350 



Frincred Gentian. — Mas^nolias. 



clearness or cloudiness of the sky greatly influences the time of ripening. 

 The rich juices of the grape are not dependent on heat alone for their 

 elaboration ; light plays an equal if not more important part : so that in 

 a cool, dry summer, when clear skies .are the rule, grapes will be much 

 sweeter and ripen earlier than in a cloudy, damp season, although the 

 latter may be above the average temperature. 



Apropos of grapes : a Hartford Prolific vine in my possession has pro- 

 duced this season eight clusters from a single bud. The shoot proceeding 

 from this bud, in May, forked at the first leaf, about two inches from the 

 main branch ; and each division produced four well-formed clusters of ave- 

 rage size : they were all allowed to remain, and have ripened perfectly. I 

 mention this fact in the hope that some among the readers of this Journal 

 may have seen or heard the like : if so, I beg they will publish the descrip- 

 tion. As far as my knowledge goes, the case is very unusual, if not quite 

 unique. It is not probable, that, on an undivided shoot, six clusters could 

 be exceeded. B. M. Balch. 



Oct. io, 1867. 



Fringed Gentian. — This loveliest of autumn flowers is invaluable for 

 parlor decoration. If the plant be gathered just as the first flowers expand, 

 and put in water in a light, airy place, every bud will expand into a lovely 

 blue flower. The only care is to keep the glass filled with fresh water. As 

 one plant not unfrequently has from twenty to fifty buds in different stages 

 of development, it lasts in perfection a long time, — often a month or more. 



Magnolias. — The following kinds may be considered hardy enough to 

 stand a New-England winter : Glauca, aacminata, tripetala or ujnbellata, 

 auriculata or Fraseri, cordafa, macrophylla (precariously hardy), conspicua, 

 Soulargiana, and the many hybrids between these two, — Thompsoniana, 

 purpurea (after the plants are well established), glauca longifolia, and the 

 varieties oi purpurea subject to the same limitation as the species. 



M. Lenne has not yet been fully tested, but is probably hardy. 



