376 Notes and Gleanings. 



Crimson Thrift. — Next in point of merit to the beautiful varieties of 

 Primula corlusoidjs amna:a, recently introduced into this country, I do not 

 hesitate to place this dark-flowered Anneria. If any thing, the latter is more 

 hardy ; whilst for compactness of growth, continuity of flower, ease as regards 

 propagation, and adaptability to the uses to which it may be put as an edging- 

 plant, it is second to none. Nor must the color of the flower, or appearance of 

 the plant itself, be judged of by any reference to its old, pygmy prototype, the 

 old "thrift " of our gardens. The leaves of the variety to which I refer possess 

 a far deeper green tint, and are sufficiently wide to give an effect perfectly ever- 

 green-like, without in any degree depriving the plant of its true generic charac- 

 teristic. The flowers, which are bright, have their color enhanced by contrast 

 with the green foliage just alluded to ; are i:)orne boldly upon foot-stalks some 

 six or eight inches in length ; and are well adapted for bouquets or other uses 

 to which cut-flowers are usually put. Plants which commenced blooming with 

 me early in May of the current season have continued to do so more or less 

 perpetually up to the present time. As this is a good time to propagate this 

 class of plants, especially this variety, I may state th it every plant may be di vided 

 into from forty to fifty divisional parts; and that these, if dibbled separately, 

 firmly, into the open border, will root freely, and yet have time to establish them- 

 selves before winter in reality sets in. — IViilLim Earley, in Coliaje Gardener. 



COXDITION OF THE CROPS IN OCTOBER. — WHEAT. — The full promise of 



the early summer has not been realized in the wheat-harvest. The increase of 

 area over that of last year, in its effect upon the aggregate production, is nearly 

 neutralized by a small diminution, in some of the principal wheat-growing States, 

 in the yield per acre ; so that the increase in the total quantity, as shown by our 

 October returns, is scarcely more than three per cent, and that is obtained mainly 

 from the Pacific coast. 



The progress of wheat-culture westward is somewhat remarkable ; and its 

 history is not altogether unlike that of cotton, in its occupancy of new lands, 

 and their desertion after a few years' use, — not, indeed, to grow up in sedge or 

 forest, but to be laid down in grass, or employed in a more varied range of pro- 

 duction. Not only does it go with population westward, but its movement is 

 in an accelerating ratio, yielding results iiT bushels to each inhabitant surprising 

 to Eastern farmers. Thus has the territory between the Mississippi River and 

 the Pacific Ocean, which in 1S59 yielded about 25.000,000 bushels, harvested 

 about 65 000,000 : while the country east of the Mississippi, with its accession 

 of population and wide distribution of agricultural implements, has made no 

 increase, as a whole ; a few of the Western States barely making up the deficiency 

 suffered in Virginia and Kentucky. It is a remarkable fact, that a region which 

 nine years ago produced only one-seventh of the wheat in the country, now sup- 

 plies nearly one-third of it. A similar progress in another decade will carry the 

 centre of wheat-production beyond the Mississippi ; and, were it possible for 

 the Pacific coast again to quadruple its yield, tliat distant wheat-field would give a 

 larger product than the aggregate production of the United States in 1850. Well 

 may the East imagine the supply of breadstuffs decreasing, and naturally enough 

 tl; e West may deem their harvests golden ; but when twenty more years shall 



