34 Notes Mid Gieajiings. 



The Emile d'Heyst Pear, which Mr. Wilder presents to us, is "one of the 

 elite.'''' There are few pears with such a "clean," pure flavor, and which are in 

 eating so long ; never decaying at the core. 



Parlor Plants, No. IV., introduces us to the old-fashioned wax-plant, pitto- 

 sporum, fuchsia, and heliotrope ; all good and easily grown. I believe in plants 

 for the house, those which every one may grow, and value such far more than 

 the costly novelties which only the few can have, and fewer still can keep. Why 

 not tell us about ferns as parlor-plants ? In England, they are grown very suc- 

 cessfullv ; but my query is. What species shall we grow ? A leaf out of your 

 book, Mr. Rand, if you do not wholly despise " flowerless " plants. 



Cider and Cider-Manufacture. — Sound, practical, and well written. It must 

 do something towards reform, though I believe, since attention has been more 

 particularly called to the subject, that improvement has been steadily going on. 

 We are more careful in the selection of varieties for the purpose, more particu- 

 lar as respects the condition of the fruit, more attentive to the character and 

 purity of our casks or packages, and, in all respects, neater in the manufacture, 

 than we were twenty or thirty years ago. Depend upon it, Mr. Editor, the juice 

 of the apple will one day compete with the juice of the grape, and "the coming 

 man shall drink it." But I would like to ask whether '"A. H." has tested the 

 permanganate of potassa, which is recommended by the chemists as a certain 

 purifier of the mustiest barrel. 



A Mammoth Quince indeed ! If quinces grow in the rich river-bottoms of 

 the West to the size and shape of pumpkins, pray tell us what kind of looking 

 objects the pumpkins are. 



Keeping pears 's a subject upon which we need more light, if we do upon 

 any thing ; for, at present, we hardly have a winter pear, by which I mean a pear 

 that can be kept to midwinter without special care. The Easter Beurre may 

 answer to that description where it succeeds ; but that is not in New England. 

 When a man raises a pear which will ripen gradually through December, Janu- 

 ary, and February, in every season, with the same care as good cultivators give 

 to their apples, and which possesses the other qualities that go to make a good 

 pear, it will be his own fault if he does not make a fortune from it. But, until 

 such a pear comes, we want to know every thing about keeping and ripening 

 what we have already. 



Roses again, and a fine illustration. I like roses, though the slugs eat the 

 foliage, and the bugs devour the flowers. They twine around our door-posts, 

 and give us, on hot summer evenings, the delicious odor of whale-oil soap, with 

 which two or three times a week they must be syringed. Why does every winged 

 and creeping thing attack the rose ? Was it so in the good old times ? or have 

 the insects increased from the destruction of the birds that made them their 

 natural food ? Tell us. Were our ancestors' roses eaten up, branch, leaves, and 

 flowers ? or are we only raising new and splendid varieties to give ourselves 

 " double, double toil and trouble," to get a perfect flower from them ? 



Draining Flower-Pots. — Good. There is an old saying, " What is sauce for 

 the goose is sauce for the gander ;" all very true as long as your bird is of either 

 kind : but goose-gravy is not good with roast-beef, and chickens stuffed with 



