CRITIQUE ON THE AUGUST HORTICULTURIST. 



ture, and exclusion from light; the fruit having the elements for fermentation "within 

 itself, the absence of air is not of great importance, under ordinar3'- circumstances. The 

 great success which has been found to attend packing in charcoal, sawdust, chaff, &c., is 

 largely owing to the preservation of a uniform temperature by these non-conductors of 

 heat, and to the exclusion of light — with occasionally the additional advantage of admit- 

 ting of being placed in a cold and damp cellar by absorbing the surplus moisture. 



All this care will, no doubt, appear to some as altogether too great for practice. But 

 even supposing that the room and its management will cost as much as the fruit garden 

 and its cultivation, would not doubling or tripling the period for the maturity of pears, 

 amply repa}' all trouble? And, estimated by money merelj'', would not such a room for 

 the marketer of the finest specimens, prove eminently profitable, b}^ enabling him to sell 

 his best specimens for twenty-five cents each, as has been repeatedly done both here and 

 in Europe, for well kept rare sorts.' Many thousands could be placed in a singlebuilding; 

 and as high profits are in future to accompany the cultivation of the very best, it is well 

 worth wliile to look at the mode that shall contribute to the highest perfection. 



Such a room as we have desciibed would be an admira- 

 ble place for grapes, either deposited on the shelves, or 

 (still better) suspended by wire hooks at the apex of each 

 bunch, causing the bunches to spread and the grapes to 

 hang apart and prevent rotting. 



In all cases where a cellar is used for keeping fruit, as 

 is usually the case with common winter apples, the evils 

 of dampness may be much lessened by placing the shelves Fig. 3. 



in the centre, (a, Fig. 3,) and leaving a space all around for passage. (6. 6.) These 

 shelves may be suspended on iron rods, at such a distance from the walls and floor that 

 the most expert rat can never reach them by his longest leap. The^' may be twice as 

 wide as usual, as they are reached from the passage on both sides. 



CRITIQUE ON THE AUGUST HORTICULTURIST. 



BY JEFFREYS. 



Shade Trees in Cities. — It was fitting that the last essay of Downing to his readers, 

 should be on his favorite subject of trees; and never has he talked to us more wisel}', nor 

 upon any subject can his advice be better heeded. It were useless to comment upon what 

 has been so well and fitly spoken. If any one characteristic of good taste stood marked 

 and prominent in the affections of our late friend, it was his deep love of the scenery of his 

 native land, in its freshness and grandeur, clothed with its oM^n luxuriant forest trees. He 

 has made them classic by the graces of his pen, and taught us all to love and admire them 

 beyond any and all others. 



Had I the melancholy privilege to select the final resting place of Dow^ning, it should 

 be on the sunny breast of a hill looking out upon the Hudson, near the place of his birth 

 and his residence. It should be where the pure waters of a bubbling spring would call 

 out the earliest flowers of the season, and freshen the green turf beneath the sere and ycl- 

 aves of the waning year. A group of noble forest trees should protect, with their 

 hadow, a j)lain marble shaft bearing simply his name and age — all within a neat iron 



