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appearance resembling the elm; and may be familiarly described as an elm bearing cherries. We have found it in but one catalogue; and, alas! it was only there, not in the nursery.

Its relation, Celtis crassifolia, is no less beautiful, and is equally neglected. The former is properly known as the nettle-tree; the latter, as the hackberry. Will no one propagate a stock of these beautiful hardy trees, and disseminate them among our citizens? We spend hundreds of dollars in acclimating foreign trees, and neglect those of far more beauty which grow in our own woods.

FRUIT IN GROUND-VINERIES. — I find the best method of cultivating fruits under ground-vineries is as follows: At one end of the vinery, a hole two feet square, and of about the same depth, is dug out, and filled with a compost of good loam, rotten dung, and a little road sand: these should be well incorporated together, previously throwing in about a peck and a half of bones, merely bruised, to afford drainage to the mass; also to feed the vines during hot weather, or when the heat is so great as to rob the plant of its natural moisture. The bones will likewise absorb the fluids passing down to them more readily by being bruised. All being thus prepared, the vine is turned out about the middle of April, providing the weather is open and mild; the cane being introduced, and pegged down. Air should be admitted at ten o'clock, A.M., by raising slightly the lights this, with the additional air from the bottom of the frames, will serve to check the vines from making too quick and premature a growth before the season is sufficiently advanced to assist the formation of the young parts. The cases should be closed again about two, P.M., if possible securing a little atmospheric warmth; and the vines should at this period be slightly syringed: the moisture will aid the expansion of the bark and the bursting of the young buds and leaves. This treatment should be continued until the flowers are expanded, when syringing must be entirely suspended, and air admitted upon every opportunity. As soon as the flowers are set, I find moisture applied in the form of vapor highly beneficial: this can be obtained by pouring tepid water upon the slates. Atmospheric warmth is secured throughout the day, and causes the moisture to evaporate; thus charging the internal air with an agent highly beneficial. As soon as the grapes have attained the size of sweet-peas, the bunches should be thinned; taking out all ill-shaped and deformed berries, also all those which are in immediate contact with others; taking care not to remove all the interior berries, or the bunches will be loose and ill-shapen. At this period the structure should be kept close, and as much warmth secured as possible; as the critical time of stoning will have arrived, and a check would prove highly injurious. As soon as coloring commences, as much air should be admitted as is consistent with safety from chilling; and the vinery should be closed sufficiently early to secure, as before stated, as much natural warmth as possible. If this course be pursued, I feel confident every success will attend the operator, and will well repay him for the pains he may bestow: the weight and quality of the fruit will equal if not exceed that which is grown in extensive vine-houses. — R. Broome, at Meeting of Central Horticultural Society.

ASPHALT-WALKS.

The following is the mode of forming them: Take two parts of very dry lime-rubbish, and one part coal-ashes, also very dry, and both sifted fine. In a dry place, on a dry day, mix them; and leave a hole in the middle of the heap, as bricklayers do when making mortar. Into this pour boilinghot coal-tar; mix; and, when as stiff as mortar, put it three inches thick where the walk is to be. The ground should be dry, and beaten smooth. Sprinkle over it coarse sand: when cold, pass a light roller over it, and in a few days the walk will be solid and water-proof.

These walks do very well during the greater part of the year: they are, however, liable, if the subsoil is not well drained, to be unsettled by frost; and sometimes in summer the heat of the sun so softens the asphaltum as to make them undesirable for a promenade.

QUINCE STOCK FOR PEARS. With regard to the quince as a stock for the pear, 1st, The disposition of its roots is more shallow: hence it is better adapted for thin soils; also for planting where the subsoil is of an unfavorable character, such as a wet, undrained, stiff clay impregnated with iron. On shallow soils, the quince, having its roots near the surface, can be fed by rich topdressings; and, as its roots do not descend into the subsoil, the trees do not die of canker as when the pear stock is employed where the subsoil is calculated to produce that evil. In thin soils, however, the pear on the quince should be planted on a raised mound, which secures roots near the surface; and any loss of moisture and coolness can be counterbalanced by rich surface-dressings, copious supplies of water, and liquid manure occasionally in dry weather. Further, the shallow disposition of the quince-roots is in its favor where the situation and soil are low and wet, because pear-trees in such soil root deeply, and abundance of wood is produced; but the prospect of a crop is small, and, if canker do not commence, the trunk and branches of the tree are plentifully covered with moss. The quince on such soils is quite at home, requiring only to be planted on a mound or hillock twice as high as where the soil is shallow; that is, in a wet soil, the tree should be planted on a mound twice the height of the roots, measuring from the uppermost fibres to the base; which distance, on an average, I find to be nine inches: hence the mound should be from a foot to fifteen inches above the ground-level; whilst, on shallow soils, the trees may be placed on the ground, and the roots covered with soil.

