigarrean and Black Tartarian.

This, however, is a matter of little importance to the cultivator, but it claims
the attention of the poraologist, and I take this occasion to throw out the hint.

You will know by this time that the fruit growers of Western New York had
a very interesting meeting at Syracuse, on the 2Yth and 28th days of June.
The Country Gentleman, of the 10th July, contains a very good notice of the
main points of proceedings.

Touching the subject of cherries, however, I find one branch of the discussion
omitted ; that was the best soil.

The great cherry difficulty in the West is a malady known as the Gum. Very little
of it has been seen in Western New York, but the evidence adduced by cultivators
at the meeting above referred to, rather proved that this disease was most preva-
lent in light sandy soils, and least so in strong and rather stiff gravelly loam. I
think this is worthy of note as tending to show that this disease has its origin
more in the soil than in climate. It agrees in the main with my own experience.

The Reine Hortense grows in favor, for although it is a moderate bearer, yet
the fruit is so large, beautiful, and refreshing, having just enough acid, and the
tree so hardy, belonging to the " Dukes," that it seldom fails to reward the culti-
vator. For the West, where only very hardy sorts can be grown, the Louis Phi-

* See Froiiti?piece.

lippe, a sort of early Morello, ripe July 10, will be foutid a gi*eat acquisition, I
believe.

It is nearly as large as May Duke, round deep red, acid but mild and very
rich, as a kitchen and preserving fruit it is certainly first rate in its season. The
Royal Duke is another noble fruit of the hardy sorts. Donna Maria, is earlier
than any of these, and also valuable, of the Morello class.

The Monstreuse de Mezel is a magnificent fruit of the largest size, but an awk-
ward tree. Governor Wood stands unrivalled among the sweet light red sorts of
free growth.

Mr. Chas. Downing brought some of the great Bigarrean from West Chester half
ripened, to Syracuse; they were on the branches, and gave evidence of great pro-
ductiveness and size.

Mr. D. recommends it highly; he says he would have it in a small collection of
six sorts. We have a bearing tree, but the crop this season was light and not pro-
mising, compared with others beside it. The tree evidently wants age. I might
spread this cherry gossip over several pages more, but this is enough for the
present. I will only add, that cherry-trees suffered much here during the two
winters last past. Last winter the mercury was down to 10° or 12° below zero
for many days, with a high wind blowing. A very small crop of fruit set, gene-
rally, and the trees for a long time looked ragged ; for a long time the fruit did
not promise to obtain more than half size, but the weather was favorable in
June, and most varieties came fully up to the usual standard. Knight's Early
Black I think finer than I ever saw it, though a week later.

VISITS TO COUNTRY PLACES, Xo. 3.

ABOUT NEW YORK, THE NORTH RIVER.

As one must leave the concert and the ball to see the charm of domestic life
and society, and to view the hallowing influence of woman's devotion at the bed-
side of the sick and the dying, so we must desert the highways of travel to enjoy,
or even to know of the many delightful retreats, the ornate mansions and grounds,
which have grown up during our late periods of prosperity in most parts of the
Union, where as much of the paradise with which man began his career is re-
established as his fallen nature will permit. It has been our good fortune to
revisit many such favored spots of late, and to discover new beauties and additions
created by the hand of taste.

Wodenethe, the seat of Henry Winthrop Sargent, Esq., near Fishkill Landing,
Dutchess County, N. Y., was ouv jioint dhippvi for the region of the Xorth River.
The railroad which scours the borders of this American Rhine affords opportunity
for excursions, above and below, of such facility that you make engagements for
a dinner party sixty miles off, if you choose, even months beforehand, with as
much certainty of meeting at the hour named as we formerly felt in crossing a
street. Mr. Sargent is perfectly at home in all this region, and we found his
arrangements for the enjoyment of our little horticultural party perfect ; every
day brought its new and delightful scenes, we must say, unrivalled for beauty,
ready prepared for the enjoyment of elegant leisure.

Wodenethe is Mr. Sargent's own creation. Prepared by foreign travel and
residence in the finest parts of Europe, and with a native taste for rui'al life, Mr.
ent procured a spot of extraordinary beauty, nearly opposite to Newburgh
began his operations of building and planting about the same period

VISITS TO COUNTRY PLACES.

year or so later, with Downing ; their friendship was such as poets ^ng, and

dramatists attempt to portray. ^Ir. l)uvviiiii.L!;'s Icistiro moments were never more
thoroufrhly enjoyed than when pacinu: witli liis liost around the new grounds,
suggesting an ell'ect here, an opening vista through yonder lofty grove, or advis-
ing about the hothouses and graperies, tlieir contents and government. These
scenes we well rcmem])er ; their recollection is a bright spot in the wastes of life.
When Wodenethe was purchased in 1841, the ground, as its name indicates, was
finely wooded.* White oaks threw their giant arms about, and the wild black-
berry was the only edible fruit. Mr. Sargent has made it "a wilderness of
beauty ;" it blossoms with the rose ; the foreign evergreens dispute their sway
with the old forest, which has been very gradually yielding its inferior specimens
to more ornate native or foreign foliage. Mr. Sargent is, by general consent,
our " tree-taster," as Mr. Reeves, of spiraea memory, was tea-taster to the East
India Company, with the difference that Mr. Sargent administers only to our
mental enjoyment. Ilis evergreens are specimen trees, collected at great cost
and labor from every region ; this was attended, of course, with a thousand fail-
ures, but these are not now apparent ; all that you see is in perfection. Those
portions not hardy have disappeared, and are replaced by more constant friends.
The place is a model of landscape gardening ; shrubs and trees appear just
where they are wanted ; the lawn is a carjiet of exquisitely kept verdure, mowed
every week or ten days with Shank's lawn-mower, an improvement on the English
machine, made by Mr. Sargent's neighbor, H. N. Swift, an ingenious mechanic,
whose inventive talents have introduced him to a large business in this manufac-
ture. We have seen many of his machines in use in various places, and are free
to say that we saw but one lawn, that under the care of Mr. Chorlton, on Staten
Island, that was perfect without Mr. Swift's invention. The machines are of
three sizes ; that for one horse cuts a width of thirty inches ; the pony size twenty-
four inches ; that drawn by two men sixteen inches ; and one which a single man
draws, and which is used to cut narrow borders, verges, and among and around
shrubbery and clumps, has a width of thirteen inches. It cuts, picks up the
grass in a box, and rolls the surface at the same operation, and saves an incredible
amount of labor. At Wodenethe, the entire lawn, between two and three acres,
is cut, gathered up, and rolled in one day, between seven in the morning and
sundown ; cut, too, in a way that no mower could cut and gather, and which could
not be done unless swept, as in England ; since, the lawn being cut once a week,
the grass rarely is over half an inch to one inch long, and, of course, could not
be lifted up by the ordinary lawn-rake. The largest size (horse) machine is used
here, with one boy to ride the horse, another to guide the machine. This same
lawn formerly occupied two men nine days, not mowing between ten and four.

At Wodenethe, you encounter beautiful specimen trees at every turn. Among
the deciduous kind that struck us most for their novelty and beauty were the cut-
leaved and fern-leaved beeches, the former six feet and the latter ten feet in height.
These truly ornamental trees should be placed in every plantation, as also the cut-
leaved horse-chestnut, cut-leaved ash, and cut-leaved linden, all of which at Woden-
ethe, being planted near each other, form a curious and interesting group.

Mr. Sargent has also produced another i)leasing effect by grouping the weeping
beech, weeping ash, weeping birch, weeping mountain-ash, weeping cherry, the
weeping sophora, the weeping linden, and the weeping larch, the latter a very
fine specimen, twelve or fourteen feet high, and a new beautiful weeping thorn.

As an evidence of the taste which governs the minutest improvement here, we

Wodeuetlie being composed of two Saxon words — u-oden, ethe, woody promontory

VISITS TO COUNTRY PLACES.

insert a picturesque gate, from a design by Mr. Sargent's father, an amateur
painter of great merit, whose beautiful productions adorn the walls of Wodenethe
mansion, together with 'many rare specimens and statuary from European masters.

Ornamental Garden Gate at Wodenethe, the residence of H. W. Sargent, Esq.

A curious effect is produced by the mingling of variegated and particolored,
trees, such as the variegated or silver-striped chestnut, the silver and variegated
elm, the silver variegated thorn, the golden-blotched maple, and a very curious
ash, the aucuba folia, with leaves as marked as the Japan gold-dust tree. These,
mixed with the purple beech, the copper beech, the purple elm, purple berberis,
and puri)le fdbert, the darker colors presenting themselves first, and gradually
blending off into the brightest, produce a very curious effect. The evergreens
predominate, and make both the winter and the summer scene delightful.

The Finns excelsa, or the Bhotan pine, has attained here the height of twelve
feet, and fully justifies Mr. Downing's description, "that affectedly pretty" pi

Pinus ponderosa, twelve feet, though only six years from the seed. This

VISITS TO COUNTRY PLACES.

very striking and rampant grower, though too loose in its habit to be very

liandsome.

Piccrt {linsnpo, six feet.

riccti ci'plialonicn, oij^lit, and very liandsonie.

Norilnianiaua, from the Crimea, three feet, and the finest of the pLceas.

Cedars of Lebanon, eight to fifteen feet.

Among the curious evergreens. Thuja filiforrais (weeping arbor vita?), six feet
high, weeping juniper, both beautiful, a very handsome golden-striped yew, six
feet, a golden-striped cedar, a novelty in England, where it originated, and a
silver-striped Dalsam fir ; but the two finest of Mr. Sargent's evergreens are the
Torreya Taxifolia, the original tree sent to Mr. Downing by Dr. Torrey, and
from which all the English Torreyas are descended, and the Abies Morinda,
ticenty-Jive feet high, and perhaps the finest specimen in this country.

The gardens arc models of neatness and success. There are 2(H)0 feet of espa-
liers for trained fruit-trees ; jieach houses, graperies, and forcing houses all in the
neatest order. Two thousand pounds of grapes were raised here in one season,
the average crop being 1000 pounds.*

We were amused by the mode of opening the lodge-gate, which is accomplished
in the following manner : Tlie lodge is set upon a Ha-ha or terraced wall adjoining
the gate ; through this wall a chain passes from the gate to the living room, and
there secured to a small windlass, which, on the arrival of a carriage, is instantly
w^ound up, thus opening the gate at any hour of the day or night without exposing
the lodge-keeper even to sight ; when open, it is held so until the carriage
passes, when it shuts of its own weight, being hung out of plumb.

In short, Wodenethe is a cabinet picture; in landscape effects perfect. Though
the place is not large, advantage is taken of its situation to appropriate the sur-
rounding scenery. Newburgh, on the opposite side of the river, lies at your feet
through an opening of the new Italian halcone ; the river, with its moving pano-
rama of steam-vessels, &c., through others, and all the effects of a large and
magnificent park are obtained through superb vistas. Every luxury, a fine library
of new and old books, a family of education to enjoy it, botanical riches, and
never-ceasing amusements, which "books, friends, a garden, and perhaps his pen"
afford, the hospitable owner never lacks congenial occupation, and, of course,
happiness.

Depend upon it, there is no* success can attend those who sit down in idleness
to enjoy their money. Man is never happy without a pursuit, and when his means
will allow it, he should seek an intellectual one ; such is horticulture and arbori-
culture. When we find a gentleman well read on these subjects, we feel sure he
is in a state of progress, that his time never hangs heavy on his hands, and that
he has something fo show for his intelligence. We are free to confess that we
deem this class to be the happiest Americans we know : —

" All, wlierever in the scale,
Have — be tliey liigli or low, or rich or poor,
Inherit they a sheep-hook or a scejitre —
Much to be grateful for ; hut most has he
Born in that middle sphere, that temperate zone,
Where knowledge lights his lamp."

* There are several interesting points about Mr. Sargent's management of his grounds
and graperies. In excavating for the house, the earth was made into an irregular mound ;
on this a rustic summer-house of great beaiatj has been erected, and the whole is overrun
■with Bignonias, Wistarias, Cobeas, &c., &c. In the grapery, where the border extend
inside, mushrooms are successfully grown ; they are picked every morning through
slats used for walking on, thus forming a successful and economical "mushroomery.''

A thorough inspection of the best country life in America will convince the
unprejudiced that we have among us a class of thoroughbred gentlemen, who
reside on their acres from the enjoyment they derive from it. They are not drink-
ers, as of old, for want of occupation, nor gamblers to get rid of their time, but
intellectual, literary, or scientific. They enjoy society when they are in it because
their reading qualifies them for it, but they are at no loss when their places and
their books are alone accessible. Such a class is already among us, formed of
individualized men, with rational pui'suits and healthy frames, reatly to do good
service at home, and when abroad creditable specimens of high-minded Americans.
They have something better to do than the European mere gentleman, whose
chief boast is that he is a sportsman, for they find more useful and congenial
occupation in superintending their gardens, and farms, and their cattle ; their
planting is a never-failing resource ; fruit in and out of season you are sure to
find in plenty ; they are as familiar with Loudon and Downing as the shopkeeper
with his Ledger or Herald, with this advantage, that while thoroughly posted on
foreign and home politics, they understand something besides ; they are familiar
with the physiology of botany, and can tell you the composition of their soils.
Who, of our readers at least, would hesitate which class to prefer ?

We could stop to descant more largely on Wodenethe, but other places have
claims to our attention ; we leave it with regret, and yet with satisfaction at the
thought of America's rearing more specimens like it, and educated men to usefully
employ the time that is given them.

Mr. Sargent's appropriation of scenery is completed by his having a good
neighbor in Charles M. Wolcott, Esq., whose place, Roseneathe, adjoins, and is
only separated by ornamental plantations and iron fences ; these are so contrived
as to appear to give the surrounding grounds to both parties, which, in fact, they
do, for the walks lead through gates always unlocked, and each family is free to
the possessions of the other. Mr. Wolcott has also adorned his beautiful spot with
rare and fine trees, masses of evergreen shrubs, his Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and
Mahonias, &c. &c., being perhaps as successful as any we have seen in this country,
and his lawns, with their beautiful views of river and mountain scenery, are kept
in excellent condition. His graperies, greenhouses, and gardens are on an ex-
tensive scale, and the whole, including the house and grounds, is supplied with
water by a steam-engine of simple construction placed in a building attached to the
propagating house, and which at the same time heats his greenhouse, and forces
water to his reservoir. We know of no two adjoining places in better keeping than
these, and could wish that some spots we wot of in various parts of the country
could and would take example here, and "pattern accordingly." Repose and
leisyre are turned to good account ; life is added to amazingly by such elegance
and neatness. The " happy valley" seemed to us no longer a dream for those
who, unlike the artist, would be contented not to add waxen wings to their earthly
bodies, and seek impracticable and useless flights. In the comparatively small
space of, we believe, only sixteen acres, Mr. Wolcott comprises every attribute
of a country place, several lawns, each one a distinct feature from the other, an
English flower garden, a most successful vegetable garden, greenhouse, grapery,
a forcing-house, the most charming views, and no apparent boundary but the
river and mountains.

A IKW UK.MAUK8 ON THE CULTURE OP MIGNONETTE IN BOXES.

THE SO-CALLED "BLEEDING OF TREES."

CONSIDERED AS A MEANS OF INDUCING THEIR EARLIER PRODUCTION OF FRUIT.
BY IIERU VON AnNTEKFELD.

Tins bleedinp: of trees consists in tlie division of tlic bark jiarallcl to the longi-
tudinal fibres of the stem, and downwards throut^liout its entire length. This
operation is to be undertaken in the spring, or in the connnenceraent of suiniuer.
The bark at the tree is to be divided, with a sharp knife, entirely through, down
to the young wood, taking care, however, not to wound this latter ; and these slits
are to be raade parallel to each other, and at greater or less intervals around the
entire circumference of the trunk, extending downwards to the surface of the
ground. By this means the growth of the wood is much encouraged, from the
fact that the external l)ark of trees l)eing dead, the growth of jjarts is restrained,
and the growth of wood and consequent increase of the stem arrested till nature
shall have overcome the hindrance oflered by the external layer of bark, bursting
it, as may be seen in all old fruit trees.

The following are the observations of the above-mentioned Ilerr Yon W. : —

1. " Bleeding" is an effectual method to induce bearing within from two to three
years on the part of trees which, from their age or nature, should have already
borne, but have been prevented, either from excess or deficiency of growth.

2. The ordinary bearing time of trees is hastened by this method ; that is, the
time required ordinarily for the ripening of the fruit is shortened. In this, care
must 1)6 taken not to expect impossibilities.

3. Those trees having little sap and a hard bark, must have these slits raade
close together, as near as one to every half inch of the circumference ; those of a
contrary description requiring only about four incisions for their entire circum-
ference.

4. The most favorable time for this operation is in the early spring, as soon as
the leaves have unfolded, and from this time until summer. It may be performed,
however, even in the latter end of fall, when the leaves arc beginning to drop off.
It is better that this should not be done from the middle of June to the middle of
July, in order to avoid the injury that may be inflicted by insects, that seek to
deposit their eggs in the fresh wound.

5. The incision must completely divide the bark without injuring the W'ood,
although a slight deviation from this rule will not do much injury in either case.

6. Trees already in bearing are rendered, by this operation, more fruitful.

7. Stone-fruited trees are not injured by this operation, as no effusion of gum
follows. — Translated from the Gartenjlora Monatschrift, VonE. Regie, Erlangen,
Feb. 1856.

A FEW REMARKS ON THE CULTURE OF MIGNO-
NETTE IN BOXES.

BY M. L.

Mignonette is of the most simple and easy culture, but we seldom sec it so
managed as to look long, neat, and elegant ; while, although it is but a simple
flower, it is really kept elegant for a length of time when treated in the following
manner : —

First with respect to box or window culture : I get some good compost

CHEAP GLASS STRUCTURES.

as is usually prepared for vines ; or a mixture of good cucumber and melon mould,
or rich garden soil, is quite sufficient for the purpose. Instead of sowing the
seed, I transplant in the boxes, either from the clumps or border, or from plants
previously raised for that purpose, forming only one row along the middle of the
box, at four to six inches apart from plant to plant, and pinching off the tops of
each as soon as I plant them. If I plant large specimens, which I frequently do
very successfully, I pinch all the shoots back to the first joint of each ; and as
they push fresh shoots, I continue to pinch them all back to the first joint of each
shoot, till the box becomes nearly full, or till I think I shall soon require them to
be in bloom, when I stop them no longer, and allow them to shoot out for flower-
ing. Still, I occasionally pinch them in so as to keep them in a judicious trim ;
and frequently thin out many branches, that they may not become too crowded, so
as to weaken the plants, or endanger the stems by damping off. By the above
treatment I have had Mignonette, that has been planted early in the spring, kept
in fine and vigorous bloom, at the outside of windows, till the end of January.

This season, I sowed a good deal of this little favorite round the beds and bor-
ders, but owing to our cold, wet, clay soil, and the unfavorable season, in many
parts it either never came up, or so weak that it dwindled off afterwards ; but on
some parts of the higher and drier grounds it came up tolerably well, which has
given me plenty to transplant at this more favorable season into the less congenial
soils, where it had gone off ; and by my box treatment it is now promising to do
well. Until it gets a proper vigor, I keep picking out the blossom-buds as soon
as I can detect them, or pinch back the shoots, to make them strong, bushy plants.
Those I leave after thinning I treat just in the same manner as the transplanted
ones ; so that one single plant only left becomes a much finer specimen than by leav-
ing more. The usual manner of leaving it to ramble where it chooses, and all the
plants which spring up from seed, is always disagreeable to the sight ; and it soon
exhausts itself by rambling seeds and blossom. Some plants are trained to a
single stem, and tied to a stake ; and these may be either trained to form into a
bushy head at any convenient height, or spurred into the first joint, so as to have
them in blossom the whole height of the stem, as far as it may be desired, in
which state it is really a very pretty object.

CHEAP GLASS STRUCTURES, AND GRAPES.

There are thousands in our extended country who are deterred from using
much glass on their grounds, through fear of the cost. They cau enjoy straw-
berries in February, figs in March, grapes in April, or peaches, apricots, and
plums, in May or June ; they would not even care to give double or treble the
ordinary price for them at these seasons, but, at the rate of near a dollar a mouth-
ful, republican purses very properly contract. But these luxuries are often more
within our means than we imagine. They can be produced in ])roperly constructed
cheap houses as well as in properly constructed dear ones ; and we truly believe
that, when our Yankee genius has been properly applied to the matter, we may
have the best of hothouse grapes, in profusion, in May and June, coining a
fortune for the grower, if he is in want of one, at 50 to 75 cents per pound.

We present herewith a plan of a cheap structure, which has been successfully
employed, in Germany, for cultivating peaches, apricots, and grapes, as described
in the London Gardener's Chronicle. It may not be exactly suited to our wants,
will need very little modification. It may be remarked, that it is adapted
to cases where the fruit-trees are growing against a wall or fence : —

CnEAP GLASS STRUCTURES.

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ELEVATION

Explanation of the Firj^ires. — The frame shown in the drawing, was placed
against a wall of a new construction, and which has existed for more than twenty-
five years. The wall is formed of a framework of oak, forming squares, in which
et on edge two courses thick of blue paving tiles, nine inches square,

CHEAP GLASS STRUCTURES.

to break joint. This wall is six and a half feet high, and is covered by a board,
X, which serves for a coping, and is supported, from sash to sash, by pieces of
wood, y. . -In the coping boards are fixed hooks which hook into two eyes on each
sash. The sashes rest upon oak posts, z, fixed in the ground to the depth of three
feet three inches. Each post supports the ends of two sashes, which rest partly
on the one and partly on the other, as at tv. The sashes, S, are made of pine,
and are framed and glazed in the oi'dinary way. The intervals between the posts
are closed up, in severe frosts, by straw mats, t, t, t, which can be removed at
pleasuj-e. They are kept from blowing in or out by being tied to laths nailed to
the posts.

This is so easily moved, that the whole of it, though fifty-eight feet four inches
in length, can be removed by two men in eight minutes, and again replaced in
twelve minutes. When the movable part of the structure has been taken down,
there only remain the posts, the use of which no one would suspect. Besides
effecting its principal object — the protection of fruit-trees, such as the peach,
apricot, and vine, &c. — the structure serves, at the same time, for the production
of early vegetable crops, for which purpose a border three and a half feet wide is
available.

The expense of the entire structure was, at Brussels, V. Os. 9c?., or about 2s. 5rf.
(or, say sixty cents) per foot run. It is composed of the following items : —

Carpenter's wages

Cost of TTood (oak and pine)

Smith's work

Oil, white lead, and putty .

Straw ....

Glass ....

Gratuity to the gardener

The glazing, painting, and making the straw mats, having been done by
the gardener at spare times in winter, are not taken into account.

Total expense . . . . . . .£7 0 9*

— Charles Van der Straeten.

The straw mats might be decidedly objectionable in a cold climate ; but they
may readily be replaced with glazed sashes.

Here we were about to be content in having offered a plan of constructing a
grape or orchard house for sixty cents a running foot ! when another Gardeners^
Chronicle brought us the confirming fact, to strengthen an old crotchet of our
own, that there is no need of expensive houses to produce premium fruit. The
Chronicle says: —

" Wonders will never cease. All the great grape growers were beaten the other
day by an interloper. Seldom have practical men received a more heavy fall.
Great rules were violated ; the wisdom of our forefathers was thrust aside like a
piece of useless lumber ; and maxims sanctioned by age, wisdom, and the most
resolute routine, disappeared like sparkles of Captain 13oxer's fireworks. About
a hundred exhibitors of grapes grown in vineries in all parts of the country, pro-
duced the evidence of their skill at the last exhibition in the llegent's Park, and,
melancholy to relate, were beaten by fruit from a glass shed in a London nursery
garden. It is incredible, though true. The large silver gilt medal, the highest

offered for grapes, was awarded to Mr. Glendinuing, of the Chiswick

Nursery — for three dishes of grapes. Our pen shrinks from recording the event.

" The business of a nurseryman is to grow vines for sale, not grapes for exhi

* In our money, about $35.

£.

*.

d.

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2

11

2

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5

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9

5

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13

7

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NOTES ON IH£ GOOSEBEOUT.

)ition. If lie grows grapes at all, it is only for the purpose of ascertaining that
the vines from which lie propagates are correctly named. "With this end in view,
the fortunate winner in tlie instance before us built a glass sifed, or lean-to, with a
border and walk at the back, antl a tan-pit in front, hot water being added for
the necessary heat. This back border is two feet wide ; the walk, jiaved with
flat tiles, is two feet more, and beyond this nothing is provided for the vines to
grow in. As to the comjiosition of the border, it appeared to us to consist of
little more than the common garden soil of the nursery ground, and we understand
that it is nothing else. Along this back border are i)lanted the following vines,
in the order in which they follow, and about four feet apart : 1. Black Hamburgh.
2. ^Muscat of Alexandria. 3. Grizzly Frontignan. 4. White Frontignan. 5.
Black Frince. G. Cannon Ilall Muscat. 7. AVhite Tokay. 8. Charl«Sworth
Tokay. 9. Barnes' Muscat. 10. Mill Kill Hamburgh. 11. Reeve's Muscadine.
12. Black Frontignan. 13. Welbeck's Tripoli. 14. A sort undetermined. 15.
Black Barbarossa. 16. Royal Muscadine. This, we should say, is as pleasant
a party of vines, with different constitutions, as could be readily assembled.

" They were planted in the narrow back border just described, in June, 1854.
A single rod of each was led up the back wall and down the rafters; and laterals
from these rods bore beneath the glass the fruit in question. Fires were, we
understand, commenced last March.

" We do not pretend to explain the history of the success of the glass shed.
Excellent bunches were still hanging from its roof when we inspected it, and we
have no doubt that the prize fruit was justly placed at the head of all others.
Nor do we care to know why nothing better should have appeared in rivalry.
Great parties, past, present, or anticipated, may have caused it. What wc value
the fact for is, that it should teach the amateur the possibility of also growing in
his own small lean-to, grapes fit to take their place by the side of the first in
the country. The case is parallel to that of the strawberries lately mentioned."

That will do for the present ; we shall see, ere long, who of our countrymen
will win the prize of a fortune by growing grapes in cheap structures. It can
and will be done.

NOTES ON THE GOOSEBERRY.

BY WM. TOMPKINS, GERMANTOWN, N. Y.

This fruit is grown in this vicinity to considerable extent for the New York
market, and I believe almost any quantity might be grown, if cultivators would
pay more attention to the selection of soil, pruning, and, in fact I know of certain
plantations that happen to have a favorable soil, that have produced heavy crops
for several years without pruning, manuring, or scarcely any other care.

In 1845 I got a dozen ])lant3 of this fruit from a friend, and planted in my
garden, which has a heavy soil. These plants were well cared for, and have annually
produced large crops, without showing the least signs of mildew or decay from
age. They were annually pruned, with a heavy hand, more with a view to get
cuttings than to prevent the mildew.

All suckers wore taken off every spring, by tearing or separating with a knife
from the parent \ lant, in such a manner, if possible, as to detach some roots,
and then carefully i)lanted in the nursery, where, in two years they make good,
strong plants. In fact, I would rather set cuttings, with all their buds, than
for the reason that they add very much to the possibility of propagating,

NOTES ON THE GOOSEBERRY.

gooseberry does not strike roots very freely from cuttings. After plants are put
out where they are to remain, and the suckers taken oif, as I before stated, for
two or three years, they generally give in and quietly submit to the treatment —
nature making no further efforts of the sort. I have old plants that have been
treated in this way for a number of years, that are perfect specimens of beauty
and fruitfulness, measuring three inches in diameter, and showing as much vigor
as when three or four years old. In setting out large plantations of this fruit, a
heavy soil, well under-drained, thoroughly manured, and deeply ploughed, should
be selected, if possible. They should be planted in rows four feet apart, and
three feet distant in the rows, and the ground kept in good order by the frequent
use of the cultivator and hoe.

It has been frequently asserted that the gooseberry never mildews in England.
From this general opinion I must beg leave to dissent, as I happen to know some
facts to the contrary. In February, 1853, the writer was in England, and pur-
chased, of a large establishment in the vicinity of Liverpool, several hundred
plants. It was observed that many of them presented a singular appearance,
being very much drawn and distorted, and evidently showing disease. Suspecting
it was caused by mildew, the proprietor, Mr. Scirving, was asked the reason, when
he frankly admitted that such was the case, remarking that the disease was
much more prevalent in the vicinity of the sea-shore than further in the interior
of the country, and suggested the necessity of bard pruning, and the best of culti-
vation, to counteract the disease. These plants were taken up and packed in moss,
in a large box, and shipped on the 15th of the above-mentioned month, and reached
their destination on the 15th of March following, being about one month on the
passage. On opening the box, it was found that the buds were all started, and
many of them in leaf. The spring being late, with much frost in the ground, we
were unable to plant them till near the 1st of May; the plants, in the meantime,
were securely stored in a cellar. A piece of warm, loamy soil was selected, and
prepared by deep and frequent ploughing, and also well manured. The plants
were then set in rows to admit the horse and cultivator. The ground was also
occupied as an apple orchard, trees thirty feet apart, about twelve years planted.
The gooseberries, however, were not planted within six feet of the trees. On
setting the plants, they had every appearance of being in fine order, notwithstand-
ing their long confinement, the roots and buds appearing as good as the day they
were taken up. After planting, they had the best of care bestowed on them ; the
ground was frequently worked with the cultivator, and every weed carefully
destroyed. They started finely, and gave promise of making a good growth, till
about the middle of August, when it was observed that they had the appearance
of having been dusted over with ashes, the extreme ends of the young shoots show-
ing the most of it. They ceased growing, about this time, entirely; and, by the
1st of September, the foliage was all off. Thinking the reason of their doing so
badly the first year, might possibly be owing to their being planted so late, and
not being pruned, we determined to try "different management the next year.
Early in April, 1854, we gave them a moderate ])runing, manured each one with
a shovel full of well rotted manure, and worked the ground as soon as it was in
order. This year was uncomraoidy dry, and we did expect that the dry weather
would have a tendency to counteract the mildew ; but it did not. They grew
finely, setting considerable fruit till about midsummer, when they were suddenly
ari'ested in their growth by their old enemy, the mildew ; and, by the middle of
September, they lost all their foliage. We now became satisfied that it would be
necessary to remove them to a soil of a different texture, taking the hint from the
fact of our old gooseberries in the garden doing so well in a heavy soil, w

cliuleil to trivo tlicin a clay soil. Wc selected a piece of wet meadow land,
through which flowed a small stream of water ; the soil was about six inches
muck, with a stilT clay subsoil. This land was thoroughly under-drained by
running: a drain four feet deep through the bed of the stream (it being dried uj)
by the extreme dry weather of that year) ; the main drain was intersected at right
angles, every two rods, by cross drains three feet deep ; these drains were tlien
pretty well lilled with stones, and closed in the usual manner; the ]>lat was then
thoroughly ploughed and subsoilcd, and manured with well rotted stable manure.
2s^o crop was taken of this year.

About the middle of April, 1855, the imported plants were carefully taken up,
severely pruned, and planted in the i)lat jn-eparcd for their reception, in rows to
admit the cultivator. The summer of 1855, wc all know, was uncommonly wet,
over a large portion of the Union ; but the frequent heavy rains did not interfere
with our working the gooseberry plantation ; they started iinely, setting quite a
great deal of fruit, which they matured in the best manner ; they also made strong
and vigorous shoots, which continued to grow and retain their foliage till late in
the season. On the whole, wc have more than realized our most sanguine expec-
tations with the imported plants, they having been mildewed before we got them,
and having suffered from it two years subsequently, must undoubtedly have
enfeebled and debilitated them very much.

"We believe that there is not a township in the State of New York but has land
adapted to the growth of the gooseberry, if a judicious selection of soil be made,
the laud properly prepared, and the plants pruned in a systematic manner. These
things must be attended to if the planter wishes or expects to have long-lived and
productive plantations ; and a few dollars expended in preparing the soil in a
suitable manner will never be regretted in after years, as the writer has abundant
evidence of. I have watched the inroads of the mildew in gooseberry plantations
attentively for a number of years ; it seems to be very much like the mildew that
is so troublesome in some places to the grape grower, and I believe it to be the
same. New plantations of this fruit generally produce well the first few years
(providing the plants are strong and vigorous when set) without pruning or much
care, that is if the soil be suitable, lint the enemy will, in a few years, show
itself, at first slightly attacking the weaker ones, doing but little harm the first
year ; but, once established in plantations that are neglected, it will increase with
fearful rapidity, and in two or three years ruin the most of the plants ; in fact, every
attack weakens and reduces their vigor, until they are fully ruined and worthless.
This is the way that this scourge appears, and extends itself in neglected gardens
and places that are not properly cared for, blighting and destroying both fruit and
plants, as well as the hopes of the grower. ]>ut the intelligent and industrious
cultivator always is rewarded for his labor by good crops of fine and handsome
fruit, that always commands a ready sale in the market, at a remunerating price.

I will here state a case that came under my observation : A neighbor procured
a lot of good, strong cuttings, and set them in his garden ; gave them the best of
care ; in two years he was rewarded with about one hundred good, strong plants,
which were planted in a plat of warm, loamy soil, that had been previously well
prepared for their reception ; there were also a few large apple trees standing
in the plat, which shaded the ground some, but from their position not badly.
The first season they grew finely, and gave some fruit ; the second year they
received the same treatment, and produced some fine fruit, with which the owner
was much gratified and encouraged ; also some well developed specimens of mildew
on the weakest plants. The third year they set a heavy crop of fruit, and al
hibited considerable mildew (those plants that were affected the year previous

injured the most), not enough, however, to materially injure the sale of the crop.
The reader will perceive that these plants always had the best of care ; they grew
strongly, forming thick, bushy heads, densely crowded with superfluous wood and
foliage, but never were pruned. At this time I suggested to neighbor B. the
necessity of giving his plants a thorough pruning early the next spring, at the
same time predicting that if he did not, the next crop would be a total failure.
He remarked that he knew of certain old plants that never were pruned, and
annually produced good fruit, and said, if he pruned according to my directions,
he would materially lessen the amount of his next crop, and apparently put but
little faith in the virtue of pruning to prevent the mildew. Last spring (1855)
they were manured, and the ground worked as soon as it was in order ; the foliage
and blossoms came out handsomely, and they set a prodigious quantity of fruit,
which, when about half grown, was attacked by the mildew, and in a few days
this fine looking crop, which promised at first so well, was wholly ruined, the
berries being thickly coated with an ash or brownish looking substance, which
immediately stopped their growth. They also lost their leaves about this time,
and their naked branches, densely loaded with miserable looking fruit, presented
the pjost melancholy sight that I ever beheld in gooseberry culture. Friend B.
is now down on gooseberry culture generally, and would not plant any more if he
could get them for nothing ; but I am inclined to think that the fault is more his
than that of the gooseberries.

SPORTS BECOMING PERMANENT.

The preservation and improvement of the races of domesticated plants is a
most interesting topic. Grafts carry the diseases of the parent with them ; again
divided, the disease is again propagated, and this will go on. So from sports, the
means employed to preserve these peculiarities of habit may be, and often are, a
most important matter, and from these, still more valuable qualities may make
their appearance.

Fig. 1.

Monstrous Canterbury BcU.

YOL. VI.— OCTOBEE, 1856.

30

SPORTS BECOMING PERMANENT.

SuiUlcn alterations in tlic quality of scedlinp; plants often occur from no apparent
cause, just as those accidental changes, called " sports,'' in the color or form of the
leaves, flowers, or fruit, of one single branch of a tree, occasionally break out,
we know not why. Of these things physiology can give no account ; but it is
certain, say Lindley and others, that when such sports appear, they indicate a
violent constitutional change in the action of the limb thus aflected, which change
may sometimes be perpetuated by seed, and always by propagation of the limb
itself where projiagation is practicable. A sport is a sudden change of one thing
iuto another, dilTerent in some striking respect, as when a peach tree produces a
smooth fruit (a nectarine) among its downy brood. When some Celccsea suddenly'
formed its flowers upon a thickened, flattened stalk, and they became more crowded
than usual, we had a cockscomb, which is a "sport." It has a tendency to increase
under skilful management, as was shown by Andrew Knight, when he, by a single

effort, brought a cockscomb plant
to measure eighteen inches across,
and only seven inches high.

An analogous change is repre-
sented in Fig. 1, which is not un-
common in the Canterbury Bell,
whose flowering stem becomes
fasciated, and the flowers run to-
gether into a magnificent crescent-
shaped head. Gardeners have not
yet attempted to fix this striking
character, and yet it might, per-
haps, be secured as is the cocks-
comb.

A Mr. Salter, of London, ob-
served among his seedling Dahlias
one which produced a number of
green, scaly flower-heads, but no
perfect flowers. This was propa-
gated, and every plant was cover-
ed with similar heads of scales.
All the plants were vigorous, but
there was not a single perfect
flower-head upon any of them,
so that the sport became immedi-
ately fixed. Wheat has been pro-
duced from the wild grass {^gi-
lops ovata), by watching its in-
creasing tendency to sport, till it
was not excelled in quality on the
neighboring farms. M. Esprit
Fabre was the patient experi-
menter. Thus came our varied
Chrysanthemums, &c. &c.

CRITIQUE ON AUGUST HORTICULTURIST.

Pear Culture, No. 4. — Dr. Ward, in the sensible, practical articles he has writ-
ten on this frnit, has laid every pear grower in the country under lasting obliga-
tion ; and could they have been written six or eight years ago, when the dwarf-
pear appetite of the country first began to crave the pabulum so temptingly offered
to its taste, thousands on thousands of dollars, and a world of vexation and dis-
appointment, would have been saved to those who, unwittingly to themselves,
have been victimized by their attempts to cultivate them. But, American like,
we have all " pitched in" to dwarf pear culture together, without knowing any-
thing about the philosophy of the thing, and taken the ipse dixit of enthusiasts
and theorists, who, perhaps as unwittingly as to the results as ourselves, have
propagated them to an enormous extent, and recommended them for cultivation.

That some varieties of the pear can, in some cases, be successfully cultivated on
the quince, there can be no doubt. They have been so cultivated in Europe for
centuries. They have been occasionally cultivated in this country for some years
prior to the late pear furor — perhaps twenty, thirty, fifty, or even more. To
understand the subject, let us examine the pear, of itself, on its own stock, as a
fruit. In its finer varieties it is a rare fruit, of exquisite excellence in flavor, and
flourishes, permanently, only in favorable localities, and in peculiar soils. In
America it is a capricious fruit, yielding well only in certain latitudes at all, and
then only on favorable positions and soils. It grows, to be sure, in many places ;
but in how many places does it flourish — that is, grow well, bear good fruit, and
live long, as a general thing, like the apple ? There are the remains of old
pear orchards in different parts of the United States — a hundred and fifty years
old, perhaps ; but they are only the remains — a few surviving veterans out of the
many that were planted with them. The mass of the orchards died out a great
many years ago. These, with many others planted since — old trees they are, too
— still live, and bear great, almost annual crops, and, in many cases, of excellent
named fruit. They are, however, the exception, not the rule. In many instances,
too, they have grown and flourished through neglect as well as with good culture,
showing not only wonderful vigor and vitality in the individual trees, but a pecu-
liarly favorable quality in the soil in which they have stood. Many localities of
the kind might be named ; but as my intelligent readers will each recognize them
for himself, they need not be here noted. It is sufficient to say, that after an ex-
perience of near two hundred years in America, with annual planting and con-
stant pains-taking, choice pears are scarce in market, and dear in price as well as
rare in private gardens and orchards, even where extraordinary ])ains have been
taken to cultivate them. These facts are patent to every man who has any expe-
rience in the subject, and we have had as good opportunities to give the thing a
fair trial in this country as elsewhere.

Probably Normandy and Belgium are the best natural Tpcar countries in the world.
The most of our best foreign varieties originated there, and they have been intro-
duced here with indifferent success, as a whole. Some varieties have proved as
good with us, perhaps, as there, but they are few. As a general thing they have
failed, both on their own stock and the quince. England is no pear country.
Scotland is less so. They have pears there, occasionally, but not choice ones.
The best of English pears — the Bartlett, perhaps, excepted — are among our re-
jected varieties as table or even cooking fruits. The upshot of our observation

therefore, that even on its own stock, the pear is uncertain as an orchard fruit
with all its contingencies, will not jooy as an investment.

IIow, then, is tlie pear on tlic (luince stock ? niul wliiit its probabilities for the
future ? Under tlic excitement of the last dozon years, in the United States,
millions of trees have been iiropagatcd, and worked, and sold by the nurserymen.
They went into it enthnsiastieally, and with high assurance that they were doing
good service to the public, and that a new era was to be established in ])ear cul-
ture, by which every one possessed of a spare rod of ground could luxuriate on
the delicious fruit of his own trees. In pursuance of this idea, every choice
variety was propagated, sold, and distributed, over tlic country. ]}ut, in a few
years it was ascertained by the nurserymen themselves, that a great majority of
these varieties were a dead failure, and, for some time past, the fruit conventions
have cut down and jiarticularized only a certain few varieties that would succeed
on the quince. Rivers, of England, the greatest pear propagator, perhaps, in
the world, names only the Louise ]3onne of Jersey as sure with him, and Dr.
Ward, who is, i)crhaps, equally good authority in America, adds but a very few
others that he can trust.

Nor is this general failure in dwarf pears altogether the fault of the climate, the
soil, or the cultivation. It goes deeper. The fault is in the incompatibility of
tl(e ])ear loood and the quince wood to join their individual stocks harmoniously
toyeiher, to mahe a lony-living, luxirriant tree, and jiroduce good frvit, except in
chance and casual cases. The quince — and no matter what quince — is a compact,
small wood, with inuiierous small pores, of close texture ancl fibrous roots, work-
ing, in restricted compass, in a soil peculiar to itself. It flourishes only in limited
districts of but a few of our States, and best on the sea-board and in the interior
lake regions of New York. The j^ear, on the contrary, has an open wood, of
great size, with large pores, spreading roots, a gross feeder, and grows, more or
less, all over the country north of latitude 40°, and in almost any kindly soil.
Now, here are two antagonistic, distinct kinds of wood, of different habits, the
one hardy in almost all climates, the other not hardy in all the same climates which
are sought to be connected as chance or design may govern, with an expectation
that they will grow, and flourish, and bear fruit successfully I There can be no
greater physiological mistake than in any such expectation as a rule. A large
wooded, open pored quince, like the Angers, worked with a close-pored, small-
gi'owing pear, of whatever kind, may so join their particular woods, as to be occa-
sionally successful in growth and bearing. They have done so ; they may continue
to do so ; but, as a rule, as pears and quinces run, never. It is a violence to the
nature of both. As an evidence of their distaste for each other, the common
apple or orange quince of our country is pronounced a dead failure for the pear,
by reason of its smaller size and more compact growth, than the Angers.

The conclusions, then, which we are compelled to draw from all this theory, as
well as the experience that we have had, is, that there is no certainty in a planta-
tion of the dwarf pears. It may do for high garden culture, with particular
manures, nice pruning, and at great cost, but, for orchard culture, or general cul-
tivation, it is a failure. See what Dr. Ward says of " pinching," " cutting back,"
and all that sort of thing. If men, with brains and experience enough to under-
stand the thing, could be hired, for fifty cents a day, to do the work as it ought to
be done, and the public, with tastes refined enough to appreciate the fruits, and
liberality enough to pay for them, could be found after all the failures and invest-
ments of the fruit grower, it might pay ; but, under existing circumstances, it
cannot Any fruit, in this country, to ])ay for production, must not be dilBcult,
either in soil or culture. If so, it must be abandoned — and the divarf t^qhx is one
of them.

It may be said that no fruit promises better than the dwarf pear, as we see it

CRITIQUE ON AUGUST HORTICULTURIST. 461

in the nursery. There they stand in long, straight rows, three to six feet high,
full, thrifty, luxuriant, and frequently with luscious samples of fruit upon them,
enough to tempt the palate of an anchorite. That is true, and very well while
they stand there, not exceeding three or four years from the bud. But transplant
them, no matter where, and cultivate them to your best. A fire-blight strikes
one, a cankered bark shows itself on another, a heavy wind thrashes off a score of
them from the junction of the two stocks, and a sort of tree consumption takes a
dozen more, while a few flourish and bear fruit, perhaps equal to our fullest ex-
pectations, till some accident or disease finishes them. That is the way they go ;
and so they can be seen in every orchard and garden throughout the country.
Such is my own experience, and such is the experience of many others, who, like my-
self, have gone into dwarf pears on quite a large scale as well as in the more limited
garden. I have grown the quince, as a fruit, for many years ; the pear, also, on
their own stocks. My soil is good for both. They have succeeded well as such
fruits go, yet I have tried the dwarf pears side by side with the others, under in-
finitely better cultivation, and, in the main, it has proved a failure. And so with
my neighbors. I went into a garden, the other day, filled with nice fruits. Its
owner is a man of care ; attends to things himself, and understands them. He
had, perhaps, fifty dwarf pears, of a dozen varieties, standing around, all well
trained and cultivated. A few flourished and bore fruit ; some had never grown
afoot during the several years they stood there; while others were dead, and
dying ; and that is but a sample of all around me. I fully believe, if the testimony
of our dwarf pear experimenters at large could be taken, such would be the result
of their experience.

It is with exceeding regret, and after much pecuniary sacrifice, that I come to
these conclusions. I wish to injure no one's business, nor to diminish any one's
hopes ; but after years of painstaking and solicitude, I chronicle these remarks
as the deliberate convictions of my own observation and trials. I would not dis-
courage any one, who has a good soil for them, from cultivating a few choice dwarf
pears, when the kinds are such as have been successfully tried ; but they should
be confined to the garden alone ; and then, at a large price for his fruit, provided
he pays proper attention to them, he may gratify his own taste, and that of his
family and friends, to an occasional ti'eat of a well-grown pear.

Kestalrig House, and Mr. R. Morris Smith, Architect. — This gentleman mistakes
me, and my meaning, in my random remarks on his houses. Mr. Smith's houses
are just as good as any other architect's houses — of the kind. And, as I am now
taking leave of these pages, for the time, as a contributor, I will, with all kind
regards to Mr. Smith and his useful profession, drop a word or two on this style
of building — the Italian — for American country houses. And, be it understood,
I speak not as an architect, for I am not one, but as a simple looker-on, with
admiration of every real improvement introduced in anything.

The house architecture of any country should, in the main, conform to its climate,
and always to the domestic convenience of the people. It is unnecessary to say
that our country architecture, previous to the last twenty years, has, as a rule, been
uncouth and inappropriate to its objects. A reform has been introduced ; yet, as
in most other reforms, absurdities have crept in with it. Gothic, Swiss, Moorish,
Norman, Egyptian, even, as well as other preposterous things, have been recom-
mended by our house architects, inappropriate, enormously expensive, for the
accommodation they give, and unsatisfactory any way. The Italian, as a style,
is the most appropriate for American purjjoses, provided the steep roof is added,
which is an absolute necessity of our rainy, snowy, and frosty climates. The
shelter afforded by the overhanging roofs and verandas, render the Italian

4G2 ORiriQUB ON AUGUST HORTICULTURIST,

most tftstcful and convenient for us ; therefore, it is a great improvement, and
shonld be the style for general adoption. I now speak in tlie common-sense view
of the subject, with a due regard to economy in building, and an eye to its selling
value whenever the proprietor chooses to part with it — for be it known, that no
real jiropertyis mure llnctuivtiiig in its owncrshii), with us, than "country houses."
If a num chooses to indulge his fancy or taste by building an extravagant house,
in a novel style, that is another thing ; it is his own afl'air, and I have nothing
to say. Such things are the exception. Dut, as architects usually have the ])lan-
ning of houses, and govern their style, expense, and accommodation, it is well to
ascertain whether they combine the requirements of couveiuencc and comfort in
what they build, with a due economy in expense. As a rule, they do not. To
illustrate : A man of comfortable estate, with a moderate family, wants a "cottage."
He consults his architect. A i)lan is presented — fashioualjle, of course, and as
the Gothic, and other absurdities, like Sir Lucius O'Trigger's "damns," have had
their day, the Italian style is presented. Instead of a plain, tasty affair, with
outer walls, admitting breaks and angles just sufficient to give it relief and effect
without violence to the interior arrangement of its rooms, it is full of " hips and
haws," jags and buttresses, campaniles and porches ; half a dozen different roofs
and elevations — a i)retentious toy, in fact, imitating a palatial residence fit for a
family of twenty thousand a year, on a great landed estate. And all this outside
pretence, with its almost interminable lines of zigzag wall, is to inclose a contracted
accommodation of jierhaps three or four rooms, a closet or two, and a back kitchen,
with a few contracted chambers overhead, at an expense of "$5,000 to $8,000 !"

Now, this thing won't last. Sensible people will get tired of it after awhile —
particularly when the repairs come. " Dormers," " flat cornices," garret cisterns,
springing a leak every now and then, and spoiling the ceilings, carpets, and furni-
ture, will give way to sensible contrivances as of old. I would not have a kitchen
in the body of the house, as Mr. Smith intimates I would ; it should be in the
rear, its proper place ; and the annual plumbers' bills should not amount to the
full cost of all other repairs, as they usually do in ordinary dwellings. A "cottage"
should be a cottage in its proper meaning, and that only. It should have an air
of repose, of coziness, and convenience, so that every one passing it should say :
" How comfortable !" It could be done at half the cost of the other thing. The
term "cottage" is full of meaning — low walls, a high roof, wide eaves, a veranda
in front, and perhaps on the sides, spread broadly over the ground, climbing plants,
shrubbery, and trees. There it is. do in and take your comfort in your own
natural way.

Mr. Smith hopes I am not going into a crusade against Mr. Downing's reform
labors in architecture. l>y no means. But all Mr. Downing's architectural plans
were not "reforms." He was just on the threshold of his new profession when
he so unfortunately died. Had he lived, his own matured judgment and finely
cultivated taste would, ere this, have thrown aside as worthless much that his
early enthusiasm had recommended. Every year of his valuable life gave evidence
of his chastened perceptions of the useful and appropriate in country architecture.
A more appropriate style in country houses among our best architects, is already
ai)parent, and our better houses are again approaching the square or parallelogram,
with less of irregular wall, and more symmetry of proportion. Flat roofs, be they
of tin, zinc, or copper, are not the things for American climates, tn the covntnj ;
and so our architects will find out ere long. Old things are not always to be dis-
carded because old, nor new things to be adopted because new. The world has
known somethino; before our dav. Jeffrey

THE DEVELOPMENT AND RIPENING OP FRTJIT.

COTTAGE STABLE.

BY W.

Below is the design for a cottage stable, in a very compact and economical
form, and yet with not
an unattractive exterior.
It is 18 feet by 22 feet
on the ground. The
posts to be 13 feet high.
The roof a right angle,
projecting the walls one
foot. The boarding to
be put on perpendicu-
larly, with close joints,
and battened. A cellar
beneath the whole.

Explanations. — ^, the
carriage-room ; B, three
stalls for cow, or horse ;
C, tool-room, from which
is a stairway ascending
to the loft ; D, a closet
under the stairs for har-
ness ; E, barn -yard ; F,
entrance to barn cellar,
under the passage to the
stable-door. A trap-
door may be made in the
floor of the stalls, by
which to convey litter to
the cellar. A passage
is left open from the tool-
room to the cow's stall,
which, if preferred, may
be closed up. The tool-room will be found a convenient arrangement for any small
rural establishment. The whole may be neatly constructed for about two hundred
dollars.

This design is suggested as an economical substitute for the plan presented in
the Horticulturist for June.

WoKCESTER Co., Mo., Juue, 1856.

Gkound Plan.— 18 by 22 feet. Scale.— 16 feet to the inch.

THE DEVELOPMENT AND RIPENINa OF FRUIT.

BY WILLIAM CHORLTON, NEW BRIGHTON, STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK.

To gain a philosophical conception of this all-important topic, requires an
acquaintance with the structure of the plants we have to deal with, and limiting
ourselves, for the present, to fruits, we find that the plants which produce them
are, with very few exceptions, of the most compound organizations — all being
composed of vascular and cellular tissues, and the greater part capable of forming
permanent woody fibre.

It is well known to all vegetable anatomists, that plants are composed entirely

of cells, wliicli arc of diffiTcnt kinds, nncl disposed, in various ways, to build up
the jreneral structure, that tlirougli this multitude of variety the fluids and gases
])erineatc, to support the waste and enlarjjreinent of the iiitcjjcral parts, and that
the periodical action is kept up by the influence of heat, liglit, and moisture, so
loner ns the vital ]irinciple is present with the individual. The first burst of
growth after the period of rest, is nothing more than the development of these
cells or structural embryo, which were formed the season previously, and accord-
ingly as the centralization was more or less favorably constituted, or, in other
words, well, evenly, and perfectly ripened heretofore, so will the expansion be
vigorous, or not, and the show for blossom be abundant and fine, or sparse and
deformed. This centralization can only be ol)taincd complete when the plant is
under the most genial influences, and has the advantage of favoraI)le circumstances.
According to the constitution of each individual species, so will these require-
ments differ. One, for instance, would do with more steady heat than we generally
possess, while another is better suited in a cooler climate ; and taking these differ-
ences, we must readily conclude, that in neither of these two examples will there
be an uninterrupted and equal formation of the required peculiar organism for
another season's fruitfulness. In the former, there is a want of concentration,
and, consequently, a deficiency of fruit, but abundance of leaves ; and, in the
latter, the cells will be too hastily formed to properly act the part for which they
were destined, and the cell walls too indurated to allow the juices to flow freely,
producing stunted growth, depauperated and few flowers, and small fruit, deficient
in quality, having a tendency to dryness and austerity.

It is from the free and healthy action of the leaves that we must look for all
success in fruit growing ; they are the great chemical laboratories ; the crude juices
which are absorbed by the roots are here elaborated and changed, by the com-
bination of gases from the atmosphere, when pure structural cells are formed. In
a natural state, we find that, in fruits generally, there is more of woody fibre than
in those which are cultivated ; they are also situated in the climate which is adapted
to their peculiarities. Here is the more hardy constitution unimpaired, and a less
tendency to disease or premature decay ; but, in the cultivated, we have compara-
tively more of the cellular, a gorged body (if the expression may be used), which
has become constitutional and hereditary ; consequently, there is less hardihood
to resist any unfavorable influences — hence the necessity of careful attention. In
cultivated fruits, generally, we have larger and more robust leaves, which, if they
be favored with uninterrupted action during their natural period, will do their
full share of work in storing up the extra demand for true sap that is needed for
the larger and more numerous cells, or those of a character which are suitable
for the after development of fine fruit, and, in a plant of permanency, of also
adding to solid bulbs. An equipoise of root and leaf is necessary to support life,
but, as the latter is the great store for maturity, it is more essential to our pur-
pose than the encouragement of extreme extension of the roots. The pear or quince
stock is an example in proof of this assertion ; the roots of the quince do not
extend so far away from the tree as do those of the pear ; the spongioles are
comparatively more numerous, but they are not capable of absorbing so much
crude matter from their smaller proportions, yet they are sufficiently so to keep in
health the more robust varieties for many years. In this case, the leaves are forced,
as it were, to deposit the carbonized juices in the body of the tree in a more fluid
state, and the downward current is arrested ; and hence is composed the shorter
but more plethoric growth, with an increase in fleshiness and size of the fruit.

