relation to the culture of silk as an article of domestic produce. We need not here speak of the benefits which, we think, this country will receive from the attention which is now being given to it. We have before incidentally expressed our mind, and we can but repeat, that we are every day more convinced of its practicability and its importance. The present work is one of the best, which has yet been published; and, with that of Mr. Cobb, contains all the information that is needed upon the subject. Mr. Comstock is well known as the editor of the Silk Culturist; a work, having a great circulation throughout the country, and he has collected from all sources, for which he has numerous facilities, and has brought together such facts and statements as cannot fail to convince every one of the certainty of a good return to those who are willing to embark in the enterprise. The work is printed in a neat type, on good paper, and we recommend it to the attention of all interested in the culture of mulberry trees, and the rearing of silk worms. ART. III. The Year Book: an Astronomical and Philosophi cal Annual: fitted for general use in all parts of the United States. By Marshall Conant. 1 vol. 12mo. Upwards of 200 pages. Munroe & Francis: Boston. Charles S. Francis: New York. WE were favored, some time since, with a copy of this work, by the publishers, which we now take the opportunity to recommend to the notice of gardeners, who, besides their profession, are ambitious of acquiring some knowledge of astronomy, philosophy, &c. It contains, in addition to an excellent almanac, much useful and valuable information on general subjects. It is divided into three parts;-astronomy,-calendar for 1836,-and the Year Book. The latter part contains miscellaneous articles, foreign and domestic notices of recent inventions and discoveries in the more practical departments of science and the arts. It is printed in a beautiful type, and will be an acquisition to the library. MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. ART. I. General Notices. Scientific Fecundation.-Bradley, speaking of this subject, says that, on the first opening of his tulips, he took out all the stamens before the farina was ready to be scattered; and thus, to use his own expression, castrated the tulips, preparatory to impregnating the stigmas with the farina of other tulips. In like manner, he says, the blossoms of any other plant may be castrated, and cross-fecundated. (New Improvement of Planting and Gardening, Philosophical and Practical, p. 14, 15.) It is generally considered that this practice of cross-fecundation is quite new, and was first employed by Mr. Knight; but a careful perusal of the works of Bradley and Agricola will show that scarcely any thing new has been produced, during the present century, that was not known and practised in the preceding one, perhaps earlier. (Gard. Mag., for Dec.) The superiority of sets of potatoes to whole ones has been fully proved by several English cultivators. The crop has fallen off greatly within the last two years in Great Britain, and numerous experiments have been instituted, which, although they have not given a result altogether satisfactory, have shown that potato sets may lose their vital principle when taken up before they have arrived at a certain degree of maturity. Mr. Niven, in the Irish Gardener's and Farmer's Magazine, thinks that the failure of the crop in Ireland may have been partly owing to some change in the electric state of the atmosphere, and partly to the careless manner in which the potato is treated after it has been dug out of the ground till it is replanted. The superiority of whole potatoes to sets, when an early crop is desired, has been proved by Mr. Niven, in the same paper; and also the superiority of sets to whole potatoes, when the object is a main crop, more especially when the bud, or rose end, as it is called in Ireland, is used. This superiority of sets to whole potatoes has been also proved by the experiments conducted in the Horticultural Society's garden, and by various other cultivators.-(Ib.) ART. II. Foreign Notices. Trifolium incarnatum.-The culture of this species of clover has greatly increased in different parts of Great Britain; it stands heat and drought exceedingly well, and has been found, in many cases, a valuable substitute for lucerne and clover, which has been completely burnt up. We hope its value will be tried in our climate.-Conds. Heaviest gooseberries for 1835.-Mr. Saul, in the Gardener's Magazine for Dec., has given the weight of the heaviest kinds produced in 1835. He states that they were lighter in this season than they have been for ten years, owing to the very dry season. Fewer seedlings have also been raised. The following is the weight of the heaviest ones: Red. Wonderful, 24 dwt.; Companion, 23 dwt. 2 gr.; Lion's Provider, 22 dwt. 6 gr.; Lion, 22 dwt.-Yellow. Leader, 23 dwt. 12 gr.; Gunner, 21 dwt. 10 gr.; Sovereign, 20 dwt. 20 gr.; Two to One, 19 dwt. 22 gr.-Green. Thumper, 20 dwt. 8 gr.; Peacock, 20 dwt. 6 gr.; Providence, 20 dwt.; Lord Crew, 19 dwt. 20 gr.-White. Eagle, 21 dwt.; Ostrich, 20 dwt. 12 gr; Fleur de Lis, 20 dwt. 12 gr.; Lily of the Valley, 20 dwt. 11 gr. (Gard. Mag.) Prize dahlias.-The following are the varieties which carried off the first prizes at the Cambridge Florists' Society. Among the names of the exhibitors are Messrs. Widnall & Brewer, well known as two of the finest dahlia growers in England :— The best dahlia of any color.