G. H., South Weymouth, Mass. may be obtained at any glass-works. in our columns. Silver sand is the purest sand known, and The reception which has attended the issue of the first three numbers of "The American Journal of Horticulture" has been such as to insure its complete success. Letters pour in upon us from every section of the country, congratulating us on our success in making an AMERICAN MAGAZINE free from localism or sectionalism. We are daily flattered by congratulations at the increasing excellence of each number we issue; although in this respect we can only say, that we but fulfil the promise made by us in our prospectus, that each number should prove superior to the last. Of our intention to thus continue, we ask no further proof than an inspection of the March number and that of the present month. We trust that our attempts to make our magazine a companion for the parlor, the greenhouse, and the garden, thus far so successful, may be more than realized in the future, until "The American Journal of Horticulture" shall become an indispensable requisite for both amateurs and gardeners. So, with the balmy breezes of spring, we again say welcome to our readers, as we lead them beneath the budding spray onward towards the flowery fields and exuberant life of May, and still onward to the roses of June and the luscious fruitage of summer. R. B. WERDEN. — The question as to how much cold the rhododendron will stand is somewhat too general. There are many species and varieties of rhododendron, some of which will stand a Canadian winter; others are strictly greenhouse plants. Those indigenous to India, or their hybrids, are by far the finest, but will not stand the winter in our country, and but few are perfectly hardy in England. This class are usually known as Sikkim rhododendrons, from the range of the Himalaya Mountains, where they are indigenous. The varieties of Rhododendron Ponticum are not hardy in New England, but stand the winter on the Hudson and in the Middle States. R. Catawbiense and maximum are hardy, and will stand about fifty degrees of frost without injury. Many of the hybrids and seedlings from these species are hardy, and some are very beautiful. In general, the plants suffer more from the winter's sun than from the cold. The best winter protection is to stick evergreen boughs around the plants about the middle of November, removing them about the 10th of April. They do well in pots; but the outside of the pot should not be exposed to the heat of the sun. Like all plants of the family, the roots should be always damp, but never very wet or dry. The best soil is turfy-peat, leaf-mould, and sharp sand, in equal proportions. The bed should be so deep as never to dry in summer. Everestianum, Brayanum, Barclayanum, Chancellor, Roseum elegans, and pictum, Delicatissimum, Album grandiflorum, are fine hardy varietics. Write to Waterer & Godfrey, Knap-hill Nursery, near Woking, Surrey, England, for catalogues. We owe an apology to some of our readers who failed to receive the March number as early as usual. The full number of copies was printed; but, owing to increased demands, our supply fell short, and we were at once obliged to put an extra edition to press. This, however, will not occur again, as we have largely increased our edition, and we trust to supply promptly every demand. Japan Lilies. The best soil is rich loam with leaf-mould and sharp sand: they bear higher culture than most lilies. They do not degenerate, but increase rapidly, with good culture. They are hardy, and require no winter protection, but are benefited by a covering of manure in the fall, to be forked into the bed in the spring. Grown in pots, they are very ornamental, and can be successfully forced. E. I. F. A correspondent in Painesville, O., informs us that he cultivates the trailing arbutus (Epigæa repens) successfully. As a spring flowering-plant for earliness, beauty, and fragrance, it has no rival. Other early spring-flowers of that region of Northern Ohio are Spring Beauty (Claytonia Virginica), Harbinger of Spring (Erigenia bulbosa), Corydalis aurea, Moss Pink (Philox subulata). At a meeting of the Warsaw Horticultural Society (Hancock County, Ill.), President A. C. Hammond exhibited six varieties of apples, on which he took a premium as the best six varieties of winter apples, every thing considered. At the request of Mr. Gregg, he numbered them from one to six, in the order they come, in his judgment, as to profit, and time of ripening. Mr. Hammond said there were no other winter apples that would class with the above six varieties for general good qualities. The society was much exercised upon the question of birds versus fruit; and, in spite of many eloquent pleas made for the birds, the general opinion seemed to be, that some kinds of birds were especially destructive