Notes and Gleanings. 23 



The Australian Glory Pea {Clia7ithns Dampieri), says the Rural Caro- 

 linian, has been found to succeed finely in the south, and is a great acquisition 

 as an out-door bloomer. The readers of the Journal will recollect an article 

 (vol. vii., p. 78) by Mr. George Such, giving an account of his success in grow- 

 ing it out doors at South Amboy, N. J. It is a very showy plant ; and we would 

 be glad to hear from any one who has tried Mr. Such's experiment still farther 

 north. 



Large Fruits and Vegetables are not always the best. A potato or 

 beet, of moderate size, is not only more convenient, and easily cooked, but, espe- 

 cially the beet, is likely to be of better quahty. The overgrown squashes and 

 beets which attract so much attention at horticultural exhibitions, are, in reality, 

 not horticultural, but agricultural productions, whose place is in the field and 

 barn, rather than in the garden or on the table. Don't understand us, however, 

 as wishing to exclude them altogether from horticultural exhibitions ; for we like 

 to see them as well as anybody. As to fruits, it is every day getting to be better 

 understood that apples and pears of mammoth size are fitter for a race of giants 

 than for men and women as at present constituted. A fruit committee, who un- 

 derstand their duty, will award a premium on apples or pears to a dish of perfect 

 specimens of uniform size, in preference to one which may contain a few over- 

 grown specimens, though the aggregate weight of the latter might be more than 

 that of the former ; and they should even be preferred to a dish of all large ones, 

 if the latter were abnormal and misshapen, as is frequently the case with unu- 

 sually large specimens. 



Stone Fruits from Seed. — It has commonly been taught by pomologists 

 that peach, plum, or cherry, and other stone fruit trees raised from seed produced 

 by trees in their own roots, that is, not grafted, would, as to variety, be identical 

 with their parents. This cannot hold good in every instance ; for a friend has 

 informed us that in about twenty seedling peach trees, all raised from fruit grown 

 on two natural trees, he found almost as many varieties as trees, and of course 

 many differing from their parents. Still, there is no doubt that seedling stone 

 fruits, whether raised from natural or grafted trees, are frequently so like their 

 parents as to be practically identical, and generally bear a very strong resem- 

 blance to them, much more so than with the pomaceous fruits, like the apple and 

 pear. 



Tropical Fruits in Florida. — J. N. Whitner, Melonville, Orange Co., 

 Fla., writes to the Rural Carolinian that the banana is attracting especial at- 

 tention at this time, chiefly because it becomes remunerative much earlier than 

 most other tropical fruit crops. The growth is quite dense, allowing 3000 to 

 4000 plants to the acre. Even at 25 cents per bunch, ^750 to $1000 per acre 

 may be realized. 



The lime is occasionally killed down to the ground, as was the case in the ex- 

 traordinary cold snap of March, 1869. It puts up again rapidly from the root, 

 and bears in one and a half to two years. These severe spells have so far oc- 



