MARSHALL P. WILDER exhibited recently, at the rooms of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the foliage and flower of a very rare ornamental floweringtree named Agnostus sinuatus, or Stenocarpus Cunninghami, a native of Moreton Bay, New Holland. It is a greenhouse shrub of the largest class; the present subject being eighteen feet in height. Its leaves are from sixteen to twenty inches in length, of a bright, shining green, deeply cut or sinuated, somewhat like the foliage of the oak. The flowers are very curious in their formation. They spring from the old wood, and are borne on stems with four or five large whorls of rosy scarlet, after the manner of the Proteas; to which family it undoubtedly belongs.

STENOCARPUS CUNNINGHAMI. 66 - So long ago as 1828, the lamented Allan Cunningham discovered this plant on the banks of the Brisbane River, Moreton Bay, which he described as a slender tree of most remarkable habit, without flower or fruit." Of this, Sir W. Hooker remarks, "Had Mr. Cunningham seen its blossoms elegantly arranged in candelabrum-like umbels, clothed with the most vivid orange-scarlet silky pubescence, he would assuredly have ranked it among the most important of his numerous additions to the Australian flora. The handsome evergreen foliage has indeed long recommended this plant to the attention of cultivators; and, now that its beautiful inflorescence is known, the demand for it will be in proportion to its loveliness.”—Paxton Mag. Botany.

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FRUIT-HARVEST OF THE WEST. "The American Journal of Horticulture" for November contains an article on the "Fruit-Harvest of the West for 1868." This article conveys the impression of a universal failure of the fruit-harvest throughout the West. In this it does injustice to some favored and protected localities which have had abundant harvests. The statement that the fruit-crop of the West was a failure for the year 1868, is, without doubt, generally correct; but, happily for our credit, this statement is not of universal application.

Your contributor, writing from Illinois, gives a correct summary for his State. Permit me to give a few items from the fruit-region of St. Joseph, Mich. The custom-house record shows that there were shipped from the port of St. Joseph, during the summer and autumn of 1868, five hundred and eight thousand and five hundred packages of peaches, containing one-third of a bushel each; thirtyfour thousand bushels of berries; besides large quantities of apples, pears, grapes, &c. The above estimate does not include hundreds of bushels of small fruits and peaches used in home-consumption, or that were canned, dried, and preserved in various ways for the market. This large amount of fruit was mostly grown on the Lake Shore, or immediately about the mouth of the St. Joseph River, within the area of but a few square miles at most. The resources of the country are being rapidly developed, and orchards and vineyards will soon cover the entire face of this fruit-region; and in some future year, as in the last, we hope to supply the markets of Chicago and the neighboring cities at least with cheap and luscious fruit, when the fruit-crop of the West is again a failure.

ST. JOSEPH, MICH., Jan. 12, 1869.

J. H. L.

PROPAGATING AUCUBAS BY CUTTINGS. The best time to put in aucubacuttings is as soon as the growth is complete and the wood has become firm. They should be inserted in light sandy soil in a cold frame, and the soil made firm about them. A gentle watering should be given, and the lights kept on during the day, and off at night; but in dull weather they may remain off day and night. Let the cuttings have the benefit of slight showers; but protect them from heavy drenching rains. Shade from bright sun should also be afforded. When cold, frosty weather sets in, the lights will be useful for protection; and, in addition, a covering of mats should be given in very severe periods. The lights must be tilted so as to let the cuttings have air, and the latter should be fully exposed in mild periods. The cuttings may be struck out of doors in a sheltered, shady situation; but they will be longer in taking root, and their growth will be slow. From the end of August to October, the shoots will be in a good state for making cuttings: but they may be put in up to the middle of November; and, in that case, many will not root until the following autumn.

WINTERING OLD PELARGONIUMS. - - First, as respects some variegated kinds which we wish to keep, and get cuttings from in spring. These we deprived of a few of their largest leaves, and, when the roots were very straggling, cut them in to six inches or so in length; and then we potted singly in small pots (40's), and set them in a slight bottom-heat in frames, admitting air all night, that most of the leaves left might remain uninjured.

