CRITIQUE ON THE MAY HORTICULTURIST. 



CRITIQUE ON THE MAY HORTICULTURIST. 



BY JEFFREYS. 



Brown Houses and Lightning Bods. — A man travelling in Yankee land, or 'iTork state, 

 as he works into the suburbs of the cities, and through the villages, finds nothing more com- 

 mon than pretending S7iU;^' colored hou.ses — not " rappee," which is a reasonably decent 

 color, by the way — but of the genuine " Maccaboy," or over-burnt coffee color; and ten 

 to one, the same thing bristling with lightning rods, like the bayonets in a stack of militia 

 muskets on a " training day." I once counted no less than twelve of these useless things 

 on one house and its attachments. " If you want to buin your house," said an old expe- 

 rienced builder to me one day, " put a lightning rod on to it, and you will succeed." I 

 b'ilieve in a majority of cases, a building is better without than with them, and more par- 

 ticularly if there be high trees in the vicinity. 



As to the color of houses and out-buildings, there is no governing the " fashion" that 

 may prevail. Up to within ten years ago, white was the prevailing color of the good hou- 

 ses. Yellow or straw color, was used somewhat; and for farm houses, anything short of 

 a first class establishment, was either a Venitian Red or a Spanish Brown, if painted at 

 all. But somebody — no matter who, made a dash out of rule; smeared a house or two 

 with the vile pigment called " Victoria Brown," and since then it has been the color, par 

 excellence, for everybody's house, except now and then a man who had an idea of his own, 

 and thought he knew better than to stain his house with the vile compound. I trust some 

 of your readers will heed this article, and try to influence a better taste in his own neigh- 

 borhood. 



The Victoria Regia. — It is a gratifying feature in American experiment, that where 

 pains be taken, and a corresponding expense be indulged, our gardeners equal, if they do 

 not excel, in the luxuriance of display, and the delicacy in flavor of their productions, the 

 corresponding examples in England, the landof all perfection in developing the most success- 

 ful results in almost everything which they, the English, undertake. Artificial heat and 

 ventilation there supplies the advantages of sunshine and air to an otherwise over-loaded 

 atmosphere of cloud and vapor, and the more gorgeous and luxuriant plants of the vegeta- 

 ble world are exhibited in all their native grandeur and magnificence. Thus the English 

 succeed in producing many articles of luxury to them, which our most negligent people 

 often have in profusion in their ill-worked gardens. 



The journal — (for it is truly a journal — the stated accounts which Mr. Mkeiian has giv- 

 en of the progress of this noble flower of Mr. Copk's,) of the Victoria Regia under Ameri- 

 can cultivation, is full of instruction to all interested in the progress of floriculture in the 

 United States, and Mr. Cope is entitled to the gratitude of every lover of this most agree- 

 able branch of gardening, for his liberality and public spirit in introducing its cultivation 

 among us. 



The Theory of Pruning. — Much ^ood sense, and sound observation, is embodied in 

 this article. Mr. Young is a close observer, and talks like one who has given nice prac- 

 tice to the development of his theor)'. Every fruit-grower should carefully examine this 

 paper, and he cannot but receive benefit in its suggestions. 



Horticultural Notes from Michigan. — Mr. Adair has most opportunely opened a new 

 country for our investigation — Michigan — a state from which your readers have not 

 long time heard. One hundred and twenty-eight bushels of pears on a single tree, 