to the fruit crop, and that their destruction was a necessity. While protection to all birds indiscriminately is unwise legislation, those species which are really beneficial should be encouraged, and protected by the most stringent laws. While wrens, sparrows, linnets, and most small birds, are eminently useful, we imagine few fruit-growers are enthusiastically favorable to robins and cat-birds. We again call the attention of our readers to our offer to answer any questions through our columns upon subjects connected with our province. Our facilities for this are very large, as our editorial staff comprises gentlemen fully conversant with horticultural operations in all the various branches. Our wish is to communicate information; and for this we shall ever endeavor to offer every facility. Among the many catalogues received by the Editors, many of which are well arranged, and show great variety of trees and plants, we have been particularly pleased with the arrangement of that of Samuel Moulson of Rochester, N.Y., where just the stock on hand, the size of each kind, and the number for sale, are each carefully stated, the prices varying according to age and size. This feature is, we believe, peculiar to this catalogue; but from the many advantages it possesses, both as to the convenience of the buyer and seller, it cannot be long before it is universally adopted. Parlor Plant. The flower sent is Azalea amana; a very pretty and easilygrown plant, especially suited for parlor-culture. The flower is purplish-red, in what the English gardeners call “hose-in-hose" style; that is, one flower inside another. The foliage is small, glossy, and hairy. The plant blooms from January to March, and always flowers freely. It is easily propagated by cuttings of the young shoots like any azalea. With a slight protection of evergreen boughs, the plant is hardy enough to stand a New-England winter, and blooms in the open air in the latter part of May. A SUBSCRIBER. - We cannot undertake in our columns to recommend one nurseryman or seedsman above another. Our advertising columns are open to all; but we insert advertisements from those only whom we believe to be perfectly trustworthy. If, however, it is in our power to tell where some rare plant or particularly fine specimens of any tree may be found, we will cheerfully do so. Seeds of the double zinnias for which you inquire can be obtained of any seedsman (Bliss, Breck, Vick, Thorburn. Washburn, &c.); or any florist will have young plants for sale in May. Advertisements of gardeners wanting places will be inserted in our advertising columns free of charge. While we wish to become a medium of communication between the gardener and the employer, we cannot be at all responsible for any advertisements of this nature. In addition to the many letters which we received last month complimenting us upon the March issue, we have received quite a number from friends offering suggestions, for which the writers have our thanks. Many of the ideas are new and good, and will be acted upon as early as practicable. We will say in this connection, that, as our aim is to make "The American Journal of Horticulture" of interest and value in every part of the country, such hints and suggestions will always be thankfully received. A SUBSCRIBER, Plymouth, Mass. -"The golden russets in this town are badly affected, as you will see by the specimens sent. Can you inform me, through the Journal, what is the cause of the disease?—if insects, what are their names and habits?" I have carefully examined the apples. One is sound, bearing no marks of having been attacked, excepting on the surface, where it may have been nibbled by ants. The others are filled with the traces of past borings by a dipterous larva; two specimens, dead and decayed, being found in situ. Enough is left of them, however, to convince me of their identity with specimens received from various parts of Eastern Massachusetts within the past two years. Never having seen the insect in its imago stage, I cannot, of course, pronounce upon its place, even generically. Dr. A. Fitch, of New York, describes, on page 252 of his Second Report, an insect of similar habits, under the name of Molobrus mali, the apple-midge. The length of the fly is about .15 inch; wings dull hyaline, tinged with smoky color; body and legs black; abdomen ringed with yellow. If you find any small flies in the barrels or upon the windows of the room in which the fruit is kept, and will preserve them for me in a dry vial, I can perhaps discover the author of the ravages. Experiments will be necessary to discover the best means of prevention. F. G. S., for Editors. NOTES ON THE MARCH NUMBER. MR. HUNNEWELL's notes upon "The New Conifers" is a very valuable contribution, for which every lover of evergreens will feel grateful. I imported