1876.] 



AND HOETIGULTURIST. 



SST 



reasonable rate? I feel very desirous to see the 

 persimmon improved, if it can be done. Would 

 our climate be suitable to work them on our 

 native persimmon? 



"The above is on exhibition in the Main 

 Building, and on the south side near the wall. 

 If not too much trouble, please let me know 

 more about the above, and oblige." 



[We fear our good correspondent is a better 

 reader of " some periodical " than he is of the 

 Gardener's Monthly, or he would know that the 

 Jai^anese persimmon is not unknown in this 

 country. Moreover, if he had been as good a 

 student of the nurserymen's collections on the 

 Centennial grounds as he was of Japanese wax 

 work, and as we suppose the nurserymen hoped 

 tree lovers would be, he would have seen Japan- 

 ese persimmon plants in several collections. 

 There was the place to find out what was in the 

 country, and we fancy our correspondent, like a 

 good many more people, has not profited the 

 half bj' the Centennial that he might have done. 

 We have no doubt that the leading nurserymen 

 near our large cities can soon, if not now, sup- 

 ply Japanese persimmons. — Ed. G. M.] 



A New Grape. — A correspondent says : " I 

 mail you to-day sample cluster and foliage of a 

 new grape we have not named. It is an acci- 

 dental seedling of Fox parentage, grown a little 

 north of New York. The berries first showed 

 color this year July 19th, and first cluster was 

 picked, and good eating, July 31st. To-day, Au- 



gust 8th, all the clusters on the vine are ripe and 

 picked. Hartfords in same locality, and with as 

 good exposure, only just show color to-day for 

 the first. This grape is fifteen to twenty days 

 earlier than Hartford, and will prove of great 

 value on account of its earliness, vigor, health 

 and productiveness. The original vine, five 

 years old, trained as an arbor last year, yielded 

 two hundred pounds of grapes' which readily 

 sold at home for 122- cents per pound. Unlike 

 Hartford, the berries adhere firmly to stem, and 

 do not drop at all, even if left on vine a month, 

 as has been repeatedly tried." 



[We do not remember that the grape above re- 

 ferred to came before us. It may be, however, 

 as well to say to those who send us grapes, tliat 

 good varieties, so far as flavor and appearance 

 are concerned, are now so numerous, that other 

 qualities must go to make up a successful grape, 

 and of these the editor with but a bunch before 

 him cannot judge. — Ed. G. M.] 



California Onion Seed. — A correspondent 

 says : " I have tried California and Oregon grown 

 onion seed but one year. It did better than I 

 supposed it would do, but not as well as eastern 

 grown seed, and certainly one year's trial is too 

 brief a test to warrant such unlimited claims to 

 superiority. If onion seed grown in a warm, 

 dry climate will tuber as well as seed grown as 

 far north as it will possibly ripen, it is something 

 new, and will upset some old notions." 



FORESTRY. 



CO MM UNICA TIONS. 



AMERICAN ARBpRETUMS. 



BY WM. WEBSTER, LANDSCAPE GARDENER, 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



Since my return from Philadelphia, where I had 

 the pleasure of examining Mr. Meehan's Arbore- 

 tum, in the Centennial grounds, an idea has pre- 

 sented itself to my mind in connection there- 

 with, that the more I reflect upon, the more 

 convinced have I become of its feasibility and its 

 importance. The plan which I propose is sim- 



ply the formation of collections of trees or shrubs 

 by private individuals, and so arranged as not 

 only to be a pleasure to themselves, but a source 

 of profit and enjoyment to their friends. 



So long as Arboretums in their true sense 

 must in this country be confined principally to 

 institutions of learning like our Universities or 

 large public parks, or belong to the government 

 like the one at Washington — just so long will 

 the majority of our people learn but little about 

 the culture, growth or value of many of the 

 trees, the timber of which is used in the arts. 

 Any one who has paid even the slightest atten- 

 tion to the fine exhibits of the various kinds of 



