POMOLOGICAL NOTES. 



469 



be left in the same ground for two years, 

 without moving them at all. 



With regard to raising Tulips from seed, 

 the process is so tedious and unsatisfacto- 

 ry, — taking six or seven years to obtain 

 flowers, which, after all, are probably worth- 

 less, — that few, except the great profession- 

 al florists of the old world, attempt it ; and 

 we believe that it is not once in several 

 years that they unitedly succeed in bring- 

 ing forward any real acquisition. When 

 they do, however, the prices they demand 

 for some time are enormous, say from one 

 hundred to five hundred guineas a root. 

 Indeed, some kinds which have been culti- 

 vated for twenty-five years, still command 

 five or six guineas a root. Some kinds of 

 Tulips increase more or less freely by off- 



sets, whilst a few may be cultivated for 

 years without any increase whatever. These 

 latter kinds, if fine, must always be high 

 priced; and it is, perhaps, the report of the 

 enormous sums paid for some of them, that 

 deters those who are not acquainted with 

 Tulips, from commencing the cultivation of 

 this beautiful flower altogether. The great- 

 er part of all the finest flowers, however, 

 may be obtained now in this country, at 

 very moderate rates; and, therefore, the 

 time may come when every horticultural 

 society here will have one of its annual 

 shows, and that perhaps one of the finest of 

 the whole, devoted exclusively to Tulips, as 

 is the case with many similar associations 

 in Britain. James Dougall. 



Rosebank, near Amherslburgh, Feb. 15, 1850. 



POMOLOGICAL NOTES, FROM THE WEST. 



BY F. K. PHCENIX, DELAY AN, WIS. 



A. J. Downing, Esq : — Having lately made 

 a visit to some of the principal nurseries and 

 orchards of central Illinois, and had the 

 pleasure of testing many sorts of apples, I 

 thought it might not be unacceptable to 

 your readers to give the results of my ob- 

 servations should they be thought worthy a 

 place in the Horticulturist. 



I would remark, in the outset, that of all 

 the apple-growing sections I have ever vis- 

 ited — and they are not few in number — cen- 

 tral Illinois promises to hold the highest 

 rank. No where else have I ever seen so 

 much vigor, hardihood and productiveness 

 combined in the tree, and size, beauty and 

 flavor in the fruit. This locality would, 

 then, seem most admirably adapted to bring 

 out the feebler-growing, delicate varieties, 

 in their highest perfection, while at the 



same time, those of a coarser, grosser char- 

 acter would incline to utter worthlessness ; 

 which is, in fact, precisely the case, though 

 not to the extent with the latter class that 

 might be expected, or that it is with the for- 

 mer. 



I should fail in one important particular 

 of doing my duty as " a sketcher," did I 

 neglect to speak of the craft in that section, 

 embracing, as it does, a body of the most 

 skilful practical men, and the most thorough 

 amateurs, with hearts as large as their own 

 expansive prairies, and as warm as the glow 

 of their rich Illinois coal fires. 



In such hands there need be no fears of 

 the future horticultural character of that 

 section ; though a portion of the inhabit- 

 ants are not exactly of the right stamp, be- 

 ing partly " natives/' Avith some foreigners, 



