438 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



candidate for re-election ; the Secretary, C. F. S. 

 Thomas, also declined being a candidate for re-elec- 

 tion, whereupon, 



W. R. CoppocK.was unanimously elected Presi- 

 dent, and the following Vice Presidents : 

 Lewis Eaton, C. F. S. Thomas, 



Orlando Allen, Abncr Bryant, 



H. B. Potter, Joseph Dart, 



Dr. G. F. Pratt, Wm. W. Mann, 

 Robert M'Pherson. 

 Treasurer — John R. Lee. 

 Corresponding Secrttary — Benj. Hodge. 

 Recording Secretary — William Coleman. 



STANDING COMMITTEES. 



Flowers and Flowering Plants- — W. R. Cop- 

 pock, C. F. S. Thomas, and Elijah Ford. 



Fruits. — Lewis Eaton, C. Taintor, Lewis F. 

 Allen. 



Vegetables. — H. W. Rogers, TV. W. Mann, and 

 H. A. Parsons. 



Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be ex- 

 tended to AV. R. Coppock, for the able manner in 

 which he has reported the proceedings of this Soci- 

 ety for the last year. 



Resolved, That the members of this Society be 

 entitled to receive from the store of L. S. Reynolds, 

 20 lbs. of Guano each, upon presenting a member's 

 ticket for 1848. 



Resolved, That the thanks of this Society are 

 cordially tendered to our late President, Lewis F. 

 Allen, for the able, impartial and energetic manner 

 in which he has discharged the duties of his office 

 during the last three years — and that it is with 

 pleasure we indulge the hope of his efficient co-op- 

 eration with us in the government of the Society for 

 raan)^ years to come. 



Ward's Cases. — In the January number, I notice 

 some accounts of growing plants in ''Ward's Cases," 

 by your able correspondent. Dr. Wm. W. Valk. 

 Now what I wish is, some more definite account of 

 said case, its form and construction, and especially 

 what kind of plants may be most successfully grown 

 in it ; and whether they will bloom as freely and 

 fully in it as elsr where. With our plants in the 

 parlor we are all more or less troubled with the 

 aphis, red spider and dust, so that before winter is 

 half gone, many lose their plants altogether, and 

 those which survive look like Pharaoh's lean kine. 

 If the Rose, Pelargonium, Camellia, Orange, &c., 

 will flourish and bloom in such a case, and if it can 

 be constructed with a door, so that some of the pots 

 can be exchanged from time to time, to give varie- 

 ty, it seems to be the very article needed in our 

 parlors and sitting-rooms, to take the place of the 

 pots and other vessels, i>y which our windows are 

 now encumbered and sullied. Some further infor- 

 mation on this subject would gratify an amateur of 

 flowers. With due respect, yours, &c. E. G. 

 Bridgewater, Mass., Jan. 7. 1848. 



[We forwarded the above to Dr. Valk, and E. 

 G. will find a full response in previous pages of 

 this number.] 



Bloody Hickory Nuts. — We have been favored 

 by Mr. Newlin, of Fishkill Landing, N. Y., with 

 specimens of some remarkably large and fair native 



walnuts, or hickory nuts, from a tree growing on his 

 premises. These nuts are nearly three times as 

 large as those of the common shell-bark hickory, 

 rather flattened, and with a large and excellent 

 kernel. Altogether, it is one of the finest distinct 

 natural varieties of our American walnuts that we 

 have yet seen, and deserves to be propagated by 

 spring-budding. 



These nuts are not only large and excellent; they 

 are also distinguished by a characteristic as striking 

 as it is peculiar. About one-third of the nuts produc- 

 ed every year by this tree have fcfrne/s deeply stained 

 ivith red throughout. These " bloody nuts," as they 

 are called, have a flavor which is good, though quite 

 diflferent from that of the common sort, or the oth- 

 ers of natural color, borne upon the same tree. So 

 remarkable a tree, of course, has \Xslegend; it would 

 be a neighborhood unusually destitute of faith or 

 imagination, where there is not enough of the mar- 

 vellous for this. According to veritable history, 

 then, an Indian, one of the "^Wappingers," the 

 tribe of this region, was made to expiate some of 

 his real or supposed sins done in the body, by hang- 

 ing, on this hickory-nut, which, since that day, 

 (does "old Hickory" revolt at capital punishment?) 

 the tree has borne, every year, a part of its crop of 

 bloody nuts. The tree is a large and fine one. 



Pruning Unhealthy Evergreens. — Will you 

 have the goodness to inform a subscriber, in your 

 next number of the Horticulturist, whether the 

 shortening-in system of pruning, which you recom- 

 mend for peach trees, would be equally beneficial 

 in thickening the branches and increasing the foli- 

 age of evergreens. 



I have two or three of the common pine and 

 hemlock, some fifteen or eighteen feet high, which 

 begin to look a little like the skeleton peach tree 

 in your book ; the interior and under branches 

 dying, and the foliajre meagre and thin. 



The soil is natural to the hemlock ; trees of that 

 kind, of three feet diameter, having formerly been 

 cut and taken from almost the very spot where 

 the young ones now stand. I would take almost 

 any pains to see them flourishing — the branches 

 and foliage thick and green ; and therefore ask ad- 

 vice from experience. Would it do. just to cut oflT 

 a little of the tops? ^ Novice. Auburn, N. Y., 

 February 1th, 1848. 



[Evergreens will bear shortening-in, if it is done 

 gradually and moderately. But, we suspect that 

 our correspondent's trees are suffering for want of 

 proper food in the soil. If so, and he will top-dress 

 the ground under his trees, as far as the roots ex- 

 tend, with wood ashes, at the rate of a bushel to a 

 tree, we think they will recover their verdure and 

 health rapidly. The ashes of hemlock or pine, of- 

 ten to be had where timber land is being cleared 

 and burnt over, would be the best. Ed.] 



Replanting the Rose. — The Rose, even in the 

 best soils, should be taken up every three or four 

 years, and have its roots shortened and pruned : a 

 portion of the soil in which it grew should also be 

 removed, and mixed with the soil before described, 

 [a strong rich loam, mixed one-fourth with decora- 



