DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



the ashes. In ventilation and other details the 

 building is equally perfect. 



The entire cost of this conservatory was about 

 $160,000. The rich collection of plants which 

 it contains, and the admirable way in which 

 they grow, are worthy of the great national 

 garden in which it stands, and which the British 

 nation keeps up at a large annual cost, for the 

 instruction and delight of any and every person, 

 without any fee whatever, who wishes to enter. 



Practical Gardeners and Hort. Socie- 

 ties. -^Dear Sir: It appears that my remarks 

 on the Penn. Hort. Society have been mis- 

 understood by Mr. BuisT. Beingmyself a mem- 

 ber of the society, I cannot well avoid knowing 

 something of its rules and regulations, as well 

 as the profession and abilities of its executive 

 members. 



Mr. BuisT tells us that the committee of ar- 

 rangements are all practical gardeners, who sub- 

 divide on exhibitions, &c., so that he has endea- 

 vored to make my remarks inapplicable to that 

 society. However, I will explain where the dif- 

 ference of opinion lies, so that Mr. Buist, and 

 the readers of the Horticulturist, will see at 

 once that my sentence, " as gardeners have no 

 direct influence with the gentleman of that soci- 

 ety," is emphatically applicable where it was 

 intended to apply. 



The difference is simply this. Those who 

 Mr. Ei'isT thinks proper to call practical 

 gardeners, are nurserymen, and not gardeners 

 at all ; and what I mean when speaking of gar- 

 deners, is to denote those who hold situations, 

 and are paid as such. But as I never before 

 understood nurseryman and gardener to be a 

 synonymous term, he, Mr. Buist, will probably 

 excuse my error ; and perhaps when a few more 

 summers suns have acted upon my dull brain, 

 I shall be able to comprehend that gar- 

 deners and nurserymen are synonymous. My 

 remarks in the January number were writ- 

 ten purely for the benefit of the working sub- 

 scribing competitors; also my remarks on plants 

 and fruit, strictly confined to our own society — 

 for there alone, we have plenty of room for ira- 

 improvement, without travelling further from 

 home. Allow me to ask Mr. Buist, did he 

 suppose the party that revised the prize schedule 

 last January, to be all practical gardeners, 

 who discarded the prize for early grapes in pots, 



and substituted in its place a collection of Cacti, 

 for which they offer a silver medal. What, I 

 ask, is there to be seen in a best named collec- 

 tion of Cacti, not even restricted to be in flow- 

 er, or part in flower — for a very good reason — 

 they know it is almost impossible to obtain 20 

 cactuses in flower at the same time, from one 

 proprietor. 



What a desirable acquisition will be this new 

 collection to our saloon? But, by-the-bye, there 

 is only one practical who grows them, so that 

 the silver medal will be a walk over. Where 

 is there another society in the world, composed 

 of practicals, that would make such a revision 

 as this? I am asked, where are our Ericas. 

 Fuchsias, Pimelias, Epacris, &c. I answer I 

 don't know — but I would suggest to our prac- 

 ticals, to pull the weeds out of their pots pre- 

 vious to placing them on the exhibition tables, 

 and then, perhaps, we shall be able to see where 

 they are. Tours very respectfully, A Work- 

 ing Gardener. Philadelphia, March 15. 



Winter Fruits Grown in Western New- 

 York. — The production of apples in Western 

 New- York, for 1851, was not as large as usual j 

 and the scarcity both east and west of us, at 

 Rochester, created a demand more than equal 

 to what could be well spared from home con- 

 sumption — so that at this moment it is barely 

 possible to obtain a single barrel of choice ones. 



The qualities grown were in many instances 

 superior, but oftener with great defects. 



It may be said that the apple trees planted 

 within the last fifteen or twenty years, are now 

 as fruitful as ever, and bear as fair fruit as they 

 will. Insects and blight affect the trees fre- 

 quently, and some seasons the fruit is not as 

 good as in other years. 



I did myself the honor to send you in 1847, 

 (see Hort. vol. 1, p. 482,) samples of several 

 kinds grown with us, and now forward you spe- 

 cimens of choice ones — so that you may judge 

 how well they compare. You will find: 



Northern Spy. 



Canada Red or Nonsuch. 



Herefordshire Pearmain. 



Swaar. 



Pomme Grise. 



Esopus Spitzenbergh . 



Green Sweeting. 



The "Canada Reds" sent, are the 



