1 62 Notes and Gleanings. 



an old fogy for that, for I understand his remarks to apply only to plants in 

 pots^ and I think his views would agree with mine in regard to those in the tubs 

 and boxes. At any rate, nobody will take the trouble to put crocks and charcoal 

 in their pots when there is no need, and if there is not it will soon be found 

 out, whether Mr. Veitch accepts the challenge or not ; and if we find we have 

 been doing a great deal of needless work by way of drainage, we shall all be 

 grateful to the man who first had courage to step out of the path of routine. 



Another of Mr. Merrick's annual papers on Strawberries. — How is it that so 

 few cultivators around Boston are engaged in testing any considerable variety 

 of strawberries ? We hear of no exhibitions of such collections as are shown 

 at New York, and it won't do for the Boston folks to lag behind. It is of no 

 use to say that nine-tenths of a great collection are worthless : we know before- 

 hand that it will be so ; but the point is, ivJiich are the worthless ones, and which 

 the good.'' and Mr. Merrick has done more than anyone else in Massachusetts, 

 this year, to answer this question. 



Rhododendron Experience. — A checkered experience truly! What would 

 we give to know of a dozen fine rhododendrons which could be relied on to stand 

 the severest winter ! Mr. Rand thinks the data are hardly sufficient to deter- 

 mine them yet, or the causes why all are not hardy ; and I don't think it is worth 

 while for me to undertake what he can't do : so I shall echo his hope that others 

 will add their experience, and then we shall ultimately arrive at some certain 

 knowledge. But think of the cost of this rhododendron experience ! — the dead, 

 and, worse, the half-dead plants, that have been nurtured so carefully, — ye who 

 profit by it. 



The Lake-Shore Grape Region. — Oh, if my lot had only been cast in such 

 a grape region, though that lot were only a half-acre ! That would have been 

 enough to give me all the grapes I could eat, and then there would have been 

 some satisfaction in sitting under my own vine. 



The Petunia. — How is it that a patriarch in horticulture, like Mr. Breck, hits 

 on the very things that are wanted to-day by the million for their flower-gardens ? 

 He has been engaged in floriculture, to my knowledge, for thirty years past, and 

 how much longer I dare not say, and yet his heart seems as young and his zeal 

 as ardent as when he began ; and this article is a proof of it, and the illustra- 

 tion is as good as the article. But I don't agree with him that the odor of the 

 petunia is disagreeable. I have stood by a bed on a summer evening, and 

 thought their sweet perfume very enjoyable. 



The Brant Grape, in my opinion, comes from the right quarter. Please un- 

 derstand, however, that I have in mind cold winters and short summers. My 

 lot is cast where these prevail, and against them I must provide. In the suc- 

 cess of a very large proportion of the sorts I have had under trial, I confess I 

 have been disappointed. They are not adapted to open culture in New Eng- 

 land or the Northern States. You may set a vineyard with such ; but you had 

 better omit the purchase of your wine-press till after harvest. It is my honest 

 conviction that there are scarcely half a dozen good varieties of the grape now 

 cultivated, hardy and early enough for New England, or a climate correspond- 

 ing or which will yield the grower in such locahties an average of four pounds 

 of ripe grapes each year for every vine, taking ten years together. And this 



