■i^^^^m-^^%. 



Critique on the April Number. — Thitming of Fniits. — True, every word, 

 and need enough there is, too, to enforce the necessity of thinning fruits ; and I 

 think that they should be thinned more, rather than less, severely than Mr. Wilder 

 indicates. It seems to me sometimes, when fruit is very thickly set, as if we 

 must remove nearer nine tenths than one half, or thereabouts. Mr. Hovey, in 

 the Journal for January, estimates the proportion to be removed at three fourths ; 

 and I don't think this is too high, when fruit sets as fully as it sometimes does. 



Fall and Spring Planting. — I thought Mr. Saunders would hear from some 

 of the western cultivators, and it does seem to me that the circumstances of 

 soil and climate, stated by Mr. Adams, are such as must render it impossible to 

 fulfil the conditions required by Mr. Saunders, and of course to apply the prin- 

 ciples which he has laid down, however correct these principles may be in them- 

 selves. 



But what pleases me most in Mr. Adams's communication is the calm and for- 

 cible manner in which he has stated his objections to Mr. Saunders's position — 

 never, for a moment, diverted by side issues, but going right straight to his point. 

 If all horticultural writers were actuated by such a spirit and temper as Mr. Saun- 

 ders and Mr. Adams, we should not be long in arriving at truth. 



The Salvia. — What I like about Mr. Rand's flower articles is their complete- 

 ness. I don't mean their completeness in a botanical point of view. It is enough 

 for him to tell us that there are a hundred and fifty species of salvias, without 

 describing them all ; but I refer to the notice given to all those appropriate to a 

 Floral Magazine like yours, Mr. Editor, and the fuller descriptions of the more 

 valuable species. 



Grafting Latge Trees. — The article is timely, and replete with valuable sug- 

 gestions, which those interested would do well in observing. The writer— per- 

 haps I might say the Editor — remarks that "in grafting large trees, commence- 



VOL. VII. 37 2S9 



