IVotcs and Gleanings. 277 



A Fine Orchard. — We lately enjoyed, with a part of the Fruit Committee 

 of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, a rich treat in a visit lo the orchard 

 of Messrs. F. & L. Clapp, in Boston (Dorchester District), where the celebrated 

 Clapp's Favorite pear originated. The apple orchard comprises about two 

 hundred full-grown trees, two of which were pointed out as being two hundred 

 years old, both being still vigorous and productive. One of them girths thir- 

 teen feet. The ground between, and even under, the apple trees, is partly 

 planted with currant bushes, mostly Versaillaise, from which three hundred 

 bushels were gathered this summer. A lai^ge plantation of the Wilson black- 

 berry had been ploughed up since we were there before, as being too tender to 

 stand the winter. But the greatest attraction was the pear orchard, in which we 

 saw many trees, among them the original one, of Clapp's Favorite, loaded with 

 their large and beautiful fruit, at that time (August 7) fully grow% and almost 

 every one such as ought to satisfy Dr. Houghton's desire for "specimen pears." 

 Within a week from that time fifty bushels of this variety were gathered. 



Messrs. Clapp have also a large number of seedling pear trees, just coming 

 into bearing, raised from the best varieties, such as Urbaniste, Beurre Bosc, 

 Beurre d'Anjou, Bartlett, Beurre Clairgeau, &c., among which they hope to find 

 some of superior merit. It is impossible to imagine anything more beautiful 

 than these seedlings, so refined and civilized in their appearance, without a trace 

 of the wildness almost invariably seen in seedling trees ; there was not even what 

 Dr. Van Mons could call a "beau sauvageon " among them. There was one 

 tree showing several fruits of pyriform shape, as smooth and round as if they 

 had been turned in a lathe, which we quite fell in love with, declaring to Messrs. 

 Clapp that if it were our own, we should do nothing but stand and gaze at it. 

 Near these were also several rows of Clapp's Favorites of about the same age, 

 so uniformly vigorous and beautiful in their growth, with never a thought of 

 blight, that we wish our western friends, whose orchards are devastated by blight, 

 could have seen them. They were absolutely perfect. 



The apple orchard was commenced by the late Thaddeus Clapp, the father of 

 the present Messrs. Clapp, both of whom have sons engaged with them in fruit 

 culture. Everything about the place shows that they have thoroughly learned 

 "how to run an orchard." 



The Tea as an Ornamental Shrub. — The Weekly Circular says that 

 Mrs. P. M. Edmeston, of North Carolina, cultivates the tea as an ornamental 

 shrub, and prizes it highly. It is an evergreen, growing ten feet high. The tea 

 is classed in the same family with the Camellia, from which, botanically, it differs 

 but slightly. The Stuartia, figured in the Journal for February last, also belongs 

 to the same family. 



Hon. Horace Capron took leave of the employes of the Department of 

 Agriculture on the 13th of July, and sailed from San Francisco for Japan the ist 

 day of August. He is accompanied by Dr. Thomas Antisell, of Washington, as 

 chemist, mineralogist, and geologist ; Major A. G. Warfield, of Baltimore, engi- 

 neer, who will examine Japan with reference to the location of railroads ; and 

 Dr. Stuart Eldridge, of Washington, secretary to the commission. 



