LOBELIA CARDINALIS.

THERE is a little nook in my garden which I call the "Wilds," because only such plants grow there as I have collected in my rambles in the woodlands. The most attractive of the many wild flowers, mosses, and ferns, transplanted from their native wilds, is a group of that incomparable plant, the Lobelia cardinalis, which I transplanted last July while the plants were just coming into flower.

Perhaps some of your readers will be glad to learn how easily and successfully this can be done with proper care and management. Selecting plants that grew in rather a dryish, stiff, or compact soil, I cut them up in cubes of about ten inches soil, placing them (about twenty in all) carefully in a box, and packed moss about them to keep the soil intact, bringing them home a distance of eight miles. Having a bed prepared with twelve inches of leaf-mould from the woods, peat, and river sand, in equal parts, with a little spent hot-bed manure in the bottom, I placed the cubes closely together, filling in the crevices with the same kind of soil as at the bottom, and gave the whole a good soaking from the cistern. The plants did not appear to be affected in the least by the removal, but continued to grow and flower as perfectly as in their native meadow.

For two months they continued to flower in tall, graceful spikes of the most vivid scarlet, and seeded fully and completely. The stools now look fresh and thrifty, promising finely for next year. I doubt not, another summer, they will prove vigorous plants, and yield abundant bloom.

It is a mistaken notion that this plant will thrive only in a wet soil. My observations are, that although they are frequently found in wet places, sometimes even in running water, they grow much larger, and flower longer and better, in a stiff, clayish peat-soil, which becomes dry in dry weather. In such localities the roots are shorter and more confined, therefore more readily transplanted. A couple of plants transplanted last year in a similar manner grew and flowered finely this year, though planted in a soil far from being wet, and with no attention except an occasional soaking from the watering-pot during a few weeks of drought.

It is a matter of surprise that a flower of such rare beauty and attractive splendor, and of which some writer has truly said, "before the intense brilliancy of whose colors the exotics pale," should be so much neglected here, where it is indigenous, and so easily grown, when it is so highly prized and sought for by foreign florists, where it is an exotic, and difficult to be raised. Being indigenous here is probably the reason why it is so often overlooked, like several other of our native wild flowers; though their graceful oultines, exquisite tintings, and robust beauty, far excel many of the greenhouse-tribe, nursed so often with assiduous care, and watched over with tender solicitude.

Once fairly established in a congenial soil, the lobelia will annually give for nearly two months a mass of bloom on handsome stalks, and in a dye so intense as to be unapproached by either rose or verbena, bouvardia, or even the much-vaunted scarlet salvia; and that, too, with very little care or attention. And, when the hoary frosts and rigors of winter come, it will kindly take care of itself, asking no shelter in the greenhouse or cold frame, but simply to be let alone; and, when summer comes again, it will reward you with its gay flowers and gorgeous hues. C. W. Ranlet.

HOLYOKE, MASS.

AKEBIA QUINATA.

CONTRARY to expectation, this plant has proved hardy in the vicinity of Boston, and flowered freely.

It is difficult to convey an idea of the beauty of the rich clover-like foliage, or of the varied forms of the flowers. It requires only common garden-soil, and will climb fifteen feet in a single season.

CRITIQUE ON THE MAY NUMBER.

Well done, Mr. Barry, we are glad once more to find you have taken pen in hand, and certainly to good purpose. The article on the difference between Pinus ponderosa and P. Benthamiana is to the point, and it is such articles that are much needed; they give the result of experience and observation: the more of them the better, we say.

Rogers's Hybrid Grapes. The christening of a child forms an epoch in its life, and why should not the naming of a fruit in its more humble life? Mr. Rogers has done well, before starting his grapes anew in the world, where they have so long wandered nameless, though not numberless, to gather them together and describe their different characteristics. The quality and value, for table and wine, of these grapes will long afford a subject for discussion; but, whatever it may finally be decided to be, Mr. Rogers will ever be held in grateful remembrance as the first to try the experiment on any considerable scale of hybridizing the European and American grapes; by his success giving the strongest stimulus to similar efforts, which are, no doubt, destined in the future to produce results now undreamed of. But couldn't he have completed his list of names without using those so unfitted to American tongues as Goethe and Gaertner?

The article of Prof. Russell, on "New Trees and Shrubs of California and Oregon," is full of information. Doubtless, our own country affords far more valuable "novelties" than many for which we pay high prices, and get nothing but disappointment. We say to our nursery-men, Look at home for new plants for our gardens. The completion of the Pacific Railroad brings us within a week of San Francisco, and gives rare facilities for floral acquisition.

"The Pink Family," continued, by Joseph Breck, gives us brief descriptions of the different species. But why dismiss all the pretty dwarf species with a notice

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of five lines, and call them "not of much consequence"? Some are gems of beauty, and, though not large-flowered, are worthy of extended cultivation.

