'50 



THE GENESEE FAKMER. 



,oon. By the selection of diflferent colors, and 

 putting them in glass at intervals of a week or two, 

 you may from two dozen bulbs have flowers from 

 January to May. They are clean, and well ve-pnj 

 the trifling care required. 



FOREIGN GARDEN MEMORANDA. 



liEEEWiTn I send a few notes recently made 

 during a rapid journey in Denmark, the south of 

 Sweden, Prussia, and Holland, in hopes that some 

 of tlieni may afl'ord useful hints. 



Almost as soon as the traveler lands at Ham- 

 burgh he is struck with the very characteristic 

 dress and appearance of a few men and women in 

 the streets hawking flowers and fruit for sale.— 

 They are natives of a small district of the Ham- 

 burgh territory called Vierland, which is princi- 

 pally laid out in gardens, and which supplies the 

 markets with vegetables. These people seem to 

 take as much pride in their custom as they do in 

 their flowers. 



The railroad across Ilolstein passes through a 

 very i)Oor tract of country, in which peat is dug to 

 a very great extent. "We observe that Millet is very 

 extensively cultivated, and that many of the hedges 

 (where there are any) are formed of small trees of 

 the Mountain Ash, the red berries of wliich pleas- 

 antly enliven the otherwise generally dull landscape. 

 More commonly, however, there are no hedges, and 

 and the cattle are either tethered by ropes or are 

 watched by children. 



At Copenhagen, and indeed throughout the 

 whole journey, we observed that Ivy was exten- 

 sively grown in pots for the ornamentation of win- 

 dows. It is either allowed to fall over the edge of 

 the pots suspended from the top of the inside of the 

 window, or is trained on a broad wire frame so as 

 to spread out and form a screen to the apartment. 

 Here and elsewhere also we observed our common 

 Scarlet Runners, grown only for tlie sake of the 

 handsome flowers — their place in a culinary point 

 of view being usurped by a long white Kidney 

 Bean (nearly a foot long) which is grown in square 

 clusters and trained on stakes often 12 or 15 feet 

 high, looking more like hojis than Kidney Beans. 



At Lund and Malmo, as well as in the Linden at 

 Berlin, we noticed that the Lime [Linden or Bass- 

 wood] and other trees planted in the public squares 

 had the earth round their roots exposed for about 

 a yard, a circle of large boulder stones preventing 

 the carriages or passengers from approaching nearer 

 to the trees and allowing the rain to iienetrate to 

 the roots. At the former place also we observed 

 on the Sunday mornings that great (juantities of 

 the young sprigs of the common Juniper were 

 strewed over the floors of tlie hall and saloon of 

 our hotel, and also within the communion rails of 

 the churches, A pleasant scent was emitted from 

 these twigs. 



In Prussia (especially at Charlottenburg,) we 

 observed that the Giant Rhubarb was grown upon 

 grass plots and in public gardens as an ornamental 

 plant, its large leaves aud upright flower stems 

 giving it an hnposing character. We noticed also 

 the care with which young trees In the public 

 walks are trained to straight strong stakes fixed 

 upright firmly in the ground. Standard roses also 

 weve observed to be fixed to tall iron posts, with 



ornamental heads seen above the foliage, thus break- 

 ing through the maxim that supports to ornamental 

 plants ought not to be seen. Throughout the 

 greater part of our journey we also noticed that 

 the common yellow Lupin was cultivated in the 

 fields to a considerable extent, so much so that in 

 passing one large tract of them the scent was quite 

 perceptible in the railroad carriage. 



Along the Hanover railroad in the neighborhood 

 of Magdebui'g we observed that immense numbers 

 of small Fir trees, about a foot high, had been 

 planted just below the ridge of the bank on each 

 side, and that they Avere protected l>y screens of 

 reeds, about 4 feet high, placed to windward of the 

 young trees. These screens are formed by tying 

 the reeds to a frame composed of three longitudi- 

 nal strips of wood supported at equal distances by 

 ui)right bars; they make an excellent fence, and 

 we passed many miles of them. I need not dwell 

 on the amazing extent of the Fir woods thi-ough 

 which we passed, nor the long straight public i-oads 

 that we crossed, each with its double rows of Pop- 

 lars or fruit trees slightly relieving the dull mono- 

 tony of the way ; nor of the odd effect of the gates 

 and posts with their alternate oblique stripes of 

 black and white, or blue and yellow, or other colors 

 according to the dilferent grand duchy or otlier 

 territory through which Ave passed ; nor of the 

 lazy method of constructing turnpike gates of a 

 single bar of wood, with a heavy weight at one end 

 and a chain at the other, which being loosened 

 allows the Aveight to descend, and so raises the bar 

 sufficiently to allow a ca.iriage to pass, the " pike" 

 man not giving himself the trouble to leave his box. 

 — Gardeners'' Chronicle. 



APPLES AND PEARS FOR BOSTON MARKET. 



Editors Genesek Farmer: — Almost every cul- 

 tivator near this market is, of course, pretty well 

 posted in regard to its most prominent fruit ; but 

 tlie bulk of your readers probably are not. It may, 

 therefore, be agreeable to many of them to learn 

 what its leading varieties are. Having daily an 

 ojiportunity of inspecting them, I venture to send 

 you an article upon this subject. That your read- 

 ers may not be obliged to climb through the 

 branches of rhetoric (saying nothing of the Jiowers) 

 I immediately come to the fruit. 



The earliest apple of any sort in this market is 

 the Williams — the most splended and palatable one 

 known among us in August, and bringing from $2 

 to $5 per bushel. This apple is as ]>opular as the 

 Bartlett pear, is extensively cultivated, and is quite 

 plentiful. Then there is the Red AstracJian, not so 

 well known, but rising every year. Tlie UarTest 

 and Siceet Bough are not common, althougji older 

 than the latter, and they Avill not probably be so 

 much cultivated as the two first mentioned. — 

 Coming doAvn in September, the Oarden Royal 

 shows itself as a great favorite, and will be yet 

 more knoAvn and appreciated. The Porter has 

 lieretofore been the most poi>ular fall apple, and 

 has been extensively cultivated : but this sea- 

 son convinces me (as also the fruit dealers) that it 

 must stand aside in the attractive presence of that 

 most s])lendid of Autumn table apple, the Graoen- 

 stein. The dealers in fruit say this apple is infin- 

 itely ahead of the Porter. It is very large, hand- 

 some, aud unsurpassed as to flavor, and is suffici- 



