148 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



had only been partly killed back by the 

 cold weather. The accompanying cut 

 of Jackson square, which gives also a 

 birdseye view of the French market 

 and part of the river, will illustrate the 

 appearance of the city at this season of 

 the year. In visiting the market we 

 found little fruit besides oranges, lem- 

 ons, bananas and Japanese plums ; and 

 very surprising it was to us to find that 

 the oranges were either from Cuba or 

 the Mediterranean. The vegetables 

 were cabbage, lettuce, onions and garlic. 

 The peas and beans could hardly be said 

 to have arrived, a peck here and there 

 being all we could tind, with a few half 

 grown carrots and beets. The meat 

 market would bear but poor comparison 

 with any meat stall in the smallest town 

 in Canada. The beef seems to be coarse 

 grained, thin and lean, with a dark 

 bluish cast, anything but inviting to 

 the palate of one accustomed to the use 

 of Canadian beef. The liah market was 

 more bountifully supplied with a con- 

 siderable variety of tish, many of them 

 new to us. On inquiring their names 

 we found that they give the name of 

 trout and pike and bass to fish very 

 unlike those which are called by these 

 names with us, while others, such as 

 redsnappers, redfish and the like, were 

 wholly new, both in name and appear- 

 ance. Judging from our experience of 

 the fish when brought upon the table, 

 we would say that in richness of flavor, 

 fineness of grain and firmness of flesh, 

 they are not by any means equal to the 

 fish of our Canadian waters ; and even 

 the oysters, of which so much has been 

 said, lack the flavor of the oysters of 

 Long Island Sound. This city seems 

 to be growing in commercial import- 

 ance. Ocean steamers lie at its wharves, 

 taking in cargoes of cotton, rice and 

 sugar, and discharging cargoes brought 

 from foreign ports, and a general ac- 

 tivity seems to prevade the whole city, 

 which denotes business thrift. We had 



not time to visit the manufactories of 

 ice and sugar, for which the place is 

 famous. On the whole the city presents 

 many attractions to the Northener for 

 a sojourn during a part of our cold win- 

 ter months ; but for variety of horticul- 

 tural productions in fruits and flowers, 

 which contribute so much to home 

 enjoyment, and for healthfulness of 

 climate, this part of the world will 

 hardly allure the Canadian from his 

 northern home for more than a small 

 period of the year. 



MEETING OF THE MISSISSIPPI VAL- 

 LEY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



We called the attention of the mem- 

 bers of our Association, at their winter 

 meeting, to the proposed meeting of 

 the Mississippi Yalley Horticultural 

 Society, to be held in the city of New 

 Orleans, on 21st to jl4th February last. 

 J he writer availed himself of the excur- 

 sion rates ofiered of attending the meet- 

 ing of this society, and proceeded, in 

 company with the Vice-President of the 

 Association, to attend the meeting, and 

 gather up what information gave pro- 

 mise of being valuable in our more 

 northern, and therefore more severe 

 climate. It is to be remembered that 

 the Mississippi Valley, extending to the 

 city of New Orleans, with its June like 

 weather in February, also includes the 

 arctic climate of St. Paul's. We found 

 on reaching the place of meeting that 

 we were not the only persons coming 

 from ice bound regions, but that there 

 were representatives from yet. higher 

 latitudes than ours. The society met 

 in Grunewald Hall, on Wednesday, 

 the 21st February, where the members 

 were gracefully welcomed by Mr. E. 

 M. Hudson, Vice-President of the 

 Fruit Growers' Association of the Gulf 

 States ; to which the President, Mr. 

 Parker Earle, responded on behalf of 

 the society. He stated that the horti- 



