462 



CHICAGO, HORTICULTURALLY. 



lio, is here ; and the Green Gage, with its 

 kindred sorts, are made to suffer. The 

 less delicate flavored varieties are often 

 passed by, in his preference for these. 



Of cherries, I cannot give so favorable 

 an account, though we have enough to en- 

 courage us in this direction. The Morel- 

 los and kindred sorts meet with no diffi- 

 culty. The May Duke has borne for seve- 

 ral seasons. At our horticultural exhibi- 

 tion in June, our tables showed fruit of the 

 Black Tartarian, Elkhorn, Waterloo, and 

 White Ox Heart, and many other varieties 

 were ripened too early and too late for that 

 exhibition. There are plenty of trees in 

 our gardens large enough for fruit, which 

 show no tendency to disease. Our hopes 

 are, that we shall have cherries enough 

 when we know how to raue them* 



Peaches and nectarines are more preca- 

 rious than cherries. The west winds of 

 winter, the cold succeeding mild weather, 

 the dry winds of spring, the peach Avorm, 

 and I know not how many other calamities 

 manage, one or all, to fall upon the poor 

 peaches. We can, hitherto, hardly calcu- 

 late on them oftener than once in five years. 

 Still, everybody has peach trees. Their 

 bloom is beautiful, when young ; their thick 

 bushy habits, and abundant foliage, are 

 highly ornamental ; and if any fruit is ob- 

 tained, so much clear gain. 



With strawberries we have made little 

 headway. A Cleveland gentleman once 

 sold us Hovey's Seedling, which was as- 

 siduously cultivated in all our gardens for 

 several years, without a berry ; and then 

 proved to be a worthless Hautbois, barren 

 in England this thirty years. We have 

 since the genuine ; but get little more fruit 

 from it than its counterfeit. A plant known 

 here as Grove End Scarlet, bears abun- 



* Our western readers will find Prof. 'J urnes's remarks 

 ■on the cherry, in our last numlier, valuable on this sub- 

 ject. Ed. 



dantly. Of other varieties we have many, 

 but imperfectly tried as yet. Of the twenty 

 new. Long Island varieties, originated by 

 "a single nurseryman," we have none, 

 and shall try to get along without them. 



Raspberries are in the same category 

 with strawberries. The tender varieties 

 do not succeed well, with the culture they 

 get. Hardy ones do well, and bear abun- 

 dantly. The old Barnet is hitherto the 

 most successful, though the Franconia bore 

 well the past season in some of our gar- 

 dens. 



Gooseberries — what shall we say of 

 gooseberries ? If Lancashire produces more 

 or better, with the same culture, right glad 

 are we. Mildew, or no mildew, our gar- 

 dens give us bushels, almost as plenty as 

 bushes. We have nothing to ask here. 



Of currants and the like, we can say the 

 same. The culture of grapes is more ad- 

 vanced than that of any other small fruit. 

 The standard variety is the Isabella. The 

 Catawba will hardly ripen its fruit with 

 uniformity. Winne, Clinton, and similar 

 small sorts, are plentifully distributed. Two 

 or three new or unknown varieties, earlier 

 than the Isabella, and as good in size and 

 flavor, have been exhibited at our horticul- 

 tural exhibitions. 



In the matter of ornamenting grounds, 

 and shading streets, those who care for it 

 work at disadvantage. The magic ideas 

 connected with such phrases as "comer 

 lots," "rents," "double in value," " going 

 up," are too much for "trees," "shrubbe- 

 ry," and "roses." Sometimes the two sets 

 of ideas can be j^oked together, and made 

 to pull the same way, and then " a smash- 

 ing business" is done. Once in a while, 

 the love of the beautiful gets the upper 

 hand, and keeps it. The gentler part of 

 human creation feel less enthusiasm about 

 " corner lots," etc.; and their aid can al- 



