Notes and Gleanings. 



5^5 



root on the pear, when it no longer becomes strictly a dwarf, but having acquired 

 maturity in its buds, and its pear-roots being laterals, it continues to fruit and 

 grow moderately, and is, in reality, the best tree possible, requiring onward no 

 more pruning, except to take out lateral branches. F. R. E. 



French and African Marigolds. — These well-known inhabitants of 

 the flower-garden are unsurpassed for autumn bloom, as they stand the frost 

 better than any other annual. The varieties of the French are innumerable, 

 and the rich colors it displays very attractive. The African is more showy ; and 

 the light-yellow and dark-orange varieties contrast well, and are effective in 

 masses. Seed should be saved from the best flowers, and only requires to be 

 sown in a frame in April, from which the plants should be removed to the border 

 in June. 



Another marigold, Tagetes signata pumila is the best yellow bedder we have, 

 giving a mass of bright-yellow bloom, and being of a dwarf, spreading habit. It 

 requires the same treatment as the other species. E. S. R., Jun. 



A Plea for the Sumach {Rhus typhina). — If a large shrub, hardy, and of 

 easy culture, beautiful in form and fohage, and of great picturesqueness and 

 permanency of flower and fruit, has just claims for a place in ornamented grounds, 

 then has this large native shrub been singularly overlooked and neglected. In 

 no essential quality of an ornamental nature is it lacking. At first sight, it com- 

 mends itself to the beholder as a pleasure-giving object; and the more it is 

 studied, the more it pleases. Let us look at it a little while, and endeavor to 

 reach a true appreciation of its merits. 



We shall find it in the natural order AtiacardiacecB. It has properties useful 

 in the arts : but of these we have nothing to say at present ; we are to show its 

 capabilities and claims as a tree of ornament. We begin with cleanliness : in 

 this it is faultless. Vermin never infest it, nor is it infected by disease. Unlike 

 some of its congeners, it is perfectly innocuous. Its style of beauty, unique 

 and weird, though quite different, is fully equal to that of its co-species, the 

 Cotinus, an exotic everywhere admired. Naturally it branches low, and forms 

 a spreading head somewhat umbrella-like, often fastigiate, but can easily be 

 pruned and trained to any shape that suits one's fancy. About fifteen or twenty 

 feet is the hmit of its height. The diameter of the head is equal in extent, or 

 greater ; the bark is light gray, the new growth densely velvety-hairy, and the 

 color silvery-drab ; the leaves are numerously pinnate, dark green above, light 

 beneath ; the flowers, a whitish-green or yellow, in a dense panicle ; the fruit, 

 a cluster of drupes, forming a compact cone of rich crimson hue ; these cones 

 are its crowning ornament. Unlike the colored clusters of other ornamental 

 plants, soon to be stripped and devoured by winged gourmands, these bright, 

 decorative forms remain unmolested, and delight us through the year. Added 

 to these, when the frosty time approaches, are the pictured leaves, green, yellow, 

 and purple-crimson. Besides, the tree is hardy, and enduring in all vicissitudes 

 of climate ; easily transplanted ; grows vigorously in any common soil ; and 

 soon attains the desired conditions for ornament. Its one fault is, that it propa- 



VUI.. II. 40 



