62 



THE OARDENER->S MONTHLY 



[^February, 



many species of ferns, lofty and lowly, which 

 flourished then a3 now. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Horticulture at the Centennial. — In sum- 

 ming up the events of the year, the Gardener's 

 Chroniclf has the following appreciative notice 

 of the horticulture at the Centennial : 



" America has scored a veritable triumph in 

 the Philadelphia E.Khibition, though horticulture 

 was, as might have been anticipated, not so well 

 represented as it is generally in older countries. 

 Fairmount Park, the locality in which the Exhi- 

 bition was held, is, like most American things, 

 large, and though it owes comparatively little to 

 art, yet in its glades and dells many a wild 

 flower, such as the pretty Houstonia ccerulea, 

 was destined not to blush unseen or waste its 

 sweetness on the desert air, for nearly 10,000,000 

 of visitors attended the Exhibition. 



" The Horticultural Hall, of which we gave 

 illustrations, was, like most other structures for 

 plants designed by architects, ill-suited to its 

 purpose. But it is intended as a permanent 

 structure, and by a little remodelling, as we are 

 informed, it can be converted from a place 

 wherein to kill plants to one wherein they will 

 grow, provided the remodelling be done 

 by some one who knows and appreciates the 

 fact that plants need light and air. Some of the 

 leading American nurserymen, among whom 

 we may mention Henderson, Such, Meehan, 

 Hoopes, Parsons, and Miller of San Francisco, 

 made displays which would have done credit to 

 any exhibition ; while the pomological exhibition 

 wai on a scale not yet attempted here, and car- 

 ried out in a more instructive manner than we 

 have yet attained to. The pluck and enter- 

 prise of our own nurserymen was equal to the 

 occasion. Mr. Waterer did not shrink from 

 shipping 'American plants ' to America, to show 

 the good use which Britons have made of the 

 talents entrusted to their care. Mr. Williams 

 heeded not the risks of the long journey and 

 the trying climate, but boldly sent a large and 

 select set of stove and greenhouse plants. 

 Messrs. Veitch likewise contributed their quota, 

 so that Great Britain was as well represented as 

 the distance would allow. Among Continental 



nurserymen, Vcrdier, of Paris, showed Gladioli 

 and roses ; Sisley, of Lyons, double Pelargoni- 

 ums; Leroy, fruit trees ; Krelage, of Haarlem, 

 bulbous plants. On all sides we hear acknowl- 

 edgements of the courtesy and hospitality 

 shown to 'Britishers' by their American cou- 

 sins, and if the Exhibition has the result of mak- 

 ing the peoples of two of the great Anglo-Saxon 

 nations more appreciative of one another's good 

 qualities, and less disposed to pick holes in what 

 is amiss, great good will have been done. To the 

 Americans themselves great benefits will, we be- 

 lieve, accrue, as tens of thousands saw, says an 

 American friend, for the first time in their lives 

 anything like effective gardening." 



Loss OF A Subscriber. — A lady from South 

 Carolina sends the publisher a letter, asking 

 to have her subscription to the magazine discon- 

 tinued. She speaks kindly of the work, and 

 expresses regret at parting with it, but feels 

 " that as politics are now, they will soon want 

 all their money for other purposes than horti- 

 cultural magazines." We were sorry to see such 

 a letter, especially from a lady, as we look on 

 gardening as the bestfpossible relief from politi- 

 cal excitement, whether at the North or South. 



During the rebellion the writer of this was on 

 one of the heaviest battle fields of the war, not 

 many days after the action. In one part of the 

 field retreat had been hasty, and the dead but 

 imperfectly buried. A hastily written line on 

 a small stick indicated the resting place of" Ser- 

 geant Ragan, 8rd South Carolina Volunteers." 

 In the haste the soldier's body from the breast 

 downwards only had been covered. The eyeless 

 skull, the fiesh under the great heat almost 

 disappearing, looked up as if for pity ; but even 

 in the short time that had elapsed, nature in 

 mercy had made a flower to grow from out of the 

 newly filled-in earth, and had nearly hidden the 

 skull from sight. The little incident made a 

 deep impression at the time. We gathered a 

 few of the specimens— they were oi Acetates viri- 

 diflora — to keep us in mind that there was noth- 

 ing like fiowers to cover up and to hide the hor- 

 rors of war. As for politics we would not give 

 up our love for fiowers for a bushel of them. 



The Woes of an Editor. — Nothing worries 

 an editor more than to have errors appear in 

 his work; but it is the lot of all. Even after the 

 most careful " book " reading there is often a 

 whole page of" errata " at the end. Still, it is to 

 the credit of magazine and newspaper work that 



