160 



FOREIGN GRAPES AND OSAGE ORANGE HEDGES. 



of improvement, and of polish, as the high- 

 est on earth ; and it manifests to us an un- 

 mistakeable fact, — that Dame Nature sup- 

 plies us with no apology for remaining ig- 

 norant of those simple lessons which she 

 teaches to all. 



In green-house collections, we frequently 

 find gardeners bestowing much care and 

 admiration upon those subjects that are 

 not only worthless in themselves, but ill 

 adapted for the place and period in which 

 they are made to appear. I do not wish to 

 find fault with any one for throwing a halo 

 of novelty round a favorite plant, however 

 inferior it may be, when he has had no op- 

 portunity of knowing better. But I think 

 it advisable that we ought to direct our at- 

 tention to those plants that accommodate 

 themselves most willingly to the circum- 

 stances in which we place them ; and of 

 these, there are more than abundance to 

 afford continual successions all the year 

 round. Hundreds of the finest flowering 

 plants, for the summer adornment of green- 

 houses and conservatories, are now in the 



nurserymen's collections, and are compara* 

 tively unknown. The nurserymen of Ame- 

 rica are far ahead of the gardeners, and ol 

 the amateurs too, at least in plant culture ; 

 for they are annually importing the newest 

 and rarest plants, and have but little com- 

 pensating return. The fault lies generally 

 with the gardeners, and not with the ama- 

 teurs ; for many of the loveliest objects of 

 Flora's kingdom will pot bloom in the open 

 air in New-England, nor bear the burning 

 rays of our scorching sun ; and almost every 

 person has experienced the difficulty of 

 keeping plants healthy in a dwelling-house, 

 even for a few weeks together. I shall not 

 here enter into the cause. It is sufficient 

 to state the fact; and to say that a remedy 

 can be found in a well managed green- 

 house, which should be adjoining the chief 

 apartments of the dwelling-house. Here 

 the plants can be properly attended to, and 

 afford the highest gratification to the family, 

 without injury to themselves. 



E. B. Leuchars, 

 Gardener to Prof. Silliman. 

 New-Haven, Ct., August, 1S49. 



NOTES ON FOREIGN GRAPES AND OSAGE ORANGE HEDGES. 



BY ROSWEi.L L. COLT, PATERSON, N. J. 



Dear Sir — In your September Horticul- 

 turist, I observe some remarks from Profes- 

 sor Turner on grape culture. 



I have tried faithfully, and expensively, 

 the raising of European grapes by open 

 culture. No one could have taken more 

 pains, or have had a better position for 

 their growth than I have, — a gravelly hill, 

 facing due south, protected from north 

 winds, with a gentle slope of 30 feet de- 

 scent. This I trenched 3 feet wide, 3 feet 

 deep, and filled the border with bones, old 

 leather, oyster shells, old mortar, and broken 



brick, 2 feet deep; then 1 foot with a rich 

 compost of turf, virgin earth, slaughter- 

 house manure, charcoal dust, and wood 

 ashes. In this I planted 700 vines, of the 

 best eating Eropean varieties, in rows run- 

 ning north and south, 6 feet apart each 

 way, and trained them on a wire trellis 5 

 feet high. 



The first year they bore I had some fine 

 grapes, and took the first premium at the 

 New-York Institute for grapes by open 

 culture. The next year I had fewer grapes 

 in quantity, and poorer in quality. The 



