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rieties and this list, great as it seems to be, is being rapidly increased; for the number of new sorts yearly introduced is certainly remarkable. So rapidly, however, do varieties degenerate, that, of all the kinds now on record, nearly three-fourths appear to have become utterly extinct; and, of the remainder, a large proportion are cultivated to a very limited extent, and will soon give place to those more recent and better.

A trial of some of the kinds now prominently before the public gave results as follows:

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Early Handsworth. - An English variety, claimed to be one of the earliest now in cultivation. The plants were low, rather slender, and ripened early; but the product was not great. For home-gardens, as a first early, it may be desirable; but it is not sufficiently productive for the market. Early Wendell.-Plant healthy and vigorous. The tubers are 'white, of large size, roundish-oblong, and cook dry and floury. The percentage

of unmarketable potatoes was small, and few if any of the varieties tested proved more productive. It is a promising new sort, and is recommended for cultivation. Season intermediate.

White Peach-blow. The plants were stocky and vigorous, and continued green and flourishing until destroyed by frost. The tubers are of medium size, or rather large, roundish, nearly white, with a shade of pink about the eyes. The great yield which the large and strong plants seemed to promise was not realized; and the tubers, when cooked, had not the light and dry character now essential for a table-potato. The variety appears to require a warm climate, a warm, rich soil, and will probably succeed well in the Middle and Western States.

Early Sovereign. Plant small, and of slender habit, decaying early. The tubers were white, round, smooth, of medium size, and good quality. It is a good table-potato, and is early; but the yield was not satisfactory.

Early Stevens. - Originated in the State of Vermont. The plants were healthy, gave a fair product, and the tubers were early fit for use. It is greatly preferable to the Early Handsworth, whether intended for the home-garden or market.

Delmahey. Introduced. The plants were low, of feeble habit, and decayed early. The yield was small. It is inferior to many of the more recent sorts of American origin, and will hardly come into general cultivation.

Calico. An American variety produced from one of the numerous seedlings originated by the late Rev. Chauncey Goodrich. The tubers are of medium size, roundish, somewhat flattened, smooth, white, or nearly white, with scattered, large, irregular patches of bright pink or red. In bulk, the variety is showy and attractive; but it lacks quality, and is not sufficiently productive. The plants have no peculiarities, and are generally destroyed by frost.

Goodrich's Early. This variety must be considered an acquisition. It is not only early and productive, but the plants have been uniformly healthy. The tubers are oblong, of good size, rarely hollow-hearted, and cook dry and floury. Some of the later sorts may give a greater yield; but, of all the varieties claimed as being early, no one was more productive, or possessed more of the qualities essential in a good potato, than the Early Goodrich.

The

Cuzco. One of the varieties known as Goodrich's seedlings. tubers are very large, roundish or oblong, white, and of fair quality. The plants are strong growers, and ripen with the season. It is an excellent field-potato, healthy, yields abundantly, and appears to be worthy of cultivation.

Sebec. - This variety, also known as the " Boston-market" potato, originated in Maine. The tubers, in bulk, resemble the Jackson white, which is sometimes sold as a substitute. The skin of the Sebec, particularly after having been harvested for some length of time, exhibits slight spots or shades of purple, which are never seen in the Jackson white. The plants, also, are quite distinct.

From a trial of three seasons, the Sebec appears to be a desirable potato for the market or garden, and is recommended as being one of the earliest, most productive, and best of the varieties introduced since the Jackson white.

These brief particulars respecting some of the newer culinary vegetables are given as the results of individual experience. Different conditions will of course. in many instances, produce different results. The influence of soil and climate is great; and varieties that may yield abundantly, and be of superior quality, in one locality, often prove unproductive and almost worthless in another. The best course to be pursued is to give the most

prominent a fair trial. There will be occasional disappointment; but the cost of the experiment will be trifling, and we shall be doing something towards encouraging the improvement of vegetables, which, it must be confessed, hardly keeps pace with the progress made in floriculture and pomology. Fearing Burr, Jun.

ALOYSIA CITRIODORA.

