1817.] 



AND HOBTIGULTURIST. 



28t 



Music. — From S. Brainerd & Sons, Cleveland, 

 Ohio, we have a selection of sacred songs selected 

 from Bliss, Murray and others, arranged in one 

 volume, entitled " Heavenward." 



Mr. Roderick Campbeix.^— We are pleased to 

 notice by an Utica paper, that so well pleased 

 were the trustees of Forest Hill Cemetery with 

 the horticultural services of Mr. Roderick Camp- 

 bell, that in addition to his salary, they pre- 

 sented him with a check for $200. 



Mr. a. M. Engle on Early Peaches. — Mr. 

 Engle writes us that he is overburdened with 

 correspondence about his early peaches. To save 

 this correspondence, he has sent us " all he 

 knows," and we shall have pleasure in publish- 

 ing the statement next month. 



SCRAPS AISfD QUERIES. 



"60" Sized Pots. — Mr. E. Lonsdale, German- 

 town, Pa., writes: "'One interested' will find 

 the answer to his question (see page 239 August 

 number), relative to "60 pots," in the Garden, 

 page 52, No. 295, Vol. XII, by Mr. John Saul 

 himself, where he has written on the same sub- 

 ject, as noted in the Monthly, viz : Tabernpemon- 

 tana camassa, in which he says, ' Small plants in 

 ^-inch pots will produce flowers freely.' It seems 

 strange he should be so explicit where it is less 

 necessary, lor in England pots are frequently 

 called 60, 48 and 32 sized pots, and so on, as the 

 case may be. It is an absurd practice in any 

 country, for it seems much ea^jier, and certainly 

 more proper, to designate a flower pot in inches, 

 when it is readily understood by whomsoever 

 reads." 



Mr. Darwin's Family. — A correspondent sends 

 us the following piece of harmless gossip, which 

 he says he found in a London paper : " Mr. Dar- 



win has, during his whole life, been in easy cir- 

 cumstances, above the toil of earning an income. 

 Unlike many philosophers, he has not had the 

 mortification of spending his best hours in the 

 drudgery of official routine, or the hardly less 

 wearisome task of teaching. He has been ena- 

 bled to devote his entire time to his favorite 

 pursuits, and since his marriage with his cousin, 

 Miss Emma Wedgwood, has resided at Down, 

 amid the rich and varied scenery of one of the 

 prettiest parts of Kent. As his numerous family 

 has grown up around him he has been relieved 

 of all the cares which distract the scientific 

 worker in the heat and turmoil of active life. He 

 leads a truly calm and philosophic existence, 

 unvexed by the contemplation of weekly bills 

 and the signing of cliecks. In his wife and 

 family he is especially happy, being spared the 

 pain of degenerate offspring. His eldest son, 

 Mr. William Darwin, is a banker at Southamp- 

 ton ; the second, George, took liigh honors at 

 Cambridge, and is now a Fellow of Trinity ; the 

 third, Frank, who has inherited his father's ill 

 health, acts as his secretary ; the fourth, Leonard, 

 is an officer in the artillery, and distinguished 

 himself as one of the scientific corps sent to ob- 

 serve the transit of Venus; the fifth, Horace, is 

 an excellent mathematician. One married and 

 one unmarried daughter complete a family 

 whose constant care is to relieve its head of all 

 possible trouble or anxiety." 



Prices of Nursery Plants and Flowers. — A 

 correspondent calls attention to a paper by Mr. 

 Henderson, in which he shows that except in a 

 few standai'd stocks, the prices of trees and 

 plants rule lower in America than they do in 

 Europe. Mr. H.'s letter has been republished in 

 so many places, that most of our readers have 

 probably seen it, and we need not quote ; but we 

 may say that we endorse all he says. 



Horticultural ffociETiES. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



KANSAS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



BY H. E. VAN DEMAN, GENEVA, KAN. 



' At Abilene, on the Smoky Hill River, on the 

 6th and 7th of June, 1877, this Society met for 

 the pleasure and instruction of its members, and 

 of the community. This is a live institution. It 

 would be entirely out of place here to repeat 

 much of what was said, but may be some of the 

 readers of the Monthly would like to hear from 

 us. Verbal reports from delegates from different 

 parts of the State were encouraging as to the 

 fruit crop. Hedges and stone fences are fast 

 superseding the rail and board fence. Thou- 

 sands of miles of Osage Orange hedge are set 

 every year, and on tlie increase. Shelter belts 



and groves or forests are also increasing. The 

 tree act of Congress, I am happy to say in con- 

 tradiction of what I reported two years ago, is 

 proving of great benefit to the settler and the 

 State. Any one who will plant 40 acres of 

 forest trees 12 feet apart, within four years on the 

 vacant Government land, can have 160 acres. 

 Many are availing themselves of the privilege. 

 The kinds set are principally elm, ash, box elder, 

 honey locust, soft maple, black walnut, cotton- 

 wood and osage orange. This last named tree, who- 

 ever has control does not permit as lawful upon a 

 timber claim. It is one of the most durable of 

 woods, and the restrictions are greatly regretted by 

 the settlers. We have found that shelter belts 

 should be upon ihe.south of the orchards to ob- 

 struct the sweep of the Summer winds instead of 

 north, as first planted, to ward off" the Winter 



