1880. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



191 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



CoRKECTiON. — "Page 114, of Gardener's 

 Monthly, for ^JTumey, read Tuomey, and for 

 Werhonoka, read "Weehawka. I do write so 

 badly. W. St. J. M." 



Notes from Col. Wilder. — We hope Col. 

 Wilder will pardon our giving the enclosed ex- 

 tract from a private letter. It will, we are sure, 

 gratify his world-wide friends to note his con- 

 tinued enthusiasm in horticultural pursuits: 

 "■That's right! Keep us posted in regard to 

 men and things ; all honor to the patriarchs, 

 Freas and Buist; and, last but not least, to 

 Meehan, the honored father of honored sons. 

 Landreth is gone ! My old and early co-worker. 

 I bought of him forty years ago at his home, 

 C. Landrethi. He was my right-hand man of 

 Philadelphia at the great exhibition of the 

 United States Agricultural Society, in 1856. He 

 has planted thousands of living monuments to 

 perpetuate his memory. May his sons go and 

 do likewise. I am glad to see that you keep the 

 run of things about Boston. Prof. Goodale has 

 been out twice lately to see me in regard to his 

 fund for the botanical garden, and is getting on 

 well. I was among the strawberry beds yester- 

 day — over forty kinds. Some are looking splen- 

 didly ; now in full bloom are Pioneer, Hervey 

 Davis, Crescent Seedling, for early ones, are a 

 sheet of bloom. Some of my late crosses are in- 

 teresting, especially Crescent by Pioneer, Hero 

 by President Wilder, etc., etc. The new Ameri- 

 can grapes interest me much. These I have 

 grafted on strong old vines, which are now start- 

 ing new growth, and I shall be able to prove all 

 of them, I think, so as to have fruit next year at 

 the next meeting of the American Pomological 

 Society, which I intend to call in Boston. 



Hybridflowers. Good. ' Some awful examples, 

 now and then, to illustrate its teachings ;' for in- 

 stance, gloriosa on the lily, all of which were lost 



during my illness, and nowhere to be found.. 

 Bad, bad, bad! They were feeble, and every 

 year growing more so. only one having ever 

 flowered, and all showing a want of consan- 

 guinity. But never mind, try again. Try every- 

 art. Who knows what great things may be ac- 

 complished by the use of the elements which 

 Providence has placed in our hands for the im- 

 provement of nature?" 



Correction.— Mr. P. A. M. Van Wyck sends- 

 the following : " In my description of the Jef- 

 ferson Grape, there is one mistake which I wish 

 you to correct in next issue. The article says r 

 ' I have fruited this variety ten years ;' it should 

 read, I have fruited this variety two years, as I 

 have had the vine but three years. It is a vine 

 of great promise, and I expect to get thirty 

 pounds of fruit from it this fall. 



[Of course, we are always glad to make cor- 

 rections. After looking into our correspondent's 

 MSS., preserved by the proof-reader, it is but 

 fair to the compositor and the proof-reader to- 

 say that they are quite pardonable for having 

 printed ten instead of two ; for the letters, as 

 written, are much nearer ten than two. Mr. Y.'s- 

 MSS. is, however, quite legible in compar-- 

 ison with much that we receive ; but we may 

 take occasion to remark on what must have oc~ 

 curred to most persons who have correspond- 

 ents, that the number of those who write illegi- 

 bly has increased frightfully of late years. Noth- 

 ing is more trying to a busy man than to spend 

 fifteen minutes in trying to puzzle out what 

 ought to have been clear in five. Whole lines 

 have frequently to be guessed at, and if it were 

 not that one can form some idea of what is 

 meant by what has gone before, it would be im- 

 possible to make any sense at all. It is very 

 rarely that complaints of errors come from those 

 who write legibly. Mr. Van Wyck, we are sure^ 

 1 will pardon us for taking a text from his little 

 1 slip to read a lecture to other people. — Ed.] 



Horticultural Societies. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The Nurserymen's Convention. — As al- 

 ready noted, the annual meeting will be held 

 this year at Chicago, June 16th and 17th. The 

 Pennsylvania Railroad Company, with its usual 



liberality to these enterprises, will issue round 

 trip tickets from Philadelphia to Chicago for 

 $30, extending from June 10th to 30th. The 

 names must be sent at once to Geo. B. Thomas,. 

 West Chester, Pa., who will endorse them for- 

 the railroad company. 



