18T7.] 



AND HOETIGULTURIST. 



285 



provided for. Over thirty thousand plants for 

 bedding purposes have to be propagated each 

 year, yet by judiciously employing frames as the 

 stocks are rooted, it is not so hard a task as it 

 seems. 



Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. — A hasty 

 drive through this park in the middle of August 

 showed that this public garden was improving 

 rapidly on the past. Of course much that was 

 done in the building of Horticultural Hall, and 

 in the arrangements for the collections of ex- 

 hibitors, could not be done in accordance with 

 the strictness of gardening. The building, for 

 instance, had to be very ornate in order to 

 attract for the special occasion, and to be so 

 arranged as to accommodate huge crowds of 

 people rather than to make room for crowds of 

 plants ; so with beds and walks. It is cheaper 

 to retain these and to build up from what has 

 been done, than to start wholly anew, and those 

 of us who are disposed to criticize according to 

 standard rules of taste, must remember these 

 things. Then we must not forget how many 

 masters there are to please in an American pub- 

 lic park, and just what sort of masters many of 

 these are. 



Knowing the difficulties of the situation' 

 all must award great praise to Mr. C. H. 

 Miller, who for the past year has had the direc- 

 tion of the ornamentation of the park. He may 

 in time be able to satisfy a critical taste ; for the 

 present he has undoubtedly gained the good will 

 of the mass of the people who have in thousands 

 enjoyed the gorgeous display during the season, 

 and who are made to feel that in these public 

 expenditures they are getting a fair return, and 

 which they have rarely had before. 



The Nursery Business. — The nursery trade is 

 said to be somewhat depressed over the United 

 States, but judging by the beautiful set of des- 

 criptive catalogues now before us, issued by Ell- 

 wanger & Barry, of Rochester, they are encour- 

 aged to push business, and this is a good sign. 

 We have little doubt but the worst is over for 

 the nursery trade, and that good times will soon 

 come again. i 



Floral Decorations at Parties ix France. — 

 While in Paris recently, the wife of the French 

 President gave a party, in which the floral fea- 

 tures were literally grand. In a newspaper para- 

 graph the next day we noted that nearly five 

 thousand pot plants had been used by the dec- 

 orator. The grounds of the Palais d'Elysee form 



an oblong square, surrounded by a wall so high, 

 and with an iron railing on top, that they are 

 strictly private, even in this public city ; but the 

 rich ivy which flows over, and the magnificent 

 trees which will not stay " private," show that 

 there is some garden love behind the walls. 



Swindles in Horticulture. — The Prairie Far- 

 mer observes: "The persons generally gulled by 

 swindling advertisements, however, are those 

 who seldom read newspapers of any kind ; or, if 

 so, only those of the trashy sort. This class is 

 easily fooled by the special circulars, sent out by 

 swindling firms." We like this, because it has 

 always been our answer to correspondents who 

 urge us to "go for" this or that. When a man 

 buys a " strawberry " which is to grow as big as 

 an apple tree, and to require ladders to pick the 

 fruit, it is surely a waste of space and time to any 

 of our readers to say that such things are not to be. 

 If there be any of our readers Avho for themselves 

 desire such information, we will always cheer- 

 fully attend to such queries in our regular de- 

 partments. 



^scuLus Californica. — Bullion, in his admir- 

 able Didionare de Botanique, of which parts to 

 the letter C have now been published, says that 

 the Californian Horse Chestnut constitutes the 

 chief part of the approvisionnements of the Sioux 

 Indians. It may be of some tribes, but scarcely 

 of the Sioux. Can any of our readers tell us 

 whether this species extends into the Sioux ter- 

 ritory. It seems to be too tender for this part of 

 the United States (Philadelphia). 



The Horse Chestnut for Rheumatism. — Last 

 year we met an American-born fellow-citizen 

 with Horse Chestnuts in his pocket, which he said 

 he carried as a safeguard against rheumatism ! 

 We had not known of such a reputation before, 

 and supposed the idea originated on this conti- 

 nent. But Bullion says that the oil from the 

 nuts is used with advantage against gout and 

 rheumatism, which shows the same idea preva- 

 lent in France. We further find that in China 

 the seeds of their species (jEscuIus turhinata), is 

 used to prevent muscular contraction in severe 

 cases of rheumatism. If all these experiences 

 come from distinct observations, and each with- 

 out any knowledge of what the other has found, 

 it may be that there may be more than mere 

 imagination in the chestnut being a rheumatic 

 cure. Have any of our readers had any reliable 

 experience with it? For we suppose the knowl- 

 edge of its powers must be wider than we knew. 