Van Mons's Theory. Here we find another laborer experimenting, three generations ago, not only to produce new fruits, but to ascertain the laws which govern their production; the first, perhaps, to undertake such experiments with scientific hands and eyes. To-day we are enjoying the results of his labors, and whether he raised or only introduced the fine pears which we have received at his hands, or, by his teaching and example incited others to produce them, in either case our gratitude is due to him; and all this, while questioning the correctness of his theory, Mr. Manning freely acknowledges. He might have added, among those whose experience disproves the theory, one whom Van Mons claimed as a disciple, the late Major Esperen; several of whose pears were undoubtedly raised from the Passe Colmar. But let us not leave Dr. Van Mons without once more thanking the man to whom such a superlative pear as the Beurré d'Anjou is even attributed.

Boston-Market Celery. — Truly an excellent specimen, and well illustrated. As fresh and crisp at mid-winter as when taken from the ground in autumn. We are certainly making rapid progress in the raising and general management of our vegetables; for I well remember the time when celery was rare in our markets after Christmas, or, if found there, was so decayed and rusty as to be almost worthless. Now it can be obtained, white, crisp, and bright, at a moderate price, throughout the winter months, until superseded by lettuce, and, I had almost said, cucumbers; or until the time when asparagus, peas, and other new vegetables render salads less needful.

The English, Mr. Editor, have a saying that "poor management makes poor celery," which I am inclined to think is, in the main, correct, though I somewhat doubt whether, under the most skilful treatment, a variety naturally coarse, strong, and pipy, could ever be brought to the high standard of excellence found in the "Boston-Market." Of one thing I am satisfied, that celery, when allowed to complete its growth before being earthed-up for blanching, never attains the tender, delicate quality of that which has been gradually blanched as the plants have progressed in size and development.

The article on "Improved Peas" introduces several new sorts, which appear to be highly prized abroad. One of these, Laxton's Long-pod, seems to have succeeded in a marked degree under our climate, and to have already come into general favor. But are we not relying too much on kinds derived from foreign sources? Why not do something at home, either for the production of new varieties, or by way of improving the old? It is true that climate is somewhat against us in this respect; but are we not lacking in the skilful culture and persistently careful selection for which English growers are so distinguished? I am satisfied, if the attention of cultivators should be turned in this direction, they would find their reward. At present, I am inclined to think there are few, if any, of the varieties of the pea now generally cultivated, that can be claimed as being strictly of American origin.

With regard to foreign potatoes, do you think they always have a fair trial? Perhaps we do not allow sufficient time to test their true value; strangers to

our soil and climate, are not opinions formed from the experience of a single season liable to prove erroneous? Of their general inferiority, there can be no question; still I think it must be admitted, that, in many instances, we have rendered a verdict which a more extended trial might have reversed.

Violets. ·Appropriate, seasonable, truly what more charming spring flower is there than the violet? We are glad to see that Mr. Rand, while duly praising the fine Czar and Giant Violets, devotes much of his article to our native species. That figured (V. pedata) is one of the most charming of the family, and, in many localities, covers the fields with sheets of bloom. The illustration, however, is too crowded, and does not do justice to the beauty of the flower. We echo the advice, Grow violets, and, by following the directions in this article, one may gather violets every day in the year.

Propagating Verbenas and Scarlet Geraniums (pp. 302, 303). — Such articles are much needed. The text for every article should be, State what is to be done, and tell just how to do it, and that, too, in the simplest way; and tell it in the fewest words.

Decorative Palms (p. 305). — The use of fine palms for in-door and garden decoration is yet in its infancy. The plants are scarce, and of high cost; but every year will make them more attainable. For parlor-culture in winter they are very fine, and need very little care. Much attention is now given to them in Europe, and foreign catalogues have long lists of species and varieties.

Bismarck.

USE OF TOADS. The "Journal des Connaissances Médicales" states, that, of late years, French horticulturists have followed the example of the English ones, and peopled their gardens with toads. These reptiles are determined enemies of all kinds of snails and slugs, which, it is well known, can, in a single night, destroy a vast quantity of lettuce, carrots, asparagus, &c. In Paris, toads are sold at the rate of two francs fifty centimes a dozen. The dealers in this uninviting article keep it in large tubs, into which they plunge their bare hands and arms, without any fear of the poisonous bite to which they are supposed to expose themselves. Toads are also kept in vineyards, where they devour during the night millions of insects that escape the pursuit of nocturnal birds, and might commit incalculable havoc on the buds and young shoots of the vine.

TILLAGE. “The three great objects of tillage are, first, to enable the roots of plants to force their way through the soil as freely as possible in search of food; secondly, to produce this food in the soil; and, third, to kept down weeds.

"It is found that of every one hundred parts of a soil of average fertility, not more than one part is in a fit state to nourish plants. This explains why a manure containing, in an available state for plants, only a small quantity of the constituents of the soil, produces a great effect: it also shows the importance of deep, early, and good tillage."

A HORTICULTURAL Congress is to be held at Manchester (Eng.), July 21 and 22, in connection with the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society.