editor's table. 



Saint CATUAniNKs, C. W., Dec. 15, 1856. 



Sik: a great number of fniit-trees have been destroyed in our jiart of the country, dur- 

 ing the past year, by mice. I have planted an orchard, this fall, of peach and ai)pk'-trees, 

 and find the niico commencing their depredations. Can you inform me of a remedy ? 

 And also, if what I have done is likely to prove one, viz : smearing the stem, with tar from 

 gas-works, from the ground to about one foot up? Is the gas tar au injury to trees .' 



Yours, obediently, James Taylor. 



There is a singular difFerence of opinion amongst practical men as to whether gas tar 

 does or does not injure trees applied in the way you suggest. We have applied it to pre- 

 vent the attacks of the peach and api>le borers, smearing the stems below, and two inches 

 above the ground, achieving our object, and without the slightest perceptible injury to the 

 tree. Yet we know cultivators whose opinions and statements we place full reliance in, 

 who say that their experiments with it have injured their trees. It is an excellent means 

 of preserving trees from mice, and, to be on the safe side, tie coarse paper or leather round 

 the stem, and tar that. Scatter, besides, as our friend — Alan Corson — recommends, a few 

 primings under the trees. They will eat these when the desperation of hunger might 

 otherwise, perhaps, encourage them to brave the tar. 



(Bkevitas.) We are afraid we hardly comprehend your question. A "list of the prin- 

 cipal vegetables, with the soil and manure suited to each," would go far to exhaust a com- 

 plete treatise on kitchen gardening. If we understand your want correctly, we could not 

 do better than recommend you to procure Buist's Kitchen Garden Director)/. You will 

 probably succeed very well with your melons — provided you do not get them too weak by 

 keeping them too long in your hotbed, or too far from the glass. 



Catalogues, Sec, keceived, — A Statement of Facts, showing the Advantages and Profits of 

 Thorough Drainage. Albany, New York, January, 1857. A most important topic, ably 

 illustrated, and distributed gratis, by the Albany, New York Tile Works. 



Register of Rural Affairs, and Cultivator Almanac for 1857. A most valuable publication, 

 and illustrated ; full of information to the farmer and gardener. 



Twenty-Eighth Annual Report of the Natural History Society of Montreal. Montreal, 1850. 

 A useful and enthusiastic Society, the proofs of whose ardent labors in the cause of science 

 are here chronicled. 



Faii'-Mount Park Contributions. A pamphlet giving the leading views of the gentlemen 

 associated for the purpose of giving a noble park to Philadelphia, which we have noticed 

 elsewhere. 



Descriptive Catalogue of Fruit and Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, Vines, Evergreens, Green- 

 house Plants, &c. &c., cultivated and for sale at Fruitland Nurseries, Augusta, Georgia. By 

 D. Redmond. An excellent collection, and the catalogue well considered. 



Catalogue Giineral des Vegetaux Disponibles dans les Pepinieres de E. Defosse-Tliuillier, 

 Orleans, France. A French priced catalogue, of merit, with the articles reasonably low. 



An Address before the Chester County Agricultural Society, at West Chester, Pa. By 

 John B. Biddle, M. D. Too short by one-half. 



Catalogue of Tree and Shrub Seeds, for sale by J. R. Ray, No. 90 John Street, Sacra- 

 mento, California. This is a large list, indeed, and though we notice but few of the indi- 

 genous trees and shrubs of California, we trust Mr. Ray will find it to his interest to collect 

 them, and thus answer the many calls he would have from Eastern nurserymen. 



Etablissement llorticole de Pradel Pere et Fils Ainu. A. Montauban, France. Rosier?, 

 Geraniums, &c. 



Catalogues of the Rose Hill Nursery, Woodstock, Vennont, includes fruit and flowers. 



