Notes and Gleanings. 187 



Sweet Apples in Exglaxd. — Looking over the London Horticultural 

 Society's catalogue a short time ago, we were surprised at the entire absence 

 of the sweet apples, which make so large a show on our tables in this country as 

 well as in our books. We could only infer that there were none in England, 

 though this see . J almost incredible ; but we afterwards came across a passage 

 in "The Gardener's Chronicle " which confirmed this opinion. "There is," 

 says the writer, who is discussing the Subject of American apples and other 

 fruits, "a class of apples quite peculiar to the States ; v'z., sweet apples, or pig- 

 feeding apples. These have scarcely any trace of acid, even when grown in 

 England, but are of a luscious, rather dull, sugary flavor. Pigs thrive upon 

 them, and they are grown largely by the farmers for autumn feeding. The Jer- 

 sey Sweeting, Tolman's Sweeting, Ramsdell's Sweeting, and hundreds of seed- 

 ling sweet apples, are planted ' to please the pigs.' " So these benighted Eng- 

 lishmen are utterly ignorant of the Yankee luxury of baked sweet apples and 

 milk ! 



The Gooseberry Caterpillar. — To destroy this insect, which is so inju- 

 rious to the foliage of the currant and gooseberry, " The Gardener's Receipt- 

 Book " recommends putting an ounce of white hellebore into a four-quart earthen 

 jar of water. This will be sufficient for a hundred and fifty ordinary-sized 

 bushes. The way to use it is, on a dry day, to take out the quantity needed into 

 a basin, and with an old whitewash-brush sprinkle the parts that are attacked. 

 Keep the jar always closely corked from the air. Green fly on roses and green- 

 house-plants may be removed in the same way. We should think this method 

 would be preferable to using it in powder as commonly recommended, as it 

 would not be so apt to adhere to the fruit. 



Another way is to take a quantity of elder-leaves, and boil them in as much 

 water as will cover them until the liquor becomes quite black ; then clear ^nd 

 cool it, and to every gallon add a gallon of tobacco-water. When the bushes 

 are quite dry, drench them through the rose of a watering-pot ; and in ten min- 

 utes the caterpillars will fall off. We have not tried this ; but, if it proves effect- 

 ual, it would be best of all, as we have decided objections to using so poisonous 

 a substance as hellebore if it can be avoided. 



The Arrangement of Cut Flowers. — Those who have conservatories 

 to resort to for tleir flowers and foliage have a comparatively easy task, and can, 

 with a little practice, easily fill their vases with beauty. The colors of exotics 

 are so clear and delicate, that nothing but simplicity is required in their arrange- 

 ment. What, for instance, can be more beautiful than a Dobson vase arranged 

 with azaleas, a few sprays of pink at the bottom and white at the top, with nothing 

 but maiden-hair fern for foliage ? or the magnificent eucharis, with small bright- 

 colored flowers and leaves intermixed.' or some richly-tinted pelargonium and 

 the Deutnia gracilis, with any suitable fern ? though perhaps the maiden-hair is 

 of all the most eff"ective. Several of the fronds should be tied at some distance 

 up the stem of the vase, to take off" the bare appearance there would otherwise 

 be ; and, before the flowers are put in, the glasses should be filled with sand and 



