me more pleasure, in travelling through the country, than to see a man, in the cool of evening, cleaning and watering his little garden, with his children playing about him.

I am not aware whether all florists' flowers can be successfully cultivated here; more particularly the picotee, carnation, auricula, polyanthus and ranunculus. They all live through the winters in England without protection, though persons possessing valuable collections generally give them some covering during a few days of severe weather which sometimes occurs. Whether such flowers can be grown with equal success here, I am not able to state, but undoubtedly many of your readers who are more acquainted with the subject than myself, will give their opinions respecting it. I have always been a great admirer of the flower garden, and for many years spent my leisure hours in cultivating many choice kinds, although I never carried it to the extent that many of the "fancy" do. Those persons who have become so thoroughly carried away into the love of florists' flowers as to walk twenty or thirty miles in a hot day in July, to get a sight of a new carnation, and having been gratified with such a view, will almost sell their coats from their backs to obtain a plant, may be truly said to be enthusiasts in the highest degree; but to that class I did not belong; nor do I wish to see any person in this community become so deeply imbued with such a feeling; it would be carrying things too far, and would have an injurious rather than a good effect. But I think that if mechanics, and especially persons employed in manufactories, would spend their leisure hours in the garden, where they have one, and where one could be obtained, they would find it a place of innocent and healthful amusement, and of time well spent. There only wants to be a few examples set, and a stimulus will then be given; and I have no doubt but that florists' flowers of every kind could be produced, and made to take the place of the weeds your correspondent complains of. I feel unable to do that justice to the subject which it requires, and hope that there are many of your readers, who see its importance, and will not neglect to occasionally remind us of it: at a future time, I may state something upon the culture of some kinds of flowers as gathered from my own practice; but as I have now trespassed too much upon your room, to the exclusion of more useful matter, with my best wishes for the success of your Magazine, and a hope that you may be rewarded for your labors, I subscribe myself,

Boston, Feb. 1836.

AN OLD FLORIST.

ART. IV. Beautiful Plants growing wild in the Vicinity of Boston. By E. B. KENRICK, Watertown.

(Continued from page 57.)

Hedèra.

Hedera quinquefòlia, Cissus hederacea, &c. Common Creeper, Five-leaved Ivy. The common creeper is much cultivated as an ornament of walls. The stems climb to a great altitude, and are supported by radicating tendrils. Leaves smooth, in fives, with stems. Flowers greenish, in branching clusters. Berries of the size of peas, dark blue, acid.-Woods, &c.-July.

Kalmia.

Calyx five-parted; corolla salver-shaped, with ten prominences underneath, and the border five-horned; capsule, or seed vessel, five-celled.

Kalmia angustifolia Narrow-leaved Laurel, Lamb-kill. This little shrub, however fatal to sheep, has exceedingly beautiful flowers. It grows to the height of one or two feet. The leaves stand either scattering, or in threes, with short stems; oblong, lance-formed, blunt at the tip, evergreen, and a little rusty beneath. Flowers deep rose-colored; disposed in corymbs or tansy-like clusters, rising from the shoulders of the leaves, and forming a sort of whirl around the stem.-Common in pastures, swamps, and sandy woods.-June, July.

Kálmia latifolia Broad-leaved Laurel, Mountain Laurel. A very ornamental shrub, generally about four or five feet in elevation. But on the Catskill mountain, Dr. Eaton says it is found more than twenty feet high. Leaves on short stems, and either in threes, or standing without order; evergreen, leathery, very smooth; oval, indented on the edge, acute, or sharp at the tip. In one variety, the flowers are white; in the other, rose-colored. They grow in corymbose clusters, like those of the Kálmia angustifolia ; but the flowers and clusters are much larger.-Rocky hills; woods at Gloucester, Princeton, Boylston, &c. Not common very near Boston.-June, July.

Laúrus.

Laurus Benzoin L. Fever Bush, Spice Bush. An aromatic shrub, from four to ten feet high, with a flavor like benzoin. Leaves smoothish, somewhat hairy, pale beneath, oval, or inverted eggformed, sharp at base, and a little pointed at the tip. Flowers yellow, in small umbels; appearing when the leaves just begin to expand. Berries scarlet.-Shady, wet places. Near Newton Corner; also, in abundance, a little south-west of Brighton village. -Blossoms early in May.

Ligustrum.

Ligustrum vulgare L. Privet, Prim. A well known ornamental shrub, six feet or more in height, with smooth, oval, spearshaped leaves. Remarkable, in summer, for its conical bunches of small white flowers, and in autumn, for its black, shining berries, looking like miniature bunches of grapes.-Frequent in woods and hedges.-May, June.

Lonicera.

The Lonicera has a calyx five-toothed; a corolla long, tubular, with a border in five parts, generally unequal; and a three-celled many-seeded, distinct berry.

Lonicera hirsuta Caprifolium pubéscens Hook. Hairy Honeysuckle. A woody vine, said to twine upon trees to the height of twenty or thirty feet. Leaves hairy, nearly stemless, broad eggshaped, or inverted egg-shaped, pale bluish green beneath, ciliate or eyelashed on the margin; the upper ones nearly smooth, perforated by the branches. Flowers yellow, hairy, in terminal spikes, forming a sort of head. Berries orange, glandular-pubescent.Rocky woods.-Grows near Williams College; likewise, it is said, in Worcester.-June.

Lonicera parviflora. Small yellow Honeysuckle. A climbing shrub, with pale, rough bark. Leaves white, glaucous beneath, wavy, and rolled outward at the edge, mostly without stems, the upper leaves being perfoliate or perforated. Corolla yellow, swelled out at the base, the divisions of its border commonly curled. Stamens bearded. The flowers are smaller than those of the species preceding, and form terminal heads of spikes in circles around the stems. Berries red.-Rocky places; woods in the western parts of Massachusetts.-Flowers in June.

