88 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[Maivh, 



Literature, Travels \ Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



NOTES AND QUERIES-No. 10. 



BY JACQUES. 



First impressions. — The Duke of Argyle writes 

 his "first impressions" on coming to America 

 to visit his sou and the royalty of Canada. 

 There is nothing particularly striking in his ef- 

 fort, the trees having most struck his fancy. 

 One remark is so true that it deserves to be 

 transferred here, he says : " Might I suggest to 

 my friends in America the possibility of limit- 

 ing the nuisance of advertisements on the lovely 

 banks of the Hudson. [If he had traveled fur- 

 ther other limits might have been suggested.] 

 Every available surface of rock is covered with 

 the hideous letters of some pill or some potion, 

 or some embrocation, or of some application 

 still more oftensive, for the ills of humanity. To 

 such an extent is this nuisance carried, that it 

 seemed to me to interfere seriously with the 

 beauty of one of the most beautiful rivers in the 

 world." His grace does not reflect that we are 

 a free people. 



The Duke's Ai-ticle in Eraser's Magazine for 

 December last is a sensible one. His impres- 

 sions of Niagara are fresh and good. "We should 

 have preferred the omission of this sentence, 

 "But the famous Thousand Islands of the St. 

 Lawrence cannot be compared to the analogous 

 scenery in many of the lakes of Europe, and es- 

 pecially of Scotland." He says he caught two 

 salmon of twenty-three pounds and twenty-four 

 pounds respectively, and one of the party killed 

 one of thirty-one pounds. Killing is an English- 

 man's delight. What is to become of the lands 

 above and far beyond the Falls when they have 

 worn their way far enough back, the writer does 

 not say, but that there will be a catastrophe 

 some day, who can doubt ? 



Gardening at Hampton Court. — If we are not 

 mistaken, Americans have found a rival to 

 Washington Irving, if not his superior. In a 

 short tale, "A Passionate Pilgrim," by Henry 

 James, Jr., occur many fine and appreciative 

 passages about Old England. Here is a little 

 scene at Hampton Court, where sundry decayed 



old ladies find a home by the bounty of the 

 Queen. It would be difficult to paint a word 

 picture of such expanse in so few words : " I 

 thought of the various images of old-world gen- 

 tility, which early and late must have strolled 

 upon that ancient terrace, and felt the great pro- 

 tecting quietude of the solemn palace. We 

 walked through an antique grating into one of 

 the little px-ivate gardens, and saw an old lady 

 with a black mantilla on her head, a decanter of 

 water in one hand and a crutch in the other, 

 come forth, followed by three little dogs and a 

 cat, to sprinkle a plant." The picture, in little, 

 is perfect. We have seen the very same thing, 

 decanter and all. 



The North China Herald reporting the return 

 of Prof. Nordensjold, says there was not a sin- 

 gle case of scurvy during his long Arctic voyage 

 owing to the free use of a curious little berry 

 that springs out of the eternal ice and snow du- 

 ring the short summer. It bears profusely, and 

 has a taste like the raspberry, but more acid. 

 The fruit is dried and mixed with the milk of 

 the reindeer, and it can be carried in a frozen 

 state for thousands of miles. There was also 

 used a food made from the whale's hide, which is 

 pickled and used freely during the winter. 



Fruit. — Our friends abroad who get a few 

 peaches under glass and on flued walls, will be 

 interested to know that last year the Delaware 

 Railroad Company transported four thousand, 

 three hundred and twent3'-seven car loads (not 

 single fruits) of peaches, and six hundred and 

 forty-six car loads of berries, weighing forty 

 thousand tons, and yielding freight charges 

 nearly S"240,000. This is independent of distri- 

 bution of fruits in other directions. 



The Colorado Beetle. — An article on this pest 

 in the Fortnightly Review, begins thus: "Colo- 

 rado, the last-born State of the Union, is little 

 known in England, except in connection with a 

 small insect that had the rare honor of procur- 

 ing an act of Parliament entirely for itself." 

 It may be doubted if the writer ever saw this 

 pest, which is not so very small, but he thinks 

 it will be easily exterminated. 



The Sky-lark. — The Duke of Argyle, in his 