-Widnall's Perfection. Crimson, scarlet, or red.-Countess of Liverpool. White, or shaded white.-Lady Fordwick. Very dark.-Metropolitan Perfection. Orange, salmon or buff-Widnall's Prince of Orange. Purple or shaded purple.-Douglas's Augusta. Stripes of all colors.-A seedling raised by Mr. Widnall. Light ground, edged, or mottled.-Hon. Mrs. Harris. Yellow, or sulphur.-Yellow Perfection. Rose, or rosy crimson-Widnall's Perfection. Lilac.-Lilac Perfection. Claret, or puce.-Widnall's Granta. Flort. Cab.) Mr. Widnall gained the most prizes. The Countess of Liverpool yet stands preeminent among the scarlets.—Conds. Scale for showing the comparative hardiness of Trees.-There are many trees, generally considered as hardy, which will not stand except in favorable situations; and others, called tender, which do very well occasionally in the open air. From observing this, it has struck me that the distinctions of hardy and tender, are too broad and too vague, to give an exact idea of the treatment they require; and I conceive that you would do a great service to planters, and to the cause of arboriculture generally, if you were to publish a scale marked thus:-Pinus sylvestris, H H H, very hardy. Portugal laurel, H. н, tolerably hardy. Arbutus Unedo, н, very hardy. Laúrus nóbilis, T, tender. Magnolia grandiflòra, T T, very tender. Myrtle, or camellia, T T T, extremely tender. Pomegranate, or the genus Citrus, F, requiring a frame.-(J. Phillips,-Gard. Mag.) Hamamelis virginica. This tree is now beautifully in flower at Messrs. Loddiges's, and in Thompson's Nursery, Mile End. Its yellow blossoms, with their long fringe-like corollas, at this season of the year, when so few trees and shrubs are in flower, are most ornamental; its leaves die off of a rich deep yellow or orange. It is a pity to see such a tree so much neglected. Mr. Macnab, Jr., whose interesting journey in North America we noticed in p. 620, and shall have occasion to recur to, informs us that it attains the height of 15 feet or 20 feet, in its native situations in America; and he brought home a piece of the trunk of one tree, for a gentleman, (Mr. Nicol, of Edinburgh) who is now making observations on different sorts of timber, between five and six inches in diameter.— (Gard. Mag.) This is a fine indigenous shrub, or small tree, which we wish was more generally planted in our shrubberies. Its rich-colored foliage, in autumn, adds greatly to the beauty of the scenery in its native situations.-Conds. ART. III. Domestic Notices. Strawberries.-At Belmont Place, strawberries were cut, the last week in March, of fine size; they were produced on plants which were placed on a shelf on the back wall of the stove. We wish this most delicious fruit was more extensively forced in stoves and hot-beds. A few pots well managed, will produce considerable fruit, and the room they would occupy would be very small, compared with that required for other fruits.-Conds. Forced Beans.-These have been produced, at the above place, for several weeks, from plants in pots, placed on the front curb of the stove. The beans were planted in the latter part of December. The vines have been destroyed, and a new crop is now up in the same pots.-Ib. Primula pra nitens var. álba fimbriata.-A_seedling of this primrose, with a beautiful fringed edge, has lately flowered in the garden of Wm. G. Buckner, Esq., Bloomingdale, N. Y., under the care of Mr. T. Dunlap. In our last, our correspondent, A. J. D. (p. 99) speaks of plants of the purple and white, with fringed edges, in the collection of J. W. Knevels, Newburgh, N. Y. Were it not for this, Mr. Dunlap might claim the merit of first having originated this beautiful variety.—Ib. Ranunculuses in Pots.-We have lately seen growing, and finely in bloom, in the green-house of Mr. Sweetser, Cambridgeport, several pots of ranunculuses. They were planted in pots, about ten inches deep (which were made for hyacinth bulbs), ten or twelve in each. In one pot, we counted twelve strong buds, besides several blossoms. We have no hesitation in saying, that, if the roots are planted in deep pots or boxes, they can be forced with the same facility as the hyacinth or narcissus. It is generally recommended to grow them in shallow boxes, from the supposition, we presume, that, as the roots are small, they need but little earth to grow in. This is a great error; they require much nourishment, and will not flourish unless they have it. Some of the flowers were exceedingly large. Any person who is desirous of growing them, can easily do so by adopting the method above named.—Ib. Zine Labels for marking Plants.