hundred quarts in a short day's work. Packages for fruit must be purchased. These must be neat, strong, and adapted to the market to be supplied. The most satisfactory that I have seen is the "Halleck Fruitbox," — a quart box made of two strips of sliced wood, which can be purchased "in the flat " at eight dollars per thousand: thirty-six of these can be packed in a crate, or case, also made of ready-cut strips. This case costs about twenty-eight dollars per hundred. Thus far, for an acre of good

A small sum must be expended in tough tacks, No. 3, and a magnetic tack-hammer. The material should be kept in a cool, shady place, and put together at intervals of leisure. The cases should be kept in the same way, and put together with No. 3 and 4 nails.

The "Burlington Free-fruit Box," Platt's "Fruit Box." and a large shallow box containing half a bushel, and probably many others, are also used, and have their respective admirers.

The fruit should be neatly picked, taken up tenderly, when it is dry, directly into the boxes. Small and unripe berries should not be put in, and all leaves or other litter excluded. The boxes should be filled with precision, packed in their turn neatly in the case, and the top nailed on firmly. If, as is generally the case, the fruit is sent by express, care must be taken to direct properly, and send away promptly, as the fruit is perishable.

Commission-merchants must be engaged at the principal place or places of sale. "Men are deceivers ever;" but the impression, not without foundation, has got abroad, that they are more than usually tempted in the business of fruit-selling. But any experienced friend can point out reliable dealers everywhere, who, for about ten per cent commission, will receive and sell small lots of fruit. One should keep the run of the markets, and sell at home, or send to different markets according to quotations.

In case the raspberry and blackberry bushes produce a little fruit the second season, it can be shipped in the same kind of packages, and in a similar way. The gooseberries, when they begin to come, can be shipped

in barrels, with holes bored in the heads to prevent heating.

Currants, if large and fine, can sometimes be shipped to advantage in the quart packages. But these two last do not bear so early as the first.

By this time, some propagation of plants can be begun; and this is one advantage in the cultivation of small fruits. The runners of the strawberry, the tips of the raspberry, the sprouts of the blackberry, and the cuttings of the currant and gooseberry, can all be made into independent plants, and sold, or planted as an enlargement of the area of culture. In this way, a double harvest can be reaped.

The wood that may have borne on raspberry and blackberry bushes is now dying, and may be cut out. The runners from the strawberry-plants may be permitted to fill the vacant spaces, if plants are wanted; or may be restricted in case something like cultivation in hills is preferred.

The second and subsequent winters, the straw-mulch will still be desirable. Corn-stalks and planing-mill chips will answer the same purpose, and can be substituted according to the capabilities of the neighborhood.

Subsequent seasons will be much the same; except that, sooner or later, the plantations of strawberries and raspberries will be the better for being renewed, and the gooseberries and currants will need thinning and manuring as they advance in years. The blackberries will need manure, and a suppression, with the hoe, of sprouts, unless plants be a special object.

It will be well, where possible, to keep a steady horse and an equally steady boy. With these, horse-power culture can be applied, fruit hauled away, and manure hauled in during the winter months.

In this outline, I can but allude to details which close observation and practice best teach and impress. Perhaps, however, I have said enough to show that the labor is light and pleasant, and the probable profits greater than can be gained in most of the pursuits in which women now engage; whilst as regards health, independence, and self-respect, it is far preferable to the state of dependence and confining labors of many of them.

ALTON, July 3, 1867.

W. C. Flagg

FOSTER'S SEEDLING PEACH.

THE annexed engraving gives a correct idea of the average size and form of this new seedling peach, which has been named for its originator,-Capt. J. T. Foster of Medford, Mass. It was raised from the stone of one of two peaches that he purchased in Boston market; and the tree is now about ten years old. It is very hardy, and the fruit always large, and remarkably

handsome. The foliage is said to be very large, dark, glossy, and peculiar, unlike that of any other variety. The fruit is large, slightly flattened, with a slight suture; stem moderately depressed; flesh yellow, very rich and juicy, with pleasant sub-acid flavor; free stone, of medium size; color of fruit a deep orange and red, becoming very dark red on the exposed side. Ripe from middle to last of September. This fruit is so attractive, that we have known it to sell, on one occasion at least, for one dollar each; and, wherever exhibited, it attracts a great deal of attention.

