3i8 Editors Letter- Box. 



Mr. Editor, — If you want to do a very great service to horticulture, allow 

 me to suggest especial attention to the best modes of utilizing fruits in all 

 rightful methods. 



I am as confident of immense ignorance on this point as I am of the most 

 uro-ent necessity, if we would not see horticulture suffer a great backset some 

 of these years when a bountiful crop comes in. There ought to be well known and 

 practised a score if not a hundred elegant and nutritious preparations of fruit 

 now undreamed of by the multitude, that should in all our markets add to the 

 variety of fresh and prepared fruits, and, to a certain extent, supersede the 

 v/retched pastrv, not to mention other abominations like gum, tobacco, &c., now 

 in vogue. With best wishes, F. K. P/ioefiix. 



Bloomington', III , March 26, 1869. 



[We entirely agree with our correspondent as to the necessity of new methods 

 of preserving fruits so as to utilize superabundant crops which would otherwise 

 be wasted ; and we trust that those who may make experiments in this direc- 

 tion will communicate the results to us for publication. — Ed.} 



I AM much pleased with " The Southern Horticultural Trip " of the Hon. 

 Marshall P. Wilder, in your March number. That venerable gentleman is so 

 practical and observant, that your readers cannot but be highly gratified that 

 you have secured him as an occasional contributor to your valuable Journal. I 

 have for more than forty years been a subscriber to one or more agricultural 

 papers, and always found their weekly or monthly visits a source of much enjoy- 

 ment. To the citizen, they are always suggestive of innocent and intelligent 

 enjoyment of the country ; and to the farmer and permanent resident in the 

 country I consider them indispensable. 



I had no intention of saying more at this time than to state a fact in reference 

 to the following quotation from Mr. Wilder's communication: "The pride of 

 the South {Magnolia grandijlora) was first seen at Baltimore, Md., and Wash- 

 ington, D.C. ; but the injury which some of the trees had received from frost 

 indicated this as the northern limit of this magnificent tree. The same thing was 

 noticed at Louisville, Ky." 



I have the pleasure of informing Mr. Wilder, that 1 have a fine healthy speci- 

 men on my grounds, about twenty feet high, two wide-spreading branches, with 

 numerous laterals, starting about six feet from the ground, and the circumfer- 

 ence of the trunk at the ground just thirty inches. We have annually a fine dis- 

 play of flowers, and seeds in perfection. I send you a dried pericarp (strobile) 

 to prove the variety. This tree was found carefully labelled, and without charge, 

 in a considerable package of tVuit-trees ordered from Messrs. Parsons & Co. of 

 Flushing, in 1845. The euphonious name was given in honor of Pierre Magnol, 

 professor of medicine and botany, who flourished in 1670. Win. Laiuton. 



New Rochelle, March 24, 1869. 



[We are very glad to know of the existence of this fine specimen of the 

 Magnolia grandijlora so far north, and feel much obliged to our correspondent 

 for the information. Still, we must consider it an exceptional instance ; and we 

 think Mr. Wilder is right in the line which he has assigned as its northern 

 limit. — ^^/.] 



