DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



vest, the trees now beginning to show their blos- 

 soms in profusion. 



A lady friend, who is eminent here for her good 

 taste, and varied knowledge, on the subject of 

 horticulture, has two favorite pear trees in her 

 garden, which yielded delicons fruit last year, 

 which have no perceptible bark for two or three 

 feet from the ground — ^nothing but the naked 

 wood presenting itself to the eye or the knife. 

 Can you inform her wliat gives vitality to the 

 tree, or how the sap circulates? [See Liud- 

 ley's Horticulture. En.] 



How can a liard-jian hill, wliich slides badly 

 in wet weather, be covered with verdure? A 

 friend has a noble stone residence on the high 

 bluff of the lake, and the bank slides and makes 

 an unsightly and rough aspect in front of his 

 elegant mansion? Is there anything that will 

 vegetate there, and keep the surface fresh, and 

 from sliding? [Plant it thickly with young 

 Buckthorns. Ed.] "W. A. Osvjego, May 14. 



Cracked Pkars. — On the premises of Mr. 

 S. WiLHELM in Easton. Pa., I saw an old pear 

 tree ; it was the Early Madeleine, the first branch- 

 es of which were about 20 feet or more from 

 the ground, and at a distance of about 15 feet 

 from this tree, stood a young "White Doyenne, 

 about 9 or 10 years old, full of cracked fruit. 

 A scion from this ti'ee was set on a small branch 

 of the old pear tree, being on the north side and 

 perfectly shaded by the branches and foliage 

 immediately above it. 



This scion, which bad grown there four or five 

 years, was laden with the most perfect fruit, 

 which ripened about si.x weeks later than that 

 of the young tree, wherefi'om the scion was 

 taken. B. Nazareth, Pa. 



The last Winter. — The long cold, worst 

 winter that '•' the oldest inhabitant" ever knew 

 has at last passed away, and spring, smiling and 

 gay, with warm sunshines, genial showers, tlie 

 rich song of birds, has come to gladden tlie 

 hearts of all animate creation. 



" Winter is passed and gone." It was a long 

 winter and a cold one. November, often noted 

 for its fine sunny days, was cold and frosty. 

 Winter early threw her snowy mantle over the 

 earth. December came with greater strength 

 of cold, and January was the perfection of frosti- 

 ness. For many successive nights the mercury 



shrunk below zero, nor did midday tend to 

 draw it far from its hiding place. " The thaw," 

 considered so necessary an accompaniment of 

 the month, came, but the chilly north wind soon 

 blighted its noblest efibrts. February too, the 

 shortest month of all the year, but lengthened 

 now, that timid damsels might have time to 

 choose before they Avoed, was more renowned for 

 its length, from its even, unmitigated coldness. 

 The lowest the mercury fell with us was 10° 

 below zero, while in common winters from 17° 

 to 20" below is nothing new, at least for a few 

 mornings. 



Fruit trees and fruit buds have suffered but 

 slightly from the effects of the winter. The 

 cherry is in full and vigorous bloom . The peach , 

 plum, pear, and apple ijromise well. 



Delicate wooded plants come out fair, with 

 less injury than usual. May it not, from the 

 results of last winter, be fairly inferred, that 

 a fluctuating temperature is more fatal to plants 

 than an even one, though it be long continued 

 cold. W. Bacon. Richmond, Mass., May, 

 1852. 



Dr. Talk's Native Grape. — A reference 

 to page 444 of the Horticulturist for October 

 last, will remind your readers that I had some- 

 thing to saj' about the grape. My remarks 

 amounted to this — that I had raised in 1845, 

 several seedlings, a cross between the Black 

 Hamburgh and the Isabella, and that at the 

 time I wrote you, these had " borne the fro.sts 

 of four winters." I sent you a bunch of the 

 fruit, (it was not a good sample,) of whicli you 

 remarked, " the bunch resembles that of the 

 Isabella — the grapes being hung somewha,t 

 loosely upon it. But the berries are round , black- 

 er than the Isabella, and totally distinct in flavor 

 from our native grapes — resembling the dark 

 colored foreign grajjcs." Toiir notice, as far as 

 it went, was flattering, and soon brought me 

 numerous ai)plications for " vines or cuttings," 

 but I had neither to dispose of at any price. 



In the November number, page 51G, Mr, 

 CnoRLTON, of Staten Island, informed you of 

 the interest he felt in reading of my success, 

 and remarked, that " too much praise cannot 

 be given to that gentleman, (myself,) for his 

 enterprising experiment, but it appears to me 

 that he has gone the wrong way to work 

 which Mr. Chorlton meant to say, that I 



