March 28, 1367. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



229 



in a flue must be mixed witli atmospheric air, and if ignited an 

 explosion, not a fire, will be the consequence. I have seen 

 eeveral of such accidents ; the flues were badly cracked, and 

 much smoke and sulphurous acid gas, mixed with vapour of 

 coal tar, were discharged into the house, and all the plants 

 killed or injured ; but I never heard of a fire so caused. Under 

 the boiler of a hot-water apparatus the space is generally so 

 short which is provided for fuel, that such an accident is much 

 less likely to occur than in a flue, and I cannot but think the 

 fire in the Crystal Palace is much more likely to be another 

 case of accumulated heat, recently discussed in youi- columns. 

 — J. E. Peaeson, Chilu-ell. 



OUT IN THE WEST. 



SoiiE of your readers and yourselves may have inquired 

 what has become of me. 



Well, to state my tale shortly, I am at Chicago, on the 

 shores of Lake Michigan ; and having been here twelve months 

 I think I may tell what may be of use to some of your readers, 

 and give a little information of how we live, and the features 

 and capabihties of the country. 



Of the city, in the first place, I may say that if ever there was 

 a wonder in the world Chicago is one, and the rate at which 

 it increases winter and summer is more like that we read of in 

 tales of eastern magic than a sober reality ; but here the city 

 is — in soUd marble, stone, brick, iron, and wood, the latter pre- 

 dominating. London has few buildings that can surpass the 

 homes of the merchant princes, or their warehouses and stores. 

 About nine thousand buildings of all kinds were erected during 

 1860, and many at a distance will wonder how a demand 

 could arise for so many buildings, but the wide country that is 

 being settled north, south, and west must be taken into account. 

 The Chicago people have an eye to progress, and have made a 

 network of railways over the boundless prairies on every side of 

 them. These prairies are being settled very rapidly by emigi-ants 

 from nearly every European nation, and being easily cultivated, 

 the settlers soon become prosperous farmers, and the market 

 for their produce is Chicago, with its lake and railway outlets 

 to almost any part of the American continent and to Europe. 



The prau'ies are almost destitute of trees save on the edges 

 of streams, and for twenty or thirty miles the eye will not see 

 a tree, save such as have been planted by the farmers about 

 theii' homesteads. The soil is a rich black mould, in many 

 places from 3 to 10 feet deep, formed by ages of decayed vege- 

 tation. Those who do not own a yard of land, but can mow 

 well, make good livings when they are within fifteen or twenty 

 miles of the city, lor they mow the unoccupied prairie, aud 

 make hay, which they sell in the city, and I know several who 

 have made a good start iu the world by doing so. Others 

 take to shooting game in the season, and make well out in 

 the autumn and early part of \vinter. In the lakes and rivers 

 fish abound ; any one can catch them, and many make a 

 living by doing so. ily sou, a boy twelve years old, has caught 

 as many as a hundred good perch per day. I liave seen men 

 and boys poll fish weighing 8 or 10 lbs. out of the lake with the 

 throw-line. The country is rich in itself, and any willing 

 handy man who is sober can get on. Chicago is no place for 

 clerks, for women do a good deal of book-keeping here ; stiU, 

 somehow, male clerks are absorbed ; but I know one instance 

 of a young Englishman who came here as a clerk, but he had 

 to turn fai'm labourer. As a gardener a man may expect to 

 have a little rough work, but there are good places to be had. 



Chicago is a city of flowers, and they command a good price ; 

 Camellias sell for a dollar each, and very small bouquets will 

 in winter bring from two to five dollars. There are numerous 

 English, Dutch, and Germans engaged in the business, with 

 some Frenchmen and Americans, and all seem to make a living. 

 Most of the greenhouses are of wood, except those attached 

 to private dwellings. Vines are beginning to be very much 

 cultivated under glass, and some gentlemen have built very 

 large vineries. One gentleman named Dunham, who is now 

 in Europe, has a large collection of Vines, and his name is 

 worthy of mention for his liberal behaviour towards his chief 

 gardener, an Englishman named Williams, who has been with 

 him eleven years, and for whom he has built a house which 

 cost 1500 dollars, besides paying him a good salary. There are 

 many good places in the State, but there are few at which stove 

 plants are kept. Gardeners must not expect to find all they 

 could wish, but all may live if they will only take things some- 

 what as they come for a time. I have done a considerable 

 amount of carpenter's work since I came out in fitting up 



greenhouses and frames, and the foreman carpenter at the 

 school said I would soon make a first-rate carpenter. 



I must now say a little about the wild flowers and fruit. 

