

a09 KAIMNU I'KAU!^ KliuM t^YAA). 



siuli lu'iillliv ami beautiful masses of Rliodoloudrous on tlieir lawns as we find at 

 WcKMU'lhe. It lias licon coiisideretl a dilKt-ult plant to nianaLfC, and therefore Very 

 few liave been called for. Nurserymen get orders occasionally for one, I wo, and, in 

 veiT rare cases, a dozen; but wlio ordei"s one liundred Rhododendrons for his own 

 planting? ' For twenty years, almost, we have been connected ■with nursery afl"air<, 

 more or less, and we venture to say that not three nurserymen in the United States 

 liave made a six-jjcnce of clear profit out of the article Ivhododendron. They im])ort a 

 few hundred at a time, losing some on the voyage out, plant them, spend considerable 

 money in preparing a border for them, cultivate and take care of them, and sell otl" 

 those that live in ones, twos, threes, &c., at scarcely profit enough to pay for handling. 

 AVe have not the least doubt but that any gentleman who wishes to jtrocuro one or 

 two hundred, or more, of Rhododendrons, and is willing to take freshly im])Orted 

 plants, that any of the nurserymen who are in the habit of importing will procure 

 them for him at as low a profit as five or ten per cent, above cost, provided he [the 

 purchaser] will run the risk of loss on the voyage. 



We have before us an American nurseryman's catalogue, in which Calaivhiense and 

 ponticiiin varieties are oftcred at four dollars per dozen ; and another oftcrs them at 

 three dollars per dozen. These prices are for well-established plants, because nursery- 

 men do not send out freshly-imported stuff", unless by a special agi'eement. We do 

 not consider these extravagant prices; indeed, very little higher than the retail or 

 dozen price for similar plants in English nurseries. — Ed.] 



RAISING NEW VARIETIES OF FEARS FROM SEED. 



BY THOS. KIYEES, SATVBEIDGEWOETn, ENGL^VND. 



This brancb of fruit-culture is so full of interest, so worthy the attention of all pomol- 

 ogists, and above all has been so strangely neglected of late years — indeed, since the 

 early life of the late T. A. Knight, no attempts to raise seedling Fears have been beard 

 of — that a few words about it may be acceptable. 



For some twenty years or more I have occasionally raised Pears from seeds, and 

 must confess that my success has been nothing to boast of; but latterly I have in a 

 measure changed my mode of operations, so as to make the raising of seedling Pears 

 far more interesting than merely sowing the pips of a good Pear, without name, graft- 

 ing the young shoots from the seedlings, and waiting till they bear fruit. My method 

 is, I flatter myself, adapted to your climate ; for seedling I'ears are very apt to be 

 pulled up by birds, the pips destroyed by mice, and, in a showery and cold April, to be 

 eaten by slugs and snails. 



As soon as the Pear-eating season commences, I have some two or three dozen nine- 

 inch pots filled with a compost of loam and rotten manure — say two- thirds of the 

 former to one-third of the latter. Some sand added will improve it. These pots are 

 then placed on bricks or tiles, to keep out the worms, in some* convenient situation 

 from hedges, as they harbor slugs,) near the house, and in each pot is a smooth 

 lath painted ready to be written on. I will assume it to be October; I am eating 



