226 Notes and Gleanings. 



Green-Gage sprang ; and nothing but perseverance is needed to produce varieties 

 as good as that queen of plums. Is the Chickasaw Plum hardy at the North ? 

 I do not know that it has been tested ; but, even if tender, that should not deter 

 us from experimenting with it, for some of its progeny may be hardy. Besides the 

 kinds named by Mr. Adair, the Louisa Plum, exhibited by Mr. Husmann at the 

 St. Louis meeting of the Pomological Society, is probably a variety of the Chick- 

 asaw. There is no doubt of the hardiness of the Pruniis Americana, or Canada 

 Plum as it is called by nursery-men, who have long used it for stocks. Nuttall 

 says, " By cultivation, it is considerably improved ; and the fruit is sometimes, as 

 Dr. Darlington remarks, ' as large as a common apricot.' In Upper Canada, where 

 it was formerly cultivated, I have seen as many as twelve distinct varieties in 

 the same orchard." 



It is, as intimated by Mr. Adair, at least doubtful whether the Myrabolan is an 

 American species : and I think it more than doubtful whether it will form a good 

 subject for improvement ; for, so far as 1 have observed, both the original kind, 

 and the Golden Cherry, a seedling from it, have been so badly affected with the 

 black wart as to destroy the trees. The Beach Plum {P. maratima) is an ex- 

 tremely hardy species, from which I once saved a small parcel of seeds with the 

 hope of improvement ; but other cares prevented the experiment. 



Page 151 gives us another of the large full-page floral illustrations which we 

 have so often had occasion to admire. This month we see progress in a new di- 

 rection : having before figured various hardy greenhouse and bedding plants, we 

 now have a stove-plant {Allamanda grandijiora), one which needs heat and moist- 

 ure, and which but a few can grow. We like it. Cater for all, Mr. Editor, — for the 

 few as well as the many ; but, for every stove-plant you figure, give us half a dozen 

 illustrations of flowers for everybody. Yet this allamanda must be a glorious 

 plant ; and the figure makes us long either for the means to build indefinitely 

 large glass houses, or to have a glimpse at these and other wonders of Brazilian 

 forests. Parlor-plants — oh ! now we are at home, Mr. Editor; and in our cosey 

 room, with its bright, sunny windows full of foliage and flowers, we hardly envy 

 the sun-burnt Brazilians their allamandas. What have we ? Just what Mr. Rand 

 has told us to grow, — cyclamen : the more the better. How daintily they turn up 

 their rabbit-ears ! and what intelligent, half-impudent faces the little beauties 

 have ! 



But why not tell us, Mr. Rand (for, of course, you must know it), that the ad- 

 dition of a little soot to the soil will do much to improve both growth and bloom 

 of the cyclamen ? 



Mahernia, a lovely plant, and one we cannot praise too highly. Commend us 

 to these pretty and fragrant flowers : they appeal to two senses, and gratify both. 



Oxalis, pretty, cheap, easily grown : the clover-like leaves are always pretty. 

 But why not, when on the subject, say a word in favor of the beautiful Western 

 species, O. vlolacea; and that little gem which carpets the northern woods, 

 O. acetosella ? Not parlor-plants ; right, perhaps, not to stray from the sub- 

 ject : but they are hardy garden-plants, and a word of commendation would not 

 come amiss. 



So our veteran friend Joseph Breck enlightens us on aster-culture ; and, if 



