540 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



pondents, cannot communicate somctliing for our 

 relief in this case, I am afraid we shall be under 

 the necessity of abandoning the cultivation of the 

 Osage Orange as a hedge plant, from this cause 

 alone. We have some fine hedges of the Cock- 

 spur or New-Castle thorn; but their growth is 

 slow, and the haws or seeds vegetate with diffi- 

 culty. If we had some remedy for the moles, I 

 am confident the Osage Orange would make a 

 fence in one-half the time. I have never found 

 the roots of any other plant so much eat by the 

 moles as I have found my Osage Orange. I see 

 it stated in an old vol. of the jiinerican Farmer, 

 that ground planted with the Castor Oil Bean was 

 avoided by moles.* Yours, John Diehe. New- 

 Castle CO., Bel., Jpril 15, 1849. 



Specific Food for tiii; Grapf. — ^^. J. Down- 

 ing, Esq: In the '' Living Age," p. 246, the 

 Paris correspondent mentions, among the reports 

 of the Academy of Sciences, one from M. Persoz, 

 relating a new method of cultivating the vine, by 

 applying at one vine a particular maoure, to in- 

 crease the growth of the wood ; and at another 

 time, " substances which serve exclusively for the 

 development of the fruit." The correspondent 

 does not state the substances M. Persoz recom- 

 mends. And it has occurred to me that, from 

 among your numerous means for information, you 

 might obtain the report, and lay its substance be- 

 fore the readers of the " Horticulturist." With 

 much respect, Geo. N. Chapiii. Providence, 

 February, 1849. 



t^^ See article in a preceding page of this num- 

 ber, on the culture of the grape. 



Visits to Gardens. — Having this day visited 

 some horticultural establishments, in the vicinity of 

 New- York, it has occurred to me that some rough 

 notes respecting them might be interesting for the 

 readers of the Horticulturist. 



I first call attention to Mr. Thorburn's collec- 

 tion, at Astoria, Long-Island; Mr. T. having 

 kindly shown me everything new and rare, showy 

 and interesting, in his houses. Entering a long 

 range of glass, the first thing to attract attention 

 is a beautiful collection of roses, intermingled with 

 Rhododendrons and other evergreen shrubs, among 

 which I noticed a fine specimen of Norfolk Island 



* We imagine that moles will only be found troublesome 

 to hedges in very light sandy soil, where they can easily 

 burrow. 



We agree with our correspondent, that if they are, as he 

 thinks, especially fond of the Osage Orange, some remedy 

 must be found, in districts infested with tliis creature. We 

 find the following recipe for destroying them, strongly re- 

 commended in a little work, entitled " JPests of the Farm," 

 lately puljlished in London : 



"Take a quantity of fresh worms, put them in a wooden 

 box witli a sjnall quantity of cnrbonnle vf barytes in powder, 

 and let tliem remain for an hour or two; then find out the 

 runs, where tlie moles leave the fences for the land ; lay in 

 every run five or six worms, and continue doing so as long 

 as the worms are taken away by the moles. I was infested 

 by moUs before I used tliis remedy, which was about fifteen 

 years since, but have never been injured since, by giving a 

 little attention to them in the spring." Ed. 



pine, (Eutassa exceUa,) about fifteen feet high. 

 Adjacent to it is a beautiful specimen of Cycas 

 revoluta, a palm-like plant, held in high estima- 

 tion by the Japanese. The Japan soldiers are 

 said to exist a long time on a small quantity of 

 the Sago, procured from the cellular substance 

 occupying the centre of their stems, and is so 

 liighly esteemed that it is contrary to the laws of 

 Japan to take any of the trees out of the country. 

 Mr. Thorburn seeins to have more than ordinary 

 veneration for his specimen, I suppose from the 

 fact, (as he informed me,) that it once belonged 

 to General Washington. There is, also, in 

 the same house, the fi.nest specimen of Metro- 

 sideros lanceolata that I ever beheld, bearing 

 numberless heads of fiowers in every state of de- 

 velopment. On the front shelf, in an adjoining 

 stove, is a handsome plant of Nepenthes distilla- 

 toria, trained to stakes, and several small pots of 

 Begonia hydrocotilifolia, Begonia manicata, Bil- 

 bergias, and the curious Dioncea muscipula placed 

 round it, all mantled with the pretty trailing 

 mosses, LycOpodiuni stoloniferum, and Lycopodi- 

 um c cesium, so as to hide the pots entirely from 

 view, — the whole having the efl'eet of a miniature 

 rockwork, carpeted with the loveliest green. I 

 also observed two good specimens of Cereus seni- 

 lis, coimnonly called the " Old Man's Cactus," 

 from its shaggy gray hair-like spines, resembling 

 an old man's beard. In the third division are 

 large and handsome specimens of the genus Ca- 

 mellia; a genus whose dark green foliage, and 

 the splendor of their blossoms, make them desira- 

 ble in every collection. Among the many fine 

 specimens here, was a handsome plant of the 

 weeping pine of New-Zealand, (Dacrydium cu- 

 pressinum,) several feet high. In the fourth and 

 last division are Camellias, and other tender 

 plants, of various sizes from the grafts; and this 

 department seems to be exclusively devoted to 

 propagating. 



To the left is the new " Rose-house," mentioned 

 in a former number of the Horticulturist. The 

 plants are clean and in good order, with, at the 

 present moment, a tolerable bloom. I here ob- 

 served a large plant of Strelitzia regina, bearing 

 several stems of beautiful orange coloured flowers. 

 To the right and left of the door is several plants 

 of the well known Richardia africana, with its 

 snow-white spathc and golden spadix, looking 

 very handsome at this season, when the majority 

 of plants are done blooming. On the pit wall was 

 a pot of Lobelia belladifolia, with its light blue 

 flowers hanging gracefully to the ground. 



Exclusive of the plants here enumerated, there 

 are several splendid and different coloured Aza- 

 leas, Rhododendrons, &c., intermixed with the 

 other plants. As a whole, I found here a floral 

 display and richness of foliage that do the estab- 

 lishment much credit. The stock of young plants 

 is large and thrifty, mostly of the newest and 

 rarest kinds. In front of the green-houses is a 

 good specimen of Magnolia conspicua ; and not- 



