1885.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



153 



much expense to produce them. Such works are 

 very useful when one finds himself able to reach 

 them, for new plants are generally the subjects 

 chosen for the illustrations. I take such plates 

 out and paste them into scrap albums, alphabeti- 

 cally arranged, so that I can refer to them easily. 

 Works produced on this continent I prefer, as they 

 contain instructions better adapted to the climate 

 than others do. If we were to follow the instruc- 

 tions given in foreign publications, in many cases 

 our failure would be complete. Some contend 

 that the difference in inside work does not exist; 

 perhaps not to the same extent, but for all the 

 practice is very different. Oardeners should, for 

 their own and their employers' benefit, see the 

 work of other men, visit places of note, see the 

 different methods others pursue, as it often leads 

 to ideas never thought of, and that reading might 

 fail to produce. Gov't Grounds, Ottawa, Can. 



RUSH-LIGHT CANDLES. 

 BY G. 



Your recent notice of Bayberry candles recalls 

 to mind a much more ancient and equally inter- 

 esting means of domestic illumination, the rush- 

 light. On account of the literary interest attach- 

 ing to the rush-light, a lady of my acquaintance 

 had a few rushes stripped of their bark, leaving 

 only the pith and a narrow thread of the cortical 

 substance, which served to give strength to what 

 was left of the rush. The latter was then dipped 

 a few times in tallow. When lighted in a dark 

 room such a taper will afford a rather feeble 

 glimmer. The truth is, however, that rush-pith is 

 not a very good wick, for it has but a slight de- 

 gree of capillarity. 



Some years ago there was a proposal made by 

 somebody to establish, or have the U. S. govern- 

 ment establish, a National Botanical Garden, some- 

 where in Southern Florida. The idea always has 

 seemed to me an admirable one. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Col. N. J. CoLMAN. — There is no reason why 

 a President should not appoint a friend or the 

 friend of a friend to a distinguished office, if the 

 appointee have superior fitness and qualifications 

 for the position. But this is not by any means the 

 universal thought in making appointments. The 

 nomination of Col. Colman as Commissioner of 

 Agriculture is therefore the more remarkable. No 



man knows more than he about the agricultural 

 needs of the nation ; no one has a more practical 

 or intelligent acquaintance with the subject than 

 he, and to this as a legislator and Lieutenant- 

 Governor of Missouri he has had that training in 

 public affairs without which experience has fully 

 shown that highest intelligence goes for nothing. 

 It is so rare that the right man and the right place 

 happen to come so fitly together, that it is well 

 worthy of special congratulation. 



Mr. James Morton.— Our readers will remem- 

 ber interesting papers occasionally contributed by 

 Mr. James Morton, formerly gardener to Hon. L. 

 W. Coe, Torringion, Conn. We note by a Clarks- 

 ville, Tennessee, paper that he has now taken 

 charge of a commercial garden and florist's estab- 

 lishment known as Evergreen Lodge, owned by 

 Captain Crussman, near that town. He has our 

 best wishes for his success in his new vocation. 



Parker Earle. — Thisenergetic and well known 

 fruit grower of Southern lUinois was born at 

 Mount Holly, Vermont, and settled in Cobden 

 in 1 861. This is now among the best known fruit 

 growing centers in the West, and mainly through 

 the efforts of Mr. Earle. He has the largest pear 

 orchard probably in the West. As Superinten- 

 dent of the Horticultural Department of the New 

 Orleans Exposition he has won golden opinions 

 everywhere. 



Dr. Regel Dr. Regel the well-known direc- 

 tor of the celebrated Botanic Gardens of St. Peters- 

 burg is in his 72nd year, and still vigorous and 

 full of work. 



The Home Florist. — This work, noticed fa- 

 vorably in our magazine on its first appearance, 

 has been so well received that a second edition 

 has been called for. It has been revised by the 

 author, Elias A. Long, and this time is published 

 by C. A. Reeser, of Springfield, Ohio. 



Vine Culture in California. — By Charles 

 Joly. Among the many able essays continually 

 offered to the French Society of Horticulture this 

 one is prominent. He tells the French people of 

 the wonderful progress of grape culture in our 

 country, but comforts them by saying that it will 

 be a long time yet before there will be an end to 

 vine culture in the Old World, notwithstanding 

 America's wonderful progress ; but it is interest- 

 ing to French horticulturists as well as the rest of 

 the world to study the marvelous progress of the 

 two races of English speaking people, the one in 

 Australia, the other in America, free from all 

 slavery, marching on to the conquest of the soil ; 



