rC^^ 



EDITOR'S TAKUE. 



eighty-tliree years. lie displayed a vocation for the natural sciences at an early age, and 

 accompanied his father on his voyage to America. In 1802 he was employed bv tlie French 

 government to explore the coimtry west of the Allegany mountains, and published in 1804 

 his travels in that then distant and almost unexplored region. A second volume contained a 

 memoir on the natm-alization of roots of American forest trees in France. In 1810 he 

 pubhshed the Sylva. No country can boast a more magnificent or useful account of any 

 part of its natural productions ; it unites the advantages of a work strictly botanical and 

 of one relating to the useful arts, collecting all the scattered details which books or expe- 

 rience could furnish him, with respect to the application of the various kinds of wood to the 

 purposes of life, wliich are extremely useful and important at the present day. The fame 

 of both father and eon may be regarded as the common inheritance of France and the 

 United States, 



If we had more space at our command, it would afford us pleasure to extract some strik- 

 ing remarks of the editor of this edition on plantmg, and on the value of particular trees 

 in ornamental gardening Avliich are now sadly neglected. What more beautiful, for 

 instance, than the Vinjilia lutea^ or yellow wood, with its panicles of locust-looking blos- 

 soms and its remarkable trunk and deep yellow autumnal foliage, which Mr. Smith strongl}- 

 recommends, and not too warmly, as a tree to bo eagerly sought for. A native of a small 

 district 'n Tennessee, it has been occasionally seen in nurseries for sale, but its value bein*!- 

 little known it is now very rare among us. Mr. Smith's additions can always be known 

 by being inclosed in brackets, and they constitute no small addition to the value of the 

 work. They embrace notices of the mode of culture, remarks on the beautiful and orna- 

 mental, and fitly accompany the more scientific observations of Mioiiatjx. 



By permission of the publisher of this work, we present in this number a drawing of the 

 Magnolia glnuca as a specimen of its illustrations. This is a beautiful small tree abounding 

 in the swamps of New Jersey and southward, called the "Swamp Laurel" or Magnolia. 

 Its leaves are four or five inches long, green and shining on the upper sm-face and glaucous 

 or silvery beneath. The blossoms are about three inches in diameter, pure white, and so 

 fragrant that a Magnolia swamp diffuses its fragrance for upwards of a quarter of a mile 

 around. It is readily propagated from seed wliich is easily obtained. The soil should be in 

 part, at least, peat or leaf mold, and the situation somewhat sheltered. 



^njsbtrs to dUornsponJitntif. 



(Geo. Leslie, Toronto.) Your seedling Cineraria flowers came safe to hand. They are 

 all very pretty, and some of them well worthy of being named and propagated. No. 1 is 

 the best in form, with a good, broad, tliick petal ; center white, with a deep edging of violet 

 I)urple. Nos. 6 and 8 we think most showy. Nos. 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, and 13, are most worthy 

 of being retained. 



(J. G. E. K., Lovettsville, Ya.) The shrub to which you refer, is the Rose Acacia, or 

 Moss Locust, {Eobinia hispida,) quite connnon and very pretty. 



The December number was sent as requested. 



Will you give a subscriber some information where the Rough Plate Glass, spoken of in the 

 Horticulturist, Vol. 7, No. 11, Page 519, can be had, and at what price? J. B. B. 



manufactured in England, Any importer of glass can procvn-o it for you, "We 

 say what the price is. 



