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DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



zes for Pelargoniums — only that! My dear sir, 

 I think you- are a Pelargoniomanee. What a 

 pretty, well varied collection of plants it would 

 be, that — all your Pelargoniums in all sized 

 pots, when you are asking fur a reform in the 

 schedule, &c. You ought to ask the exclusion 

 of all the plants you don't mention — that is to 

 say — all but Pelargoniums ; for if Orchidse don't 

 suit you, I suppose that well grown Ericas, 

 Epacrises, Boronias, Ixoras, Cliviac, Acacia 

 pulcrum, Vettita, &c., yEshcynanthi, Rondele- 

 tia, Stc, would still please you less — for devo- 

 tees to flora, of your school, could not easily 

 get them ; at least, it is what a gardener friend 

 of mine, says. I conjointly, with you, feel con- 

 vinced " that if gardeners had means of sug- 

 gesting their ideas before the Horticultural So- 

 ciety of Philadelphia, and that their ideas being 

 similar to yours, &c., should be adopted," 

 Pennsylvania might change its name for the 

 more appropriate one of Pelargoniosylvania. 

 As for the rest of your remarks, I cannot too 

 loudly say that I agree with you. I am with 

 you, body and soul. Those " Floral designs" 

 — I would call tliem Floral monstrosities — as 

 well connected with horticulture, as temperance 

 is with drunkenness, truth with falsehood, or 

 rather connected in this way — that horticulture 

 has for its object, to improve the culture of 

 plants and Floral designs; to disgust with Flora 

 any person of taste. 



Committees award premiums of 2, 5, and 10 

 dollars, for such designs, that not one of its 

 members, that had a party at his own house, 

 would exhibit in his room, if he were to re- 

 ceive ten times the amount he awarded for such 

 a design. In general, the societies pay, in pro- 

 portion to the articles exhibited, the highest 

 premium to the most unworthy thing; for in- 

 stance — a person brings half a dozen Verbenas, 

 and half a dozen Pansies, in the crown of his 

 hat, and he gets 1, 2, 3 or more dollars. Ano- 

 ther, 10 or 12 plants that have taken 2 or 3 

 years to grow, and you want a horse and wag- 

 gon to carry them, and he gets 2 or 3 dollars. 

 There is certainly alteration required in this re- 

 spect. If, however, horticultural societies have 

 really in view the improvement of all the branch- 

 es of horticulture, and if Mr. Downing would 

 be our Lindley — not in anglicising, or rather 

 murdering the botannic names of plants, such 



as Dcndrob for Dendrobium ; an Angrase for An- 

 graBCum ; a Lechenault for Lechenaultia, &c.. 

 a reform as useful for the ditfusion and intelli- 

 gence of botany, as — excuse the comparison — as 

 a poultice on a wooden leg. But, in allowing us 

 lovers of horticulture and botany to communi- 

 cate through the channel of the Horticulturist, 

 no doubt, that in the course of time, we could 

 bring a reform in the arrangement of the horti- 

 cultural societies throughout the country, in sti- 

 mulating the emulation of cultivators and ama- 

 teurs, in making a wiser distribution of premi- 

 ums; in giving a chance to the most humble 

 grower, as well as to the most refined amateur. 

 Yours most respectfully, &c., A Lover of 

 Flowers, and A Working Man, too. Alba- 

 ny, Feb., 30, 18-52. 



Mowing Machines. — Dear Sir: I seldom see 

 anything used but the scythe, in mowing lawns 

 in this country. Now garden labor of all kinds 

 is so dear here, that the mowing machines u.sed 

 in Great Britain, (which I noticed you spoke 

 highly of in your letters from England,) vvould 

 be particularly valuable in this country — both 

 as saving labor and expense, and I may add, 

 doing the work far more neatly than most of 

 the ordinary mowers and gardeners. I have not 

 used the lawn mowing machine in this coun- 

 try, though I have abroad, and I believe the 

 American mowing machine is only adapted to 

 the hay-fleld — quite a different thing from lawn 

 mowing — which must be done like cutting vel- 

 vet. I send you a cut and description of one of 

 the English mowing machines, in the tbrm of an 

 advertisement, which very fairly describes the 

 instrument, and may introduce it to some of 

 your readers who will be benefitted by the in- 

 formation. Your obedient .servant, A Mon- 

 treal Subscriber. March 10, 1852. 



Shank's Improved Grass Cutting and Roll- 

 ing Machines. — The complete success which 

 has attended the introduction of this machine 

 for mowing grass, and its fine adaptation for 

 cutting the grass of lawns, has been fully prov- 

 ed by the numerous instances where it has been 

 tried, and now in common use, particul 

 Rossie Priory, Camperdown, and Kinbletli 

 Forfarshire; Breadalbane, Perthshirer 



