EDITOa'S TABLX. 



to a pasto, Jiud add about twenty gallons of cold water, allowing the whole to settle. When 

 sottlod, wo take the pure amber-colored water, and syringe ajiy article that has symptoms 

 of mildew. Patrick had charge of two of our houses. I directed liim to syringe certain 

 l)lants with sulphur-water. He kindly stirred up the whole, and gave them a good coat of 

 lime and suli>hur ! Such a sight! " Why, Patrick, where did you learn that methotl ?" 

 " Indeed, sir, that's the way we do in London." Another way they do in London, is to dust 

 sulphur all over the plant and fruit. This is filthy in the extreme. 



Now for the American way: Take a few pounds of .sulphur, and place it on several jjieces 

 of boards, as neatly as you please ; keep them in your gra])ery, stirring the sulphur once a 

 week, and you will have no mildew, unless you give heavy waterings, and allow cold cur- 

 rents of air. Yours, &c., Robert Buist. 



Pkuxing, and otuek Matters or Interest. (-1 letter not intended for publication). — J. Jay 

 Smith, Esq. — Dear Sir: All plants that are deciduous are not dormant, in the literal mean- 

 ing of the word. Even in winter, plants derive nourishment from the soil, and are con- 

 stantly adding to their substance. It is also a well-known fact, that the greatest flow of 

 sap is towards the extremities of the branches ; or, rather, the sap is elaborated and solidi- 

 fied first at the extreme joints. When pruning is deferred until spring, much of the matter 

 gained during the winter is cut away and lost ; hence the practice of deferring the pruning 

 of very luxuriant trees until just starting into leaf, with a view of weakening the growth. 

 But, when pruned in the fall, it will be observed that the buds nearest the end, just below 

 the cut i^ortion, will swell up prominently during winter, will burst out more vigorously in 

 spring, and grow more luxuriantlj', than they would have done if similarly pruned in 

 spring. I consider it a very important point in hardy grape culture, for our seasons are not 

 too long for the proper elaboration of wood, and the gain of a week or two in growth is of 

 importance. I have satisfied myself, in practice, that there is much to be gained in the 

 growth of shoots by this method of pruning. 



I am deterred from stating my honest belief on many things, because they are so much 

 opposed to existing practices, as would make them be considered absurdities. I have 

 always advocated low night temperfiture in forcing and greenhouses — indeed, all structures 

 for plant growing — and have been talked to about it by practical gardeners ; although I 

 have never j'et advocated it to the extent that I have practised it. 



I have had foreign grafies in flower with the thermometer at the freezing point ; gardeners 

 would go crazy if the thermometer went below 50° at that time. I have allowed my pine- 

 apple pits to fall as low as 40° in wintry nights ; 60O is the lowest any rational gardener 

 thinks of; yet these very men would praise the sturdiness and healthfulness of my plants. 

 I have been in the habit, these last five or six years, of letting my greenhouse fall down to 

 350 every night — frequently to 29° ; yes, I have had 40 degrees of frost inside, where there 

 were orchids, stove plants, and hothouse plants, of the most costly and best sorts. I never 

 could get Camellia blooms seventeen inches in circumference, nor Chinese Primroses two 

 inches in diameter, until I adopted that course ; but then, there must be a corresponding 

 treatment; plants must be brought into a state to stand this treatment. Suppose any one 

 in the habit of keeping up a high night temperature, were to adopt it suddenly ; he would 

 kill his plants in one night. 



The same with soil. I have not, these last six years, used anything but fibry loam for 

 potted plants, no matter where they come from, or what they were. Gardeners wUl tell you 

 that they cannot grow heaths, epacriscs, &c. &c., as in the ould country, because they "can't 

 get peat" here. 



have had as good heaths growing in loam as ever I had in Wimbledon peat, or even 

 peat that I have gone myself and selected on Wimbledon Common ; and I know what it 



