marked by uniformity of temperature and tlie absence of extremes. Uniformity 

 of temperature is then the desideratum, and if we can secure it artificially in a 

 grapery, it may be that we can excel any natnral climate in the matter of grape 

 culture. Though the vine will be uninjured l)y the slight fluctuations of tempe- 

 rature in countries where it is indigenous, it seems hardly to follow that the more 

 violent and sudden changes of our North American climate should be innocuous 

 to it. Light frosts, even in June, with us are not unusual. 



I merely call attention to what strikes me as eccentricity of theory in these 

 gentlemen, because I know that in mulching, and sprinkling, and keeping the 

 borders in right condition, and in the regulation of temperature, they arc practi- 

 cally no doubt as reliable guides as any we have in the country. 



Some of our best writers on fruit culture, investigating new diseases, pear 

 blight, black knot, &c., I notice endeavor to account for them by climatology, 

 cold, unseasonable winds, &c., to all which it may be objected that sudden clianges 

 of temperature are not modern inventions. They have always been common, and 

 of wide extent, while these diseases break out locally, even as to orchards, and 

 extend themselves from place to place, apparently without dependence on tempe- 

 rature. Atmospheric causes, such as produce cliolera, yellow fever, and other 

 destructive epidemics, may have a kindred malaria destructive to vegetation. 

 Insects, fungoid productions, which have escaped microscopic observation, may 

 account for the evils we are considering, but a sudden change of temperature, as 

 a reason, does not accord with all the facts. 



We close with the hope that some shrewd observer may do something better 

 than raise objections to present theories by giving us new ones in unison with 

 reason and observation on this " knotty" question. 



June 1, 1856. 



NEW PLANTS. 



ECHEVERIA NUDA. 



E. foliis in caulem strictum altum sparsis obovatis apiculatisglabris obsolete carinatis, spicS, 



longa nuda teiminali. 



This addition to the pretty genus Echeveria has been received by the Horticul- 

 tural Society from Mexico, where it was found on Orizaba by Mr. Botteri. It has a 

 tall, erect stem, covered with smooth, ol)Ovate ajjiculate leaves, and terminated by 

 a leafless spike of flowers, eight or nine inches long. They appear to have been 

 crimson, but the dried specimens, from which alone they are at present known, 

 have only their remains surrounding the fruit. The present species is most like 

 E. coccinea, which has narrower leaves and long bracts, giving the spike a leafy 

 appearance. 



NoTYLTA ALBlDA, Klotzsch. Rchb. f. Xenia, p. 48. 



A graceful little thing, deliciously scented, and beautifully formed, although its 

 flowers are no bigger thati Peppercorns, and the whole inflorescence the size of an 

 ear of wheat. From a few thin, ol)long leaves, not unlike those of Jiodricptezia 

 secunda, its natural companion, there droops a graceful, dense raceme of whitish 

 flowers, perfumed like a Lily of the Valley. Their liack sepal is oblong, convex, 

 pale apricot colored, very firm and convex, and being in all cases turned to the 

 outside of the inflorescence, the flowers are not unlike little fairy shells. The 

 rest of the blossom is transparent white, exce[)t one little pale apricot spot at the 

 base of each petal. 



Clintonia ruLCiiELLA {varieties). Nut. Ord. Lobcliacece. — Many of our re 