The same causes that affect the leaf will affect the fruit also, for they are co-exist-
ing parts of the same organism, the latter being different only in having arrived

at that bigbly concentrated state to which all vegetable action tends when the
circumstances have been in accordance with the want. We shall understand by this,
that at maturity, nature casts off the fruit in the same way that the leaf falls when
it has fulfilled its office ; but there is this difference in the two : the leaf has been
forming a bud in its axil which remains behind, and attached to the parent, while
each receptacle of the fruit has, in the mean time, been perfecting its bud or buds,
according to the structural complexity in the centre of, or upon its own body, and
which becomes an independent germ, liberated from the main body when in a fit
state to develop itself. It is then evident that injury to one will likewise affect
the other.

Light is the great solidifier of the juices of plants, and the more a leaf or fruit
is exposed to it, the more vascular will the progress of growth become. Now,
this being the case, as the leaf has to provide for another period of development,
it is requisite to expose it to all the influence of light that the plant's constitution
will bear ; but, in the fruit, as we want pulpiness and good flavor, we find a par-
tial shade the best, so far as may be consistent with the securing of sufficient sac-
charine matter, and the particular aroma for which some fruits are so much prized.
Generally speaking, nature has provided, in her own economy, for this particular,
but there are individual cases where a partial shade would improve the quality,
providing it be applied so that the leaves may be exposed. This is more particu-
larly feasible when we consider that the leaves exhale a great portion of the fluids,
and pass the more solid parts into the increasing bulk of the plant, while the
fruit retains nearly all that is absorbed with which to feed and mature the seed.
The fleshy part of the fruit, and that for which it is valued, is a complete organiza-
tion of cellular formation like all other parts, only that the cellular preponderates.
While the fruit is swelling, or increasing in size, these cells are active, and imbued
with the principle of life, but, like all other parts, they have only their allotted
period of existence, which extends to the ripening of the seed. After this, they
become disorganized, chemical action and consequent expansion take place, and,
by a beautiful arrangement of elementary particles, the carbonic principle forms
sugar in solution with water, and combines with other minor products, so as to
establish the varied lusciousness that is so grateful to the palate. According as
each individual variety has, during the time of development, received its just mete
of necessaries in food, light, and heat, so will the ultimate combination of elements
be, and from such proportions will the chemical action be guided. If there has
been any undue disturbing cause during growth by excessive shade, heat, cold,
dryness, moisture, or sudden transitions, or from one to the other of any of these,
so will it act to a disadvantage, and more particularly will this happen at the time
of the last " swell." The uneven balance of these nice points is the main reason
why grapes, under artificial culture, so often ripen off a bad color, and remain
coarse in texture ; the natives rot and fall off prematurely, and many pears become
gritty and cracked, from the simple fact of there having been a sudden check to
nature's action, the result of which is, the cells do not break up uniformly, the
coloring matter is not duly deposited in the right parts, chemical action is arrested,
and the flavor is deficient. The blistering of the leaves may be traced to the same
origin, and there is little doubt but most of the diseases we have to complain of
are the effect from the same cause.

We have nothing to gain by all cultivators becoming simply theorists, but this
does not argue against the necessity for a more general diffusion of physiological
knowledge in practical pomology, and the above few remarks are hastily thrown
ether with the hope that the subject may be freely discussed in future pages of
valuable journal, as the merit of the case demands.

SIEBOLD'S japan plants. — BRUa>LA.N8IA.

SIEBOLD'S JAPAN PLANTS.

EoiTOR OF THE ITorHcuIturist. — Dear Sir : In a late number, you refer to this
fine collection, and, after naminj^ some of the i)rincipal, inquire "who will be the
first to advertise these in America ?"

I have a suspicion that many of these arc already amonfj^st us. Of those you
name, I have certainly seen Catalpa Rumpferii in some catalogue, and I have now
before me a catalogue of one of your own neighboring nurserymen, that contains
Tecoma Thunbergii, and, for a new plant, at the low price of seventy-five cents.

But you will say, why not advertise them ? I will tell you, my dear sir, as I
have had a little experience in that line myself. Our friends won't buy new plants
of us. Believe me, the few of those who care for new plants, do not wish for them
through a love for a beautiful rarity so much as for the false pride of possessing
something no one else has in the country. If a nurseryman gets it, its charm is
gone at once. Therefore, Euro])ean nurserymen get whatever patronage is to be
bestowed in this line, to our detriment. A respectable Philadelphia nurseryman,
and who, in spite of all lack of encouragement, yet for liis own gratification, has
probably imported more new plants than any other man in the States, once told
me that he had given up advertising new plants, as he never got any return for
the expense.

If one-half of those who now import new plants direct from Europe, would
give us any " chance," you would soon see " what you should see" in the way of
advertising new things.

Soja japonica, or Hispida, the true Soy plant, has been amongst us for three or
four years, having been distributed by Mr. Ernst, and the Cincinnati Horticultural
Society, under the name of Japan Pea (not the Japan Pea of last year, distributed
by the Patent OfiQce).

Truly yours, An Eastern Nurseryman.

BRUGMANSIA.

At page 239, Yol. III., of the HorticiiUurist, will be found an engraving of
the Double Brugmansia, cultivated by Downing. In the following article is de-
scribed the B. sanguinea, which must be one of the handsomest objects ever
introduced : —

brugmansia sanguinea. .V'-

A noble specimen of this fine plant grows in the pleasure-grounds adjoining
Crom Castle, the seat of the Earl of Erne. It was planted in a conservatory in
May, 1845, and was then about three feet high. Notwithstanding severe annual
pruning, it grew too large in a few years, and was considered scarcely worthy of
a place under glass. In May, 1851, I planted it in the open ground, having, the
previous autumn, cut its roots three feet from the stem, and ever since it has at-
tracted the attention, and been universally admired by the numerous visitors to
this beautiful demesne. At the request of some ladies on a visit here, I measured
the plant last August ; it was then fourteen feet six inches high, and girthed at
the ground two feet six inches, and covered an area of one hundred and sixty-five
square feet. At that time it was really a beautiful plant, completely covered with
flowers and foliage to the surface of the ground ; I then counted one hundred and
eighty flowers fully expanded, with twice that number ready to open. A gentle-
man told me, a few days afterwards, that he had counted above two hundred open
on it. It would be difficult to calculate the number it produced last summer, but

BRUGaiANSIA.

I would say at least some thousands, as there was a regular succession from the
beginning of summer, and it has now, January 5, many open on it.

It was planted in a mixed soil composed of loam, bog earth, a good portion of
charred matter, rotten dnng, and leaves — perfect drainage of course being secured.
As I learned from experience that Brugmansia will not stand our winters without
protection, ever since it was planted in the open ground I each year, in October,
covered it by sticking poles in the ground, five inches apart, the spaces between
being stuffed tight with grassy moss raked from an adjoining wood. A span roof
is then put on, one side of which is thatched, the other covered with sashes, which
has an additional covering in long continued frost; to make all sure, I put inside
a few cast metal pipes, connected with a stove, but even last winter, although very
severe, they were seldom used, as it requires a very great frost to penetrate through

moss a few inches thick ; at the same time, arrangement for free ventilation is
provided. I take the protection gradually away in March and April, and altogether
in May. It may be considered that the plant is not worthy the trouble thus Ijc-
stowed on it, but few could sec it in summer and make that remark. The branches
arc shortened in before covering, or it might have been twice as tall as it now is.

accompanying rejiresentation will give some idea of the general appearance

e plant when in ))loom.

Tliere arc many free flowerinj^ plants, coniiuouly occupants of the Ki'cenhousp,
which I think would succeed t|uitc as well iilanted out as the lirugmansia, large
specimens of which would add a new and interesting feature to our pleasure-
grounds. I propose planting out a few next May, with a view to their remaining
out through the winter, and getting glass structures made (so tliat they can be
easily increased in size at pleasure, and removed in spring) for their ])rotectiou.
Some who have the management of gardens may remark, and i)erhaps with justice,
that it is more easy to write about tliese matters than to get the necessary means
for their execution ; but here, I am hapjiy to say, such is not the case, as my
noble employer, who is both indulgent and generous, puts no obstacles in the
way of imjirovement or experiment. — Itohcrl JJoicUny, Crom Castle Gardens, Co.
Fermanagh, Ireland. — Gardeners^ Chronicle.

It is scarcely possible that any amount of protection, short of the hot-water
pipes, in this climate, would preserve it through one of our winters, liut it is a
plant that lifts very easily ; if taken up early, potted in a large tub, and kept over
the winter rather dry, in a cellar, protected from freezing, and, on the return of
spring, after all danger from frost is past, again transferred to the open air, it
would no doubt succeed perfectly.

It may be remarked that the Brugmansias are often called Daturas, from the
first name having been given to another tribe of plants. The Double White is a
pleasing garden ornament.

THE ENGLISH BIRD CHERRY.

BY A PHILADELPHIA AMATEUR.

Taking up a catalogue of an Eastern nursery, under the head of Cerasus Padus
it remarks, " this is a most beautiful small tree ;" and it is most truly so. Our
own Wild Cherry {C. serotina) is a gem in its way, but the present is a diamond
of the first water — the Koh-i-noor of ornamental cherries. Yet you may not see
it often ; it is as rare as it is beautiful. As soon might you see the Victoria
Lily in the commonest duck-pond, as this beautiful tree in a gentleman's grounds ;
yet it is not their apathy, for nurserymen seldom keep it, nor the nurseryman's
fault, for he is not aware of its real beauty. It has no English reputation, for
there it deserves none. Though a native of that country, it proves hardly worthy
of the soil. J^o sooner did an American atmosphere rush through the lungs of
our English forefathers, but the present go-ahead Yankee nation was formed.
Even their trees essay to partake of our spirit, and their little scrub cherries
become our most honored arboricultural citizens — genuine, back-bone Know-
nothings, ashamed of the insignificance of their origin.

Witli more frequent opportunities to observe it, our practical friends will seek
more to possess it, and it will be more and more sought after by lovers of trees.
I do wish, Mr. Editor, every nurseryman in the States could see a specimen I was
enraptured with, a few hours ago, on the very beautiful grounds of your neighbor,
Geo. 11. Thomson, Esq. I would give your readers some idea of this tree, were
it not indescribable ; or attempt to sketch it, if I felt that it could be portrayed.
Both pen and pencil failing me, I will only ask that they imagine a perfectly coni-
cal and densely furnished bush, about twenty-five feet high and fifteen diameter,
so very well furnished at the ground, that for anything we see, it might be
seated on, instead of growing in it. Over this cone of shining green, pear-like
foliage, thousands of six-inch racemes of snow-white flowers gracefully hang
tered, saturating the air around with their fragrance, and with a sweet w

l^E^ — —

SEEDLING TREES.

if they knew they had the power of conferring pleasure to the beholder, and
desired no other recompense.

But all this does not constitute their only charms ; scarcely have they

" Cast their wreath at Beauty's feet,"

than they invite other happy beings to minister to our joys. To the birds, their
fruit presents a "dainty dish ;" as it ripens, the branches are more animated by
their presence, and so long as one is left on the tree, they continue to afford what
has justly been considered one of the happiest associations of a country life.

Our little tree is not " hard to raise." The stones should be separated from the
pulp soon after gathering, and be preserved in sand till fall, and then sown ; they
will appear the next spring. If sown in spring, they will not come up till the
following year. Their after culture is very simple and easy, requiring soil and
treatment suitable to cherries in general.

[We fully indorse our correspondent's praises. It is a desirable small tree for
all ornamental grounds. — Ed. J

SEEDLIXG TREES.

BY THOMAS IVIEEHAN, GERjMANTOWN, PENXA.

Raising young nursery stock is not the simple operation some imagine. It is
easy enough when thoroughly understood, as, indeed, anything else is. As some-
thing that will pay, it is worthy of better attention ; for who can believe that an
European nurseryman can pay for the collection of American seeds, transporting
across the Atlantic, raising the trees, with all the risks of importation, and then
sell them to American nurserymen cheaper than they can themselves raise them ?
Yet this is the practice — probably nine-tenths of all the young nursery stock of
America being imported.

I do not propose to go into the whole details of stock raising ; and you, my
dear sir, in these days of secret curculio remedies, would not wish to give to your
readers, for the price of a year's subscription, information that might be worth a
good nursery business to some of them ; but being interested in the sale of tree
seeds, I cannot but desire the success of my customers, and hence offer these
remarks on the department of seed raising.

Whatever seeds are to be sown, it is of the first importance that the soil be
deej), clean, rich, and well-drained. If these conditions cannot be secured, better
not attempt to raise seedlings, but continue to import the young plants till they
can be, otherwise the attempt will " cost more than the plants come to."

A piece of laud for seedlings should be under thorough culture for at least two
years previous, so that every weed shall have been entirely eradicated. It should
be well manured both seasons, so that, when ready for seeding, it will be rich,
light, and mellow ; and, aljove all, it should be trenched or subsoiled at least
eighteen inches deep. Thus you will not be troubled with weeds abstracting the
moisture and nourishment, or calling for manual labor which does not pay ; and
your plants will grow " like willows," holding on to their own, even in droughts
like that just passed. Rest assured, that if you starve your seedlings, they will
starve you.

As a rule, all seeds grow better in a sandy soil than in that of a loamy texture ;
and some seeds, which I will specify before I conclude, will do only in such
cumstanccs. Aspect is not of great importance, an exposure to the full mid

sun being only to be avoided, or steep slopes that arc liable to wash with heavy
rains.

If there be ground enough to spare, it is best to sow the seeds in rows ; the
seedlings get more light, and so grow more vigorously, and the ground between
them can then be loosened occasionally to their advantage ; but if the ground
be properly prepared as I have advised, they do very well sown broadcast in beds
of about five feet wide, or sufficient to enable one to get in to thin or weed if
required.

So much for soil and mode of sowing generally ; the next is to apply the indi-
vidual cases. Many seeds will not grow if kept long out of the ground. Of
this character are some maples, horsechcstnuts, sweet chestnuts, laurus's or the
sassafras family, and most of the oaks. These should be sown as soon after collect-
ing as possible ; they will, for the most part, grow at once, and be fine little plants
before winter sets in. The oaks, even though ripening late, will often send down
roots three inches long before they get frozen in. These, in sowing, do not re-
quire to be covered more than a quarter of an inch with soil. When it is not
convenient to i)lant at once, seeds of this character should be put into sand, and
kept barely moist, and as cool as possible, until all things suit.

There are other kinds that do not grow if not planted before winter. The
euonymus, rhododendrons, yews, clematis, all maples and ashes, hickories, and
walnuts, nettle-trees, cleanothus, and silver bells, chionanthus, dogwoods, and mag-
nolias, usually the lindens, and viburnums. Some seeds, even if put in the ground
in the fall, if allowed to get " dead ripe" before gathering, will not come up till
even the second year. The hawthorns, dogwoods, and hollies, are exara])les. If
such do not come up the first year, they should not be disturlDed. I have a bed
of Crataegus cordata which appeared in June, this year, and which were sown in
November, 1854.

Sometimes it is not possible to get seeds to hand till the frost has closed the
ground. The method is then to place them in boxes well mixed and covered
with sand, and placed out in exposure to all weathers ; but great care must be
taken to put them out very early in spring, or they will begin to sprout, and
hundreds get destroyed in the operation. This plan should not be followed if the
seed can possibly be got in before winter, as they are more apt to suffer by dry
weather when retained till spring.

The kind of seeds which do well retained till spring, are principally pin«s and
coniferous plants, the pea-flowered tribe, as the locusts, Kentucky coffee, amorphas,
Judas-tree, and laburnum. Pines of all kinds grow best in sandy leaf soil, in a
situation not liable to be dried by the sun, or saturated with heavy rains. They
must not be buried deeply in sowing ; the smaller seeds very lightly raked in, and
the larger ones merely sown in dry soil, and beaten in with the back of the spade.
The leguminous seeds are best soaked a few hours before sowing, and should par-
ticularly be sown very early, and in deep, rich soil ; they are best always sown in
rows about as wide apart in the rows as peas are sown, and covered from a quarter
to a half inch deep, according to size of seed.

Most of the hard-shelled seeds grow best when sown in sharp, sandy soil, kept
constantly moist; the holly and halesia are especially of this kind. Every tribe
of plants — almost every species — has some peculiar taste of its own, leading it to
prefer a particular mode of treatment. This can only be learned by experience —
our own, or that of others. In all cases, a strict watch must be set on all kinds
of vermin ; ground-mice are the most destructive. These are easily kept in check
by using peas, soaking them twenty-four hours in water, then rolling them
arsenic, and burvino: them in the soil.

MOVED TO THE CITY,

Crows and chickeos are next in order in their destructive propensities, especially
on acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts, and soft-shelled seeds generally. The remedies
for these are various, depending, in their application, entirely on the feelings of
the seed-grower. Many employ the gun with good effect.

MOVED TO THE CITY!

Julia lias moved to the city ! Our amiable competitor for early salads and fine camellias,
has become entangled in the meshes of love, and for this she has left her garden ! ! How
much of her individuality has she not lost ? We were never weary of talking over our
fruit projects, and our insect remedies, in vieing with our bouquets and asparagus. Our
grapes and our pears made regular tours to each other's tables. What pleasure can I now
take in sending a fine bowl of pei-petual strawberries, or a basket of my Reine Hortense
cherries ? She buys her vegetables from the market ! eats stale salads and radishes, and,
for the sake of her lover-husband, is therewith content !

Julia and I have no longer a common topic. When I visit her, she will parade her pur-
chased fruits, and, very probably, may substitute for them sugared bon-bons. Ah ! Julia —
that was a mistake to devote your aflections on a cit ; I am much afraid — dare I say it ? —
you have not married your right husband ! Does he know the names of your favorite roses ?
Is not one bouquet as good as another to the man brought up on Wilton carpets in Walnut
Street ? Why, spring has gone and autumn come ! my lost Julia, and can you consent —
have you really consented — to traverse paved streets, and look out upon a garden — no, it is
not a garden — upon a paved yard with only one sickly tree and a clothes-line in it ? What
will you substitute for the early apple-blossom, the fragrant grape-vine, and the ever-
engrossing new buds that formerly engaged so much of your fond care?

If I did not fully believe your earlier attachment to the beauties of nature would surely
return, I would have to write you out of my books. I luill send you flowers, and fruits, and
your favorite moss rose-buds, if for no other purpose, for the selfish one of keeping you in
order for a future return to us. Shall I tell you of the bulbs you so resolutely tore yourself
away from ? They are peeping from their old beds to-day, and will soon be in all their
panoply of glory ! Your spiraeas, unconscious of your absence, promise a full display, not-
withstanding you have left them. The birds are singing merrily, and mating, too, but they
do not choose the chimney tops for listeners to their notes. Your rosewood piano and gas-
lights, Julia, are a poor substitute for the robin or the newly-arrived twittering wren !

You have unconsciously given me a theme, and, though I will not call you fickle, like the
April that has passed, I must deprecate the altered mode of life your new relations have
brought you into. Why, in the country, you were companionable 1 — are you any longer
so ? Will your talk be of verbenas, or your ambition be for evergreens ? Can you think of
mignonette, and of your old lawn, when you are surrounded by omnibuses ? Alas ! no.
The next time we meet, you will tell me of some crowded lecture, a concert, or a party. A
party, Julia, where there are no fresh flowers from your old conservatory, and where the
artificial will predominate over the natural ! Pray, my darling Julia, get your new man to
make haste and be rich, and return to our rustic habits, our rural lanes, and drives, and
walks ; but, above all, to your good old garden, where your ancestors dug, and delved, and
planted — where, Julia! you passed so many happy hours of careless child and opening
womanhood !

Julia loas our beau-ideal of an American lady. She was versed in all those accomplish-
ments which render a home in the country a pleasant place to visit. She had read, and
wisely ; understood history, music, and belles-lettres, and was acquainted wi
iology of botany. No one could so well direct a gardener, and, what was more

purpose, no one of her sex wieldfed a trowel better. She did not make her garden for a mere

promenade and a show ; she studied the bahits of her plants, and understood them, and,
of coui-se, they understood her. Who so well could prepare a luscious evouing feast from
her own vines and trees ? Who bad such delicious cream ? Wore not her conserves the
perfection of art ? her grapes the best ? And then, with what a relish they were eaten, fresh
from nature's bountiful cornucopia. Tliere was always enough, no matter how numerous
the accidental guests ; the resources of tliat bouse very few could understand. Wo passed
it but yesterday ; the windows were closed — the hedge has not been trinuned — the garden
is all but a wilderness. Servants pluck the degenerate fruits, and a cow has the pasturage
of that beautiful lawn ! Julia ! all this is true ; can you read of it without a sigh ? Can
you say, truly, you are any happier for the change ? I hope so — but I believe it tremblingly.

Julia, we have said, was an example ; for how few American ladies there are who
thoroughly enjoy a garden — who, implement in hand, and knowledge to direct it, pursue
with enthusiasm the occupations which a true lover of floriculture enjoys ?

Health, and, consequently, beauty, are best sought by a daily intercourse with nature.
When we see a faded form, it can be too often traced to the close, unventilated room, and
the absence of daily exercise. Depend upon it as a truth, the open air is the place to live
in, at least two or three hours of most American days, and the indolent young ladies who
will not practise either gardening, or walking, or riding (1 cheval, may expect, before they
are thirty, to lose that complexion which was the charm of their youth. Do you still re-
member, Julia, that in the country

"There is a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,
There's a titter of winds in that heecheu tree,
There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower,
And a laugh on the brook that runs to the sea ?"

Julia, come hack !

Balloon Spiders. — During the last month, I have placed in my parlor-window several
glass jars in which plants and animals are displayed, in the way that you may have seen
them, on a grander scale, in t]ie Royal Zoological Gai-dens. Diving water spiders (Argyroneta
aquatica) prove very attractive. " These spiders," says De Greer, " spin in the water a cell
of strong, closely woven, white silk, in the form of half the shell of a pigeon's egg, or like
the diving-bell. This is sometimes left partly above watei', but at others it is entirely sub-
mersed, and is always attached to the objects near it by a great number of irregular threads.
It is closed all round, but has a large opening below." Into this opening the spiders convey
air-bubbles and there burst them, so that their habitation is gradually expanded with atmo-
spheric air, until they have a large, dry room, surrounded by water, to deposit their eggs in, and
bring up their progeny. There is a crowd daily round my parlor-window to watch the ope-
rations of these balloon spiders. I hear the conversation of my juvenile visitors, and, when
I find occasion to do so, give open-air lectures to the auditors. I have, besides spiders, fishes,
beetles, and marine animals, all healthy, and kept with very little trouble. The only thing
needful is to establish a balance of animal and vegetable life. If the Valisneria spiralis
becomes brown, I put in a water-snail, which soon removes the confervas ; if the water becomes
cloudy, I add plants or animals, as experience directs, and without ever changing the water
it remains pure and bright.

If gardeners would give themselves the trouble to attend to a few of the marvellous
objects around them, they would augment the pleasures of their occupations, and obtain
valuable knowledge, and thus might be established a bond between youth and age ; for, if
once a child is roused to the pursuit of natural history, he will become a pleasant companion
to grown-up people — he will become merciful, for it is impossible to love God's creatures
and be cruel to them, and it is impossible to know the wonderful works of our Almighty
Creator and not to love them.

Schoolmasters should, by command, instruct their scholars in the outlines of natural
history. Nothing is more easy — nothing tends more to give purpose to pleasure, or to fill
up spare moments more profitably.

I would not have lads made collectors but observers. Instruct them to venerate life, and
to destroy it only as an act of necessity — never in wantonness — never needlessly, not even
the life of a plant. C. E., in Cottage Gardener.

WiEGELA Amabilis. — In your number for May, page 139, is a notice of this plant, com-
paring it with rosea, which, as an early forcing pot shrub, it far suipasses, and only requires
to be more known to become a general favorite, and admired as much, I have no doubt, as
it has been here for the last two seasons. It blossoms freely in a 4S-sized pot ; its light,
graceful branches, when covered with pinky blooms, make it a fit companion for the pretty
Deutzia gracilis, which it much resembles in the treatment it requires. When done bloom-
ing, I cut the plants down like the latter, inducing them to make as many young shoots as
possible for the next season's display. By a succession, it can be had in bloom from Feb-
ruary up to the present month. — J. F., in London Florist.

Sale of Mr. Loddige's Orchids.
place on the 15th and IGth.

-The first portion of this unequalled collection of Orchids
The collection comprises two thousand specimens, and

YoL. VI.— October, 1856.

31

FOREIGN NOTICES.

these rt'presout upwards of tnelvo hundred species. On the above occasion, there were
2S0 lots, and Mr. J. C. Stevens, tlie auctioneer selected to distribute them, obtained for
them £717, but, as only about 260 lots were sold, they averaged but little less than X"3 per
lot. We have only space to mention such as realized the highest prices. Onciditnn Lan-
ceanum, £d. Dcndrohlum. Farmer!, £8 5s. 7>. drnsijlnrum, £8. yErides Lnrpentew, £9. V.
teres, £10. Oncidluin purpuratum (new), £8. Vanda suficis, £10 10s. yEridis odoratuin
mari Ilium, £[) 10s. yE. quingutvulnerum, £10. Ctcohjne panduratn, £11. yEridcs nobile, £21.
yE. Schroderii, £ld lO.*. SaccoUdiiuni umjiulacium, £15 ; and ^'(lnda Battmanii, £A'i Is. —
Cott(t<jc Gardener.

I'laxtixg. — The late Sir "Watkin Williams Wjnn planted, from 1815 to 1820, upon
mountainous lands in the vicinity of Llangollen, situated from 1,200 to 1,400 feet above the
level of the sea, 80,000 oaks, 63,000 Spanish chestnuts, 102,000 spruce firs, 110,000 Scotch
firs, 90,000 larches, 30,000 wych elms, 35,000 mountain elms, 80,000 asli, and 40,000 syca-
mores.

Cheap Vaknisii for Wood and Iron Work. — I send you a good receipt for a very useful
black vaniish for wood and iron work, and which needs no boiling and risk of burning. It
is — one gallon of coal tar, half a pint of spirits of turpentine, two ounces of oil of vitriol,
stirred and laid on like paint. — C. G. G.

Dog-Breaking. — A third edition of Colonel Hutchinson's capital book on Dog-Dreaking
(small 8vo., Murray, pp. 328) is before us. The present edition contains new matter con-
cerning settlers and pointers, Spanish retrievers and bloodhounds, and conveys some useful
liints about game. The wood-cuts, of which there is a profusion, are worthy of the letter-
I)ress, which is saying a great deal.

Force of Growth in Plants. — The following inquiries and answers from the London Gar-
deners' Chronicle, will be interesting to many of our readers, and satisfactory to those who
do not inquire : What is " vital force ?" Will you, or some one of your readers, explain
the modus operandi by which it is believed, by physiologists, the young plant gets through
the surface of the ground ? Is it due to the effect of a mechanical force in the plant, acting
with a continuous yet infinitely slow motion, or, in other words, a mere slow thrust? [Yes.]
Or is there any chemical action upon the surrounding soil by which the soil is caused to
expand, and so a passage is opened through it for the prisoner ready to escape ? Tlie mar-
vellous phenomenon of a young mushroom bursting through the hard surface of the ground,
without any breaking or bruising of its outer skin, has long puzzled your constant reader,
A Bumpkin, Ross. [Its cells multiply and expand irresistibly under the influence of vital
force.]

Keeping late Grapes is an interesting subject to those who at one season have a super-
abundance. We find the following rational suggestions in a late London journal ; though
they do not differ essentially from former recommendations in this periodical, they are
practical and important, and just now seasonable : —

" There is one point respecting the mode by which Mr. Sandars keeps his late grapes which
deserves special notice. The grapes, when ripe, are not permitted to remain on the vines ;
Mr. S. considering that when once the fruit is ripe, it can be better and more economically
preserved, when cut and kept in a suitable room, than by letting them remain on the vines.
His practice is, therefore, with the last hoiises of Muscats, &c. — say towards the middl
December — to cut the fruit with the wood attached to the bunch ; the cut end of the

FOREIGN NOTICES.

is'closed over with sealing-wax, and the bunches are taken to a dry and dark room, where
they are suspended from the ceiling on rods which are placed across the room, and ou tem-
porary tressels : the bunches must on no account touch each other, and will require look-
ing over once in a week, to remove any berries which may happen to get mouldy among them.
Mr. Sandars informed us he has practised this for years, and keeps the grapes without
shrivelling, and in very good condition for the table, until the beginning of March, by
which time the early forced grapes are ripe. There can be no doubt that after grapes are
once ripe they will keep better when cut in the manner described and hung in a dry dark
room where a uniform temperature of something like 40° can be maintained, than when
allowed to remain on the vines. The great drawback to keeping grapes through the
winter is damp and the action of the sun's rays, which, by exciting a circulation in the sap
of the vines, tends to produce decay in the ripe fruit. We were ourselves forcibly reminded
of this at the end of last February with a house of the St. Peter's. The mild warm weather
of that month put the sap in motion, and we found it even exude from the berries, which
rapidly decayed in consequence. Now had these grapes been cut previously, and kept
according to the plan of Mr. Sandars, this would not have happened, and the grapes would,
we doubt not, have kept till the end of March. The economy of the system must be obvi-
ous to all ; the expense of firing houses with retarded grapes is great, particularly in wet
weather, as air must be given largely at the same time, and this expense is increased when,
as often is the case, only a few grapes are left, as they are just the same trouble. We need
not say, as an additional recommendation, that when the fruit is cut the house can be
used for a variety of purposes, which would be impossible when it contained the fruit. As
the best plan for fruit rooms is now often discussed, we hope a dry compartment for the
above and other similar purposes will be connected with it, as one of the most useful garden
structures which could be built where fruit has to be kept, and which no good garden should
be without."

DwAKF Dahlias. — Dwarf Dahlias may be produced by bending down the stems while
young, and keeping them in the required position with pegs. When cultivated in this
manner, they grow into large masses, and produce a fine effect ; at the same time, they can
be conveniently covered during the early autumn frosts, and their beauty retained for a
much longer period.

Condensed Egg, — A process has been devised for drying eggs, so that they will keep good
for any length of time. This is effected by evaporation. The yolk and white of the egg
are exposed to a slow heat, and the moisture is thus driven off. The whole is then reduced
to powder, and packed up in tins. The material is not necessarily kept air-tight, but may
be freely exposed to the air. The powder is used in the ordinary way as eggs are, being
mixed with a little water, and is thus an excellent substitute for milk on long voyages,
besides capable of being used for all cooking purposes in the same way as the fresh egg.
Tlie powder will keep any length of time without fear of deterioration.

■WoDEXETHE. — In describing, or, rather, attempting to describe Woch7uthe in a former page,
we found it impossible, in a limited space, to give an idea of half its beauties. There was
one little matter, however, that we must refer to as an ingenious application of a portion of
the Horticulturist. In erecting new summer chambers for niimerous guests, Mr. S. ingeni-
ously employed some of our colored engravings of fruit to assist the frescoes of the ceilings.
Groups of flowers taken from French paper-hangings, form the main features, and, at the
comers, appear conspicuously a pear, plum, or peach, witJi their rich and correct coloring,
forming a very beautiful finish when the whole is covered with a delicate varnish. The
conceit worked well in practice, though, we presume, few subscribers would be willing to
part these pictures from the volumes where they belong. Mr. Sargent's house is a model
on which we may some time descant.

The Pomological Convention, at Rochester, is now over ; it occurred just as we were going
to press. At one time, we thought of delaying our publication, in order to insert its proceed-
ings, but found it would make confusion, and, that the Horticulturist having obtained a
reputation of late for punctuality, many readers would be disappointed, and, after all, an
imperfect and hurried report would be the result. In our next, we shall endeavor to give
the particulars. The next event, in our vicinity, is the

National Agricultukal Exhibition, at Philadelphia, under the able generalship of Colonel
Wilder, respecting which all are now on the tip-toe of expectation of a show to outdo itself.
It is a little too much in the horse and cattle line, perhaps, for some, but its completeness in
other particulars is expected to redeem this feature, even to those exclusively horticulturally
inclined.

Mr. Chorlton, on Grapes, receives a flattering notice from the Chro7iicle, but, as usual,
the editor has his fling at America. It says of our grapes : " The process of hybridizing
seems to promise advantages, notwithstanding the bad quality, as we think, of the native
American grapes. Their mucilaginous pulp, and strong musky or foxy flavor, render them
unpalatable here." No doubt, because you have not half sun enough to ripen them. It
would be just as correct to depreciate the pine-apple, because it won't ripen in the open aix
in that paradise of smoke, London. (See Mr. Chorlton's reply, page 484.)

The Pepper Vine. — A correspondent reminds us, regarding the Ampelopsis bipinnata, that
in Torrey and Gray's Flora of North America, the Ampelopsis hipinnata of Michaux is given
as Vitis bipinnata. It grows in damp, rich soils, from Virginia to Georgia, and west to
Arkansas. Stem upright, or somewhat twining. Berries globose, as large as a small pea,
blackish when ripe, and slightly hairy ; a much handsomer plant than the A, hederacea.

Tlie Ampelopsis cordata is the Vitis Indivisa of Torrey and Gray's Flora. It has a cordate,
somewhat three-lobed leaf, three to four inches broad, and coarsely serrate. It grows in
swamps, in the Southern States, and west to Louisiana and Arkansas. It has a long, twining,
smooth stem, and a berry a little larger than a pepper-corn.

Pbak-Tree Oil. — The following is going about in the papers : " From experiments lately
made with the fruit of the pear-tree, an account of which appears in the Society of Art's
Journal, it seems probable that a new substance may be brought into use, possessing con-
siderable commercial value. According to the analysis of Dr. Hofiinan, the oil expressed
from the seed, when divested of its peculiar bitter taste, may possibly be made a substitute
for olive oil as an article of food. In illuminating power, the oil is not much inferior to
the average quality of sperm-oil."

Tliis is very pretty on paper, but does the writer know how scarce pear seeds are ? We
apprehend it will be a very long time before enough can be spared from jDlanting to make a
pint of oil.

The Ugenia Ugni. — The Chronicle says : " If bushes of the Eugenia Ugni, perhaps the
richest in flavor of all the uncommon exotic fruits, were mixed with the orange plants, they
would give variety to the appearance of a house, and enhance very materially its value. In
our own opinion, the Ugni, when properly ripened, ranks with the vine and the pine-apple.
Its fault is that the berries grow singly, and are no bigger than Black Currants ; but, on the
other hand, it produces its fruit in abundance."

Soil for Okange-Tkees. — Mr. Thomas Rivers recommends growing oranges more com-
monly than is now done, and says : " In cultivating the orange for its fruit, the first
consideration is to procure the most desirable varieties ; those delicious and smooth-rinded
oranges we receive from St. Michael's ; the Maltese Blood-Oranges, and the Mandarin, are
the most desirable, as well as some sweet ones cultivated in France. The first matter of
import is the soil ; the best is, two parts sandy loam, from the surface of some i^asture or
healthy common, chopped up with its turf, and used with its lumps the size of large walnuts,
and its fine mould, the result of chopping, all mixed together, one part rotten manure, at
least a year old, and one part leaf-mould ; to a bushel of this compost, add a quarter of a
peck of silver, or any coarse, silicious sand — calcareous sand and road sand are injurious —
and the mixture will do for all the fruit-trees of the tropical orchard houses as well as for
oranges. Commence potting with a pot too small rather than too large."

New Peas are receiving attention in England. A correspondent of the London Florist
thus sums up his experience with them : " With regard to early Peas, we do not consider
that an earlier than Daniel O'Rourke is requisite, unless a much hardier race can be procured
to resist spring frosts ; but it is essential that a pea as earlij as Daniel O'Rourke, with the
flavor and productiveness of our best Marrowfats, should be procured, and to the attainment
of this object we direct the attention of hybridizers. For small, or even large gardens, we
recommend the following sorts : —

" First Early — Daniel O'Rourke (with a succession, a fortnight after, for large gardens).

" Second Early — Harrison's Perfection or Glory, Dickson's Favorite.

" Third Crop — Champion of England.

" Fourth Crop — Lord Raglan, Hairs' Dwarf Mammoth, British Queen."

The Best Roses. — A valued correspondent recently gave us a list of the best roses. The
following list is by Mr. Lane, one of the largest English growers next to Mr. Rivers : Iljjbrid
Perpetual Roses — Deep crimsons, the new rose. General Jacqueminot, Geant des Batailles,
and Empereur Napoleon III. Of pink and rose-colored varieties, Jules Margottin, Madame
Domage, Chereau, Madame de Cambaceres, Madame Hector Jacqueler, Duchess of Norfolk,
Comtesse Vaillaut, Colonel de Rougemont, and Baronne Heckeren, are among the best
Bourbons, ApoUine, Aurore de Guide, Francois Heuricq, Louis Odier, Sir J. Paxton

I

Souvenir de la Malinaison. Tea-sconted, Adain, Canari, Comte de Paris, Devoniensis, Gloiro
de Dijon, Madame de St. Josepli, Madame Melanle Willomorz, Moire, Narcisse, Souvenir d'uu
Ami, and Vicomtesse de Cazes, are all very beautiful.

Nkw Rosk. — At the London Exhibition, Messrs. Standisli and Koble, Bagshot, sent twelve
blooms of a new hybrid perpetual rose, named Victor Trouillard, being of the rich deep shade
of color of the old Tuscany, but, like Geant des Batailles, from which it was raised, the color
soon fades. It is very dissimilar to existing varieties, particularly of the hybrid perpetual
class.

New Grape. — One ripening with the same degree of heat as the B. Hamburg, and of mus-
cat flavor, is valuable. The following is from the report of the London Pomological Society :
" Mr. Snow again furnished a bunch of his new seedling Black Grape, raised from the Black
Hamburg fertilized by the White Muscat. The berries are of good size, varying in form
from round, like the Hamburg, to oval, like the Muscat. Tlie skin is black, and, though
not thick, is tough — a property which enables the fruit to hang and bear carriage well. The
flesh is melting, and remarkably rich in flavor, fully charged with the aroma of the Muscat,
and with an unusually high perfume. The number of seeds varies from one to two, and in
some cases they are wanting. Mr. Snow having expressed a wish that the Society should
name his new grape, Mr. Hogg proposed that it should be called Snow's Muscat Hamburg,
which was approved of. It ripens as early, and with the same degree of heat, as the Black
Hamburg."

The FirvvEE Seeds the Mobe Jpice. — " Watch," says the London Farmers^ Magazine, " the
intelligent vine-grower diligently thinning his grapes. He looks for produce not in seeds
or grains (as the corn-grower does), but in pounds of juice. Now, he may obtain the same
total quantity of syrup in his globular fruit, either by having a great number of grapes
individually small, or a less number of grapes proportionately large. And, irrespective of
increased mai'ket value per pound for the finer fruit, he has a potent reason for choosing the
latter kind of yield, in spite of the additionally arduous labor it involves in repeated thin-
ning. The vital power of the vines, he tells you, is not so much taxed in secreting the
watery juice as in maturing the reproductive and life-impregnated seeds ; and, as a small
grape contains as many seeds as a large one, he husbands the energies and resources of the
vines by taking a crop richest in juice and scantiest in seeds, thus realizing the greatest
value of produce with the least possible exhaustion of the plants bearing it."

Far-nieste. — It would be difficult to embody the idea of rural /ar-n/en^e more fully than
in an extract of a letter from a country gentleman, who unconsciously lets out the follow-
ing sentiment in a communication we have lately received i " The remains of my evergreens
are looking well, except where the borer is topping them. I have abandoned them to the laws
of nature and to an ever-watchful Providence."

GuTTA Percha. — ^The Flore des Serres is justly indignant at the waste and destruction of
the gutta percha tree, and calls upon governments to protect posterity, whose knowledge of
the article must be, at the present rate of use, only a souvenir. The same elegant periodi-
cal asserts that the English government has appointed an agent to introduce the cinchona
or Peruvian bark tree into their oriental possessions, and that M. Hasskail has been sent
on a voyage to Bolivia, to obtain the seed. Baron Humboldt informed us, in an interview
we enjoyed with him at Potsdam, in 1850, that there was no kind of danger of the cinchona

@s

editor's table. 479

becoming extinct, as its range of latitude was great, and there were forests of it of fabulous
extent yet untouched. Notwithstanding this fact, its bark, from which quinine is made,
has become a monopoly of the Bolivian government, and its price unwarrantably enhanced
in this and other markets.

Tlie Flore des Serres recommends the French government to plant the gutta percha and
cinchona trees in Guyana, where the climate is propitious for both. The plan is a good
one.

Gossip. — Tliat quaint old writer. Sir Thomas Browne, in his Urn Burial, says : " Grave-
stones tell truth scarce forty years. Generations pass while some trees stand, and old fami-
lies last not three oaks. To be read by bare inscriptions, to hope for eternity by enigmatical
epithets, or first letters of our names, to be studied by antiquaries who we are, and have
new names given us like many of the mummies, are cold consolations unto the students

of perpetuity, even by everlasting languages." Potatoes. We saw, on Saturday, says

the Newport News, fifty potatoes which weighed fifty and a half pounds ; they were raised
on the farm of J. Prescott Hall, Esq., on some low, swampy land which has but recently
been reclaimed. We saw them weighed, and consequently know that the statement is cor-
rect ; this exceeds anything that we have heard of lately in the potato line. Microscopic

Photographs. Some microscopic photographs exhibited at Manchester, England, excited
much admiration. One, of the size of a pin's head, when magnified several hundred times,
was seen to contain a group of seven portraits of members of the artist's family, the like-
nesses being admirably distinct. Another microscopic photograph, of still less size, rei)re-
sented a mural tablet, erected to the memory of William Sturgeon, the electrician, by his
Manchester friends, in Lonsdale Church. This little tablet covered only l-900th part of a
superficial inch, and contained 680 letters, every one of which could be distinctly seen by

the aid of the microscope. Uncommon Growth. Tliere is hanging in our ofiice, says the

New Haven Register, the forked bough of an apple-tree, each part of which measures only
twenty-two inches in length, on which there are one hundred and forty-seven apples ! thicker
upon the wood than human ingenuity could possibly affix. They are of an average diameter
of two and a half inches, and the weight of the branch is thirteen pounds. It was cut from
a tree on the premises of Mr. J. Haley, in the western part of the city, and is called the " Anti-
Know-Nothing Apple," from its great yield. Squash. A squash was on view, at Chicago,

the other day, weighing one hundred and ninety -two and a half pounds ! The Garden.

No land pays a higher rate of interest than the humble, despised garden. — The quantity of
vegetables which it can be made to produce almost exceeds belief ; and farmers may well
open their eyes when told that under good management two acres of a garden will be more
profitable than twenty acres of a farm as it is usually conducted. In the vicinity of cities
and large towns, the raising of vegetables for market is conducted on a large scale, and is
very lucrative, and even the poor man can, by his own labors at odd times, secure an abund-
ance of food for his family, which is as good as money saved as well as earned. Tows

and Country. We wish that any hints we can oflfer might induce our stalwart young men
who are struggling for a livelihood in towns and cities, to go forth into the country, throw
off the livery of conventional life, put on the frock, and, with uproUed sleeves, seize them-
selves the plough, and " greatly independent" live. The prolific bosom of mother earth has
enough for all her children who will seek their supplies from her abundancies, for giving doth

not impoverish her ; and scattering her blessings but increases her means. At the last

meeting of the British Pomological Society, Mr. Snow again showed his new Black Grape
with a muscat flavor. It was pronounced by all present to be a first-class sort, and it was
stated that it ripens satisfactorily in the same house with the Black Hamburgh. It was
named Snow's Muscat Hamburgh. A new French grape came from Mr. Rivers. It h

NX 480 editor's tablb.

flavor of tho Sweetwater, with a slight tinge of muskinoss, auJ looked as if it would make

a good sort for out-of-door culture. Those who have attended the French markets at a

sulBcientlj early hour, will have probahly lamented over the misery of the people who carry
off, at a low price, tho pea-shells for ]X)ttage ; hut they might reserve their sympathy, and
would do so if they had partaken of such soup as, at a very trifling cost, may be prepared from
tho article. Take three quarts of water in which meat has been boiled the previous day,
and place it on the fire, with a small teaspoonful of pepper, and three larger of salt (if the
broth has been made with fresh meat), taking care, however, that neither ingredient is
jtreddminant. Add the shells of half a peck of peas, and a bundle of herbs, including a
good (juantity of chives or sweet leeks, and, if possible, a sprig or two of tarragon — a small
quantity only. When the pea-shells are sufliciently boiled, pour the whole through a colan-
der, and when the liquor is strained off, pound the pea-shells and herbs in a mortar, return-
ing them to the colander, and rubbing through what will pass easily. Add now a small
cupful of peas, two lettuces shred ratlier small, the more stalky the better, properly blanched,
and a couple of sprigs of mint, and you will have a soup which would not disgrace any
table, especially if a little fried bread is added, and an ounce of white sugar. If a thick
soup is preferred, a little flour and butter, or other thickening, must be used. It is not

necessary to have anything stronger than common broth as the foundation. Irish Moss.

The value of Irish moss collected at Scituate, Mass., in 1855, is said to have amounted to

$4,855. Seeds of weeds should be carefully prevented from ripening. Thistles produce

an increase of one hundred and fifty fold. If plants are shedding their seeds at the time
they are taken away, the very hoeing insures their safe plantation, while, if left, they might
have flown away to a distance. The practice of taking out those and other pests, and throw-
ing them in the road just as the seeds are ready to be distributed by the wind, is a most
thoughtless process ; they are blown back to the opened soil, or to neighboring grounds, and,

instead of being extirpated, are very often multiplied. A mode of estimating the value

of milk, is by the use of an ingenious new machine called a lactoscope, invented in Paris.
It consists of two tubes, one of which may be pushed into the other like the joints of a tele-
scope, and the end of each tube is closed with glass, so that when milk is poured into the
outer tube by a small opening on the side, by pushing in the inner tube a layer of milk of
any thickness may be obtained. The apparatus is placed on a stand, the value of the milk
is estimated by the thickness of the layer of it through which the light of a small wax
taper, at a fixed distance, can be observed, the value of the milk being in the inverse ratio
of the transparency ; the larger the amount of fat present, the greater of course will be the
opacity. The thickness of the layer of milk is measured by a scale on the instrument, and

a table sold with it shows the percentage of cream to which it corresponds. The London

Athenaum, in reviewing the new hook, "Salad for the Social," says, with severity: "The
author appears to be, in fact, a pair of scissors, with this difference in favor of the scissors

— that he has no points of his own. A writer in Frazer^s Magazine asserts : " I am quite

sure that every man has a much better chance of passing through life comfortably, who can
quit a city for a country life; as a nation which depopulates its rural districts to over-popu-
late its commercial, will some day learn to its cost." Jonah's gourd has been variously

supposed to have been ivy, but it neither grows up in a night, nor is consumed by a worm.
Augustine called it a gourd, and accused Jerome of heresy for calling it ivy ; yet they both
seem to have been wrong. It was, more probably, the kiki of the Egyptians, a plant of the
same family as ricinus, or castor-oil ; this plant is of rapid growth, and has such large leaves,

that the people of the East plant it before their shops for the sake of its shade. Cinnamon

was so much esteemed by the ancients, that Cleopatra carried it into her sepulchre with her
jewels ; it was kept, in wooden boxes, among the rarities of kings, and only employed
Txnguents, and on great occasions.

editor's table.

A Fkench CATALOG0E of D. Danvesse, Orleans, France, just laid on our table, contains a
great variety, but, as is too usual with these French articles, the prices are enormously high ;
it would seem to be a retail list of no use in America, and we advise the sender to save his
postage, and us any further paragraph.

Not so with the Catalogue of Andr^ Leroy^s Nurseries, at Angers, France, the source
whence is derived such quantities of seedling trees that our periodicals are constantly dis-
coursing of. The sole agent in America is Mons. F. A. Brugiere, 138 Pearl Street, New
York, by writing to whom you may know how to buy trees in quantity at the price of beets
or carrots !

Answeks TO Correspondents. — (Calla.) Some manuscripts were lost out of our wagon
on its way to the printer's — a most unusual occurrence ; and, amidst much else that was
useful, all oxir elaborate answers to Calla's numerous questions, and several valued commu-
nications, have been deposited in the road. She will have to excuse us, for the questions
were lost with the answers, not more to her regret than our own.

Indisposition, and absence in search of health, must serve, with r9gret, for many apparent
neglects of valued correspondents this month.

"Wm. Stewart & Sons, of Quincy, Illinois, have forwarded us a very clever " condensed
catalogue of fruit and ornamental trees, &c. &c."

Strawberry Plants. — We are indebted to several valued correspondents for new straw-
berry plants for experimental culture, of which reports will be made in due time. Mr. Saul,
of "Washington, Mr. Thorburn, of Newark, Mr. Mish, of Harrisburg, Mr. Hooker, of Roches-
ter, will accept our thanks. The Hooker's Seedling notice, in small type, in our last number,
should be referred to by those planting strawberries.

Stone Hill Potatoes. — Jlr. Bulkley's Stone Hills, which we promised to report upon, have
produced a wonderfully fine crop of large and excellent potatoes, never exceeded by any in
our experience.

Mr. J. R. Gardner, in an early number.

(A. B. C.) It is polite to inclose a stamp when you request an answer from a correspond-
ent on business exclusively your own.

Translations from the German. — Some valuable translations from German periodicals,
shared the fate of Calla's questions and answers, very much to our disappointment. We
hope to hear from the translator again.

" Stanley's Early" Apple. — Fine specimens of this apple, known in Ohio, where it origi-
nated, with another kind we do not know, have been sent us by Mr. James S. Lippincott, of
Haddon Lodge, near Haddonfield, N. J. The Stanley's Early may safely be added to any
catalogue as " excellent." Mr. L.'s comijlimentary letter is appreciated.

ACBURN, N. Y.

Mr. Jay Smith : Will you please confer a favor on numerous readers of your publication,
by giving, in your next number, a description of the manner of making cold frames, to be
used for the purpose of preserving cabbage, cauliflower, and other i)lants, through the winter ?
And also, whether you think that tomato and pepper plants could be preserved in the same
way — that is, in cold frames ?

Truly, Wm. A. Bartlette.

A few boards, nailed together, of any required length, and about five feet wide, will make
a convenient frame, the back being about eighteen inches high, and the front nine. Shut-
ters to cover them may be of half-inch boards, nailed together so as to be about three feet

wide. They may be kept entirely covered in frosty weather, lifting or taking them off on
fine days. The sides of the frame may be better protected with a bank of soil.

Tomatoes and peppers cannot be preserved in cold frames.

RiTsnviLLE, 0.

J. Jay Smith: Please answer the following inquiries. Allow mo to say, that your maga-
zine is a very welcome visitor here. Tliough my coiiservutism was slightly disturbed by tlie
change of editore, I was soon perfectly satisfied.

AVhat are the relative merits of the JL-UK-tti, Michigan, and Boursalt Roses as stocks, on
wliich to bud the Hybrid Perpetuals ? (1.)

Would it do to take cuttings, in November or December, from strong Manetti stocks, budded
this fall? (2.)

Is it a good practice, in light soils or any soil, to earth-up youug trees in the beds — say
in November, so as to cover the bud during winter ? (3.)

Where can Mr. Coxe'.s book on Fruits be obtained, and at what price ? (4.)

Very respectfully, R. J. Black.

(1.) They all make good stocks. We prefer them in the order named; besides, the
Manetti is more easily raised.

(2.) Cuttings will do well as late as November, but better in October.

(3.) Yes.

(4.) Coxe's book on Fruits can only be obtained at second-hand book-stores, auctions, &c.
It is out of print.

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society held an exhibition at Music Hall, the middle
of last month, which gave great satisfaction to its numerous attendants, and a large amount
of prizes was distributed ; one of forty dollars, to Miss Ellen M. Harris, for the best floral
design. The evening exhibitions were highly successful ; the galleries crowded by ladies
looking at the fruits and flowers, and listening to the Germania Band. Admiration seems
to have been the order of the day from all who witnessed this display of a most enterprising
and knowing Society.

The Pexxstlvaxia Horticultural Society. — Tlie twenty-eighth annual exhibition was held
on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of September. The city placed one of the public squares at the
Society's disposal ; over this square the Society erected an immense tent made for the
occasion, and made the arrangements for a brilliant display with a profuse liberality.

Since the Society commenced offering premiums for collections of i)lants as well as fruits and
vegetables, now three years ago, the attractions of the exhibitions have annually increased.
" Bare-legged" plants are rarities, and, in their place, well cultivated specimens of the choicer
kinds show to greater advantage.

Tlie premium of $20, for the best twenty plants, was awarded to Mr. Pollock, gr. to James
Dundas, Esq. Various kinds of AUamandas were conspicuous in this collection, and are
very useful summer blooming plants. The only striking novelty in this collection was the
Philodendron pertuosum — a plant of the Arum family, with large, leathery leaves, having
at the ends of their lobes the same shorn-off appearance those of the Tulip-tree possess. In
Mr. Robertson's collection. Begonia xanthina, with numerous yellow blossoms, was an object
of great attraction.

An interesting feature of the exhibition was the variegated plants, several collections being
shown. The variegated Hydrangea was, perhaps, the most conspicuous. In Mr. Buist's
collection, we particularly noticed a very handsome Dracaena ; D. Nobilis, with beautiful
veined foliage.

A collection of sixty-five species of coniferous plants in pots, from Mr. Sherwood, afforded

editor's table.

a chance to many of becoming acquainted with rare kinds ; and a bouquet design by Mr.
Raabe, of 150 species of grasses, all very neatly named, showed how beautifully so dry a
subject as abstract botany can be combined with art by a person of fine taste.

A display of Monthly Carnations, now getting deservedly popular, as their cultivation
becomes understood, was shown, in fine order, by Mr. James Thomas, from Mr. Withams.

Peiiietual blooming plants should be freely encouraged, and, in this connection, two roses,
by Mr. Pentland, of Baltimore, were much admired. One, Beauty of Green Mount, a noisette,
with the rich crimson of Souvenir d'Anselme, with more numerously clustered flowers. The
other, with the pure white of Aimee Vibert, on the vigorous growth of a Jaune des Prez,
also a Noisette, and named Woodland Margaret. Of the numerous collections of roses, a
rather new American seedling, Isabella Gray, was the chief attraction. It is the yellowest
and sweetest of the Sweet Yellow Tea or Noisette Roses.

There were several new competitors on the Dahlia list — Grand Duke, lilac ; Sir F. Bathurst,
plum ; Summit of Perfection, maroon ; Beauty of the Grove, bronze, with purple tip ; Ring-
Leader, plum ; Napalese Chief, crimson, tipped with pink ; and Mrs. Weutworth, lilac, we
noted as about the best.

Of the miscellaneous plants, there was little new. Weigela amabilis, valuable as a con-
tinual bloomer. Phlox criterion, a striped variety of Phlox Drummondii, and Lantana lutea
superba, with yellow flowers, were most attractive.