THIS popular plant, usually known as lemon-scented verbena, receives far less attention than its merits demand. It is of the easiest growth, and propagation is easily effected when the wood of the current year is from three to six inches in length. Short stubby shoots, with their bases a little hardened, are the best. July is a good time to put in the cuttings, which may be side-shoots about three or four inches long slipped off the plant. The lower end having been made smooth below a joint with a sharp knife, and the leaves removed for half the length of the cutting, the latter should be inserted pretty closely round the sides of a six-inch pot, drained to two-thirds its depth with broken pots or crocks, and filled to within an inch of the rim with a compost of sandy peat, loam, and sand, in equal parts; the remaining space being filled up with silver sand. Insert the cuttings pretty closely around the sides, and up to the lowest leaves, or half their length; then give a good watering, and cover with a bell-glass. Perhaps the best mode of doing this is to place the cutting-pot in one of larger size, and fill the interval between the pots with crocks, placing sand on the top the rims should be level. Only water when necessary, and then give no more than is sufficient to keep the soil moist, as it must always be. Place the pot in the sunniest window, and shade for an hour or two during the hottest part of the day. In six weeks the cuttings will have struck, and the bell-glass may then be entirely removed; but for three weeks previously it should be tilted a little by day, and put close down at night, wiping the glass in the morning if moisture is found to be deposited on it. The cuttings will strike, but more tardily and with less certainty, without the glass they strike best in a gentle hotbed.

"Cottage Gardener."

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Of all the works included under the head of "Garden Architecture," terraces, with their accompaniments, occupy the first place. They date from the earliest antiquity, and have obtained the most universal recognition as a means of architectural effect. The celebrated "hanging gardens" of Babylon were nothing more than a series of terraces, covered with plants and flowers, rising one above the other. The great palace-temples of Babylon, Nineveh, Persepolis, &c., were built upon immense terraces. The Asiatic Greeks placed most of their great temples upon them, rising from platform to platform by immense flights of steps superbly decorated. The Tagh-Mihal, or Mausoleum, built by Shah Jehan to his queen, like many other of the great works of those superb builders, the Mahometans of India, is elevated on a high terrace. With the middle-age Italians, terraces were revived with the renaissance of classic architecture: and the magnificent villas of the princes and nobles of the great art-period of Italy present splendid examples of their use; as at the Villa d'Este, Villas Albani, Borghesi, Pamfili, and many others in the neighborhood of Rome. From Italy they passed to France, where the Grand Monarque, Louis XIV., made most profuse use of them in decorating and dignifying the gardens of Versailles and other palaces; and at about the same period they were introduced into general use in England, where, at the present time, they have become an indispensable feature of garden architecture, never absent, but varied in an infinitude of forms and magnitudes to harmonize with the size and style of the gardens in which they are built. The earth-slope, or primitive terrace, presents but few opportunities for

architectural decoration; the steps being the principal one.

These do not admit the use of a balustrade, as in the more perfect architectural terrace, but may be decorated with vases, either solid, or to hold flowers; and, where the flight is on a large scale even figure sculpture is not inappropriate. These latter cases are, however, so rare, that they need not enter into present consideration. The first question is, how to design a flight of steps for a slope.

FIG. 1.

a

b

Suppose the lines ab, ab, respectively, to represent the grass-slope, and the problem to be to make a flight of steps to correspond to the slope. By Fig. 1, the front angle of the top step is placed at the superior angle of the slope, and the other steps are brought out to the line: the consequence is, that, at the foot of the flight, the slope overruns the steps by the width of a step; and it becomes necessary, in order to complete the steps out to the lower angle of the slope, to set in a stone at the level of the lower walk. This is the English method; but it is obviously open to several objections. The coping at the sides, without which no flight of steps to a terrace. should be laid, will run too near the ground on the outside if it is parallel with the slope, and not too high on the inside; and it inevitably gives the steps the appearance of being sunk into the earth, which indeed they are. Then the supplemental step at the bottom will always be dirty; and, if the walk is properly graded to shed water, there will be a disagreeable exposure of the face of the stone on either side the centre, giving it the look of being badly set; thus:

FIG. 2.

The true way is to set the bottom step on the lower angle of the slope, which will throw the upper step forward; and then increase the width of this as a platform-step to suit the design, which may be adopted for the

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