218 J^ditorial JVoles. 



The Garden Citi/ of Europe. 



Although Americans are apt to boast at many signs and facts of superiority over 

 Europeans, yet in the seed trade there must be a very large allowance of prudence in 

 statements. 



The city of Erfurt, Prussia, is surrounded with so many immense horticultural 

 establishments that it has been called The Garden City of Germany. The area 

 devoted to horticulture in and around that city is over 1,200 acres, of which 400. 

 acres are market gardens. There are 27 firms who do a wholesale trade, besides 120 

 market gardeners, who employ in all over 500 hands. Over 300,000 catalogues and 

 price lists are issued annually. 



In the neighborhood of Rochester or Geneva, N. Y., the acreage devoted to hor- 

 ticultural occupation is undoubtedly much larger, but it is a question whether the 

 amount of trade is as great. 



A. Children's Flower Show, 



In November last several gentlemen in Manchester and Salford, England, formed 

 themselves into a society with a view to encourage a taste among children for the 

 cultivation of pot flowers. They accordingly purchased a number of plants in pots, 

 and gave them to boys and girls who were likely to be assiduous in cultivating them. 

 The first show of the flowers thus given was recently held, and about 250 children 

 brought their plants for exhibition. The collection embraced tulips, hyacinths, etc., 

 some of which were very beautiful. Prizes of flower seeds were given to the boys 

 and girls whose plants were in the best conditien. The idea is certainly a good one. 



Vietv in Victoria, I'ark, T^ondon. 



The sketch given in our frontispiece this month represents a lake in Victoria Park, 

 London, with pagoda islands in the distance. As mentioned in a descriptive article 

 by The Gardener's Chronicle, it is one of the best views in the park, and shows how 

 happily materials may be blended together in a small area, so as to form a beautiful 

 picture. The water here does not occupy six acres, yet the outlines ar(; very distinctly 

 marked, aud from the beauty of the finely formed trees which border the water so 

 closely, it appears much larger. The park contains many fine trees. The island 

 itself is rich in willows, many of them new varieties — the ISalix Bahylonica or AVeep- 

 ing Willow being much the most numerous and fine. 



The Chinese pagoda, in the back ground, is that which was shown in the great 

 International Exhibition of 1851. 



Contjreitsional Aid to Forest Tree Culture. 



Although we have not yet seen the act, yet definite information is now obtained of 

 the fact that our last U. S. Congress passed an act to the eff'ect that any one who will 

 plant aud keep in growing order for five years, not less than forty acres of trees, shall 

 be entitled to one hundred and sixty acres of the public domain to which the planted 

 quarter or section belongs. It is said that the act only specifies that the trees shall 

 not be more than eight feet apart. 



California Flotver Season. 



A correspondent at San Jose, California, writing early in January says : — " In 

 this balmy western land, we sit to write by open windows, inhaling the perfume of 

 heliotrope and mignonette. Daisies sparkle in the sun after the early shower. The 

 fall-sown Italian and lawn grasses have covered the brown soil with tcnderest green. 

 Springing wild grasses are clothing the distant hills. Singing birds at this sweet 

 morning hour fill the ever-green oaks with melody. Down the street, door-yards ai-e 

 bright with pinks and pansles. Hundreds of porches are festooned with delicately 

 tinted roses. Scarlet geraniums and fuchsias climb luxuriantly through fences and 

 over walls. Petunias, verbenas and the royal calla-lily are as common as morning 

 glories were in the States twenty years ago. In the gardens and on the lawns of the 