The fruit department was well represented. Fine contributions, coming from Boston,
Lancaster, Moorestown, and other distant places. Mr. Lazenby's Black Hamburg Grapes,
the bunches weighing nine pounds and over, were better colored than usual.

Most of the new grapes were on exhibition. The Concord (we understood, raised under
glass) were about half the size of Isabellas hanging beside them, and, we were informed,
scarcely equal to them in flavor. It is said to be valuable in the North, by being earlier than
that kind.

The competition for the vegetable prizes was particularly brisk, room being with difficulty
provided. It is gratifying to flnd, by the increased number of competitors, and the superior
qualities of the productions exhibited, that gardeners and their employers are alive to their
interests, in supporting the Society ; the one by the honor, if not the profit, accruing to them ;
the other by the increased stimulus given to the gardener to aim at excellence in all things.

The Loxdox Horticultural Society's Gardens, which were about to be sold to meet the
debts of the Society, are to be preserved, and the debts provided for by donations, new fellows,
reduced expenditures, resignation of officials, and a contract to keep the gardens up for £1,200
per annum. All lovers of horticulture will rejoice to hear this.

The Scientific Convention, at Albany, has done itself great credit at its late meeting, and
in the opinion of our readers, did nothing of more general interest than to recommend the
government to take measures to protect the great California trees. Tliis, we trust, will be
done ; they are not numerous, and are unique. Late reports from Europe are discouraging
as to their healthy growth abroad — another inducement to x>rotect what we have.

Exhibitions. — Tlie whole country is alive, this month, with exhil>itions. There will be an
amount of information thus disseminated that no one man can appreciate. To all we say,
make your efforts at utility and beauty, so as to benefit the greatest numbers.

The Orchard-House. — We are indebted to Mr, Tliomas Rivers, of England, for the fourth
edition of his Orchard-IIouse, or the Cultivation of Fruit- Trees in Pots under C/ass, London,
1856, from which we shall make extracts for the benefit of readers.

Vali'Ablb Crop. — The crop of blackberries on Long Island was sold, in New York, for
about $5,000. The groceries paid C| cents per quart, and, at tliis price, some persons received
fur blackberries sold from their land, more than the land itself would bring if i)ut up for sale.

The old Stuyvesant Pear-tree, in New York, aged one hundred years, bore a bushel of fruit
tills season.

Nectarines. — Mr. Caleb Cope will receive our thanks for some Stanwick Nectarines, every
way what they ought to be, and creditable to the grower. lie has four trees, and fine crops.
Accompanying them were some very good Red Romans. We expect, after the entire success
of Mr. Hunnewell and Mr. Cope, to hear of success elsewhere.

Samuel Millek, of Calmdale, near Lebanon, Penna., sends us a new seedling grape about
the size and appearance of the Isabella, and, we think, as good. He says : —

" This seedling was raised from seed sent mo by Mr. Longworth, of Cincinnati, Ohio, five
years ago. The vine bore about a dozen bunches last year ; this season it has had, perhaps,
fifty or sixty bunches. The vine has been perfectly hardy since its infancy ; a strong
grower, and will, with good cultivation, far exceed those scut you, in my opinion, as the
vine has thus far been sadly neglected.

" You can best judge of its quality, and whether it is worthy of a place among the good
grapes. (It is. — Ed.) In the same box you will find a bunch of grapes from a friend.

Yours, truly, Samuel Miller."

Mr. Mish, of the same town, sends a bunch of Longworth's Ohio, or Cigar Box, and some
very Jine Beurre Diel pears. The grape we do not think much of for the table ; the pears,
excellent. A new white seedling grape, from Mr. Brandegee, is excellent. The raiser, \Vm.
Brochsbank, Hudson, N. Y.

Beardless Barley. — J. W. Briggs, West Macedon, N. Y., sends us specimens of beardless
barley, and will do the same to all who inclose a stamp.

New Brighton, Staten Island, Sept. 4, 1856.

J. Jay Smith, Esq. — Dear Sir : Some time ago, a copy of my book, " The Grape Growers'
Guide," was sent to Dr. Lindley, the editor of the London Gardeners^ Chronicle, which he
has noticed somewhat favorably, and in that notice he has hit upon, perhaps, the two most
philosophical points, considered in a prospective view, both of which are in connection with
mildew on the grape-vine. The first is the recommendation to improve our natives by
hybridization with the European kinds, so as to gain the better quality of the latter, and
yet retain the hardy constitution of the former. This he entirely agrees with, and advises
the Eastern vineyard cultivators to accept as a probable means of extirpating the destruc-
tive pest that is now destroying their crops. If we have given to Europe an idea that shall
ultimately be successful, we shall be gratified with the service done, and hope, in the mean
time, that it may so turn out.

With regard to mildew as it now exists there, and the kind that we have all along been
troubled with in out-door culture, it is presumed that both are identical. This the doctor
denies in the following language : " In connection with the present subject, it is not a little
curious to see how the American gardeners are in a complete state of confusion as to what
is the true vine mildew, arising from the attack of oidium. Mr. C. says there are two dis-
eases in the States, one appearing in the form of brown spots, which eat through the leaves ;
the other like a ' fine and delicate hoary mouldiness.' The first he supposes to be European
mildew, while his account shows unmistakably that it is the second. Let us hope that

when Mr. Cliorlton sees this remark, he will make the American public aware of the mis-
take." Now, in my description of this first, it is stated that the earliest indications of it are
these brown spots, and that " afterwards are seen small white patches of the soft and deli-
cate fungus attached to the under side of the leaf." Further : " These white patches are
the fructification of the parasite." As it appears to me, he has only read the description so
far as the first indications are mentioned, and then skips on to the next paragraph, which
speaks of the " fine and delicate hoary mouldiness of the second kind." As to this part of
the matter, both might have passed by the same words, but I was very exact in trying to
explain, so far as words could do, the minute difi'erences, and was particular in stating that
the first sort " penetrates to the berries by the rhizoma, or spawn, and makes them in ap-
pearance like a diseased potato in the first stage of infection ;" while the second lives
entirely ujwn the epidermis (which it destroys), procreates simply by the increase of cells
laterally, and is found on the upper side of the leaf, thus showing that there is a higher
organization in the former than the latter. It is possible that we may be in error, but I
would say, with all due deference to his superior abilities, that Dr. Lindley has failed to
show it. The very sensible article by Mr. J. Fisk Allen, of Massachusetts, on this subject,
in the August number of the Horticulturist, would seem to contradict the doctor's assertion,
for your correspondent there states, that, " in the Agricultural Report of the Patent Office
for the year 1853, page 311, there may be found an engraved illustration of this mildew
fungus. It appears in a communication to the State Department from Nicholas Pike, Consul
of the United States at Oporto. This is a correct representation of the American mildew,
and leaves no room for doubt as to the identity of the two species." And further on : " That
in the short space of one day, the under side of the leaf will be covered." This illustra-
tion I have seen, and agree with Mr. Allen. It is also sustained by the evidence of other
close observers, and, although the wording of the communication might have been more
minute and scientific, there is sufficient in it to show that there is little or no diflFerence.
Here is certainly evidence that what I have supposed to be European mildew is so, and also,
that it is the same which we are troubled with during the months of July and August. If
Dr. Lindley had been more comprehensive in his explanation, and noticed the peculiarities
with sufficient attention, it is very probable that we should have received some benefit
from his remarks ; as it is, there is nothing left for us but to think that he did not read the
description with sufficient attention. Respectfully yours, Wm. Chorlton.

J. Jay Smith, Esq. — An article is going the rounds (as quoted from the California Farmer),
which expresses the opinion that " coflfee will be grown in the State of California, for their
own consumption, and also for exportation." It is well to put so erroneous an idea at rest,
by stating, that in no part of the State of California will the cofi'ee-tree survive the winter.
It is among the most sensitive of all trees to cold, and there is no locality in our count ly
where it could be cultivated, except on the extreine point of Florida. It is not cultivated
in Mexico, and, owing to the general altitude of that tropical country, it would only survive
on a narrow strip of land bordering on each ocean, and in some parts of Yucatan.

Wm. R. Pkince.

Temperance and the Vine. — To J. J. Smith, Esq. — Dear Sir : In your May number, I
observe that my friend, Jeflfreys (may he live a thousand years, and his shadow never be
less), in his " Critique," has doubts about our native wine being an aid to the temperance
cause, and cites the abuse of it as a reason. Now this is scarcely fair, for they have very
sour cider in his vicinity, and his neighbors should be excused for an extra indulgence, when
get a good glass of native wine,
it is possible for us to become a strictly temperate people, then Jeflfreys is right.

am wrong. But otliomiso, then tho least Imrtful potations wo can introduce and make
customary, tlio better. I sincerely believe, from what I have already seen, that our native
wiiu^s will meet this object. Tliis is our experience here, and the fact is fully sustained by
all who have visited tho wine countries of EurojKJ. Quite an impartial opinion, you will say,
coming from a wine-grower II It is not every doctor, however, that likes to take his own
me<licine, and I confess, for ray part, that I prefer a cup of buttermilk at dinner, in summer,
to the best glass of wine that ever sparkled on tho board. But tastes differ, and many would
prefer the wine.

In looking at this matter in all its bearings, I am disposed to adopt tho views of honest
FaihcT Mulroonetj, expressed, some forty years ago, to his flock in a western town.

The good man had a hard set to deal with — a froUicking, rollicking, drinking congregation
as could be found in the suburbs of any city, and they fairly worried the life out of him, as
he said. At last, after a strong temperance exhortation, which he feared would have no
effect, he closed as follows : " Now, I am afraid all this admonition will be thrown away on
you hardened sinners. You know you have been vexing the very life out of me, you
haythcn, and sorra the bit do I believe you will heed me ; so, if you ivill drink, and make
brute bastes of yourselves, go to Barney CoyWs; he is a dacent lad, and keeps the best
liquors in tho town."

Let us apply this to the native wine. R. Bpchanax.

Cincinnati, August 19, 1856.

TuE HoKEY Peach of China. — For the history and a drawing of this fruit I refer to the
first volume of the Uorticulturist, page 382. I obtained from my friend Mr. Chas. Downing,
about three years ago, cuttings from the seedlings, and on the 30th July last, succeeded in
maturing three on the tree ; it corresponds very nearly with the plate, with the exception
it has a sharper point, and is not quite so large, which I attribute to the excessive drought
we have labored under this summer, scarcely any of our peaches being half the ordinary
size ; the tree, or more properly speaking, the bush, is hardly thirty inches high ; but I
tliink with ordinary seasons the tree as well as fruit will be much larger. Around the pit
the flesh has the appearance of a very ripe fig, half dried, and is as distinct and marked in
its taste as honey itself ; one or two would be as many as any person would desire to eat at
one time. I flatter myself I have been the first to fruit it in America. I exhibited it on
yesterday to the fruit committee of our State Agricultural Society ; all agreed it was the
most remarkable, distinct, and richest peach they ever tasted. I consider now that with
my two varieties, the Chinese cling and honey peach, I have the rarest and the best
peaches on the continent. Henry Lyoxs.

Laurel Park, Columbia, S. C, August 2, 1856.

lortitultiirnl ^otieties.

PcsssYLVANiA HoRTiiTT.TrRAL SOCIETY. — Tbc Stated meeting of this Society occurred, at the Concert IlaU, on
Tuesday evening, August 19, 1856, Df. W. P. Brinckle in the chair. Premiums were awarded as follows, viz : —

Committee on Plants and Flowers. CoHtetion of twelve — to Julin PoUucIc, gr. to ,1. Dundas ; for the second to
Chas. Sutherland, gr. to J. Anspach. Collectioji of s-ix — to Mark Hill, gr. to M. W. Baldwin. Specimen I'lunt —
to J. Pollock ; second to C. Sntlierland. Tithhi Dinign — second to J. J. Habermelil. Bunkii — the same ; second
to Mark Hill. Bouqtiets — best pair to Henry A. Dreer; second to J. J. Habermehl. Nelo Plant — three dollars,
for a fine Allamanda Sieboldii, first time shown, to J. Pollock ; one dollar, for Achimeues Am'brosie Verchaffeltii,
pretty, to Robert IJuist. Sptciid — two dollars to H. A. Dreer, for a fine basket; to R. Kilviugton, for two table
designs; to J. J. Habermehl, for fine German Asters.

Committee on Fruit. Grapes — three bunches of a black variety, to J. Riley, Asylum ; second, William
Grassie, gr. to J. Tucker; for tliree bunches of white to J. Riley ; second to Chas. Sutherland. Plums, twenty-
four specimens of six varieties — to J. McLaughlin, gr. to J. B. Baxter. Pearx — the same. ApjjUs, best tlixee
varieties — to S. W. Noble, of Montgomery Co. Special Premiums of one dollar to G. W. Earle, for plums ; to
J. Lindsay, for Bolmar's Washington Plums ; to M. Hill, for two new varieties of watermelons.

Committee iin Vegetables. For the best display, by a market gardener, to A. L. Felten.

On motion, ordered that the President appoint delegates to attend the sixth session of the American Pomolo-
gical Society, to be held at Rochester, New York, 26th of September.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

Ordered, that the thanks of the Society \)0 tendered to Dr. Frederick Leclare, ah honorary member, for his
treatise on the Cure of Cholera Asiatica.

Several fixe Plants were ExniBiTED. — Plants from James Dundas's gardener.

From M. W. Baldwin's. The new Veronica Imperial Blue.

From John Lambert's. Fine German Asters.

By Robert Buist. New — Acliimeuos .Vmbrosie Vcrchatfeltii, a white, striped with violet and yellow eye, very
pretty cut flowers of AUamauda grandifloni ; with many designsfor baskets and bouquets from various members.

Fruit, Ac— By Saml. W. Noble.

By Robert Buist.

By A. L. Felteu.

By Mark Hill. Melons, OdcU's large white and orange.

OCTOBER.

BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS,

Vegetable Gakdex. — Lifting and storing away the winter root crops will require attention
towards the end of the month. Beet, salsify ; carrots, parsnips, &c., keep best covered with
sand in a dry cellar, and are at all times of easy access. Choose a dry day for lifting, and
use precaution not to break the roots more than possible, especially with the two first men-
tioned ; the leaves of these should not be cut so close as to wound the root. Parsnips are
frequently left in the ground, and taken up as wanted, but, where the winters are long and
severe, they should be housed.

Horseradish may now be taken up and replanted, the largest roots stored for use ; they
will keep till wanted, if treated as the others.

Spinach should be thinned out, that the plants may have room to extend ; they will keep
over winter better when thus treated, than when allowed to crowd and grow up weakly.
Turnips must also be thinned, if good bulbs are expected.

Mushrooms. — Many persons who have a fancy for these are deterred from attempting to
cultivate them from the supposed difficulty. They are so easily raised, that any one having
the convenience of a dry cellar may have them in profusion. The requisites are, short stable
manure, and good mushroom spawn. The manure must be prepared by being frequently
turned, so as to prevent excessive heating, and the bed made from six to sixteen inches in
thickness, according to the temperature that can be maintained. Where the temperature
can be kept up to 60O, the former thickness will be sufficient. The latter thickness will
generate sufficient warmth of itself. Insert the spawn when the heat is about 80°, and
cover with two inches of soil, firmly beaten, all over the bed. A covering of straw will be
necessary should the heat decline. Under the staging of a greenhouse, if protected from
the drippings of the pots, or in large pots or boxes, mushrooms may be grown without much
trouble or expense.

Fkqit. — Raspherrjj plantations may be made this month ; the old plants should be pruned
and got in readiness for laying down against winter.

Strawherries may yet be planted on dry grounds ; on strong, undrained lands, they will be
thrown on the surface by the action of frost, unless covered with tan bark or an equivalent ;
there is no better mode of arranging than planting in rows three feet apart, and twelve or
sixteen inches between the jjlants. Those in pots must now be protected from heavy rains,
and exposed to the sun ; it is important that the buds be perfected ; the runners ought to
be kept down, both on those in pots and in the ground.

Grapes. — These will not require much attention at present ; the side-shoots and laterals
may be shortened a little previous to the regular winter pruning. Do not cut the fruit too
soon. Many jtrefer the Isabella Grape after it has been exposed to slight frost.

Greenhouse. — In arranging the plants in their winter quarters, those of more tender nature
should be placed at the warmest end of the house ; these will include torenias, ixoras, lesche-
naultias, stepanotis, cyprepediunis, &c. ; and further to insure their safe keejiing, they should
receive no more water than will barely keep them from wilting. See that the drainage is
perfect ; this is a great point with all potted plants at this season. Young, growing plants
for early spring flowering, as fuchsias, calceolarias, cinerarias, x>elargonitims, and similar
articles, should also have a place in the warmest portion of the house, and near the glass.
The front shelf is a good situation for these. Temporary shelves, fixed near the roof, at any
convenient point of its surface, will be found useful in winter, and present a most favorable
position for young plants. If not over a foot in width, such a shelf will not materially in
terfere with the growth of plants on the lower staging. Azaleas and camellias that ind'
early flowering, may also be placed near the heat, to hasten them into flower. The c

end of the bouse (that is, the end furthest from the source of heat, wliich can bo kept a few
degrees colder by admitting more air at tliat point), will be filled with the main plants of
camellias and azaleas, with acacias, heaths, epacrises, &c. New Holland plants — borouias,
jwlygalas, eutaxias, daphnes, and others — will occupy an intermediate position. Stock plants
of verbenas, heliotropes, &c., can be stowed on the front or side shelves. The less growth
these make at this time the easier they are kept ; keep thom on sliort allowance of water.
Keep the house aired a little at night, unless during storms or indication of frost ; water
early in the morning, and have the house dry towards evening. Dispense with all kind of
shading ; the object now is, to harden and ripen the plants, that they may stand the elTects
of winter.

Flower Garden. — Bulbs of tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, &c., should be planted now ;
choose rich grounds, and cover at least two inches. A handful of dry sand below each bulb
will facilitate their rooting, and a slight covering of manure by and by, will protect them
during winter.

Hollyhocks. — If not already attended to, the seedlings may now be transplanted into
borders for flowering next summer. A deep, rich soil will give strong plants and profusion
of flowers. Few plants produce so striking an effect in masses as the hollyhock. The im-
proved varieties are as largo and double as daldias, and the colors much superior, both in
depth and variety.

Violets, for winter flowers, may be transplanted into frames ; the frames should be set in
an elevated dry site, and the soil well broken up and pulverized. Lift the i^lants carefully,
and press the soil firmly around them ; finish, by giving a thorough watering and shade
from sun for a few days ; they will start to grow at once, if the frame is kept rather close
for a week ; afterwards, admit air gradually, and ultimately remove the glass altogetlier
until frost.

Mignonette, in pots, should be thinned to four or five plants to a pot. Be careful in the
application of water as the days shorten; they are liable to decay if too freely watered
during cold, dull weather.

Alterations, such as making flower-beds, repairing, or laying down box edgings, gravelling
walks, &c., can be done much more advantageously now than in the spring ; the soil is in
good working condition, and it is generally a season of more leisure.

Pleasike Ground and Shrubbery. — Planting deciduous trees should be proceeded with by
the middle of the mouth, or as soon as possible after the fall of the leaves. Evergreens
should be left until April. It is too late for them to make sufficient roots to supply their
large evaporating surfaces, unless they are removed with plenty of roots.

Tlie arranging of ornamental trees should be well studied before commencing to plant. A
few studies for reflection may be enumerated.

1. Plant evergreens with a view of forming a distinct winter scenery when deciduous
trees are leafless ; principally effected by keeping them somewhat distinct, and arranging
the various shades of green which such trees present.

2. With reference to tlie development of individual or combined beauty. The former,
by placing single specimens in prominent situations ; and the latter, twofold ; by variety
of foliage alone, and, secondly, by variety of outline, or general liabit of growth.

3. The gradual blending of evergreen and deciduous trees into a whole, so as to avoid
violent contrasts, by using trees liaving both properties combined, as the European and
American larches, and deciduous cypress.

4. Giving depth to limited vievrs by marginal undulations, and increasing the effect by
placing heavy dark-colored foliage in the recesses, as the horsechestnut, Norway and syca-
more maples ; and light colored or small foliaged trees in front, as the birches, eleagnus, &c.

5. An arrangement with reference to spring and early summer flowering trees, as the
scarlet maple, wild cherry, Judas-tree, catalpa, i^aulownia, halesia, laburnum, locust, horse-
chestnuts, chionanthus, Crataegus, koelreuteria, magnolias, &c.

G. Contrasting tlie various shades and tints of foliage before the fall of the leaves in
autumn. Scarlet and sugar-maples, sweet and sour gums, tulip-tree, sassafras, bitter-nut,
and other hickories, scarlet oak, and dogwood, are some of the most prominent in this resjject.

7. Imitation of natural scenery by planting at irregular distances, especially the efi'ect of
two or more planted three or four feet apart ; the efi'ect of two or three stems apparently
from one root is also worthy of notice.

Lastly, and of much importance, filling up the outskirts with thick shrubbery, the better to
define the plantations, and form a decided distinction between them and open spaces of lawn.

These are only a few of the many features that tree planters ought to have in view, a
knowledge of which is indispensably essential to the development of landscape gardening.

%\n goluninrj Slonumtnt.

It will be vividly reraembered by the readers of this periodical, how sincerely
horticulturists mourned the death of Downing. We all felt as if a friend and
brother had left us ; even those who had not entirely appreciated the bright, par-
ticular star that rose on the heretofore
barren heath of our garden literature,
soon felt that a luminous planet had
set; its light, however, still shines,
and, while gardening is an elegant
pursuit among us, which it will
always be, all thinking and reading
men will refer to Downing as the
pioneer mind of America.

Much has been said regarding him,
and much that is true continues to be
said, but there is one point that is left
us to say, in introducing to the pages of
his own journal the engraving of the
monument, which testifies the affection
of the many who contributed to its erec-
tion : Downing tanght tis hoic to live.
When he commenced his career of au-
thorship, the fine old domestic country
establishments which the American
Revolution had seen, had mostly fallen
into decay with the decadence of their
owners ; the large properties on
which so many wealthy planters and
farmers had lived in hospitable muni-
ficence and European grandeur, had
been divided by the abrogation of
the law of entail, and other causes.
From the commencement of this cen-
tury, one example after another of
the old style of living, which we may
characterize as " the four in hand,"
the style of the "Republican court,"
paled before the paternal divisions of
laud, particularly at the North. The
democratic feeling took posses-
sion of the country, happily for its
permanent prosperity. Country
s(i/le faded away; people looked
around them, in their country
houses, on mere farms ; to produce the necessaries of life, was the countryman's
ambition. To emheUish his home, and make it a desirable residence for his
family and his successors, seemed to be no part of his duty or pleasure. To say,
" a farmer," was equivalent to expressing awkwardness of manners, roughness of
speech and dress, and almost ignorance. The citizen went to the country to board
in the farmer's family, iu summer, or to dance at ]3allston or Saratoga; between
the two classes there was no fellow feeling, and, with a few stately exceptio
veral divisions of our country, there was, properly speaking, no elegant

YoL. VI.— November, 1856.

32

400 THE DOWNINO MONUMENT.

life. Downing nowbcpran to impress people with an idea that there were hipher
enjoyments to be found in the cuuntrv than raisiii<^ corn and poultry, which could
be (iihh'd to the attractions of rural life. A taste for horticulture was soon iui-
planted in the rural population ; their houses were made comfortable and elegant;
glass structures brought fruit and (lowers ; the study of scenery, and the proper
arrangement of the grounds, followed as a matter of course. In his books, and
every month in his periodical, our rural Socrates gave us new inducements and
instructions regarding worthy objects to exiiend our money, time, and taste, upon.
Before his untimely end, ladies and gentlemen had ceased to talk exclusively of
" taste aud the musical glasses," and had found in trees, rocks, waterfalls, gardens,
and scenery, something else to admire than curtains and Parisian furniture. It
was truly surprising to discover that the same income that must be spent on a lot
of twenty-five feet by an hundred in the city, would, in a rural neighborhood, with
hnoicledge of country things, enable the expender to have a lawn aud pleasure-
ground, a horse, a cow, a plentiful vegetable and fruit garden, and, perhaps, a
greenhouse or grapery, with their never-ending pleasures.

The "revolution" was rapid in its progress ; villas grew up in every section ;
cities were voted a bore by a large class ; we can now visit country residents who
do not sit down to dinner without a coat on their backs, and we find books and
pictures, billiards, and rare flower-beds, where but yesterday were weeds and stable-
yards — in the countrtf.

That that revolution came in our time, we mainly owe to the individual to whom
we have just erected a suitable memento, the tribute of our just appreciation to
his merits, genius, and originality. There it stands, in the grounds he was so
actively employed in embellishing, in "Washington, at the time of his decease — a
shrine, where the lover of his country may make a pilgrimage, and shed a tear
for all future time — an evidence that he was appreciated by his contemporaries, a
monument less ambitious than our attempt to commemorate the fame of Washing-
ton, but, in its oivn line, pointing to the works of a most useful individual. Long
may it stand a memento of a country's gratitude to its able teacher ; long may
the moistened eyes which read the following inscriptions, read the lessons he in-
stilled ; and, so long as it is visited in the ))roper spirit, so long as his lessons are
remembered, so long shall our country be far removed from that serai-barbarism
which threatened the inland dweller when Downing's spirit roused itself, and threw
off the apathy to the love of the beautiful, which was fast overtaking us.

The monument was designed by Calvert Yaux, Esq., Architect, and Downing's
partner at the time of his death, aud is given above, with the inscriptions as kindly
furnished by himself.

THE INSCKIPTIO>'S.

This vase was erected, by his friends, in memory of Andrew Jackson Downing, who died
July 28, 1852, aged 37 years.

He was born, and lived, and died, npon the Hudson River. His life was devoted to the
improvement of the national taste in rural art, an office for which his genius, and the
natural beauty amidst which he lived, had fully endowed him. His success was as great
as his genius, and for the death of few public men was public grief ever more sincere.

When these grounds were proposed, he was at once called to design them, but, before they
were completed, he perished in the wreck of the steamer Henry Clay.

His mind was singularly just, penetrating, and original ; his manners were calm, reserved,
and courteous. His personal memory belongs to the friends who loved him, his fame to the
country which honored and laments him.

Upon the reverse : —

" The taste of one individual, as well as that of a nation, will be in direct proi:)or
the profound sensibility with which he perciives the beautiful in natural scenery

THE MANGOSTEEN, OR MANGOSTAN.

" Open wide, tlierefore, the doors of your libraries and picture-galleries, all ye true Repub-
licans ! Build halls where knowledge shall be freely diffused among men, and not shut up
within the narrow walls of narrower institutions. Plant spacious parks in your cities, and
unloose their gates as wide as the gates of morning, to the whole people." — Downing''s Rural
Essays.

" Weep no more,
For Lj'cidas your sorrow is not dead.
Sunk though he be beneath the watery floor,
So sinks the day-star in the ocean bed.
And yet, anon, repairs his drooping head,
And tricks his beams, and with new spangled ore
Flames in the forehead of the morning sky ;
So Lycidas sunk low, but mounted high
Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves."

I wake, I rise,
" I climb the hill ; from end to end
Of all the landscape underneath,
I find no place that does not bi-eathe
Some gracious memory of my friend."

" 'Tis held that sorrow makes us wise ;

Yet how much wisdom sleeps with thee,
Which not alone had guided me.
But served the seasons that may rise ?"

" And doubtless unto thee is given
A life that bears immortal fruit
In such great offices as suit
The full-grown energies of Heaven."

" And love will last as pure and whole
As when he loved me here in time,
And, at the spiritual prime.
Re waken with the dawning soul."

For ourselves, we never liked "Wasbiugton as the locale for the erection of this
monument. Some spot on the Hudson River, where he labored, lived, and died,
would better have comported with his own wishes and the public expectation ;
but it has been otherwise decided by the able committee, and we acquiesce, thank-
ful that, unlike many good intentions, it has not utterly failed at last.

We add, with regret, that a late hasty inspection of the grounds of the Smith-
sonian Institute, where the monument now stands, exhibited them in a neglected
state, to the shame of the Government as well as of the Regents.

THE MANGOSTEEN, OR MANGOSTAN.*

This extraordinary fruit is just now attracting considerable attention in Eng-
land, in consequence of its having been fruited successfully at Syon House, the
seat of the Duke of Northumberland, where at the same time it bore flowers, and
the ripe and ripening fruit, as represented in the drawing.

The Mangosteen has long been celebrated by travellers as the best known fruit,
and efforts have been frequently made to familiarize it to other countries than the
Malay Peninsula, and islands to the eastward of Bengal, but, till now, in vain.
The fruit is of a spherical form, of the size of a small orange ; when young, it is
of a reddish-green color ; when ripe, of a reddish-brown ; and, when old, of a

* See Frontispiece.

492 THE BEAUTIFUL IN NATURE.

chestnut -brown color. Its succulent rind is nearly the fourth of an inch in thick-
nesj!. containin,!? a ver}' powerfnl astrintrcnt juice, and, in wet weather, exudinp a
yellow cram, wliich is a variety of Ganil)0{'-c. On reinovinp: the rind, its esculent
substance appears in the form of a juicy jinlp, having the whiteness and solubility
of snow, and a refreshinp:, delicate, delicious (lavor ; this is the l)ulp of the cells,
and these separate easily from each other, like the cells or lobes of an orange.
''The flavor," says one who ate of the fruit produced at Syon House, "was deli-
cio\is, and compared, by some who partook of it, to that between a first-rate peach
and of a good grape." Dr. Abel, when speaking of the fruits of Batavia, says,
'■ to define it l)y i)recise language would be dillicult. We were all aiixious to carry
away with us some jirccise exiircssion of its (pialitics ; l)ut, after satisfying our-
selves that it partook of the compound taste of the pine-apple and peach, we were
obliged to confess that it had nuiny other ecpially good, ))ut utterly inexpressible,
flavors. From its perfect wholcsomeness, it may Ijc eaten in any quantity ; and,
as it possesses no luscious qualities, it does not soon cloy the palate. It is not a
little singular that a plant nearly allied to the Gamboge, should yield so wholesome
a fruit. The rind is astringent, and employed in cases of dysentery, and the bark
of the wood is used as a dye.

In British stoves, it has attained the height of ten or twelve feet; in the Malay
Islands, it is said to be twenty feet. A botanical description will be found in
Curtis's Botanical Magazine, vol. ii., 3d series, Plate 4,847. All writers attest
its great excellence.

Fig. 1. Flower. 2. Seed-vessel. 3. Flower-bud. 4. Back view of flower;
the fruit, and a section of the interior, are re])resented above, with the leaves.

There are now, in this country, many plant-houses well calculated to grow the
]\rangosteen, and we hope, by i)ublishing the plate, to induce some of our zealous
propagators to attempt it. There are other rare and beautiful fruits yet to be
tried among us, such as the nutmeg, a most beautiful shrub and fruit, chocolate,
clove, litchis, and vanilla, all of which, ere long, we hoi)e to see gracing our ex-
hibition's.

Some further particulars regarding the Maiigosteen will be found in our last
volume, page 498.

THE BEAUTIFUL IN NATURE.

BY A. D. G. CLINTON, N. Y.

WnATEVER definition of beauty we may adopt, the fact of its existence will not
be questioned. It greets us on every hand, more abundantly disclosed, indeed, to
the cultivated and observing eye, yet visible also to the most superficial and heed-
less. Physical beauty — of Avhich alone we now sjjeak — abounds in every depart-
ment of nature. In the animal kingdom, for instance, what graceful forms and
proj)ortions, what richness and delicacy of colors, wliat sweetness of sounds ! It
was not mere utility that fashioned the humming-bird which flits arouTid our door-
ways, or the bo!)oiink pouring out his liquid, gurgling melody as he flies over
the meadow. " In the commonest human face," says au artist, " there is more
beauty than Raphael will take away with him." The eye is not only an admirable
contrivance for conveying images of external objects to the mind, but, in its form,
colors, and varying expression, is in itself beautiful. Can anything surjiass the
tints of an insect's wing, whether viewed by the naked eye, or through the lenses
of a microscope ? If we dcrcend into the region of animalcules, the minutest
[ living objects examined by the most powerful instruments exhibit the greatest

THE BEAUTIFUL IN NATURE.

perfection and finish. Indeed, it seems as though the Creator had purposely
drawn a veil between the common eye and some of the finest specimens of his
handiwork, in order to surprise, and stimulate the investigations of science.

In the mineral kingdom, there are not only the precious and useful metals, but
also beautiful gems. Those most useful often appear in pleasing forms and com-
binations. Here are the diamond, sapphire, emerald, topaz, ruby, and other pre-
cious stones, which, under the hand of the lapidary, reveal the most excpiisite tints
and shades of color. What wonder that wealth and beauty, and the pride of
kingdoms, have in all ages come to this kingdom of nature for their ornaments !
Surely, utility had little need of tliese minerals in laying the foundations of the
earth. Caverns would have aflbrded the wild beasts and reptiles just as safe and
convenient lurking-places though they had not been paved and arched over with
gems.

In the vegetable kingdom, there is beauty in the seed cast into the earth ; and
in the plant shooting up into the suidight, in its opening leaves, with their various
forms and hues ; in the out-spreading branches, stems, tendrils ; in the forming
bud, the expanding flower, and the ripening fruit. Notice the shape and struc-
ture of trees. Yonder elm, for example. It is not set in the ground like a post,
but springs from it like a thing of life. Its massive trunk, braced up with but-
tresses, rises on high, then spreads out in tapering branches on every side, support-
ing a leafy dome whose majesty and grace charm every beholder. Analyze the tree
more minutely. Examine its bark, twigs, leaves ; cut into its very heart-wood, and
beauty haunts you still. How wide the diversity between the pendulous willow
and the stately and dense maple, the gnarled oak, the columnar poplar, and the
heaven-kissiug pine. Observe the variety in the form, size, and color of leaves,
both of trees and plants. There is a vast range between those of the palm-tree
and the Victoria regia, down to the leaflets of the mosses. Even in mid-summer,
there are purple and blue, gray and yellow, striped and veined, splashed and
spotted, and various other colored leaves, with every conceivable shade of green.
And then, what changes are wrought in their color between the first palft hues of
spring and the crimson and gokl of autumn ! And after the varied glory of sum-
mer has passed by, and the pomp of autumn is blasted, it is not the least pleasant
sight of the year to observe the evergreen trees, holding out faithfully amid frosts
and storms, and diffusing a smile over the cold face of winter. And, as to flowers,
words cannot express their loveliness. But the wide earth is covered with them ;
the air is loaded with their fragrance. At every step, you trample on some won-
der of elaborate workmanship and beauty. Fruits, too, at least most of them, must
be set down among the beautiful. Here are ruby cherries, golden pears, fair-
cheeked apples, purple grapes, which are not only good to eat, but pleasant to
look upon.

Thei'e is beauty, also, in the elements of fire and water. In fire, glowing in
our evening lamps, crackling on our hearthstones, throwing far its beams, by night,
from many a casement on hillside and plain, illuminating the streets of cities, flash-
ing on the headlands of rocky coasts, and shining from the sun and stars. In water,
when the dew scatters diamonds on grass, shrub, and tree ; when the mist spreads
along the valley, or rolls up the mountain side, and when the departing shower
garlands its locks with rainbows ; beauty, too, when it ripples on the sea-shore,
when the ocean is burnished with gold by day, and silver by night, and when its
waves are gemmed with phosphorescent lires; beauty in lakes, rivers, creeks, and
musical brooks, in the silvery spray of fountains, and in the silent springs, reflect-
ing the overhanging woods.

The revolving seasons have many pleasing aspects. Spring scatters the Hep

^

tica nnd Anemone on the liillside, linfres tlic meadow witli preen, breathes on tree
and shrill), and l)ids them revive, and awakes the sontj: of hirds. Summer lills
the air with tVagraiiec and music, robes the forest in deep, rich foliajre, sui)])lies
man with fair and invijxorating; fruits, and declvs his liebls with the toUons of a
coming harvest. She brings us cool and dewy niornings, long twilights, evening
airs, resonant with the chir|) of insects, the peal of distant bells, and the murmur
of leaves and streams. She brings that

" strange, supei'fluous glory of the air,"

which poetry feels, though chemistry cannot discover it, brings skies of trojiieal
richness and splendor, clouds, and refreshing rain. Autumn comes laden with
ruddy fruit and golden grain ; she decks the hills with variegated banners, and
over all casts a thin, azure haze, softening the rugged outlines of the landscape,
sutfusing every olyect with a dreamy spell which laps the beholder in an p]lysium
of delight. And last in the train comes winter, s])reading his white inantle over
the earth, hanging crystal pendants on tree and shrul), purifying the atmosphere,
giving the sky a deeper blue, and the stars an inteuser lustre, filling the northern
air with Auroral coruscations, and compelling the coldest heart to exclaim : "God
hath made everything beautiful in its time !" ,

But is the world, indeed, one wide, unvarying scene of beauty ? There are
exceptions, certainly, to this general fact. In the animal and vegetable kingdoms,
there are imperfect developments and deformities even. There are thorns and
poisons as well as flowers and wholesome fruits. Barren deserts, vast marshes,
and rocky wastes abound as well as fertile plains and blooming gardens. Tem-
pests howl through the sky, the lightning smites the earth, volcanoes and earth-
quakes rend its bosom. Does not this mixed state of things indicate that some-
thing has hai)pened to the earth since its creation ? May it not be that the natural
world sympathizes with its chief inhabitant and lord, bearing part of the woe which
has fallen upon him ?

" 0 eartli ! dost tlmu, too, sorrow for the past
Like man, thy offspring ? * * *

* * * ]Jost thoii wail
For that fair age of which the poets tell.
Ere yet the M'inds grow keen with frosts, or fire
Fell with the rains, or spouted from the hills,
To blast thy greenness ?"

But, without pursuing this inquiry, it is obvious that the world is full of beauty :
it surrounds man with a continual presence, and addresses his soul through every
possible avenue. What, now, is the meaning of this beauty ? It is not here by
accident. The machinery of the universe might have been firmly constructed, and
its parts closely fitted and properly lubricated, without being adorned with tracery,
and set with gems. Why, then, did the Creator superadd the ornamental to the
useful ? We answer — why should he have done otherwise ? It is hardly con-
ceivable that the Divine Intelligence should manifest itself spontaneously in the
way of deformity and ugliness. On the contrary, it seems proper to sup])0se that
God made the world beautiful, because, in giving visible expression to the thoughts
of his own perfect mind, he could not embody them otherwise than in forms of
beauty.

Moreover, the earth so made contributes to the Divine happiness. Tell us not
that the Almighty takes no pleasure in that on whose adornment he has lavished
so much care, and which his own lijjs have pronounced "very good." The earth
was not made as it is solely for man's enjoyment ; else, what mean the thousand.

thousand flowers which bloom and shed their fragrance amid untrodden forests and
on inaccessible mountains? What mean the uncounted gems and precious stones
which lie undiscovered on the bottom of the ocean and in the bowels of the earth ?
Untold wonders lay open to the Divine Eye before the invention of the microscope,
and doubtless still greater remain undiscovered, which no perfection of human
instruments will ever enable man to behold. The Infinite Mind sees all these
things at once, the vast and the minute, and finds happiness in them.

No one will deny that the world so made promotes man's happiness. The brute
creation cannot appreciate beauty, and hence their happiness was not taken into the
account in this thing. An ox can detect poisonous herbs by their odors, but he
never stops to admire a sunset ; he has no passion for mignonette. A dog will
trample down the finest parterre, in search of a bone. Man alone, of all creatures
on earth, is permitted to share with the Divine Being in the enjoyment of the
beautiful. And has not that Being dealt toward man, in this respect, with a God-
like benevolence ? He has made the earth a Paradise — not a prison-house. He
has made it not simply endurable, but a place of delight.

These things being so, the beautiful in nature should receive attentive regard.
Some men affect indifference to every form of beauty, and others associate a taste
for such things with mental effeminacy. The fairest lily pleases them less than the
blossom of a pumpkin vine, for it promises nothing really useful. The most charm-
ing river charms them only as it feeds canals, or drives machinery. The most
stately tree excites only apprehensions of its injury to some growing crop, or sug-
gests calculations as to its worth in firewood and lumber. Let such men hear the
words of Channing : " Suppose that I were to visit a cottage, and to see its walls
lined with the choicest pictures of Raphael, and every spare nook filled with
statues of the most exquisite workmanship, and that I were to learn that neither
man, woman, nor child, ever cast an eye at these miracles of art, how should I
feel their privation ? how should I want to open their eyes, and to help them to
comprehend and feel the loveliness and grandeur which in vain courted their notice !
But every dweller in the country is living in sight of the works of a diviner Artist ;
and how much would his existence be elevated, could he see the glory which shines
forth in their forms, hues, proportions, and moral expression !"

This love of the beautiful should be carefully fostered. Too often is it repressed
and overshadowed by severely practical pursuits. Were it more assiduously culti-
vated, we should see less of that hard materialism and Epicureanism which now
prevail, less of that perilous haste to be rich, less of that vulgar ambition for
display, and more real culture of mind and simplicity of manners, more purity and
contentment. Happily, the means for its culture are confined to no class in society.
Wealth and power may lock up many rare specimens of art from the common gaze,
but they cannot monopolize the sunset, nor the thousand forms of beauty which
fill the earth.

It hardly need be added here, that it is right to enjoy the beautiful. Did not the
Perfect Man, as he trod the earth, delight to look upon its various, pleasing as-
pects ? "Consider," said he, "the lilies of the field ! * * Solomon, in all his glory,
was not arrayed like one of these." Man might have lived a brute's life, subsisting
upon roots and nuts, but God saw fit to endow him with a higher style of existence,
and planned the world expressly to minister to his intellectual wants and tastes.
Does it then become ma.n to turn away from all these things as from things for-
bidden ? They are a royal gift, and should be gratefully received. They are not
a radical cure for the ills of life, but they are a most pleasing solace. They serve
ne and elevate the taste, to calm the passions, to soothe grief, and lighten
burdens.

No one need fear that the l)cautifiil in nature — say wliat he will of art — will
prove a snare to liim. AVIiy should it not rather purify his thoughts, and lift
them upward, give tlieni hijjfhor c()nce[)tions of (iod and of heaven ? For, if Uod
has so wonderfully adorned this distant and comparatively insignificant planet, what
will lie not do in the immediate presence of His throne ?

The view we have now taken, suggests an argument for rural improvement. If,
as many suppose, man lias brought in a measure of deformity upon the otherwise
beautiful earth, let him seek to restore the earth to its primitive loveliness. lie
cannot, indeed, robe the entire globe in tlic beauty of Eden, but he can remove
much of its ugliness, can fertilize much of its barrenness, and some small jtortion
of its surface he can highly adorn. He can clear away wild forests, root out the
tliorn and thistle, and clothe even the most sterile soil with verdure. Whatever
is already beautiful, he can ])reserve from desecration. lie can erect comfortable
and tasteful dwellings, and so arrange them WMthin and without, that their occu-
pants shall have daily familiarity with objects affording pleasure and i)romotiiig
refinement.

Were the public taste more generally and highly cultivated, our liillsides and
valleys would present a spectacle of greater beauty than they now exhibit. The
neat cottage, the farm-house, the mansion, each embowered in leafy beauty, would
speak, in no mistaken language, of contentment and social culture. Broad ave-
nues of trees, mile after mile, would refresh the highway traveller. Public parks
and gardens, and cemeteries, would be amply provided in the neighborhood of all
our cities and villages. And, above all, each home would be surrounded with
whatever could lend it ornament and grace, binding to it the heart of the child
and the man of years, weaving about it precious memories which no lapse of time,
nor change of fortune could ever destroy.

< • • ♦ »

VISITS TO COUNTRY PLACES, No. 4.

If the regulations regarding passports that are enforced in Italy, were adopted
in America, probably fewer persons would be found behind our locomotives. In
the town of Bologna, at this moment, says the last Quarterly Revieiv, no man
can have a passport to leave his home, unless his wife, in person, or by letter, sig-
nifies her permission that he should go ; if he is single, an attestation from his
curate of " stato libero" is required. A gentleman cannot visit his property, and
a domestic cannot go to see his family, a few miles distant, without a passport,
to obtain which, in proper form, recpiires attendance at different places. Nor can
any servant be dismissed without informing the police whither he is gone, and
whence his successor comes.

What a contrast our country exhibits. The passport system is not much better
in other European countries, while here we follow every whim, and trot about with
as little consideration as if there was nothing to do at home ; home, in fact, there
is none to a large portion of our population. But, if we are ready to question
what objects are taking the numbers travelling on steamboat and railroad, whom
one meets in every direction, let us remember they have the same right, if right
there is, of inquiry regarding ourselves. So we had better proceed to business,

Mr. Sargent's kindness arranged excursions for our horticultural party, by rail-
road, to the successfully planted places up and down the river : these were per-
formed with comfort and ease, in consequence of the regularity and rapidity with

hich the managers of the road contrive to run their cars. The first was to the
establishment of

VISITS TO COUNTRY PLACES.

Rochwood, the seat of Edwin Bartlett, Esq., near Tarrytown, about thirty miles
above tlie city of New York. We found Mr. Bartlett in possession of a princely
mansion, having db facade of nearly one hundred and fifty feet, several hundred
acres of land finely situated on the banks of the Hudson, with a beautiful reach
of river view, and with sufficient native trees on the front to screen it from obtru-
sive observation. The planting round the house is new ; there are, however, a
few of the original shade trees left, to break the glare of the southern front. Mr.
Bartlett has just arranged for extensive conservatories and greenhouses, under the
management of Mr. Leucars, a builder of these structures of great experience.
His other improvements employed, at the time of our visit, about eighty men.
There can be little doubt that, with Mr. B.'s means and liberal expenditure, and
the great interest and taste shown by both Mrs. Bartlett and himself, Rochwood
will become one of the most ornate and beautiful country-seats in America.

At Mr. Bartlett's, we had a discussion on the merits of the lawn mower, highly
favorable by comparison to that instrument, and we are confident that, when it is
introduced on these extensive lawns, their appearance will be greatly improved.
A good lawn is so much the foundation of beauty in a country residence, that
there can be no perfection without it. The dream of Downing regarding the
perfection of our country-seats, will never be realized until, by deep trenching, we
provide for the sustenance of the roots of the grass in our long summers, and, by
this or some other mower, we shall be able quickly to remove the growth, and
roll the surface. We are rapidly coming at this point, and by no means so rapidly
as through the use of Swift's lawn mower. A single inspection of a highly kept
place, will convince the most sceptical that no other expenditure is so important
as the careful keeping of the grass. And yet, strange to say, there is no expendi-
ture that country gentlemen hesitate more about than the frequent cutting of their
lawns. There is many a place we know of, where one to two hundred thousand
dollars have been spent, and yet, where the owner hesitates about cutting his lawn
once in ten days, on account of the expense, and refuses to keep the grass short in
the park by feeding, because he can't afford to lose his hay ; and yet this same gen-
tleman will sigh over the beauty and keeping of English places, when, if he would
do as the English do, his own place would be every whit as fine. Where do you
see, in England, a park in hay ?

Downincfs Place, at Neivhnrgh. — During one of our delightful mornings at
Wodenethe, we crossed the river to Newburgh, to inspect the site laid out by
Downing, and to visit the poet of Idlewild.

As is known to most of our readers, the Downing mansion and grounds have
been sold ; they are now owned by Mr. Alger, who is making certain expensive
changes and additions, which, doubtless, will increase the comforts of the residents ;
but it would have been more consonant to our feelings if everything had been left
in the condition its planner approved, and his own laying out of the grounds
preserved for the future pilgrims to this American shrine of genius. It is not for
us, however, to advise, and we can only describe it as we found it. The lawn has
been extended, and was in a state of progress, with little grass visible. The
Warwick vase, presented by the French artiste who made similar ones for the
Government grounds at Washington, still holds its place, and there are still
marks of Downing's footprints ; but, we fear, pains are taken to obliterate them.
New and costly stables, in fantastic forms, have been added, a new stile of cut
stone, at the garden-gate, introduced, which sjieaks not of Downing, and other
changes are in progress which we regretted to see.

Idlewild, the residence of N. 1*. Willis, Esq., is one of those "natural bits of
re" which a ])oet must love ; the owner's taste has induced him, with

RABBITS, IN SEVERE SEASONS.

jn(l,i:;m('iit, to leave nature to her own enjoyments, for it is just sueli a spot of
" capabilities" as wouUl rniu any common purse in a few months after the attemi)t
nt elian<rc was commenced. The road ascends, by i^radual curves, a steep whose
top is crowned by a modern mansion well hunjjc with ])ictures, including portraits
of ce]el)rities, and busts of the divinities who preside over poets' residences. The
view from this " ]>cak" is all that poets could desire ; river, rocks, trees, and
waterfalls, with many of the most celebrated sites and scenes of the Ilifrhlands,
"West Point (which also lies at your feet, at Wodencthe), Newburgh, General
Morris's house, on the opposite side of the river, and numerous traditionary nooks,
conspire to fill the mind with memories and retrospections — those liap])y occupiers
which tlie traveller in the long; inhabited regions of the old world so lovingly dwells
ui)on.

AVe found the author of " Lines to my Mother on leaving Europe" in better
health than we had been led to expect. lie soon pro])OKed a promenade to his
cataract, and an inspection of his fine trees. The hemlocks and the waterfall are
all the letters from Idlewild have described them to be, and lovely additions to
this highland home ; in fact, Jvst tlie things one would most covet. They come
out in such bold relief in the poet's description, that we found ourselves quite at
home among them, and felt as if perambulating some well recollected scene. The
place is worthy of a poem, and a continual poem it seems to be to Willis.

RABBITS, IX SEVERE SEASONS.

BY ALLAN W. CORSON, MONTGOMERY CO., TA.

I AM always pleased to see the birds, rabbits, and even the musk-rat, rogue
though he be, in my garden and nurseries, and occasionally give them " aid and
comfort" when necessary, more es])ecially by endeavoring to prevent the gunners
from destro3'ing them ; and, therefore, rabbits are rather more numerous about
those grounds than in some other places, and, excepting in rare instances, they do
very little injury.

In the last severe and long-continued cold weather and deep snow, I placed
ap])les, cabbage-leaves, and other vegetables, in places that they frequented, but I
had a few large apple-trees which got their annual trimming during the deep snow,
and the branches or spray remained on the snow, being dillicult to collect and take
away. Upon passing through the garden, I found on the surface of the snow
rabl)it tracks in great abundance in the vicinity of the trimmed trees, with well-
beaten rabbit roads from tree to tree. Upon close examination, I discovered that
the buds on the cut branches had been eaten, and especially those on fruit-bearing
spurs, and that, after the trimming of the trees, the other provisions had been
almost untouched, they evidently preferring the apple-buds.

To their enemies, who would destroy them because they are sometimes obliged
to injure young trees and plants in order to subsist, and to their friends, who desire
to preserve them alive in severe seasons, I recommend the providing them with
thinnings and prunings of branches of orchard-trees, which are abundant at such
times ; then I believe they will not injure those who regard them as enemies, and
they will be preserved to give pleasure to their friends.

ELECTROTYPING. — CULTURE OP THE TROPCEOLUM TRICOLOR,

E L E C T R 0 T Y r I N G

The visitor to London can-
not fail to remark the extensive
electrotj'pe manufactory of the
Messrs. Elkington. This firm
employ about five hundred
workmen, executing the de-
signs of the best artists of the
day. Their warehouses are
found in Dublin, Edinburgh,
and all the large towns; the
firm is understood to have
made a very large fortune.

Electrotype is one of the
most valued gifts which science
has conferred upon art, since it
brings, like Parian, the most
magnificent works, such as for-
merly only the most wealthy
could obtain, within the reach
of all lovers of the beautiful.
The artist has attempted to por-
tray one of their imitations of
flowers in the accompanying pic-
ture, which we give as an example
in "our line." The art is prac-
tised in America, but we be-
lieve not so extensively as in
England.

CULTURE OF THE TROPGEOLUM TRICOLOR.

It has been remarked, that the roots of this plant are developed with much
more rapidity when they are simply laid upon the surface of the soil than when
they are planted. It is equally well known, that it is very advantageous to
the frail and delicate roots of this species, to place the pot which contains them
in another pot. In this way is avoided the necessity of their running at large, ^ as
would 1)6 the case without that. The exterior pot preventing the sun's action
being felt on the inside one, the roots are kei)t much fresher than in ordinary

es, with a less amount of earth, a speciality very important in the cult

this plant, and of all those which are remarkable for the smallness and

RATIONALE OF DRAININO LAND EXPLAINED.

oacy of their roots. In short, in ordinary culture, to prevent these jihiuts from
bcinir too stronji:ly heated, or too qnickly dried by the heat of the sun, water is
frc(inently given fully on the sides, and thus they are in great danger of suffering
by excess of dampness. — Flore de Serres.

RATIONALE OF DRAINING LAND EXPLAINED.

The reason why drained land frains heat, and water-lojrged land is always cold,
consists in the well-known fact that heat cannot be transmitted downivards through
water. This may readily be seen by the following experiments : —

Experiment No. 1. — A square box W'as made of
the form represented by the annexed diagram, eighteen
inches deep, eleven inches wide at top, and six inches
wide at bottom. It was filled with peat, saturated
with water to c, forming to that depth (twelve and a
half inches), a sort of artificial bog. The box was
then filled with water to d. A thermometer, a, was
plunged, so that its bulb was within one and a half
inch of the bottom. The temperature of the whole
mass of peat and water was found to be 39^° Fahr.
A gallon of boiling water was then added ; it raised
the surface of the water to e. In five minutes, the
thermometer, a, rose to 44°, owing to the conduction
of heat by the thermometer and its guard tube ; at
ten minutes from the introduction of the hot water,
the thermometer, a, rose to 46°, and it subsequently
rose no higher. Another thermometer, h, dipjjing
under the surface of the water at e, was then intro-
duced, and the following are the indications of the
two thermometers at the respective intervals, reckoning from the time the hot
water was supplied : —

Thermometer b. Thermometer a.
20 minutes .... 150° 46°.

1 hour 30 " . , . . 101° 45°.

2 hours 30 " . . . . 80i° 42°.
12 " 40 " . . . . 45"-' 40°.

The mean temperature of the external air to which the box was exposed during
the above period was 42°, the maximum being 47°, and the minimum 37°.

Exferiment No. 2. — With the same arrangement as in the preceding case, a
gallon of boiling water was introduced above the peat and water, when the ther-
mometer, a, was at 36° ; in ten minutes it rose to 40°. The cock was then turned,
for the purpose of drainage, which was but slowly elfected, and, at the end of twenty
minutes, the thermometer, o, indicated 40° ; at twenty-five minutes, 42°, whilst
the thermometer, h, was 142°. At thirty minutes, the cock was withdrawn from
the box, and more free egress of water being thus afforded, at thirty-five minutes
the flow was no longer continuous, and the thermometer, h, indicated 48°. The
mass was drained and permeable to a fresh sui)ply of water. Accordingly, another
gallon of boiling water was poured over it, and, in

3 minutes, the thermometer, o, rose to 77°.

5 " " « fell to 76^°.

