288 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



ormed our judgment on a srreat number of speci- 

 mens (uniformly fine in flavor) from several locali- 

 ties in Western New- York last season — and as we 

 are assured that the samples produced this year 

 had not their usual hisfh flavor, we still entertain 

 the opinion that the Onondaga will be found a vari- 

 ety of the first class in all respects. 



It will be remembered that in some accounts of 

 the history of this handsome pear in our last volume, 

 its origin was apparently traced to Farmington, 

 Conn. A correspondent in Norfolk, Conn., Mr. 

 Battelle, has been investigating this matter with 

 considerable care, and thinks it is not the pear now 

 known there, and considered identical by Mr. Case 

 and others. We will endeavor to pubish his re- 

 marks in our next. 



Gray's Botany of the Northern States. — 

 We had the pleasure of looking over the proof 

 sheets of this work while at the residence of Prof. 

 Gray, Cambridge, Mass., last month. It will ful- 

 fil the most sanguine hopes of his botanical friends. 

 Admirable in arrangement, clear and perspicuous 

 in style, ''.nd with the characteristic specific traits 

 italicised so as to enable the student to catch the 

 likeness of a species at a glance, this volume will 

 at once become the indispensable manual of every 

 botanist in the country. 



The work was announced to be nearly ready last 

 spring ; but Professor Gray's determination lo 

 render it as perfect as possible has, even with month 

 after month of constant labor bestowed on it, de- 

 layed it to the present time. In about a month 

 more, however, we learn it will be issued complete 

 from the press. 



Camellfas by the Thousand. — Philadelphia 

 has long been noted as the focus of the whole Union 

 for exotic culture. There is still no one of our ci- 

 ties wliere green-house plants are grown in such 

 profusion as here. The house of Buist stands at 

 the head of exotic commercial gardens, whether 

 for rare and new plants, or for the immense varie- 

 ty which it comprises. McKenz[e's city range is 

 replete with all the more saleable species of the 

 hardier green-house genera, such as may very pro- 

 perly be called window or house plants ; and there 

 are a dozen other commercial establishments around 

 the city, where a great trade is carried on in the 

 more popular exotics. 



But we were astonished a short time .since, on 

 looking hastily through the premises of Mr. John 

 Sherwood, on the Schuylkill side of Philadelphia, 

 to see what a business is made of the growing of 

 the Camellia alone, by this energetic gardener, 

 There are several large green-houses, of the sim- 

 plest construction, devoted entirely to this plant, 

 and we saw it there in all stages of growth. The 

 largest quantity of good saleable plants, two and 

 three years worked, and well stocked with fiower 

 buds, tliat we have ever seen together, are to be 

 found here, and particularly of the most esteemed 

 standard varieties — the Old Double White (the ?ic 

 77/MS !///rffl of the genus) in the greatest quantity, 

 and all the other leading sorts in uiuisual abundance. 

 Twenty thousand CaineUlas, as wc were assured 

 there were in Mr. Sherwood's premises, and mostly 

 ready for sale, is a sight worth looking at in its way. 



The large scale on which the culture of this plant 

 is pursued here, enables purchasers to find plants 

 in Philadelphia, at half or a fourth of the prices 

 demanded five years ago ; and our readers who are 

 about filling their private conservatories will no 

 doubt be glad to know . where this queen of winter 

 flowers is to be found as •' plenty as blackberries." 



The HYDRAULtc Ram. — Since we drew atten- 

 tion to this ingenious andeffi3etive hydraulic machine 

 for raising water, nearly all the agricultural jour- 

 nals have spoken of it at length ; at the American 

 Institute, New- York, the Franklin Institute, Phi- 

 ladelphia, and several other fairs, it has been exhi- 

 bited in full operation ; and the public are now 

 somewhat acquainted with its merits. 



In a recent visit to several farms and country 

 seats in Chester and Montgomery counties, Penn- 

 sylvania, we saw the hydraulic Ram in operation, 

 and in some places where it had been in use for 

 some time. It is considered there an almost indis- 

 pensable appendage to a good farm or country scat, 

 supplying the house, dairy, outbuildings, etc., with 

 abundance of water at a cost very trifling compar- 

 ed with the benefits received. What struck us 

 most was the insignificant stream of water, and 

 the small fall requisite to work the Ram. A spring 

 the overflow of which will fill an inch and a half 

 pipe, is sufficient to force water to a distance of se- 

 veral hundred feet and a height of fifty or sixty 

 feet. There is scarcely a country place of twenty 

 acres, where a perpetual rivulet or spring of water 

 may not be found sufiieiently near the house to af- 

 ford an abundance of water either for useful or or- 

 namental purposes, with the aid of this very sim- 

 ple little machine, which is of iron, and works in 

 such a way as very seldom to require attention or 

 repairs. ■--. 



Hyacinths in Glasses. — Dear Sir: Will you, 

 in your next number of the Horticulturist, inform a 

 subscriber what is best to be done with the bulbs 

 which have been flowering in glasses through the 

 winter. Should the leaves and roots be removed ? 

 Should they be placed away in that condition ; or 

 what is necessary in order to preserve them in a 

 healthy state, for use another season? A lady, 

 who expends both time and money in the cultiva- 

 tion of both Hyacinths and Narcissus, etc., is inva- 

 riably disappointed by finding what has been grown 

 in water one year, so wilted and shrunken in the 

 autumn as to be quite useless and spoilt, will be 

 greatly indebted for some information upon the sub- 

 ject. New- York, Nov. 18, 1847. 



Remarks. — Hyacinths that have bloomed in 

 glasses are so much weakened that they are of lit- 

 tle value. By preserving every leaf and root entire, 

 however, and planting the bulbs when the bloom is 

 over, in good soil in the open border, they will ge- 

 nerally recover again in two years so as to be fit 

 for blooming again. 



If our correspondent wishes to preserve her 

 roots, she must bloom them in pots of good earth 

 instead of water. We may add while on this sub- 

 ject, that the growth of bulbs in glasses, which ap- 

 ])ear tardy in ]iutting out leaves, will be promoted 

 by filling the glasses with warm instead of cold 

 water. — f^D. 