several of the species he names, in 1862; and my experience with two of them has been somewhat different from his. These are Retinospora ericoides and Cupressus Lawsoniana. He says of the first, "It changes its color somewhat in winter." With me, both of these species have every winter changed their color so completely, that it is difficult to believe they are not entirely dead: yet they have invariably recovered, and grown well the following season; so that I now regard them as perfectly hardy. I have now about two dozen Cupressus Lawsoniana, averaging five feet in height; and I agree entirely with all that Mr. Hunnewell says of their beauty. Mr. Ridgely's remarks upon "The Culture of Grape-vines in Cities " reminds me of a vine I used often to see in Philadelphia many years ago, which illustrates a mode in which the citizen may secure a crop of this delicious fruit even under less favorable circumstances than Mr. Ridgely supposes. This vine grew in a very small yard all paved with brick, and entirely hidden from sunlight except for an hour or two in the morning. It had been trained up in the angle between the house and the L, like a lightning-rod, a distance of sixty feet, without a branch, and then covered an arbor built on top of the house, where, remote from dust or thieves, it annually ripened a luxurious crop of fruit. Finally, touching squirrels. I have quite a number of red squirrels about my premises, and have always protected them so far as lay in my power, as their graceful movements and apparent exuberance of life are always attractive. An incident which occurred a year or two since, however, revealed to me an unexpected trait in their character, which tended to impair my confidence in the innocence of their habits. I saw one run across a road and up an apple-tree within a few rods of me, and the next moment was startled by the fearful cries and frantic evolutions of a robin in the same tree; and, on running up, I saw Mr. Squirrel coming down the tree with a half-fledged young robin in his mouth, the old bird darting at and about him in an agony of distress. On seeing me, he dropped his game, and made off; and on picking up the young bird, which seemed to be uninjured, and replacing it in the nest, I found it was the only one left: which fact, joined with the readiness with which he had made his way to the nest, afforded strong circumstantial evidence that he had called upon the same family before. It was found necessary, several years since, to banish the gray squirrels from the squares of Philadelphia, on account of their destroying the birds; but I did not know till the above evidence was given me that the red squirrel was chargeable with the same habit. H. W. S. C. DANVERS, MASS. VINEYARD CULTURE ON THE SOUTH SHORE OF LAKE ERIE. THE LAKE-SHORE GRAPE-GROWERS' ASSOCIATION. MUCH has been said within a few years past of the success of grape cultivation on Kelley's Island and a few points adjacent, owing to the favorable influence of the lake atmosphere on the climate; but few people are aware of the extent and rapid progress of vineyard-planting along nearly the entire range of the South Shore of Lake Erie. The grape district may be regarded as commencing at Dunkirk and Fredonia, near the eastern end of the lake, and extending westward to Port Clinton, including the peninsula and the islands off Sandusky Bay, a belt of territory, say, two hundred miles in length, and about five in width. In this district, grapeplanting has been going on for the past five or six years, at the rate of one thousand to twelve hundred acres per year, till there are now found to be not less than eight thousand acres planted. Of this, about one-half may be counted of bearing age. The oldest vineyards are mostly on Kelley's Island; but a few are found at different points along the shore in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Much of this planting has been done by persons who had no previous knowledge of grape-culture; and many mistakes were made in the selection of soils and localities, as well as in cultivation, so that some failures have occurred: still the general results have been so satisfactory, that it is the general belief we have seen but the beginning of grape-planting in this region, especially when we take into account the benefits likely to result from the more general diffusion of intelligence, and the adoption of superior varieties of grapes like the Delaware and the Iona, which seem to be quite at home here, and are being planted extensively. The Lake-shore Grape-growers' Association has been organized only two years. It numbers over two hundred members, most of whom are directly engaged in grape-growing; and many, having been formerly engaged in professional or mercantile life, have minds trained to the calculations affecting profit and loss, |