15 " " « " 70^-

20 " " « remained at 71^

1 hour 50 " " " " " 70^'

In these two experiments, the thermometer at the bottom of the box suddenly
rose a few degrees immediately after the hot water was added ; and it raig-ht be
inferred that heat was carried downwards by the water. But, in reality, the rise
was owing to the action of the hot water on the thermometer, and not to its action
upon the cold water. To prove this, the perpendicular thermometers were re-
moved. The box was filled with peat and water to within three inches of the
top ; a horizontal thermometer, a f, having been previously secured through a
hole made in the side of the box, by means of a tight-fitting cork, in which the
naked stem of the thermometer was grooved. A gallon of lioiling water was then
added. The thermometer, a very delicate one, was not in the least affected by the
boiling water in the top of the box.

In this experiment, the wooden box may be supposed to be a field ; the peat
and cold water represent the waterlogged portion ; rain falls on the surface, and
becomes warmed by contact with the soil, and thus heated descends. But it is
stopped by the cold water, and the heat will go no further. But, if the soil is
drained, and not water-logged, the warm rain trickles through the crevices of the
earth, carrying to the drain level the high temperature it had gained on the sur-
face, parts with it to the soil as it passes down, and thus produces that bottom
heat which is so essential to plants, although so few suspect its existence.

This necessity of warmth at the root undoubtedly explains why it is that hardy
trees, over whose roots earth has been heaped, or having laid, are found to sufier
so much, or even to die ; in such case, the earth in which the roots are growing
is constantly much colder than the atmosphere, instead of warmer.

It is to the coldness of the earth that must be ascribed the common circumstance
of vines that are forced early, not setting their fruit well when their roots are in
the external border, and unprotected by artificial means ; and to the same cause
is often ascribed the shanking or shrivelling of grapes, which most commonly
happens to vines whose roots are in a cold or unsunned border.

ON THE CULTURE OF THE PEACH.

BY SAMUEL T. JONES, THE CEDARS, STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK.

As you were pleased, in a late number, to introduce some approbatory remarks
upon my management of the peach, it may not be uninteresting to some of your
readers to have a statement more in detail. It is not unusual to hear of the
degeneracy of the peach-tree — that it is more subject to disease than formerly, and
especially the yellows — and that the duration of the tree, in vigorous health, is
limited to some six or seven years, I have even heard the belief expressed, that
the yellows was transmitted, from generation to generation, by budding from trees
apparently healthy, and, also, that the infection was liable to spread from one tree
to another.

In my judgment, founded upon the experience of many years, these ideas are
erroneous not less than they are injurious and discouraging to the propagation and
well-being of the tree. Through the exercise of a little care and attention on the
])art of the grower, which is but a small return for the generous loads of delicious
fruit yearly furnished by this tree, I have been enalded to i)reserve most of them
in full vigor for a period of upwards of sixteen years.

The system I have followed first commences in the nursery, or shortly after the
tree has been transphinted, l)y cutting out the to[) or central branches, leaving but
tlirct' or lour laterals, at a height not exceeding two or two anti a half (Vet from
the ground. This system is constantly followed in after years, which disposes the i

CULTURE OF TUE PEACU,

tree to jjrow with a hollow centre, julmitting lijjlit and air more tlioroujrlily amonj;
the braiiehes, and f^reatly facilitating: the p:atlierinp; of the fruit and tiio future
prnnings. These latter may be performed during- the winter, early spring, or,
moderately, during the summer, so as not to endanger the premature bursting or
running into wood, of the buds destined to furnish fruit the following year. By
means of an ordinary walking-stiek, furnished with a hooked handle, the topmost
branches, even of trees pruned with hollow centres, may be bent down, and made
accessible from the ground, until the limbs become too rigid to bend, tlirough ex-
treme old age. This is by no means a small advantage, when, among many hun-
dreds of trees, it is considered that the full flavor of the fruit so much depends
upon gathering it precisely at the proper period of maturity, and through which
an examination by the touch may be had with facility, of each separate fruit.

The next, and more important consideration, is to restrain the tree from exhaust-
ing itself by its too generous crops of fruit, and which can only be done, with
facility, by diminishing the number of fruit-buds at the winter or early spring
pruning. My constant instructions, at this time, are "not to spare the knife,"
being well persuaded that it is necessary not only to the longevity of the tree, but
also to the size and quality of the fruit. As the fruit is borne only ujjon the wood
formed during the preceding year, the rule is, first, duly to attend to the hollow
form of the tree, which should be constantly maintained, and, secondly, to head
back each fruit-bearing branch to at least one-half its extent. The crop is thus
easily kept within reasonable bounds, and if, after the lapse of many years, any of
the main laterals become too rigid or too much extended, new ones may be allowed
to grow in their place, and the old ones then withdrawn. Tlie vigor and growth
of the tree seem to be surprisingly increased under this restraining system, as arc
also the size and quality of the fruit.

The third important point is, to guard the tree from its insidious and deadly foe,
the worm. For this purpose, two examinations of each tree should regularly be
made — one in the month of May, and the other in September. Fortunately, the
presence of the worm may easily be discovered at or just beneath the surface of
the ground, by the oozing of the gum, and, if not duly attended to, will in a short
time occasion the destruction of the tree by cutting around the bark, and thus
diminishing or totally destroying communication between the tree and its roots.
The worm is most speedily and effectually destroyed by scraping and probing
them away through the aid of an ordinary oyster-knife, which is usually jiointed
and formed with a double edge. With such an instrument, a person may go
through many hundreds of trees in a day, when the system is regularly attended
to as above described, and it will be found that, with such care, but here and there
only will a tree be infested and require attention.

As the peach-tree is so generous in its growth, and in its exuberant crops, it is
necessarily a great exhauster of the soil, and must have the support of proper
manures. It is also essential to its prosperity that the soil should be kept open,
and free from grass or weeds. I have found that the cultivation of many kinds
of root crops requiring manures and frequent stirring of the soil, such as potatoes,
beets, turnips, &c., are quite consistent with the health and vigor of the tree, but
that, when the soil becomes bound through a dense growth of grass, which ex-
cludes light and air from the roots, it soon dwindles, becomes sickly, takes on the
yellows, and dies. At the period of stoning of the fruit, a large demand for silica
is made upon the soil, which must necessarily be dissolved, and conveyed through
the roots, trunk, and branches, in a soluble state. It is probable that, along with
nic acid, some kinds of alkaline manures, such as lime, or a mixture of one-
potash and two-thirds salt, contribute most powerfully to aid the efforts of

the tree in effecting its solution, and, with this view, I have caused a handful or
two, according to the size of the tree, to be applied upon the soil, and forked in to
the distance of about three or four feet around each one, at the time of the exami-
nations for worms in May and September. A dose of guano, to the same extent,
in lieu of the above, is also excellent.

Under this system, which is by no means expensive or burdensome, I am well
repaid by regular and large crops of the finest fruit. I have never had a case of
the yelloirs, unless, through some oversight, a tree has been neglected at the
examinations for worms, and the application of the alkaline manures has been
omitted.

In my judgment, this disease is owing entirely to a want of attention or neglect
of one of the important points I have adverted to, and when a tree, through neglect,
has become affected with the yellows, I have in no instance known it to extend to
the other trees upon which attention had been duly bestowed.

\_Remarks. — The foregoing is worthy of minute attention from all who possess
a peach-tree ; it is the result of experience, attended by as great success as we
have ever seen, and may not only be now read, but should be referred to annually.
—Ed.]

EFFECTS OF FROST IX THE SAME LOCALITY.

Few things have more perplexed gardeners than the different degree in which
the sgime species of plant has been affected by frost in the same locality. The
last two winters have afforded abundant examples of plants destroyed and un-
harmed in the same garden or village, under what have been thought to be iden-
tical circumstances. Many of these cases have appeared to be so little explicable
by differences of temperature, that he who would interpret such phenomena has
been obliged, in some instances, to assume that different individuals of the same
species possess different degrees of vitality, which renders some more able than
others to resist a low temperature.

We find in the '^Revue HorticoW'' some valuable observations upon this point,
by M. Charles Martins, Avho has very carefully studied as a physicist* the
effects of the last two winters at Montpellier. Without denying that the vital
power of individuals differs considerably, he has nevertheless sought to explain
the phenomena which were presented to him by reference to mere differences in
temperature ; and we cannot do better than give a concise account of the result
of his inquiries.

In the first place he points out the great differences in temperature which are
known to occur in places quite contiguous to each other, but which are unsus-
pected by the ordinary observer. By way of illustration he takes some details
supplied by M. Rendu from Yendome in 1852. The valley of Iluchingy, about
a mile and a half from that place, is 200 yards wide, and bordered by little
eminences only 40 yards high. In this place it is always found that the winter
temperature, when the wind is in the north, is from 5° to 15° lower than at Yen-
dome. For instance, Jan. 24, 1852, the temperature at Yendome was 2G°, and
at Huchingy at the same hour 21°. Feb. 21, Yendome 26°, Iluchingy 19°.
March 4, Yendome 28^, Huchingy 17i°. Finally, on the 20th of April, while
the air of Yendome was 30°, the thermometer fell at Huchingy to 15°. Such
differences, he remarks, are the necessary consequence of the laws of heat, and it

This word has been lately proposed as the English form of the French word phj
we willingly adoi)t it.

504 EFFECTS OF FROST IN THE SAME LOCALITY.

would be most surprisiiin^ if tlioy <litl not oxist. An observer of the weather who
shoiilil announce his havina: remarked the same tcm])erature in tlic centre and
environs of a town, on tlie north nnd south sides of a hill, in a low ]>lace and on
a hei.Ljht, would <rain little credence from those who understand these sul)jects.
(lardt'iiers are most csi)ecially those who should appreciate and ])ruvidc a^'-ainst
such dilferenccs.

As an example of their effect, "SI. Martins cites the following: instances, which
occurred this last spring at ISlontpellier to the Sweet Bays, Olive trees, and Fig
trees. Of these plants some perished wliilc others escaped, and it was here that
the effects of aspect and shelter were most consjiicuous. In fact, had not the
ordinary thermometers shown that the minima of temperature greatly differed,
these trees — real living thermometers as sensitive as those of the ])hilosophieal
instrument maker — would have plainly indicated it.

To begin with the Bay. In a low part of the Botanic Garden, wliere the tem-
perature was ascertained to have been -f 3'^ on the north side of a wall, and — 1^
away from all shelter, the Bays almost all died. But it was different in a part of
the garden called the Bosquet de Narcisse, where a swell of the ground raised the
surface about six yards; here the Bays suffered little; a few were scorched, but
the foliage of most of them remained green. At this place the thermometer did
not fall lower than + 6^^. Undoubtedly, in the Bosquet de Narcisse the Bays
were sheltered by high Cypresses and great Celtises ; but in a neighboring garden
they suffered very little, although not at all sheltered. Moreover, in the low part
of the garden the Bays died, although they were sheltered. In short, they esca})ed
wherever there was any rise of the ground. Ilence it appears that the dilference
of a few yards in the level affects temperature so much as to produce entirely
different effects upon vegetation. M. Martins remarked, however, that Bays
stronger than the rest escaped the frost in the midst of others that died.

It was the same with the Olive trees. In low places where the thermometer
fell to — 1^ they perished down to the old limbs. In a ])lace protected from the
north by a house they only lost their leaves. In all the district between Mont-
pellicr and Nismes the Olive trees of the plain suffered more or less, and had to
be cut back, while those on the low hills sustained no injury. None of these
hills are above sixty yards high, and many much lower. There was a pair of
young Olive trees (0/ive/tes) ])lanted near each other, but with a difference of
elevation between them of ten yards only ; in one the leaves were all scorched, in
the other they were scarcely hurt. Many cases of the same kind were observed
in other places. These facts ai)pear to establish a general law that " cold is most
injurious in low places where radiation is most intense in consequence of the tran-
quillity of the air, and least injurious in exposed places where the agitation of the
air opposes the effects of radiation."

Fig trees and Pomegranates j)resented the same general results.

Hence M. Martins infers that one of the first duties of a gardener is to make
himself acquainted with local climates, the differences among which are far
greater than is generally imagined. For example, there occur in the Botanical
Garden of Montpellier no fewer than four local climates. 1. 77ie coldest in winter
and hottest in summer; this is the lowest place unsheltered to the north and west,
and only protected to the east by some tall trees. 2. A space to the north of
this, protected by houses and walls; it is not so cold, hut as hot as the jirst. 3.
The 13utanical arrangement, sheltered on the north by an Orangery and green-
house, surrounded by trees and buildings, and overlooked on the south-west by
the hill du Peyron ; this is not so cold in winter, hut excessively hot in summer
le Bosquet de Narcisse and other elevated places; here the climate is more

OSIERS, AND BASKET MAKING.

equable, less cold in winter, less hot in summer. The mildest place of all is the
south slope of a little artificial mouud, occupied by evergreen Oaks, Aleppo Pines,
Loquats, &c.

These circumstances appear to be deserving of notice, for they show that in
addition to the well-known protection afforded by walls and aspects, a very im-
portant practical effect is produced by such slight elevations as even a few yards;
a point too often very little attended to in forming a garden, and very possibly
the cause of some of the apparently conflicting results obtained by tliose who
have recorded the effect of cold upon exotic trees. Most especially are they
important as demonstrating the fallacy of thinking that a place is warm in winter
because it is low, and cold at the same season because it is high. The defect of
M. Martins' observations seems to us to consist in his taking no account of the
drainage of the places described by him.

OSIERS, AND BASKET MAKING.

South Edmeston, August 23, 1856.
Mr. Jay Smith. — Dear Sir: Being somewhat engaged in the Osier or Basket
Willow growing, which looked very sanguine for a profitable business till last
spring, I have not yet learned whether it is best to continue the business.

Downing said there were from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000 imported to this coun-
try yearly. But the report on "Commerce and Navigation" states only $150,000
yearly. I ask your opinion as to the prospect of a market ; whether it will pay
to risk much time and money on them ?

Yours, sincerely, &c., Levi A. Beardsly.

Otsego County, N. Y. '

A friend of ours, near Philadelphia, who has a large willow garden, has more
difficulty in deciding which applicant shall have his Osiers than in looking for a
market. Our opinion is, that there is no great difficulty in finding a profitable
market for them, where the soil and situation are suited to their growth.

We were lately struck with the remark of a foreigner, that "the Americans
work too little in winter." It is true of the inhabitants of our Middle and South-
ern States ; at the Eastward, they employ portions of their long evenings in levy-
ing contributions upon us in all sorts of shapes, as, for instance, brooms, baskets,
and a thousand notions, that are continually draining our pockets, while we are
too apt to pass the time thus profitably invested, in idleness or sleep.

For a beginner to " get along," he must have something to sell; baskets, made
at home at odd hours, will at any time pay for the family groceries, by the labor
of a single individual ; and, if skill and taste are brought to the business, a great
deal more will be earned. Brooms are thus made in private families, from the
material raised on the farm. Why are not baskets ? They would be much more
remunerative, for, notwithstanding the number made, baskets are a dear commo-
dity ; they are sold to the grocer, and retailed at a high price.

Our correspondent and others would do well to learn the basket making busi-
ness, and teach it to the family ; he will then have a home market for his growth
thrice as profitable as his osiers ; it is of no use to raise willows if you cannot
manufacture them, and are too far from anybody that can, to make transportation

pay-

YoL. YI.~November, 1856.

33

506

TERRA-COTTA 0RNAMBNT8.

TERRA-COTTA ORNAMENTS.

WixniN a few years articles in terra-cotta have come into extensive use for
architectural and other ornaments, and this branch of art-manufacture is now car-
ried to great excellence and beauty. The materials used are the finest clays, free
from oxide of iron, which are mixed with calcined flints and old crushed pottery,
and baked in a temperature but little below fusion. Modern terra-cottas are
quite different from the articles known among the ancients under that name, and
are much more durable. The beautiful examples above, ^consist of a water cooler,
with decorations in the mediaeval style, two hanging baskets, vases, &c. The
models are graceful, and the ornaments are applied with excellent taste and effect.

The Staffordshire potteries are among the most interesting localities, in an indus-
trial point of view,- in England; Mr. Minton's establishment should be inspected
by the American traveller, who will there find much to admire and reflect upon.
Why it is that we are still dependent on Europe, and England especially, for all
our wares of this kind, is only a cpiestion, we ])resume, of labor; but it is under-
stood that a new attempt is making at the South to obtain independence in this
particular.

ALLAMANDA GR AND IF L 0 R A.

When well grown and flowered, this is one of the handsomest of the Allamandas,
and it is not very difBcult to manage. Let us begin with a young plant in a five-
inch pot, bought in spring from the nursery. Such a plant, if in good health, will
in general be found to be what is termed pot-bound. The first operation, there-
fore, under such circumstances, will be to turn it out of the pot, remove the crocks,
and carefully to disentangle the roots. If the latter are healthy, give rather a
liberal shift — say into an eight-inch pot, using a mixture of one-half good fibry
loam, one-quarter peat, and one-quarter leaf-mould, with a little sharp sand. Ex-
perience has proved that a soil of this kind, well mixed, and chopped up with the
spade (not sifted), on an efficient drainage, suits it perfectly ; but if peat cannot
be had, then three-quarters loam, and one-quarter leaf-mould and sand, might
answer. In both cases, place a layer of some of the most fibry and rough soil
over the drainage, with a view to make the latter act perfectly and permanently.

After potting, give a thorough watering, to settle the soil about the roots, and
place it in a smart bottom-heat, in a moist stove. When it shows symptoms of
breaking, if the plant is weakly or drawn, cut it down to a prominent bud on the
ripe wood, or, in the case of a stronger plant, bend it down, in order the better
to equalize the flow of the sap, and cause the buds at the bases of the shoots to
start simultaneously with those at their tops. Judicious watering and occasional
tying will now be all that it will want, until it has filled the pot with roots, and
requires a shift, which will probably be some time in June ; for it must be remem-
bered that it should not be allowed to blossom the first year. The point to be
kept in view is, to have a good, strong plant furnished in autumn with well-ripened
wood, from which abundance of bright yellow flowers may be expected the follow-
ing season.

About the beginning or middle of June, if all has gone on well, it will be
found to have filled its pots with tine, healthy roots, and should be shifted into an
eleven-inch pot, using the same compost as before. After shifting, continue the
generous growing treatment already recommended, until the end of autumn is
approached, when water should be gradually withheld, and all the light and air
that is possible given to it, to ripen the wood well, an important point in the cul-
ture of all plants, but more especially so in that of the Allamanda. Keep it all
but dry during the gloomy months of early winter, and about the middle of Feb-
ruary start it into growth. Prune the unripe tops oS" the old wood ; and if a
large and fine specimen is desired, shift it when it begins to break, and plunge it
again into bottom-heat. Train the branches well out on a barrel-shaped trellis,
which may consist of seven or eight nice hazel rods, of sufficient length, placed
in the soil immediately inside the pot, fastened to a hoop about their middle, and
then to a smaller hoop at their top. Bend the shoots of the plant round this, so
as to cover it regularly ; and when the young branches have begun to grow freely,
train the strongest of them near the bottom of the trellis, so as to have your plant
regularly covered with flowers, which it will be by the middle of July, if the fore-
going directions have been carefully carried out.

In the third and fourth years it will flower earlier and better than in the second,
and it will not require to be shifted ; but it should be fed occasionally with clear
liquid manure water, to keep it healthy and vigorous, without being over-luxuriant,
quid manure, I mean clear, weak dung- water from the stable-yard. — Alph
ardeners' Chronicle.

THE STEAM-ENGINE IN AGRICULTURE A^D HORTICULTURE.

THE STEAM -ENGINE IN AGRICULTURE AND
HORTICULTURE.

A PERIOD has just p:one by us, in which what is called "famine prices" have been
paid ))}' the rich and the poor; our 2:roat cities have actual!}' suffered from want;
at one time, it was difficult to procure, for a larj^e sum, a bushel of potatoes in
the p:reat city of Philadeliihia, and we can testify it was eminently so in its out-
skirts. AVHiy is this ? Are so many people getting rich and lazy ? Very proba-
bly I Have we so many non-producers ? Yes ! But may we not look to other
causes also ? Is not irrigation a neglected source of wealth ? and, if so, what is
the process by which we are to arrive at a remedy. We answer, without hesitation,
the steam-engine must now step in and relieve us from our incubus. Just as we
were pondering on this subject, we saw an advertisement in the Ilorticulliirist of
Harlan and Ilollingsworth, of Wilmington, Delaware, of the very thing wanted, and
then came another advertisement from Zanesville, Ohio, and a short letter from a
gentleman who seems to have studied the subject, which contains so much good sense
respecting the use of steam in agriculture and horticulture, that we adopt it. Steam
has long wafted us on river and ocean, but it has but lately found its way to the
farm, on wheels. Honor be to the man who thus mounted it, and sent it round,
like a good physician, to visit its patients and

" Cure tlieir ills
With constant rills."

Our correspondent shall tell the uses o^ a pedestrian steam-engine.

"The point is nearly reached, in the wonderful development of our country,
when steam must be called in requisition to do very much labor heretofore done
by human muscles, cattle, and horses, and to do much more, which their instru-
mentalities have never undertaken, but which the point reached in our progress
renders necessary. In this, the horticulturist, wdiether commercial or amateur, as
well as the agriculturist, has a deep interest.

" I will, in a suggestive way, point out a few of the various ends which steam
must be called upon to subserve.

" The nearly steady annual decrease of rain during the summer and fall months,
is, I believe, an admitted fact, and the train of consequences following these pro-
tracted droughts are beginning to attract serious attention, as the supposed causes
are steadily going forward, with an increase proportionate to the increasing density
of population. Tlie fact is, that the water retires into deep, subterranean caverns,
and artificial aid must be called into requisition to remedy this, as far as may be, and
to elevate it again to the surface, where it will partially compensate for the long
withheld showers of rain. This the steam-engine must do in the great majority
of cases, if done at all. Cities and villages have artificial supplies of water, and
why not the florist, horticulturist, and farmer ?

" Again, the professional florist needs artificial heat during our protracted
winters. Farmers, owing to the advanced price of grain and stock, will find it
to their interest to substitute steam for many purposes, where admissible, for
human, horse, and cattle labor, in threshing, cutting, crushing, and cooking feed,
wood, &c. Having thus glanced at the utility, economy, as well as the necessity
for the employment of steam in the more common affairs of life, the next inquiry
will naturally be, has the steam-engine been simplified and cheapened, so as to
fit and qualify it for these new uses ? The answer is, that it has, to a very
extent, at least — sufficiently to answer present requisitions.

" The engravings attached to two advertisements inserted in this number, will
give an idea of improvements in the portable steam-engine, which are a long step
in advance of all that have preceded them in simplicity, durability, and cheapness.
The novelty of the design, in Blandy's engine, is apparent to any persons who have
examined other attainments in steam-engine building, either portable or movable.

" The fire-box is of good size, and adapted to any kind of fuel, or mixed fuel,
and, from its peculiar shape, is nearly self-supporting, and having no crown bars,
and very few stay bolts. This is not its greatest novelty or superiority, for this
is in the bed-plate, which is a hollow column, having legs cast on it for its own
attachment to the boiler, and seats for all the working parts of the engine, all
of which are arranged in a straight line. The inside of this tubular bed-plate, is
used to heat the supply of water before going into the boiler, by the waste steam.

" Its whole arrangement is as compact and artistic as a lever watch, and almost
any size up to fifty-horse power can be moved on an ordinary, stout, farm wagon,
and occupy not so much space as a common buggy or carriage. The exceeding
simplicity enables any person, with a day's teaching, to run it safely and success-
fully."

Further particulars may be found by reference to the cards of the inventors and
builders, in the advertising department, as well for the Ohio engine as for that
of Harlan and Hollingsworth, to both of which we desire to call attention.

KEW PEARS.

No. 1. Church Pear. — A seedling from New Rochelle, N. Y., medium size;
stem, about one inch ; skin, bright green, turning to yellow green in the process
of ripening, spotted
and marbled with
hazel russet, which
russet always sur-
rounds the cavity.
Calyx closed, basin
medium, segments
little apparent.
Flesh buttery, very
juicy and melting ;
sweet, aromatic,
best. Ripens slow-
ly from 15th July
to first week in Au-
gust ; keeps well
and long when ripe
without rot at the
core. In my opin-
ion one of the best.
— B.

No. 2. Hunting-
don Pear. — An-
other New Ro-
chelle seedling ;

dium size or be-

medium, with No. 1.— Church. No. 2.— Huntingdon

NEW PEARS.

a rather slender and loni^ stem, in a moderately deep, broad and uneven cavity.
p]vc closed in an abrnpt basin, dotted with a few russet circles. Skin green,
often colored around the basin and ni)\var(ls with a crimson tinf>;e. Flesh melt-
in<r, very juicy, buttery, with a peculiar, very delicate flavor, llipens well (mid-
dle or latter half of September) ; a very good pear.

No. 3. Selleck {from Vermont). — Large handsome fruit. Skin green, turn-
ing over to bright yellow (the color of the Bartlett), when ripening ; which it

does slowly and
without decaying
at the core. The
surface of the
fruit is uneven,
ribbed and knob-
bed. It has the
flavor of the Bart-
lett, its juice and
its melting flesh,
with a great deal
more sugar and
relish. A supe-
rior fruit, in ray
opinion, if it suc-
ceeds as well south
as in its native
latitude. Ripe
end of September
and commence-
ment of October.
— B.

No. 4. Parson-
age. — Another
chance seedling
of New Rochelle.
Stem half inch
or three-quarters
long, stout, some-
times a little in-
clined, slightly
sunk, with a very
distinct russet cap
around the shal-
low cavity. All
over spotted with russet, but more at the basin, which is shallow and broad. Eye
open ; segments stiff ; a little erect ; skin greenish yellow. Keeps long and fair
after turning over to bright yellow or orange. Flesh white, melting, juicy, sub-
acid-vinous, refreshing flavor ; a very fine market pear on account of its size,
quality, and handsome keeping. Good, or very good. End of September and
first week in October.

No. 3.— SeUeck.

No. 4. — Parsonage.

MANAGEMENT OF LAWNS.

In all well-kept garden establishments, lawns not only form the principal features,
but they occupy the larger portion of time and manual labor. Whatever is calcu-
lated to lessen this, or to make it more effective, is of the highest importance to
the gardener. We remember well reading a report of the transactions for the
year of the Sheffield Botanical Gardens, which had been, in some measure, starved
for want of public support, and rendered very unsatisfactory to the curator, through
the extremely limited means at his command. The shareholders were congratu-
lated on the improved appearance of the gai'dens, in consequence of adopting a
mowing machine instead of ordinary mowing. The improvement was manifest in
the state of the gardens, and the saving was palpable in the accounts themselves.
The only objection to the use of the machine, so far as we have heard, was that,
if there were any hollows in the lawn, the work was not done complete ; but this
only applies to such hollows as would also baffle all attempts to do justice with
a scythe, because the machine will work up and down hill, and on the side of a
hill, as well as on level ground. It will follow in and out of all hollows large
enough to take a roller, and everybody must know that inequalities that cannot
be rolled, cannot be kept in order at all. Ruts like those made with cart-
wheels, and holes that the roller would pass over, can never be mowed clean
with the smallest scythe. The very first step to be taken towards getting a
lawn in good order, is to destroy all such inequalities, either by raising the turf,
or filling them in. Undulations are not only allowable, but, if well managed, are
beautiful ; but holes and ruts are altogether inadmissible. If lawns have been
long neglected, they will have become rough and lumpy. The coarse grasses will
have grown strong, and spread at the expense of the better and finer sorts. The
whole must be cut as close as possible. This will at once show the inequalities,
and if it be very bad, the first trouble and expense will be the least. Cut all the
turf well, and roll it up to be stacked outside the work ; have the whole space dug,
levelled, and rolled, lay the turf down again, and beat it all over properly. It
may then be rolled with a heavy roller after every good wetting with rain, and
as soon as it begins to grow use the machine, which can be run over the whole
space even before it is long enough to be cut with a scythe. If any of the
noxious weeds should be inclined to grow again, take a spade and dig them fairly
out. This will be easily done, because the root has been cut off at the thickness
of the turf, and was turned when the ground was dug. True, it will leave holes
in the turf, but it must be done, if it takes days to do it. The first expense in
this matter is the least. Presuming, then, that all those weeds which spoil a lawn,
if allowed to grow, are scooped out (we mean such as docks, dandelions, sow-
thistles, sorrel, &c.), let there be a dressing of road sand, with which all the holes
will be filled up level by common bush harrowing, and every mark left in the joinings
of the turf obliterated. As soon as there is the least growth in the grass, let it be
heavily rolled one day and mowed the next, and, by these means, a coarse, uneven
meadow, to say nothing of a neglected lawn, will be made all that can be wished of
a dressed ground. But machine mowing, while it takes much less time, requires
to be done regularly, and after the new lawn, as it were, is once properly levelled
and established, no more rolling is wanted than that which the instrument itself
gives at the time of mowing, for it is in itself both scythe and roller. Incessant
cutting would make almost any coarse lawn smooth in time, but by the means we
have pointed out, it will be good the first season. Although we have advocated
the machine, which may be had, to cut and roll sixteen inches wide, for about five

pounds ten sliillinf!:s, and, up to twcntj-fivc inches wide, for nine pounds, to be
drawn by a donkey or i>ony, wo are not disposed to quarrel with those who use
the scythe, because it is the pride of some men, and no small merit, to mow clean
enough to show no mark of the instrument. A sprinkling of wood ashes is of
great service in preventing the growth of moss, and encouraging the growth of
the finer grasses, which contribute to the beauty of the lawn. In the season when
grass grows rapidly, the lawn should never go more than a week without mow-
ing, and now comes machine versus scythe. The former can be used when the grass
is dry, the latter only when it is damp or wet ; the former can be used all day in
hot weather, and w^e know that the latter can only be used an hour or two in the
morning; the former collects the grass as it is cut, the latter leaves it on the ground,
and it is of the highest importance that it be removed immediately, for, if it re-
mains, it discolors and injures the grass ; the machine can be used when only half
an inch of grass has to be cut ; the scythe can hardly make an impression until the
lawn has got rough ; in the one case, it is scarcely free of the marks before it is
wanting another cutting ; in the other case, the lawn is always alike, because the
machine leaves no marks, and may run over it in a short time, as often as we
please. If the grass is apt to get brown during the hottest weather, anticipate
the change in time, and water it with diluted ammoniacal liquor or liquid manure,
but be prepared to cut it soon, after, for the growth will be rapid. In any extent
of lawn a water cart is the best, but next to that a garden engine, for it must
be wetted all over, and hand-watering is too laborious. It may be observed that
all this involves too much trouble, and requires too much labor, but you have the
choice of evils, either the lawu must get brown, or you must incur the cost of
keeping it green. This is, however, an extreme case, and not one place in a
hundred, if it be properly drained, will require it. Most of the lawns which burn
in summer are too near the clay or gravel, for they both have the same efl'ect.
A good spit of earth between the grass and either of them, will generally keep
green, but not always. If clay, the only cure is draining. If gravel, you must
use liquid manure, or ammoniacal water — which has the same effect — to preserve
the grass in color and health. The edges of the lawn must be clipped close to
the proper outline, until it spreads unequally, when the edging-knife must be
resorted to.

[The above, from the Midland Florist (England), applies with equal force to
this country, and to the use of Swift's Lawn Mower. — Ed.]

HINTS FOR YOUNG GARDENERS.

FROM THE FRATJEXDORFER BLATTER.

Cultivate nothing carelessly. Whatever is worth cultivating at all, is worth
cultivating diligently and w'ell.

Many kinds of garden seeds lose their germinating power when more than a
year old. Therefore, be careful to sow fresh seed whenever practicable.

But melons, cucumbers, pumpkins, and members generally of this family, arc
an exception to this rule. The seeds of these should not be sown till after they
are several years old. Plants from old seeds produce less foliage, and more fruit.
[Doubtful, -Ed.^

The seeds of most kinds of weeds retain their germinating power for an almost
indefinite period. Hence, weeds should always be carefully gathered and burnt,
as the most effectual mode of destroying the seeds.

The fii'st leaves which appear on the surface (in many cases called cotyledons),

HINTS FOR YOUNG GARDENERS,

are, for the time, the sole supporters of the life of the young plant. They sustain
it till it has formed roots, and, if prematurely destroyed, or much injured, the plant
will die.

Seeds will not germinate unless exposed to the influence of moisture, air, light,
and heat. They should, consequently, not be covered too deep, or they may fail
to sprout.

It is, in ordinary cases, not profitable or advisable to raise your own seeds. Your
soil and your time should be of more value and importance to you than the cost
of new seeds. Besides, such as is raised on a soil different in composition from
your own, will most probably thrive better.

The roots of very young plants are rarely hardy enough to bear transplanting
well. The best time for transplanting seedlings, is when they have formed five or
six leaves ; because, at about that period the young roots and radicles are able to
perform their proper functions more successfully than earlier.

Roots essentially require the admission and presence of atmospheric air. The
surface soil should, therefore, always be kept loose and porous,'and clayey ground
should be frequently broken up or stirred in dry weather, or whenever it has become
parched or baked.

When a bed has been dug over in the fall, it should be sufiTered to lie, during
the winter, in the roughest condition in which the spade has left it. A greater
amount of surface will thus be exposed to the effects of frost, and the ground
become more thoroughly pulverized in the spring.

Frost acts with greater severity on roots or tubers which have been pulled
or dug up, than on such as remain in the ground. Hence they should either
be effectually protected, or remain altogether undisturbed.

The various kinds of .plants extract different substances from the soil ; and a
well-chosen rotation of crops is consequently highly advantageous, and deserves
attention.

Leaves absorb moisture from the atmosphere, and again part with it ; they in-
hale and exhale air, and thus constitute the more important organs of plants. If
injured or removed, the entire plant suffers accordingly.

The pores of the leaves, through which air and moisture are transpired, are ex-
ceedingly minute, and very liable to be closed by dust. The foliage of stove plants
should therefore be frequently well sprinkled with pure water, to prevent or remove
obstruction to healthy action from this cause.

In their natural condition or growth, the leaves and branches of plants rarely
touch or cross each other. We should hence learn not to crowd our plants close
together, or to place even a single plant in a confined position, where its leaves
and branches have not room to expand or develop themselves fully and freely.
Air and light are as essential to their vigorous and healthy growth as earth and
water.

The falling off of the leaf of a newly-set cutting, is an indication that the cutting
has begun to grow. But, if the leaf wither and dry without dropping from the
stem, it is an evidence that the plant lacks vigor to effect the natural process of
shedding the leaf, and will probal)ly fail to grow.

When bushy plants produce an abundance of foliage with few buds or blos-
soms, they should either be transplanted into a poorer soil, or some of the principal
roots should be pruned off.

Drying winds are injurious, as they rob the leaves of plants of moisture more
rapidly than it can be su})plied I)y the roots. Plants need as careful protection
from such winds as from frost.

When a grass-plot becomes pervaded by moss, apply some fine, rich manure to

the surface. This will rcinvigoratc the grass, and enable it to subdue and expel
the intnidor.

In pniniiia:, always make the cut towards yourself. Enter the knife on the side
ojiposite the bud, a little above its base, and cut throuf^h, .';lo])ing to just above
the top of the bud. The vitality of the terminal wood will thus be preserved, and
the wound si)eedily heal over.

Leaves grown in the shade, or in the dark, do not attain the depth of color, nor
the harshness of taste which mark such as are fully exposed to light and air. (Jar-
deners take advantage of this when tying up lettuce or endive, and earthing up
celery, to blanch them.

Light is essential to enable flowers to develop their colors fully. Hence the
proper place for flowering plants, in chamber culture, is as near the window as
possible.

All plants have naturally a resting season. Seek to ascertain the period pecu-
liar to each particular species you cultivate, and transplant them only at that time.

Plants are in their most vigorous state of growth at the time of flowering, and
should not then be transplanted, as they would very likely suffer much from the
operation.

But the period of flowering is much the most suitable for making cuttings,
because the tendency to root formation is then most active.

Plants in flower have all their juices in the most perfect state ; and this period
should be chosen to gather such as are noted for aromatic or medicinal qualities.

Excessive blooming greatly exhausts the plant. Ilence, all flower-buds should
be gently pinched off ere they open, from newly rooted cuttings as well as from
weak or sickly plants, to preserve the strength of the stalk.

Few plants can well endure sudden great changes of temperature ; and none
should therefore be transferred directly from the hotbed, or hothouse, to the open
air. Warm weather should be chosen for the removal of plants, even from an
orangery or cold frame, to the garden.

All withered and faded flowers should at once be removed from perennial plants,
nnless it is desired to raise seed. This will tend greatly to prevent the premature
exhaustion of the plant.

To secure a succession of bloom in a rose-bush, prune back some of the
shoots to their eyes as soon as you see that they begin to swell ; and defer the
pruning of others till the leaves have become expanded. In the first case, the
eyes will break into bloom early, whilst the latter will not begin to swell till
the others are in full leaf, and consequently bloom later.

By properly checking the growth of a plant, you can increase the vigor of the
leaves and the size of the fruit. With this view, gardeners pinch off certain sprouts
in beans, melons, cucumber vines, and similar vegetables. The entire art of pruning,
so far as it has any real value or importance, is based on this principle.

As a general rule, the smaller the number of fruits on a healthy, vigorous plant
or tree, the larger the size, and the more perfect the taste. It is hence proper,
in all cases, to thin out moderately. But a single gooseberry left on a bush, or a
single cluster on a large grape-vine, however monstrous be its development, is only
evidence of a sound principle misapplied or carried to extremes.

Fruit should always be gathered in dry, calm, weather. It should be removed
by hand, and carefully i)laced in a basket, so as not to bruise it. Roughly handling
it may, and probably will, cause it to rot.

If, when any of my fruit-trees are in blossom, I suspect that the soil does not
contain the requisite amount of moisture needed by the roots, I dig a trench
around the tree about eighteen inches from the stem, and pour into it four large

NOTES FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 515

bucketsful of water, and immediately return the removed ground. This enables
the blossoms to resist the effects of drying winds ; the fruits set perfectly, develop
rapidly, and are less liable to the attacks of insects. The result is, that the fruit
does not subsequently drop. I have cherry-trees that formerly bore fruit only
every alternate year, which are now annual and abundant bearers, in consequence
of this treatment. C. V. Goldacker.

According to the researches of Messrs. Schiibler and Kohler, of Tubingen, white
flowers are the most numerous in nature, and, at the same time, the most fragrant.
Red flowers come next in order.

NOTES FROM THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CAROLINA.

BY WM. BEAL, CHEROKEE, N. C.

Dear Horticulturist : Knowing that you feel an interest as well as many of
your readers, in all that is lovely to the eyes, pleasant to the senses, and refreshing
to the various wants of man, I hasten to try to bring some of our sweets and beau-
ties to your notice, although in a rough and rude manner. We have a difference
of climate in this county (Cherokee) of one month in the spring, so that, when I
left peas in bloom at Murphy, on the 10th of April, I found snow on the mountains,
in many places to the depth of from two to three feet ; and, on the 12th of April,
in some sheltered coves, I found the Claytonia Virginica just opening its blossoms
to cheer the eye of man.

The scenery in the mountains is grand and picturesque, combining many of the
features of Switzerland, with a summer climate as beautiful as that of Italy, and
occupying a neutral ground, both mountains and valleys, between the malaria and
fevers of the South, and the consumption and rheumatism of the North — a climate
where the lowest extreme of last winter failed to sink the mercury more than three
degrees below zero, and the extreme heat of the summer does not often exceed
96°, and where, when our railroads are completed, the citizens of Cincinnati and
New Orleans can meet the citizens of Charleston, and enjoy a picnic, and almost
return home the same day. This section of country is yet quite new, and the
forests are as yet unbroken for many miles in extent, affording a safe retreat for
the panther, bear, wolf, and deer, which as yet furnish meat for the few red men
that remain among us, and the adventurous hunter or squatter. The flora of this
section has as yet been almost entirely neglected, and I find many rare plants, some
of which are entirely new to me. The Kalmia latifolia is now (June 10) in full
bloom, and, in one place, the side of the mountain is a complete mass of the bloom
of McDowell's Rhododendron, but it will be still more beautiful in a week more.
The ferns and lichens embrace quite a variety, some of which are entirely new,
or undescribed by botanists, so that here a wide field is open for investigation.
There is here, in the mountains, a variety of blackberry, which, I think, will rival
the New Rochelle, or any other known variety. It is quite thornless, and is now
just in bloom ; the canes are strong growers, and very productive when the cattle
do not eat them up, which they are quite apt to when they can get at them. The
fruit I have not seen, but am told that it varies from one and a half to two inches
in length, and one inch in diameter ; seeds quite small in large pulp, and very sweet ;
so that it will be a good acquisition to all of our gardens.

We have also a variety of red raspberry that is new to me, and, in some respects,
resembles what is called thimbleberry in Northeastern New York and Canada, but
diff'ers from it in the form and color of the fruit. The canes are large, and branch
flowers of a pinkish color, but not very profuse, and the bark has a

appearance ; fruit, licrlit red, and very large, frequently an inch, or an inch and a
quarter in diameter, and very delicious.

Strawlierries have been (juite plentiful ; they commenced ripening about the
first of May, and continued with us about three weeks ; we as yet have none of
the cultivated varieties amongst us, but they will succeed, and this section will
eventually compete in the markets of Charleston and Cincinnati, in almost every
variety of fruit. The cold of last winter has not all'ected our fruit crop in the
least, injuriously, and now our peach and api)lc-trees are groaning beneath their
growing loads of fruit.

We have some good collections of apples, thanks to the exertions of Mr.
McDowel and others, but the field of pear culture is, in this county, untried, and
a few of us are uniting to try some varieties of pear on quince as well as standards ;
also cherries and plums. And we would consider it quite a favor if you would
recommend a half-dozen of each that would be suitable for our climate, including
dwarfs and standards. We have a large variety of wild grapes, some of which, I
think, will prove worthy of cultivation, especially one variety of white summer
grape, which, however, is quite scarce. As regards the size of grape-vines, we
can compete with almost any place, as one, that is known as the big grape-vine,
measures three feet in circumference, and spreads majestically over a number of
the giants of the forest, binding their crowns together in one luxuriant mass of
foliage.

ON THE GENUS CORREA.

BY EDGAR SANDERS, ALBANY, N. Y.

It is worth inquiring, whether the great demand for cut flowers in winter, in
this country, does not cause a too exclusive selection of plants for that end alone,
thereby often losing the great beauty of others, because not so well adapted for
that purpose. So long as cut flowers are in demand, the gardener, however fond
he may be of plants themselves, must use means best calculated to obtain them ;
but there are few places so close run to supply the demand, that a few plants may
not be cultivated to advantage, sacred from the murderous knife, and much to the
general appearance of the house.

Plants grown wholly with this idea, should be of the most faultless growth and
shape, and placed in the most conspicuous parts of the house as starers. Two or
three distinct kinds of the charming New Holland genus Correa, are admirably
adapted for this purpose, being in flower for the greater part of the time they will
occupy the greenhouse, and at their greatest perfection in mid-winter. Under
good management, they are exceedingly quick growing plants, especially a variety
called Lindleyana, forming, in twelve months, respectable sized flowering plants,
and, in two years, good-sized specimens. The quality of the flowers of this genus,
under the hand of the florist, has greatly improved, and there are quite a large number
of varieties in cultivation. Harrisii, though raised many years ago, is still a good
one ; this, and the one named above, and the old speciosa, is enough for small
collections. It is quite common for nurserymen to work the good kinds on alha,
but they seldom make fine plants, and often grow very slow — a plant from a cut-
ting, even if very small, growing more in one summer than a worked one will in
several.

The flowers are drooping, and require to be tolerably close to the eye to be
seen eifectually ; hence, a bush inclining to a pyramidal shape, is to be preferred.
Small trees or standards would look well, but it will take a good long time to

get them any size on their own roots, as none of the showy kinds swell to any
size in the stem.

Propagation and Culhire. — Most of tlie kinds grow freely enough from cuttings
placed in sand, under a bell-glass or miniature-frame, if taken ofiF soon after they
have done flowering, or, indeed, at any time after January, providing a slight
heat above that of the greenhouse can be given them. But, as nice little plants
can be got for two or three shillings each, time is saved by buying them. For
the first year, we prefer to plant them out in the open soil, as such small plants,
except proper pits or very low houses are at hand, have their growth checked so
much by the constant dry and wet, wet and dry process inseparable when in such
small pots. Another thing, too, is, that small plants, when in pots, have to be
shaded in summer, which is detrimental to the health of most all hard-wooded
plants. When planted out, the growth is at least double that of those in pots,
however well they may be attended, besides being hardly any trouble, further
than occasional waterings, and stopping the young shoots. A one or two light
frame, prepared and filled every summer with various little hard-wooded plants,
in this way, would always keep the place supplied with a new stock, to replace
those lost by accident or other causes. The main thing to attend to in pre-
paring the soil, is to have enough of vegetable soil (that from the woods is to
be preferred), and a good turfy loam, about equal parts of each, and at least a
sixth of white sand and charcoal well incorporated with it. This will grow this
plant well, whether out or in pot. The surface of the bed should not be above
that of the surrounding ground, and lights should be in readiness to put over them
in case of very heavy rains. In the fall, as the roots will have spread somewhat,
a little care is necessary in taking them up, to break them as little as possible,
although it is unnecessary to lift too much of a ball with them, trusting rather to
search for fibres ; sufficient ball should be secured, if possible, to nearly fill the
pot experience will point out the plant should occupy. They will require no more
potting till spring, and, flowering over, they should be then cut in pretty close to
the desired shape, and, about the 20th of May, repotted into two sizes larger pot,
and plunged in the open ground for the summer. A few of the shoots likely to
grow wild, will occasionally want stopping, otherwise nothing farther is to be done
till housed.

The only deviation to be observed each succeeding spring after cutting back, is,
when broken again, to reduce the ball an inch or two, and repot into one or two
sizes larger pot. This genus is not liable to get sunstruck in summer, and will
last many years.

COLONEL WILDER'S ADDRESS,

Before the American Pomological Society, at its fourth session at Rochester, in September,
is an example of how much may be said in a few words. An early copy enables us to make
extracts from the more striking portions.

The President alludes to the fact that it is now only about a quarter of a century since
the establishment of the oldest horticultural society in America ; then the fruit crop of the
country was not deemed worthy of a place in our national statistics ; now it exceeds thirty
millions of dollars annually ; then the sales of fruit-trees were numbered by hundreds, now
by hundreds of thousands.

Mr. Wilder's remarks on seedlings, &c. : —

" When Van Mons, the patient and skilful observer, was successfully experimenting in
Europe, our Coxe, Prince, Lowell, Dearborn, Manning, and others, had commenced
course, and obtained some good results. Then most of our pears M'ere propagated on su

COLONEL WILDER'S ADDREBS.

taken from the forest ; now we see millions of young viporous trees cultivated, sold, and
plant<'<l. in all i>arts of the Union, and where twenty years since not a single specimen of
the I'yrus was to be found. The jiublic no longer ridicule the man who plants a true with
the hope of gathering its fruit with his own hands, or the saving of seeds to improve the
qualitv of his fruits. True, Van Mons was ridiculed all his life, and oidy appreciated by
such pioneei-s as Davy, Poitoau, Diel, and Drapicz. His nurseries were thrice destroyed, as
wild, worthless thorn-bushes, under the false pretence of " public utility." This was an
irreparable loss, for however much his system be discussed and distrusted, it is still true
that the results of his experience have been most beniiticial to the world.

"An honorable member of this Association and myself, have in trust many of tlie seed-
linsrs of that great master of pomology, which have not yet fruited. We have those of the
eighth generation, which, from vigor, beauty, and signs of refinement, give promise of supe-
rior character, and seem to confirm his doctrine of improvement by successive reproduction.
And while we are anxiously awaiting the further and ultimate results of his theory, others
on this side of the Atlantic are zealously engaged in hybridization and experiments which
cannot fail to be of immense advantage to the scientific and practical cultivator.

" This progress should cheer us onward. No other country, in extent and variety of soil
and climate, is so well adapted, or otters so great advantages to the pomologist. Not only
does our coiTesjwndence from abroad testify to the truth of this statement, but our rapidly
extending domain continually develops new facts in confirmation of this sentiment.

" By the reports from individual fruit growers, and from associations, it appears that some
varieties of the pear succeed equally as well in the extreme south part of our Union as in
the north. A gentleman from Oregon Territory recently informed me that settlers there had
already provided themselves with extensive orchards, and from which they gather fruits of
great size and excellence. He also makes a similar report in relation to Washington Terri-
tory, and instances among others an orchard of one hundred acres, which is now yielding a
large annual income to its j^roprietor.

" A letter from the Vice-President of this Society for Utah, on the borders of the Great
Salt Lake, expresses the hope that it will not be long before that region shall be a successful
rival of other parts of the Union in variety and excellence of its fruits. Similar accounts
are received from the district of Santa Clara.

" Another communication, fi-om an officer of this Society in California, assures me of the
great progress in our cause in that State, and i>ledges a full report of its horticultural exhi-
bition for our Transactions. One of my neighbors who went to California in 1854, and now
residing in Napa City, writes : ' Such is the rapid growth of vegetation in that district, that
apple-trees, from seed planted in the spring of 1853, and budded the same year, yielded
fruit in the autumn of 1855.' He says : ' I wish you could take a look at our peach orchard,
loaded with three to four thousand baskets of fruit. You could hardly believe that the trees
had made all their growth, and were most of them raised from seed, since I came to Cali-
fornia, February 1, 1854. The crop from this orchard is now (July 18, 1856) going to
market, and, we expect, will amount to between ten and twenty thousand dollars.' The
proprietor of that crop has called on me within a few days, confirms these statements, and
reports that the crop and prices fully realized all anticipations.

" Such is the zeal now manifested in the cause of pomology, and such are the facilities
for intercommunication, that we are continually receiving valuable contributions from all
parts of the country and the world."

Proceeding onward, gracefully, the President says : —

" In my last address, I called your attention to the importance of raising new and improved
varieties from seed as the best method of increasing and preserving our supply of choice
fruits. Whether the theory of the running out of varieties be true or false, so thoroughly
am I convinced of the great practical utility of this recommendation, that I feel especially
desirous, while I have the opportunity, of encouraging you to perseverance, and of guarding
your minds against exposure to failures.

" A false doctrine prevails among some, although founded on the theory of Van Mons,
' tliat scions taken from seedlings, and grafted into stocks, however strong and healthy, will not yield
fruit earlier than it may be obtained from the mother plant.'' Adopting this theory as true, many
cultivators have been discouraged on account of the length of the process. Whatever may
have been the experience which called forth this theory from its learned author, in the
localities where it originated, or where it has been advocated, my reading and personal
ation constrain me to question its truthfulness ; certainly its application to our own

untry. For instance, the fact is familiar to you all, that scions of the pear come into

COLONEL WILDER's ADDRESS.

bearing, when grafted on the quince, earlier than on the pear stock. This is believed to
result from the early maturity of the quince, which, while it does not change the variety of
the pear, imparts its own precocity thereto. We realize a corresponding hastening to matu-
rity when the scion is grafted into a pear-tree which has also arrived at maturity ; espe-
cially is this to be exjjected when the stock is in itself one of a precocious character. If any
facts seem to oppose this doctrine, they may be regarded either as exceptions to the general
law, or as the results of locality and cultivation.

" The physiological principle of the vegetable kingdom under which this doctrine obtains
is, that the bud contains the embryo tree, and that the strong or precocious stock constrains
it to elaborate more material into wood and foliage, and thus promotes both growth and
fruitfulness.

" Common sense as well as common observation, confirms this statement. Witness the
pear, which we have known to fruit the fourth year from seed, when grafted on the quince.
We know a seedling from the Seckel pear, grafted on the Bartlett, which bore the present
season, and is only four years from the seed. The Catharine Gardette, raised by Dr. Brinkle,
was brought into bearing by grafting on the quince in five years, while the original seedlings,
in all these instances, are only three to five feet in height, and will require several additional
years to bring them into bearing. Is it reasonable to suppose that a seedling pear, which,
in two years, in a given location, attains the height of one or two feet, with but few branches,
will fruit as early as a scion from the same seedling when grafted on a strong tree, which
elaborates and assimilates through its abundant branches and luxuriant foliage, ten times
the amount of all the elements constituting growth and maturity ?"

He continues : —

" In reliance upon natural fertilization, I would still encourage the continual planting of
the seeds of choice varieties of all kinds of fruit, in the belief that new and valuable varie-
ties may thus be obtained. By these various processes, we shall have continual accessions
to our collections of such choice fruits as the Beurre Clairgeau, Beurre d'Anjou, and Doyenne
Boussock pears. Let nothing discourage you in this most hopeful department of pomology.
Go on, persevere.

" These are triumphs worthy of the highest ambition, conquests which leave no wound
on the heart of memory, no stain on the wing of time. He who only adds one really valuable
variety to our list of fruits, is a public benefactor. I had rather be the man who planted
that iimbrageous tree, from whose bending branches future generations shall pluck the
luscious fruit, when I am sleeping beneath the clods of the valley, than he who has conquered
armies. I would prefer the honor of introducing the Baldwin Apple, the Seckel Pear, Hovey's
Seedling Strawberry — ay, or the Black Tartarian Cherry, from the Crimea, to the proudest
victory which has been won upon that blood-stained soil."

We anticipated from the speaker, that he would give in this speech the results of his latest
experience in keeping fruit, and the construction of fruit-rooms, and are not disappointed.
He says : —

" The proper construction and management of these is, therefore, commanding the atten-
tion of pomologists, both in this country and in Europe. Their success is foxind to depend
on a perfect control of the temperature, moisture, and light. After having built and managed
four fruit-rooms, upon different plans, I am of opinion that a proper equilibrium of tempe-
rature and moisture cannot ordinarily be obtained without the use of ice. The preservation
of the apple is less difiicult than that of most other fruits, and is tolerably well understood
by our farmers. Still, how few specimens, even of this fruit, are brought to our spring
market in a fresh and perfect condition ! The art of keeping the pear, and fruits of delicate
texture, is much more difficult ; and it is to these I particularly refer.

" Having heard of the great success of Mr. Schooley, of Cincinnati, Ohio, by his celebrated
discovery for the preservation of meats, I opened a correspondence with him with respect to
the application of the same process to the preservation of fruits. He subsequently visited
me at Boston, and advised as to the construction of a fruit-room upon his principle. This
I have found, during the last winter and the present summer, to operate in accordance with
his statement, as illustrated by Professor Locke, in his ' Monograph upon the Preservation
of Organic Substances.' By his plan, the temperature and moisture of the fruit-room, and
consequently the ripening of the fruit, maybe perfectly controlled. One gentleman informs
me that he kept strawberries, in a fruit-room constructed on this plan, from June 1 to the
in perfect condition for the table ; and he entertains no dcubt of its complete sue
preservation of apples and pears indefinitely. Mr. Schooley writes me that,

COLONEL WILDER'S ADDRESS.

xnonfli of June, he received several barrels of Bellflower ajiples, which liad been kept fur
ciK'ht months, that were sold in that market at two dolhirs and twenty-five cents per bushel.
The remainder out of eight hundred bushels was sold, at home, at tliree dollars per bushel.
These apples were purcliased, at random, from the strolling wagons jjassing through the
streets of Dayton, and were more or less bruised by careless picking and transportation. My
own experience corresponds with these statements.

