Editors^ Letter- Box. 6i 



Lover of Flowers. — The following, which we clip from an exchange, just 

 answers your question. The plant is not of difficult culture, but will not do 

 well if neglected. Bedded out in summer, it blooms well. 



" Gardenia fragrans not flowering. — We presume your plant casts its buds 

 in consequence of not having sufficiency of heat. If you were to plunge the 

 pots in a mild hot-bed, it would probably flower freely. Pot it, after flowering, in 

 a compost of turfy sandy peat and loam, adding sand liberally, and place it in a 

 moist growing heat, such as that of a vinery at work ; and, when the growths 

 are made, aflbrd a light, airy situation. When growing, water liberally ; and, 

 in winter, keep moderately dry in a temperature of from 50° to 55° from 

 fire-heat. In February or March, afford an increase of temperature ; plunging 

 the pot in a hot-bed, if you have one ; if not, keep it well watered, and in a moist 

 atmosphere." 



W. H. P., Boston. — When should pansy-seed be sown ? — It may be sown 

 either in the spring or fall. Sow in August or September, and transplant into 

 cold frames well prepared, where they can be protected through the winter, and 

 you will get good flowers the next spring. We mean to give an article on pansy 

 culture in some future number. 



W. H. R., Baltimore. — The chances of obtaining fine market-fruit by sowing 

 peach-stones and raising the seedlings are very small. If, in a hundred trees, you 

 obtained one bearing fruit as good as the kinds now generally grown, you would 

 be fortunate. If you fear planting diseased trees, and can get good stones, sow 

 the pits, and bud the seedlings with approved kinds, obtaining buds from healthy 

 trees ; which, by a little care, you can do. 



Your seedlings would not fruit till too large to transplant to the orchard. The 

 peach is a short-hved tree ; and, for home use, the true way is to every year plant 

 a few trees, removing those which are old and unsightly. 



An old peach-tree is not worth transplanting, even if it could be done suc- 

 cessfully. 



W. D. P., Newton Centre. — Send us specimens of the cabbage-maggot, 

 and we will identify and report. Meanwhile, try new land for your cabbages. 



I have a pear-tree that has been set out several years, that grows and bears 

 well ; but there are a good many sprouts, or suckers, coming up about it every 

 year. What is the cause ? and what is the remedy for it '^. — Your tree was prob- 

 ably budded on a sucker-stock ; the same as though you should take up some 

 of the suckers about your tree, which have roots, and set them out, and then 

 bud or graft them. They would all have the habit of throwing up suckers. 

 Seedling pear-trees sometimes have this habit. It lessens the value of the tree : 

 besides, the suckers are a great nuisance, coming up, as they often do, all over 

 the ground. The only remedy is, if your tree is small, to dig it up, and replace 

 it with a better tree ; or if large, and too valuable to be thus treated, cut down 

 the suckers as fast as they appear. 



