356 Notes and Gleanings. 



In the grounds of the Messrs. Sutton, near Reading, Eng., a hundred and twen- 

 ty-six varieties of the potato were tested the present season. Respecting some 

 of these, this httle extract from " The Gardener's Chronicle " will tell its own 

 story: "The much-vaunted Early Rose was here, very small in produce, and 

 not at all coming up to expectation. Another American variety, the Early Good- 

 rich, was growing alongside the former, — round, smooth, and clean skinned ; and 

 this is about all that can be said in its favor." However well varieties of English 

 origin may succeed at home, I have not yet seen one that could be considered 

 worthy of cultivation in this country ; and, from repeated reports of the failure 

 of our choicest kinds when grown in British soil, it would seem that our foreign 

 friends have just grounds for making a similar statement with reference to those 

 of American production. 



Tlie Windsor Pear. — I am glad to see you have given this miserable, showy 

 pear a good, hard hit. Do mike haste, O ye pomologists ! and supersede it 

 with something better. If there is a man who thinks our bountiful Mother Na- 

 ture has no possibility of any thing better in store for us, I advise him to extend 

 his acquaintance with her just as quickly as he can, and learn the abundance of 

 her resources. Bismarck. 



Effects of a Dry Climate. — California wheat is so dry, that in coming 

 East, through and into a humid atmosphere, it gains greatly in weight by absorp- 

 tion. This is quite an element of profit to the shippers. 



Oranges in Florida. — The Florida orange-growers are gathering their 

 crop, which is a good one. 



Destruction of Orange-Trees. — The orange-trees in Florida were 

 greatly injured by the frost last year ; and now we learn that over ten thousand 

 dollars' worth of orange-trees have been destroyed in Santa-Barbara County, 

 Cal., by recent fires. 



Cypripedia. — I have a letter from a gentleman in Canada, who lives in a 

 region where five of our indigenous species of Cypripedia are found in abun- 

 dance (all but C dra«^/r/^^;«), and who has studied their habits and peculiarities 

 closely, collecting every year hundreds of the plants for distant friends and 

 for his own private garden cultivation ; and from his letter I copy the following 

 extract, thinking it may prove interesting to those of your readers who feel any 

 concern about the Cypripedium family: — 



" It is curious that I have never found one specimen of Cypripedium, of any 

 species, on dry ground, except C. arietimtin. C. acaule grows on hummocks 

 in swamps ; C. spectabile always grows in wet moss or muck, where water 

 always stands ; and C. pjibescens and C. parviflorum grow either amongst 

 tamarack or cedar. I have no doubt that they are distinct. I can tell them 

 apart by their buds. C. pubescens hsiS large roundish pubescent buds; while 

 C. parviflorum has small pointed buds without any sign of pubescence oi 

 down." G. B. W., Jun. 



Trov, N.Y. 