'• The construction of these rooms is simple. All that is required is walls made of non-
conducting materials, with an apartment for the ice above the fruit-room, and with Mr.
Schooley's descending Hues for the cold air, so as to preserve an equable temperature and
moisture, and to hold the ripening process in suspense. The air, by passing over the ice,
is deprived of its moisture, and, being cold and specifically heavier than the surrounding
atmosphere, falls through his descending flues, and, by a ventilator, escapes on one side of
the room, thus creating a temperature not only cool, but dry. This principle, I am informed
by a distinguished member of the medical faculty, may be applied to the construction of
hospitals with great advantage, so that the air may be kept at a uniform temperature and
degree of humidity. For a more particular account of this process, I refer you to Professor
Locke's Monograph, and to the inventor's letter, herewith sulmiitted.

" In these remarks, our object has been to provide against the maturing of fruits until the
season when they are wanted for use. Care should, however, be exercised, especially with
the pear, and more delicate fruits, not to reduce the temperature much below 45^* of Fah-
renheit, lest the vital principle of the fruit be destroyed, and the flavor lost."

Colonel Wilder differs somewhat from Jeffreys, in our last number, regarding the value
of the pear as a dwarf, and, as we desire nothing but the truth, we give his views on the
subject : —

" Pears upon the quince should be planted in a luxuriant, deep soil, and be abundantly
supplied with nutriment and good cultivation. They should always be planted deep enough
to cover the place where they were grafted, so that the point of junction may be three or
four inches below the surface. The pear will then frequently form roots independently of
the quince, and thus we combine in the tree both early fruiting from the quince, and the
strength and longevity of the pear stock. For instance, of trees of the same variety, stand-
ing side by side in my own grounds for ten years, and enjoying the same treatment, those
on the quince stock have attained a larger size, and have borne, for seven years, abundant
crops, while those upon the pear stock have scarcely yielded a fruit. We have, also, others
on the quince, which, twenty-five years since, were obtained at the nursery of Mr. Parmenter,
where now is the most populous part of the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., and which have borne
good crops for more than twenty years, and are still productive and healthy.

"That the introduction and 'cultivation of the pear upon the quince has been a great
blessing, I entertain no doubt, especially in gardens, and in the suburbs of large towns and
cities. And as to its adaptation to the orchard, I see no reason why it should not succeed
well, if the soil, selection and cultivation be appropriate. A gentleman in the eastern part
of Massachusetts planted, in the years 1848 and 1849, as many dwarf pear-trees as he could
set on an acre of land at the distance of eight by twelve feet, and between these rows he
planted quince bushes. In the fifth year from planting, he gathered one hundred and
twenty bushels of pears, and sixty bushels of quinces. Of the former, he sold seventy
bushels at five to six dollars per bushel, and he now informs me that he has lost only three
l^er cent, of the original trees, and that the remainder are in healthful condition."

An important suggestion is contained in the following paragraph. We hope to live long
enough to see it thoroughly carried out: —

" I anticipate that, at no remote period, we shall feel the necessity of a National Pomolo-
gical Institute, with an Experimental Garden, where all the varieties true to name may be
obtained, where all sorts may be thoroughly tested, and distributed to the members of the
Society, and thus relieve the pioneers in American pomology from large expenditures and
much personal inconvenience."

In conclusion, the author breaks out eloquently, thus : —

" It is estimated that, in the nurseries of Monroe County, there are thirty millions of trees,
and that, in the whole of the nurseries of Western New York, commencing at Onondaga
County, there cannot be less than fifty millions, besides the great number which has already
been sent out to adorn your valleys, and crown your hill-tops. These are the precious fruits
which have been gathered in this locality. Add to them the progress of this science in

various other sections of our Union, and what a charming prospect does our fair land

present I

" Fellow Associates : In view of this auspicious progress, let us compare our experiencb
and results ; let us stimulate each other to still greater exertions for the advancement of our
common cause. Let us endeavor to disseminate the knowledge of the few among the many,
that we may improve the public taste, add to the wealth of our republic, and confer on our
countrymen the blessings of our favorite art. Thus shall we make other men happy, and
keep them so — render our own homes the abodes of comfort and contentment, and hasten
the time when the garden shall feel no blight, the fruitful field laugh with abundance, and
rivers of gladness water the earth."

AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

The sixth biennial meeting of the American Pomological Society was held in Rochester,
September 24-26. Nearly all portions of our extended country, from Maine to California,
were represented (there being delegates from nineteen States), and we heard it repeatedly
remarked that a more respectable and intellectual body of men had never met in Rochester.

The Genesee Valley Horticultural Society held their annual exhibition in connection
with the American Pomological Society and the Western New York Fruit Growers' Associa-
tion, and the show of fruits and flowers excelled anything we have ever before witnessed.
Had it not been for the partial failure of the apple crop in the West, the display would have
been truly gorgeous ; but what was lacking in apples and peaches was made up in pears.
The extent to which pear culture is attracting the attention of fruit growers in all parts of
the Union, was fairly indicated by the large number and excellence of the varieties shown.
The veteran pomologist, and President of the Society, Marshall P. Wilder, who has, in his
grounds at Dorchester, Massachusetts, over one thousand different varieties of pears, exhibited
one hundred of his best new sorts ; and that the Messrs. Hovey & Co., of Boston, exhibited
250 varieties. From this city, the show of pears was very large, and, in size, color, and
smoothness of skin, unsurpassed. Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, Hooker & Co., Frost & Co.,
and other leading nurserymen of Rochester, exhibited largely, as did also one or two ama-
teurs. John Hampton, gardener to Selah Matthews, Esq., showed thirteen varieties of pears
— among them a well-shaped Bartlett, weighing twelve ounces — and a fine collection of
greenhouse plants, roses, verbenas, grapes, &c. J. Salter, gardener to J. F. Bush, Esq., ex-
hibited eight varieties of exotic grapes. Mr. Messer, of Geneva, N. Y., also showed sevei-al
varieties of splendid exotic grapes — among them some enormous bunches of Muscat of Alex-
andria. A dish of pears, of the Louise Bonne de Jersey and Duchesse d'Angoul6me varieties,
sent by President Pierce, from the "People's Garden" at Washington, D. C, showed the
difference of the season here and at the South. They were fully ripe, while specimens of
the same varieties grown here were quite green and hard. Dr. Grant, of Newburgh, N. Y.,
had a fine collection of native grapes, among them the Delaware — perhaps the earliest and
best flavored native variety in cultivation, but lacking size — and a new seedling white grape,
called Rebecca, which promises to be an acquisition. There were two fine collections of apples
from Iowa, and one from North Carolina, containing many varieties of Southern apples but
little known at the North.

The American Pomological Convention was welcomed to the city by the Mayor of Roches-
ter, and, after some preliminary business, the President of the Society, Hon. Marshall P.
Wilder, delivered a most eloquent and interesting address (which wiU be found on another
l^age. — Ed. )

After the conclusion of the address, the convention proceeded to business. The Nomi-
nating Committee reported the following list of officers, which were unanimously elected : —

President — Hon. Marshall P. Wildeb, of Boston.

S. L. Ooodale, Maine,
H. J. French, New Hampshire,
Fred. Holbrook, Vermont,
Samuel Walker, Massachusetts,
Stephen H. Smith, R. I.,
A. S. Monson, Connecticut,
Charles Downing, New York,
William Reid, New Jersey,

Vice-Presidents,
Hartman Kuhn, Jr., Penna.,
William C. Wilson, Maryland,
E. Tatnall, Jr., Delaware,
Yardley Taylor, Virginia,
Joshua Lindley, N. Carolina,
A. G. Summer, S. Carolina,
Richard Peters, Georgia,
C. A. Peabody, Alabama,

Tliomas Afileck, Mississippi,
D. W. Yandell, Tennessee,
Lawrence Young, Kentucky,
A. H. Ernst, Ohio,
H. L. Ellsworth, Indiana,
C. R. Overman, Illinois,
Thomas Allen, Mississippi,
Rev. C. H. Byington, Ark,,

YOL. VI. — NOYEMBEB, 1856.

34

B. F. Nonrse, Floriila, Joshua Piwrce, D. C, Amasa Stewart, Minnesota,

Robert Avery, Iowa, Kihvard Hunter, Utali, C. IJ. Lines, Kansas,

J. C Urayton. Wiseousin, Hugh Allen, Canada l-iast, Henderson Lewellyn, Oregon.

Simpson Thompson, California, James Dougal, Canada West,

Secretary — P. Barry, of New York,
Treasurer — T. P. James, of Pennsylvania.

The President, on thanking the Society for the honor conferred upon him, stated that ho
had fully determined not to accept the office, but could not find it in his heart to decline
the trust imposed upon him by the unanimous voice of liis friends.

After the reports from the State Fruit Committee, and from the Committee on the Downing
Monument, the Society proceeded to revise tlie catalogue of fruits.

Of the list of pears for general cultivation, the following varieties were proposed for rejec-
tion, but retained after discussion: Ananas d'Ete, Andrews, Peurre d'Aremberg (decided
that it should have "high cultivation" .attached to it on the list), and Fulton. The list
previously recommended for trial as promising well, was then taken up, and tlie following
varieties were transferred to the list for general cultivation : Doyenne Boussoch, Beun-6
St. Nicholas, Howell, and Sheldon. Duchess de Berry, at the suggestion of Mr. Walker, had
" d'lilte" added to its name, to denote its early ripening.

The following varieties were recommended as "promising well:" Vicar of Winkfield,
Hosenschenk, Philadelphia, Fondante Cornice, Niles, Kmile de Heyst, Beurr6 Kermes, Con-
seilleur de la Cour, Coraptesse del Aost, Beurre de Langelier, Doyenne d'Alencon, Beurro
d'AIbret, Delicis de Hardenpout de Belgraque, Delicis de Hardenpont d 'Angers, Fondante de
Charneuse, Osband's Summer, Beurre Nantais, Dix. The Bellisimc d'Ete was decided to be
unworthy of cultivation. Bleekers's Meadow and Passans du Portugal were removed from
the "rejected list."

The Convention then proceeded to revise the list of pears recommended for culture on the
quince stock. It was proposed to reject Belle Lucrative and Long Green of Cox, but, after
discussion, it was decided to let them remain on the list. Beurre d'Aremberg and Triompho
de .Jodoigne were stricken from the list.

Mr. Field called attention to a series of articles published lately in the Horticulturist,
condemning the culture of pears on the quince stock. He thought people were likely to be
misled by them, and wished the facts to be known. He had examined the pear-trees in the
grounds of the author of those articles, and found that he knew little about their cultivation.
The point of union between the quince and pear was three inches above ground, and, although
they were receiving care now, it was evident that, until latterly, they had not been pruned
or cared for in any way.

Mr. Hodge thought there was some prejudice in the public mind against dwarf pears.
He thought it was caused by nurserymen having sent out varieties, like the Bartlett, that
will not succeed well on the quince. Nurserymen should confine themselves, for the present,
to twelve or fifteen varieties that are known to be fine growers on the quince.

Mr. Phoenix thought too little attention had been paid to pruning, and this was the great
cause of the difficulty.

Mr. Barry wished the fact to he generally known, that a regular annual pruning is neces-
sary to the success of the pear on the quince.

The President said twenty years' experience and obsei-vation had convinced him that
many varieties succeeded as well, and were as durable on the quince root as on the pear.
Has seen trees from twenty to twenty-five years old, healthy and fine ; and Mr. Berckmans,
now present, has seen them, in Europe, over one hundred years of age, in health and vigor.
It is probable, however, that in these cases roots were thrown out above the graft.

After an interesting discussion of several varieties of apples on the list for general culti-
vation— all of which were retained — the Convention took up the list of apples which
" promise well." The following varieties were removed from the list that " promise well"
to the list for "general cultivation :" Benoni, Hawley, Primate, and Rambo. The Ladies'
Winter Sweet was decided to be a misnomer for Ladies' Sweet, by an error on the part of the
reporter, and was expunged from the list.

An interesting discussion took place on the Tompkins County King. Mr. Mattison, of
New York, stated that it had been in cultivation for fifty years, and was a general favorite
wherever known. It usually sold at double the price that could be detained for any other
variety. It generally bore every year, and had the peculiarity of making a fine growth
bearing a heavy crop. The fruit should be gathered early, when it would sometimes
ill July. Mr. Sylvester, of Lyons, N. Y., regarded it as an excellent fruit, but it was

not so fine-grained as some other varieties. There were several spurious sorts. He had
known tlie Ribston Pippin sold for it. Mr. Bateham, of Ohio, had found it to ripen in De-
cember, and it proved of second-rate quality. H. E. Hooker considered it first-rate, but
not " best," and would like to see it further tested. J. J. Thomas remarked that his father
had told him that after removing the skin from this apple, he could scarcely distinguish it
from the Swaar. Mr. Saul had heard the same remark made. E. C. Frost remarked that
the Newark King was a totally distinct variety, ripening in the fall. It was decided to place
it on the list that promise well, under the name of King of Tompkins County. The Wagener,
at the suggestion of E. C. Frost, was also added to the list of fruits that promise well.

The discussion oh grapes was quite animated, and, at one time, tliere was some danger of
a warm discussion of the Temperance Question, had not the President wisely ruled all such
remarks out of order.

The Delaware Grape was highly recommended by some gentlemen. Jlr. Prince was of
opinion that it would prove to be the most delicious native grape, except, perhaps, the Scup-
pernong of the South. Dr. Grant had grown it for three years, and found it perfectly hardy.
Mr. Downing considered it one of the finest native grapes, and said that it was very hardy
with him. Dr. Brinekle saw it first in 1850, and thought it finer than any native grape that
he knew, but had doubts of its being a native ; Mr. Lougworth said it was not. Mr. Ernst
stated that Mr. Lougworth had been mistaken in regard to this grape, and was now satisfied
of its American origin. Mr. Hovey esteemed it an excellent fruit, and wished it placed upon
the list of varieties that promise well. Dr. Grant remarked that it was first discovered in
New Jersey, and was introduced into Ohio twenty-five or thirty years since. It was recom-
mended as promising well.

The Rebecca Grape, Mr. Prince had no doubt, was a variety of the Chasselas family, and
thought that no such grape could be perfectly hardy. Mr. Reid said that it showed no in-
dication of an origin from the Chasselas, except some resemblance in the foliage. Dr. Grant
stated that it had been exposed at Hudson for the past three j'cars, remaining on an open
trellis during the winter, and had not sufifered in the least, while many other things which
were usually hardy had been destroyed. Mr. Downing had seen it for three years past, and
considered it perfectly hardy, though not a very strong grower. Mr. Reid said that it was
the only white native variety within his knowledge, and thought it desirable, if only for
that reason. Mr. Prince knew of another white variety, in Pennsylvania. It was recom-
mended as promising well.

The President wished to direct attention to several seedlings lately originated at Phila-
delphia, and called on Dr. Brinekle for information in regard to them, who made some re-
marks iipon five sorts, viz : The Emily, Clara, Brinekle, Graham, and Raabe. Dr. B. stated
that the Raabe was raised from seed of the Catawba, the others from seeds of foreign sorts,
and that the Clara and Brinekle were, in particular, very fine. Mr. Buist observed that the
Graham and Raabe were evidently natives, but tliat the others were purely foreign in their
characteristics. Dr. Brincl^e was of opinion that all grapes originating in this country should
be considered natives, whether raised from native or foreign seed. Mr. Reid considered
grapes from foreign seed more liable to the attacks of mildew than those of native origin.
Mr. Hovey thought that seedlings from foreign grapes would not prove hardy without some
" native blood." Dr. Brinekle stated that neither of these varieties had ever been jirotected,
nor had sufl'ered in the least from the effects of winter ; but that of many other seedlings
originated at the same time, the rest had all been destroyed. The President thought that
the Emily must have some infusion of " native blood," as he had found it perfectly hardy.

The Union Village Grape, Dr. Brinekle had heard from Mr. Longworth, was as large as the
Black Hamburg, and quite hardy, but that there had been a mistake made in the cuttings
which had been sent him, and he had had no fruit. Mr. Grant observed that it was a mon-
strous grower, the bunches quite large, the flavor sweet, and as good as the Isabella. Mr.
Ernst remarked that it was probably an accidental seedling, and he had seen it exhibited
before the Cincinnati Horticultural Society, when it was so fine as to be by many persons
mistaken for the Black Hamburg. He had not had much experience with it, but considered
it a fine table grape. It was vigorous, and a little earlier than the Catawba, but he thought
probably not well adapted for making wine. Mr. Grant said it was a little earlier than the
Isabella. The President had seen specimens which were exhibited at Boston, and considered
it very promising. Mr. Cabot thought it earlier than the Isabella, but not so early as the
Delaware. He had eaten it from a vine under glass, and considered the flavor very fine.
The cane was very stout.

Of the Hartford Prolific, Mr. Hovey entertained a favorable opinion. Mr. Downing was
much pleased with it the first year, but he had since come to the conclusion that it was not

so pood as the Isabella, It was, however, ten days earlier than tliat sort, and not mnch
dili'erent in tjuality from the Concord. Mr. Prince condemned it, in strong terms, as uiiso-
rablv foxv, and considered the Concord infinitely sux)erior to it. Mr. Heid considered it
utterly unworthy of cultivation, except in a cold climate, where the Isahella and others
could nut be ripened. He thought the Concord much superior to it. Mr. Barry concurred ;
he thought it entirely unfit for the table, except in cases of absolute necessity. Mr. Hovey
had never esteemed it as anything remarkable, but was disposed to think it valuable for
cold localities, where better sorts could not be grown. Mr. Grant thought its earliness its
chief merit ; he had found it to ripen a week earlier than the Concord. Mr. H. E. Hooker
considered it more foxy than the Concord, but quite as good.

The Northern Muscadine Mr. Prince considered as belonging to the same class as the
variety last discussed. Mr. Buist observed that it had been brought before a committee of
which'he was a member, and that it was greatly against his will that he remained in the
room with it. The President made some hvimorous remarks on the disposition shown by
some persons to esteem their own productions too highly, and to recommend them so fre-
quently to others, as to become at length themselves convinced that they really were what
they had represented them. Mr. Thomas had been miich surprised at the pertinacity of
the Shakers in recommending this grape so highly. It Mas, as he had frequently told them,
no other than the common brown fox.

The Concord, Mr. Downing had found a little larger and ten days earlier than the Isabella.
Mr. C. E. Frost had fruited it for the first time this year, and it had ripened six days before
the Isabella. Mr. Reid had also fruited it but once ; he considered it very hardy, a free
grower, nearly as good as the Isabella, and a week earlier. Mr. H. E. Hooker said that it
iiad ripened, with him, at the same time as the Isabella, and was nearly as good.

Mr. Prince remarked at some length upon the natural adaptability of this country to
the culture of the grape — that it was exemplified by the fact that there were seven or eight
indigenous species, and one only in the whole of Europe, and that he had been at a large
expenditure of time and money in order to acclimate the foreign grape, but that he had
never succeeded in a single instance — concluding by expressing his opinion that we must
rely chiefly upon our native sorts, and that America was by nature destined to become more
renowned for grape and wine culture than any other country in the world — that it was the
"natural home of the grape, and the land of the vine !" The President was glad to hear
the remarks made by Mr. Prince, and concurred with him fully. He had no doubt of the
future importance of wine culture to this country, and was aware of Catawba brandy having
been already purchased at $5 per gallon, for exportation to France, for the purpose of flavoring
foreign liquor.

Mr. Ernst made some remarks upon the injury which grapes had received from the extreme
cold of the past winter ; when Mr. Hanford, of Indiana, observed that, in his vicinity, grapes
had sustained a temperature of 31° below zero, without injury.

The discussions on strawberries, raspberries, and blackberrtes, were exceedingly inte-
resting, and will be given next month.

It was decided to hold the next meeting of the Association at New York, in the fall of 1858.
— Genesee Farmer.

The Pomological Convention, at Rochester, was well attended, and well attended to. The
discussions were most interesting, and, as usual, were conducted and regulated by the able
President, Col. Wilder.

The admission of fruits upon the list for " general cultivation," it will be seen by the
report, has been very limited ; more fruits have been added to the list as " promising well,"
not yet having been sufficiently tested. Every variety was fairly discussed in regard to its
fitness for different soils, localities, and latitude. As there was representatives of twenty-
one States of the Union, California included, most of the varieties on trial had to undergo
a thorough examination from all sections.

It is not to be doubted that such an open and broad discussion will have the most import-
ant results. At every session, the Convention seems to acquire new strength, and settle
facts. It is, in truth, most important for fruit growers of all denominations, to have all the
opinions and the sanction of the large majority, either for the admission or the rejection of
varieties. With such an institution, impositions, and even common errors, will rarely occur.
Nurserymen and dealers in fruit-trees or plants, are aware that their transactions with the
public will have to stand the trial of a competent jury ; and this will do away, measurably,
with one of the greatest evils of the trade — carelessness, and consequent occasional impo-
sition ; the one as bad as the other in its results, though widely different in principle. If
American pomology shall, ere long, be the most accurate and the best in the world, it is
owing to the great idea of a national convention, in which everything relating to fruit, is
fairly and honestly discussed by the most able horticulturists of all parts of the Union.

The great controverted question of pear budding on the quince, has been examined and
discussed. Much remains to be said as experience increases ; but, by proper management,
it seems, beyond doubt, that the pear will succeed on the Angers quince ; much, if not all,
depends on the stock and on the manner of planting ; for the want of proper attention to these
two conditions, many have failed, and therein, perhaps, lies the origin of all those conilict-
ing opinions regarding dwarfs as orchard-trees. No one disputes their utility in garden
culture where they can receive proper attention.

Many fine specimens of apples, pears, grapes, &c., were exhibited in the spacious hall which
was kindly left at the disposal of the Society by the active and able President of the Roches-
ter Horticultural Society, Mr. Reynolds. It would be an endless task to note all the fine
collections of fruit from the East and the West, and chiefly from the large fruit growers of
Western New York. Suffice it to say, that there was a fine display of all kinds in season,
mostly named correctly ; this is not the least important improvement in horticulture, when
we consider that, without correct nomenclature, confusion, errors, and deception, must be
of every-day occurrence.

The splendid nurseries of EUwanger and Barry, Mr. Frost, Hooker, &c. &c., were visited
by the President, the members of committees, and, indeed, by all those interested in the
cultivation of frait. The President, and a great number of the members, accepted an invi-
tation to dine at Mr. Frost's, where, besides the ordinary delicacies of a good entertainment,
there was a rich display of fruit of the choicest varieties, to all which due attention was

paiil by parties wlio iiinlorKtood well what they were about. Some of the best products of
Ohio, here stood tho tost of this trial committee very successfully.

Tiie good results of these public meetings cannot be denied, and it is mainly owing to
this Society that American Pomology has made, in so very short a time, such great strides;
now the engine is fairly started, all that we want is to follow in the same track, enlisting
tho united efforts, labors, and sacrifices, of all the men prominent either for their high \>ot=,i-
tion and activity, or their intelligent and practical labors. A little opposition from writers
like Dr. Ward and "Jeffreys," will do no harm in the end, but will tend to rouse investiga-
tion, and, with investigation, the truth must in the end prevail.

Postscript to tue Downing Monument. — As we are going to press, we have received from
the designer of the Downing Monument the following additional inscription, which is to be
cut into the base of the pedestal : —

" This memorial was erected under a resolution passed, at Philadelphia, in September,
" 1852, by the American Pomological Society, of which Mr. Downing was one of the original
" founders. Maksuall P. Wilder, President.^^

The United States Agricultural Exhibition, at Philadelphia, was an eminent success,
both as regards the display and the unequalled attendance. The receipts are said to have
reached thirty-nine thousand dollars ; the utmost order prevailed, and our citizens had a
good opportunity of -judging of the value of such exhibitions of stock and fruit. We hoped
to be furnished with the official report of the horticultural department, but it had not been
received, owing, no doubt, to an accident, when the Ilorticidtnrist went to press.

Tue First PniLADELPniA Park.— The noble gift, made by a number of our neighbors to the
city of Philadelphia, of forty-five acres of land for a public park, has already been chronicled
in these pages. It affords us sincere pleasure to add, that the proper steps have been taken
by Councils, aided by an intelligent committee of the donors, to immediately improve and
embellish these grounds, known, till lately, as " The Hunting Park Race Course," and near
Germantown. That able writer and landscape gardener, Mr. William Saunders, who favors
our readers monthly with the " Calendar of Operations," received the first premium for tho
plan of laying it out, and Mr. James Gleason, both of Germantown, the second.

Mr. Saunders, in his description, showed that he understood the principles of creating
scenery ; he has been appointed to superintend the entire laying out, and has gone to work
already to select the ornamental trees and shrubbery. This appointment will not, however,
as might be conjectured, interfere with his regular business of landscape and consulting
gardener, which is already extensive, embracing a space between Carolina and Massachu-
setts.

We shall endeavor to give Mr. Saunders' plan, in a reduced form, as soon as it can be
prepared.

The Genus Correa. — In a previous page will be found an essay on the cultivation of the
genus Correa, by Mr. E. Sanders, of Albany, to which we invite attention. Tlie London
Florist figures, in its last number, the beautiful Correa cardinnlis, lately exhibited by Messrs.
Veitch & Son, at the Crystal Palace, as one of the most beautiful and interesting. In habit,
it resembles Correa ventricosa, but is far superior to that kind in color and attractiveness,
producing rich scarlet flowers an inch to an inch and a half in length, is an abundant
bloomer, and of compact habit, and continues blooming longer than any other variety.
Correas are easily cultivated, and should be more generally known.

Another new plant miist not be forgotten — the Pleroma elegans. This is one of the most

editor's table.

beautiful summer and autumn flowering plants in cultivation ; there is a neatness in the
glossy green foliage and compact habit of well managed plants of it, that is at all times
pleasing. And if we add to this the large, round, dark purple flowers which are produced
on every branch in great abundance, we shall find that we have few plants more attractive.

Peach Culture. — It is with much pleasure we present our readers, in the present number,
with an account of the mode of culture of the peach, written by Samuel T. Jones, Esq., to
whose eminent success we have repeatedly alluded. Its simplicity alone will recommend
it. The largest tree in Mr. Jones's garden failed last spring ; the trunk, at this moment,
measures, at the surface of the ground, four feet in circumference ; a man's body averages
three feet only ; at six or eight inches above the ground, it measures three feet, and was,
doubtless, something more when distended with sap. Other trees in the vicinity measure
as follows : —

In circumference, at the surface. In circumference, six to eight inches above.

Three feet, Two feet, seven inches,

u u « « eight "

Two " seven inches.

Three " two and a half inches.

The lamentations respecting the peach are all gammon, to use a vulgar phrase. We have
seen them at Mr. Jones's, and in his vicinity, as well as at Mr. Liirman's, near Baltimore,
this season, as fine and as fruitful as ever. All they want is proper treatment, and it is well
to know what that consists of.

(( <I

seven and a half inches,

(( a

four inches,

Three "

Two "

nine "

(( ((

seven "

Grapes. — The season is prolific in new varieties of grapes ; from J. Fisk Allen, Esq., we
have received a box of specimens of his new hybrids. The Rebecca, all our correspondents
agree in praising very highly, and, by the report of the Pomological Society, it will be seen
that new seedlings, raised by Mr. Raabe, of Philadelphia, are exciting attention.

Our specimen of " Allen's Hybrid," a white gi'ape, ripening in August, is highly satisfac-
tory— indeed, we pronounce it the best yet produced ; if it prove hardy, which is hoped, it
will be a most desirable acquisition, and it is equal to any in flavor.

Allen's No. 8, raised under glass, is a black grape, which it is hoped will also be hardy ;
about the size of Isabella, and excellent.

No. 3 is larger than Isabella, but not being ripe we cannot characterize. It has a good

appearance. Mr. AUen is entitled to great credit for his exertions in this department. He

says : —

Salem, Mass., Oct. 6, 1856.

J. Jay Smitu, Esq. — Dear Sir : According to my promise, I now send you specimens of

Allen's Hybrid, a white grape, and a Black Hybrid, No. 8. Tliese were raised under glass,

but not forced, and on an eastern exposure, where but a few hours' sun fell upon the house

or vine. The white grape flowered on the 7th of May, and was ripe the 15th of August, and

has hung upon the vine since, during all the excessive rains of the \)S.&i two mouths,

amounting, in my garden, to sixteen and a half inches, witliout decay of any amount. Tliis

grape is as early (if not earlier) in maturing as any European variety of any value. In

quality, equal to the Cliasselas in its best condition. Tlie vine has stood the last winter in

the open air, and, I have no doubt, will prove sufficiently hardy for open culture on walls of

houses, and, I hope, will even be suitable for field culture. No. 8 is not so good or so

as the white, but it is free from pulp and the foxy flavor. Several other vines of the

s EDITOK'8 TABLE.

fjiniilj of ITybrids, have fruited in the open air this year, and withstood the severe cold of
last MMiiter uni)rotocted. The mildew has been more extensive this year than usual, and
tlio excessive rains have not only delayed the ripening of out-door grapes, but injured tlicir
flavor. Respectfully youi-s, John Fisk Allen.

W. Brocksbank, of Hudson, N. Y., forwards us a box of the Rebecca Grape, and says : —

" The vine is an accidental seedling, which originated in the garden of Mr. G. M. Pcake,
of Hudson, N. Y., whether from the seed of native or foreign grape, is not known, altliough
its aroma and other characteristics indicate it to be of native origin. It is perfectly hardy,
enduring our severest winters, in any exposure, without injury.

" The original vine has fruited for the last five years ; one, three years old, from a layer,
has now upon it at least a hundred good-sized bunches of fruit. It is a good bearer and
thrifty grower, extending its shoots from fifteen to twenty feet in one season, with good
cultivation. Fruit ripens a week or ten days earlier than the Isabella."

A correspondent who has seen the " Rebecca" vines, says : " From the foliage, I entertain
no doubt of its native origin." Another assures us that it was considered, at the Pomolo-
gical Convention, the best native grape yet brought into notice. A third " looks for quite
&fuTor about this grape," and suggests "planting it alongside a Chasselas of Fontainbleu,
and dusting the blossoms together, hoping to raise a seedling which will combine the hardi-
ness of the one with the excellent flavor and fine bunches of the other." Really, this grape
is, in our oi)inion, a great success. We are not informed whether Mr. B. is prepared to take
orders for vines, but trust that he is, and that ho will be fully rewarded for his discovery of
such a delicious and compactly bunched, white, hardy grape. " Allen's Hybrid" and the
"Rebecca," are destined to be great favorites, and to supersede some of our present best
table grapes.

Grape- Vines ACAry. — We have recorded the success of Mr. Glendinning, in taking the
prizes from the best English grape growers by grapes from his small house and limited
border. Several writers have taken up the topic and now assert that the proper theory is
that vines root in the subsoil, and obtain sufficient nourishment there ; numerous instances
are given of carelessness in making preparations for roots where success was very remark-
able. In one case, a gentleman made a hole with a pickaxe, and a little soil was i^ut in to
cover the roots ; nothing more was done when the celebrated vines which produced four
crops in two years were planted. What say the advocates for whole oxen now ? Good,
fibrous loam, and roots deep in the soil, beyond the ordinary atmospheric changes, is now
the theory !

VixETAKDS SUCCEED iJT India, at Ghuzni, a table-land in India, 8,000 feet above the
sea, the climate resembling that of Canada, the air dry, summers short and extremely
hot, the thermometer indicating sometimes 1120 in a tent. Tliis part of Aflfghanistan is
celebrated for its vineyards — indeed, grapes are said to be the staple of the country. The
system of cultivation pursued may give a valuable hint to our country, as the only one by
which in a cold climate and with limited means the cultivator could hope to see his vines
ripen, both fruit and wood.

The site of the vineyard is selected, if possible, on the slope of a hill with a southern
aspect. The ground is then dug in trenches (running north and south) at intervals of about
twelve feet, and from three to four feet deep, the soil excavated being deposited between
the trenches, thus forming intermediate mounds, the whole finally resembling somewhat a
gigantic celery bed. All the stones that have been dug out (and, if necessary, others are
collected for the same purpose), are then driven into the sides of the trenches and mounds.

EDITOR'S TABLE

and thus form a rough revetment or wall ; the vines are then planted in the bottom of the
trenches, and, as they grow, trail themselves over the mounds.

The advantages of the system are obvior - During the long winter, the vines are buried
deep in snow, and this warm covering is retained by the trenches until some time after all
on the surface of the country has disappeared, and danger from spring frosts has passed
away. As the snow in the trenches melts, it finds a ready outlet at the lower ends. When
once the vines begin to push, their progress is rapid, as, from the mode of growth provided
for them, they receive not only the full benefit of the whole of the direct rays of the sun,
but also of the heat radiated from the underlying stone revetment.

Gkapes in 1856. — Mr. Editor : This has been one of the most propitious seasons for the
grapes, and the Isabella has never been known to grow larger, or perfect itself better. Large
crops have been grown, and price reduced to five cents per pound. It is hoped the Catawba
will ripen ; a few days more of sunshine will do it. Fine specimens of the " Delaware" and
" Diana" were shown at the Genesee Valley Horticultural Exhibition. The " Diana," a seed-
ling fromthe Catawba, ripens full two to three weeks earlier than the Catawba, and is truly
an acquisition. The Delaware is very sweet and delicious, as well as being early. A new
grape, called the " Rebecca," was shown by Dr. Grant, who lives near Newburgh, New York,
which IS also a choice one. It appears like the " White Chasselas," and is very fine, early,
and hardy. It will command universal attention, and be generally admired.

Mr. Longworth sent fine specimens of the " Catawba" Gi-ape from Cincinnati, for one of
the conventions, which came too late, but, be assured, good use will be made of them in
distribution amongst the lovers of the grape at Rochester.

Truly, J. H. Watts.

Rochester, N. Y.

Gossip. — A lemon girthing, eighteen and a half inches from the footstalk to the flowering
point, girth cylindrical fourteen inches, and weight one pound nine ounces, has been the
wonder of a large neighborhood in England, and is considered to be the largest on record.

Mr. Roswell L. Colt, of Paterson, New Jersey, states, in a letter to the Commissioner of

Patents, that he has ordered from Scotland the spawn of the trout, carp, and salmon, with
the view of propagating them in the waters of New Jersey. He suggests that the Patent
Office should import for distribution the spawn of the red mullet of Europe, as well as that

of the sardines, for breeding in the Middle and Southern States. N. Longworth, Esq.,

writes to a Cincinnati paper : " You say, the wine manufacturers of our city contemplate
raising the price of their wines, in consequence of a failure of the grape crop. I have heard
of no such intention, and believe there will be no such cause for it. I, last spring, had up-
wards of 40,000 gallons of old wine, which I have been selling, and still sell, at one-fourth
less than cost. It is true, that last winter was very destructive to the crop. But many will
have a fair crop ; and a better yield, in Kentucky and Indiana, south of us. And, I believe,
increased grape culture will give us as large a crop as we had last year. But little injury

has been experienced from the rot, and I believe the season of danger is past. A lily,

the Lilium giganteum, is making a great sensation among the English gardeners. It grows
ten or twelve feet high, the flowering portion measuring twenty inches, and bearing eighteen
superb flowers somewhat resembling the common white lily, excepting that they have a deep
purplish tinge along the inner edge of each division of the perianth, and measuring five and
a half inches across the mouth of the tube. Have any of our gardeners received this plant ?
Moss roses require a good deal of manure, and a rather cool situation. Many per-
sons are unsuccessful with them for want of this information, and from not niul
their roots. A good, old-fashioned correspondent so well expresses our own views

530 editor's table.

followiug paraeraph, that we copy it entire : " Tbo common feeling with some is, that such
anil siuli a matter of one's own experience is too trifling to bo made pnhlic ; whereas, in
tmth, snch practical instances of the ai>pliuati(!n of principles are often of great value, and
contain precisely the kind of information which wo cannot get from scientific works. I
regard the readers of the Horticulturist as an assembly of friends, who meet together onco a
month for mntiial instruction and entertainment. Among them are a large portion who are
not ' further along' than myself ; and I consider it a sort of duty in each to impart whatever

information will be servicable to others." If you want to have your prairie roses in their

greatest perfection, mix two or three ounces of guano with a pound of fine charcoal, and
bury it all over the bottom of the hole when you plant ; the same treatment will be good
for all roses, using less guano for the smaller and more delicate. Light waterings of

guano are also important once a week. It is said that the proportion of persons in

New Jersey engaged in horticulture compared with Massachusetts, is as six to one, and,
with New York, as three to one. Her soil and situation admirably adapt her to the
growth of fruit. A concentrated action on the part of her citizens would prove useful.

Endive is very good boiled, thus : chop it up fine ; boil it ; then put it in cold water ;

then squeeze it quite dry ; mix a tablespoonful of flour and a little butter, and boil them in
a pipkin ; put this into the endive and a teacup of water ; add salt and pei)per, and boil

till done. The same receipt is good for spinach. The use of cocoa-nut mats, such as are

employed for covering floors in public rooms, has been found advantageous for covering
greenhouses instead of shutters. Though suificiently porous to admit light, the warmth is
greatly increased by them. The inclosures of greenhouses are not sufficiently attended to ;
by calculating the mamber of very small air-holes in a large house, a friend lately came
to the conclusion that there was a space, if all put together, of four square feet ! for the

exit of warm air ; no wonder the gardener found it impossible to keep out the frost. Tlie

" Virgilian Graft" was thus effected : a hole was bored across the diameter of a walnut-tree,
and a vine branch passed through it while yet in connection with its parent stem ; after a
little time the branch was cut off, and it was said by the ancients, it would then be found
united to, and growing npon, the walnut. This has been very properly questioned, not as
to the fact, but as to the nature of the union. It was not a true graft ; the wood of the
tree may have supplied nutriment to the branch, not by union of its vessels, but by the
decay of the vessels surrounding it ; and, from the nature of the case, such a union must have

been short-lived. A very excellent marmalade maybe made with pears, to use in making

tartlets. Boil six good-sized pears to a pulp ; weigh them ; take half their weight of sugar,
put into a saucepan, with a very little water, boil it, and skim it while boiling ; when
thoroughly boiled, add the pulp of the pears ; give the whole a boil, and add about four

drops of the oil of cloves. In Italy, baked beets are carried about, hot from the oven,

twice a day, and sold in the streets, giving to thousands, with bread, salt, pepper, and butter,
a satisfactory meal. By baking them, the rich saccharine matter, which is lost by boiling,

is in a great measure retained ; this mode is strongly recommended for trial. A friend,

who professes to like our Kew Gardens' articles, invites us to a description of Chatsworth.
A good description of this regal place of the Duke of Devonshire would fill a number of
the Horticulturist, and be then imperfect ; the best account we have seen, is in the first
volume (1846) of this periodical, page 298. About one hundred and forty men are con-
stantly employed on the grounds near the house. When we saw it, the old duke, who is
deaf as a post, was playing cricket with the Earl of Burlington, the next heir, and a bevy
of the sons of the latter, assisted by some of the best cricketers among the workmen. We

shall, perhaps, some time look up our notes. Watering the bark, and not watering the

roots, of a transplanted tree, then in a half-dormant state, has been strongly recommended.
Downing said somewhere, that there was no doubt half the trees that die annually from

editor's table.

the ignorance of transplanters, perisli from a mistaken notion of deluging tlieir roots with
water daily, when their filDres are so feeble as to dread it as much as a patient afflicted with

hydrophobia. The most important recent botanical works are Seemann's Popular History

of Palms, and Dr. Danberry's Popular Geography of Plants, or A Botanical Excursion round
the World, each about three dollars in London, and, at the same price, Stark's Popular

Histon/ of British Mosses. Some novice in botany lately sent abroad a paragraph on bulbs

containing a perfect germ within, which might be examined by carefully unfolding, &c.
The article was popular, and ran the circlet of paragraph scissors. It may surprise some
who seized on it, to read the following beautiful lines from Darwin's Botanical Garden,
a book of the last century : —

" Lo! on each seed within its slender rind,
Life's golden threads in endless circles -wind ;
Maze within maze the lucid waves are roll'd,
And, as they burst, the living flame unfold.
The pulpy aoorn, ere it swells, contains
The oak's vast branches in its milky veins ;
Each ravel'd bud, fine film, and fibre-line.
Traced with nice pencil on the small design.
The young narcissus, in its bulb compressed,
Cradles a second nestling on its breast ;
In whose fine arms a younger embryon lies,
Folds its thin leaves, and shuts its floret eyes ;
Grain within grain successive harvests dwell,
And boundless forests slumber in a shell."

The Cpkculio. — Mr. J. R. Gardener, of Sunny Side, Montgomery County, Virginia, informs
us that he has been successful in destroying the curculio, by piling small stones, to the
height of eighteen inches and about thi-ee feet in diameter, round the trees. Those thus
treated, he says, are loaded this season, while on trees ten feet distant, without the stones,
the fruit is all destroyed. The person who first tried it was led to do so, by observing large
quantities of plums on trees growing wild, in the rocks, in some parts of Pennsylvania.

Another plan is, to remove the soil from around the tree as soon as the insect was noticed.
The eaa-th was taken off about five inches deep, and wheeled away some sixty feet, and
scattered about, thus destroying the insect. Trees thus treated are loaded with fruit, while
the others are destroyed.

Mr. A. Fahnestock, of Toledo, Ohio, one of the committee on Mathews' Curculio Remedy,
has written to the Ohio Cultivator to say it has been perfectly successful ; that Mr. Barry
was misinformed in saying it was a laborious process, as it requires to be done but once ;
but still, the remedy does not come to the ear of the public. Why is this ?

The Largest Peak.— Dr. J. M. Ward, of Newark, N. J., sends us a Duchesse d'Angoultimo
Pear, grown by himself, the size and weight of which are positively fabulous to those who
have not seen it. When taken from the tree, the weight was 35^ ounces ; its dimensions
17:i' inches, in its longitudinal circumference, and 15^ in its cylindrical. The weight is
attested by the Editor of the Newark Daily Advertiser, and by Mr. Reid, of Elizabethtown,
in the presence of Mr. Redman, of the Southern Cultivator. When wo received it, the weight
was diminished by the removal of a decay which had been replaced by cotton ; this reduced
the weight to two pounds. It is the largest pear, probably, on record, and comes in very
well just now, to ease off a little the remarks made at the Pomologlcal Convention about
Dr. Ward's management of his trees ! ! We have had it modelled. It is remarkable that
the largest pear of last season also came from Newark.

Rochester, Oct. 1, 1856.

Ei>iTon HoRTiccLTURiST : Tlio American Pomological Society held its session on the 2I)lh of
September, continuing three days, which proved one of its most useful and interesting ones.

The most celebrated pomologists of the country were present, and the utmost harmony
prevailed.

Tlie "Genesee Valley Horticultural Society" held its fall exhibition at the same time, and
members of the Convention were amongst the contributors, and a finer collection of fruits has
never been shown out of Boston. Corinthian Hall was well prepared for the show, and great
credit is due to Mr. Reynolds, its proprietor as well as President of the Society, for the
arrangement of tables, &c. &c., and universal satisfaction was exjjressed at the show of fruit
and flowers.

Mr. Longworth, with his usual liberality, sent a case of his native wines, which were pro-
nounced as best, and members drank to his health as a public benefactor in bringing the
grape to such perfection, in this country, in its use for the manufacture of wine.

Temperance will be promoted by its use instead of the alcoholic beverage so freely used
in this country. Respectfully, J. H. Watts.

Neckology. — We should have recorded sooner, but for an accident, the death of Robert Mes-
ton, gardener to Colonel Polk, of Tennessee. Mr. Meston was an occasional contributor to the
Uorticulturist, and evinced, by his writings, a degree of knowledge and thoughtfulness on
his favorite subjects, that was quite extraordinary. He leaves a family, for whom great
sympathy is expressed by the neighborhood.

David Ross, a botanist and gardener, died on the 27th of September, at Louisville, Ken-
tucky. He had endeared himself to the inhabitants of that place, by his devotion to science,
his suavity, and great goodness of heart. At the time of his death, he was laying out Cave
Hill Cemetery, which, he had greatly improved, and where his urbane and gentle manners
had won the esteem and confidence of all who knew him.

New Verbena. — Geo. C. Tliorburn, of Newark, N. J., writes as follows : " Inclosed you
will find a flower and leaf of the greatest hit in verbenas since the early days of Defiance ;
from its unique foliage, being a real vervain leaf, and pretty flowers and creeping habit, it
will be, for all vase, basket, or rock-work purposes, the prettiest thing in its way ever intro-
duced." Few persons have done more than Mr. Thorburn in introducing novelties to enrich
our floral domain.

Steam Plough. — Fowler's Steam Plough was lately successfully exhibited at Boxted Lodge,
England ; in the very field where the reaping machines had been at work, a space was cleared,
and preparations were made to plough the land scarcely relieved of its burden, and the
wonderful rapidity of mechanical operations was demonstrated by reaping, ploughing, and
actually sowing the same field, in one day, besides threshing, grinding, kneading and baking
a loaf of bread out of the crop that was standing in the field that morning ! Steam plough-
ing seems already to be a great fact.

Catalogues, etc., Received. — Trade List of Parsons & Co., Flushing, near New York, for
Autumn of 1856.

Catalogue of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, 185G-57. By Verry Aldrich, Arispe, Bureau
County, Illinois.

Catalogue of Fruit and Ornamental Trees cultivated and for sale at the Hopewell Nurse
ries, near Fredericksburg, Virginia, Henry R. Robey, Proprietor.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

New Plants exhibited at the London Crystal Palace lately, were Abies Kaempferi, a new
Larch, from the North of China, said to grow one hundred and fifty feet high, and perfectly
hardy ; its foliage is very fine. Leptodactylon Californicum, from South California, foliage
and habit resembling Roellia ciliata, fiowers two inches in diameter, light rose, tinged
with lilac, and pronounced one of the most beautiful greenhouse shrubs. Gesneria Donc-
kelaari, a foot and a half high, with spikes of blooms a foot in height. Philesia buxifoUa,
with two or three new Ixoras, and Begonia Thwaitesii, with handsome, brown foliage, having
blotches of dull green. A Rhamnux, of a species producing a celebrated Chinese green dye.
The C'ollinsia verna, a native of Kentucky, attracted much notice, and is recommended as a
charming bedding-out plant, having a profuse succession of flowers, the upper lip of the
corolla being pure white, and the lower one azure blue, with white rays, and the under side
pink.

Answers to Correspondents. — (P. T.) — Chimonanthps Feageans. Your disappointment
with this deliciously scented plant is very natural. Tlie English writers place it on all their
lists of garden shrubs, and, in England, by training it against a wall, they get the finely
scented flowers from November till March. By placing a protection of glass around the
shrub here, we have no doubt the bloom might be obtained in perfection ; as it is in our
own garden, the buds form in great numbers, but are destroyed by the cold of December
before the bloom appears. At the South, it would be a most valuable addition to the winter
garden. It is a native of Japan ; from cheimon, winter, and anthos, a flower ; of the order
Calycanthacse, of which our Allspice shrub is an example.

(C. S.) — Wistaria Chinensis. This beautiful vine may be made to flower several times
in the year, by the following simple treatment : After the first flowering is over, strip off all
the leaves, and cut off all young and superfluous branches which have been formed, to within
a few eyes of the stem, which causes it to throw out fresh leaves, and to flower again ; after
this bloom is over, the same process will produce a third bloom, late in the season. The plant
does bloom naturally twice, and even thrice, biit the flowers are so very weak and so few,
that it is never worth notice ; whereas, by the above simple process, an abundant succes-
sion may be insured. These remarks will not apply to young plants, but only to those that
are well established. By severe trimming, this plant may be grown as a bush.

(H. R. RoBEY, Virginia.) The oak shrub, growing about seven feet high, and bearing a
fine crop of acorns, and sometimes only two and a half feet in height, of which you have
sent us the leaves, is the Quercus prinoides of Wildenow, and the Prinus chincapin of
Michaux.

(Catawissa.) Yes; the Catawissa Raspberry is a "perpetual bearer" up to late frosts,
and it produces abundantly ; the flavor of the raspberry may thus be had all the season,
but the berry is not of the highest character or aroma ; we are, nevertheless, pleased with
it, and consider its introduction a valuable acquisition ; we say this, which we could not
conscientiously say last year, after having grown it successfully.

T. S. Gold ok the Kaxmia was received, but we have not been able to find a place for it,
which, however, we hope to do.

Electrotypino. — Perhaps the largest application of the Electrotype, or Galvanoplastic pro-
cess, mentioned in a former page, has been made in the Cathedral of St. Isaac, at St. Peters-
burg. The dome is superbly electro-gilded with two hundred and forty-seven pounds of
ducat gold ; the metal employed in its construction is — copper, 52^ tons ; brass, 321^
wrought iron, 524^ tons ; cast iron, 1,068 tons. Total, 1,9G6^ tons !

Ijorticulhiral ^orittics.

BnodKi.YN TIoRTicri,TrRAL SociETV. — This flonrisliing cojninunity held their third and last
general meeting on the 17th, 18th, and 19th of f5ei)tember, when upwards of $520 were
distributed in prizes.

To any person acquainted with horticulture, and wlio has closely observed the improve-
ment in culture which has been successively presented here, and likewise instilled into the
surrounding neighborhood, the encouraging and judicif)us action of tliis Society is readily
seen. Some of tlie wealthy and most influential men in the locality, have, from the commence-
ment, assisted, not only by their money and personal attention during the exhibitions, but
by unremitted exertions in obtaining the needful funds from, and iiatrouizing attendance
of, their numerous friends. This same body has also considered that the more practical
memlH?rs were the best suited for carrying out the general arrangements ; consequently,
this part has been almost entirely under the control of the latter. Owing to such a policy,
all has most unprecedentedly prospered hitherto, and as the same support is, and likely will
continue to be guaranteed, wo would advise the Committee of Arrangements to be careful
that no discrepancies occur, on their part, to mar so noble an institution.

Considering the lateness in the season, the plants and flowers were very numerous, and
finely grown. J. E. Ranch, of Brooklyn, to whom was awarded the first premium for " col-
lection," had many novelties amongst his well arranged stand of over 150 kinds. L. Menand,
of Albany, had also an extensive assortment of fine and rare quality, amongst which were
some most beautiful ferns and lycopods, many of them natives. He also won tlie first for
six plants, with admirably grown specimens, and the premium single plant, with Erica
transparens,/o«r/ec< in diameter, and jive feet hif/h, well bloomed. WlioVill say, after this,
that heaths cannot be grown in America ? Other flowers and plants woi'thy of notice, were
seedlings of Lilium lancifolium, white and spotted, by J. B. Mantel, of Astoria, remarkable
for the immense number of flowers on a stem. If this character should hold permanent,
they will be a great acquisition, but we are inclined to think it is nothing more than present
exuberant growth. The lovely Swan Flower (Cycnoches ventricosa), by Mrs. Ilolbrook, of
Eighteenth Street, New York. A fine specimen of Ixora javanica, by Alexander Gordon, gar-
dener to — Hoit, Esq., of Astoria. Sequoia gigantea, alias Washingtonia, a/i'as Wellingtonia
(the Big Tree of California), was in two collections, about one foot high. A stand of seed-
ling Dahlias, by Mr. Burgess, of Glencove, Long Island, all good ; one, a very dark maroon,
possessed all the perfection of the most stringent rules of the florist. An ornamental design,
by H. A. Graef and Sons, of Brooklyn, representing a series of cornucopocias, filled with
flowers and fruit. A noble Cissus discolor, by Martin CoUopy, gardener to — Prentice, Esq.,
Brooklyn. Bouquets, baskets of flowers, &c., were numerous and well arranged, the hand-
somest on the table being a basket of wild flowers, by Henry Tanner. Fruit was abundant,
and mostly of good quality. The first collection of apples was shown by your correspondent,
Dr. J. M. Ward, of Newark, New Jersey ; he had also a good variety of fine pears. D. J.
Mannice, Esq., of Bushville, Long Island, took the premium for the greatest number of pears
with 163 varieties ; these, however, were only middling (juality. The smaller lots of pears
were exceedingly fine, particularly the first six, by Alexander Gordon, and best twelve by
Thos. Duncan, gardener to — Wolsey, Esq. Grapes, both foreign and native, were good and
plenty ; Thos. Duncan had the best six, and Wm. Grant, gardener to Vandeventer, Astoria,
the best three varieties. Henry Hudson, gardener to F. Griffin, Esq., Brooklyn, showed
Black Hamburg and Frankenthal (?) well ripened out of doors. There was also what was
understood to be a native seedling, called Rebecca, from Mr. W. Brocksbank, of the Prospect
Hill Nursery, which in flavor is equal to a Froutignan, entirely free from the usual hard pulp,
the foxy smell nearly extinct, and answers to the following description : Bunch rather small,
without shoulders ; berries numerous, close set, medium size, roundish oval, whitish amber
green, sweet and rich. If a few leaves had accompanied the bunches exhibited, there would
have been a better chance of determining as to its origin ; but, if it really be as represented,
quite hardy, and ten days earlier than Isabella, it ought to be in every garden.

Taken collectively, the exhibition was very good, and the over-crowded rooms showed
that so rich a treat was duly appreciated. W. C.

editor's table.

NOVEMBER.

BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS.

Vegetable Gakdex. — Manuring and digging ground will be a principal feature in the
garden at present. If possible, let it be trenched eighteen inches deep. Where the subsoil
is clay, a small portion only ought to be brought to the surface at a time ; by a repetition of
this process, a good depth of workable soil may be ultimately secured, and the growing crops
receive no check in dry seasons.

There is a difference of opinion, among practical cultivators, 'with regard to the propriety
of ai^plying manure in the fall, many preferring to apply it in spring, immediately before
cropping. Much depends upon the nature of the soil ; tenacious soils are much beneiited
by a heavy application of fresh or undecomposed manure, turned in at this season, as it
tends to preserve that porosity so necessary for a free permeation of frost, which is found a
valuable auxiliary in cultivation. Manure, applied in spring, requires to be thoroughly
decomposed, that its action may be immediately effective. For the earliest crops of peas,
potatoes, onions, &c., fall manuring is, perhaps, preferable.

Asparagus.— The tops should be cleared off as soon as they decay, all weeds and grass
removed, and the roots covered over with manure or leaves, as a protection from severe
frosts, which weaken the plants, especially in soils naturally moist. Manure is of course
preferable to leaves, as it will enrich the soil. The best asparagus I have seen, had an
annual dressing of sea-weed applied in this way. Those who can command this article,
should improve their advantages in this respect.

Celery. — There are various methods adopted to preserve this crop for winter use ; it is
frequently lifted, and kept in cool cellars. If the soil be packed well up to the tops, finished
rounding, so as to throw off water, and covered with eight or ten inches of leaves, it will
keep better where it is grown ; this covering will prevent the ground from freezing, so that
it can be reached at any time.

Spinach will also repay the expense of throwing a slight covering of straw or leaves over
the plants.

Cabbacjes may be lifted and planted as close as they can be packed in trenches ; cover the
stems well up with soil, and cover the tops with straws or leaves.

