DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



can exist tliat the depth of soil above it had 

 been gradually formed over it. after it had been 

 dropped there, probably by some Cavalier or 

 Roundhead of the day. At all events the coin 

 could not have been deposited there before the 

 time of Cliarles, and the impression bore but 

 little signs of wear from use; the inference to be 

 drawn is that it had in all probably laid there 



from that age. ' — ■ 



Horse Shoe in a Tree. — Whilst cutting a 

 piece of oak a few weeks ago, in the timber yard 

 of Mr. Thos. Wallis, at South Sliields, England, 

 some workmen found a horse shoe embedded 

 in the heart of the wood. From the thickness 

 of the wood that had grown over it, it must 

 have been fixed to the tree when very young. 



Daphne indica rubra. — Mr. Editor: I 

 should like to see the true variety of this de- 

 lightful plant more amongst us in this country. 

 I was for several years engaged in business in 

 England, where I got bit by the " Floricultu- 

 raphobia," which, as you know, is a prevalent 

 complaint in that part of the world. But, upon 

 returning home, and stocking my little green- 

 house. I hunted through many nurseries here 

 before I could get the right kind. All the nur- 

 serymen have what they call the Indica rubra, 

 but it is not true ; nor is it in leaf or flower, any- 

 thing equal to the correct one. At last I met with 

 it true, at Buist's, at Philadelphia. Tiie flowers 

 are finer, and more abundant, and the leaves at 

 the point, lancet shape, and thick in substance, 

 in the correct plant. In England I found it 

 difflcult to keep in health, until I was let into 

 the secret by one of the two men who introduc- 

 ed it into that country; since that, I have had 

 no trouble, and I think no plant equals it in the 

 early spring. Yours, Americus. 



[Will our correspondent oblige us by sending 

 his experiences of this flower? AVe agree in his 

 admiration of it, and are sure his remarks on 

 its cultivation would be very acceptable to many 

 of our readers. Ed.] 



A Note from a Farmer's Wife. — Mr. Down- 

 ing: What think you has become of the Ne'.v 

 England country girl, who used to contribute 

 to your pages, over the name of " Wild Flow- 

 er?'' I suppose she is married, as few who are 

 belles are apt to remain long in a state of " single 

 blessedness." She says on page 51G, vol. 4th, 



that she is tired of hearing about " remarkable 

 pears," and that she could not " graft a tree 

 for her life." If she was tired of hearing of 

 new pears in 1850, what must be the matter 

 now, since more has been said within the last 

 two years on the subject of fruit, than had been 

 in ten years previous. I am no more tired of 

 hearing about remarkable pears, than I am of 

 eating them, and they taste so much better 

 when you can say, •' they grew on my own 

 trees," and as for grafting, 1 can do that to a 

 charm, and have done it, on seedlings of my 

 own raising. Having been rather unfortunate 

 at first in raising pear seedlings, I raise them on 

 a new plan now, which makes their roots fi- 

 brous. If my trees could talk, they would re- 

 port themselves by hundreds, that I have raised, 

 grafted or budded, and helped to transplant 

 within the last 12 years. (I hope the nursery- 

 men won't be alarmed ; there is no danger of 

 my example being followed by the ladies suffi- 

 ciently to interfere seriously Avith their business.) 

 My fatlior is a farmer, and in the days of my 

 youth kept a small nursery himself. I used to 

 work with him in the nursery, tying buds and 

 the like, for many a day. This I suppose ac- 

 counts for my passion for trees ever since. My 

 love of flowers increases with years. What I 

 know of botany is self acquired ; but I have 

 learned enough for all useful purposes. My 

 love for wild flowers leads me over liills and 

 dales, in search of floral treasures, to decorate 

 my garden, and I have a large collection of na- 

 tive flowers that I have removed from their 

 native haunts. I find the natives of upland to 

 be the most patient of removal, and there is 

 certainly nothing more delightful to me than an 

 intelligent ramble in the woods with the double 

 pleasure of botanical and gardening acquisition 

 to lead me on I always find something new 

 in flower, even where I have wandered many 

 times. 



I do not ex.ictly like the spirit in Avhich 

 "Wild Flower," speaks of the farmers' "rye 

 bread," as if it was a matter of course that the 

 farmer must eat rye bread. It is the farmers 

 who raise the wheat on their own land, and 

 " lords of the soil" are not likely to give the 

 fat of the land wholly to others; and farmer's 

 wives are apt to know how to make wheat 

 bread (that is to say if they were prudent in 



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