In a second case, we took up some good-sized plants which we wish to keep for centres of raised beds or pyramids next season. We find that these are scarcely injured by the frost. As height is an object, we retain them almost at their full height; but to save room we take off all leaves larger than a sixpence, cut the roots if necessary, and place in the smallest pots that we can get them in, and put them under glass. Generally, these make fine plants in spring. They would make fresh roots sooner if they, too, could have a little bottom-heat; but that we could not give them; and, to save room, we wish them to grow very little during the winter.

The third is the most numerous lot, and the plants in this we merely wish to keep. We prune in the heads closely, leaving only a bud or two at the base of each branch. We prune in the roots to about four inches in length; and then we pack these roots closely in boxes, say thirty or forty of the close-cut deerantler-like plants in a wooden box three feet long by nine inches wide. If the soil is somewhat moist, they will need little watering, — just a little to settle the earth about the roots. To prevent damping, we dip the cut heads in a pot of quicklime. As not a single leaf is left on these cut-in plants, packed as closely as a wood fagot, they will keep anywhere in winter where they will be secure from frost and damp; and will need but little light until they begin to break their buds, which they seldom do with us until March. These plants, first treated with light then, and soon afterwards given more room, so that each plant may grow freely, will make a good show in the flower-garden. This plan, or some similar one, is the best to adopt by those who grow scarlet pelargoniums,

and have no greenhouse or glass-pit to keep them in. Such skeletons need little care in winter. All young plants raised from cuttings must have light as well as be kept from frost.

Editors of "Journal of Horticulture: "—

YOUR correspondent "E. S. R., Jun.," in January number, in an article on "Parlor-Plants," recommends treating Richardia Æthiopica a little different from what I would propose. Instead of turning the plants into the open ground in spring "to rest," turn the pots on their side in some shady spot in the open air where the sun's rays will not reach the pots : leave them there, giving no water, till end of August. By that means, they will "rest indeed." About the end of August, turn them out of the pots, shake off every particle of soil from the plant, remove all the offsets, pot them in good rich soil, put in a sunny, sheltered spot, and water sparingly till they begin to grow. By this method, more and finer flowers can be produced than by planting out the callas in spring, or leaving offsets on plants when repotting in autumn. I would also recommend raising Primula sinensis from seed every summer, as the plants are stronger, and the flowers will be as fine if care is used in saving seed, and will save the trouble of keeping over old plants. This does not refer to the double or semi-double varieties. Thomas Skene.

GAMSONS, Dec. 29, 1868.

NATIVE CYPRIPEDIA. Our native Cypripedia will bear forcing very well if judiciously applied. Mr. Menand has frequently had C. acaule in flower about this season and he now has a pot of C. parviflorum in bloom, with a dozen flowers; and a pot of C. spectabile so advanced, that a week or ten days more will develop its flowers.

A gentleman who resides in Cleveland, O., informs me that he grows the native Cypripedia with great success in his open garden by excavating a pit on the shady side, a foot and a half deep, and cementing it entirely water-tight, except that a few holes are left on the sides four to six inches from the top. He fills the pit with swamp-muck.

ground, but have never When pots are planted

I have succeeded well by planting pots in the open tried the Cleveland plan, which I regard as preferable. in the open ground, a cork should be fitted in the hole at the bottom, and one or two holes made in the sides near the top, so that the surface will be drained while the supply of wet at the bottom is still unexhausted.

C. spectabile especially is such a beautiful flower (equal in delicacy of color and form to most of the tropical orchids), and so easily cultivated, and in shaded pots too, where few other plants will bloom, that I am surprised it is not more generally grown. Roots can be got in abundance in this vicinity; and in April, or perhaps in May, they may safely be removed so as to secure bloom the same season. Very few florists grow our native plants; but Mr. Menand is an enthusiastic botanist, and can always furnish any quantity of roots of C. spectabile, C. parviflorum, and C. pubescens. G. B. W., Jun.

TROY, N.Y., March 1, 1869.

- John Cox, in "The Florist," thus gives his

CULTURE OF HORSE-RADISH. experience in the culture of horse-radish : In the course of the spring of the present year, my attention was forcibly arrested by some able remarks on the culture of horse-radish in "The Journal of Horticulture" for 1867. The system advocated appeared to me to be so great an improvement on the old one, that I determined to give it a trial, in opposition to our routine method of planting every year a bed to come into use the third year after planting. In the place of digging out trenches, and filling them up, as directed in the article alluded to, I selected a bed, which, last year, was used for the cultivation of ridge cucumbers, having been prepared in the usual way by throwing out a trench about three feet in width, and two feet in depth, which is filled well up with manure, short grass, tree-leaves, or any other suitable rubbish which will generate a little heat. This, of course, was all rotted down; and, early in April of the present year, I trenched up the middle of the bed, incorporating the soil and rotten stuff together, and thus prepared it for planting.

