42G AMERICA]!^ THOUGHT AND ACTION. [April 



1. A museum, containiug specimens of nearly every j)lant found 

 in the State, and fairly representing the flora of the United States. 

 A large collection of grasses, seeds of weeds and various economic 

 products of the vegetable kingdom. 



2. An orchard, containing numerous well - selected varieties of 

 the apple, pear, cherry, plum, and quince. 



3. A garden of small fruits, containing nearly all the good 

 varieties of the straw.berry, raspberry, blackberry, currant, and goose- 

 berry. 



4. A vegetable garden, with hot-beds, cold frames, experiment 

 plots, conveniences for irrigation, etc. 



5. Nursery and forest tree-plantation, with practice rows budding, 

 grafting, pruning, etc. 



6. Ornamental grounds, planted with a large variety of ever- 

 greens and deciduous trees and shrubs. 



7. A well-built and conveniently-arranged greenhouse, furnished 

 with a good collection of native and exotic plants. 



In America, compact teaching power seems preferred to that 

 vague grasp after the unapproachably magnificent so well known in 

 British Universities. 



AN AMERICAN HEDGE. 



An experimenter who has tried all sorts of hedge plants for 

 over thirty years, finds that the best deciduous plants for hedges 

 are the European beech and European hornbeam. Among ever- 

 greens, he prefers the Norway spruce, with the native hemlock and 

 the Siberian arbor-vita' following? close behind. 



AVHY BOXWOOD IS GETTING SCAECE. 



Boxwood which brought in the American market 38 dollars a ton of 

 3-inch wood, now fetches 120 dollars, in consequence of the roller- 

 skate craze, which has almost depleted the market of wood of one 

 size. Boilers are made in several sizes, ranging from !§ to 2 J 

 inches in diameter, and only the natural growth of boxwood 

 approximating these sizes is fit for use. Large wood is too costly, 

 and is less firm in resisting the tremendous strain of a skater's 

 weight upon an axle only 7'32 of an inch in diameter. The box- 

 wood grows in Persia and Turkey, and heretofore the crop has 

 always been handled in England. It is a wood of very slow 

 growth, and in its native country, stringent timber laws restrict the 

 depletion of the growing trees. At the present rate of consump- 

 tion, the world will be practically exhausted of its Ijoxwood in less 