Frcit. — The preservation of winter fruit is a subject worthy of more care and attention
than is generally bestowed upon it. In the first place, it should have been carefully handled
in gathering ; the slightest bruise lays a foundation for early decay. The temperature of
the" fruit-room should be kept as uniform as possible ; 34° as a minimum, and 40° as a
maximum, will be a safe fluctuation. The greatest difliculty lies in keeping a proper
hygrometrical state in the atmosphere, so as not to cause shrivel by evaporation of the
juices, nor promote mouldiness by damp. Frequent examinations will be necessary, and
all that indicate symptoms of decay promptly removed, and the room kept sweet and clean.*

Pruning. — There is, perhaps, no subject in horticulture so little understood as the princi-
ples upon which pruning is founded. The object in pruning fruit-trees is chiefly to hasten
or regulate the crop of fniit, and induce or retard the development of wood growth. With
reference to the former, more depends upon summer pruning and disbudding. Trees are
frequently barren from excessive wood growth, which is weakened by x'runing during sum-
mer. It is a well understood fact among scientific cultivators, that summer pruning weakens,
and winter pruning strengthens, the wood growth. Hence the practice of nurserymen in
pruning young trees after the season's growth is completed, to increase their luxuriance.
Trees that have arrived to a bearing state, if properly managed during growth, would pro-
bably require no winter pruning, unless the removal of large and misplaced branches. In
the abstract, it seems a negative practice to encourage a luxuriant growth, and then cut it
down in winter. It is quite possible to manage trees without having recourse to winter
pruning, unless for special objects, as already alluded to. It is C(!rtain tliat much injury is
inflicted by the indiscriminate use of the saw and pruning-knife at this time, especially on

* [There is a growing conviction respecting fruit, to the effect that pears should be treated much as apples are,
and not separately laid out on shelves ; by the latter process, they are apt to shrivel, while their juices, when
together, are preserved. Mr. Hovey mentions a case where a clean barrel was taken, and a bushel of russet apples
put in ; Glout Morceau pears were added, and the barrel was filled with more pears, and then rolled into the
oollar. About the middle of February, the barrel was opened, and the pears were still green ; they w -' " "
placed in a warm room, and, in ten days, they were in a fit state to bo eaten. — Ed.]

:»5^^

editor's table.

yountj bearing troos. Make it n study, next season, to clisl)Uil and summer prune all rank-
growing trees, so that you may weaken and check the wood ; pruning such trees now increuKcs
their future vigor, since, hy diminishing the branches after the fall of the leaves, the roots
gain a greater preponderance. t)n the other hand, it is no less necessary to prevent weak-
ness from overbearing. Since the introduction of the dwarfing system by grafting on weak-
growing stocks, this error has been frequently committed, and unpr()fitai)le trees have been
the result. It has also had a tendency to throw discredit on the system, l)y those who, from
want of knowledge and experience, have been unsuccessful in cultivation. There are many
kinds, naturally of slender growth ; grafting them on a slow-growing stock induces fruitful-
ncss, and represses wood growth to an injurious extent. Such trees should have every
blossom picked off that appears in spring, all growth carefully retained during summer, and
pruned down in winter. Such treatment will be followed by increased vigor, which may
be maintained by taking moderate crops, and continued good cultivation. So much depends
upon individual peculiarities in trees, tliat it is difficult to form a definite rule that would
servo as a safe guide to the uninitiated. Close observation, extended experience, and, at
the least, a slight knowledge of vegetable physiology, are indispensable requisites to a
successful cultivator of fruits.

Ctrapeky. — The vines may be pruned towards the end of the month, and, after being
loosened from the rafters, laid down and carefully covered ; the borders may be top-dressed,
and covered six inches in depth with manure. The house should be left aired, unless in
storms or very severe frosts.

Figs are too tender to stand the winter uninjured. The best method of preserving them
is to peg them down as close as possible to the ground, and cover in and through the stems
either with soil or leaves. This fruit is much thought of by many, and should be more exten-
sively grown than it is. Attention to covering from severe frosts will insure plenty of fruit.

Gkeexhouse. — As a general rule, the less fire heat given, the better for the plants. A
night temjierature of 40-' will be a safe average ; with sun heat, 70-^ will not be too high.
All greenhouse plants will flower under this temperature. Those who follow the old routine
practice of shutting up early, and putting on fires in the evening, keeping a high tempera-
ture during night, and opening the sashes as soon as the sun shines, need not look for many
perfect flowers. If they would look a little into this management, it will be found that they
have their highest temperature at the wrong period in the twenty- four hours ; in other words,
the house is warmer, or, at least, as warm at night as during day. The necessity of low night
temperature has frequently been urged in these calendars. It is one of the most important points
in the culture of plants under glass, and is so understood by all really successful gardeners.

The house will now be gay with primroses, camellias, azaleas, epyphyllums, coronillas, some
heaths, daphnes, epacris, acacias, oxalis, &c. Water must be given only when plants are
actually in need of it, otherwise they will not remain long in health.

P'lower Garden. — Manuring and digging the soil should receive immediate attention.
Tlie deeper and richer the soil can be made, the better. It is only by liV)eral treatment that
a lasting luxuriance of Uowers can bo obtained during the warm and dry weather ; and, if
the ground is well drained, or otherwise freed of superlluous water, there will be no danger
of over luxuriance or imperfect maturity of the plants.

In making additions or alterations in the flower-beds or lawns, much taste and judgment
will be required. It is no uncommon occurrence to see what would otherwise have been a
beautiful lawn, completely divested of all character by the injudicious introduction of cut
beds, and misplaced masses of flowering plants. Beds cut out at regular distances over the
ground, produce what painters term " want of breadth," and, whether such beds or clumps
consist of circles, ovals, or irregular-shaped figures, if placed pretty regularly over the whole,
a monotony of appearance will be produced ; but introduce these clumps at certain points,
with open glades of lawn between ; at some places form small designs in the arrangement
of the figures ; at others only single beds ; and the result will be "an effect."

" Distinctive effect" is produced by the introduction of peculiarly shaped beds, fitted for
certain positions, such as the bends or angles of walks, or connected with the external forms
of buildings, so as to exhibit "expression of purpose," a term full of meaning when properly
understood.

A flower garden may be invested with anotlier feature, tliat of " character," either by the
planting of the beds, such as a rose garden, or a collection of flowering shrubbery, kc, or
by the introduction of statuary where it can be brought in. The arrangement of the walks
will also occasionally give " character ;" this, however, is the lowest degree of it, and those
who attempt to give character by any peculiar arrangement of walks alone, evince a want
of knowledge and appreciation of the beauties of nature.

Hispn-i

^tnthman |nming,— ik (Dtlju Bi'^t,

N a former article, an attempt was made to
show, by tlie experience of Mr. Lorain, that
farming by city gentlemen of no experience
was a dangerous experiment, attended with
^:;V» many vexations and unexpected losses, crosses,
and expenses. It would be scarcely fair not
to give the other side ; the case of a successful
" gentleman's" farm, where the proprietor
understands his business. Such a case we
are fortunate in having been put in possession
of, and we are confident it is not a solitary
one.

In a conversation at Wodenethe, the topic
was incidentally introduced, and Mr. H. W.
Sargent recollected that Mr. Ltirman, a gentle-
man farmer, near Baltimore, had last year made
out, by request of Mr. S., a statement from his
books, which is as nearly accurate as possible.
Our friend asked permission to publish it ;
this was readily granted, as the following note
will testify : —

Forest Home (near Baltimore), July 5, 1856.

My Dear Sir : Miss W. said, a few days ago, that the editor of the Horticulturist desires
to publish, as probably of interest to the reader, the farm statements I sent you last year.
I feel much complimented by his notice. If I recollect right, I gave you a calculation, or,
rather, accounting sales of my last year's wheat crop, and also, a statement of what might
be done on a farm of 400 acres.

To these various statements I have to add the counsel, to every gentleman farmer,^ never
to spend or lay out on his farm one quarter of a dollar uselessly, or without producing an
adequate return ; on the other hand, to be liberal with every necessary expenditure.

I am quite convinced that capital can be employed proQtably in agriculture, and it would
produce a great improvement in the state of society in this country, if country homes, are
made profitable as well as ornamental and attractive. My receipts for cherries, this season,
were $332 03, in seven days, and I lost three days or $200 by wet and hot weather.

Faithfully yours, Gustav W. Lurmax.

To H. W. Sargent, Esq.

In addition to the moneyed result, the most undoubted evidences exist that there
is a large revenue in the shape of the most bountiful provision for a bountiful table,
produced on the place— such as the best fruits of the garden, the orchard, and
the field. Indeed, it is one of Mr. Liirman's very pleasant hobbies, that as nearly
everything as circumstances will permit that is set before his large family and his
many guests, shall be the product of the farm ; and certainly we have never seen
better'in any sense. We must, therefore, in making up a moneyed calculation of
the produce of this admirable farm, add at least two or throe thousand dollars for
what is consumed by his large establishment, composed of the many served and
their servitors. We are authorized by our own observations, and by Mr. Liir
books to say, therefore, that his investments in farming yield him, after and bey

Vol. VI.— December, 1856.

35

538 GENTLEMAN FARMING — THE OTHER SIDE

a familv supply, six per cont. nnd upwards; l)nt thoy yield more than tliis, in tlie
licaltliy actinti on tlic minds of all around liini, in the ciieerrulness of the entire
nicna^re, and the ])hysical liealtii of all the estal)lishnient.

This is a pleasiu!^ picture — it is one not always presented — wc niif^ht say not
often — but it is nevertheless within the reach of the rich if they will take the same
pains as our host has done to make himself acquainted with the necessary details,
the system and the routine of farming, cropping, «fcc. One of Mr. L.'s prominent
nnixims is, never to put a dollar on the farm without a near or almost certain
prospect that it is not thrown away. lie deprecates the neighborhood of the
merely rich who come from cities or elsewhere to farm, Ijccausc their expense is
too often devoted to producing show and effects for other people's eyes, rather than
an example for those less able to afford a large expenditure. With us, he looks
farivard ; he sees that with the acquisition of wealth comes extravagance too
generally, and he naturally asks, where is all this to end? In an hundred years
from now, if so much land is taken from the producing to the non-producing class
of farms, where is our food to come from ? Already, it is asserted from liigh
authority, that even the former great agricultural State of Ohio is beginning io
import its food, so many persons are turning their attention to manufacturing, so
many are employed on railroads and their appurtenances, such numbers have
become rich by the rise of property, and from want of a proper taste for rural
life have become consumers instead of producers; and in addition land is so badly
tilled and so soon exhausted, that there are serious fears entertained by thoughtful
people that America, "inexhaustible," great America, is in a fair way of some
time, and at no distant time, taking a century as a short period of history, of not
supporting her most rapidly increasing cities — her most wonderfully increasing
pojjulation.

Mr. Liirman farms four hundred of his six hundred acres, entirely with free
labor, as more profitable than slaves, in the field. His routine of cropping, on
the old Pennsylvania plan, is as follows: —

The farm is in five fields, varying from 80 to 100 acres. He breaks uj) the
pasture field in the fall and plants it with corn the next spring. The ensuing
spring it is ploughed up, and one-half is seeded with barley, and one-half with
oats.

When these crops are off, it is ploughed deeply with three-horse ploughs for
wheat, which is seeded from the 20th of September to the 5th of October, when
300 lbs. to the acre of the best Peruvian guano has been put on.

The ensuing spring, say in March, red clover is sown on the wheat; the first
crop of clover hay thus comes the fourth year after commencing the system. The
second crop of clover is cut for seed if the season is favorable ; if not it is pastured,
occasionally by droves of cattle going eastward, the owners of which all know Mr.
L.'s superior fields; the pasture is greatly benefited by droppings, and a revenue
also obtained.

The fifth year the field is permitted to rest in pasture. The consequence of
this system is that we always have

One field in corn,
" " " oats and barley,

" " wheat,
" " " clover and timothy,
" " " pasture.

So that every fifth year the land returns to the same crop ; the advantage of this
system is, that by giving two spring ploughings for the corn and oats and barley

5^ ^^^^ji

GENTLEMAN FARMING-

crops, and one in the fall succeeding the spring ploughing, when the field is put
in wheat, the soil is thoroughly pulverized and weeds exterminated.

In breaking up neiv soil, it is proper to put fifty to one hundred bushels of
oyster-shell or stone lime to the acre, and ten to twenty bushels of bone-dust
thoroughly pulverized, which in practice is found to be more efficacious than bones
dissolved in acid. The manure of the farm is also composted, spread, and
ploughed in.

To many there may be nothing entirely new in all this, but we write and pub-
lish for others who are new to the business of farming, and who have seen more
of the routine of the counting-house than of the field ; they may here read the
experiences of a practical man turning his acres to good and profitable account,
a merchant ploughing the ocean at the same time with his clipper ships, banking
in town for others, and in various ways contributing to the good of his fellow men.

On this farm there is a peach orchard of forty acres, the sales from which, in
one year, have produced 2000 dollars ; cherries to the amount of 409 dollars have
been sold in one season to Baltimore middle-men.

One of Mr. Liirman's excellent rules is "strict justice to man and beast;" all
are treated thus, and with a certain degree of liberality; the hands are thus his
attached friends.

And now for Mr. Liirman's calculations of the profits made by a gentleman
farmer : —

500 acres of land, of which in wood, and pleasure-grounds, orchards, &c., 100
acres, at $100 per acre ........

Invientori/.
12 mules, or horses, or mares, at $125 ..... $1,500
20 cows, and bull

$50,000

2 ) sows, and boar

Chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, &c.
2 yoke of oxen .

Implements.
2 six mule wagons, for hauling with hay body or harness
4 carts and ox carts ......

Ploughs, harrows, and all other smaller implements

Threshing machine fans ......

Horse power for six horses .....

Furniture for house of hands .....

100 sheep ........

One year's wages and labor, eight hands and two boys, and finding
Fencing, probably ......

Seed wheat, corn, oats, clover seed, and timothy

Keep of horses, cows, &c. .....

Manures. — 400 Acres.
1st year, 50 bushels lime to the acre ....
2d " 10 to 20 bushels bone dust to the acre .
Guano on 80 acres wheat, 250 pds., at 2^ . . .

Family expenses .......

1,000
200
100
200

$500
200
200
100
200
100
200

2,000

1,000
500

1,000

$1,600

2,000

500

3,000

6,000

4,100

1,900

Capital requisite, or equal to $30 per acre . . • 15,000

The division of 400 acres arable land in five fields of 80 acres each, and the rotation
of crops, as follows : —

Break up a sod in the autumn and winter : first year, corn ; second year, oats or barley,
th ; break np in the autumn, harrow and seed, third year, wheat ; sow clover or timothy ;
fourth year, in clover ; fifth, pasture.

This pvstoni will insure a clean wheat crop, but requires manures, and will then annually
improve the laud.

Produce.

su acres corn, ai ;ni uusueis .....
Consumed .......

2,000 '

leia.

For sale ........

2,000 '

80 acres oats and barley, at 30 .

2,400 '

Consumed .......

1,400

For sale ........

1,000 '

80 acres wheat, 20 and 25 bushels ....

1,800

Of seed wheat .......

150

For sale ........

1,650

80 acres in clover or timothy .....

80 tons

Consumed .......

50 "

For sale .........

30 "

Tlierefore, gross sales —

2,000 bushels com, at ' 50 cents. ....

$1,000

1,000 " oats " 40 " .

400

1,G50 " wheat " 1 50 .

2,475

30 tons clover " $10 .

300

40 " straw " $8 .

320

4,495

It is further supposed that the increase of stock will amount to —

4 colts, at $30 .

$120

20 calves, at $10 .......

200

60 shoats, hogs, at $15 .

900

20 lambs, at $2 .

40

40 wethers, at $3 .

120

Wool

75

Chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys .....

100

1,555

100 cords of firewood ......

300

1,500 lbs. butter, at 40 cents .....

600

900

Gross receipts ....

Probable annual expenses —

Taxes — say ....

Labor — found'on the farm —
4 hands, at' $12 per month,

4 " " 10

2 " " 8 "

6,950

$ 150

2 women for dairy, and
Blacksmith

poultrj

r yard, six persons

1,872
150

Wheelwright
Saddlery and harness
Groceries for farm hands

1.50
100
100

Extra labor in harvest

200

Incidentals

~

278

Total expenses

3,000
Net proceeds ......... 3,950

The following is Mr. Lurmau's estimate of the cost and returns of his wheat
which, it must be observed, furnishes the annual profit of his farm : —

GENTLEMAN FARMING THE OTHER SIDE.

.

$4,284 83

$559 42

285

20

285^

90

125

1,364 42

2286 bushels wheat, producing .

Uuano, 11 tons

Seed wheat, 160 bushels, at $1 85

" 10 " at 2

Ploughing 95 days with three mules, at $3 per day
Harrowing 30 days, at $3
Seeding, ditching, picking off stones, and grubbing

$2,920 41
60 tons of straw, at $10 per ton, is equal to harvesting, threshing, and hauling the whole
crop.

The above system of cultivation is arranged for land which requires to be
cleansed and brought up in fertility, and being the homestead of a family ; in
fact, what the English call a carse farm. The 100 acres set aside for orchards,
truck patches, paddock, pasture lots, &c., may produce, in fruit sales, a large
revenue, say from 1,500 to 2,000 dollars, when the access to market is easy. This
is a result which entirely depends on the personal attention of the proprietor.

On this farm a large family is also supported in elegance and luxury, M'ith
horses, &c., in ample abundance for all. The example is one which we deem it
useful to exhibit to our readers, and, in doing so, we might enter upon a contrast
of the independence, the good, cheerful iciiolesomeness, in all senses, of such a life
of active usefulness, and the hum-drum routine of the plodding merchant, the mere
distributor of cotton bales, or manufactured fabrics;* The one is a man, with
open hand and open heart, careering over his own acres, in health and hearty en-
joyment, and with a distinct individuality ; the other, often a man also, but man
in confinement, and deprived of fresh air, fresh thoughts, and that intercourse with
nature which is his birthright, and without which, it seems to us, he too frequently
dwindles away till there is little left of him. Where so well as in the country,
can we find the pursuit of tastes which result in making "a little world of the family
home, where truthfulness, beauty, and order, have the largest dominion."

What is the reason of the difference between the smile with which the mere
dealer in money or in cotton meets his family, and the genial air of the farmer or
horticulturist among his home circle ? The money or cotton dealer's topic, on
which his mind most dwells, is not a congenial one with his wife and children,
while the pursuits of the cultivator and improver are interesting to all ; they can
all participate in what is going on, feel a sympathy in progress, and enjoy the
products of labor done under their own eye. The relish is, somehow or other, a
very different affair.

We would exhort the young to cultivate those pursuits which will be no incum-
brance under the pressure of business, or of adverse circumstances, but which will
constitute the highest ornament of their prosperous days, and the most delightful
companions of their leisure. Among such pursuits, we should undoubtedly place
agriculture and horticulture as the first, as a resource in age and prosperity, no less
than in adversity ; when such knowledge may be turned to profitable account, they
have no rivals.

In a future article, descriptive of " Country Places" around Baltimore, we shall
give an account of the horticultural improvements of this beautiful place, which
contains one of the best collections of evergreens, ornamental shrubbery, and ex-
tensive dressed walks within our knowledge.

* " When Croesus, in Herodotus, suggested to Cyrus the means of making his Lydian
subjects harmless for warlike purposes, he advised him to teach them to sing, and to dance,
open retail shops, as the surest of all methods for destroying their pristine manliness."
ckwood^s Magazine, April, 1856.

PHARBITIS HISPIDA. — CHoisY.*

}'arieti/ 1. White Uower, striated with blue. 2. Kirniisine. 3. Violet. — Convolvulacese.

JuBOiNO from the jrraccful ai)])carance wliicli this group of Twiners ))reseiits,
the natural mistake of supjtosinj]:: tliat tlie tliree flowers all grow upon tlie same
stem might be readily made. This, however, is not the case, aud, although a
combination of this kind would not be strictly imjiossiljje among a particular
species, exactness obliges us to say that the subject before us consists of three
specimens of distinct varieties, represented, for convenience sake, on tlie same
plate. This artifice, moreover, authorized in similar cases by numerous antece-
dents, can happily be reproduced in nature, at but little expense, and on a larger
scale. It is enough to join on a single lattice-work the slender and trailing stems
of the varieties in which the colors harmonize with the greatest eftect. This is a
question of taste, where the difficulties and merit must be left to amateurs. The
essential part for the horticulturist is, to furnish the most worthy elemeiits to place
in such fancy baskets or groupings. For the purpose, better specimens could not
be presented than the three flowers here represented.

The name of Pharbitis Hispida, familiar to botanists, and the only one which
they now adopt, designates the old Convolvulus i)urpureus of Linnaius, or the
common Volubilis of our gardens. It is a plant of American origin, circulated
by culture to nearly every point of the globe. The botanist Parkinson cultivated
it, in England, in 1625. These flow'ers, which come five or six together, vary
singularly in color, and ofifer all the shades of white, rose, and violet, and of these
mixed.

Culture. — As soon as the colds of winter are passed, about the last of April,
the seeds are planted in any earth and any exposure — that of the south is prefer-
able. Or even, to hasten the plant, four or five grains may be put in each i)ot,
in a bed under a frame, in the beginning of April, giving as much air as ))0ssible
in moderate weather. When ready to plant out, remove them carefully, without
breaking the soil.

The flowering begins in June, to end only with the frost. The seeds ripen in
autumn. — Flore des Serres.

ON THE USE OF AMERICAN EVERGREEN SHRUBS,
AND ON ROCKWORK.

BY EUGENE A. BAUMANN, NEW YORK.

Since my residence in the United States, in the numerous beautiful gardens
which I have visited, many of which scarcely admit of improvement, I have not
yet seen a very judicious application, nor a very discriminating use of the magni-
ficent Evergreen shrubs which grow so profusely in North America.

In England, in France, and in Belgium, these elegant shrubs are so highly
appreciated, that a garden, however small, which does not contain a clump or
cluster of them can scarcely be found ; and frequently sums are expended in the
ornamentation of a small corner only, which would suftice for the arrangement of
a whole garden ; for all localities are not equally favorable to the cheap creation

* See Frontispiece.

of these luxuries, which certainly repay the outlay by the richness of their verdure
and the brilliancy of their flowers during the most pleasant months of the year.

It may likewise be observed that the most neglected spots of the garden are
generally most adapted to the cultivation of these shrubs ; where the hand of the
gardener seldom reaches, will be found their favorite localities ; barren sites on
which nothing else will grow, maybe transformed into delicious bowers, affording,
during the intense heat of summer, a cool and shady retreat, surrounded by flowers
and verdure of unequalled elegance.

Moreover, almost all localities in this country offer great facilities for the suc-
cessful culture of these shrubs, and groups of them may be formed at the same
expense as of those of any other kind, the most suitable species being nearly
always either at hand, or close in the neighborhood.

Any one who has seen a group of judiciously selected Rhododendrons mingled
with collections of American or of Pontic Azaleas (Az. Pontica et var.) of the
Kalmia Latifolia (Laurel), Angustifolia, Aubra, of superb species of Andromeda,
Mahonia, Euonymus, and various other species, will hardly refrain from similarly
ornamenting their own plantations, and thereby rendering a neglected spot one of
the most attractive on their estate.

The neglected spots just spoken of are those on the northern aspect of the
dwelling-house, and places shaded by lofty trees, chiefly pines, under which shrubs
with deciduous leaves, and other plants, grow with reluctance, leaving the ground
bare and unsightly ; the shady sides of ravines and hills, particularly if provided
with rocks, present more facilities for the picturesque tlian any other location.

Carriage and other roads in the vicinity of the dwelling-house, frequently leave
empty spaces which it is desirable to fill with agreeable objects; in locations having
a suitable exposure, the hiatus may be supplied by perennial, annual, or bulbous
plants, but those deprived of the sun generally remain barren.

The following remarks may have a tendency to attract attention to this subject,
and have the effect of beautifying and adorning spots now neglected and waste.

Starting from the principle that the Evergreen shrubs of temperate climates
have mostly been intended, by nature, for places too long deprived of light, or
other circumstances favorable to vegetation, localities in which the time necessary
for these trees to annually renew their foliage is not afforded them, there can be
nothing more rational than their employment in gardens for the embellishment of
similar localities.

These localities are generally those parts of the forest most thickly covered with
high trees; the Evergreen shrubs are found growing beneath, most of tliom, if not
all, deprived of light ; or they will be found in lofty elevations, ca]iped with snow
during the greater portion of the year, where they have but a short space of time
to develop their flowers, and make a growth which renews, at best, only a tenth
of their foliage.

In these same localities, as in marshy and shady places, there will always be
found a soil excessively rich in vegetable matter ; black earth, composed of decayed
leaves, or rotten wood ; this observation indicates the kind of earth necessary for
these plants. The black mould of swanij)s, exposed to the frost of winter, or the
sun of summer, is also excellent, and more easily obtained ; where both are want-
ing, their place may be supplied by the earth collected from the adjacent forest.

Be not alarmed at a deficiency of quantity ; these plants require but little soil,
and thrive perhai)s even better, provided the quantity be replaced by a quality
made more congenial to them by the admixture of rocks, portions of decayed
trees, etc. etc.

If, therefore, you have a location exposed to the north, where the sun rarely or

lu'vor (l;irts his rays, uiul you wish to fill it with plauts, you sliould first prepare
the jrrouml; remove the existinjr 8oil, if you desire to retain the sninc level; if, on
the contrary, an elevation is desiral)le, make a ])icturesque collection of rocks to
the hcitrht required, and cover them over with the aforesaid earth, after having
arranired at the Itottom a layer of stones, which may act as a drain.

I will subjoin, hereafter, a list, as complete as jiossible, of all the jilants which
may be advantajj^eously employed in the construction and adornment of these
•rroups, pointini; out, in the first place, the most lofty, in order to facilitate a well
varied urranjrcment which may olfer, at one view, a general aspect of all the
dilferent genera.

First of all, I will name the Rhododendrons, Maximum, Ponticum, Catawbiense,
Caucasicum, and all the numerous and superb varieties found in European estab-
lishments.

Whatever may be said to the contrary, all these Rhododendrons are equally
hardy; if the Ponticum is supposed to be too delicate for the climate of this
country, it is because it has been crossed with the Rh. Arboreum, for, when uncon-
taminated, it sulfers as little as the Rh. Maximum, particularly if sheltered from
the sun in winter.

After the Rhododendrons, and growing to nearly the same height, comes the
Ilex with its sii|)erb varieties, bearing plumes of flowers, the Mahonias, and some
species of Berberries. The list may be completed Vjy the addition of some of the
green, resinous trees from the genus Taxus — Taxus hybernica, murifera, and, espe-
cially, the ericoides; Libocedrus Douiana, Cephalo-Taxus adpressa, and many of
the Junipers.

In the second place — that is, for those of lesser growth — we may select the whole
series of American and Asiatic Azaleas (Az. Pontica), and their brilliant varieties.

The Kalmia latifolia, Andromeda, Clethra, Comptonia asplenifolia, may in
their turn be admixed with some species of Rhododendrons of less elevation, such
as Rhododendron Adansonii (hybrid), Rh. Ponticum, Kh. Ponticum salsifolium,
and many others.

In the third row, the following may be planted : Andromeda polyfolia, Andro-
meda Mariana, and Andromeda dealbata ; Kalmia Angustifolia, Kalmia rubra,
and Kalmia glauca ; Rhodora canadensis.

In tiie fourth and last class, or, rather, in the first, commencing at the lowest
point, we may have an abundant choice in all the following species : Daphne
Gnidium ; Erica cinerea, Erica herbacea, Erica spinosa, p]rica vulgaris, and var. ;
Dryas octopetala, Gaultheria procumbens, and Shalloon, which may be used as a
border or edging ; the Ledum, Menziezia, and, lastly, the Empetrum and Polygala
Chamara buxus.

We may also plant with very good eifect, in the first row, several beautiful
Ferns, perennial and bulbous flowers, as the Liliura lancifolium, Philadelphicum,
etc., and Cypripedium pubescens and spectabile.

It need scarcely be added, that the employment of various shrubs with decidu-
ous leaves in their groups, is equally correct ; and we may select, with great
advantage, those which flower early, and are more liable to suffer from a late frost
in the spring, as, for example, tlic Magnolia purpurea, Yulan discolor, Soulangiana,
the Pavonia arborea, and various others.

These groups, when once planted, require but little care, their demands being
limited to a copious sup|)ly of moisture during the summer, and a covering in
winter to protect thcni from the rays of the sun, which, be it understood, is not
intended to shield them from the cold, and should consist merely of a roof of
coarse canvas, or of straw matting.

The beauty and value of groups made nearly exclusively of North American
shrubs, are at this day so hij^hly appreciated in England, that the London Eoyal
Botanical Society established, some years ago, the American garden, in which the
trees and shrubs of America are cultivated to the exclusion of all others. The
beauty of this garden is so freely admitted, that many horticulturists avail them-
selves of the opportunity given, by the crowds which frequent it during the flower-
ing season, to exhibit any valuable or rare specimens which they may possess.

They bring from a distance of thirty, forty, or fifty miles, specimens of Rhodo-
dendrons, Kalmias, and many other plants, far surpassing in beauty those of their
native climes, and proving the efficacy of a well directed and judicious system of
horticulture. In this country, the expenses necessary in Europe may be avoided,
for whilst, in England, a fine specimen of Kalmia latifolia is worth from ten to
twenty dollars, it may be here procured without any trouble, or scarcely any cost,
on the shores of the Hudson, or in any of the forests.

Another advantage which accrues to the amateur is, that these plants, wdien
once transplanted, may be retransplanted annually without risk, and that they
admit of being forced without danger.

Those most covered with flower buds are removed in autumn, and put into pots,
in which they are removed to conservatories to be forced. When judiciously
treated, they will flower as early as March, frequently in February. In May or
June, they may be restored to their original localities, and others may be taken
thence during the following year.

[The foregoing essay, in a spirit of excellent taste, has been kindly furnished
us by Mr. Baumann, in French ; on making a translation, we are much pleased
with it, but must caution our friends at the North how they adopt all the plants
mentioned, some of which, we fear, might not be hardy ; but we can see no reason
wdiy those knoimi to stand our winters should not be thus employed ; the sugges-
tion of planting in the shady and unemployed parts of the garden, should be
remembered. — Ed.]

VISITS TO COUNTKY PLACES, NO. 5.

Hyde Park, seventy- five miles above New York, was formerly the residence of
Dr. Hosack, and well do we love to chronicle, late though it be, a visit there with
that noble specimen of a high-minded class of Irish gentlemen, the son-in-law of
the doctor. Jacob Harvey, Esq., was among the most ingenious, open-hearted,
excellent of men ; a humorist of the rarest talent, Mr. Harvey never failed to win
the heart of all with whom he came in contact. It was he who favored the public
with those remarkable reminiscences of John Randolph, with whom he made one
or two voyages to England. A mutual admiration and friendship ensued, and
more racy and entertaining matter than Harvey's recollections of the statesman
were never written.

Hyde Park passed into the hands of the late "Walter Langdon, Esq., who mar-
ried a daughter of John Jacob Astor ; his son, of the same name, is now the
owner of what Downiug justly calls one of the finest specimens of landscape gar-
dening in America. The house is a most graceful and elegant mansion of the
composite order, with afarade of one hundred and fifty feet, designed and built
by Piatt, of New York, and finished in stucco.

The number of acres, about one hundred and seventy, embraces fine drives, the
most superb river views, extending over sixty miles of the course of the

VISITS TO COUNTRY PLACES.

Hudson. There have been erected extensive greenhouses and graperies, besides
those of Pr. Ilosack.

A most rcinarkal)le and distinctive feature of ITyde Park above all the other
places on the river, is the terrace bonlcrinfi: its whole front, at a distance sudicicntly
remote from, and elevated above, the river to give to the laiidscai)e both ample
foreground and groat extent of view — a terrace so artilicial in its appearance, as
that one with dirticulty realizes that it is nature alone which has made it.

The approach from the village is particularly striking, ])assing as it does over
a fine sheet of ornamental water by a very handsome and highly architectural
bridge.

" Far to the South, a moniitaiu vale retires,

Ricli in its cjroves, and glens, and village spires ;

Its upland lawns, and clill's with Ibliage hung,

Its wizard stream, nor nameless nor unsung;

And thro' the various year, the various day.

What scenes of glory burst, and melt away." — Rogers.

The pleasure grounds are extensive ; much planting with artistic effect has been
done, and it will be safe to say that this spot, framed by
nature and embellished by art, combines within itself as
much beauty as is comprised within the same space in
any part of our country.

We found Mr. Laiigdon busily engaged with his horti-
cultural projects and improvements, disposed to fully
realize the enjoyments such a place affords. From a
fine stream on the place, he has an ample supply of
water, which is conducted everywhere by hose and pipes,
enal)ling the gardener to "make it rain" on his crojjs
when others suffer from drought. In the large kitchen
garden, we remarked a simple mode of irrigation ex-
tremely useful to such articles as strawberries; indeed,
these beds were undergoing a thorough drenching while
we were there. The idea was suggested by something
similar which Mr. Langdon had seen practised in Switzer-
land, and as it is so simple that cvcryljody may adopt it
whether they have a supply of water from a ram, a hose,
or even a pump, that we shall describe it.

A simple trough of wood, running inside the box-
edging like a gutter, perhaps six inches wide and high,
with sluice ways, every few feet, formed by pieces of the
sides cut out, and turning on a pivot in the centre, which,
when open, shuts off the water from further progress down
the trough by falling back against the side, and allows
it to escape through an opening wherever it may be
wanted. The artist has represented the elevated sides
in the cut as too low ; they might be made higher ; in
short, it is simply a flat trough with movable sides.

This beautiful place was laid out by Parmentier.
Downing says it was for a long time the finest seat in
America, but that "there are now many rivals to this
claim." This is very true, but, in natural beauties, we
may safely doubt if it will ever be exceeded. It h
too, a great advantage over most "rivals," in its

natural growth of trees, which have been aided and connected together by judi-
cious additions. It has long appeared to us as one of the most satisfying country
places extant on this continent.

Annandale, some twenty miles above, and near Barrytown, was commemorated
by Downing as Blithewood, then the seat of R. Donaldson, Esq., in his Land-
scape Gardening, with a lover's praises. It is now the property of John Bard,
Esq., who has changed its name to Annandale. Numerous improvements have
been made by Mr. and Mrs. Bard since they came into possession, and many others
are in progress which must render it a very perfect example of all that is desirable
in a country-seat. The river is four miles wide here, with islands interspersed,*
and a full view of the Catskill Mountains on the opposite side, with their ever-
varying shadows, sunshine, and clouds. Fine groups, and masses of trees and
shrubbery, beautiful fountains, walks, drives, and, to this, hospitality and open-
handed charity added, we give to Annandale the meed of extraordinary attraction
and beauty.

The great water tower here, supplied from the noble brook between Mr. Bard's
and Montgomery Place, is admirably contrived.

Perhaps one of the most agreeable features at Annandale, is the great interest
wliich the amiable proprietors take in the moral improvement of the neighborhood.
With a noble and praiseworthy liberality, they have, we understand, established,
at their own expenditure, large and successful schools and churches, both upon
the estate and at the neighboring village, where the whole expense of the erection
of the buildings, the salaries of the clergymen and teachers, are defrayed from
their private purse.

It is, we believe, the intention of Mr. Bard to erect a mansion of a size and
dignity commensurate to the beauty of the place. Many persons with his ample
means, would perhaps have done this at once, but he, with a forbearance beyond
all praise, preferred to render unto God before rendering unto Csesar.

Annandale was planted by John C. Stevens, Esq., Admiral of the New York
Yacht Club, who is still living ; though his trees look old, he is not so, thus show-
ing a successful instance of planting attaining perfection in the lifetime of a single
individual. John C. Cruger bought it of Mr. Stevens.

Mr. Bard is erecting fine conservatories and forcing houses ; he already pos-
sesses a stove, and other arrangements, for winter use. A new dwelling in every
respect worthy this fine property of nearly two hundred acres, is to be constructed
the ensuing season.

It was here that we remarked the fine groups of artistic Milan tables and chairs
noticed on page 412.

The Palisades. — Though we are not just now in the region of the Palisades, in
thinking over the extraordinary beauties of the Hudson, it occurs to us to remark
that we have never been able to find an individual who knew what was atop of
those wonderful formations of rock. Are these heights accessible ? What kind
of country lies on their immediate rear? We have often thought what magni-
ficent castle-looking houses might be erected there for the delectation of tourists
in search of the picturesque ; what fame might be bought, for a small sum, by
imitating a Rhine castle there. Tliink of it some of you millionaires of com-
merce, and give us something to "visit" and talk over, which will be entirely new,
and handsome, and graceful, and feudal looking. But is there anything up there
to eat? That is one of the greatest preliminary questions, and before concluding
our trip "Around New York," in the January number, we pause for a reply.

* Upon the extreme point of one (Cruger's Island), is a fine group of ruins brought
I'alenciue by the late John L. Stevens, and remarkably striking in their effect.

FOUNTAINS.

FOUNTAINS

InIus Classical Tour,
Eustace slates, if our
memory does not de-
ceive us, that Rome
liad fifty-two rivers
flowing tlirough lier
proud streets in tlie
period of her great-
est prosperity, sup-
plying fountains of
every variety and
model, and dispens-
ing health. Many
of these rivers must
have been small, as
little as what we call
creeks, but the evi-
dences of the fond-
ness of her people
for pure water are
still extant in her
broken aqueducts,
or those which now
supply the gushing
streams still more
numerous than in
any other city.

The beautiful cus-
tom of erecting or-
namental fountains
has extended of late
years among our-
selves, and we give
an illustration of one
made in this city, of
cast iron, by Mr. Ro-
bert AVood, Fig. 1.

Porcelain Foun-
tain.— We have here-
tofore alluded to the
importance to Art of
the introduction of
Parian into com-
mon use. Messrs.
Copcland have made
many lovers of sta-
tuary by their com-
paratively cheap sta-
tuettes now found
in every house ; and
several others are

FOUNTAINS.

little behind them. We present an engraving of a porcelain fountain, Fio- 2
of this manufacture, whose elegance will at once commend it to the reader. The

dB^WU,

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

ground color is an orange red, bearing white rosettes,, while the remaiuino- deco-
rations are gilt. Its height is about four feet. °

We also copy a column in Parian, designed for a parlor ornament, to hold
flower pot. Fig. 3.

lis^^o.-

PLAN OF GROUNDS.

PLAN OF GROUNDS.

The followiiic; excellent plan of a r?/s in ttrbe {harden and grounds, has been
forwarded by one of our valued friends, who has descril)ed it, in a familiar letter,

4 ^ j% ^ #►

so well as to leave us nothing to do but copy his own remarks, which he will
pardon, as, at his own request, he withholds his name. He remarks : —

" In describing it, I would say that the grounds between the dwelling and street,
should have been represented one-fourth longer, the land being a parallelogram,
and two acres in extent. A is the main walk, leading from the street to the house.
B, the carriage-road. C, road leading to the back yard and stable at D. E is
the kitchen garden. This garden is sheltered by a screen of Privet on the west
side, and a high, tight fence on the north. The ground in front of the house is
^-'ioltered by a screen composed chiefly of evergreens. This was done partly on
WiKi score of taste, and partly for the protection to be secured in Avinter. The
trees used for this purpose are the White, Austrian, and Scotch Pines, American
Arbor Yitse, Hemlock, Norway Spruce, and American Black Spruce. The screen
between the two gates in front, is made of Norway Spruce. A portion of this is

kept pruned low, in order to preserve a fine view from the piazza and parlor. On
the north side of the main walk, a path leads to a flower garden, chiefly of herba-
ceous perennials, dahlias, and annuals. This is surrounded by shrubs and low trees,
and is concealed from the street, and the other walks within the premises. In the
group of evergreens directly south, is a rustic seat, from which to enjoy the gar-
den. The effect of this gay scene to one coming upon it unexpectedly from the
main walk, is quite striking. The lawn in front of the house has beds cut in the
turf for herbaceous perennials, perpetual roses, and various bedding plants. The
trees are so arranged here as to preserve a fine view of a broad valley, a hillside
and a distinguished literary institution. The prospect, in other directions, being
indifferent, and the winter winds very strong, the trees have been left to grow as
they listed.

" There is a grass terrace on three sides of the house. On the northwest corner
of this stands a vase ; on the south side are beds of early flowering plants. Di-
rectly north of the house is a small collection of standard pear-trees ; on the south
side is a collection of dwarfs. These and the rear premises, are screened from the
front view by a plantation of evergreens and low trees. A walk leads from the
dwelling to a summer house, built around the trunk of a huge elm, standing near
the south line of the premises. By the side of this walk are two oval beds of
choice roses. This part of the grounds is secluded from the rest by low trees.
Thus there are three distinct scenes in the pleasure grounds.

" There are the following somewhat rare ornamental trees on the premises :
Yirgilia lutea, Purple Sycamore, Japan Maidenhair tree, Kentucky Coffee, De-
ciduous Cypress, Tulip-tree, Magnolia acwmzna^a. New American WeepingWillow,
Weeping Linden, Weeping Purple Beech, European Weeping Ash, Caperdown
Weeping Elm, Huntingdon, Cornish, Dutch Cork-Barked, English Cork-Barked,
and Purple-Leaved Elm ; Pinus Excelsa and P. Cembra ; Siberian Arbor Yitas,
Picea pichta, Abies Menziezii, Swedish Juniper, and English Yew.

" This is as far as I have yet attained. I shall probably modify the plan from
year to year as I learn more. But this, as it now is, affords me great satisfaction,
and strikes favorably many who visit it. Perhaps it may furnish some hints to
others, imperfect as it is. The summer house is covered with honeysuckles and
climbing roses ; the pillars to the piazza of my house, with Scarlet Monthly
Honeysuckle and American Ivy; and the south summer house with the same Ivy
running up into the Elm which arches over it. The Elms in front of the house
are trained high, so as to preserve the view under their branches, and the other
trees are shrubs (Hibernice I), or low trees, kept low.

" But I must stop, or I shall soon be bringing my wife and children into the
description."

THE CULTIYATION OF EXOTIC GRAPES UNDER GLASS.

BY THOMAS LEARMONT, GARDENER.

A FEW practical remarks on the cultivation of exotic grapes under glass, will
be interesting to some of the readers of the Agriculturist. Frequent attempts
have been made to cultivate this delicious fruit in the open air, without success.
In the summer of 1852, my employer, Mr. Henry Lyons, of Columbia, S. C,
erected a cold grapery sixty-two feet long by twelve wide, what is called a lean-to
house, fronting southeast; the back wall of bricks sixteen feet in height, the front
resting on brick pillars one foot above the ground, and three feet apart ; upright
sashes three feet long, movable for ventilation ; wooden ventilators at the top

foot wide by seven lonpr, raised from the back by cords. The sashes of the roof
roinaiii stationary. In nialdiig the l)or»Ier, the ex|)ense was small. Tlie muterial
used was twenty tons of well-rotted stable inaiinre, and two tons of rou^h bones.
The surface soil was of a U'^hi, sandy nature, with a suljsoil of red, sandy clay,
and dry bottom. The irrouiid was trenched two feet six inches deeji, a layer of
bones put into the bottom of each trench, and the manure mixed with the soil as
it was turned over. The border is twenty-seven feet wide from tlie back wall.
Cuttings were procured of the following varieties, viz : Black Hamburg, A\'liite
Frontignan, Muscat, of Alexandria, Gohlen Chasselas, Black Prince, White Tokay,
lilack Lombardy, Syrian, Purple Damask, and Palestine, and propagated from
single eyes in the month of March, using a slight bottom lieat to root them. I
planted them, the following July, inside the house, spreading the roots to the out-
side. The number of vines planted was sixteen to the back, and thirty-two to the
front. The quantity planted may seem large for the size of the house. In plant-
ing them so close, the intention was to take a full crop the first and second years,
thinning them out as they came into full bearing. A vigorous growth was made
the first season, covering the trellis to the top. All the lateral shoots were allowed
to grow to encourage the growth of roots. In November, the roof was taken off
to give the inside border the benefit of the winter rains, and retard the buds from
starting too early in the spring. The later they can be kept back, the better. In
December, I cut them down to the ground. In March, the following season, I
]hU the roof on, and gave the border a top dressing of well-rotted manure, mulching
the outer border witli four inches of half-decayed leaves, collected the previous
season. A single cane grew to the top, and I then stopped it, also stopping the
laterals as they grew. In November, 1 took the roof oil", as in the previous season.
I pruned them in December, leaving from seven to eight feet of wood for bearing
the following season. By this time, some of the vines measured two inches in
circumference. On the 6th of July, 1854, eighteen months from the time of plant-
ing, and two years from the bud, the first grapes were cut — the last were cut in
November ; in all, two hundred and fifty bunches. Last year three hundred
l)unches were cut, and the average weight of each bunch was one pound. This
will be about the crop each year. This season the vines are thinned out, leaving
twenty-six vines to bear, and dispensing with those on the back wall altogether.
This attempt to cultivate the foreign grape under glass, in this climate, shows,
without doubt, that they can be cultivated with better success and less expense
than attends their culture in the Northern States. The soil and climate is better
adapted to the growth. The vine delights in a light, rich soil, provided the sub-
soil is dry. Several of the finest varieties seldom come to perfection in the North
without fire heat, such as Muscat of Alexandria, Syrian ; and they are, also, six
weeks earlier here. I hope the success of this experiment will stimulate all lovers
of good fruit to erect graperies. — ^S". Carolina Agriculturist.

SUN-SCREENS FOR EVERGREENS.

Newly planted Evergreens suffer more from the sun-scorching, to which they
are usually subjected the first season, than from all other disadvantages. A valu-
able specimen is hastily planted out, fresh from the nursery, where it has been
grown in compact lines, each row shielding its neighbor, frequently from a different
climate, and it is expected to flourish and withstand the usual exigencies of
seasons. It has no fibrous roots to infuse vigor, and as the warm weather

lates the latent vital organism of the plant into a sort of spasmodic vegetable
action, we see feeble and delicate shoots springing from the buds which, growing
slenderly and rapidly, immediately afterwards wither and dry up. Defoliation
soon ensues, and by midsummer, the sanguine planter finds his hopes of possess-
ing a beautiful Evergreen blasted, and, in its stead, he has only a handful of un-
sightly brushwood sticking where his cherished specimen once stood. The nursery-
man who had properly nurtured and educated the plant, whilst it was under his
care, is frequently blamed for its ultimate failure, and tree culture gets a back-set
from which it rarely recovers, simply because a little precautionary care was not
exercised in properly planting, and protecting it after it was planted.

We adopted, last season, a simple and successful mode of protecting our Ever-
green-trees from the sun. Around each tree we drove, in a circle, eight stakes,
and taking the long, flexible branches of the common red cedar, nailed them to
the framework as high as the top of the tree. Wattling in the straggling sprays,
both inside and out, made it a very dense protection. Care should be taken to
make the circle sufficiently large, to allow for two years' growth of the plant, after
which time the screen could be safely removed, as it would be properly and fully
established in its roots. This fixture is not unsightly — in fact, the dark-brown
foliage of the cedar limbs, which does not shed off, gives a mellow relief to the
surrounding green, and it is thus rendered more picturesque than any other screen
that can be made. Any other long-branched twigs thickly wattled in, make a
good screen, and a most beautiful ornamental fixture of this kind, lasting in its
character, could be made out of the twisted fibres of the long Spanish moss
{TUandsia Usneoides). The common flag of our swamps, and broom straw,
would serve the purpose, when cedar boughs and moss could not be readily ob-
tained. The ground inside the screen can be mulched, and as the mulching is
protected, and cannot be scattered, this process has not to be repeated during the
season. The sun's rays from eleven until four o'clock are most injurious, and, if
not already attended to, immediately screen all your Evergreen-trees from its
blighting effects. Their increased growth and general luxuriance will amply repay
you for the small outlay of labor required. — South Carolina Agricidturist.

THE WINTER IN CANADA.

Bloomington Nuksery, Illinois, Oct. 11, 1856.

J. J. Smith, Esq., Ed. Horticulturist. — Dear Sir : Some weeks since, I
addressed a letter to Messrs. Cockburn and Brown, nurserymen, of Montreal, with
some statements as to the effects of Western winters on fruit-trees, and inquiring
as to their experience in that northern region. In reply, they very kindly for-
warded me a most interesting chapter, which (without, however, previously con-
sulting them) I have taken the liberty to copy for the Horticidturist, if you deem
proper, feeling confident that tlicy will excuse me.

The drought here still continues with unabated intensity; positively, we have
not had the ground half soaked once this year, and not half a dozen times has
it been wet down three inches !

Very truly yours, &c., F. K. Phcenix.

Cote-des-Neiges Nukseries, keak Montreal, Sept. 19, 1856.
F. K. Pn(ENix. — Sir : We were duly favored with your esteemed letter of the
13th. It affords us always much pleasure to communicate any information
wer to our brethren in the trade.

YoL. VI.— December, 1856. 36

THE WINTER IN CANADA.

With rcirnnl to tlie subject matter of your letter, we have been always itineh
surprised at the accounts wo have so t're(|uently seen in the Jfor/inilturisf, espe-
cially from jiarties at the far West, as to the winter killin,!; of ai)plc-trees. It is a
thiiii? almost entirely unknown with us here. During the course of ten years'
experience on these grounds, we really cannot say that wc have ever found one
variety of the ap})le more tender than another, except, perhaps, the Early llarvest
and the Baldwin, and, even in these two cases, we are not sure if we can attribute
it to any inherent tenderness in the tree, for the Early Harvest is generally ajit to
canker and rot at the junction of the limbs and stem. In the case of our losing
some young Baldwins, it was perhaps owing to a too luxuriant growth. That
there are sorts which seem to acclimate themselves better than others, there can
be no doubt. Thus, the Fameuse, Pomme Oris, St. Lawrence, and Bonrassa, all
natives of Montreal, grow vigorously and well, whilst the Newtown Pippin seems
to grow slowly and weakly ; but then, we must attribute these dilferences to the
original constitution of the tree, and not to the severity of the climate. We
believe that fruit-trees have nowhere ever been put to a severer test than on our
own grounds, for the nursery lies on the northwestern slope of the Montreal
Mountain, which overlooks the city, and the cold blasts from the Ottawa Kiver
sweep over it unbroken. We have experienced a temperature of 35° below zero,
and every winter have it approaching 25° or 30°. Before winter sets in, we have
some little freezing and thawing, but once the icy king is down upon us, there is
little of that. Winter, in its rigor, lasts about four months. Our soil is a light,
gravelly loam.

We see plainly that you have a strange and fickle climate to contend with. It
must be all traced to that ; ours may be called a ripening climate. Our cold, dry
falls prepare the trees for the severity of the winters. P>om the lists you have
sent us, it is plain that, with you, some sorts are in reality hardier than others.
We have looked carefully over your list, and confess ourselves quite puzzled, for
we see the universal Canadian favorite, the Fameuse, so hardy and fine, is occasion-
ally tender at the West, and that hardy, healthy, sprawling fellow, the Rhode Island
Greening, put in the same category. One remark we may venture to make, that
those classed in your lists as hardy, are generally the most vigorous with us.

Winter killing of trees in the nursery row, is entirely unknown with us, as we
have stated above. The snow generally averages about four feet in depth, and
forms a valuable covering. In proof of this, we had a small Cryptomeria japonica
quite uninjured last winter.

We will now name a few of the sorts of apples we have found most worthy of
cultivation. Fameuse, the very best fall apple, of delightful flavor, and the tree
an enormous bearer. Thousands of barrels are raised hereabouts. The same may
also be said of the Pomme Gris, Bourassa, and St. Lawrence, though the Bourassa is
rather getting out of favor, as it does not always bear well. Kerwick Codlin, the
poor man's apple, and a universal favorite. Kerry Pippin and Hawthorne, very
fine. We also name Emperor Alexander, Early Joe, Red Astracan, Sapson,
Doming, R. I. Greening, Kentish Fillbasket, Rambo, Yellow Bellflower, Stone
Pippin, Baldwin, Minshall's Crab or Baker. Ribston Pippin, every way worthy,
and grows most luxuriantly. Breden Pippin, small, but good. Golden Pippin,
of sorts. Northern Spy, late in bearing ; all the Leadingtons do well with us.
^Montreal Beauty, a Crab, and the best of all. Sam Young, Carroll's Seedling,
Pearson's Plate, and Cornish Aromatic, are four old country sorts of exquisite
flavor. Carroll's Seedling is one of the best apples we ever ate. Rosemont is a
new winter sort, produced in Montreal of first-rate flavor,

The above remarks as to the hardihood of trees, refer to apples alone. When

THE TRUE THEORY OF GRAFTS.

we come to pears and cherries, we must give a different account. The pears of
American origin, such as the Oswego Beurre, Swan's Orange, Buffum, Seckel,
Stevens' Genesee, &c., we have found the best and most hardy. All the Bonchre-
tiens and Bergamots are as hardy as apples, and have long been the only sorts
that could be depended on here. The Scotch and English sorts are also gene-
rally hardy. We frequently have winter-killing of the cherry here, especially such
sorts as Bowyer's Early Heart, Early White Heart, Downer's Late Red, and
Waterloo.

Our plum-trees are scarcely ever hurt in the wood, though the fruit buds above
the snow-line are sometimes killed outright. This year, we had an abundant crop
of plums. The two new British sorts — Denyer's Victoria and Prince of Wales —
are amongst the very best. Corses' Seedlings (of Montreal) are well worthy of
cultivation, especially his Nota Bene, a most delicious plum, and very hardy.

The most valuable of the new currants are certainly the Cherry and May's Vic-
toria. The green fruited Black has borne with us, and proves of very fine flavor.
We have also fruited the Pearl White, small, but very handsome and good, and
of a pearly white color. The striped fruited bore this year and last; not unlike
the Champagne, and pretty good. Sperry's White is one of the siveetest of all.
The Banquet and Black Grrape are two of the best blacks. Of raspberries, the
old Fastolff still takes the lead, as a market fruit, so far as we have tested, ex-
cepting, perhaps, Knevitt's Giant, which we think sometimes a larger. The
Flesh-colored we have fruited, and consider it the most delicious of all. It is
a raspberry one can eat. We have not much of it, but we intend to plant it out
for our own use when we can do so. The Imperial is very early, large, and fine.
Barnet's Cane, small but very prolific — the Franconia, perhaps, the hardiest of all.

This year we fruited the new Nirarod Strawberry, the very largest of all, and
very fine. Mr. Prince discards it — why, we know not. Mr. Brown (the writer)
spent two years, lately, at home (Scotland). They know nothing of fruits there
as we do in America. He could not get an eatable apple till he fell in with some
Newtown Pippins. Respectfully, Cockburn & Brown.

THE TRUE THEORY OF GRAFTS.

