Notes ajid Gleanings. 227 



practice makes perfect, no one can do it better. What wonderful improvement 

 the last few years have witnessed ! Yet, with all the glorious new varieties, we 

 have a fondness for the old quilled flowers. Plant asters, my friends ; they are 

 glorious in the garden ; and no flowers are better to cut for the decoration of the 

 parlor in August and September. 



Phytolacca dccaiidra, — a new vegetable indeed! But we will tell you. 

 Mr. Editor, how to use this plant. Dig out a deep bed, give it a rich soil, 

 and not one of your " new-foliaged plants " will compare with it in beauty. In 

 England, it is highly valued for this purpose. Try it, ye who are crazy for 

 novelties. 



Mr. Strong's comments on Mr. Cabot's letter are very just ; and so courteous- 

 ly stated, that tliey must command respect. Patriotism would almost induce me 

 to uphold Mr. Strong's views, even if not quite correct; but, patriotic as I am, 

 I must admit that the Englisii have the better of us on gooseberries. But why 

 can't somebody do for our gooseberries what Mr. Rogers has done for the 

 grape ? Why can't we have varieties combining the hardiness of the Hough- 

 ton's and Mountain Seedlings, with the size of some of the English sorts, and 

 the fine flavor of others .'' 



What will the gentlemen who think fruit cannot be raised in this country as 

 well as in Europe say to the fact, that, in the State of Ohio, the yield of apples 

 was in 1867 ten millions of barrels, and in 1868 nearly as great, and that only 

 three counties in Western New York produced last year half a million barrels, 

 which sold for $1,500,000 ? I don't believe there have been ten million barrels 

 of apples raised in England in a hundred years. Or what will they say to this 

 statement from the report of Covent-garden Market, London, Jan. i, 1869; 

 "American Newtown Pippins of excellent quality have arrived, and fetch fifty 

 shillings per cask : there are also arrivals of Reinette de Bordeaux and Dieu 

 Donne apples from Bordeaux, realizing from twelve shillings and sixpence to 

 fifteen shillings per cask " ? 



Mr. Douglass's style of raising evergreens is a splendid specimen of true 

 Western enterprise, untrammelled by tlie preconceived notions and theories 

 which are apt to hamper men in older countries. Everybody wants evergreens, 

 especially on our Western prairies : so go on, Mr. Douglass, and make them so 

 cheap and plentiful that everybody can have as many as they want. 



In the Journal for February, I noticed a fine illustration of the Boston-market 

 Cauliflower. " C. N. B.," I perceive, considers it synonymous with the Early 

 Paris, or an improved variety of this ; which I am inclined to think is the fact. 

 He also alludes to the difficulty of raising seed in this climate on account of the 

 excessive heat of our summers. Now, I wish to ask my friend " C. N. B." if 

 American-grown seed will produce as fine cauliflowers as the seed imported 

 from Europe. Or, on the contrary, does his experience prove the superiority 

 of that of foreign production ? With most of our garden-vegetables, I am sat- 

 isfied that American-grown seed is the best. 



Has " C. N. B." had any experience in the raising of broccoli ? or is its culti- 

 vation neglected for the reason that the cauliflower succeeds better ? 



Bismarck 



