254 Editors' Ltttcr-Box. 



R. W., Troy, N.Y. — It would not be safe for you to leave Yucca gloriosa out 

 of doors during the winter. Any protection you could give would probably 

 prove insufficient. This plant is, however, very easily managed. We take ours 

 up in October, pot them, and store in a light frost-proof cellar, giving during the 

 winter only enough water to keep the soil from becoming dust-dry. In spring, 

 turn the plants into the ground. Yucca aloefolia requires the same treatment. 

 The variegated-leaved variety should, however, be kept in the parlor or green- 

 house, as the colors are impaired if kept in the cellar. Y. quadricolor, a very 

 beautiful plant, also requires light in winter; but Y. glaucescens, longi/olia, and 

 recurva do well with us with cellar treatment. 



Idem. — We should be much pleased to receive a paper from you upon the 

 Campanula. We fully appreciate the beauty of the genus, and have it on our 

 list to appear among our illustrated articles. Too much cannot be written upon 

 the subject ; and, where all the species are so beautiful, it is difficult to choose 

 for cultivation. 



E. A. L., Williamsville, N.Y. — The care of gold-fish is not exactly in our 

 line ; but we have obtained from one of the best ichthyologists in the country 

 the following facts : The gold-fish will live without being fed, deriving its food 

 from infusoria in t!ie water; and it is constantly straining these minute animal- 

 cules from it. Of course, the oftener the water is changed, the greater will be 

 the supply of infusoria. The frequency of changing the water will depend some- 

 what on the size of the globe. Whenever the fish comes to the surface to 

 breathe, you may know that the supply of air in the water is exhausted, and it 

 should be changed at once ; or, rather, it must be changed so often that this will 

 never happen. Fish will thrive better if fed ; and the best way of feeding is to 

 suspend a piece of raw meat in the water by a string, so that they can suck it. 

 They may also be fed with crumbs of bread, bits of earth-worms, or flies, or other 

 insects. We have often seen them come to the surface of the water, and take a 

 fly which had been thrown to them. The quantity of excrementitious matter 

 discharged will be much greater if fed ; and it should, of course, be removed. 

 Any kind of small fish, such as minnows, shiners, or chub, may be placed with 

 the gold-fish ; but bream or pickerel would destroy the gold-fish. 



J S., Schenectady, N.Y. — The excrescences on the leaves are galls, 

 caused by a minute white insect on the under-side of the leaf; but we are unable 

 to determine its name. These galls have been afterwards attacked on the 

 upper-side by a fungus, a species of sphaeronema. We cannot at present suggest 

 any remedy, and very probably the injury will not recur another year. 



My grapes are rotting badly this season. Concord, about one-third rotted ; 

 Isabella has been exempt; Rogers's No. i, Hattie, Delaware, Cassady, 

 Diana, and Mary Ann, slightly affected. Some of my vines have blighted on 

 the extreme ends. We have a fine crop of apples ; seedling peaches, heavy crop ; 

 grafted peaches, light. E. W. B. 



Lexington, Mo. 