 Grapes grow wild in the woods skirting the prairies, and are 

 abundant. There are also plenty of wild Plums, which pro- 

 duce larger Iruit than I have seen them do in England ; but 

 Hazel nuts are smaller, and the bushes scarcely grow more 

 than 1 feet high in the woods along the southern shore of Lake 

 Michigan, which is probably owing to the poor sandy character 

 of the soil, further down in the State of Illinois I have seen 

 them larger. On the south side of Chicago the formation of 

 the surface is peculiar, and the trees are mostly Oaks, of which 

 I have only seen three species — the Quercus tinctoria. nigra, 

 and rubra. The shrubs fotmd underneath them are Comns 

 canadensis or Dogwood, with several species of Spirjeas. There 

 are some other plants which I have not been able to name yet, 

 but I may give your readers an account of them in a futtire 

 paper. For about two miles west from the lake the land lies 

 in ridges with, of course, alternate furrows, and these ridges 

 and furrows stretch ten or twelve miles along the lake shore. 

 I The ridges are very sandy, and upon them grow the only trees 

 and shrubs to be seen, save those which have been planted by 

 the residents. The furrows are wet land called sloughs or 

 " slews " here, and in them but few woody or shrubby plants 

 grow. Early in spring they are literally covered with Iris versi- 

 color ; this is succeeded by an abimdance of wild Strawberries 

 which are very tine ; my children have often gathered two quarts 

 of the fruit in half an hour. The cultivated Strawberry lives 

 and does well on these "slew" lands; one gardener near us 

 planted twenty acres last spring. Some very pretty orchidaceous 

 plants grow in these places, also a small upright Lobeha not 

 unlike Lobelia eriuus. Towards autumn there are some pretty 

 Chelones, and a very pretty plant the flower of which much re- 

 sembles that of our Foxglove, Sesamum indienm, or Oily Grain 

 as it is called here. 



Along the sandy shore of the lake and iu the woods early in 

 spring may be seen some thousands of Phlox maculata, and I 

 wonder it has never been cultivated in England, it woiild be 

 a gem in shrubberies, especially in sandy lands. There is also 

 a pretty Violet (Viola palmata) , abimdant here, as well as three 

 or four other species. I found ConvaUaria racemosa plentifully, 

 and the pretty two-lenved Claytonia virgiuica. Another early 

 summer flower is the Dodecatlieou meadia, of which the umbels 

 of pinkish white flowers are very pretty. Batschia eanesoens and 

 B. longiflora are pretty yellow and orange-coloured flowers, and 

 are plentiful on the lake shore, and iu the woods. Lupines 

 are very plentiful in the woods, and so is Osmunda regalis in 

 the swampy parts, and some other Ferns that I have not made 

 out yet, ha\-ing no good work on American Ferns. > I have made 

 a collection of many other plants, of which when I have leisure 

 I hope to give youi- readers an account. 



I will now offer a few remarks on the crops we grow out here. 

 Onions produce fine crops with poor tillage, and in poor sandy 

 land I have .'!een them (i or 8 inches in diameter, not here 

 and there odd ones, but the majority of the bulbs of those 

 sizes ; out on the prairies they grow wonderfully well, and so do 

 Carrots, Beet, Parsnips, and Asparagus. Cabbages do tolerably 

 well, but are liable to " break their hearts ;" Cauliflowers poorly 

 on account of the almost dry heat in summer, and they are 

 bitter. I have seen no Curled Greens. Early and late Peas 

 succeed well, but not summer Peas. Cucumbers of the small 

 sorts. Tomatoes, Pumpkins. Squashes, and various kinds of 

 Vegetable Marrows, along with Musk and Water Melons are 

 " great institutions,"' and are grown everywhere, and by almost 

 everj-bodv. I grew about seventy bushels of Tomatoes, about 

 forty bushels of Cucumbers, and "of Squashes and Pumpkins I 

 do not know how much. Indian Com is raised in large quanti- 

 ties, especiallv the sweet varieties for eating in a green state. 



Flowers such as Verbenas, Pelargoniums, Phlox Drummondi, 

 Petunias, Balsams. Cockscombs, Globe Amaranths, and Dahlias 

 do remarkably well. Eoses are soon spoiled in the summer, 

 but the Perpetual.^ do well before and after the summer heats 

 are passed. The tender annuals I have named have to be raised 

 under glass as in England, and bedded out in the beginning of 

 ■June. Ageratums, French Marigolds, and most kinds of an- 

 nuals do well and make" a good show after the heat of summer. 

 German Asters and Stocks should be sown twice or thrice, for 

 they are soon over. Chicago is a great place for bedding out, 

 as nearly every house has a piece of land attached, and bedding 

 plants are raised extensivelv "oy the florists. 



I will now sar a little about the climate. About the be- 

 ginning of December the severe frosts set in, and last more or 



