Critique on the November Number. — Treat7nent of the American 

 Grape -Vine. — "American grapes, like American genius, do not like to be 

 trammelled," was a characteristic remark of the late William R. Prince at one 

 of the meetings of the American Pomological Society ; and our cultivators are 

 beginning to find out the absurdity of keeping grape-vines in the space of cur- 

 rant-bushes because it is done in European vineyards. I have had an Elsing- 

 burgh vine, with a space of eight feet wide and as much in height allotted 

 to it, — a pretty reasonable amount of room, as I thouglit ; but, so long as 

 confined to that space, it produces plenty of wood, but never a berry. Let it 

 run at its own sweet will, however, climbing over all the neighboring trees, 

 and then the clusters hang thickly as grapes can hang on a vine. But I 

 must confess to a feeling of pain when I see such a quantity of young shoots 

 and leaves pruned off a vine as must be under Mr. Byington's system ; and I 

 don't quite see why removing it in June should not destroy the balance between 

 root and vine just as much as if the same canes, without the summer growth, 

 had been removed in November. But, anyway, Mr. Underhill's article is not 

 only a capital one in itself, but will have an excellent effect in promoting discus- 

 sion of the new doctrines he puts forth ; and is alone worth the price of a year's 

 subscription. 



A Chapter on Everlasting Flowers. — The Golden Eternal Flower is an old 

 friend of my youth ; and now Mr. Breck introduces us again to it and all its re- 

 lations. He has chosen a good time, just as the shades of winter are gathering 

 round us, to present us with his bouquet of " immortelles " to cheer us during 

 all the storms that will darken the sky before the snow-drops bloom. His re- 

 mark, that he sees no reason why our native everlastings might not be colored 



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