92 ITorticultural JVotes, 



yinnts for J'arlov nnd Conservtitoi'if . 



Of the many plants usod to beautify the house, few equal the palms. There is a 

 great variety of form, most of them having rather long, pendent, or curved plumose 

 fronds. Many are delicate, and must be kept at an even genial temperature, pro- 

 tected from drafts, to insure any degree of success in their culture; but there are 

 some quite hardy, that will do very well and give an attraction to any group of 

 plants, and in any room kept a little above freezing. Among the most hardy we will 

 name a few: Chamaerops, Fortunei, and tomcntosa, very hardy ; cabbage palms, eha- 

 maedorea elegans, corypha Australis (fan palm), thrinax parviflora, are extremely 

 beautiful ; Latania borboniea; livistonia subglobosus is one of the prettiest fan palms 

 we ever saw. All of the above are cheap, and can be had of most large floral estab- 

 lishments. — Southern Agriculturist. 



Horticultural Notes. 



Mount J'eruon feur. 



The Blount Vernon pear, the Germantown Telegraph says. " turns out to come 

 short of the glory claimed for it. In the first place it is said" to possess a 'peculiar 

 flavor which may not suit all tastes,' and then it is an early winter, not a late winter 

 sort. Ripens generally in November." 



We think very differently from the above. Philadelphia is a very poor locality for 

 first class pears. We have seen the Mount Vernon growing very vigorously in Dela- 

 ware and Virginia, and think it entitled to equal meritorious rank with the Beurre 

 d'Anjou and Lawrence. It is a handsome fruit, and flavor is spicier than either of 

 the above. 



I'rofits of Quincen, 



An Ohioan, who has three-fourths of an acre of quince orchard, from which last 

 year he sold 300 bushels of first-class fruit, spades the ground in spring, and scatters 

 a peck of coal ashes around each tree, also a ([uart of salt, and another quart when 

 the quinces are half-grown. 



fenr Trees in Grass. 



Occasionally, the "grass professors " meet with some examples of encouragement 

 to their theories. Here is one in point : In the last report of the American Pomo- 

 logical Society, an Iowa orchardist communicates the fact that he has been engaged 

 for twenty-five years in growing pears, and has lost in that time by blight fifty times 

 as many as he now has growing. In 1864 he ceased to cultivate his trees, and 

 allowed them grow to grass, which he kept down by cutting every few weeks; and to 

 keep the sod open he spread a barrow-load of manure around each tree in autumn. 

 Since that date, eight years ago, he has not lost a tree. 



A. Oood Wash for I'^rnit Tifccs, 



C. C. Cooley writes The Country Gentleman of what he thinks the best wash for 

 trees to be found in the world. " Take sal soda, which can be had at retail at from 

 three to six cents per pound ; place it in a skillet on the fire. It will soon go to 

 what seems to be water, evaporate, and leave a white powder. Keep it on the fire 

 till it becomes a light lorown, when it is done. Use a fourth of a pound, or, if the 

 trees are much covered with moss, or are very dirty, use half a pound to the gallon of 

 water. Wash the trunk and large limbs using a sponge or cloth. It can be used at 

 any season of the year. I prefer the winter. This wash will not injure the foliage 

 of "the most delicate plant. In a few weeks after using, the trees will look as clean 

 and sleek as though they liad been varnished, and the trees will astonish you by their 

 growth and healthy appearance. 



" I consider this the best, as well as the cheapest, wash for trees in the world." 