2d, The tree is more dwarf in growth. This is an incalculable advantage. An amateur with but a few square yards of open ground can have his pear-trees. They do not grow so vigorously as to smother every thing else; and though small, and occupying but little space, he has not to wait years for the fruit : whilst, if he were to plant trees on the pear stock, he would probably have no more than room for one tree, growing well, no doubt; but years must elapse before it can furnish an abundance of fruit, and that coming in all at one time. On the quince, the trees fruit in a year or two at most; and, as they occupy less space, several varieties may be grown, so as to afford a successional supply.

3d, The quince will grow and thrive where the pear will not. In a cold, wet situation, pears on the quince will ripen fruit when those on the pear stock will

scarcely ever do so. This result arises from the roots of the quince-tree being nearer the surface, and consequently in a warmer medium: moreover, the quince is of earlier growth than the pear. There is no soil in which the quince will not thrive with careful culture. Heavy clays, it is true, are not congenial to it any more than to the pear. On dry, sandy soil, it soon cankers the trees upon it, unless liberal top-dressings and plentiful supplies of water and liquid manure are afforded; but it flourishes in a rich, rather light soil with a wet bottom, in which the pear cannot be profitably grown.

4th, Trees upon the quince come into bearing sooner than those on the pear stock, and the fruit is larger, and better ripened. Upon the quince, pear-trees come into bearing in the first or second year after planting, and produce as many fruit annually, in proportion to their size, as a full-sized tree, and they are capable of bearing one to two pecks of fruit by the time trees on the pear stock come into bearing: besides, the fruit is seldom if ever so fine from trees on the pear stock as from those on the quince in the open ground. The increase in the size and color of fruit grown on the quince is due to the returning sap receiving a check when it reaches the quince: indeed, the effect of the latter is similar to that of ringing. — G. Abbey, in Cottage Gardener.

PLANTS PROPAGATED FROM LEAVES. We have long been in the habit of propagating Begonias, Gesnerias, Gloxineas, and plants of kindred nature, by leaves planted in damp silver sand, but were somewhat surprised a few days since to find some leaves of Campylobotryes discolor, which we had carelessly thrust into the sand, well-rooted plants. This mode of propagation is yet in its infancy, and we confidently look for the time when most of our thick-leaved plants will be increased by this simple method. Not only will each leaf make a plant, but every bit of a leaf can be made to throw out roots, and form a separate plant this is particularly the case with begonias and kindred plants.

FORCING LILIES of the Valley. - The best way is to take up those roots that have large, plump crowns, and such only, potting them in a compost of rich turfy loam, and placing them in a house with a temperature of 40° to 45° for a fortnight, and afterwards, until they bloom, in a temperature of 50° to 55°, and not exceeding 60° at night, affording them a position near the glass, and plenty of water. They never fail to have a plentiful supply of bloom; but none other than the flowering roots should be potted, which is different from taking up patches from the borders, more than half of which are by far too small and weak to flower, and, indeed, have no flower-bud formed. Pot none but the large crowns, and put them in pots or pans at about an inch apart.

This may done in the autumn; indeed, as late as the ground remains open; and, by introducing the plants to heat at different times, the flowers may be had from Christmas to May Day.

APPLES ON PARADISE STOCK.· Apples on the crab are only suitable for orchards, and for walls or espaliers where long shoots are desirable or required; whilst for dwarfs, pryamids, espaliers, and walls, where long branches are not

wanted, trees worked on the paradise stock are better, for they fruit earlier, thrive where the crab is unhealthy, produce finer fruit, and can be grown in less space. The paradise stock is raised from layers; and its growth is not so free as that of the crab, which is raised from seed. The paradise stock has its roots near the surface; and these do not descend so quickly in bad soil as those of the crab, which, from its very nature as a seedling, roots deeply; and in the case of hot, light, shallow soils, the crab stock causes canker in the trees worked upon it, whole branches continually dying off. On the crab, the trees are not more healthy than on the paradise stock for what suits one suits the other; with this difference, that the paradise lives where the crab will not. For instance, I have some pyramids on the paradise stock, also on the crab, about ten years planted: those on the crab are cankered, and produce fruit as much "pitted" as the branches are spotted with canker; whilst those on the paradise stock bear their half-bushel of fruit without speck or crack. The soil is a shallow loam over gravel. There is no difference in the culture, and yet there is a great difference in the results. A good top-dressing of manure is quickly consumed by the trees on the paradise; but the roots of those on the crab have gone too far down. These trees are seven feet high, and five feet through. English Journal of Horticulture.

