150 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



full blowii flowers. We have marked those trees 

 whose flowers are finest, and intend sending yon 

 some seeds from them when they mature. I think 

 the cone-like seed vessels were more ornamental 

 than the blossoms, as their pink, velvet-like sur- 

 face gapes or bursts, open here and there, and dis- 

 close the bright red seeds. It is interesting to 

 watch them as they sh >ot out these seeds, which 

 hang suspended from the cone by slender threads. 

 Sometimes in five minutes, half the seeds in the 

 cone will be thus displayed, the upper ones coming 

 out, more slowly, and the lower beginning to drop 

 before all are open. Sincerely yours. 31. D. M. 

 Port Gibson, Miss., July 16, 1848. 



Strawberry Selections. — Ma. Downing : 

 Permit me again to refer briefly to the strawberry 

 question, in order to explain the apparent contra- 

 diction in the articles written by me at difTerentpe- 

 L-iods, alluded to by Dr. Valk in the last number 

 of the Horticulturist. The Doctor does not seem 

 to discriminate between a mere opinion, and con- 

 clusions derived from carefully conducted experi- 

 ments. In 1844, when my attention was first di- 

 rected to the sexual character of the strawberry, 

 circumstances induced me to venture the opinion 

 that some pistillate varieties would fruit without 

 being in the neighborhood of staminate ones, &c., 

 but subsequent experiments by myself and others, 

 put this question at rest, by demonstrating that 

 they would not. I believe there is one circumstance 

 to which I did not allude in my remarks m your 

 July number. Though the receptacle is never en- 

 tirely wanting, except accidentally, yet it is fre- 

 quently defective in function, and will not under any 

 circumstance produce fruit. Such plants mio-ht 

 with some propriety be called staminate. We 

 should then have three terms suffieientlv charac- 

 teristic ot all the sexual differences, viz: herma- 

 phrodite, both organs effective ; pistillate, pistils 

 only effective ; staminate, stamins only eflfective. 

 Ihe latter class when produced from seed, should 

 be destroyed, as their only use can be to fructify 

 pistillate varieties ; but this can be done as well 

 by hermaphrodites, which will also bear fruit. 



I agree with Mr. Downing, in considering the 

 ^arpe Early Scarlet a valuable kind. Hoveyh 

 beedimg, Black Prince, Burr's New Pine, Crim- 

 son Cone, and Large Early Scarlet, are perhaps 

 nveolthe very best varieties for general cultiva- 

 tion that have been fully tested. G. W. Hunts- 

 man. Flushing, Aug. 9th, 1848. 



Cherry Currant.— i"have had more than a 

 pmt ol this variety this season. It fully equals the 

 account in your last number ; flavor and quality 

 Delow the white and red Dutch ; growth gigantic, 

 and lohage thick and heavy. It is quite distinct 

 irom other currants, and will make quite a tree. 

 Yours. 31. P. W. Boston, Aug. 10, im. 



Salisburia adiantifoma.— Isee, on looking over 

 my two bound volumes of the Horticulturist, no 

 uoiice 01 this most interesting tree— the Ginko tree 

 oi Japan. I esteem it as one of the most curious 

 ana interestmg of all hardy trees; for it is as hardy 

 uere as a poplar, and makes shoots three feet long 



in good soil. It is a cone bearing tree, but its 

 leaves are wholly unlike those of any of the pine 

 family, and bear a striking resemblance to those of 

 the maiden-hair fern, (Adiantum pedatum,) ex- 

 cept that they are about 1 1-2 inches broad. It is 

 now to be had in all the large nurseries, and I am 

 surprised to see it so seldom in pleasure grounds. 

 There is a specimen in the Hamilton place near 

 Philadelphia, 60 feet high. Yours. S. Philadel- 

 phia, Aug. 12, 1848. 



Something for the Curious. — There is a lo- 

 cust tree in Pittsfield, growing in a southern ex- 

 posure, which had put out its flower buds in ad- 

 vance of other trees of the same kind. These 

 flower buds some night last week were all killed 

 by the frost excepting those that grew on one 

 branch : on this limb of the tree, near the body, 

 were two horseshoes left hanging ; and all the buds 

 beyond the point of contact with the iron are un- 

 injured. 



Query. Would not suspending a chain or old 

 iron on the branches of a fruit tree, on frosty nights 

 when fruits are advanced, preserve the fruit from 

 destruction? Pike Co. Free Press. 



Wash for Buildings. — The following recipe 

 was sent by a gentleman of New-Orleans to his 

 friend in Philadelphia, who writes that the wash 

 was satisfactorily tested upon the roof of the Phoe- 

 nix Foundry in that neighborhood. It is not only a 

 protection against fire, but renders brick work im- 

 pervious to water. The basis is lime, which must 

 be first slaked with hot water in a tub, to keep in 

 the steam. It should then be passed, in a semi- 

 fluid state, through a fine sieve. Take six quarts 

 of the fine lime and one quart of clean rock salt, 

 for each gallon of water — the salt to be dissolved 

 by boiling, and the impurities skimmed off"; to five 

 gallons of this mixture, salt and lime, add one 

 pound of alum, half a pound of copperas, three- 

 fourths of a pound of potash, (the last to be added 

 gradually,) four quarts of fine sand or hard wood 

 ashes ; add coloring matter to suit the fancy. It 

 should be applied with a brush. It looks as well as 

 paint, and is as lasting as slate. It stops small 

 leaks, prevents moss from growing, and renders 

 wood-work incombustible. N. Y. Farmer. 



Iron vs. Pear Blight. — At Canfield, in Ma- 

 honing county, we saw at the residence of Mr. 

 Canfield, a number of large pear trees, twenty- 

 five to thirty years old, that seemed to have been 

 blighted some years ago, but had recovered. On 

 inquiring of Mr. Ca.vfield respecting these trees, 

 he informed us that ten years ago, when they were 

 quite large and productive, they were struck with 

 the blight, and in two years they were apparently 

 ruined. He then took a quantity of bog iron ore, 

 found in the neighborhood, and applied several 

 wheelbarrow fulls around the trunk and roots of 

 each tree. The following spring the trees put out 

 new shoots with great vigor, and the leaves ex- 

 hibited a deep green healthy appearance throughout 

 the season. Ttie trees formed new tops, and have 

 continued healthy from that time to this, excepting 

 one or two, the trunks of which had partly died 

 before the remedy was applied. Ohio Cult. 



