352 Editor's Letter-Box, 



E. O. — The double-flowering hawthorns are among the most ornamental of 

 all our flowering shrubs. They are propagated by grafting or budding on seedling 

 hawthorns or native thorns. When hawthorns are raised from seed, the seed 

 should be planted as soon as ripe, and will then not come up until the second 

 spring. You will find an interesting article on working hawthorns on the pear 

 or quince in our Vol. VIII., p. 185. The common single white hawthorn, the 

 " snow-white thorn " of the poets, and the single scarlet are both beautiful. The 

 variety commonly called double scarlet, is deep pink rather than scarlet. There 

 is a "new double scarlet" thorn, of much more brilliant color than the old one. 

 We have seen the flowers of the common native thorn prettily streaked with 

 red ; but in every case they appeared to have been injured by an insect. 



T. S. — The European yew makes a compact bush ; but though it will stand 

 an ordinary winter at Boston, some of the largest plants we have known were 

 destroyed by a winter of more than usual severity. The American yew is, as 

 respects foliage, quite as beautiful as the European, and the berries are pretty, 

 but it makes only a straggling, almost trailing, bush. The Irish yew is a variety 

 of the European, making an upright column, and is cultivated here in pots for 

 ornamenting terraces, etc. Fine specimens can be seen at Mr. Hunnewell's 

 Italian garden, Wellesley, Mass. 



T. G. — If we were going to plant strawberries for our own use here, we 

 should choose Jenny Lind for early, Hovey for medium, and President Wilder 

 for later, with Lennig's White for its superior flavor. Of this variety, a corre- 

 spondent of the Horticulturist has well remarked, that in point of flavor it is 

 among strawberries what the Seckel is among pears, or the Delaware among 

 grapes. It must have good culture, but the soil must not be too rich, else the 

 plants will run to vines rather than fruit. 



If you want some very large, showy kinds, plant a few of River's Eliza, Rus- 

 sell's Prohfic, General Havelock, Bijou, Due de Malakoff, Lucas, Ouinquefolia, or 

 Napoleon III. Of the last two, you must be sure to get the true kinds, as spu- 

 rious sorts are sold for them, and the same may be said of Hovey. The true 

 Hovey has peculiar foliage — deep brilliant green, with the veins contracted, 

 so as to give the leaves a crumpled appearance. 



T. P., Cedar Rapids, Iowa. — Without having tried it, we should suppose that 

 you could make vinegar from your green unripe grapes and wild crabs, as we 

 know you could from the green unripe apples, without adding sugar or molasses ; 

 but it would not be of as good a quality as with the addition of these, or as if 

 made from ripe fruit. We should advise you to keep your apples and crabs as 

 long after picking up as possible without rotting. As to the question of profit, 

 that depends upon too many circumstances with which we are unacquainted for 

 us to give an opinion. 



