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llie HorticuUarist and Journal 



Europe, give him several thousands of dollars 

 for expenses, and something more to invest in 

 seeds. This American seed ambassador, on 

 the way, or on reaching Europe, would in- 

 quire for a leading seed house, tell the pro- 

 prietor he had a certain amount to spend for 

 seeds suited to American culture, look over a 

 seed catalogue for half an hour, leave his 

 money, order the seeds shipped to Washing- 

 ton as soon as ready, and then leave for a 

 good time on the continent. A story is told 

 in London that one of these government seed 

 buyers entered a London seed shop while 

 smoking a cigar, and rather lazily lounged on 

 the edge of an open barrel of onion seed, 

 when, happening to cast his eye down, he 

 started in alarm, exclaiming, after a word or 

 two that we shall not print, " I didn't know 

 you kept gunpowder exposed in this careless 

 way." Things now are a little different. 

 The leading English and some of the French 

 seed houses send over what we call drummers, 

 but what they call commercial travelers, to 

 solicit orders, and the first point these men 

 make for, on their arrival, is the government 

 seed shop at Washington, where they expect 

 to make a good trade. 



Oardening near Chicngo. 



A correspondent of the Western Rural 

 says : — The gardening business is becoming 

 yearly of greater and greater interest in and 

 about Chicago. The Grerman gardeners are 

 paying as high as $1,500 per acre for land for 

 gardening purposes. For twelve miles or 

 more out, the country about Chicago is being 

 utilized for gardening purposes. This is 

 more surely profitable than laying land off 

 into suburban towns. Experiments in steam 

 gardening are continually being pushed, and 

 seems to promise success. Spring " garden 

 truck" is grown in this way in advance even 

 of the season in the Grulf States. The pro- 

 prietor of the first steam garden is so well 

 pleased with his experimental results that he 

 intends enclosing three acres for next winter. 



Some ftimphina. 



A new species of pumpkin is announced 

 from the Jar din cf-Acclimatation at Paris, 

 under the Spanish name of " Zapallito de 



tronco," or " Tree Pumpkin." It differs from 

 all its congeners in its mode of growth, as, 

 instead of trailing, it forms erect tufts, with 

 numerous fruits of a depressed spherical shape, 

 and from five to eight inches in diameter, 

 depending from the stem. These are said to 

 be of excellent quality and flavor. The chief 

 merit of the plant, however, is that from its 

 mode of growth, it occupies very little space 

 in cultivation, while a single plant of any 

 other species usually covers a large area. 

 The seeds of the Tree-Pumpkin, here de- 

 scribed, came from Buenos Ayres. 



Heat Trees for Western Tree J'lnnting. 



Mr. R. S. Elliott says, that from the com- 

 bined experience of himself and S. T. Kelsey, 

 the following four species of trees are the very 

 best that can be recommended for Western 

 tree planting : Ailanthus., Catalpa, Black 

 Locust and Black Wahiut. 



J'^loivers in h'loriiin . 



A Floridian makes fun of us Northerners 

 with our "posies" and ornamental plants, 

 and says : There are Caimas here 9 feet 

 high, and 40 feet in circumference of the 

 bushes. There are many castor bean plants 

 that gi'ow 12 feet in a season. Roses grow 

 here as rapidly, and are as healthy as our 

 wild shrubs in the Northern States. 



To Hnrope and Home again. 



Horticulture sighs and misses some of her 

 best sons who have spent the summer in a 

 pleasure trip to the "old country." John 

 J. Smith, Josiah Hoopes, P. T. Quinn and 

 various others. It is really quite funny to 

 behold them going on an excursion one season 

 to the West, and the next year taking a long 

 leap to the East. 



Cranberry , 



A correspondent of the N. Y. Tribune 

 gives a severe chasting to the vender of the new 

 Cape Cod Cranberry : I took up a circular 

 the other day in which the vines of the famous 

 Cape (^od cranberry, the best in the world, 

 were advertised for sale. They are no better 

 than others of the same kind found in other 

 places, nor do they raise better cranberries in 

 Cape Cod than in some other localities in this 

 country. The nature of the ground on which 



