127 



of peat, loam, and white sand. It forms a handsome object planted on I'ock-work. It 

 is a common plant in the pine barrens of North America, from New Jersey and Oregon 

 southward. 



The closing sentence will, perhaps, need a little explanation. It wonld 

 seem to convey the statement that the plant grows over the entire 

 country from New Jersey to Oregon, and thence southward. It is really 

 confined to a somewhat narrow belt of sea-coast from New Jersey to 

 North Carolina, but what appears to be the same or a closely allied species, 

 is also found on the Pacitic coast from Oregon to Mexico. Why is it 

 not as deserving of attention in cultivation at home £ls abroad? 



In the same paper is a list, accompanied with commendatory remarks, 

 of "some Howering trees and shrubs of North America," in which are 

 named the Stuartia and Gordonia, (Loblolly Bay,) the magnolias, the' 

 tulip-tree, red bud, fringe tree, silver-bell tree, {H(Ucsia,) dogwood, {Cor- 

 7ms florid a,) catalpa, witch-hazel, mountain-ash, {Pyr us Americana,) crab- 

 apple, and several species of Frunus, among which, by some error, is 

 mentioned the Frunus cerasus, the sour or Morella cherry, of which it 

 is said; "The sour cherry is the most valuable of the native American 

 cherries." The fact is that the Garden Eed or sour Morella cherry is 

 an introduction from Europe. 



FACTS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. 



Cheese-making at high altitudes in France. — A writer in Le 

 Journal Pratique (V Agriculture presents a characteristic phase of French 

 rural economy in his account of the cheese-mauufactory of M. Charles 

 Durand, who took the jOTze medal at the Concours Regional Agricole of 

 Mende in 1874. Mende is one of the three arrondissements of the de- 

 j)artment of Lozere, in Southern France, an isolated, mountainous region 

 consisting mostly of a plateau from 2,300 to 3,000 feet above sea-level, 

 above which numerous mountain-crests rise beyond the line of perpetual 

 snow. Grain-culture in such a region is limited to a few localities, and its 

 scanty yield of food is eked out by chestnuts, acorns, and other spontane- 

 ous products of the forest. The population is scanty, poor, indolent, igno- 

 rant, and, as might be supposed, intrenched in local prejudices. Mau\^ of 

 the workingmen migrate to neighboring departments during the sum- 

 mer months to win a precarious subsistence for their families by day- 

 labor at low wages. Agriculture here is mostly pastoral and primitive. 

 Farming capitals are small, and the amount and character of live-stock 

 held are generally indifferent. The processes and implements of culture 

 are also very rude. Yet this unpromising region has attracted a few en- 

 terprising and intelligent agriculturists, whose labors in utilizing its im- 

 perfect resources have developed very unexpected and gratifying results. 

 Among these M. Duraud has made a tract of bleak mountain-land the 

 scene of a profitable stock-raising and cheese-manufacturing industry. 

 His estate, known as Salles-Basses, consists of 1,010 acres, of which 185 

 are in meadow, and the remainder in natural pasture, interspersed with 

 "bouquets" of trees. It is located in the mountains of Aubrac, about 

 fourteen miles from Marjevols, and at an altitude of 4,382 feet above sea- 

 level, where heavy snows, long winters, and rigors of climate render ce- 

 real culture impossible. Here, comfortable dwellings, large stables and 

 granaries, and two large cheese-factories (burons) have been built; large 

 areas have been inclosed, and extensive labors for sanitary and soil im- 

 provement and irrigation have been executed. Meadows already exist- 



