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EDITOU'S TAHI.R 



How verv consistent tl>is is I lu the first resolution they condemn wasliiiip or pcraping the 

 bark, ami in the third they recommend rubbing it with a ndjl' wire hrmk and wasiiing with 

 ichalt oil noap suds. Tliis is more consistency. 



We have always beUcved tliat lichens and mosses on cultivated trees, whether useful or 

 ornauK'ntal, betokened un unhealthy condition, generally induced by wet or ungenial soil, 

 or careless, bad cultivation. "Whatever indicates disease or debility in trees, wlielher in 

 the orchard or on the lawn, can not be a precious ornament, we think. Our advice to 

 those whose fruit or ornamental trees have become mossy, is to pay no attention to the 

 palaver about ornament, but go about draining and renovating the soil, and tlien remove 

 the moss, and wash with soap suds. 



In the fourth resolution we are told that "nature is the best and only true guide in hor- 

 ticultural operations." Now, if every body believes this, Avho will carry out the advice of 

 the committee to use " the wire brush and whale oil soap" ? Does nature use any such 

 contrivances? This talk about nature directing horticultural operations, is mere moon- 

 shiue. The gardener and fruit grower has half his time to work in direct opposition to 

 nature. She sends swaniL^ of slugs, aphides, bark-lice, and caterpillars, upon his trees, and 

 he must destroy them or see his trees destroyed. Nature sends floods and drouths, and we 

 have to drain and irrigate; she sends high winds, and we must provide shelter. In fact, 

 the life of the gardener is a continual struggle with nature and her varied phenomena. 



Surely this committee must have been badly off for a subject to make resolutions upon. 



"What will they do next ? 



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Letter from Mr. Rivers. — "We publish in this number an interesting letter from Mr. 

 Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, England. Mr. R. suggests "biennial autumnal removal," as a 

 remedy for the "black blight." The very worst case of blight — "fire blight," as it is 

 called here — that we remember to have seen, was in a plantation of Pears imported the 

 year before from France, and, of course, just in the condition that " biennial removal" 

 would put them. 



In regard to the difficulty of growing Apricots in the open air, which Mr. RivKr^ sup- 

 poses is occasioned by early frost, it may be well to remark, for the benefit of our English 

 readers, that the difficulty is not so much on account of spring frosts, as the weevil, or cur- 

 culio, which deposits its eggs in tlie young fruit, causing it to fall i)remature]y. Tliis is the 

 great enemy of our Plums and Nectarines, as well as Apricots ; and we wish they were 

 banished to the other side of the Atlantic, so that our English friends might have the priv- 

 ilege of studying their habits, while we enjoyed the fruit. 



Magxificext specimens of Magnolias. — "We find the following in the June number of 

 JIotey''s Magazine. It shows how successfully the finest Magnolias, both Chinese and 

 American, are grown in the climate of Boston : 



"Mr, J. A. Kenrick's Magnolias. — In our account of the hardy Magnolias, we inadvertently 

 omitted to mention the fine specimens of Mr. Kenrick, which he has successfully cultivated for 

 so many years that they are now, without exception, as a whole, the finest in New England- 

 "We did not mention them particularly, as we have given a full description of them in our pre- 

 vious voUimes, (X, p. 251, and XV, p. 408,) as will be seen by turning to the same. "We now 

 allow Mr. Kenrick to speak for himself, simply stating that though we never saw his epecimens 

 in bloom, we have examined them at other times, and they are the finest ones to be fo 

 any collection around Boston : 