Magnolia.

Magnolia glauca L. Small Magnolia, Beaver Tree, Swamp Laurel. This is believed to be "the only species of its superb genus, that has been found native in New England." In favorable situations, it forms a small tree. The leaves are perennial, smooth, standing out of order, regular-oval, with stems, but no indentures on the margin. Their under side, except the midrib, is extremely glaucous, being nearly of a light soap-stone color, by which the shrub may be distinguished at a distance. The flowers are solitary, terminal, white, or cream-colored. Calyx in three divisions, obtuse, concave, spathulate, or paddle-shaped. The corolla has from eight to fourteen obtuse, concave petals, contracted at base, and forming a cup-shaped flower. The fruit is a cone, opening longitudinally for the escape of the seeds, which are scarlet, and hang by threads, after falling out. The bark is aromatic. The flowers have something of the odor of the pine-apple. Often cultivated." It grows plentifully in a sheltered swamp at Gloucester,

twenty-five miles from Boston,-which is perhaps its northern boundary.”—July.

Menziesia.

Menziesia cærulea. Wahl. Purple Menziesia, Mountain Heath. A beautiful, evergreen, branching, alpine shrub, resembling heath in its foliage and flowers. The leaves are scattered, crowded, linear, and toothed; or not unlike the leaves of the fir tribe. Calyx in five segments, purplish, oblong-linear, obtuse. Corolla purple, bell-shaped, or cylindric-ovate, divided at the mouth into five earlike segments, their tops being notched. On the barren summits of the White Mountains.-July.

Méspilus.

Méspilus arbutifòlia, Pyrus arbutifolia L. Red berried Mespilus. A slender, delicate flowering shrub, from two to four feet high. Leaves small, oblong, oval, or inverted egg-formed, minutely notched, downy beneath, and having the midrib spotted on the upper side, with small, dark glands. Calyx downy, having five segments. Petals five, roundish, concave. Flowers white, with crimson anthers; in compound, downy corymbs, or somewhat umbel-shaped bunches. Fruit scarlet, ten-seeded, sweet and astringent, of the size of large whortleberries.-Low or damp thickets. -May, June.

Prinos.

Prinos verticillatus L. Black Alder. A shrub six or eight feet in height, loaded in autumn and winter with bunches of scarlet berries, very showy and beautiful. Leaves oval, sharp at base, short stemmed, hairy beneath, notched on the edge, and having a sudden, long, sharp point. Corollas minute, white, six-parted. Flowers in little tufts, nearly stemless, growing in the shoulders of the leaves. Berries bright scarlet, bitter-sweet, in irregular bunches.-Swamps and moist woods.-Brighton.-June, July. A variety of this species has its leaves membranaceous, inverted eggformed, smooth beneath; and its corolla in but four or five, instead of six divisions.

Prinos ambiguus Mr. Long-leaved Black Alder. This species has its leaves more oblong, less sharply notched, and more protracted at the base, than the Prinos verticillàtus; also, its fruit and flowers are not so much in bunches, its bark is paler, and the corollas have but four, instead of six segments or divisions.Swamps, &c.-Roxbury, Newton.-June, July.

Rhododendron.

Rhododendron máximum L. American Rose Bay. A magnificent flowering shrub, too much cultivated to require minute description. According to Dr. Torrey, it forms a small tree, ten or fifteen feet high; but this must be only in localites very favorable. Leaves in tufts at the ends of the branches, evergreen, leathery,

pale beneath, oblong, oval, and acute; also, whole, even, and rolled outward, on the margin. Calyx small, of five unequal, blunt segments. Corolla funnel-shaped, with a short tube, the border divided into five large, unequal segments, which are white, shaded with lake, the upper and longest having a collection of orange-colored spots at its centre. Flowers in terminal clusters.In a swamp at Medfield. July.

Watertown, Jan., 1835.

Yours,

E. B. KENRICK.

(To be continued.)

ART. V. On the Cultivation of Asparagus. By S. POND.

THE cultivation of asparagus, although so general, is, by no means, as well understood as it should be. Like many other vegetables, which have for years been cultivated, and which almost every gardener thinks he already raises to perfection, and needs no further information in relation to their growth, it can still be wonderfully improved in its mode of cultivation. The immense quantity which is produced in this vicinity, for the market, and its superiority to that of former years, is a convincing proof, that its cultivation is now much better understood than heretofore, and it is to be hoped, that it will still continue to be grown of larger size and more excellent quality. In private gardens, in particular, some fine specimens have been produced within the last two or three years, and, with little more care and expense, the market gardener may as easily supply his customers with this estimable vegetable in equal perfection. It is more with a desire to see our markets better supplied with a superior article, that I am induced to send you these remarks; and if it will be the means of doing this, even in a small degree, I shall feel well repaid for my trouble.

There are several kinds of asparagus, some of which have been lately introduced, and have not yet become very well known. That which I have grown, and which I have proved to be of most excellent quality, as well as of monstrous size, is called the giant asparagus. It is, as yet, but little known, and, consequently, not very extensively cultivated. But so superior is it to the old kind generally grown, and of which hundreds of plantations now exist, that it must take their place very soon. Some cultivators do not like to destroy fruitful beds, because the kind is rather inferior; yet I have no doubt but they would be more amply repaid in the end, if they were to make new plantations, and, as soon as they came into bearing, to entirely destroy the old ones. Its large size and fine