THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



just come to hand. It contains an illus- 

 trated article on the Gardens of Mon- 

 treal, another on Our Native Orchids, 

 and other articles. " Chance Cosmopoli- 

 tan Flowers " is the subject of the open- 

 ing article by Mrs. Robert Jack, whose 

 contributions are always bright and 

 interesting. From the latter we quote 

 the following regarding the Peony. 



" Would an old fashioned garden de- 

 serve its name lacking a Peony ? How 

 wonderfully that plant has changed, I 

 will not say improved, for that would be 

 to libel the dear old red Peony we all 

 know so well. But the beautiful shades 

 that have been revealed by cultivation 

 are a delight to the aesthetic taste. The 

 name is from " Paion " a Greek name 

 for Apollo, the god of medicine, as the 

 roots were considered to be antispas- 

 modic. The white Peony is a native of 

 Central Asia, and the Mongolians use 

 the root in their soups and grind the 

 seeds to put in tea. There is a true 

 Peony in the same old-fashioned gar- 

 den. It is expected every spring that it 

 will have succumbed to the severity of 

 the winter, but even last season, so hard 

 on many things, it came out uninjured." 



Fruit in California. — A friend of 

 Mr. Nigel Keep, writes him as follows : 

 — The prospects for the entire state of 

 California this year are very poor indeed. 

 In consequence of lack of sufficient rain, 

 and the very heavy late frost, the fruit 

 crop of nearly every county is a failure, 

 from the county of Syskigon to Santiago, 

 a very unusual occurrence. The peach 

 crop is entirely swept away over the 

 whole state ; apricots, prunes, pears 

 have shared the same fate. There may 

 be some apples. On our farm the de- 

 struction is complete — there is nothing 

 left. Last year we had plenty of straw- 

 berries in April, but this year there are 



none. They may bloom again and pro- 

 bably we will have berries in May." 



Dr. Beadle has sent us an interesting 

 article on " New Creations in Fruits and 

 Flowers," for June No. and one on " A 

 New Profitable Canadian Industry " for 

 July No. It will be remembered that 

 Dr. Beadle was the first editor of this 

 Journal and his writings on horticultural 

 topics are always full of value. 



Mr. a. E. Mickle has contributed 

 an interesting article on "Rambles 

 Around Toronto," illustrated, and an- 

 other on " Thinning Fruits." 



Phenological Observations at 

 Niagara Falls. 



DATES OF SAMB. 



Alder Alnm incana shedding pollen 



Red Maple Acer Rubrum in flower , 



Snowdrops in bloom 



MIGRATION OF BIRDS 

 Wild Swans 



Wild Geese, first birds 



Wild Ducks, first birds going north , 



Red Winged Black Bird, Agelaius Phceniceus 

 American Robin, Merula Migratorius 



Song Sparrow, melospiza fasriata 



The piping of Frogs first heard 



When 

 First 

 Seen. 



16-4-96 

 3-4-97 

 16 3-98 



20-4-96 

 8-4-97 



30-3-96 

 7-3 93 



Going 



Nort h. 



26-3-96 

 1-3-98 



27-3-96 

 9-3-98 



28-3 96 

 16-3-97 

 6-3-98 



28 3 96 

 12-3-98 



28-3-96 

 15 3-97 

 8 3-93 



28-3 96 

 18-3 97 

 1-3-98 



20-3-97 

 7-3-98 



The above will show the difference in 

 the past three springs. 



R. Cameron. 

 Niagara Falls Park. 



