14:0 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



third premium, $5 ; fourth premium, 

 13." 



The State Fair, where the flowers 

 are to be exhibited, will be held in De- 

 troit in September next, and the State 

 Horticultural Society will undertake 

 to receive the flowers, display them, and 

 see that a proper viewing committee 

 passes upon the relative merits of the 

 various exhibits. 



There is great room for improvement 

 in the grounds about our school build- 

 ings in Ontario. For the most part 

 they are as barren of vegetation, other 

 than weeds, as the Desert of Sahara. 



THE VICTORIA GRAPE. 



Miner's Victoria, a white seedling of 

 the Concord, has been praised by the 

 Rural in past years, and this year's ex- 

 ]>erience does not incline us to recall 

 or moderate anything we have said. 

 It is with us the hardiest and most 

 productive of vines, our only specimen 

 never having been injured or mildewed 

 in the least, while it yields more 

 bunches and more perfect bunches than 

 any other vine in our collection that 

 has been well tried. It ripened this 

 year September 5. 



Utterly alone has the Rural kept 

 this fine variety before the public, and 

 we dare to say that, in spite of its slow 

 entry into public favor, it will at length 

 make its way there. Its quality is 

 fully as good as the Concord ; it will 

 ship as well ; it ripens as early, and 

 the canes have remained uninjured with 

 us while those of the Concord have 

 been killed. We speak th us confidently 

 because we know from experience that 

 any variety of grai)e that will thrive in 

 the RuraVs New Jersey Experiment 

 Grounds, will thrive over a very wide 

 extent of country. The bunch is com- 

 pact and a trifle clustered. Berries are 

 large, round. The skin rarely cracks, 

 and is covered with a dense white bloom. 



Our only specimen of the Victoria 

 was given to us by Mr. Miner, the 

 originator, in the Fall of 1878. It 

 bore the second and every year since. 

 The present season we counted (Sept. 

 15) 55 bunches, all of medium size. 

 some shouldered, some not — all free 

 from rot or blemish. — Rural New 

 Yorker. 



THE HYBRID CLEMATIS. 



Dr. Geo. Thurber gives valuable in- 

 formation on the Clematis in the Ameri- 

 can Agriculturist for May, from which 

 we clip the following : 



Nothing in the history of horticulture 

 is more striking than the improvements 

 that have been made in the genus Cle- 

 matis during the last twenty years. 

 We leave out of consideration at pres- 

 ent the fine, erect, herbaceous species, 

 and only refer to the climbers, known 

 under the general term of Hybrid Cle- 

 matis. The production of these plants 

 was made possible by M. Von Siebold, 

 who brought from Japan, Clematis 

 patens and other large flowered forms. 

 Others have since been introduced from 

 Japan and China. With these mate- 

 i-ials, English and French florists have 

 produced a series of hybrids, which, for 

 size, beauty of form and richness of 

 coloring, can only be described as won 

 derful. During the last twenty years 

 there has been an almost annual suc- 

 cession of these new varieties, until 

 they are now so numerous that an ade- 

 quate descriptive catalogue fills a good- 

 sized volume. The methods of propa- 

 gation have been so far improved, that 

 what were not long ago costly vari- 

 eties, are now within the reach of per- 

 sons of moderate means. Considering 

 the great beauty of these flowers, they 

 seem to be slow in acquiring a popu- 

 larity in this country. If one has room 

 for but a single climber, he can select 

 nothing more satisfactory than a cle- 