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SOWING AND CULTURE OF CYCLAMENS. - Who does not love and admire cyclamens? And they deserve to be admired, not only for their beauty, but because they are as easy to grow from seed as the commonest of annuals.

Having a few old plants in good bloom in March, and wishing to increase my stock, I placed them on a shelf near the glass in an airy greenhouse, keeping them dry rather than wet; and by August I had plenty of pods full of good seeds, ripening at different times. I visited the plants every afternoon, taking care not to gather the pods before each had partially burst; and they were then carefully packed, and put away until the time of sowing, - an operation which I perform according to the following directions: Early in March, prepare six-inch pots by three-parts filling them with drainage : over this place a good layer of moss, and above the moss half an inch of loam, leaf-mould, and silver sand passed through a sieve, using the roughest for the bottom. Make the surface firm; place the seeds, which should previously be soaked for twenty-four hours, in milk-warm water, about a quarter of an inch from each other, and cover them very lightly with silver sand; water gently through a very fine rose, always using warm water, or that from which the chill has been taken off; place a piece of slate or glass over the pots, and set them in a warm, close cucumber or cutting frame. In a month, the seeds will vegetate; and, when this takes place, the seedlings must not be allowed to become dry.

When the seedlings are large enough to handle, pot them in small thumb-pots in turfy loam, chopped moss, and a little silver sand, using plenty of drainage; return them to the frame for a week or two, keeping them near the glass, and watering them very carefully. At the end of that time they will want more air, and a little shading will be necessary in very bright days. The plants must not be placed out of doors, but should be encouraged in the greenhouse; and, when

they have filled the thumb-pot with roots, shift into two-and-a-half-inch pots, using the same compost as before. By the following March, there will be enough of them in bloom to amply reward the grower for his trouble. Dozens of my seedlings sown last March were beautifully in bloom in ten months after sowing, and have been so ever since. Many of the corms or bulbs are as large as a twoshilling-piece. The varieties are Persicum rubrum and those of the coum and Atkinsii race.-H. C., in Florist.

ASPARAGUS-BED MAKING AND PLANTING. Choose an open situation, and mark a space twice the width of the bed, or eight feet; and, the soil being good to a depth of two feet six inches or three feet, trench it that depth, working in a dressing of manure six inches thick. If heavy, add a similar quantity of sand. Should the subsoil be bad, and the soil thin, it would be well to take out a trench at one end, and, working backwards, remove the bad soil, and replace it with fresh: that is, taking out a trench, lay the good soil on both sides, and, when you come to the bottom or bad soil, remove it, and place at the bottom of the trench a quantity of fresh soil equal to that removed. The fresh compost may consist of equal parts of rotten manure, leaf-mould, sand, and turfy loam. Commencing another trench, throw the good soil on the fresh soil, leaving that on the sides to finish at the end, or fill up the trench. After moving the good soil of the second trench to finish the first trench, remove the bad soil from the bottom, replacing it with fresh; and in this manner proceed until the whole is finished. You may then spread a dressing of manure three or four inches thick, and fork it in, adding a like quantity of sand if the soil be heavy. Mark out a bed four feet wide, allowing two-feet alleys on both sides, and putting in a peg at each corner of the bed. You may early in April take out a trench in the centre of the bed, stretching a line along it for that purpose, and wide enough to allow of the roots being spread out at full length, the plants being placed at the back of the trench, against the line, with the crowns about an inch from the surface. Fill in the trench after the plants have been placed a foot apart, covering the crowns about an inch deep. A row on both sides of the bed, nine inches from the sides, and a foot between the plants, will fill the bed. from the alleys may be thrown on the bed to level it, and be neatly raked. The plants should be two, and not more than three, years old. The giant is the kind we recommend for planting. A few of the finest may be cut in the second spring after planting.

VERBENA CULTURE.

Some of the soil

After the cuttings are struck, say, at the end of March, a frame about eighteen inches high at the back, and a foot high in front, is chosen one that you can shut up perfectly close is the best. Inside the frame place nine inches of good light soil, and in this plant the verbenas from the cutting-pots, watering them well with tepid water to settle the soil. When the sun shines, every morning give about half an inch of air, no more, until ten o'clock, when the plants should be watered overhead, and shut up closely for the day. The thermometer will possibly rise above 100°; but you will see, if you try the system, what a black strong growth the plants will make in conse

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