Domestic JVotices. 389 



Art. II. Domestic Notices. 



Neiv York Horticultural Society. — I am sorry to inform you that we 

 shall not have any Horticultural Exhibition this season. It is a dis- 

 irrace to our city. Whilst the Societies in Baltimore, Washington, 

 Philadelphia, and Boston, are displaying to their fellow-citizens the 

 beautiful as well as useful products of their gardens, the New Yorkers 

 are so eat up with avarice and immorality, that they cannot afford to 

 patronize a horticultural exhibition, even when the tickets are put at 

 twelve and a half cents each. This is not on account of hard times, 

 for we have now six theatres open every evening, (and a few weeks 

 ago we had two more, and a circus, in full play,) and they are all crowd- 

 ed. For these five years we have not had an exhibition that has been 

 of any pecuniary advantage to the Society, but rather a loss; last year 

 we had a heavy loss, it being quite a failure: peo])le were so engaged 

 in the engrossing of fictitious wealth, that they had not time to admire 

 the beauties of nature, except in so far as building lots, composed of 

 solid rock, or covered with Avater, were concerned. At our annual 

 election, (which requires but thirteen persons to make a quorum, to 

 vote,) we could only muster ten, so that our Society is virtually de- 

 funct. We make a last effort to-morrow night. — Yours, J. H., Sept., 

 1837. [We regret to learn that such a sad state of things exists with 

 our horticultural brethren in New York. It should not be. A Society, 

 with Dr. Torrey at its head, the fine rooms of the Lyceum of Natural 

 History to exhibit in, and located in a city abounding with fine gardens 

 and amateur gardeners, is deserving of a better fate. We hope that 

 the " last effort" has succeeded, and that the New York Horticultural 

 Society, the first established in the country, will yet exert that powerful 

 influence which its first founders anticipated. — Cond.] 



Hippophae rhamnoides fertilized by the Shepherd'm. — We are not 

 aware that this shrub has ever fruited in this country, and presume that 

 as it is doecous, the staminate variety has never been introduced. A 

 specimen about six feet high, in this garden, situated in the immediate 

 neighborhood of the staminate plant of Shepherd/rt argentea, has a single 

 branch now loaded with yellow succulent fruit, considerably larger than 

 the Buffalo berry. The pistillate flowers have been produced for some 

 seasons past; but as the pistillate plant of Shepherdia stood between it 

 and the staminate one, the Hip])6phae has not probably been fertilized 

 but by the'excess of pollen formed the present season. Of course hy- 

 brids will be produced, and it proves how strongly the two genera are 

 related, which may indeed be inferred, also, from the fact that the Shep- 

 herds was formerly called H. argentea. Are any of your readers in 

 possession of the staminate variety of H. rhamnoides? 



H. rhamnoides, commonly called Sea buckthorn, appears to us, from 

 its abundance of thorny branches and close rapid growth, to be well 

 calculated for a hedge. Loudon says, {Ency. of Plants,) the berries 

 are much eaten by the Tartars; and the fishermen of the Gulf of Both- 

 nia prepare a rob from them which imparts a grateful flavor to fresh 

 fish. Every part of the plant abounds in a good yellow dye. — A. J. D., 

 Botanic Garden and Nurseries, Newburgh, N. Y., Sept., 1837. 



The yellow Locust, Robinia. Fseudacucia. — The cultivation of this 

 most useful and beautiful tree has been attempted, with various success, 

 in different parts of the Union. In many districts it is so liable to the 

 attacks of the borer, that the wood is quite useless for timber, and even 

 the trees themselves have an unsightly appearance; while in others 

 they are perfectly sound, and of thefinest growth. The attack of this 

 insect appears to us to depend in a great measure upon the luxuriance 



