editor's table. 



to Gray's First Lessons. We still think there is no better work to study for gardening pur- 

 poses than McMahon's, now going through a tenth or twelfth edition in this city. 



(John T. Plummer, Richmond, Ind.) " One correspondent says tan is of no service to any 

 crop but the strawberry ; another, that it is an excellent manure for the raspberry." The old 

 adage, that what is " one man's meat is another man's poison," is applicable to the use of 

 tan as a manure. It is very uncertain in its results. Applied to strawberries, we have 

 known it utterly to kill out the plants, and, in other cases, to benefit them remarkably. It 

 uo doubt varies in its properties, and this accounts for the different experiences of the 

 correspondents alluded to. 



The Autumnal, Boston, Marrow, and Marrowfat Squash, are all names for the same article ; 

 the vegetable Marrow is another thing. 



" Some say, thoroughly manure fi'uit-trees ; others say, add none at all. What shall the 

 inexperienced do ?" Fruit-trees must have rich soil. Manure moderately at first. If the 

 trees continue healthy, but grow slowly, add more nutriment till they grow vigorously. 



" Lindley says : 'It has been ascertained that silex, phosphate of lime, phosphorus, &c., 

 are formed in plants, the aliment of which did not contain them ; it is inferred, the presence 

 of such principles depends upon the operation of the vital principle of vegetation.' Does 

 such a man as Lindley, in the middle of the nineteenth century, mean to say that plants 

 crea/e silex, &c. ?" We"guess"so; something of that sort. Our correspondent should remem- 

 ber, that " though in the middle of the nineteenth century," very little is known of these 

 things. We scarcely know what we mean, even when we speak of vital force. Oxalate of 

 lime has been found, in its granulated state, in the structure of cactuses, without a trace 

 of oxalic acid or lime being found in the soil that supported them. Where would our 

 correspondent suppose it came from ? 



The Japan Pea has various common names. It is, as you suppose, the Soja Iiispida of 

 botanists. Many species of Cajanus are used for the same purpose as this, and occasionally 

 get the same common name. Our correspondent recommends it very highly as a productive, 

 easily cultivated, and excellent family vegetable. 



Flushing, 3d Month 7, 1857. 



Respected Frtend : I notice, I think, a mistake in the last number of the Horticulturist 

 (page 149), respecting the Chinese Quince. It is there stated that it is the Cydonia japonica, 

 "grown here for the beauty of its bloom." The Chinese Quince, as stated by C. D. Meigs, 

 is the Cydonia sinensis, totally distinct from Cydonia japonica, or Pyrus japonica, as it is 

 more generally called, and also from every other variety of the Quince. I am surprised 

 that it should be anywhere stated that the blossoms are " of a fine rose color," for, if not 

 quite white, they have, at most, but a very faint blush. I have known it to fruit here, but 

 by no means freely. It grows, however, /ree((/, is perfectly hardy, and makes an upright, 

 handsome tree, with very jiretty and striking foliage, and is entirely free from thorns, and 

 in every way as opposite as can well be imagined to the species with which it is confounded. 

 We cultivate a variety called lutea, but it appears to be identical with the other, and has 

 probably been added to swell some catalogue. 



I have been acquainted with a tree of the Chinese Quince, in this town, about twenty 

 years, and I doubt if it has produced, all told, as many fruits. 



Respectfully thy friend, John B. Foster, Foreman for Parsons <J- Co. 



[Mr. Foster is right. — Ed.] 



BetuJa excelsa. — In the February number, it is rather assumed that the Bitula excelsa and 

 lutea are distinct, but nearly similar species of birch. I had never doubted but that the 

 Isa of Willdenow, Acton, and Bigelow, is the lutea of Michaux,/. ; and Bigelow 

 gives the lutea of Michaux as a synonym of the excelsa. A. W 