—We have been somewhat surprised to notice that this kind of labels, which are superior to any other, for retaining the names of plants, is so little used by nurserymen and gardeners. Upwards of a year since, we first tried the experiment of marking with them; and labeled several pots of chrysanthemums, which have been exposed to the weather at all times, summer and winter; the writing is at this time in no way defaced, and the names may be as quickly and as easily ascertained, as they could when first written. We have no doubt but they will remain as intelligible for many years. Common wood labels, which are in general use, would have rotted off, by this time, or become so decayed upon the part beneath the soil, that they would be in danger of being broken off, and thus wholly lost. When it is considered how little the former cost, and the certainty of their retaining the names for an indefinite space of time, we hope that cultivators will bring them into general use. Nothing is so important to the nurseryman, both to insure credit for his establishment, and reputation to himself, as the sending abroad trees, shrubs, or plants, which are truly marked. But as is too frequently the case, this is little attended to, or if done, it is with a label which either will not retain the name, for any time, or with one on which it can never be intelligibly wrote. English cultivators have adopted various modes of marking plants, but, in our opinion, none of them are at all to be compared with that of writing upon zinc. These labels can be as easily made fast to a tree, by winding one end loosely round a branch, as they can be put into a pot; and they will not need renewing for many years. We have satisfied ourselves, of their superiority to any others, and we hope, for the correctness of names of plants, which is very important, that they will now be generally adopted.-Ib. White corollad var. of Rhododendron. Your correspondent, A. J. D., in your last number (p. 99), speaks of "large plants of the crimson and white corolled Rhododendron arboreum," which will be in flower this spring, in the collection belonging to J. W. Knevels, Esq., at Newburgh, N. Y. I was not aware that specimens of plants of the white variety of the true arboreum, strong enough to flower, were in any collection in this country; as it flowered for the first time in England, in 1833. Does not VOL. II.-NO. IV. 20 your correspondent have reference to the Rhododendron álbum Pursh which is a native?-Yours, An Amateur.-Boston, March, 1836. Ribes Sanguineum.-This splendid shrub, first introduced into England by the late Mr. Douglas, should be in every garden or shrubbery. Its beautiful crimson blossoms, which are produced in numerous large racemes, have a gorgeous appearance. Do induce every person to possess a plant, who can find room to put one in his garden.—Ib. Forced Peaches. In the green-house attached to the garden of Dr. Webster, Cambridge, are several trees trained on the back wall, which have now fruit on of the size of walnuts. Considering the severity of the season, this is remarkably early.-Conds. The edible rooted Oxalis, (O'xalis crenata). We hope experiments will be made in the cultivation of this promising tuber, in all the different sections of the Union. In England and Germany, although it does not appear in all cases to realize the high expectations formed in relation to it on its first introduction, yet in many cases, common crops have been produced, fully attesting the prolific quality of the plant. It was, we believe, introduced into England by Douglas, from S. America, and we conceive that the temperature of our western hemisphere, in the same isothermal parallels, will be more congenial to it, than that of the eastern. It is highly probable that the desideratum in the ripening of the tubers, is a long dry autumn, which is to be found in our climate, rather than the North of Europe. In many districts it may become a very valuable addition to the list of culinary vegetables, and resembling as it does, the potato in flavor, may yet rival that invaluable root in utility. In Loudon's Mag., we observe a notice of a single tuber, scarcely an ounce in weight, which yielded ninety tubers at a crop, weighing nearly 4 lbs. Still more extraordinary is the following account, which we extract from a French periodical. "A tuber of o'xalis crenata, weighing only 28 grains, was planted on the 7th of April, in a rich old cucumber-bed in a garden at Plymouth. Five weeks after, two offsets were detached from the parent root, and replanted separately. The parent plant acquired an astonishing vigor spreading itself rapidly over a space more than 3 feet in circumference." On gathering the crop, which was found to be of delicious flavor, the following was the result: Production of the parent plant, 407 tubers, weighing 7 lbs. 8 oz. "This," as the editor observes, "is almost without a parallel in the annals of horticulture."* The only notice we have seen of the culture of the edible rooted oralis, in the United States, is given by your Philadelphia correspondent, (p. 76) where it is stated that a single root had produced, during the past season, two quarts, and another a half peck of tubers of good flavor. The leaves of the Oxalis crenata are, like many other species of that genus, produced in threes, and the plant is, during the summer, covered with a profusion of bright yellow flowers. As the tuber can now doubtless be procured at the principal seed-stores, we would recommend their distribution by the different Horticultural Societies in various parts of the country, and communication to the public, of the results of their cultivation. The Mexican Quinoa, (Chenopòdium Quinòa). A few seeds of this new esculent plant, came into our hands, but had probably lost their vital principle, as we could not induce them to vegetate. It is an annual, and not only bears great crops of seeds, which are much used in Mexico, in the same manner as rice, and as an ingredient in soups and broths, but affords a great quantity of succulent leaves, excellent when eaten as * Annales de Fromont, tome VI. p. 172. |