DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



on the culture of plants in frames, and of the 

 plants most proper for this culture, would be 

 interesting to your readers; but little on the 

 subject is in your journal — not a word on the 

 culture of the Primula flimily, and many other 

 fine frame plants. Tliis information may be 

 extracted from English and French works on 

 floral culture. It will require adaptation to this 

 climate by a skillful florist, and will then be 

 more acceptable to your readers, than manj' 

 essays which have occupied tlie pages of the 

 Horticulturist; reference is not made to these 

 essays unconnected with horticulture, from a 

 desire to censure, for the writer believes the 

 "Horticulturist" has done much to promote 

 and improve horticultural taste in general, and 

 is the best work of its class in the country; it 

 would be still more valuable, indeed indispensa* 

 ble to many, were it to furnisli practical instruc- 

 tion on the cultivation of plants in classes, com- 

 mencing with plants adapted to small gardens, 

 and continuing the subject until it contained 

 practical instruction on the culture and propa- 

 gation of all the most desirable ornamental 

 plants grown in the open ground, the frame, 

 the conservatory, or the hot house. Very re- 

 spectfully, C. Louisville, Ky., JlprillO, 1852. 



^Ye hope some of thejnany experienced cul- 

 tivators among our subscribers, will assist us in 

 meeting the excellent suggestions of our cor- 

 respondent, by sending us short practical arti- 

 cles on the culture of different classes of plants 

 and trees. Ed. 



Management of Vineries. — In reading, I 

 think the February number of the Horticultur- 

 ist, I found a statement from W. Chorlton, in 

 regard to the management of his cold grapery, 

 in which he states that he gathered grapes well 

 ripened on the first of August. Now I should 

 like to be informed if he had not two stoves in 

 his cold grapery, for some portion of the early 

 part of the season, and if he has no objection to 

 inform your readers, who I dare say are inter- 

 ested in the matter, how long he kept up the 

 artificial heat and to what degree, on an average. 

 Yours truly, H. B. New-York, March 22. 



Is Tan-bark a Fertilizer? — The question 

 has been mooted, " is tan-bark a fertilizer," in 

 one of the late numbers of the Horticulturist. 

 Mr. Downing speaks highly of it as a mulcher 



for strawberries ; and on the authority of Prof. 

 MapeS, recommends it as a fertilizer, for that 

 plaht. Its good qualities as a mulcher, I can 

 well understand, it being a nonconductor; and 

 therefore a protection against the cold of winter, 

 and the too sudden heat of early spring, guard- 

 ing against great alternations of weather; allow- 

 ing the cold soil after winter to become gradual- 

 ly warmed, preventing that rapid change from 

 cold to heated ground, but blending the one 

 season gently into the other. 



As a fertilizer for strawberries. Prof. Mapes 

 has found it excellent. For this purpose I have 

 not tried it myself, but with many other plants 

 and trees I have. I must, however, in the out- 

 set, say what I have used, was not fresh from 

 the tan-yard, but had been used for the forcing 

 of pines, grapes, and other purposes, and after 

 all fermentation had ceased. I employed it in 

 various ways — among others the following: I 

 have mixed it with soil (a sandy loam) in which 

 were planted out American Arbor vitfe, Chinese 

 do., English laurels, laurestinus, Portugal lau- 

 rels, Evergreen oaks. Arbutus, Daphnes, and 

 many other shrubs;— and in it not one genera 

 grew well. Indeed, on the contrary, it gave 

 undeniable evidence of being most inimical to 

 the growth of them all ; the first year after plant- 

 ing they put on a debilitated sickly appearance ; 

 the second year they became worse, after which 

 the plants were moved into other ground to save 

 them ; a considerable part was so sickly they had 

 to be thrown away. In order to test this more 

 accurately I had a bed about 100 feet long, five 

 feet wide, taken out to about the depth of 18 

 inches, and filled with old tan-bark; in this was 

 planted a collection of shrubs including nearly 

 all that I have already named with many others ; 

 the greater part were turned out of pots and 

 were healthy, thrifty plants; consequently they 

 received no check on their removal. This was 

 performed early in April— an excellent time. 

 The first summer, if it could hardly be said 

 these plants grew at all, they did very misera- 

 bly, turning as yellow as a lump of Californian 

 gold, and autumn found them half decayed and 

 dying. Here, however, they were allowed to 

 remain — grow they did not— another year — at 

 the end of which more than three-fourths were 

 completely dead,and of the few which remained, 

 only portions of the plants were alive. They 



