DECEMBER. 579 



the plants to form buds; but unless they are in health, this process to set 

 them for flower will be useless, as it would weaken them still more. I have 

 been enabled, by these means, to cause camellias to bloom that have not 

 flowered for three or four years. — [Gard. Chroii., 1855, p. 5GG.) 



Transplanting Evergreens. — Whatever may be experienced by dif- 

 ferent parties in various localities, I conclude that it Avill be granted by 

 most men who are at all conversant with the subject, that autumn is the 

 safest and consequently the best time to transplant evergreens. When I 

 say autumn, I mean the latter half of September and first half of October : 

 so much as to time in general. Nevertheless I would in every instance 

 advise the operation to be modified by the exercise of a sound discretion on 

 the part of the manager — be he gardener or not ; and by his judgment of 

 the character and quality of the soil, the state of the weather at the time, 

 the size and condition of the plants, &c., &c., all which must be regulated 

 by the good sense of the planter, and on the right exercise of this, success 

 or failure will follow. Without any high pretensions, I may state that I 

 have had some experience in planting, the result of which is, that in this, 

 as in most other things, there are exceptions to general rules ; but, on the 

 whole, my endeavor in transplanting an evergreen would be, as to time, to 

 do it early enough to let the roots get a living hold of the soil before the 

 vital action of the plant is arrested by the approaching cold of winter. It 

 sometimes happens that evergreens planted in spring do well. If plants 

 and ground are in relative right condition, and the atmosphere clouded, the 

 roots act at once, and they are safe ; this is an exception : but if keen, dry 

 winds and clear sky are then prevalent, adieu to the evergreens. Many 

 years ago somebody, (I have forgotten who,) wrote something plausible 

 about the safety of transplanting deciduous trees in summer, when full of 

 leaf; to test the matter, I transplanted some black Italian poplars, (I think, 

 six in number,) in free growth, and in an open sandy meadow near the side 

 of a river. The trees were carefully lifted, saving all their roots, which 

 were carefully and naturally laid out in wide and not deep holes, and satu- 

 rated with water, (which, however, the soil would not retain,) most plenti- 

 fully. The result was, that every one died. Could anything else have been 

 expected ? So much for listening to idle day-dreamers. I ought to have 

 stated that the poplars were from fifteen to twenty feet in height. — ( Gard, 

 Chron., 1855, p. 517.) 



ontjjlg Gossip. 



A Trip over the Prairies. — Agreeably to the invitation of the Di- 

 rectors of the Illinois Central Railroad, in company with several gentle- 

 men, we availed ourselves of their liberality to inspect a portion of the 

 Garden State, and at the same time to attend the Illinois State Fair, held at 

 Chicago, Oct. 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th. We left Boston on the 1st of that 



