480 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



nionoy-niarkcl, Camellias "are in request, and pri- 

 CCS have rather an iipwani lonilenry." One oTour 

 principal cultivators potlcil_/'(;i//- thotiminti fil ants \asl 

 season, ami Ihissprinjj will perform the same opera- 

 tion to 4i.r thoiisuiiil more. A new market is just 

 openinpr in the great West, where taste is surely 

 making its way. A good Camcllia;y/art/a/ioH is a 

 good investment. 



This beautiful flower has probably not yet been 

 seen in its greatest perfection among us. If some 

 enterprising man of taste would erect a Conserva- 

 tory, in sucli a manner that it could be removed in 

 summer, and i)lant Camellias in the ground, where 

 their roots would have a lair chance to extenil them, 

 selves thoroughly in good deep soil, we might soon 

 see Camellias twenty and thirty feet high, with 

 flowers in-obably gi'eatly enlarged. Will not some 

 of our amateurs try it ! As a si)eculation, it would 

 answer well; very little heat would be required, 

 and the plants would grow rapidly. 



Among the very extraordinary and beautiful 

 plants of this neighborhood, little known elsewhere, 

 is the Xclumbiiun luteitrn, An a(iuatic plant, that has 

 taken root and nourishes admiralily in Hollanders' 

 Creek, a mile or two below Philadelphia. Both 

 leaves and flowers are superb. The Messrs. Lan- 

 DRETH formerly succeeded in growing it very suc- 

 cesslully in a pond in their ganlen. The roots were 

 obtained in July, and tied up in earth with some 

 straw, the stalk and leaves being then in perfection. 

 The bundle was thrown into the rain-water pond, 

 and here it flourished perfectly, some of the 

 leaves measuring two feet across. It appears to 

 me this elegant foreigner might be successful in 

 every gentleman's park with proper care; anil sure 

 I am no such elegant aquatic has yet been intro- 

 duced. It is supposed to have originateil from some 

 seed dropped from a ship that wintered in the creek 

 a "long lime ago." J.J.S. Philadelphia, March, 

 1847. 



Remarks. — This superb Lotus, or Water Lilly, 

 referred to by our correspondent, is a native of this 

 country, and a not unusual inhabitant of the lakes 

 in the SuUthern, though very rare in the Northern 

 or Eastern States. Its immense flowers and leaves, 

 more than treble the size of those of the common wa- 

 ter lilies, render it a very striking object. It grows 

 wild in Big Sodus Bay, Lake Onfario. Nuttai.t., in 

 the Transactions of the ^imcrican Philosophical 

 Society, says its large " tubers resemble those of the 

 sweet i>otat(), and when boiled are, as farinaceous 

 and agreeable as the potatoe, and are employed for 

 food by the Osage and other Western Indians." — Ed. 



Notes on fine Pears. — The pear beinf^ a fruit 

 remarkably liable to vary in quality iVoni external 

 causes, notices of those l)cst adapted to various local- 

 ities can hardly fail to be useful. The remarks of 

 Cheever Newhall, in the last No. of the Horticul- 

 turist, are of this character. Pcriiaps a notice of 

 some celebrated varieties, as produced in western 

 New-York, uiay not be unacceptable. 



The Bloodgood proves to be a decidedly first-rate 

 pear ; no one preceding, or ripening with it, prov- 

 ing its equal in all respects. 



Dearborn's Seedling is one of the best — nearly 

 equal to the Bloodgood,. but smaller in size. 



The Skinless is one of the freest prnwcrs of nil 

 pours, is aliiuulantly productive, and always bears 

 fair and nnifoiinly good fruit, though not ilccidcdly 

 rich and liigli-llavorcd. It ri])cns before the Blood- 

 good, and, all i)oints considered, is one of the most 

 iiesirablc early pears, especially on clayey soils. 



The Jlndrews is a line pear — a great bearer while 

 the tree is yet young — and the fruit fair and hand- 

 some. But it proves only second-rate in richness, 

 and drops early from the tree, often befctre the fruit 

 is fully grown, and usually before it is sufficiently 

 matured to ripen perfectly within doors. 



The Urbanisle is an excellent pear, but too acid 

 [? Ed.] for many palates, and is a very moderate 

 bearer. 



The same objection occurs here to the Passe Col- 

 mar and Easter Beurre as at Dorchester, the fruit 

 very rarely attaining perfection under ordinary man- 

 agement. 



The Columbia bears very fine crops of large fair 

 fruit, but drops too early from the tree. 



The Flemish Beauty is a large, fair, and produc- 

 tive variety, and, though not of first-rate flavor, 

 proves worthy of ctiltivation. 



The Jargonelle is a fine early pear, rather coarse, 

 but (piite rich in flavor, and needs, indispensably, 

 house-ripening, not only to perfect its flavor, but to 

 prevent the incvital)le rotting at the core when left 

 too long on the tree. The utility of house-ripening 

 cannot bo too frequently and strongly urged for most 

 varieties. 



Bezi de la Motte, once in five or six years, proves 

 delicious ; at other times it is tasteless and of no 

 value. [Almost uniformly <food here. — Ed.] 



The Madeleine, Scckel, Bartlelt, Virgalieu, Gray 

 Doyenne, and Winter Nclis, maintain the high cha- 

 racter given them elsewhere ; and were I compel- 

 led to choose hut one variety, as best, for its 

 agreeable and delicious flavor, I should perhaps se- 

 lect the Gray Doyenni. J. J. Thomas. Macedon, 

 3mo.8, 1847. 



The Merits of FL0WERi>fG Plants. — It is by 

 no means an uninteresting or useless occupation, to 

 inquire into the nature aud causes of the pleasure or 

 indillerence universally felt by all persons, when 

 witnessing ditferent kinds of plants in a flowering 

 state. By so doing, the mind is led at once to ilis- 

 card all those vague and ambiguous notions which 

 are frequently induced by extrinsic circumstances 

 or personal infirmities, and to establish definitive 

 rules for our future guidance and regulation. What 

 is termed tade, is, we know, exceedingly varied 

 and capricious; but there are, even in this, certain 

 essential (jrinciples, which may be easily reduced 

 to some degree of order, and rendered generally 

 available. 



The very first thing which attracts the attention 

 of the observer of a flowering i)lant, is its blossoms. 

 If these are very numerous, conspicuous, and of bril- 

 liant color, all other characters are for the most 

 part forgotten, and it is pronounced valuable. But, 

 when the flowers have faded, it is frequently disco, 

 vered that the plant is both meagre and unsightly, 

 and so continues throughout the remainder of the 

 year. Here, then, we have a ease in which it is 

 evident, that a judgment formed upon the merits of 