HARDY CLEMATIS.

WE will first mention the herbaceous cultivated varieties of the clematis, with erect stems, generally hardy and ornamental.

Clematis integrifolia (L.). — Tufted, large flowers of a beautiful blue.

Clematis erecta (L.). About three feet high, flowers white, in panicles. Clematis flore pleno. — Obtained by M. Victor Lemoine. Stems three feet; flowers white, and double like those of the Ranunculus aconitifolius. Clematis hybrida. - Another variety obtained by the same horticulturist. Hybrid between C. integrifolia and C. erecta. Panicles of flowers of a rich violet with yellow stamens.

Passing to the climbing varieties, we notice, first, Clematis vitalba (L.), the traveller's joy, (or virgin's-bower?) with yellowish-white flowers. By means of the petioles, which serve the purpose of tendrils, this plant often climbs to the tops of trees.

C. flammula (L.); C. fragrans (L.). Bunches of white flowers of delightful fragrance.

C. viticella (L.) and viticella flore pleno. - Flowers varying from pure blue to reddish blue. The pollen of these varieties, by fertilizing the flowers of C. lanuginosa, has produced some surprising results.

C. Hendersoni venosa. - A very beautiful hybrid from the preceding. Of the other climbing varieties, we notice first those indigenous to Eastern Asia: :

Clematis Florida fl. pl. (Atragene Indica). — Large white flowers, very double.

C. Florida Sieboldii (C. bicolor).· Nothing can be more beautiful than these vines, seen either climbing some tall forest-tree or shrub in their native freedom, or when the hand of Art has trained their flexible sprays to cover the trellis of some elegant arbor.

To the general fine effect of these climbers is joined, in the C. Florida Sieboldii, the elegance of a cut foliage, the brilliancy of large starry flowers with six rays, where the delicate green of the centre contrasts finely with the brilliant violet of the petals. To the eye of the botanist, this last ornament, procured by transforming the anthers and pistils into petals, is only a

sign of sterility which he stigmatizes as monstrous; while the amateur admires it as a triumph of art. These flowers resemble somewhat the double anemones and ranunculus of our gardens.

Clematis Florida with single, and a variety of the same with double flowers, of a uniform color, have been known in Europe for a long time. The latter, according to Curtis, was introduced into the gardens of England in 1776, before the species with single flowers observed by Thunberg in the gardens of Japan, where it is indigenous. It was in this region, whence so many ornamental plants have been obtained, that Dr. Siebold discovered the two-colored variety which is known by his name. It was first introduced into the Botanical Garden at Ghent in 1829 with C. cærulea; whence they soon spread into other gardens.

C. Florida Standishi. - Flowers blue, tinted with lilac ; petals moderately thick, large, and very well set. Although it has been classed with the species C. Florida, in our opinion it has more analogy with the C. patens; but it is superior to it in the consistency of its petals, which are very firm. C. patens (C. azurea grandiflora). Large flower, clear blue.

C. patens Amelia; C. patens amethystina plena; C. patens atropurpurea plena. C. patens candidissima plena. - Flowers of a medium size, white, double, superior to those of C. monstrosa.

C. patens Helena; C. patens Louisa; C. patens Louisa fl. pl.; C. patens lanuginosa; C. patens candida; C. patens pallida. C. patens nivea, of which M. Lemoine speaks as follows: "The flowers of this hybrid are as large as those of the C. lanuginosa: their form is the same; but their color is pure white. The stamens are of a yellowish-white. It is produced by crossing C. lanuginosa with C. patens; with white flowers: it has retained some of the characteristics of both parents, while acquiring a much greater force of vegetation, and becoming much more hardy."

Clematis Jackmani and C. rubro violacea. - Messrs. Jackman and Son of Woking, in Surrey, have obtained these two brilliant novelties by fertilizing Clematis lanuginosa with the C. viticella Hendersoni, and by crossing Clematis lanuginosa with Clematis viticella atrorubens.

These hybrids have preserved the floral dimensions of one parent, while borrowing largely from the color of the other. At first sight, they are iden