DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



I rannot close this article without remarking, that while I take exceptions to the criticisms 

 of mv friend, I must say that much credit is due to liim for his exertions and success in 

 jirape culture, etc., in acknowledgment of which, I shall lose no opportunity of strengthen- 

 ing our friendly relations. 



If the spirited officers of the late Hunt Botanical Garden Association should succeed in 

 calling a similar enterprise into life (which I sincerely hope, and have no doubt they will), 

 I shall not omit to contribute what 1 may deem due to so praiseworthy an object, and shall 

 be pleased to find others doing the same. 



Respectfully yours, AuGUSxrs Hepp, 880 Broadway, N. Y. 



"More Cfossip from toe Northwest." By George S. Taylor, Chicago, Illinois. — Dear Sir : 

 The pleasant chatty letter from friend Tallant, in the January number, will recall to many 

 of your readers the delightful reunion at Burlington last September ; and few who were 

 there will fail to fancy, as they read, the kind, genial smile of the doctor welcoming them 

 once more to the " beautiful land" of fruits and flowers. No wonder that he is strongly 

 attached to his adoi)ted State, and especially to the lovely, busy, rapidly-prospering and 

 growing city where he dwells. Until we hear further, Burlington can challenge the world 

 for pears, either in beauty, quality, or size ; for, although it might have been supposed, and 

 with reason, that such mammoth specimens would deteriorate in flavor, I do not consider, 

 nor have I even heard it hinted, that such was the case. I think, too, that the doctor's 

 " gourmandize," for such the wonderful shoot must of course have been, would be " hard to 

 beat." 



What are the peculiar merits of silex in the soil, in respect to fruit trees, I am unal)lc to 

 state ; no doubt, when finely pulverized, it is a powerful manure, as are, also, all the primi- 

 tive rocks ; witness the benefits accruing to old, worn-out soils from the application of the 

 mud from macadamized roads, especially ^uch as have been formed of broken granite in 

 which quartz so strongly predominates. But the soil on which a great portion of Burlington 

 stands, per se, is a red, argillaceous clay, very similar to much of the orchard land of Here- 

 fordshire and Devonshire in England, and portions of Normandy and Brittany (take the 

 modern departments of La Manche and Loire Inferieure, for example) in France ; and all of 

 these are famous for their apples and pears. Gypsum, marl, all mineral manures, even clay 

 properly applied where it is not originally too abundant in the soil, will be found preferable 

 for orchards, to more powerfully and acutely exciting animal manures. 



Another great secret of the eligibility of Burlington as a fruit-growing country, lies (not 

 at the bottom, but) in the Mississippi. The water attracts the late frosts to its surface. 

 This is an operation of nature which has been noticed in other similar localities, but only 

 acts in this manner when the land is, as at Burlington, sufficiently elevated above the water. 

 I opine that, on low lying lands, the vicinity of running water would be objectionable as 

 attracting the frost to its level. 



And now, I want the doctor to amend his declaration in regard to " those strawberries," or 

 I shall certainly demur, both generally and specially. I admit, unreservedly, his averment 

 that, at Burlington, the strawberry is " in its prime at the end of May," but the doctor must 

 have been sadly informed as to the time of its ripening "around Chicago." In 1854, I 

 gathered ripe, early, scarlet strawberries from plants, only set out in April of that year, on 

 the 15th of June, and last year, from the same plants, on the 10th ; and the early scarlets 

 were ripe, in quantities, on the 17th of June. My Hudson strawberries have ripened for the 

 last three years, not later than the first of July, and we have always plenty for the Fourth. 

 My garden is made on about the worst description of land in Cook County, but I have 

 good crops, and Dr. Egan, Hon. M. L. Dunlap, and others, have abundantly proved 

 as fine strawberries, if not quite as early, can be raised "around Chicago" as anywhere 



