188 



THE GARDENEH'S MONTHLY 



[June, 



is on the track, headed by President Wilder, on 

 a splendid white charger, supported by Gen. 

 John S. Tyler, Chief Marshal, on the right, and 

 Gen. Wm. S. King, Secretary of the Society, on 

 his left, with twenty-five marshals, all mounted, 

 following in succession. Most of the figures are 

 real portraits. On the left ar€ representatives of 

 celebrated breeds of cattle and sheep, and on the 

 other side the immense stage crowded with thou- 

 sands of spectators. The precise moment which 

 the artist has chosen for illustration represents 

 Col. Wilder with raised hat and extended arm, 

 announcing the oj^ening of the exhibition." 



Mr. Wilder must feel highly gratified at these 

 evidences of esteem, and the more so from the 

 consciousness of having fairly earned them. 



John T. Norris. — This distinguished individ- 

 ual, whose dealings with nurserymen render him 

 an object of their tender solicitude, has recently 

 received the following notice from the daily 

 papers : 



"A man named John T. Norris, who lives in 

 Springfield, 0., is carrying on a systematic and 

 very extensive swindling business. He adver- 

 tises his headquarters at Springfield and Cincin- 

 nati, and orders goods and products of various 

 sorts from firms in all parts of the Union and 

 Canada, referring them to bankers and other 

 business men. When the goods arrive they are 

 immediately taken from the express office or 

 freight depots, and transferred to other parties 

 for any amount Norris or his confederates can 

 get for them. Norris was in the Ohio peniten- 

 tiary for swindling nearly a year but was 

 discharged through a legal technicality, and has 

 been carrying on his business since on a larger 

 scale than before." 



Burnett Landreth.— This gentleman, to whom 

 the Agricultural Department of the Centennial 

 Exhibition owes so much of its great success, 

 has been appointed by the Scottish Arboricnl- 

 tural Society its leading representative in the 

 great exposition. 



Age of Mr. Charles Darwin. — In a note re- 

 cently, it was stated that this gentleman was 

 born on the 12th of April, 1800. This is on the 

 authority of Shirley Hibberd's Almanack for 

 1876. A correspondent points out that Lippin- 

 cott's Biographical Dictionary gives the date aa 

 February 12th, 1809, which strikes us as being 

 more likely to be correct. 



Hand Book for Fruit Growers, by F. R. 

 Elliott. Published by D. M. Dewey, Rochester, 

 N. Y. What comes of all the fruit trees raised 

 and sold annually in the United States ? This 

 question is often asked, and the response is, 

 most of them die. There is a sad want of know- 

 ledge among the people, notwithstanding the 

 great number of fruit books and agricultural 

 magazines. As for the general fruit books, they 

 are mostly too expensive and too elaborate for just 

 the class who lose the most trees. A first-class 

 book, yet cheap, touching on every branch of 

 fruit culture, ought to be immensely salable, 

 and of great use, and we think this little attempt 

 ■' fills the bill " exactly. There is often much 

 grumbling about the bad doings of tree agents 

 and tree peddlers, but if they could be induced 

 to take around with them a little book like this 

 to sell while taking orders, we think it would 

 balance accounts with a world of sin. 



Second Appendix to Downing's Fruits. — This 

 has just been published by, we suppose, Wiley 

 <fe Co., and, like the others, is from the pen of 

 Charles Downing. It brings pomological know- 

 ledge down to date. V. 



Orchid Culture. By E. S. Rand, Jr., New 

 York ; published by Hurd & Houghton. From 

 Claxton, Remsen <t Haffelfinger, Philadelphia. 



Mr. Rand's works are put out in the most 

 beautiful style known in horticultural literature, 

 and this is equal to any that have gone before. 

 The typographical execution is nearly perfect, 

 and this is a good feature in a work with so 

 many " hard names " as orchidese possess. 



As regards the matter of the book, we suppose 

 Mr. Rand does not want to claim much on the 

 score of originality. 272 pages out of 472 are 

 made up of descriptions of the best known 

 species, taken from various sources. Why he has 

 given no description of the genera as well we 

 cannot explain, unless it be that the botanical 

 works in which they are described are not so 

 convenient of access to copy from. There are 

 lists of orchideae for cool-house culture, similar to 

 those which have appeared in the Gardener's 

 Monthly, Gardener's Chronicle, Garden, and other 

 publications. 



Indeed, it' is Mr. Rand's weak point that he 

 hardly does justice in his works to his cotempo- 

 raries. He, for instance, professes to give a 

 " History of Orchid Culture in the United States," 

 and what he knows of this subject, as it relates 

 to Philadelphia, he tells in the following words : 



