130 Domestic Notices. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. 1. Domestic Notices. 



Splendid Plantation of Pear Trees. — Edward King, Esq., of Newport, 

 Rhode Island, planted, the last spring, an orchard comprising about four 

 hundred pear trees, all of the choicest Belgian and other modern improved 

 varieties. The trees were of extra large size, eight to ten feet in height, and 

 suitable, therefore, to come into bearing the ensuing season, and many of 

 them produced flowers the first season. Notwithstanding the drought, there 

 were but six that failed in growing. These trees were obtained from the 

 Messrs. Prince of Long Island, and this orchard is probably the most valu- 

 able that has been formed in New England of this class of fruit. — Yours, 

 P., January, 1847. 



Remarks on the Hog Artichoke. — I was very glad, Mr. Editor, to find, in 

 the pages of your last number, the article of your correspondent. Dr. Ward, 

 on the differences of variety, as he esteems it, of the two plants of Helian- 

 thus, growing in his garden. Nor am I, for one, sorry, that his manifest 

 " slip of the pen," or use of the corrective spirit of your several correspond- 

 ents, in showing the artichoke to be no solanum, which every one knew 

 before, called forth from Professor Ward the article with which he has filled 

 a few of your pages. For my own part, I am bold to declare, that, could 

 any thing induce him to give you an article occasionally, we should be no 

 losers. Among the many curious native and introduced plants of his adopt- 

 ed home, he might find much to tell us, in our boreal clime, on the varied 

 subjects of horticultural lore, or floricultural experience. And as the Dr. 

 is now infer it, especially in defence of the Hog Artichoke, I trust that he 

 will favor us with some seeds, roots, or the like, by which we can judge for 

 ourselves also, whether Torrey's and Gray's " determination" should be 

 " quietly" received or no. I have always taken a fancy to the Jerusalem 

 artichoke, on account of its fine head of flowers: I should like to cultivate 

 an acquaintance with this variety for the better reason, too, that it is more 

 showy in that respect. Agriculturally, its merits as a root would be bet- 

 ter tested at the south than with us : but, as another sort of sunflower, why 

 maj' not we hail it as an accession to our gardens, that it may show its hon- 

 est disk among the several sorts of Helianthus, which are now cultivated 

 with care. Will not the Dr. think of you, Mr. Editor, in a few seeds? 

 — Turnsole. 



William S. Sullivanl, Esq., communicated to the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences (Boston,) through the Corresponding Secretary, a paper 

 entitled " Contributions to the Bryology and Hepaticology of North Amer- 

 ica," with drawings of some species: as Phyllogonium Norwegicum, {Brt- 

 del,) a curious and rare moss, recently detected in Ohio : Fissidens minutu- 

 lus {Sullivant) : Fissidens exiguus, {Sullivant) : singularly minute and del- 

 icate species of mosses : Schistidiira serratum, {Hooker and Wilson,) not un- 



