148 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



northwest and southeast. The hiil-side next to 

 house I wish interspersed with evergreens; it serves 

 as a pasture for calves, &c., and an occasional 

 bite for my horses; it contains about ten acres. I 

 will enclose each tree so the stock will not injure 

 it. I have the Tree of Heaven, Paulownia, Cedar, 

 Arbor VitEB. I lost Irish and English Yew, Orien- 

 tal Cypress, and Cedar of Lebanon. 



[We advise our correspondent to introduce the 

 Italian and Swiss Stone-Pine trees, (which bear 

 eatable fruit, and are very ornamental,) the Deodar 

 Cedar, and the Araucarias. {^. brasiliensis and 

 »/?. excel sa, are most lovely trees, that will un- 

 doubtedly bear the winter of Mississippi.) Also 

 that beautiful everi^reen the Deodar Cedar. Among 

 deciduous trees the Virgilia, the Pinckneya, the 

 Purple and Weeping Beeches, and the Weeping 

 Larch, are all well worthy of his attention. — Ed.] 

 My yard is an intense shade-^forest trees. I 

 have some 50 Arbor Vitse trees set out, and before 

 I had an idea of such a thing, my sheep destroyed 

 about 30. I thought fine sheep Lad more sense. 



I find there are some planters in this section who 

 begin to im.prove, and think we will in a few years 

 have many beautiful residences. 



I have here some few very choice varieties of 

 peaches, which if you will accept as specimens on 

 trial. I will send you. I think I can send yr.u some 

 three or four that will compare with Early York, 

 Washington Free, and others of that high order. 

 I allude to seedlings of my own raising, or those 

 natives of this section. Yours truly. M. W. 

 Philips. Edwards, Miss., July 12, 1848. 



Others planted at the same time, (then six ifiches 

 high,) are now four or five feet high, though plant- 

 ed in a sheltered spot and good soil ; but for the 

 first five year.s they were neglected and overrun 

 with weeds and grass, so that they scarcely grevi' 

 at all. Three years ago I took them in hand, and 

 they have now taken a vigorous start. 



A good deep soil and constant cultivation are in- 

 dispensable to the growth of any tree that is worth 

 I lanting, and with these advantages I know that 

 trees plant id closely will defy exposure, even on 

 the bleakest sites. Very truly yours- /. M. 

 Forbes. Milton, near Boston, July 27, 1848. 



Burr's Strawberries. — I notice in the Horti- 

 culturist that Wm. R. Prince advertises and names 

 nine varieties of ■' Burr's Ohio seedling strawber- 

 ries " for sale. Now I should like to know how he 

 obtained them all, as some of the kinds named 

 were not disposed of by me till last spring, and 

 not then to him or any of his neighbors. Perhaps 

 he can explain this to the satisfaction of the public. 

 Yours. J. Burr. Columbus, Aug. 16, 1848. 



Norway Spruce in Exposed Sites. — I ob- 

 serve that in mentioning my trees^Norway Spru- 

 ces — planted in an exposed site, for shelter, you 

 gave ihem credit for growing fast in very poor 

 land, on a high exposure. The land is very good, 

 and was well mucked before they were planted, 

 and every year since the grass and weeds have 

 been kept from the trees. It is to this enriching 

 and constant attention that I attribute the growth 

 of the trees, in spite of their exposure to the bleak 

 sea breezes. I must also add that it is owing, in 

 a measure, to their being planted closely at first, 

 so as to shelter each other. I have gradually 

 thinned out these trees as they grew, so as not to 

 allow their branches to touch, replanting those re- 

 moved in other places. 



I should think that, in the last four years, those 

 trees on the top of my hill have grown, on an 

 average, two and a half feet per annum. Some 

 few of them will average three feet of yearly 

 growth, — one grew four feet, so that at the present 

 time, this plantation of Spruces, (made about eight 

 years ago,) will average about fifteen feet high. ' 



Siberian Kale. — Dear Sir-— In your acknowl" 

 edgments to readers and correspondents in August 

 number of Horticulturist, you say that you have 

 received from Messrs. J. M. T. & Co. ''seeds of 

 Siberian Kale." The name is decidedly Russian, 

 and it almost makes one's teeth chatter to think of 

 this cabbage or kale, all the way from Siberia. 

 The sight of your announcement immediately 

 brought to our mind the fact, that in the " Garden- 

 er's Chronicle" for June 20, 1846, there is an arti- 

 cle from the pen of Dr. Lindley on the very sub-" 

 ject of this " Kale," and as it is appropriate and to 

 the point, we give your readers the benefit of the 

 Doctor's judgment. The Dr. wields a caustic pen 

 when he's in the humor, and occasionally makes 

 slashing work among the tradesmen of his own 

 country, when they venture to deal too largely in 

 humbug. But let's hear what he says about the 

 "kale:" 



" That the craving for novelty is insatiable, we 

 all know too well ; or if we doubted it, the avidity 

 with which the world (of gardening) runs after 

 every thing called new, would satisfy the most in- 

 veterate sceptic. To be new indeed, or to seem 

 so, appears to have with half the world the same 

 meaning as to be good. ' Well, Mr. C, what 

 Lave you that is new?' is the fiist question asked of 

 a seedsman ; no one thinks of saying, ' What have 

 you that is good ?' It is novelty that is sought for, 

 and not quality. 



" This is strikingly exemplified by the way in 

 which the excellent varieties of vegetable seeds 

 annually distributed by the Horticultural Society 

 are often received. The seeds are demanded, and 

 when they are given, surprise, or something worse, 

 is expressed that they are only vegetables. It is 

 in vain to say these varieties of lettuce, onion, ra- 

 dish, celery, broccoli, are of the finest quality that 

 art can produce. The answer is, 'pooh! that is 

 all very well, but they are not new; we admit the 

 excellence of the quality, but they are only the old 

 things.' Imagine a man, whose dinner has been 

 provided with the most perfectlj' cooked dishes, ac- 

 companied by the finest wines, crying out, ' This 

 dinner is extremely bad; it consists of nothing but 

 beef, mutton and venison ; and as for the wine it is 

 only sherry and claret.' And yet such a man 

 would be indignant if his cook gave him horse-flesh 

 and tincture of rhubarb, which he would deserve in 

 return for his absurdity. 



" To meet these difficulties, and to seem to min- 

 ister to so silly a habit, cooks invent all sorts of 

 outlandish names ; they call broth consommi; white 



