238 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[August, 



This species was introduced to cultivation by 

 the well known firm of Veitch &. Sons, of Chel- 

 sea, London, who give us the following account 

 of it: "An elegant variety kindly sent to us by 

 Sir William Macarthur, of Camden Park, near 

 Sydney, New South Wales. The plant is of 

 very light and pleasing aspect. The leaves are 

 narrowly lanceolate, gracefully arching and 

 variable, some with interruptions, others with 

 the blade spirally twisted two or three times 

 round the midrib at the middle, others again 



crisped and undulated. In color they are deep 

 olive green, variegated with straw yellow, which 

 is constant. It is one of the best of crotons for 

 table decoration. We have much pleasure in 

 dedicating this elegant plant to Monsieur Peter 

 Sinitzin, an accomplished Russian amateur." 



President Garfield BouvAKDiA.— This is the 

 name of the double pink Bouvardia noticed in 

 our magazine last year as having been raised in 

 Kentucky. 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Talk as we like about the proper culture of 

 fruit trees, much more of success depends on 

 geographical location than it usually gets credit 

 for. The Apple will grow almost anywhere, but 

 there are places where, for some inscrutable rea- 

 son, it will do better than anywhere else. S. D. 

 Willard has recently claimed for Western New 

 York the distinguishing title of the " apple or- 

 chard of the world," and we believe he can justly 

 claim it, unless some portion of Canada rises to 

 demand a share in the distinction. 



According to the recent observations of the 

 writer, there is a belt of about fifty miles around 

 the western end of Lake Ontario that is fully 

 the equal of Western New York in ability to 

 bring the apple tree to perfection. Still the 

 apple orchards of Western New York are a 

 sight to see, and those who have never seen them 

 have missed one of the greatest sights in the j 

 United States. There is, however, one matter 

 which will not fail to attract the observer's at- 

 tention. Many of the leading agricultural papers 

 of New York State insist strongly on the neces- j 

 sity to success in orchard culture that the apple j 

 orchard should be devoted solely to apple trees. | 

 If paradise be an orchard of apple trees, crops of' 

 grain, grass or vegetables constitute the^ great 

 serpent which is to creep within the gates, and 

 upset all the good calculations of the good setter- i 

 out of the orchard trees. Strange to say the | 

 " cleanly cultivated surface " is a rare sight in a i 

 New York orchard. It would be no exaggera- 



tion to say that in some ten days of travel the 

 editorial eye rested on hundreds of apple or- 

 chards, and but two were noted which had noth- 

 ing but apple trees, and these were large trees, 

 growing so closely together that nothing else had 

 more than the shadow of a chance, under the 

 umbrageous foliage. Wheat, rye, barley, corn, 

 grass and potatoes in the apple orchards are all 

 but universal. There is no doubt but that, theo- 

 retically, an apple orchard ought to do better 

 when it has all the food it requires alone to itself. 

 If it has to share with other crops, what it ought 

 alone to have, it should surely suffer. But it 

 may be that sometimes there is food for it, and 

 to spare. And again, there are often theoretical 

 advantages, but practical gains in violating them. 

 There is an old adage that people can " gain an 

 inch but lose an ell," or, in more modern phrase, 

 " save at the spigot and lose at the bung," and 

 this may be the case in some of our orchard 

 speculations. The orchardist of Western New 

 York may get a few more apples, or somewhat 

 larger trees by giving up the ground wholly to 

 the fruits, but it is evident he thinks the heavy 

 crops of other things he gets is more than a 

 match for the loss. And moreover, the re- 

 markably healthy trees did not seem to object 

 seriously to their more agricultural neighbors' 

 company. Cherries do well usually in most dis- 

 tricts, but these seem the most at home in the 

 higher lands of Pennsylvania. At elevations of 

 1,®00 or 2,000 feet they are beautiful pictures, 

 both in the health of the trees, and the wonderful 

 abundance of luscious looking fruit. The Peach 



