434 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



come so apparent, that many persons have alto- 

 gether abandoned the attempt, and will not take 

 the trouble to sow them when they arrive. But 

 the seeds sent from India by Dr. Falconer, 

 packed in the manner last described, exposed to 

 all the accidents which those first mentioned can 

 have encountered, have germinated so well, that 

 we can scarcely say the failure has been greater 

 than if they had been collected in the south of 

 Europe. 



"I have no doubt that the general badness of 

 the seeds from Brazil, from the Indian Archipe- 

 lago, and from other intertropical countries, is 

 almost always to be ascribed to the seeds having 

 been originallv insufficiently dried, and then en- 

 closed in tightly packed boxes, whence the super- 

 fluous moisture had no means of escape." 



Lists of Trees, Plants, and Hints to 

 Young Planters. — We must be allowed to pack 

 into this paragraph, condensed answers to queries 

 scattered through a dozen letters. The best rapid 

 growing trees of large size, are the Dutch or 

 cork-elm, the American weeping elm and the ash- 

 leaved maple. They do not throw up suckers, 

 and are easily removed of any size ; for situations 

 near water, we may add the weeping willow. 

 The best rapid growing shrubs, easily obtained, 

 for making a screen or thicket, are the privet, the 

 white lilac, the Carolina syringo, the buckthorn, 

 the Cornelian cherry, the Venetian fringe tree 

 and the upright or tree honeysuckles. The most 

 desirable hardy sweet-scented shrubs are the caly- 

 canthus, the magnolia glauca, the fragrant clethra, 

 the Chinese purple magnolia; and among vines or 

 climbing shrubs, the Chinese twining honeysuckle, 

 the monthly fragrant honeysuckle, the sweet-scent- 

 ed clematis. The most showy climbing shrubs are 

 Chinese Wistaria and Tecoma grandiflora. Shrubs 

 remarkable for the beauty of their flowers, are the 

 tree-poeonias, Deutzia scabra, white or Virginia 

 frinse tree, the double hawthorns, dwarf horse 

 chestnut, and the Chinese magnolias. Shrubs that 

 •will grow under the shade of trees, are the pri- 

 vet, the buckthorn, the English fly, (Xylosteum) 

 Missouri currant, and Cornelian cherry. 



Among the new things to be had in the nurse- 

 ries, no one can be disappointed with the Weigela 

 rosea, the new shrub from China with a profusion 

 of large flowers expanding of a delicate apple- 

 blossom colour, and changing to a deep rose; or 

 with the double Spirea prunifolia, loaded with little 

 double blossoms like miniature white roses. Both 

 these have proved quite hardy in our own grounds, 

 and require the least possible care. Buddlea lind- 

 leyana also proves a hardy and very pretty shrub. 

 The Araucaria imbricata — the most curious, and 

 the Deodar cedar, the most beautiful of ever- 

 greens, turns out to be quite hardy here, and may 

 probably be so still farther north, and every body 

 who can get them, (especially the latter) will 

 make haste to plant at least one specimen. 



Among plants for the flower garden, Robinson's 



Defiance verbena and the Tom Thumb geranium 

 will be great favorites for beds and masses. A 

 strong plant of the latter new verbena is now in 

 bloom in our green-house, and is certainly an ac- 

 quisition — the colour, the richest scarlet — the 

 flowers large, fine and abundant. Lady Larpent's 

 Leadwort, {Plumbago larpenta} blooms all sum- 

 mer, if placed in a rich shady border; many were 

 disappointed in it last season because they grew 

 it in the sun, and the flowers dried up. Messrs. 

 Thorburn & Co. offer seeds of a white Phlox 

 drummondii, which makes fine beds or masses of 

 this rather rare colour. Among the most meri- 

 torious of the new green-house plants, are Prope- 

 olum lobbianum, Torrenia asiatica, Gardenia for- 

 tuni, Henfreya scandens, Gloxinia teuchleri and 

 Fuchsia spectabile. The two new heliotropes — 

 voltairianum, (a larger and darker blue than the 

 old one) and the souvenir de leige (yellow) are 

 worthy of a place in every collection. 



Among the valuable acquisitions to the flower 

 garden in mid-summer, few things are more es- 

 teemed than the hardy perennial phloxes with va- 

 riegated and striped flowers. Van Houtti is the 

 oldest and perhaps still finest of all these, but the 

 following new varieties are all beautiful: Beppo, 

 Standard of Perfection, Triumphator, Robert of 

 Flanders, Camiile, These and Arsinoe. 



A Statesman-Cultivator. — We are glad to 

 see that our friend, the President of the Senate of 

 Mass., continues to weave a pleasant garland 

 around the usually stern brow of political life. 

 We fear the presence of such men in the Legisla- 

 ture of Mass., well versed in the wants of the 

 agricultural class, will secure our sister state an 

 agricultural college in advance of us in New- 

 York. 



"Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, President of the 

 Senate, had a grand party at his mansion in Dor- 

 chester, on Wednesday night of last week. Gov. 

 Briggs, and a large portion of the Council and 

 the two branches of the Legislature were among 

 the guests. All appeared to enjoy themselves 

 very much. A distinguished and delightful fea- 

 ture in the fitting up of the principal rooms and 

 passages was the presence of brilliant and odor- 

 iferous flowers, &c. There were the choicest va- 

 rieties of camelias in full bloom, and eight or ten 

 feet in height; orange and lemon trees in different 

 stages of growth, from the flower to the ripe 

 fruit, and rare green-house exotics, whose names 

 were Greek to the uninitiated in the mysteries of 

 horticulture and floriculture. — Boston Post. 



Analysis of Indian Corn — My Dear Sir: In 

 Liebig, we have the analysis of the starch from 

 maize, or Indian corn. In the Reports of the 

 Com. of Patents, for 1847, page 133, is the fol- 

 lowing: " Maize has never been analyzed with 

 sufficient accuracy." But in your review of the 

 Transactions of the New- York Agricultural So- 

 ciety, you mentioned the " very complete prize 



