J^loral A'otes. 219 



wealthy, wc find the golden blossoms of the acacia, the scarlet berries and graceful 

 foliage of the pepper-tree and fine oleanders in a perfect blaze of roseate bloom. Our 

 busiest Spring time of seeding and planting is here. Farmers are busy with plow, 

 harrow and drill ; the orchardist and the vintner with pruning-knife and shears." 



Americnn Ifoinoloffinl Society. 



The coming September meeting will be, we believe, the finest ever held. Boston 

 is on the qui vive to prepare an immense treat for her horticultural visitors. Sundry 

 projects are in preparation, which we cannot now name, but will add great eclat to 

 the executive ability of the managing oificers. 



Important Editorlnl^Exctiriilon. 



A large party of Eastern and Western editors of the agricultural and horticultural 

 press unite this summer in a grand excursion to the newly opened sections of 

 Virginia, Texas, Indian Territory, Kansas, Colorado and Utah. The railroad com- 

 panies have united in the extension of the most cordial courtesies, and for the most of 

 the route, covering 6,000 miles, special trains have been provided. Indications point 

 to it as the most successful editorial excursion ever leaving New York. 



J'each Crop of Delaware, 



Peach culture on the Delaware peninsula has developed with such rapidity in five 

 years that it is unequalled in magnitude by any of the fruit sections of the world. 



The number of peach trees now on the peninsula, as gathered from last reports, is 

 5,000,000 — representing fifty thousand acres. The value of land devoted to peach 

 orchards, averages $50 per acre, and the average annual income does not exceed $50, 

 although in many cases $200 or $300 per acre are realized. Estimates from most 

 reliable sources indicate that the peach crop of 1873 will be about 2,500,000 baskets; 

 half of the crop of Delaware, in the northern half of the State, have had their buds 

 entirely killed the past winter ; were the entire number of trees on the peninsula to 

 bear a full crop once, it would be fairly enormous. 



Wc sincerely hope these enthusiastic peach growers may have a most abundant 

 crop, and then, after it is all over, sit down and reflect : Does peach culture pay 

 ivhea everybody is goiiig i)ito it ? We have felt so for several years, that too many 

 trees were being planted, and peach growing for the next five years would not be even 

 as profitable as devoting the same ground to potatoes. The peach crop also eifcctu- 

 ally spoils the sale of other fruits which ripen at the same time. So much so that 

 growers of other fruits often wish there never was a peach. It seems as if the peach 

 growers did not make much money themselves, and did not allow others to make any 

 also. Peach culture in Delaware is efi'ectually overdone. 



Floral Notes. 



During the meetings of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, last year, some 

 very excellent and interesting displays of new flowers were contributed from time to 

 time, of which we make the following note : 



Narcissus Bulbocodium, exhibited by E. S. Hand, jr., more familiarly known as 

 the Hoop Petticoat Narcissus. This is one of the neatest and most elegant of the 

 genius, with rush-like foliage. There were two bulbs in a pint pot ; they had six 

 flowers, with a numerous quantity of buds. The plant shown was raised in a window, 

 it is of the easiest culture, and is a great acquisition to our window plants. 



Nc7v Mignonette. — Some very fine hybridized varieties of Mignonette, from 

 Parsons New White and the Giant Crimson varieties were exhibited, one of which 



