526 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



voked and brutal attack upon a large affectionate 

 family of sleeping innocents, who wore ruthlessly 

 snatched from their beds at midnight] torn limb 

 from limb, and their agonized bodies crunched; 

 aye, <; crunched" is the word, between the fangs 



of murderous assassins. Oh! " had they ten thou- 

 sand lives, my great revenge has stomach for them 

 all." William Kidd. Sanders' Cottage, New 

 Road, Hammersmith, February 5. Agricultural 

 Gazette. 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



Special Manures. — Our amiable contemporary, 

 Mr. Hovey, of Boston, who is remarkable for the 

 pertinacity with which he stands still, while the age 

 moves on, and who presides over the past, in Hor- 

 ticulture, like some solemn Sphynx that once told 

 how high the tide rose in Egypt, but has long ago 

 been left high and dry by the progress of the ages, 

 cannot, with all patience, see how there can be 

 any value in special manures. In his last " Retro- 

 spect of the progress of Horticulture," he has the 

 following neat paragraph : — 



" Mr. Downing tell us, with much dignity (etc.) 

 — that the sole cause of the cracking of the Doyenne 

 pear, is from the fact that the soil is exhausted of 

 its mineral substances; and that a bushel of peat, 

 half a bushel of wood ashes, and a few bones, with 

 perhaps a little iron, will quite renovate a tree. 

 This theory may answer very well for beginners 

 in gardening, but every practical man knows," 

 &c. 



As we do not know a single intelligent horticul- 

 turist in America, who, after the discoveries of the 

 last ten years, has any doubts of the value of spe- 

 cial manures, except Mr. Hovey, we do not think 

 it worth while to go into any scientific demonstra- 

 tion of their value. It would be as superfluous as 

 to attempt to prove steam a motive power. But 

 facts are stubborn things, as " every practical 

 man knows," and we therefore give an extract from 

 a private letter lately received from a member of 

 the Albany Horticultural Society: 



" During the year 1847, Mr. John S. Goold 

 purchased part of the " Bleeker Garden" in this 

 city (Albany). On it were growing several old 

 white Doyenne (Virgalieu) pear trees, the fruit from 

 which was nearly worthless, being cracked, knerly, 

 and small. Being a subscriber to the Horticultu- 

 rist, he had read the article on " renovating an 

 outcast," which is published in volume 1st, page 

 225, of that magazine, and determined to follow 

 the directions given in it. He did so, and the evi- 

 dences of the good effects of such course of treat- 

 ment were apparent the succeeding season, for the 

 pears, instead of being cracked and worthless, as 

 insignificant in size as they were previously, took 

 the premium at the exhibition of the Albany and 

 Rensselaer Horticultual Society, (see published 

 report) as '•' the best and most beautiful pears on 

 exhibition." They took this premium when some 

 -of the most beautiful specimens of the finest cul- 



tivated varieties — as Beurre Bosc, Williams' Bon 

 Chretien, Flemish Beauty, &c , were on exhibition. 

 They were certainly the fairest in appearance, as 

 well as the largest in size of any White Doyennes 

 I have ever seen. The specimens to which I call- 

 ed your attention last fall at the Pomological Con- 

 gress in New- York, you may remember, were very 

 fair and beautiful — they were from one of those re- 

 novated trees." Yours, §c, *. Albany, April 

 10, 1850. 



To the foregoing simple statement we will only 

 add that Mr. Goold's pears from these trees at- 

 tracted unusual attention as being, amid all the 

 great collection of fruits shown at the Pomologi- 

 cal Congress, the most beautiful pears shown. If 

 the result obtained by special manuring those old 

 pear trees, which, after having once borne fine 

 fruit, had for many years become worthless from 

 sheer exhaustion of the necessary elements in the 

 soil, is not satisfactory proof, then such proof is 

 impossible. 



It is possible that some persons have been dis- 

 appointed in the result of their experiments with 

 lime, ashes, &c., simply because they have given 

 a sprinkling of these over the surface of the 

 ground. But in every instance where the needful 

 elements have been judiciously applied and incor- 

 porated with the soil, and especially when, as in 

 Mr. G.'s experiment, the old soil was renovated 

 and new soil given, the effect has been such as our 

 correspondent has just detailed. 



The best Vegetables. — The very best early 

 pea, out of eight new sorts tried by us last season, 

 was the Prince Albert. It is about five or six days 

 earlier than the Early Frame or Washington. 

 Champion of England is a new pea, a liberal supply 

 of the seed of which was sent us last season by Mr. 

 Bowditch, seedsman, Horticultural Hall, Boston. 

 It grows about five feet high, and produces an early 

 crop; the pods are well filled, the peas large and 

 very sugary in quality. When dry, these peas 

 have a bluish colour. Altogether this pea is the 

 finest of the table pea that we have cultivated, and 

 will undoubtedly become a favorite. We notice 

 that it ranks very high in England. The Bassano 

 beet is not only the most tender and delicate of 

 early beets, but when sown for a late crop it is al- 

 so the best winter beet for the table. ' Cole's Su- 

 perb Celery is the best red, and Seymour's White 



