SILLIMAN'S JOURNAL. 



183 



Fondante, entirely free ixora blight or crack- 

 ing; while the Buerre Did, Dix, Bosc, and 

 the old Pound Pear, have, in my garden, 

 more or less blasted. 



The Bosc is, however, perfectly fair when 

 double-worked as named above. There is 

 one pear which I think has been much un- 

 derrated; I refer to the Buffum, a native fruit 

 of Rhode Island. This is one of the most 

 profitable market pears we possess ; it is a 

 great grower and 'prodigious bearer; the fruit 

 medium size, and when ripened in the house 

 handsomely colored ; and although we 



should not consider it as first-rate in quality, 



it is yet a pleasant fruit, and highly prized 



by many here, as well as in its native State. 



Yours very truly, John M. Ives. 



Salejn, Mass., Sept. 13, 1847. 



P. S. Most Pears average larger upon 



the Quince than upon the Pear stock — the 



Bloodgood seems to be an exception, and 



1 from its growing larger in my soil, which is 



' a light sandy loam, made retentive by the 



application of leached ashes and clay, than 



in the strong soil around Boston, it undoubt- 



i edly requires a warm and light one. 



REVIEWS. 



THE American Journal of Science and Arts : 

 conducted by Professors B. Silliman, and B. 

 SiLLiMAN. JR. and James H. Dana. Second Se- 

 ries, No. 11, September, 1847 : New-Haven. 

 Silliman's Journal is one of the few peri- 

 odicals of which an American maybe proud. 

 Established so long ago as 1818, it has ever 

 since so steadilj' held its place, and shed the 

 light of science over our hemisphere, that 

 among the countless meteor lights of peri- 

 odical literature which have flashed up and 

 expired within the last quarter of a century, 

 it appears like a fixed star. 



The elder Silliman alone established this 

 most useful Journal, and gave it the high 

 character, both at home and abroad, which it 

 still enjoys. The new series before us, in 

 its editorship, combines with the advantage 

 of his matured knowledge and experience, 

 that of the genius and energy of his son, 

 and the well known abilities of Mr. Dana. 

 Among its contributors, are all those in 

 any way remarkable among the scientific 

 writers of the country. Its plan embraces 

 the whole circle of the Physical Sciences, 

 and their application to the arts, and while 

 it is therefore indispensable to the savan, 

 the student of nature, the engineer, or the 



mechanician, its pages also offer much that 

 is exceedingly interesting to the general 

 reader. 



Our object in taking up this serial at the 

 present moment, is to notice a very inter- 

 esting address before the last meeting of 

 the British Association for the advancement 

 of Science, held at Oxford, which it contains. 



This is the inaugural address, delivered 

 by the new President, Sir R. H. Inglis, at 

 the commencement of the session. As it 

 embraces a survey of the progress of science 

 generally during the past year, every part 

 of it is highly interesting, and we would 

 gladly transfer it to our columns, but its 

 length forbids us from so doing. 



We shall, however, select some of the 

 most interesting passages. First among 

 these, for the eyes of our readers, are the 

 following remarks on the progress of Bo- 

 tanical Science, and the reference to the re- 

 cent discoveries regarding the phenomena 

 of fecundation in plants, is worthy of par- 

 ticular attention. 



I proceed now to notice the science of Botany ; 

 which, aided in these days by the microscope, and 

 by chemistry, as to the structure, functions and 

 uses of the living plant, and as to the analogies in 



