1817.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



373 



causes : 1st, They may die from rupture of the 

 cells when they expand from the freezing; or, 

 2d, they may die from the evaporation of their 

 juices, as they often will in severe weather. Tech- 

 nically no distinction is made. In both cases it 

 is customary to say the plant was killed by frost. 

 When we say " If the plant has not been long 

 or severely frozen," syringing with water will 

 bring it to — we are referring to plants under 

 the second condition. When a plant in a green- 

 house is first touched with " frost " it wilts ; its 

 juices evaporate rapidly, and this is why it wilts. 

 After a time the sap vessels will freeze, and burst! 

 If we help the plant to regain its losses before 

 the interior freezes, that is a gain ; but if the 

 juices in the cells once freeze, the geranium, or 

 whatever it be, is gone surely. — Ed. G. M.] 



Wearing Out of Vakieties. — E. J. S., Phila- 

 delphia, says : — "As I see the subject of wearing 

 out of varieties continues to receive attention, 

 is it not a proof in the common Butter Pear, 

 which, during recent years has degenerated 

 surely. How do you explain this ? " 



[What does our correspondent mean by ' recent 

 years?'' This pear is no worse about Philadel- 

 phia than it was a hundred years ago, as we have 

 indisputable evidence. It is no worse now than 

 it Avas then ; it has not "degenerated " in a hun- 

 dred years. The Butter Pear is just the same as 

 it was a hundred years ago. Therefore, we say 

 it is no nearer " wearing out " than it was then. 

 —Ed. G. M.] 



Different Degrees of Thickness in the 

 Annual Wood Circles of Trees. — J. S., Mt. 

 Carmel, 111., writes : — " In connection Avith the 

 subject on 'Excrescences and Eccentric Wood 

 Growth,' it may be interesting to state a fact that 

 I have often noticed, viz.: That the annular 

 rings of many trees that I have counted, show a 

 very irregular growth. The rings representing 

 eighty to one hundred j'ears back, are crowded 

 into much less space than those found before or 

 since. I know of no way of accounting for 

 this, except it be that the corresponding years 

 were very dry." 



ITERATURE, ^RAVELS & PERSONAL WOTES. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



European Notes by the Editor, IS o. 4. — To 

 describe in detail all the novel points of our 

 little trip, would fill a volume. 1 shall have to 

 omit much, and simply take special topics, nur- 

 series, large estates, public grounds, markets, 

 antiquities, and so forth, as they impressed them- 

 selves on my memory, "jumping" about from 

 place to place, in order to select our types. As 

 we left off in our last with a typical Rose nur- 

 sery, we may as well continue the subject of 

 nurseries in this present note. 



For a nursery where fine specimen trees and 

 shrubs are the leading features, I saw no one 

 that better pleased me than that of Jas. Mitchell 

 A Son, of Pilltown, near Uckfield, in Sussex. 

 The nursery does not count its acres by the 

 scores, but the number of beautiful specimens 

 was very great. A smooth gravel road, with 

 neat box-edgings, extends around the grounds. 



and the borders on both sides are filled with spe- 

 cimens of trees and shrubs of every variety, set 

 out with no particular regard to kinds, but just 

 as they would look best. These are all cared for 

 and made to look nice. The prices paid for these 

 pretty specimens would "scare" an American 

 accustomed to look at $5 for a " tree," as a " big 

 thing," so I will say nothing about that here. 

 Some of these specimens I had never seen so 

 large and fine. Imagine golden Arborvitaes per- 

 fect globes of six feet over ! Taxus adpressa globes 

 of eight feet over! what would its lover, Hoopes 

 of West Chester, say to a few score like that? 

 Berberis Darwini about four by four feet. Libo- 

 cedrus decurrens — " beg j^ardon, Thuja gigantea" 

 — twenty feet, and as regularly conical as a child's 

 green moss tree! Our Shepherdia Canadensis, 

 beautiful globes of six feet over, and hosts of 

 similar wonderfully grown things. As soon as 

 one thing is sold another takes its place, so that 

 there is a constant succession of transplanted 