It appears to me that there are two principal points to be carefully followed out in order to insure success: one is to properly prepare the sets for planting, and the other is to secure a well-prepared bed of rich soil for them to grow in. With regard to the preparation of the sets, at the time of digging up the threeyears' bed, I directed the men to save all the long roots about the thickness of a goose-quill: these I selected as straight as I could get them, and shortened them to the length of a foot. From these every perceptible eye was removed except those close to the top; and also all the fibres, with the exception of those about an inch from the bottom. Having thus prepared a sufficient number of roots, I made holes nine inches apart in a diagonal direction from the sides to the centre of the bed, sufficiently deep to take the roots without bending; and into these they were inserted, and the earth pressed down upon them. I then, by way of a catch-crop, planted a row of cauliflowers down the middle, and one on each side of the bed: these did very well.

The bed was planted on the 15th of April; and in the first week of this month (October), within six months of the time of planting, I have roots equal in size, and superior in quality, to any that I get from the beds of the third year under the old method. I feel sure that I need not enlarge upon the economy of this method of cultivation; the facts speak for themselves: and, as I have myself proved it practically, I cordially recommend it through the medium of The Florist and Pomologist.'"

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BEES. - Your correspondent "G. G.," in February number, is needlessly alarmed about his bees injuring his raspberries or any other fruit by "intermeddling with the pollen." I raise raspberries and bees pretty extensively, and find them mutually beneficial to each other. Every fruit-grower should have enough bees to save the honey, the most valuable part of his fruit-crop, which otherwise is lost.

HAWESVILLE, KY.

D. L. Adair.

MR. TILTON, Allow a subscriber to urge the claims of the hyacinth "Charles Dickens" to all lovers of the beautiful. For years past, I have grown this variety, and now place it before all others for house-culture. The color is delicate porcelain, varied with a darker shade; the bells are unusually large and well shaped ; while the odor is more sprightly than almost any other variety, not having that dead sweetness peculiar to all.

Last year, a number of my bulbs were mislaid, the Charles Dickens hyacinth among them. When found (Jan. 5), they were immediately potted. The same treatment was given to all; but the Charles Dickens asserted its superiority by blooming full two days in advance of the others: and, at this writing, these same bulbs are showing better trusses than many roots imported this fall, and potted in September.

If any who read this article are induced to plant a few of the bulbs whose good qualities I have endeavored to delineate, I am sure they will feel fully repaid for their trouble by the store of beauty and sweetness their tender care will surely bring forth. Robert Waggoner.

TROY, N.Y., Jan. 19, 1869.

[The variety will bear out all our corrrespondent asserts. It is good in every way. We have it now (Jan. 25) beautifully in bloom. — Eds.]

ARNOLD'S HYBRID GRAPES. As we have had the pleasure of tasting these new grapes as grown in Canada, and well knowing the difference between the same varieties grown there and here, it may be interesting to know how they compare with our best varieties here.

You must bear in mind that such as Concord, Creveling, Catawba, &c., as grown in your vicinity, would hardly be eaten here, where Creveling and Maxatawny, Clara, Delaware, Iona, &c., are about perfection.

But these hybrids of Arnold's are fully equal, and one variety superior even, when grown in the far north.

It would be useless to describe them, as that has often been done; but if they improve, when brought here, in the same ratio that all northern varieties have done, then we have added to our list five valuable grapes.

Othello for a table grape will become famous in market, on account of its showy appearance, although not equal to some of the others in quality. Autuchan will take well both on account of its fine bunch, beautiful color, and excellent quality; Brant for table and wine both; while Cornucopia and Canada are not much behind.

A number of persons in this locality have got vines; so that in a few years you may count on receiving both fruit and wine from here of these very promising varieties, provided your humble correspondent lives so long.

BLUFFTON, Mo., Feb. 6, 1869,

Samuel Miller.