editor's table. 



flannel. To 2 to 2i gallons of this juice, add 3 gallons of water, and from If) to 20 lbs. ol 

 imlvcrizod white sugar — these proportions to a five-gallon demijohn is, I think, the best 

 mole of making it — always having enough left to keep filling up the vent — leaving the 

 cork out until the fermentation is done — then decant, and put up in champagne bottles, 

 and you have the wine you drank here. The very finest and dryest grapes should bo 

 selected. 



The first number, for May, of the South Carolina Agriculturist, edited by A. G. Sumner, and 

 published by the State Agricultural Society of S. C, has been received, and speaks well for 

 an increased interest in the matter in that State. It " promises well," and we shall be 

 pleased to welcome it to our table. This number has good horticultural articles in it. 



Seedlings of Pennsylvania. — Mr. J. Jay Smith : \Vliy is it that we Pennsylvanians do not 

 improve and discriminate our seedling fruits ? We certainly have some amongst the best 

 apjiles and pears in the country ; should any fine fruit come under the notice of our friend, 

 Dr. Brinckle, or some few others, it will be brought into notice. We have many good seed- 

 ling apples and pears that are hardly known out of the locality where they originated. I 

 have often thought why it was so, and I have even gone so far as to introduce the subject 

 among our horticulturists, particularly at agricultural and horticultural fairs, but that 

 would be about the last of it. If I ofiered a half dozen of the best seedlings at any of 

 our exhibitions, I heard no more of them. It is not the first time my humble self has tried 

 to draw the attention of committees, but could not get a passing notice. Now, you know, 

 Mr. Editor, that is rather discouraging to a new hand ; but should, by accident, some of our 

 seedlings get out of the county or State where they were originated, some other State will 

 generally lay claim to it ; for instance, the Smokehouse Apple is set down, by Mr. Elliott's 

 American Fruit-growers' Guide, as a native of the State of Delaware ; the Gate or Waxen 

 Apple is said, by Downing's and Elliott's, to be a native of Virginia ; but, as it hapi)ens, 

 there are persons yet living who know something about those apples. The Gate Apple is a 

 seedling of Paradise, Lancaster County ; the seed of said apple was planted by Mrs. Beam, 

 more than 100 years ago, her family being amongst the first settlers of this county ; the 

 apple went, for many years, by the name of Mother Beam Apple. In the course of time, 

 there was a gate planted close to the Apple-tree, and, aftei-wards, it assumed the name of 

 Gate Apple. 



Mr. Niesby married into the family of the Beams — was one amongst the first settlers of 

 Ohio ; he took scions, from this same tree, out to Ohio with him, and, in course of time, the 

 Apple was extensively cultivated in the County of Belmont, Ohio. I suppose some one 

 thought proper to call it Belmont, which name it bears in many localities. 



The Smokehouse Apple, set down to the credit of little Delaware, I now will bring home 

 to old Lancaster County ; the original tree I recollect very well when in its glory, at Mrs. 

 Gibbon's smokehouse, near Mill Creek ; from the appearance when standing, I should suppose 

 it to have been at least 80 years old, but it is now gone. We have many trees, now, from 

 said original, in this neighborhood, from 40 to 50 years old, and they are amongst the best 

 kitchen or bake apples we have, coming in use in August, and lasting till March. If quite 

 green, they make a good pie. A Pennsylvanian. 



Speaking of a late article on hedges, a valued correspondent, who knows all about it, 

 says : " Ah ! if people could be prevailed on to jiay the same attention to their fruit-trees ! 

 They, too, are highly ornamental, and nothing can be more beautiful than a fine garden of 

 large pyramids, as was, and still is, the garden of my late friend, Esperen. I often spent 

 happy moments, in the morning, at the window of my bed-room, when there, overlooking 



