252 Notes and Gleanings. 



Ornamental Tomatoes. — Few persons are aware of the great beauty, as 

 decorative objects, of well-grown plants of some of the smaller-fruited tomatoes ; 

 and we are therefore glad to see that especial attention is now being directed to 

 them. The fruit of the Orange field and the Crimson Feejee Island is richly col- 

 ored, showy, and attractive. In addition to these kinds, the following varieties 

 are recommended as being worthy of cultivation for ornamental purposes, name- 

 ly, the Yellow Plum, the Pear-formed, the Yellow Cherry, and the Currant 

 Tomato. 



The Yellow Plum Tomato has the fruits about the size and shape of a dam- 

 son plum. 



The Pear-formed is red, and sometimes yellow, and the fruit is rather larger 

 than the plum-shaped. 



The Yellow Cherry Tomato has still smaller spherical yellow fruits, produced 

 in great abundance, and very attractive in appearance. 



The Currant Tomato is the most ornamental of all, producing long, drooping 

 racemes, or clusters, of bright red fruit. Messrs. Vilmorin, by whom it has been 

 distributed under the name of Solanum racemigerum, describe it as follows : 

 " This most ornamental species is a veritable tomato, the sub-climbing stems of 

 which are very much branched, and bear a profusion of simple or divided racemes 

 from six to eight inches in length, composed of from fifteen to twenty-five smooth, 

 round fruits, disposed in two rows, and of a very bright scarlet color, so as to 

 give them a strong resemblance to clusters of red currants. It is a most inter- 

 esting plant, and one which may be thoroughly utilized as an object of ornament, 

 under the treatment given to the ordinary culinary tomato." 



These varieties are especially recommended for the great beauty of the plants 

 when well grown and full of fruit. They may be successfully cultivated in pots 

 for house decoration, and their quality, from the utilitarian point of view, is quite 

 equal to that of the larger sorts. Gardener's Chronicle. 



Obituary. — The Revue Horticole for Feb. i announces the death, at the 

 age of sixty, of M. Dauvesse, of Orleans, the proprietor of one of the largest 

 horticultural establishments in France. Of uncommon activity and intelligence, 

 joined to a high sense of honor, his business had attained much extent and im- 

 portance, every part of it being carried on in the most systematic manner, and 

 his plants and trees were forwarded to all parts of the world, his orders from 

 American customers, by whom he was highly esteemed, being very extensive. 

 He was a very benevolent man, and always made a good use of the considerable 

 fortune which he had amassed. 