It has long been known, says D'Albert, that, in order to preserve grafts, espe-
cially for transportation, they ought to be separated from the parent tree before
they have begun to grow. They ought then to be placed in a northern exposure,
in a horizontal position, on the ground, and covered with earth to about the depth
of two inches and a half. • They should remain in that ])osition till their buds are
well swelled, by which time the stock intended for their reception will be much
more advanced, a necessary condition to success. Under all circumstances, they
must be so packed as to run no risk of heating. French gardeners often place
them in the hollow of an old cucumber, and even pack them in honey, without
injury, if they have a long distance to travel ; if they are to be conveyed to a
distance, it is best to send them olf as soon as they are taken from the tree. If
the journey require only three weeks or a month, it is suflicient to tie them up in
l)ackets, putting some dry moss between them, in order to prevent their being
bruised, and to insert their bases in a ball of moist clay, covered with fresh
moss, the whole tightly enveloped in a thin coating of straw. But if the cuttings
have to be sent a great distance, so as to be months on the way, they should be

closed in a box, in small parcels, all laid with their tops in the same direction,
thick ends covered with clay and fresh moss, the whole compactly fastened

THE TRUE THEOllY QF GRAFTS.

with laths likewise coated with moss. If for a lonp^ sea-voyapre, care should l)e
takrii to close the box, some holes Ijciiiir made in the top, to prevent the shoots
beeoniinc: mouldy. This is excellent advice.

Dr. Lindley adds, that so lonj; as it was believed that absolute wood was formed
corporeally from above downwards, it was inferred that the lower parts of a ])lant
must be gradually encased in solid matter derived from branches, and that, consc-
(piently, of necessity, the stock of a plant must be enveloped in layer above layer
of the scion. It is needless to repeat tlic arguments employed in sup])ort of this
view; they were cogent, and, for a long time, held to be irrefragable. The appli-
cation of the theory to grafting, led, among other things, to the conclusion, that
a scion would speedily form a sheath of wood over the stock, and thus secure
itself forever. Once to form a good union, was therefore looked upon as suflicient
security for the permanent life of the grafted jtlant. Cases, ajiparently at variance
with the theory, occurred now and then, but plausible explanations of such instances
were readily found.

It is, however, now certain, continues the Doctor, that although wood is formed
by a descending process, yet that its descent is not in an organized state. Fluid
matter, out of which it is produced, passes, indeed, from aljove downwards, but
the formation itself is wholly local and superficial, and,
consequently, there is no such thing as an encasement of
the lower part of a tree by wood descending from above.
That important fact having been once established, the
union of a scion and its stock evidently becomes a case of
mere adhesion, extremely powerful in some cases, feeble
and readily destroyed in others. There are, therefore,
two essentially different results obtained by grafting — the
one permanent, the other transitory. The accomjjanying
example affords a new demonstration that the union between
a scion and its stock is no other than that now described.
About the beginning of Sei)tember, 1853, Dr. Maclean,
of Colchester, an ingenious experimentalist and good
physiologist, grafted a young ])lant of the White Silesian
Beet upon a root of Red Beet, and vice versa. At the
time of the experiment, the plants were each about as thick
as a straw. A com])Iete junction Avas effected, and when,
in 1854, the White Beet grafted on Red was taken out of
the ground, its longitudinal section exhibited the appear-
ance represented in the figure. There was a slight con-
traction at the line of junction ; al)ove the line of contrac-
tion, the plant was absolutely white, below it was absolutely
red. Not a trace of blending of the two colors could be
discovered. By similar experiments on other vegetables
and plants. Dr. Maclean had so far assured himself of the
perfect independence of scion and stock as to acquire the
belief that neither the coloring nor any of the si)ecific cha-
racters of the one or the other, would or could be altered
,' by their union. The result of the trial wholly confirmed

'^ ' ' "^ that view, and demonstrated that the White Beet adhered

to the R.ed Beet by mere junction of cellular matter, that
of the scion and stock holding together in the first instance, and each afterwards
roducing its own coloring matter in its own new cells, as they formed su
ally, the red cells adhering to the white cells while in the -nascent state

detaining each the peculiarity belonging to it, without any interchange of contents
through the sides of the cells in contact.

This is entirely consistent with all that has been discovered by the modern
physiologists who have ap])lied themselves to a study of the nature of the indivi-
dual cells of which plants consist. They have clearly shown that each cell has its
own inherent power of secretion, as, indeed, may be seen by any one who exam-
ines thin sections of variegated leaves, or other parts. It will then be found that
some cells are filled with a red coloring matter, some with yellow, some with green.
In other words, one cell has the power of secreting red matter, another yellow, and
so on. The colors do not run together, but are contained each within the cell
that produces it. Why this is so, no one knows ; all that we are acquainted with
is the fact; the peculiar cells are not affected by the one growing on the other.
Red-forming cells produce their like, and yellow-forming theirs. Thus the limit
between the scion and its stock is unmistakably traceable, and, notwithstanding the
combination of the two sorts in one, each perseveringly retains that which is natu-
ral to it.

It hence becomes evident that no junction can be permanent unless the stock
and scion have a great similarity, not only in every part of their structure, but
also in constitution, and that the strictest consanguinity alone offers security that
a grafted plant shall be as durable as each of the two individuals thus artilicially
joined is, when left on its own roots. A temporary union may indeed be effected,
but it is soon dissolved, as we everywhere see, in collections where grafted varie-
ties are brought together, instead of plants "on their own bottom." We have
used D'Albert's and Dr. Lindley's own words above ; they are convincing, and
the intelligent fruit grower cannot fail to take advautaffe of them.

AMERICAN GRAPES, AND THE LONDON GARDENERS'

CHRONICLE.

BY WILLIAM CHORLTON, NEW BRIGHTON, NEW YORK.

In looking over a late London Gardeners'' Chronicle, I see that Dr. Lindley has
again been showing the "black feather." The American native grape-vines have
been tried in Southern Europe, and the London Times, in speaking of the dis-
couraging prospects generally, states : "The American vines, which, up to a few
days back, had been free from any bad signs, had suddenly manifested the blight
to an extent which had destroyed the hopes entertained from the introduction of
those descriptions." And the doctor adds : " We do not know what was expected
from the introduction of American vines, if by that term is meant, as we believe to be
the case, European vines cultivated in the United States, for the vine disease exists
there as well as here, as we lately showed upon the authority of Mr. Chorlton. At
all events, we know that the American vines were grafted on Portuguese stocks,"
Now, surely, he knows better than this, not only from the authority quoted, but
from his own knowledge of the subject, and he must certainly be aware that no
man of common sense would even think of sending the Euroi)ean varieties back
again, if the intention was to repel the mildew, more i)articularly so, as the disease
in question has been the only cause why we do not succeed, and never have suc-
ceeded satisfactorily, with them in out-door culture. It is a fact, that our natives
have been sent there, and it now appears that they have not had a fair chance, for
they " were grafted on Portuguese stocks," instead of being grown on their own
roots. It so happens, that the constitutions of the European and American g
vines are very different, as is proved by the former being always improved

AMERICAN GRAPES, AND THE LONDON GARDENERS' CURONICLE.

"•lass, exccptiiifi^ in those cliin;itos which liave proloiifrcd and steady heat, with tlic
af't(M' i)art dry, and free from damp fo_u,s or rain ; while the latter are invariably
enfeebled by the same method. The cellular formation and action are not the
same, hence the disagreement ; consequently, if uninterrupted vijror, which is
most necessary in this case, is required, each class ought to be on its own roots,
or grafted on to one of its own species. If the two are to bq amalgamated, it
must be by hybridizing the European with our natives, when the probaljility will
be, a hardier habit in the future i)rogeny. With the facts as they are before us,
the experiment is only a retrograde movement that has been ignorantly attempted.
It is not long since that we were accused of "confusion" as to a knowledge of
the I^uropean grape mildew, but in the means of i)revention, and likewise the
cause, which are more important parts of the subject, I rather suspect that we are
better posted-up than either Dr. Lindley or many of the Eastern cultivators. "We
well know that, were it not for the extreme saturation of the atniosi)liere with
which we are so frequently troubled during midsummer, mildew would do little
harm, and also, that if we can get an approach towards maturity previous to the
time of attack, w^e are comparatively safe. This explains why the earliest varie-
ties of the exotics succeed best here, and why it was, during the past summer, in
many places, Black Uamburg and other sorts were so good in the open air.

Dr. Lindley iufers that this destructive pest is on the decrease, notwithstanding
the many statements to the contrary. Very probably it may be so, or is likely to
so happen hereafter; for, from our experience in other epidemics of a similar
cliaracter, and under the same circumstances, it will have its time, and finally die
out, in those climates, at least, where it is only a casual visitor.

The doctor, in speaking of these European Americanized vines, speculates thus :
" Even here the result was not quite so unsatisfactory, as would appear from the
Times.''^ And, further on, of the European kinds : " It has also been remarked,
this year, that in the Douro wine districts, although the Oidium appeared in June,
and apparently 'paralyzed the vines,' yet, after the fourth day, they recovered, and
vegetation proceeded with renewed vigor, 'leaves and wood increasing in quantity
and strength in proportion as the grapes withered and dropped off.' " In another
place, mentioning a trial with cuttings, from English hothouses, that were grafted
upon Portuguese roots, he says: "Until June" they "were green and beautiful.
But what was very curious, wherever among them indications of fruit appeared, it
was speedily stopped by the Oidium, which, however, did not extend to the vines."
" It is impossible not to regard these as favorable symptoms, indicating that the
virulence of the vine disease is passing away even from the West of Europe."

May it prove so, but is it not very reasonable to suppose that the peculiar state
of the weather during the last summer, has had something to do with all this ?
So far as I have been able to find out, there has been a great lack of meteorolo-
gical observation, in this case, on the part of European physiologists, which is
somewhat strange, at the present day, when it is so well known how mnch the
different states of the atmosphere affect fungoid vegetation. There need be no
more convincing proof of this than a knowledge of the fact that, during close and
"muggy" weather, the disease is increased, while a dry and clear atmosphere
arrests it. One would suppose, too, that more experience would have been gained
with regard to specific or artificial remedies, if any such did exist, yet we find
nearly the same paucity of information. Sulphur has been tried in a few cases,
and, also, hydrosulphate of lime, but they seem to depend more upon the actual
contact of the material than the fumes emanating from it, which, during increased
heat from the sun, or otherwise, will impregnate the surrounding air to a con-
siderable extent, and thus nullify the exact requirements of all such parasites as

ON THE CULTURE «0F SWEET-SCENTED VIOLETS.

we are at present discoursing on. Considering the cheapness of this article, there
is no reason why it may not be more freely used, and a comparatively small por-
tion is sufficient to cause a very perceptible smell when the thermometer rises to,
or above 75°. When sulphur is used for these purposes, it ought to be distributed
with an upward jerk, so that a portion may adhere to the under-side of the leaves,
which will prevent the rains washing it off", and if the ground be left undisturbed
beneath, what falls to the surface will continue to act for some time.

In conclusion, I would say, that although our native grapes are scarcely acknow-
ledged, in their present state, in Europe, we must recollect that there has been
very little attempt at improvement hitherto. They are nearly in the same con-
dition, comparatively, that the austere Crab of by-gone days is to the present
luscious Newtown Pippin, and now our cultivators and experimenters are alive to
the subject, it is no stretch of the imagination to say, that future generations of
seedlings will lead to improvement, the finale of which will be, grapes of equal
quality to the exotics, and suitable for all purposes.

ON THE CULTURE OF LILIUM LANCIFOLIUM.

BY F. HARDWICH.

Towards the end of November, 1854, I prepared a bed for planting the bulbs
of this beautiful Lily ; the bed was four feet wide and nine feet long, composed of
common garden soil, well dug and broken up with a fork, and without any manure,
which I believe to be rather disadvantageous in the culture of this plant. The
bed was afterwards raked level, and the bulbs planted on the surface, spreading
out the fibres every way, with a distance of fourteen inches between each ; they
were covered with a light mixture of fine, sifted mould and sand, to a depth of
four inches from the crown of the bulbs, and the surface neatly raked. After the
stems were quite dead, in the following autumn, I took off the surface compost,
without disturbing the bulbs, and laid fresh sandy soil over them to the depth of
four inches, and this year I have been favored with a splendid show of their lovely
blossoms, and am decidedly of opinion that this plant succeeds better, and has a
more vigorous growth, thus treated, than when kept in the greenhouse. It is a
most ornamental bulb, the flowers possessing also an agreeable fragrance, and
should be more extensively grown than it is, meriting a place in every flower
garden. I have cultivated several other kinds of Japan Lilies out of doors with
much success, — London Florist.

ON THE CULTURE OF SWEET-SCENTED VIOLETS.

BY JOHN HUNT.

It may be of use to your readers, to detail the method which I pursue in the
treatment of Sweet-Scented Violets, especially as I have not seen a paper on the
subject from any of your contributors. I consider the Neapolitan Violet to be
the best sort in cultivation, but it unfortunately requires protection in winter.
To treat them with advantage, about the end of April take the old roots and part
them, plant them out in beds on a north or northeast border, there to remain till
the end of September; then take them up, and pot them in thirty-two-sized pots,
in a mixture of vegetable mould, road-scrapings, and loam ; if not sufficiently
add a little coarse river sand. Place a tile in the bottom of each pot, lil
a handful of potsherds, broken very small. Water them, and plunge

DR. WARD ON PEAR CULTURE

in a frame in cinder ashes, clcvatinof them to within a few inches of the plass ;
draw oir tlie lights in line, dry weather, and ])rotect lliem from rain and damp;
they will flower profusely the whole of the winter. They will also bloom in a
greenhouse, provide<l they are placed in a dry, airy situation. This kind has a
double flower, light blue, and is sweet-scented. The New Russian Violet is,
without exception, the best hardj/ sort w'c have, as it blooms profusely the whole
of the winter in the open ground, in any situation, which makes it very desiraljle
to cultivate. Bedding them out every two years, about the end of April, in a
dry soil, is quite sufficient; they require less room than many other kinds, as they
make but few runners : a large, single, purple flower, very fragrant. The lianksian
Violet has a sweet perfume, flowers single, jiurple, but not so profuse in blooming
as the former. It requires to be planted on a warm border under a south wall,
in March or April, and attended with water in dry weather ; it will flower early
in autumn. Several other varieties might be enumerated, but they are less worthy
of notice. — Cottage Gardener.

DR. WARD ON PEAR CULTURE.

REPLY from Dr. Ward to the severe remark made in
the Rochester Pomological Convention, has appeared
in the Country Gentleman. Though rather late to
help the prospects of his liberal challenge, we consider
it due to the author to coi)y portions of it here : —

" Your report of the doings of the American
Pomological Society at its late session at Roches-
ter, includes this sentence : —

" ' Allusion was made to several recent articles
from a correspondent in the Horticidturist, as tend-
ing to discourage the culture of the pear as a dwarf,
and some gentlemen present who liad visited the
grounds of that correspondent, had found that ' he
knew nothing of cultivating pears on quince stocks,
according to modern treatment,' as exhibited by
his distorted, badly ])runed trees, twelve years
old.' — Country Gentleman^ Oct. 9.

" As allusion was here made to myself, your
readers will, I trust, pardon me for presenting a
few facts on the other side of the question. The
trees above referred to comprise ten rows, with
twenty-five in a row, and are of very uniform size,
shape, and vigor ; the varieties embraced are the
Duchess, Vicars, Louise Bonne, and Doyenne.
These rows are still entire, and each tree resem-
bles its fellow as much as one Vicar or Duchess
Pear resembles another. But they are not pyra-
mids, for the best of all reasons, that I could not
afford to grow them in the pyramidal form. The
only row that was originally made to assume that form, was altered to the half-
standard form, on account of economy in culture. After a brief experience, I
satisfied that the keeping of the grounds worked and cleaned by hand lab
ould cost more than I should ever realize from the sale of the fruit.

" The great problem I had attempted to solve in my present vocation, was to
settle the question whether the cultivation of fruit, and especially of pears, could
be made profitable. In doing this, I found it all-important to keep an eye to the
expense demanded in the culture of the trees. To attempt to keep an orchard of
some five acres in clean culture by any other than horse labor, would demand more
of an income than I possessed ; and to cultivate with a horse was utterly imprac-
ticable with any other form of the trees than I have given them, viz : that of the
half-standard.

" Amateur cultivators who have only seen pears growing in the nicely dressed
specimen rows of the nurseryman, or on pet dwarfs in a garden, will do well to
remember, in visiting ray grounds, that I have no garden — my fruit is in orchards.

" Had I been privileged to accompany the visitor over the orchards, he would
have learned that the ' distorted trees' were the quince stocks that I had attempted
to grow, and would not, and that they will soon be out of the way ; trees, that
with others unsatisfactory in growth, though not misshapen, have led me to say
what I have in the articles alluded to, against the general introduction of the
quince stock for the growth of the pear. Had the charge been made that the
grounds bore evidence of neglect, and portions were overgrown with weeds, I should
have been silent, for the greater part of the past summer I have been an invalid
and confined to the house, and as I have no gardener, but depend entirely upon
the most unintelligent, because the cheapest laborers, being myself the superin-
tendent and director, my entire farm soon gave evidence that the proprietor was
' not at home.'

" My oldest trees on quince stocks were planted, as stated in the articles in the
Horticulturist, in 1849 and 1851, the first planted being now seven years old — the
speaker at Rochester says twelve — but as that is about as near the truth as a
' visitor,' troubled at articles that had disparaged the dwarf-trees, could possibly
approach — we proceed to remark, that the object of all fruit-tree culture is the
production of fine fruit. For a number of years past, I have been in the habit of
exhibiting the fruit grown on these trees, and others contiguous to them, at differ-
ent State and city fairs, and never have I made an exhibition of pears that I have
not had a premium awarded them. This year the fruit that was growing when
certain gentlemen visited my grounds, was exhibited at the Brooklyn Horticultural
Fair, and, by universal judgment, was declared the finest in the exhibition ; the
second premium, however, was awarded them, as there were less than forty varie-
ties, the first being awarded to a collection of a hundred and fifty varieties, under
a call for the greatest and best display. On one of these trees there was also
grown a pear that attained to the size of seventeen and three-fourths inches in
dimensions, weighing thirty-five and a half ounces. This mammoth pear is now
in the hands of the Editor of the Horticulturist, and has been modelled by him.
This season's crop of pears has been taken from the trees, and either disposed of,
or boxed for family use ; the only variety remaining on the trees is the Vicar of
Winkfield.

" Now, if ' the visitor,' or any other fruit grower, will accept the following
challenge, the exhibition may satisfy some at least, that if ' the correspondent in
the Horticulturist does not know how to grow quince stocks according to modern
treatment,' he knows how to grow pears. I will exhibit in New York City, at
any specified time before the first of December, one or five bushels of that variety
of pear, in competition with an equal quantity, the growth of the exhibitor — the
owner of the best grown, fairest, and largest fruit to be the owner of both. ]Mr.
Charles Downing to associate with himself any two fruit growers (not nurserymen)
and be the judges of the fruit. I. M. Ward, Neicark, N.

editor's table.

Tdkkeya Taxii'olia.* — This evergreen has been pronounced among the most satisfactory
of the rarer sorts. It stood, at Wodenethe, last winter uninjured, except that the leader
was a little whitened ; the sijecinien there is now twelve feet high. It resembles the yew,
and conies from Florida, where it attains the height of from twenty to forty feet, with nume-
rous spreading branches, tlie appearance not unlike the hemlock ; the leaves are broader
than the yew, and marked with two longitudinal lines. The ripe fruit, or, rather, seed, is
as large as a nutmeg, but has no fleshy cup as in the yew, but the external coat of the seed
itself is leathery, and covers the whole, leaving a minute perforation at the summit.

It is found on the calcareous hills of the Apalache River as well as the Aspalaga, and
south of Suanna. The tree is still scarce in our nurseries, but deserves a more extensive
cultivation than it has yet received. It is surprising to find how slowly some of our valuable
California and Florida trees are in being attended to. There could be little difficulty in pro-
curing the seed.

It is a Torreya that has been said to be a nutmeg-tree, by the wise men emigrated to
California.

AcoRX. — A lady has kindly sent us a most remarkable acorn from the Plains of Troy,
awakening some classical allusions' but we fail to find any description in the books. She
calls it the Valonia Oak.

Parks. — We are continually hearing from abroad of gifts of land for parks, by liberal
individuals, as perpetual places of enjoyment for pent-up citizens. A Mr. Adderley has
just given ten acres forever to the working people of Birmingham ; and yet our Philadelphia
Legislators have possessed, for twenty years, one of the finest sites for a park, and, instead
of improving it, have actually allowed a miserable tenant to despoil it annually of its trees
and rocks, and disfigure it in every way. This is one of the most extraordinary instances of
imperfect legislation on record. A few gentlemen have had influence enough to get Hunting
Park Course improved, and an enthusiastic writer, who well deserves to be heard, has issued
at his own expense a pamphlet, deprecating the neglect of Pratt's Garden, without effect.
Citizens of Philadelphia ! rise up in your might, and displace from office every man who
acts so contrarily to the dictates of humanity and civilization !

Since the above was written, the City Councils, on the motion of that excellent member,
Theodore Cuyler, Esq., have taken measures to displace the present tenant at Lemon Hill,
and probably something may yet be done. We ask of members of the Councils a little
consideration on the subject. Those who vote against improvement may dejiend upon the
frowns of their fellow-citizens.

New Grape " Canadian Chief." — The handsomest and largest bunch of grapes grown in
the open air that we have seen, has been sent us by Mr. G. W. Fearman, of Hamilton, Canada
West. It is a seedling white grape, somewhat resembling the Chasselas, and quite good

* See Fi-ontispiece.

enough for the table, for which it will be a fine ornament. It is a hybridized fruit. From
the somewhat immature state of the seed, we should judge that the grapes had been pulled
prematurely, and that a greater development of the saccharine principle would have resulted
from its longer continuance on the vine.

It was grown, in Hamilton, by the Rev. James Brennan,aud is quite hardy, even in Canada.
The bunches weighed from sixteen to twenty-four ounces ; the vine is a most i^rolific bearer,
producing and ripening this year, cold and backward as it has been, one hundred and thirty-
four clusters, a great many of them weighing a pound and a pound and six ounces. It is
a decided acquisition. Mr. Fearman is the agent for its sale, which, we predict, will be
equal to his ability to supply.

With the grape came a photograph, exhibiting the vine covered with its tempting bunches.

We seem to be entering upon an era of new grapes ; hybridizing has just begun to exhibit
its results, and we may well congratulate the successful experimenters, but still more the
benefited public. A good gardener said to us, lately : " I consider the introduction of a
new and valuable flower to confer a greater honor than being elected President of the United
States." We add, that the originating an entirelynew and valuable fruit — a grape like this,
or the " Kebecca" — confers more real honor than to be the factitious Emperor of France.

Errata. — On page 509 there is an error of the printer, regarding the Church Pear ; it
should be read, "ripens slowly from the 15tli of September to the first week in October."
Also, the^^wre of No. 1 should have been called " Huntingdon," and No. 2 is the "Church"
Pear, which were reversed. At page 533, we are made to call an Abies a Larch, for the want
of the word and after "Abies Kjempferi."

Gossip. — A correspondent lately compared the usual habitual mode of trimming aj)ple-
orchards by the ignorant, who have learned from their fathers that spring was the time to
do it, to the Connecticut deacon's ideas of family government. He read in his Bible, " cor-
rect thy son. betimes," which he construed to mean by times, or stated periods. Accordingly,
he was accustomed to call his boys before him at regular intervals, and give them the rod,
however exemplary their conduct might have been ; thus fulfilling, as he thought, a Scriji-

tural injunction. Perthes, the celebrated German bookseller, established himself in that

business not merely for the purpose of making money, but with a deep feeling of the im-
portant part which a bookseller of the present day may perform in the intellectual and moral
elevation of the community to which he belonged. He had observed that where a book-
seller possessed an educated taste, works of a high class were in demand, and, in the reverse
case, a licentious and worthless literature had a wide circulation. This is true in all coun-
tries, and is applicable to newspaper publishing as well as books. The bookseller here,

generally boasts that he has no literary taste whatever. The resident medical officer of

St. Thomas's Hospital, London, asserts that, in Paris, last year, he watched the growth of
grass seed sown upon earth prepared with the " town guano" for a lawn, at the Duchess
d'Alba's, and on the eighth day it was mown. At Milan, where this guano is extensively
adopted, and the town produce for years has been converted to its legitimate uses, the land,
he says, yields eight cro^is of grass a year. He ought to have added that its use is in con-
junction with systematized irrigation. [See the Leader of August 30.] The name of the

town in England, Sajfron-'WaXHen, has puzzled us a long time. The latest Floricultural Cabinet
says it originated from safi"ron being first planted at Walden, in Essex, where it increased so
rapidly as to confer a name on the place. It grows there plentifully ; the stigmas of this

plant are cut away and dried, forming the article so much employed as a dye. An ex-

iraent has been tried, of considerable interest, to prove what cflect the different kinds of
had on the plants grown below them. Five years ago, a four-light frame was devoted

editor's table.

to the imipose, liaving one light glazed with rough plate, one with corrugated, one British
slicct, and one with crown glass. During the five years, a variety of plants have been
grown in this frame, including strawberries ; and no perceptible diflference could ever bo
detected, either in the growth of the plants, the color of the flowers, or flavor of the straw-
berries. We may therefore infer that, as regards cultivation, no great amount of diff"erence
exists between the descriptions of glass mentioned ; while, to suit particular purposes, one
sort may be substituted for another, without causing any detriment to the vegetation they

cover. In Gloxinias, a great improvement has taken place of late, especially in the

upright-growing kinds, of which Fifeana is the type ; they now have varieties vriih a pink
ring round the inside of the throat ; white, with a blue belt ; lilac, with a white tube, and

a dark violet purple, &c. A real acquisition to the garden is the Clematis langrinosa

pallida, with great, round flowers, quite eight inches in diameter, pale blue in color, and

full and broad in the petal. It is quite hardy. Save the haulm of your asparagus in a

dry loft, as a shading next season for young-planted celery in the trench. Nothing can

equal it for the purpose. Mr. Rivers brought to the London Pomological Society, lately,

a bunch of an early and nearly hardy black French grape, the Muscat de Sarbelle, very black
in color, of the Frontignan flavor and habit. Also a dish of his plum. Early Prolific, No. 2.
This is well known as a useful and very productive variety. Mr. Rivers mentioned that it
is loaded with fruit this year, but is the only one producing a crop out of about three hun-
dred varieties in his nursery. Mr. Underliill brought specimens of his Sir Harry Straw-
berry in fine condition ; the berries were large, firm, and well colored, and the flavor of Haut-
bois. It was pronounced a first-rate fruit. A two year old plant was produced with its
fifth crop of fruit, ripe and ripening ; it had been forced last year, fruited again early in
autumn, and afterwards prepared for early forcing ; it produced its first ci"op this year in
January, and being planted out in the usual way bore its second crop in June, and again as
exhibited. These matters were mentioned to draw attention to the prolific tendency it dis-
played, and to suggest the desirability of endeavoring to originate and perpetuate a race of
strawberries having this desirable property in a greater degree than those we at present
possess. We have a suspicion, from inspection of some fruit here, that it will not prove as

large as in England. The Standhouder Cauliflower is said to be much superior to the

Walcheren for a summer crop and autumn use. Straw for covering glass structures has

proved so efficient, probably from its being hollow, and confining in its interior a quantity of
air ; a slow conductor of heat, it seems desirable that it should be manufactured so as to

preserve, in a great measure, its tubular form, and have a neat appearance. A tree onion

is now cultivated, that is a curious freak of nature. Instead of producing seeds, there is,

on the top of the stem, a bunch of small onions, which are excellent for pickling. Dancer's

Prolific White Gooseberry was exhibited lately, in pots, in London, taken from an orchard
house, in oi'der to prove that, contrary to the opinion of many, gooseberries will set and
ripen under glass. At the same time was shown a collection of beans, among which Mackie's
Monarch, alias Songster's Wonderful, elicited much remark from the length of the pods, which
were very plentiful on the stalk, and each pod was nine and ten inches in length, and con-
tained five beans. Marshall's Dwarf Prolific was also much admired. Dr. Lindsay has

published a popular history of British lichens, from which we make the following extract :
" When we consider that many species have a texture which, by readily imbibing and
eagerly retaining moisture, renders them, in a sense, independent of all climatal changes,
enabling them equally to brave polar cold and tropical heat ; many not only cling with such
tenacity as to be inseparable from, but even corrode or disintegrate the hardest and barest
rocks, even pure quartz ; the most ample provision has been made by the great Author of
all for their reproduction or multiplication, in spite of the most adverse external circum
stances, and under conditions fatal to all higher vegetation, both by the multiplici

editor's table.

abundance of their reproductive cells — wliicli sometimes constitute almost the entire bulk
of the plant — the extremely minute size and delicate nature of these cells, by virtue whereof
they are disseminated by every shower or zephyr, and the readiness with which these geraii-
nate ; and that, throughout the family, both in structure and products, there are many
analogies which bind them closely to the Phanerogamia, we cannot fail to increase our
surprise that a curiosity has not been sooner awakened to become familiar with the natural
history- of plants which strew the path of man wherever he roams over the wide world —

which constitute the most universally diffused type of terrestrial vegetation." Twelve

hundred guineas, or six thousand dollars, was lately paid by Louis Napoleon for an English

bull ; but he gets his money cheap. Late experiments of mixing Mangel Wurzel with

flour, to make bread and pastry, have demonstrated a saving in the price of from thirty-five

to fifty per cent. Parsnips, carrots, and other roots, are also said to be applicable. A

writer, in London, says : " In my opinion. Prince Lear is the best and most distinct hybrid
perpetual rose since the Giant, beautiful and erect in habit, and of very fine foliage. A good-
shajied yellow or blue hybrid perpetual, are the two colors in which there is a good opening

for hybridizers. As an argument for steam-engines for farm-work, mowing-machines, &c.,

a correspondent says : " A machine, by being composed of inanimate matter destitute of
feeling and unsusceptible of fatigue, proceeds unswervingly in its assigned duty, and may
be forced to accomplish tasks which it would be both inhviman and impolitic to demand
from living creatures, and yet many human beings are employed as the moving force of very
ill-constructed machines intended to lessen and aid human labor. We are told by those
who have studied the subject, that the muscular energy of men forms the most insufficient
or the weakest of all the prime moving forces. Human labor is very limited in its compass,
and is the least to be depended on for regularity. The power exerted by one man is compara-
tively small, and it is both inconvenient and expensive to cause a large number of indivi-
duals to unite their powers in a continued or concerted effort." Thei'e are few good, hardy

Evergreens that can stand sharp east winds in spring, not even the common Laurel. There
are few better than the varieties of Hollies, Tree-Box, common Arbor Vitres, and Evergreen

Privets. Fowls, known in Normandy by the name of Creve Cceurs, are becoming great

favorites abroad. They have more flesh on the breast than any other, except Bantams ;
they fatten externally, with a remarkable absence of ofi"al ; their eggs are remarkably large ;
the hens are low on the legs, with large, fleshy thighs, wings large, and body square. They
walk slowly, scratch but little, and do not fly ; plumage black, or black and white varie-
gated ; they carry on their heads a large tuft, and a small, upright, two-horned comb, whilst

a large cravat of feathers under the neck gives them a matronly air. Farm-yard manure

is treated, by Dr. Voelcker, Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Agricultural College at
Cirencester, in a way that will surprise some farmers. For example : The liquid drainage
of dung-heaps, he says, is more valuable than the urine of animals, because it contains
phosphate of lime, which is scarcely to be found in the other. That no loss arises from
spreading manure on the surface of a field ; on the contrary, the fermentation is stopped,
and the escape of volatile matters thereby ceases ; and if it be left to lie till the rain has
washed it in, is far more beneficial than burying it at once. And, " in the case of clay soils,"
lie adds : " I have no hesitation to say the manure may be spread even six months before it
is ploughed in, without losing any appreciable quantity of manuring matters." What is

the true theory ? The Legislature of Victoria, Australia, have passed a law against thistles !

Farmers and others whose lands are overrun with the j^rickly intruders, are to be officially
warned to destroy them, under penalty of a fine of from twenty to eighty dollars ; or the
authorities may cause the work to be done, and charge the cost to the offender. How would

h a law be relished in oury^ee country '? The iSchool Commissioners of Ireland have

considering the same subject, and approve a suggestion that the children of the

It

national schools "should be instructed hy the several teachers as to the necessity of destroy-

int; all weeds found on the farms of their parents, or on the higViways adjacent thereto."

The Ihitish Association has granted one liundred and twenty-five dollars for further exami-
nation of the natural history of the ocean by dredging ; and fifty dollars for promoting the

multiplication of salmon, particularly in the Tay. llapi)y the mortals whose building is

restricted to castles iu the air, for they know not the bother, when once the bricklayers
have got into the house, of getting them out again I

Emerson's Enolisii Traits has entertained us very much, and we venture to make a few
extracts below, the only ones, indeed, adapted to this journal : —

" The native cattle are extinct, but the island is full of artificial breeds. The agricultu-
rist, Bakewell, created sheep, and cows, and horses, to order, and breeds in which everything
was omitted but what is economical. The cow is sacrificed to her bag, the ox to his surloin.
Stall-feeding makes sperm-mills of the cattle, and converts the stable to a chemical factory.
The rivers, lakes, and ponds, too much fished, or obstructed by factories, are artificially filled
with the eggs of salmon, turbot, and herring.

" Whatever is excellent and beautiful in civil, rural, or ecclesiastic architecture ; in
fountain, garden, or grounds ; the English noble crosses sea and land to see and to copy at
home. The taste and science of thirty peaceful generations ; the gardens which Evelyn
planted ; the temples and pleasure-houses which Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren built ;
the wood that Gibbons carved ; the taste of foreign and domestic artists, Shenstone, Pope,
Brown, Loudon, Paxton, are in the vast auction, and the hereditary principle heaps on the
owner of to-day the benefit of ages of owners. The present possessors are to the full as
absolute as any of their fathers, in choosing and procuring what they like. This comfort
and splendor, the breadth of lake and mountain, tillage, pasture, and park, sumptuous castle,
and modern villa — all consist with perfect order. They have no revolutions ; no horse-guards
dictating to the crown ; no Parisian poissardes and barricades ; no mob : but drowsy habitude,
daily dress-dinners, wine, and ale, and beer, and gin, and sleep. * * *

"An Englishman hears that the Queen Dowager wishes to establish some claim to put her
park paling a rod forward into his grounds, so as to get.a coachway, and save her a mile to
the avenue. Instantly he transforms his paling into stone masonry, solid as the walls of
Cumse, and all Europe cannot prevail on him to sell or compound for an inch of the land.
They delight in a freak as the proof of their sovereign freedom. Sir Edward Boynton, at
Spic Park, at Cadenham, on a precipice of incomparable prospect, built a house like a long
barn, which had not a window on the prospect side. Strawberry llill of Horace Walpole,
Fonthill Abbey of Mr. Beckford, were freaks ; and Newstead Abbey became one in the hands
of Lord Byron. * * *

" On general grounds, whatever tends to form manners, or to finish men, has a great value.
Every one who has tasted the delight of friendship, will respect every social guard which
our manners can establish, tending to secure from the intrusion of frivolous and distasteful
people. The jealousy of every class to guard itself, is a testimony to the reality they have
found in life. When a man once knows that he has done justice to himself, let him dismiss
all terrors of aristocracy as superstitions, so far as he is concerned. He who keeps the door
of a mine, whether of colialt, or mercury, or nickel, or plumbago, securely knows that the
world cannot do without him. Everybody who is real, is open and ready for that which is
also real."

Descriptions of places are rare, but we like the following so much that we must make
room for it : —

" We came to Wilton and to Wilton Hall — the renowned seat of the Earls of Pembroke,
a house known to Shakspeare and Massinger, the fretjuent home of Sir Philip Sidney, where
he wrote the Arcadia ; where he conversed with Lord Brooke, a man of deep thought, and
a poet, who caused to be engraved on his tombstone, 'Here lies Fulke Greville Lord Brooke,
the friend of Sir Philip Sidney.' It is now the property of the Earl of Pembroke, and the
residence of his brother, Sidney Herbert, Esq., and is esteemed a noble specimen of the
English manor-hall. My friend had a letter from Mr. Herbert to his housekeeper, and the
house was shown. The state drawing-room is a double cube, thirty feet high by thirty feet
wide, by sixty feet long : the adjoining room is a single cube, of thirty feet every way
Although these apartments and the long library were full of good family portraits, Vandyk
and others ; and though there were some good pictures, and a quadrangle cloister "

editor's table.

antique'and modern statuary — to which C, catalogue in liand, did all too much justice —
yet the eye was still drawn to the windows, to a magnificent lawn, on which grew the finest
cedars in England. I had not seen more charming grounds. We went out, and walked
over the estate. We crossed a bridge, Iniilt by Inigo Jones, over a stream of which the
gardener did not know the name (Q«. Alph ?) ; watched the deer; climbed to the lonely
sculptured summer-house, on a hill backed by a wood ; came down into the Italian garden,
and into a French pavilion, garnished with French busts ; and so, again, to the house, where
we found a table laid for us with bread, meats, peaches, grapes, and wine."

That little table of meats, fruit, and wine, is as rare as it is capital, and might safely be
imitated, sometimes, in America.

The Contest. — We have passed through a contest for power unequalled for its virulence ;
but it has happily passed — the voice of nature may again be heard amid the beauties of the
garden and the field ; the wily politician who has won may, if he pleases, accept the cares
of otfice, and the disappointed return to his labors ; if of the farm and the greenhouse, he
may yet be happy.

" Ah ! who, when such life's momentary dream,

Would mix in hireling Senates, strenuous there

To crush the venal Hydra, whose fell crests

Rise with recruited venom from the wound !

Who, for so vain a conflict, would forego

Thy sylvan haunts, celestial solitude !

Where self-improvement, crowned with self-content,

Await to bless thy votary?"

Orchard Hocises. — Experienced fruit growers recommend that plants in orchard houses
should not be too frequently repotted ; once in three or four years is said to be sufficient.
Another writer says of his grapes, in an orchard house : " I have to-day gathered a bunch
of grapes from one of my bush vines in my orchard house, which weighs one and a half
pounds, less half an ounce ; there are still two bunches on the vine, each of which weiglis
upwards of one pound ; the berries are very large. This vine is three years old, and is in
an eleven-inch pot ; its roots have struck through into the border, which is deep and rich.
Several other vines in the same house have borne excellent crops and produced large
bunches."

Washing Clothes. — Whatever housekeepers may please to say or believe on the subject,
there can be no doiibt that one-half, at least, of the cost of clothing, in America, goes in the
washing — the rubbing poor stuff on hard boards. Any good modification of this absurd
system we are ready to patronize. It is rather singular that we should first hear of the
following improvement from an English Mechanics' Magazine : —

" TJte American Floating Ball Washing Machine. — This macliine, which attracted a good
deal of deserved attention at the Paris Exhibition, where very many of its counterparts
were purchased by the English, is now being manufactured to a great extent in this country,
and a depot has been opened, Moore's, 133, in High Hoi born, for the purpose of informing
the public as to the nature of its operations. We have closely inspected this machine, and
seen it at work. A number of wooden balls — more or less, according to the trough in which
the clothes are to be washed — are set in motion by a handle worked by a lever, and whicli
agitates an apparatus on which the linen is placed. This movement causes the balls to rub
against each other, but only with sufficient percussion to pound the material to be cleansed,
and by their eccentric action, imitate to a nicety all the routine of a washerwoman's duties.
In this way, clothes are washed far cleaner than by the ordinary method, and with singular
rapidity. The threefold operations of pounding, rubbing, and squeezing, are done at the
same time ; and, as the lloating balls offer only a limited resistance to each other, the finest
fabrics are free from that injury which is consequent upon the ordinary course of proceeding.
"~ wear is, moreover, much less ; and not even a button has, it is said, been known to be
oQ by the thousands of the machines now in use througliout Europe, and America.

The consumption of soap is smaller, and no necessity for boiling is necessary, excepting in
the case of extreme foulness. The hands of the operator, whicli may bo a cliild, are never
immersed in the water, and, consequently, tliere is no fear of tliat blistering, chapping, and
bleeding of the fingers attendant upon the poor washerwoman's j)ursuits. It seoms to us
an excellent labor-saving machine, and one the permanent character of which is alono to
be estimated by the wear of the wood with which it is made." — Mechanics' Magazine.

Horace Walpole on Gardens. — Dear Sir : I have just been reading over Horace Walpolo's
History of Taste in Modern Gardening, an essay written about one hundred years ago; I
think it migbt be worthy of reprinting ; it would make about four articles, of about three

pages each.

It is rather quaint and amusing. Speaking of the Garden of Eden, be says, "it contained
two trees of which not a sucker or slip remains."

" A cottage and a slip of ground for a cabbage and gooseberry bush, were, in all proba-
bilitVjthe earliest seats and gardens ; a well and bucket succeeded to the Pison and Euj^hra-
tes." " As late as Homer's age, an inclosure of four acres, comprehending orchard, vineyard,
and kitchen-garden, was a stretch of luxury the world at that time had never beheld." Of
a later period, he says : " Trees were headed, and their sides pared away ; many groves seem
green chests set upon poles." " ' Leisure,' as Milton expressed it, ' in trim gardens took his
pleasure.' In the garden of Marshal de Biron, at Paris, consisting of fourteen acres, every
walk is buttoned on each side by lines of flower-pots, which succeed in their seasons. When
I saw it, there were nine thousand pots of Asters."

Speaking of terraced gardens, with long flights of steps, he remarks : " Fortunately, Kent
and others were not quite so timid, or we might still be going up and down stairs in the
open air."

" But the ornament whose merit soonest fades, is the hermitage or scene adapted to con-
templation. It is almost comic to set aside a quarter of one's garden to be melancholy in."

" Borromini twisted and curled architecture as if it was subject to the change of fashions
like a head of hair."

Such are some of his remarks. He traces the rise and progress of gardening very judi-
ciously and concisely.

Yours, W. S.

The Guano Island. — An officer of the U. S. ship Independence, gives us a poor account of
the Guano Island they have been in search of. It proved of no value whatever, had no
landing-place, is in a rainy district, and the waves wash it, in high winds ! The information
which led to the search was an imposition, and its author deserves punishment ; he appears
to have done it wilfully and knowingly, in order to get up a Guano Company.

A Subscriber asks what he shall do with an old quarry which is in view from his house,
and is very unpicturesque ? Follow nature. When the rawness is softened, and in part
concealed and ornamented by the effects of time and the progress of vegetation, deformity,
by this iisual process, is converted into picturesqueness. Hasten the process by the judi-
cious planting of trees, shrubs, and creeping and climbing plants, and a delightfully retired
wilderness of sweets may be created immediately. Mosses piled into shady, damp places, ivy
made to cling to the sides, possibly a spring in the centre, with aquatic plants in perfection,
will often add greatly to the wild charms of even an old gravel pit. To fill up such places
is expensive ; to dress and adorn them costs little trouble or money, and they may be often
masked by plantations, and so united with the general scenery at a distance, as to produce
great novelty and variety when approached.

Grapery. — Ax old Gravel pit may bo usefully treated in anotlier mode than the one last
stated. An example is found at the nursery of Mr. Rivers, at Sawbridgeworth, where the
soil is a loam, varying from a strong to a sandy nature, according to the character of the
subsoil, which is in places clay, alternating with beds of sand. These sand-beds have been
quarried in places, and Mr. Rivers has taken advantage of these pits, and has converted them
into a primitive kind of grapery ; to effect this, vines have been planted on one side the
margin of the pit, in the natural soil of the nursery ; a rough kind of framework is placed
over the pit, on which are fixed glazed sashes, covering it over, and resting on the opposite
side. The vines are brought in under the glass, and fruit freely — not large, of course, but
well-colored. Some of these sand-pits are ten or twelve yards long or more, three or four
yards wide, and seven or eight feet deep. Nothing has been done to the interior, except
making a rough path along the middle, ending with a seat at the further end. This is
turning old quarries to a useful purpose. Near one of these graperies, a larger sand-hollow
has been converted into a place for plunging vines in pots intended for planting out ; the
plants are five or six feet high, and, at a distance, reminded one of the sloping banks of
vines on the continent ; but, on a closer inspection, they were of course minus the fruit.

Grapes. — Could we venture to mention the various sources from which the noblest grapes
from private greenhouses have been forwarded during a protracted confinement, we should
employ much space. We must record, however, two magnificent baskets from Staten Island,
which would do credit to " a king's gardener." To G. R. S., too, whose grapery is a perfect
thing, we are thrice in debt.

American Pomological Society. — In our la^ number, we gave some interesting proceedings
of this Society — all we received in time. The Rural New Yorker continues the report, from
which we make the following abstract. When the Transactions appear, we shall give a
risum4 of the whole : —

" Peaches : Recommended for ' general cultivation :' Crawford's Early, Oldmixon Clingstone.

" Peaches : Recommended as 'promising well :' Susquehannah, Gorgas, Hative de P'erriers,
Hill's Chili, Madeleine de Courson.

" Cherries: Downton was removed from the list for general cultivation. Recommended
for 'special cultivation:' Napoleon Bigarreau. Recommended for 'general cultivation:'
Belle d'Orleans, Coe's Transparent, Early Purple Guigne, Governor Wood, Reine Hortense,
Rockport Bigarreau.

" Plums: Frost Gage was removed from the list for ' general cultivation :' Monroe Egg was
established as 'Monroe.' Recommended for 'general cultivation :' Lombard. Recommended
as 'promising well:' White Dawson, Fellemburg, General Hand, Bradshaw, Duane's Purple,
German Prune, and Pond's Seedling.

^'■Raspberries: Recommended for ' general cultivation:' French. Recommended as 'pro-
mising well:' Cope, Thunderer, American Red, or Red Prolific, Ohio Everbearing, Catawissa.
The latter all seemed to agree was an astonishing bearer, and the President liked its flavor.

^'■Blackberries: Tlie Improved High Bush was recommended for 'general cultivation,' as
Dorchester. A discussion on the Lawton question ended by laying the subject on the table.

'■'■Strawberries: The following sorts were recommended as 'promising well:' McAvoy's
Superior, Hooker, Scarlet Magnate, Trolloppe's Victoria, Genesee, Le Baron, Lougworth's
Prolific."

A vote of thanks to the President was passed by acclamation, and the Society adjourned,
to meet in New York, in 1858, at such time and place as the President might ap])oint.

There seems to have been some confusion as to giving out the reports. Would it not be
well for the Society to retain a reporter, and distribute the proceedings to publications in-
terested in disseminating knowledge on the subject, charging each with its share of the
expense. Tlie information would thus be earlier disseminated. We shall look with inte-
rest for the official pamphlet of proceedings ; this is, no doubt, preparing for distributi
a day sufficiently early for planters.

.'.'^yfiH-

YoL. VI —December, 1856. 37

Illinois UoKTicrLTrRAL Society. — A meeting is to take place, in the city of Decatur, on
Wodncsilay, the 17th of December, at ten o'clock, to frame a Constitution and By-Laws for
a State Horticultural Society in Illinois. The friends of the measure are anticipating a
large and enthusiastic meeting at Decatur, and it is hoped that every county in Illinois will
be well represented. The convention will probably sit two days in the transaction of its
business, and all who desire the development of this great branch of our State products,
are cordially invited to be present, and to bring with them the best specimens of horticul-
tural objects, that the gathering may be the more interesting. E. S. Hull,

Cor. Sec. Alton Horticultural Socicti/.

Answers to CoREEsroxDEXTS. — (S. W. Johnston.) The J^[n()volia Mirhanxii of some cata-
logues is the ^[arjnoUa Macroplujlla, certainly one of the most beautiful of ornamental trees.
It was named after the elder Michaux, and we have always regretted that the modesty of
his son concluded to continue the designation given by the father, and which it will now
retain. Notwithstanding its great merit and oriental character of leaf, it continues to
be rare, as do M. cordata and M. auriculaia, two of our best ornamental trees, from the
difficulty of procuring seeds.

(Subscriber, Leesburg, Va.) The best work on the kitchen garden ever printed in America,
is McMahon's, of which a new edition appeared lately in Philadelphia, from Lippincott,
who rarely advertises.

Dear Sir: I have a number of oak-trees, valuable from their size and position, suffering
from decay in the trunk near the ground. Can you tell me what will arrest this ? (1.) Will
you also name some reliable work on the flower gardens, suitable for a beginner, containing
plain, ])ractical information ? (2) and oblige Yours, respectfully, A Subscriber.

Bait. County, Md,

(1.) Clean out all the dead wood carefully, and fill the cavities with moistened Roman
cement ; this sets at once, and will keep out the malign influence of moisture, the great
destroyer. Trees thus treated will often survive a long time.

(2.) Mrs. Loudon's Treatise, edited by Downing, we have found a very valuable book of
reference. Breck's, published in Boston, is also very useful.

" The Proper Expression of Rural Cemeteries," shall have a place in our next volume.

The Plan of a House, from Michigan, shall receive early attention, if possible.

Many correspondents whom we would fain have a chat with, must icait on the Index till
next month.

CuPHEA Eminens. — Mr. G. C. Thorburn has exhibited to us this new Cuphea, vfliich
promises to be useful as a bedding-out plant. The flowers are twice as long as our old
favorite, and one-half is yellow. Mr. T. will introduce it next spring.

" The Concord Grape," says the American Agriculturist, " which caused so much discus-
sion at its introduction some four years ago, is settling down to a place among standard
fruits, in northern gardens. No grape was ever introduced with a louder flourish of trum-
pets, and few were ever assailed with severer criticism. It is gradually winning favor, and
appears destined to become popular, where the Isabella will not ripen. A fruit grower in
Connecticut recently informed ns, that it has done remarkably well with him, ripened this
year by the 1st of September, while the Diana did not mature until the 16th, and the Isa-
bella not until the last of the month. This is valuable testimony to its early maturity.

price has fallen from five dollars to one, and is now within the reach of all who desire

We hear of gentlemen who are making large plantations of it."

Carpenter's White Peach. — The same journal remarks: "Tlais splendid peach has, we
are glad to learn, been placed in the hands of nurserymen for propagation and sale. An
intelligent friend says of it ; ' At all the shows where it has been exhibited, it has received
the prize as a superior seedling peach. It has had a four years' trial, and has sustained its
character fully. It is not only one of the best, but one of the largest peaches erer raised.
The flesh is uniformly white to the pit. It ripens about the second week in October. Hav-
ing had opportunities of testing it for three years past, I do not hesitate to say that I con-
sider it a very great acquisition.' "

Remontant Roses. — A French cultivator at Lyons, France, commends to our notice the
following new remontant roses : Due de Malakoflf and Pauliska, as of the finest description.

Diana Grape and Orange Raspberry. — We have nearly ready for publication, engravings
of these two fruits for the ensuing volume.

The Soil. — An English paper says ; " The whole process of cultivating the soil, in
England, is undergoing such progressive changes by the introduction of artificial manure,
the use of improved implements, and the increasing substitution of steam for manual labor,
as to amount to a revolution."

A Large Flock. — Mr. McConnell, of Sangamon County, Illinois, has the largest flock of
sheep in the United States. It numbers 21,000, and all of the choicest merinoes.

Pears. — We have on our table some fine pears from our neighbor, P. R. Freas, Esq.,
Editor of the Germantown Telegraph, which mark his very successful culture. The Beurri
Sieulle, a fruit little spoken of at our pomological conventions, is one of the best, a thrifty
grower, and produces abundantly — generally more than should be permitted to remain on.
A single tree yielded a full bushel ; it is not an a^iiy bearer, but, in Mr. Freas's garden,
since it commenced, it has invariably borne a full crop every year. It is a very handsome
pear, continuing yellow a considerable time before it should be eaten, and it should never
be eaten till quite soft. Fruit, of medium size, roundish, flattened. SJcin, pale yellow, with
a little red on the sunny side. Stalk, an inch and a quarter long, set in a cavity. Calyx,
closed, basin scarcely at all sunken. Flesh, buttery, melting, rich, and very good. Ripe in
October.

Mr, Freas's Columbia, Vicar of Winkfield, and Easter Beurre, are higlily creditable
specimens.

Gas Lime. — The Mark Lane Express says, with regard to this material, that " the gas lime
must not be api^lied, in a fresh state, to any crop, but should be mixed with two or three
times its weight of earthy or vegetable mould, and then turned over repeatedly for at least
twelve months. It will then be fit for applying to the land. It will be most appropriate
for clover or grass lands. From fifty to sixty bushels of the gas lime, prepared as before
mentioned, may be used per acre in the autumn or spring."

Tee Honey King. — The Agriculturist calls Mr. M. Quinby, of St. Johnsville, Montgomery
County, N. Y.,the Honey King, and assures us that, this year, he has sold 22,000 pounds of
honey, all raised by himself and his immediate neighbors, with only common hives, small,
square, cheaply constructed boxes, with glass sides, which are set upon the common hive.
The quality is superior, and it commands a very high price, viz : twenty-five cents the pound,
including the weight of the boxes.

Tub Ci'RCDLio. — By Nicholas Longwortb, Cincinnati, Ohio : —

Cl.NCINNATI, Nov. 5, 185G.

Editor of IIoRTicrLTCRiST : In your paper of this month, Mr. Gardener writes tliat lie saved
his plums from the ravages of the Curculio, by piling small stones to the height of eighteen
inches round the trees. I will vouch that a pavement of brick or stone to the extent of the
branches, would secure the fruit as long as the trees bear fruit. In twenty-seven years, I
liave lost no plums by the Curculio round my house. I have a brick pavement to the ex-
tent of all the limbs. In my garden adjoining, I have not had a tree to perfect a single fruit,
except two years. I leave a circle of about three feet diameter round each tree, to let in
water, and cover the earth with small stones or coarse gravel. The Curculio is a winged
insect, and flies from garden to garden. The reason why they do not deposit eggs in plums
where there are pavements, is this : Providence gives them sense not to deposit their eggs
in plums where the insects, when the plums fall to the ground, cannot crawl into the ground,
and get warm winter quarters. I have seen frequent statements, where a part of a plum-
tree extended over water, no plums were stung ; whilst those over the ground were all de-
stroyed. The Curculio is a winged insect ; yet we see frequent cases where persons say they
saved a crop by hanging a scythe on the tree, tying some soft wax round the body of the
tree, to prevent the Curculio from crawling up the trees, and others, by shaking the tree
twice per day, and killing the insects as they fall from the tree. If the insects had two
particular hours to perform the work, I should have full faith in it ; but, till convinced of
this, I should as soon believe in spiritual rappings.

Peabodt's New Seedling Strawberry. — A colored portrait of Mr. Peabody's Strawberry
has been sent us, and may be seen at the publication office. Certainly this is the largest
yet, and all accounts agree as to its size and beauty, &c., rivalling in flavor Burr's New Pine.
It is a cross of the Ross Phoenix with a wild strawberry of Alabama, hermaphrodite in
character, a hardy, vigorous grower ; a single plant sometimes cannot be covered by a half-
bushel measure.

Mr. Peabody proposes to get one thousand subscriptions, at five dollars per dozen plants.
As soon as this number is made ui), he will notify each subscriber (having first sent him a
colored plate), when the money may be mailed, and the j)lants, in moss and oiled silk, will
be sent safely by post ; packages of a dozen will go through the mail as safely as a letter.
Address Charles A. Peabody, Columbus, Georgia.

