editor's table. 



Gossip. — It would be as imjKJSsilile to pack away in tliis number all the favors of corre- 

 spondentb as to inclose the entire wardrobe, bonnets and all, of a large family going to "the 

 h^jirings" in a pair of old-fashioned saddlebags ! We ask a little indulgence ; meantime we 

 '■ rnim" a little to gain space. — The Gardener^s Chronicle asserts that it is not necessary to 

 force peas into hearing to get the best pea soup ; the leaves make as good or better jnirre than 

 tho green peas themselves. — All accounts agree in stating that orchids have generally been 

 subjected to too much heat ; a few require this, but a large proiwrtion are natives of cli- 

 mates where the thermometer falls below zero; as commonly at 30 feet as at 10,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea. By thus forcing the plants beyond nature, the luxurious vege- 

 tation soon perishes. — A Bee-Kecpcrs Guide recommends three hard-named plants as afford- 

 ing good feeding for the bees. A correspondent says none of these can be found out of liot- 

 liouses, and recommends that the cottage bee-keepers should live in " Cottages ornes." — The 

 Cdrdener^s Chronicle speaks well of Professor Fisk's entomological researches in New York. — 

 Calceolarias, as exhibition plants, are losing ground abroad, while Gloxinias have made a 

 decided advance. Ferns are the fashion, and plants remarkable for fine foliage are coming into 

 vogue. — The Cyane pine-apples are in miich favor, and the Stockwood Golden Hamburgh Grape, 

 figured in the February number, all admit to be an acquisition. — The Ugenia Ugni has 

 rijiened its fruit well in England, and seems destined to become an important plant ; when 

 the fruit is perfectly ripe, the flavor bears a close resemblance to a good pine-apple ; " a rich 

 aromatic and indescribable flavor, being something between that of a good Pine and the 

 Haiitboy Strawberry, and even in gathering this, rich odor is left on the fingers.'' — A grower 

 (if Camellias who wishes large and perfect flowers will carefully thin to one bud at the point 

 of each shoot. — The Pampas Grass introduced into England attains the height of ten feet, 

 with spikes of silvery feathers sparkling in the sunshine ; it is pronounced " a noble orna- 

 mental hardy plant for a lawn, with handsome drooping foliage." — Thyrsacanthus rutilaus 

 is a favorite, with its pendent racemes of scarlet blossoms. — An instrument for pruning 

 trees is announced ; it elongates the handle or shank of the chisel and slips it loosely into 

 a hole made in the extremity of the pole ; if the chisel is now driven into the limb, it sticks 

 fist, and allows the jjole to be drawn back a little, and thrust forward again agjnnst the 

 chisel, with the same effect as a mallet ; the end of the pole is furnished with a thimble to 

 ])revent it from slipping. — The Southern Cultivator for January has a long article on Fish and 

 Fish-ponds, by Dr. Bachman. The propagation of fish is a most important subject, destined 

 to prove of immense value, and but just now begins to attract attention. — Stewed lettuce, 

 with gravy and white sauce, says Chambers, is a dish for an epicure, and tlie roots of celery, 

 generally thrown away, make a princely vegetable when boiled. — At the Horticultural So- 

 ciety's sale at Chiswick, a Laeliu superbeum brought a hundred and fifty, and a rare orchid 

 tliree hundred and twenty-five dollars ; the latter was purchased by the Duke of Devon- 

 shire. — The Imperial Agricultural Society of Paris has been trying to discover why seeds, 

 apparently all alike, do not germinate all at the same time. Tlie conclusion is that the 

 latest are so tightly inclosed in their envelope, as to prevent or check the penetration of 

 moisture, and they are now inquiring whether the tardy seeds are the heaviest or the lightest, 

 and whether they are obtained from one part of a plant more than anotlier. — A French 

 savant, M. Basset, says, that the virtues of beet-root are not half appreciated ; that it is far 

 more profitable than grass in the feeding of cattle, and contains sucli a variety of chemical 

 products as to make it better worth cultivation than agriculturists generally believe. — The 

 Belgian government offers a prize of two thousand dollars to any one who will discover a 

 way to make starch for manufact\iring purjioses, from a non-alimentary substance. Enor- 

 mous quantities of flour are used in the cotton manufacture alone. — M. Coste was instnacted, 

 last year, to stock the lake in the Bois de Boulogne with fish, when 50,000 fry of various 



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