152 



THE GARDENER'S MONTH L Y 



\_May\ 



now known no conimen-ial use can bo made of 

 the Ohia, iis when rijx' it cannot be kept more 

 than four days." 



"Wlio can tell us sonietliinu ol' tliis apple? I 

 have not been able to ascertain its botanical 

 name, nor to learn whether it l»e a true ai)ple. 

 Have any of our Southern California horticul- 

 turists experimented with it ? It is possible that 

 for the extreme Southern States here is some- 

 thing worth a trial. 



[This article possesses a melancholy interest 

 in beinj:;, perhaps, the last literary production of 

 our friend, who died on the 30th of March, it 

 having been received by us a little while before. 

 There was nothing to indicate any fear of losing 

 liim beyond the line, " Haven't felt well enough 

 to write a letter, or I should have written," in 

 a brief note with the article. 



The upper figure in the engraving is the 

 Pyrus.— Ed. G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



An Arboretum at Nashville. — By the 

 Nashville Daily American of March 2Gth, we 

 learn that the Vanderbilt University has decided 

 to plant a complete arboretum on the grounds. 

 They have started with two hundred and fifty 

 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, contrib- 

 uted by a member of the American Association 

 for the advancement of Science, which body 

 held its annual session there last year. 



The Vegetative and Reproductive 

 Forces. — The Seeding of Wistaria sinensis is a 

 subject full of interest for the vegetable physi- 

 ologist, and especially for the Darwinist. At 

 the last meeting of the Linnean Society a paper 

 from Mr. T. Meehan was communicated by the 

 Rev. G. Henslow, " On the Laws governing the 

 Production of Seed in Wistaria sinensis.''^ The 

 author alludes to the fact that the Wistaria, 

 when supported, grows amazingly, but is seed- 

 less; on the contrary, the self-supporting so- 

 called " tree Wistarias," produce seeds abun- 

 dantly. These cases illustrate the difference 

 between vegetative and reproductive force. They 

 are not antagonistic, but supplement each oth-er. 

 While Wistaria flowers freely without seeding, 

 it has been supposed this arises from the bees 

 not cross fertilizing. Mr. Meehan submits data, 

 however, in which he thinks the question lies 



rather in the harmonious relatiftn between the- 

 two above nutritive powers than with insect 

 polbnizatloii. — Gardeners' Magazine. 



llii.l.s (IK ri;NN'svL\'AM.\. — By the Proceed- 

 ings of (he American Pbilosophieal Society for 

 1.^77. we (ind that the highest land in Indiana 

 county, Pa., is on the divide between the Alle- 

 gheny and Susquehanna rivers, and is put down 

 as I'.iyy feet. 



March Weather at Saratoga, N. York. — 

 Py the record at Terwilliger's greenhouses, it, 

 appears that the warmest day was 64°, the 

 coldest 8° above zero, and the average for the 

 month 38° — variety enough to please the most, 

 fastidious. 



SCRAPS AND OUERIES. 



The English Sparrow. — M. C, Fort Dodge,. 

 Iowa, writes : '' I see by the public papers that 

 you are having an excitement about the English, 

 sparrow, and are trying to make laws to drive 

 him out. Some of our people are anxious to get 

 the bird to our western towns, but I hope you 

 will give them a word of warning as to the folly 

 of the thing from your Philadelphia experience. 

 I have just had a word of warning from a relia- 

 ble Englishman. He tells me that since the 

 introduction of the sparrow to the English, 

 dominions it has driven out all the other singing 

 birds. That at one time England was the home of 

 the sky-lark, the nightingale, the goldfinch, the 

 thrush, blackbird, and many sweet singers, but, 

 that they have all taken their fiight across the- 

 straits of Dover, and that there is hardl}' a bird! 

 left but the sparrow in all England. He says- 

 that the grape was once a great product of Eng- 

 land, and wine was made there eciual to the best 

 in France, but the introduction of the sparrows 

 has effectually killed the wine trade. The apple 

 and the pear tree never fruit any more, since' 

 these raj)scallions eat out all the blossom buds, 

 and that thousands of orchards in the old cider-- 

 making districts have had to be cut down for fire- 

 wood, as never an apple do they bear any more. 

 He says that whole flocks of the good old-fash- 

 ioned song birds may be seen any day collecting 

 at Dover to fly across to France to get out of the 

 way of those pugnacious sparrows, and leave 

 forever their native land. The grain crops, he 