Fruit in Jelly. — Put in a basin half a pint of calfs foot jelly, and when it has become
stiff, lay in a bunch of grapes, with the stalks upwards, or fruit of any kind ; over this put
a few vine leaves, and fill up the bowl with warm jelly ; let it stand till next day, and then
set the bowl in water up to the brim for a moment, then turn out carefully. It is a very
elegant looking dish.

The Vine Disease is now said to be rapidly disappearing in Tuscany, and even in Portugal
the worst is thought to be over ; but so terrible have been its ravages, that for two years
past the cultivation of the vineyards has been abandoned, the laborer has had no employ-
ment, the proprietor no produce, and the vines are nearly ruined. Among other contriv-
ances which have been resorted to in order to save something from the vineyards, it is
understood that the vine growers have been pressing such grapes as they had, and then
adding enormous quantities of poor brandy to the juice, in order to prevent the putrid fer-
mentation to which it is now so liable. This brandy spirit, or cherupiga, containing proba-
per cent, of spirit, is the basis of much of the port wine that is received in England
America, and is known to be extremely unwholesome.

Portable Steam-Engines. — Certificates have been shown us that prove the value of the
portable steam-engines. One farmer asserts that he has threshed one hundred bushels of
oats per hour, and can readily thresh and clean over two hundred bushels of wheat per day.
Another says five hundred bushels, and that he has threshed, and cleaned, and put into
bags, at the rate of one bushel per minute. For farm work, this engine is most valuable,
and no less so for irrigation, which it can be employed to do when there is no other work
on hand.

With the mowers and reapers, the steam-engine, the lawn-mower, gas-works, and so forth,
we now want a race of fawjiers, educated at agricultural colleges, to direct this machinery
to the best advantage.

The New York Horticcltural Society has resolved to extend to the Pomological Society
the usual hospitalities on the occasion of its next meeting in that city.

QpAiNT AND True. — Good, honest John Evelyn published, in 1686, his Kalendar, or Gar-
deners^ Almanac, with the following introduction : " As Paradise (though of God's own plant-
ing) was Paradise no longer than the man was put into it, to dress it and to keep it ; so,
nor will our own gardens remain long in their perfection, unless they are also continually
cultivated. But when we have so much celebrated the life and felicity of a gardener as to
think it preferable to all other diversions whatsoever, it is not because of the leisure which
he enjoys above other men, ease and opportunity which minister to vain and inglorious
delights, such as fools derive from sensual objects; we dare boldly pronounce it, there is not
amongst men a more laborious life than is that of a good gardener's ; but, because a labor
full of tranquillity and satisfaction, natural and instructive, and such as (if any) contributes
to piety and contemplation, experience, health, and longevity. In some, a condition it is,
furnished with the most innocent, laudable, and purest of earthly felicities, and such as
does certainly make the nearest approaches to that blessed state where only they enjoy all
things without pains ; so as those who were led only by the light of nature, because they
could phansie none more glorious, thought it worthy of entertaining the souls of heroes and
most illustrious of mortals. * * A gardener's work is never at an end ; it begins with
the year, and continues to the next ; he prepares the ground, and then he sows it ; after
that he plants, and then he gathers the fruits ; but, in all the intermediate space, he is
careful to dress it. Intolerable confusion will succeed the smallest neglect, after once a
ground is in order."

The Index, &c., has fallen like a bombshell into our camp, and deranged the regular form'
of the present number, obliging us to omit much matter prepared. Happily, indexes, those
useful articles for the future, do not come as often as house-cleaning time ; if they did,
garrulous editors would be so frequently in dilemmas, that they would give it up.

f 0rticultural ^otieti^s.

Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. — The following comprises the premiums awarded
by the Society at the Twenty-Kighth Autumual Exhibition, held at Peun Square on the 16th,
17th, and 18th of September, 1856 : —

Collection of Plants. — Collection of twenty — pots not exceeding sixteen inches in diameter,
at least one-half to be in bloom, open for private collections only, $20, John Pollock, gr. to
J. Dundas ; second, $15, Mark Hill, gr, to M. W. Baldwin ; third, $10, T. Robertson' gr. to
^' A. Fahnestock ; fourth best, $8, J. J. Habermeld, gr. to J. Lambert. Collection o/twenttj,

editor's table.

same restrictions as above, open for all, $20, Clias. Sutherland, pr. to John Anspach ; second,
$15, Isaac Collius, gr. to Gen. R. Patterson ; t)urd,$10, John Pollock ; fourth, $8, Thos. Robert-
son, gr. to B. A. Fahnestock. Collection of ticelve, saino restrictions, oju'ii for all, $10, Isaac
Collins, gr. to Gen. Patterson ; second, $8, J. J. Habermehl ; tliird, $0, Jolm Pollock. . Col-
li,-lion of Specimen Plunts, in tubs or pots, each collection to contain four plants, $S, J. Pol-
lock. Collection of Conifers, grown in tubs, six i>lants, Sf), Robert Buist ; second, $3, David
Ferguson. Collection of Evergreens, woi elsewhere mentioned in this schedule, $3, John Sher-
wood ; second, Robert Buist. Collection of Achimcnes, $4, Wm. (Jrassie, gr. to John Tucker.
Collection of Orchids, $b, John Pollock ; second, $'3, Robert Buist. Collection of Ferns, $2,
John Pollock ; second, $1, Thos. Robertson.

Special Prerniums — to George NicoU, gr. to Chas. Macallester, for a fine display of Coxcombs,
$3 : James Thomas, gr. to J. D. Whetham, for Monthly Carnations, $3 ; Robert Buist, for a
collection of variegated Plants, $3.

The Committee on Designs, I3askets, and Bouquets, reported the following awards : —

Designs, Baskets, and Bouquets. — Designs, formed of cut Flowers, $20, Henry A. Dreer ;
second, $15, Robert Dunlap, gr. to C. Fallon; third, $5, J. J. Habermehl; do., not exceeding
five feet in height, $5, do. ; do., of Grasses, $3, Peter Raabe (120 species) ; second, $2, do. ;
do., composed of the largest and finest varieties of Fruits, $10, J. W. Parkinson ; do., formed
of Fruits and Flowers combined, $10, Miss Percival ; second best, $5, to John Kinnier, gr. to
Thos. Dunlap. Baskets, oval or round, averaging twenty inches in diameter, formed of cut
Flowers, $5, Henry A. Dreer ; second, $3, J. J. Habermehl ; do., oval or round, averaging
sixteen inches in diameter, $3, J. J. Habermehl. Bouquets, for the hand, not exceeding eight
inches in diameter, $3, J. J. Habermelil ; second, $2, Henry A. Dreer. Dahlias, cut Flowers,
twenty-four varieties, $5, Gerhard Schmitz ; second, $3, Robert Buist ; do. do., twelve varie-
ties, by an amateur, $3, Wm. Carvill, gr. to Henry Grambo ; do. do., American Seedling,
parti-colored, $2, Gerhard Schmitz ; do. do. do., self-colored, $2, do. Roses, cut Flowers,
twenty varieties, $5, Henry A. Dreer; second, $3, J. L. Darlington & Co., West Chester, Pa.

Special Premium of $1, for Weed Bouciiiet, to Miss Percival.

The Committee cannot refrain from calling attention to the new and beautiful designs
composed of fruits and flowers, and recommend an increase in the amount of premium.
The Grasses are also of great merit and beauty. The Committee would report favorably of
the seedling, ever-blooming Roses, the Beauty of Green Mount and Woodland Margaret,
originated by James Pentland, of Baltimore, from the cut specimens submitted.

The Committee on Grapes have awarded the following : —

Grapes (foreign), grown in pots, ten specimens, for the best, $10, Richard Mathews, gr. to
Jos. S. Levering. Grapes (foreign), collection, cut bunches, for the best, $10, Geo. Lazenby,
gr. to David S. Brown ; second, $5, M. Hagerty, gr! to Jos. Harrison. Grapes (Hamburgh),
three buncbes, $5, Geo. Lazenby ; for the second best, $3, Matthew Hagerty, gr. to Jos. Har-
rison. Grapes (Chasselas), three bunches, $3, Geo. Lazenby ; second, $2, II. Cowperthwait.
Grapes (Wliite Muscat), three bunches, $3, Geo. Lazenby ; second, $2, Chas. Sutherland, gr.
to John Anspach. Grapes (Frontignac), tliree bunches, $3, Geo. Lazenby ; second, $2, S. H.
Simpson. Grapes, another variety, three bunches (White Nice), $3, Wm. Grassie, gr. to
John Tucker ; for the second best (Frankenthal), $2, H. Cowperthwait. Grapes (native),
collection, cut bunches, $5, Isaac B. Baxter ; second, $3, Peter Raabe. Grapes (Isabella),
six bunches, $2, Richard Mathews ; second, $1, A. L. Felton. Grapes (Catawba), six bunches,
$2, T. S. Fletcher; second, $1, Thomas Hulton. Grapes (Flsinborough), six bunches, $2,
Jos. Smith, Burlington. Grapes, another variety, six bunches, for the best, $2, Thos Meehan.
Pine-Apples, grown in pots, five specimens, $10, Wm. Grassie ; second, $5, Wm. Grassie.

The Committee report that their attention has been called to two or three native varieties
not heretofore exhibited — among which is that named the Concord Grape, grown under glass
by Thomas Fletcher ; but a very choice white grape, called the Rebecca, resembling some-
what the flavor of the Chasselas, said to be a seedling from the Isabella; and grown in Hud-
son, N. Y., is well entitled, we think, to pre-eminence over all others, and be truly considered
a valuable acquisition to our native varieties.

Your Committee notice with pleasure the increasing interest manifested in the grape cul-
ture, from which we are encouraged to hope that many valuable results may be obtained
thereby, both in size and quality.

Peaches, one bushel, $5, H. S. Penn. Peaches, one peck, $2, S. Titus (seedling, called the
"Titus") ; second, $1, Isaac B. Baxter. Peaches, collection, six specimens each, $3, Isaac B.
Baxter. Nectarines, one dozen (Red Roman), for the best, $2, Matthew Hagerty, gr. to .Jos.
Harrison. Plums, two dozen (Golden Drop), $2, S. W. Noble, Montgomery County. Plums
(White Egg), second, $1, Robert Parham.

To Micliael Magee, a premium of $3 for the seedling Magee Peach, exhibited the second
year ; a fine free, with greenish-white flesh and red cheek.

The Committee on Pears and Melons respectfully report the following awards : —

Pears (native), collection, three specimens each, SIO, Hovey & Co., Boston, JIass. ; second,
$5, Dr. J. K. Eshleman. Pears (Seckel), one peck, $3,Thos. Hulton, gr. to E. B. Grubb ; second,
$2, George W. Earl. Pears, another variety, six specimens, $2, the " Petre," to R. B. Ott.
Pears (foreign), collection, three specimens each, $10, Hovey & Co., Boston, Mass. ; second,
$5, Lloyd N. Rogers, Baltimore. Pears, any variety, one peck, $3, the "Duchesse d'Angou-
leme," to T. S. Fletcher ; second, $2, the " Bartlett," to John Perkins. Pears, any variety,
half peck, $2, "Louise Bonne de Jersey," John Perkins ; second, $1, "White Doyenne,"
Thomas Brown. Melons, three specimens, $2, the " Netted Melon," to W. Armstrong ; second,
$1, " Stillman," M. Hagerty, gr. to J. Harrison. Watermelons (Mountain Sweet), three speci-
mens, $3, James T. Zane, N. J. ; second, $2, Mr. Zane, N. J. Watermelons (Marshall), $2,
Mr. Zane, N. J. ; second best, $1, Wm. Armstrong, gr. to Alexander Brown.

Several new Watermelons were exhibited for the first time. The Souter and Pomaria,
originated in South Carolina, are varieties of the highest merit. Their size is large, rind
remarkably thin, flesh red to the centre, flavor sugary and delicious. The Imperial is too
small for market purposes, but, in all other respects, equal to the two preceding. OdelVs
Large White is very large, round in form, the rind not so thin, and the flesh a paler red ;
quality very fine. This variety is safd to keep longer after being pulled from the vine than
any other. In another year, we hope to have exhibited the Bradford, Sumpter or Dark
Speckled, and some other new kinds, equal, in all respects, to the Souter, Imperial, and
Pomaria, and superior to the Mountain Sweet.

The display of Pears was very fine, and many of the specimens were of great size and
beauty, indicating judicious and skilful attention. The Committee awarded the following
Special Premiums : —

Pears, for a collection, $2 each, John Chambers and Mrs. C. Mackau. Pears, for a collec-
tion, $1 each, J. W. Wilson, Isaac B. Baxter, and Robert Buist. Pears, for a fine dish of
Seckel, each $1, R. B. Ott, H. L. Tripler, M. Hagerty, and Henry Hay. Pears, for a fine dish
of Regnier, $1, Geo. Liggett ; for a dish of White Doyenne, $1, Samuel Cooper ; and, for a
dish of Duchesse d'Angouleme, $1, John Chambers. Watermelons, $1 each for the Souter,
for the Pomaria, for the Imperial, and for the Odell's Large White, all to Mark Hill, gr. to
M. W. Baldwin.

The Committee on Apples report the following award : —

Apples, collection, six specimens each, eighty varieties, $5, John Perkins ; second, twenty-
three varieties, $3, S. W. Noble. Apples, any variety, one bushel (Summer Pearman), $2,
Jacob Haines ; second (Maiden's Blush), $1, John Perkins. Apples, any variety, one peck
(Maiden's Blush), $2, J. L. Darlington & Co. Fif/s, twelve specimens, $2, Mrs. Tessier.
Quinces, half peck, $2, Lloyd Chamberlain ; second, $1, Chas. Heritage.

The Committee on Vegetables respectfully report that they have awarded the premiums
as follows : —

Potatoes, sweet, one bushel, for the best, $2, William Armstrong ; second best, $1, to No.
250. Beets, long, one dozen, $2, John Riley ; do., round, $2, James Jones, Girard College.
Carrots, one dozen, $2, John Riley. Salsifi/, one dozen, $2, James Jones. Onions, yellow,
three dozen, $2, John Riley ; do., white, tliree dozen, $2, W^illiam Barry, gr. to Alfred Cope.
Special Premium of $2, for a basket of very superior white potatoes, to Joseph Zane. Cab-
bage, six heads, drumhead, $2, Matthew Hagerty ; second best, $1, Thomas Riley, gr. to G. W.
Carpenter. Cabbage, six heads, red Dutch, $2, James Jones. Lettuce, six heads, $2, A. L.
Felten. Celery, six stalks, blanched, $2, James Jones ; second, $1, William Armstrong.
Egg Plant, six fruit, .$2, A. L. Felten ; second, $1, Samuel Greasly, gr. to W. T. Crook.
Tomatoes, one peck, $2, H. A. Dreer ; second, SI, S. H. Simpson. Sweet Maize, or Indian
Corn, for table use, three dozen, $2, M. Hagerty ; second, $1, A. L. Felten. Pumpkins, two
specimens, $1, M. Woodburn, gr. to Joseph Swift.

Vegetables, display, by a market gardener, or a gardener to a public institution, $15, to
A. L. Felten ; display, by another do. do., second, $10, to James Jones ; display, by another
do. do., third, $5, John Riley ; display, by an amateur, for the best, $10, to Wm. Barry, gr.
to Alfred Cope ; display, by another amateur, second, $5, to Wm. Armstrong ; display by
another amateur, third, §4, to Mark Hill.

Special Premiums for very good and creditable displays — $3 to M. Woodburn ; $3 to Robert
Dunlap ; $3 to Patrick McStay, gr. to Geo. Blight ; $2 to Thomas Hulton ; $2 to John Kimier
Thos. Dunlap.

editor's table.

(laUn^ar of (Dpcratioiis.

DECEMBER.
BY WILLIAM SAUNDERS.

Caulifloweks. — This desirable vegetable does not attain to great perfection wliilc the
weather is dry and hot; cool, moist climates being most favorable to its growth. Very good
crops may be obtained by sowing seed in May, and planting out the young plants in July or
August. If the autumn is favorable, good heads will be formed before frost, and even those
that show no indication of heading, may be lifted and protected in a cool cellar, where they
will mature. To grow them well, the soil must be deep and rich. Crops for early spring
use are raised in frames ; these are planted during the present month. The bed is prepared
by filling in a depth of two feet of good soil, and, if the bottom is covered with rougli stones
for drainage, they will be easier kept during winter. The plants are placed about eighteen
inches apart, and the vacant spaces may be set with lettuce. The future management con-
sists in preserving from severe frosts by sufficient covering; straw mats are most convenient
— a covering of loose straw or hay most efficient. Air must be freely admitted in the
absence of frost, and the soil should be kept rather dry during winter. It is not desirable
to encourage growth before the end of February ; afterwards, the quicker they are grown
the better. Frequent stirring of the surface soil, and occasional applications of manure
water, will promote growth ; abundance of air is required at all favorable times, in order to
keep the plants strong and dwarf. Clayey or strong, loamy soils, will be benefited by being
thrown up in ridges, to be acted upon by the weather; the more exposed the surface, the
more friable will the soil be left for spring operations.

Gkapery. — Structures for the cultivation of the foreign grape are not so numerous as they
ought to be. The cost of erection and preparation of borders is deemed so great as to deter
many from entering into their culture. The expense of preparation need not be so very
great. Good fruit may be grown in very simple houses. A roof of glass is not so costly,
and by dispensing with heavy rafters and sliding sashes, and having the roof a fixture, very
efficient houses can certainly be put up for three dollars per foot in length. The borders
may be made up with good garden soil, well enriched, and thorough drainage is indispen-
sable. Deep, damp borders, excessively manured, never prove satisfactory, and no amount
of architectural display will compensate for want of practical skill in cultivation.

Greexhouse. — Artificial heat will now be required, and as the systems of heating are
various, many are doubtful as to the most economical. The old-fashioned hot-air flue and
furnace is so seldom mentioned, that it is very generally considered to be superseded by
other methods. For small houses, it is, however, the most economical. The cost and ex-
pense of fitting up a hot-water apparatus is so great as to deter its introduction into small
establishments. It is well known among ciiltivators, that as good plants and flowers have
been, and still are, produced in houses warmed by flues, as in those that are heated after
the most approved methods by hot water. Success in plant culture does not depend upon
the method of producing artificial heat, although much depends upon its proper application.
One of the largest and most unique conservatories in this country, was heated for several
seasons by a branch from the furnace used in heating the dwelling to which it was attached,
and small structures of this description have frequently no other means of being heated
than by simply opening the communicating doors into the parlor. Thus we see that various
simple expedients have been perfectly successful, and although water in pipes is undoubtedly
economical on a large scale, or where several contiguous houses are warmed by one furnace ;
still, for small greenhouses, a flue is generally preferable. Flues should always be con-
structed with evaporating pans on the covers. These being filled with water when the fire
is strong, counteract, to some extent, the aridity which at all times results from artificial
heat.

Great care should now be exercised in watering. Plants of a tender nature, and those in
a state of rest, should be kept as dry as consistent with health to render them proof against
change of temperature.

■^ ^^^^^'^^^^W' ' ^^'' "^^"^-^

A

Abios, list of hardy 227, 22S

uobilis 11-1

Acacia uoinu .'i.'iO

Acer juiiouicum .' 330

polymorplmm 330

Achiracues magnifica 229

Actinic rays 2.S1

Address of Col. Wilder SIT

of Mr. Barry 366

Adiantutn cultratum 2;)7

Age and varieties of fruits 97

Agricultural 237

)>ateut office ini

t-ocietv. Connecticut 433

Michigan 279, .3.33

in Tennessee 280

United States . . 285, 379, .'526

tools in Boston 328

Agriculture and business 389

Agriculturist, South Carolina .. 340

Albany agricultural works 28.5

Allaniunda grandiflora 507

Allen's hybrid grape 527

Alum, Kockbridge, springs 283

Ameniaca mume | 330

pendula 330

American gardens, errors in . . . 329

in London 145

Pomological Society 235, 521, 525

otlicersof 520, 532

Ammonia in greenhouses 45

to economize 1.39

Ampelop.sis bipinuata 476

heterophylla .3.31

Anffictochilus setaceus 122

Anandalo 547

Anemone japonica 422

Anspach's, Mr., pineapples 234

Answers to correspondents . 45, 141,
194, 2S3, 329, 383, 430, 481, .5.33

Anthracite ashes 234

Ants, to kill 429

Apple, a great bearing 479

Jackson 286

Keim 112

king 397

nickajack 2.m

northern spy 242

queen, or Nix's green 255

Khode Island greening ,3.39

scale 113

smokehouse 289

Stanley's early 481

sweet and sour together ... 46
Apples, best twelve autumn ... 92

California 328

dwarfing 93

oranges and pears 97

pine 234

Southern 89

sweet 125

three dwarf 330

Apricot, cultivation of 220

dwarfed 234

new Japan ,3.30

Aquarium and Wardian case . . 405

Araucaria Cookii 283

Arbor vita; as a wind brake 46

Anliiia Sieboldii .304

Aristolocliia Kiempferi .331

Arts, decorative 356

Asparagus, substitute for 331

Auctions 245

Australian seeds 193

Axt, Mr., Catawba wine 2.'i3

Azalea, Beauty of Europe 325

indica, twelve best 431

B

Bachman, Dr 1.38

Balloon spiders 473

Bard, John 547

Bark, watering the 530

Bark -louse 335, 339

Barry's, Mr., address 360

Bartrara, residence of John 79

and Marshall, correction of 288

Basket-making and osiers 505

Baskets 49

Beautiful in nature 492

picture 145

Becar's camellia 325

Bee-hives 2.35

Bee-keeper's guide 138

Bees 334

Beetroot, manufacture 428

profitable 138

Beetles, wingless 429

Beets, baked 530

Begonia picta ,304

Belts for screens 284

Bignonia grandiflora 331

Billings's address 145

Biographies of botanists, &c. . . .304
Biota orientalis 252

pyramidalis 252

Bird cherry, English 468

Blackberries, a second crop of . 41

Lawton 237, 242, 281

New Kochelle 201

Bleeding of trees 450

Blood Manure Company 281

Boston, tools in 328

Botanical jeu 90

notes and flowers 122

Botany, familiar 318

Bonpl'and, still living 96

Bouiiucts, keeping 2.33

skilful 2.34

Boydell's steam engine 326

Brandegee, W 325

Brock's flower garden 279

Bricht, William 2SS

Brooklyn Hort. Society . . . 189, 294,

325, 534
Brown and Gray 4.30

Robert 382

Browne, Sir Thomas 479

Brugmansia 466

Buchanan's "grape culture"... 196

Budding roses 3.32

Bug, pea, and its allies 119

Burlington, Iowa 233

Burnt soils 284

Butter, how to make come 90

O

Cactus, grafting the 28

Calceolarias losing ground 138

slirubby 424

Calendar of operations,, 54, 101, 149,
197, 246, 295, 342, 390, 439, 487, 535,
576
California, doings in 323

seeds 385

Camellia, Jenny Lind 304

propagation of 191

Camellias, Downing ,325

from- China 282

in Philadelphia 326

trained 2S1

twelve best 4,31

Canada 93

Carlisle, Pa., letter from 244

Carpenter's white peach 571

Carriage-house and stable . . 250, 403

Catalogues received 532

Catalpa Kajmpferi 330

Cat, a fishing 281

Catawba wine 2.33

Catleugh's Mrs., nursery 273

Cats among birds .328

Cedar of Lebanon 202

Cemeteries, rural 345, 394, 442

Cephalotaxus ,3.30

fortuni ; 227

Cephalotus foUicularis •. 122

Cercis chinensis 3.30

Chjenomeles umbilicata 330

ChaniKrops chusan 228

Chatsworth 530

Cheap glass structures 434, 451

Cherries, dwarf 291

experiments with 286

Cherry, English bird 468

pear, and nectarine 48, 49

Cherry-trees, Rivers's dwarf .. . 234

Chester County Hort. Soc 141

Chestnut, horse 203

Spanish 204

Chestnut-trees, mortality of . . . 97

Chicago, lumber in 329

Chickens, fighting 327

Chiswick exhibition 47

Chimonanthus fragrans 532

Chorlton's Grape Jlanual 193

on grapes 476

reply to Hepp 242

to Lindley 484

Chorozemas 422

Cincinnati 183

Cinnamon 480

Circulars received 433

Citizens new to the country .... 3.35

Cissus discolor 122

City taste for rural things 291

Claude Lorraine's tree 191

Climatology . . 214, 238, 209, 361, 37,

Clintonia pulchella 303

Cochineal 19:

GENERAL INDEX,

Cocoanut mats

Coffee in California

Cold frames

pit

the

weatlier, elfects of

Colliusou, Peter, and Bro"n-u . . .

Colombian guano

Color and liealtli

and odor of plants

Colosseum, flora of

Coliimlius Hort. Society

Common plants, their value . . .

things, ignorance of

Compost, universal

Composts for florists' flowers . . .

Cone of abies nobilis

Conifers, new Japan

Connecticut Agricultural Soc. . .

Contradicting

Convention at Rochester

Correa, the genus

Corresponding secretaries

Corylopsis spicata

Cottage life

Cotton for sheltering

oil

Cotoneaster buxifolia

Cottonwood

Country places, visits to . . . 354,
445, 496

residence

residences, designs for ....

Covering half-hardy plants

Coxe, William, life of

Crab-apple

Cranberry, its culture

Critiques, by Jeffreys. . 133, 173,
264, 315, 370, 415, 459

Crops, the

Cryptomeria

japonica

Cucumber seeds, old

Cucumbers

Culture of the grape

Cunninghamia sinensis

Cupressus, list of hardy

McNabiana

Curculio

remedy 42n.

Mathews'

Currant, white Dutch

grape

wine

T>

Dalilia, Crystal Palace scarlet .

Bahlias, dwarf

Danbury, geography of plants .

Dandelion seeds

Daniels, Howard

Danvesse's catalogue

Daria diversifolia

Datura

Decennial notice

Decorative arts

Deep sowing, evils of

Degraw's address

Deodar

Desert, wliat makes a

Designs for improving residences

Deutzia gracilis 213,

Dhoora, or Indian millet

Dioscorea batatas 96, 243,

opposita

Dog-breaking

Doings in California

Domestic notices

Don, George, death of

Dorking hen

glass sashes

ng, familiar letters to the
Editor 22, 73, 160,

530
4,S5
481
195
141
170

4S
282
382

50
283
294

49
232
280
422
114
330
433
187
476
516
436
330
187
329
283
228
15S
401,

183
321

48
304
204
234
222,

287
330
.202
235
192
361
228
227
420
572
, 531
284
210
209
210

Downing, fruits

monument 286,

residence

Drainage

Draining, directions for

explained

Dreer's seeds

Dried flowers, ornament for . . .

Druid ceremonies

Drying plants

Duck, a great layer

Dwarf cherries 234,

Dwarfing trees

Echeveria nuda 361

Editor's table .. 45, 91, 138, ISS, 426,
476

Egg, condensed 475

Eggs 275

Electricity and vegetation 329

Electrotyping «. . . 499

Embryos, union of .377

Empetrum 544

Endive, cooked 282

to cook .530

Ericas 544

Espy's establishment 291

Evelyn, John 339, 573

Evergreen shrubs and rock work 542

Evergreens 329

a third winter on 227

and other matters 201

cutting back 203

feeding of 201

lists of hardy, etc 227

roots of 202

sun-screens for 552

treatment of 326

Evils of deep sowing 278

Exchanges 379

Exeter nurseries 275

Exhibitions of 1856 436

Experimental gardens, chapter on 1

Extensive establishments 291

Fahnostock, A

Fancy training

Farmers' Club, New York

of Clifton

Farming, gentleman

Farms, protection of

Far-niente

Feast's catalogue

Feeding trees

Fencing, Lowell wire 135,

Ferns, fronds of

nature printed

sexes of

Few seeds the more juice

Figs

Filbert

Fire blight

Fisli and fish-ponds

and seed experiments

spawn ■.

stock of

Flea powder

Flora of the Colosseum

Flower-bed, a model

Flower-garden, Breck's ... 279,
Flowers, and botanical notes . .

composts for

Food for travellers

Force of growth in plants

Foreign notices

seeds and roots

Forest trees of America

Fortune, Mr

Fountains 548,

Frames, cold

Frauds in seed trade

French swindlers 325

Frost, eflects of 503

Fruit, development and ripening

of 463

from Japan 239

Growers' Society of W. New

York ■. 147,189

in the West 387

in jelly 572

trees, girdled 212

training 133

Fruits, new and valuable 330

of Kentucky 419

of the Crimea 383

Fuchsia, the 104

Fuchsias 205

red and pink 2S1

twelve 432

Fun, a bit of 291

Funkia 331

Gale at the east 89

Garden in constant bloom 281

profitable 479

Gardeners 179,291

choice observers 328

hints to young 512

Gardening for the south 279

Gas lime 571

Genesee Hort. Society 147

Gentleman farming 249

the other side 538

Gerard's herbal 328

German experiences 190

Germantown 205

Gesneria Sellowii and bulbosa . 87

Girdled fruit trees 212

Glass sashes, double 280

structures, cheap 434, 451

Glover, Mr 145

Gloxinia, cultivation of 259

Glycerine 327

Gold of pleasure 359

Goldfish 429

Gooseberry, notes on the 454

on the currant 240

Gossip . . 138, 233, 280, 325, 380, 428,
479, 529

from the northwest 43, 178

made into a leader 320

Graft, the Virgilian 530

Grafting 245

by approach 302

tlio cactus tribe 48

the pine tribe 281

Grape, a new white 429

crops, late 258

culture 361

is it established 51

of, and wine-making.. . 93

growers, to 144

muscadine 190

new 478, 483

French 479

Snow's Muscat Hamburgh . 479

Stockwood golden Hambro' 76

vine disease 328

roots or cuttings 144

in Franco and Madeira 285

vines, &c 192

again 527

trimming and trans-
planting 92

Grapes, Allen's hybrid 627

and glass structures 451

and wine 3.')9

black hybrid 527

Chorlton on 476

exotic under glass 551

in India

in 1S56

keeping late 474

Ornpos. No. 8

l{<>l>.-.ni

Ciranito dust a fortilizer .
U riis.i

puuipiis

OravH, J. W., catalogue

Groonhousos 434,

ammonia in

Guauo, Colombiau

O'lnvention

for grass

Willi salt

Gutta percha 231, 239,

H

Halpsia, rose-colored

Half-hardy plants

Hall, J. Prescott

Harris, deatli of I>r

Heating, oldou mode

Hedges 2S8, 329,

evergreen

Heliotrope, culture of

Hemlock spruce

Hen, manure

productiveness of

Herbaria, Douglas's

Loudon

Hints to improvers

Hunt's Botanical Garden .. 17C,

Holly, the

Hollyhock, the

Homo

and education

the individual

Honey from Hymettus

king

peach

Hort-ecliestnut

Horses abused

and Lord Holland

Horticultural societies

Horticultural Society, Brooklyn

Chester County

of Geneva 147,

Massachusetts

Mount Vernon

societies . 141, 146, 196, 243,
.341, 389, 437, 486, 534
Horticult\irist and its friends ..

bound and valued

dcccuiiial notice

devouring the

its value 47,

south

House, an octagon

an old mansion improved . .

Hovey, Mr

Hyde' Park

Hybrid grapes

Hybridizing

192

283
479
142
3.33
3W
323
414
203
284
230
2.33
234
388
240
123
429
426
427
234
327
571
486
203
328
382
572
189
439
438
240
189
294,

530
328
297
32.5
325
193
319
25
429
545
527
309

Icy rain

Idlewild

Illinois Agricultural Society . . .

and the prairies

cattle

trees in

Impaticns Jerdonia; 261,

Important

Impostor's graft

Indigofcra iwafusi

Insects on the plum

on trees

Iowa, writer in

Ireland, improvement of

Irish moss

Iron vases

work, ornamental

rye grass

make cling

Japanese fruit 239

plants 4t>()

trees and fruits .3.30

Jeffreys . 132, 173, 222, 204, 315, 370,
415, 439

red raspberry 2,33

still alive 139

Jenny Lind camellia 364

Joke, a fruity 07

an agricultural 42.S

Jonah's gourd 480

Julia moved to the city 468

Junipers and cedars, grafting of 93

list of hardy 227

Juniperus japonica 330

procumbens 330

pyriformis 421

K

Kalmia latifolia 227

poisonous 169

Kalmias 544, 545

Keim apple 112

Kenicott, John A. and Charles . 243

Kentucky, fruits of 419

Kew Gardens, a day at 38, 66, 96, 116
Kijlruteria j aponica 330

Labels for trees

Ladies, the

Laelia superbum

Landscape gardening

Langdon, Walter

Lappa edulis

Larkspur

Lattice plant, the

Lawns, management of

Ledum

Lemon, enormous

Lemons

Leroy's catalogue

Lettuce, Japan

stowed

Licorice, cultivation of

Ligustrum ibota

Lilium giganteum

Lily of the valley

double

Lindley, Dr. John, answer to 281,

life of

Liquid fertilizer

Litssea glauca

Little, H., & Co

Locheria magnifica

Loddige's orchids, sale of

Logan's house

Lombardy poplar 16, .357,

London Horticultural Society's

Gardens

Longworth, Nicholas

Lorain, Mr., farming

Louisiana, weather in

Louse, bark 3.3.5,

Love of nature

Lucerne grass . . . ,

Lycopodium stoloniferum

ni

Madura, the 3.33

' Madeira nut 204

Magnolia grandiflora 432

Malus toringo 330

Manchester, Ohio 95

Mangosteen 491

j Manly k Mason's catalogue 388

Manure, hen 284

Maple, silver 203, 383

1 Massachusetts Hort. Society 240, 482

I Mathews' curculio remedy 284

i Mats of cocoauut 530

I Meehaa's catalogue 384

Meehan's seeds

Monziezitt 544

Meslon, death of Uobert 532

Mice anil rabbits 289

to di'stroy 428

Michaux and Nuttall 242

Michigan Agricultural Society . 279

transactions 333,4.35

Microscopic photographs 479

Mignonette 46

culture in boxes 4M

Milan stone chairs, &c 412

Mililew, sulphur for 206

Milk, to value 480

Mistletoe 234

Model Hower-bed 230

Monkshood 234

Monstrous yield 97

Monument "to Downing 489

Miioulight, effects of, on vegeta-
tion 82

More matter 329

Mormon Hort. Society 382

Moved to the city 471

Moving, spring 372

Muscadine grape 190

Muscatine, Illinois 187

N

Nature, love of 234

the study of 30

Nebraska 96

Necrology 532

Nectarine 48

Stanwick 31

culture of 416

Nepenthes distillatoria 280

New plants 229, 363, 420, 5.33

Thorburu's 388

New York Hort. Review 188

Horticultural Society .. 389

Park 141

State Agric. College 384

Newton a gardener 429

North Carolina, notes from 515

North, Prof., address 144

Northern spy ajjples 242

Northwestern farmer 189

fruit growers 334

Norway firs 202

spruce 227

Notable things in Paris exhibi-
tion 42

Notylia albida 363

Nursorv, Mrs. Catleugh's 273

Veitch's 275

Nuttall's trees 242

O

Octagon house

Ohio as a fruit State

fair

Pomological Society

Okra for paper and ropo

Old seeds

Olden mode of heating

Olive-tree leaves

Orange trees

soil for

Orchard, a pear

houses 281,

Orchid, rare

Orchids, kept too hot

sale of

Ornament for dried flowers

Ornamental manufacture

trees

Ornaments of terra cotta

Osage orange 329,

an experiment with 85,
Osiers and basket making
Oxalic acid, to germinate by
Oxalis floribunda

319
140
.384
140
.328
329
335
380
229
477
427
483
138
138
473
262
412
1.58
506
3.33
229

p

Palisades, the 547

Pampas grass 138, 334

Pamphlets, &c., received 433

Pardee on the strawberry 193

Pa via Califoruica 192

Paris exhibition, notable things

in 41

Park in New York 142

Parks for Philadelphia 386

Parks versus villages 1;J3

Parlor plants, keeping 329

Parsley 47

Parsons & Co.'s nurseries 242

Patent ofiSce seeds 193

Paulonia imperialis 194

Pea bug and its allies 119

leaves for soup 138

shells for pottage 479

Peach, culture of 501, 527

hybridizing the 309

the honey 486

Peaches, early 286

Pear, buerre capiamont 283

millet 35

Nantais 35, 301

Buffum 300

church 509

crop 433

Doyenn^, B'Alengon 347

dwarfing on the Juneberry 61

graslin 36, 37

Huntingdon 509

marmalade 530

nectarine and cherry 48

orchard 426

parsonage 510

Selleck 610

Sheldon 183

slug worm 410

the Chancellor 155

the largest 531

the Niles 51

the Reading 59

tree, cultivation of . 63, 156, 216,
348

tree oil 477

trees, pruning of 310

Uwchlan, or round top 36

white Doyenn6, and its ene-
my 406

wine 380

Pears 571

best twelve winter 92

Duchesse D'Angouleme 183

dwarf 307

and cherries 293

in New Jersey 435

new 35

notes on 129, 219

the largest, of 1855 183

the Stuy vesant 484

transformed 160

treatment of winter 403

Peas, new 477

Pelargoniums, twelve best 431

Penn squares, destruction of . . . 243
Pennsylvania Horticultural So-
ciety ... 63, 99, 148, 189, 196, 24.5,
294, .341, 389, 4.37, 482, 486, 572

seedlings 340

Pentland's new roses 2S5

Persimmon, improved .329

trees 92

Perspiration of plants 280

Petunia, imperial .382

Pharbitis Hispida, or convolvu-
lus 542

Philadelphia park, first 587

Pholidota suaveoleus 421

Piceas, list of hardy 227

Pine cone, ornamental 2.35

tribe, grafting the 282

GENERAL INDEX.

Pineapples in Philadelphia .... 234

Pinus Bonthamiana 282

densiflora 330

massoniana 330

list of hardy 227

sabiniana 426

various 228

Pit, a cold 195

Plain directions for draining . . . 408
Plant, what is a really good ? . . 46

Plan of grounds 550

Planting 474

a new place 204

and pruning 103

good and bad 121

theory for America 418

Plants, color and odor of .50

dried up 229

half-hardy 282

new 225, 363, 420

Plum culture 334

wild 335

Podocarpus coraiana 330

Poisoning 273

Polygala chamara buxas 544

Polvgonatum japonicum .331

'Sieboldii 331

Pomologicai Convention 476

societies 146

Society, American . 235, .521, 525

Ohio 140

Poplar, Lombardy 16, .357

Portuguese vineyards 386

Potatoe, the caster 94

the greatest 2.35

Potatoes 479

seedling 242, 481

Poultry exhibition at Philadel-
phia 51

Prizes, London 325

Propagating case, Waltonian . . 350

Protection of farms _ . . 263

Prunes, cultivation of 143

Pruning the raspberry 186

Pteridology 327

Pteris argentea 257

macrophyllus 257

Punch a gardener 327

Pyramus and Thisl)e ". 3S0

Pyrethrum carueum 325

Pyrus j aponica 330

a

Quaint and true 573

Quercus gramuntia 429

ilex 329

R

Rabbits and mice 289

in winter 498

Radish, a new 429

Railroads in a social point of view .32

Raspberry, cultivation of 14

Fastolf 237

fertilizing of 46

Jeffrey's new 233

pruning the 186

red Antwerp 2.37

support for 94

the best varieties of . . 14, 15, 16

the garden 425

Rats and mice, to kill 281

Reeves, John 327

Resolutions Pa. Hort. Society .. 189

Restalrig House .397

Retinospora squarrosa .330

Review, N. Y. Horticultural ... 188

Rhododendron, American 428

Belgian 227, 428

Catawbienso 227

Falconeri 421

Himalayan 428

McDowell's 12, 234

Rhododendron ponticum 228

Waterer's 428

Rhododendrons 544, 545

Rhus Osbeckii 3;50

Ribes subvestitum 421

Rivers, Thomas 477, 483

dwarf cherries 234, 326

Rochester, convention at 476

Root grafting roses 301

Roots 71, 398

foreign 41

Rose culture 50

how to treat grafts of 64

new 478

root, grafting the 48, 301

what is life without ? 235

Roses and hail storms 383

budding 3:?2

moss 529

pegged down .326

Pentland's new 285

prairie 5.30

select list of 22.5

the best 477

two new Japan 3.30

which are the best ? 224

Ross, death of David 5.32

Rural cemeteries 345, 394, 442

taste, want of progress in . . 57
Rye grass, Italian 281

Salad for the social 480

Salt with guano 327

Sargent, residence of H. W. .... 445

Sarracenia Drummondii 257

Savannah, Geo. , climate 289

Saving leaves 195

Saxton, C. M., & Co .300

Scale, the apple 112

Scientific convention 483

cultivators 2.34

Sea-coast, trees for 243

Season of 1855 94

the 97

Seed and fish experiments .3:53

business of the west .59

season 191

trade, frauds in 281

Seedling trees 468

.Seedlings of Pennsylvania .340

Seeds, Australian 193

foreign 41 , 2.''7

from California 381

germinating 138

Landreth's 191

old 329

Patent Office 193

Seeman's palms 531

Sempervivum ca;spitosum 430

Sensitive and moving plants . . . 243

Sequoia gigantea 93

Sexes of ferns 318

Shalloon 544

Sheep in Britain 429

Slieep-shearing machine 233

Siebold's Japan plants 466

Sil ver maples 383

Sliding banks, to protect 329

Slopes, the law of 49

Snow's verbena garden ... 191,428

Soj a J aponira 331

Somnauth, Temple of 91

Sonnerila margaritacea 122

Soup of pea leaves 1.38

South Carolina .\griculturist .. . 340

Spain and exhibitions 429

Spirea Reevcsii 327

Sports 34

becoming permanent 4.57

Spring 1S8

moving

Squash 479

5Si

2.1(5,

Squirrels, flying

6taM.', oltiitfo

Slakes fur iilauts

SiKiiwick iii'Cfariiio 31,

Stark's Uritisti mossos

8l«l('ii Islauil, wcatlicr in

Steam cngiiio, Boydi'll's

in liorticulturo, &c

now property of

ploiieli

liloiiirliing

wast." 144,

Sti^am oneiues, portable

Sii'iihaiiiPtis Qoribunda

Sto]i|>ini; summer growths

Strawberries

a reflnemcut in cnlture of . .

CloverhiU seedling

in London

opinions of

Vicomtosso Hericast de
TLury

new test for

plants

seedling, tho

Sir Harry

Strawberry, Peabody's

Study of nature

Substitute for starcli

Suburbs u life

residence

Sulphur for mildew

Suu-screeus for evergreens

Sweetbrier

Tamarind in Virginia

Taniarisk

Tansy

Taxation of nurseries

Taxus adpressa

Tecoma Thunbergii ,

Temperance aud tlxe vine

Tennessee Agric. Exliibition ..

Terra cotta ornaments

Thistle weeds ,

Thorburn's catalogue ,

Three-crop system

Thuiopsis borealis

Thuj a dolabrata

gigantea

Thyrsacauthus rutilans

Topiary work

Torreya taxifolia

Town and country

Training and pruning 327

95
2S0
2S3
335

331
4S5
2S6
506
480
97
338
283
330
2S2
138
313
228
479
331

GENERAL INDEX

Transplanting instruments .... 241

Rurcessful 234

Trapa bicornis 3>>.")

Travel and health 2'^3

Tree prnuer 13s

Trees, bleeding of 4.j<)

for the sea-coast 243

in Illinois 95

indispensable 430

new and valuable 330

ornamental 158

planting 46

planting, now mode 287

seedling 468

twelve best evergreen 162

when and how to i)lant 84

Tropeohim tricolor 499

Tucker's, Mr., pineapples 234

Tulip beds 234

Tulips, Groom's 2.35

soil for 235

Twelve best evergreens 162

U

Ugenia ugni 138, 334, 477

Ulraus Kejaki 330

Uncommon growth 479

Uaion of erubryos 377

Universal compost 281

Upas-tree 303

Useful hints to improvers 388

Valuable crop 4S3

Varnish for iron and wood 474

Vegetable physiology 273

Veitch's nurseries 275

Veneflcium 273

Verbena, defiance 532

ga»den, a 191, 428

the great 428

Vine in France and Madeira . . . 285

disease 572

the, and temperance 485

the pepper 476

Vinegar,' how to make 181

plant 91, 145, 187, 386

Vineyards in India .028

Virgilian graft .530

Virginia springs 283

Visits to country places . . 354, 401,
445, 496, 545

Vitis bipinnata 476

cordata 476

Wall (lowers 428

Walnut, Calilurnia 383

Waltonian propagating case ... 350
Want of progress in rural taste 57
Wanlian case and aiiuarium . . . 404

Waste steam 144, 244

Waterer's rhododendrons 428

Watering the bark .0.30

Watertori and his rats .328

<m llower gardens 328

Waterworks, Crystal Palace . . . 428

Wax, vegetable 290

Way, I'rofessor 139

Weather, cold, effects of 170

in Louisiana 286

on Staten Island 243

the 182

Weeds, destroy 480

Weigelia amabilis 211, 473

hortensis .330

rosea 234

Wellingtonia 93

West, fruit in the 387

tlie great 105

Western N. Y. fruit growers ... 140

Western towns, growth of 70

Wheelbarrow, the Whimsie ... 68

White grape currant 209

While's gardening for south . . . 279

Whitlavia granditlora 280

Wilder, address of Col 517

Willis's letters 329

Willows 203

Wilson, monument to 328

Wine aud grapes 359

Catawba 233, 282

crop of 1856 529

homemade 339

making, is it established?.. 51

Wines, sur native 120

Wingless beetles 429

Winter in Iowa 2:53

on evergreens 227

the late . . 234, 329, 364, 432, 437
Wire fencing, the Lowell . . 135, 384

Wistaria Chinensis 533

Wodenethe 447, 476

Wolcott, residence of C. M 449

Woodland Park 95

Worm, the pear slug 410

Wren's nest 428

Y

Yam, Chinese, see Dioscorea . . . 331

Yeast plant 271

Young gardeners, hints to 512

INDEX TO COREESPONDENTS

A

A 431

A. C 46

A. D. G 492

A. G. H., Wisconsin 244

A. M 46

A subscriber ... 47, 94, 195, 196, 339
A. T 430

A. W. S -IfiS

Aborn, Edward 431

Alexander, J. E S'J

Alexander, W. H 430

Allen, J. F 359

Allen, John Fisk 527

Allen, Lewis F 16, 158, 425

Amicus 30

Appleby, T 164

B

B. W 196

B. W. A., Boston 2S3

B., New Jersey . . . 108, 290, 310, 389

Bacon, William 307

Haines, Henry 406

Barker, Daniel 259, 414

Barry, P 140, 209, 288, 366

Bartlette, W. A 481

Baumann, Eugene A 542

Beal, William 515

Beardslev, Levi A 505

Beaton, D 350

Bertholet, P. G 357

Betts, Charles 176

Black, R. J 482

Bore, A Great 338

Brackenridge, W. D 244

Brandegee, W 325

Brewer, D. Chauncev 05

Brinckl6 155, 184

Brocksbank, Wm 528

Buchanan, R 120, 182, 485

Buist, Robert 224

Bulkeley, D. A 94

C

C 244

C. E 473

C. S 533

Catawissa 533

Caywood, A.J 244

Chorlton, W. 242, 243, 463, 485, 557

Clark, C, Dr 93

Cockburn and Brown 5.54

Coleman, W. S 122, 2.56

Constant Reader 214, -269, 375

Corson, Allan W 1S2, 498

Critic 431

D

D. B 143

Darlington, Dr. Wm 2S8

Davids, Thaddens 93

Deeker, Edward 213

Dewey, D. S 403

Dilatrio 419

Downing, A. J 22, 73, 160

Downing, Charles 263

Dunn, William 244

E

E. n. R., New York 329

Earnest Horticulturist 430

Eastern Massachusetts 291

Eastern Nurseryman 466

Eaton, John B. 129

Ellison, John 95

Ellsworth, Lewis 91

Elsie 125

EmUe, the Elder 267, 372

Ernst, A. H 193

Eshleman, J. K 219, 288

F

Fahnestock, A 3SS

Feast, John 342

Figaro 294

Frantz, J 290

G

G. C 423

Gardener, an old 291

Garst, Joseph 142

Gitford, Charies 101

Gold, T. S 533

Grau, C. W 194

H

H. D 284

H. E 196

H. M., Burlington 283

H. S. C 143

H. S., Harrisburg 284

Hanlbrd, A. G 113

Harris, T. L 416

Hepp, Augustus 178

Hodge, Benjamin 170

Holmes, J. C 333

Horticola 32

Howe, Jno. J 206

Hughes, Daniel 14

Huidekoper, A 361

Hull, A. A 46

Humphreys, J. D 92

Husman, George 437

I

Ingersoll, J. D 244

Inquirer 341

lota 282

J

J. F 473

J. C. S 329

J K 93

Jeffreys '.132,' i73,' '222','264,' 370] 415,
459

Jennings, John S 176, 484

Jones, Samuel T 501

K

Kimball, Dr. W. S 196

I.

Lady, A 190

Learmont, Thomas 551

Libhart, John J 47

Lingworth, Nicholas 672

Longworth, Joseph 430

Lura, H. B 210

Liirman, Gustav W 538

Lyons, Henry : 486

M

M. L 450

M. P 284, 319

M. S 424

Meohan, Thomas . 162, 169, 418, 469

Meston, Robert 179, 301

Miller, Samuel 176, 2S9

Morris, Margaretta 410

O

Original Subscriber 143

P

P 95, 431

P. B 2S4

P. B. W 284

P. Q. R 196

P. S. P .383

P. T 532

P. W 46

Pennsylvanian, A 341

Pereira 47

Philadelphia Amateur 468

Philadelphus 244

Phoenix, F. K 5.53

Powell, J 244

Prince, W. R 126, 4S5

Quill, John 176, 293

R

Randall, H. H 92

Read, Wm. H 144, 244

Roagles, C 188

Redding, B. B., & Co 385

Held, William 1 84, 403

Rice, Augustus 92

Robey, H. R 89, 533

Rottee 70

S

S 46

S. T. T 284

S. W. H 430

Sanders, Edgar 87, 516

Sargent, Henry Winthrop . 227, 287

Saul, John 331

Saunders, William . 54, 84, 149, 197,

246, 295, 303, 321, 390, 439,487,535,

576

Sasonius 93

Sheldon, Henrv 244

Smith, R. Morris . . 27, 1S2, 193, 319

Starr, James E 437

Stems, William 59

Stanford, John R 255

T

T. A 383

T. M X 169

Tallant, J. F., M. D 43, 233

Taylor, George S 178

Taylor, Yardley 95, 127, 364

Thomas, J. J 93

Tliorimrn & Co., J. M 176

Thorbnrn, G. C 532

Tompkins, William ... 220, 233, 454

V

Van Buren, J 12

W

W .363

W., Baltimore 124

W. A.G 47

W. B 329

W. B. B 329

W. P. S 383

W. S 303, 568

Ward, J. M., M. D. . 63, 157, 216,348,
560

Watts, Jame.s H 95, 529

White, William N 119

Wihler, Marshall P

Williams, Jacob T 14

Wood, W 423

Wylie, A.N 93, 309

rp-T^X-

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.

LIST OF PLATES.

McDowell'R Rhododendron, Frontispiece to January number.

Couutry llouiii', uoar Wilmington, Del., do. ^. do. do.

The Rending Pear, do. February do.

Tlie Koiui Apple, do. March do.

Abies >'obilis, Cone of, do. do. do.

Chancellor Pear, do. April do.

Cottage near (jormantown, do. do. do.

Fuchsias: Emperor Napoleon and Venus de Medici, do. May do.

Liudky, Dr. John, Portrait, Page 207 do. do.

Carolina Winter Queen Apple, Frontispiece to June do.

Butlum Pear, do. July do.

]?c\ur6 Nantais Pear, do. do. do.

Duyenne D'AloufjOu Pear, do. August do.

Restalrig House, do. do. do.

A Rural Cottage, Page 378 do. do.

The King Apple, Frontispiece to September do.

Pinus Sabiuiana, do. do. do.

Knight's Early Black Cherry, do. October do.

Maugosteen, or Staugostan, do. November do.

I'harbitis Hispida, do. December do.

Torreya Taxifolia, do. do. do.

LIST OP ENGRAVINGS.

BUILDINGS.

A Cold Pit

An Old House, first floor of

An Old House, second floor of

An Old House, third floor of

An Old House to be improved

Carriage-House aud Stable

Cheap Glass Structures

Cottage Stable

Iron Summer-House

Jolin Bartram's Residence

Restalrig House

Rural Dwelling

Waltoiiiau Propagating Cases 3.52,

Washington Irving's Residence

FRUITS.

Beurr^ Millet Pear

B.>urr6 Nautais Pear

Emliryos, XTnion of 377,

Fastoif and Red Antwerp Raspberries

Graslin Pear

Large Duchesse D' Angouleme Pear

Lawton Blackberry

Peach from a Heath and Yellow Freestone

Sheldon Pear

Stockwood Golden Hambro' Grape

The Church Pear

The Huntingdon Pear

The Parsonage Pear

The Selleck Pear

Transformed Pears 167,

Uwchlan Pear

TREES, PLANTS, AND FLOWERS.

Biota Orientalis and Pyramidalis 2.52

Brugraansia or Datura 467

Cactus, grafted 2S

Cauterbury Bell 457

Dahlia, monstrous 458

Germination of the Araucaria 278

Gold of Pleasure 3.59

Group of Flowers and Leaves 257

Gntta Percha 231

Impatiens Jerdonia: 261

Sexes of Ferns :^18

Sports becoming permanent 457, 4.58

The Lattice I'huit 78

Weigela Amabilis 211

Yew Tree, clipped 313

MISCELLANEOUS.

A Street Lamp 115

Covering for half-hardy Plants 48

Curing Mice and Rabbit Depredations 2S9

Decorative Arts; Parian Ware 3.56

Downing"s Monument 490

Draining Land 500

Electrotyping 499

Fancy Training illustrated 1.39, 140

Fouutains 548, 549

Garden Wheelbarrow 69, 70

Gate at Wodenethe 447

Good and Bad Pruning 121

Hanging Baskets 357

Illustrations of Landscape Gardening 19

Iron Summer-IIouso 115

Iron Vase 90

Iron Work 115

Irrigating a Garden 646

Laying out of a Garden 322

Milan Stone Chair 413

Milan Stone Foiiutain 412

Milan Stone Vase 412

New Mode of Planting Trees 287

Ornament for Dried Flowers 262

Ornamental leaved Plants 123

Parian Column to hold a Flower Pot 549

Plan of Grounds 550

Pruning the Raspberry 186

Raising Cuttings .392

Rai.siug Cutting.s illustrated 151

Raspberry Support 94

Roots 71, 72, 73, 399, 400, 4f)l

Strawberry Tiles 50

Ten Illustrations of Training 3.32

Terracotta Ornaments 606

The Impostor's graft 99

Transplanting Instruments 2il

Trapa Bicornis 3-S5

Union of a Grafted Beet

Wardian Case and Aquarium

Wire Fencing 135

New York Botanical Garden Librar

3 5185 00256 7996