98 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



of our hardy grapes, such as the Concord, 

 and is found very generally distributed 

 to the eastward of the Alleghanies ; 

 while the Riparia family, to which it is 

 related on the paternal side, is found 

 extending from the Province of Quebec 

 to where the mercury freezes in the 

 North-West. 



Mr. J. B. "Waldo, who has watched 

 this grape for some time, on the grounds 

 of Mr. Ricketts, before it was sold to the 

 present propi'ietors, says that he has 

 seen many clusters of it larger and finer 

 than the one represented in our colored 

 plate. Fruit picked on the second of 

 September, 1884, was exhibited at the 

 Ohio State Fair, and carried off the 

 highest premium for the best new seed- 

 ling grape. 



We regret that we are unable to 

 speak from personal observation of 

 the qualities of this very handsome 

 fruit and of the behavior of the vine, 

 but from our acquaintance with the 

 Messrs. Pratt, we have every confidence 

 in their statements, and believe that 

 they will be found to be fully substan- 

 tiated by the grape in the hands of 

 those pui'chasers who will give it pro- 

 per treatment. 



READ THIS 



SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. 



To any one sending me fifteen new 

 subscribers to the Canadian Horticul- 

 turist, I will send by express a Magni- 

 ficent Art Book, entitled the FLO- 

 RAL KINGDOM. It describes more 

 than 300 of our wild and cultivated 

 plants, a full page being given to each 

 plant ; tells the common and scientific 

 name, the natural order or family to 



which it belongs, the language, die. It 

 contains over 200 illustrations, and 

 450 pages. This superb volume is 9 

 by 11 inches, and weighs nearly five 

 pounds. It is splendidly bound, with 

 full gilt and jet ornaments ; is gilt 

 edged, and will make a most beautiful 

 and instructive parlor volume. Cash 

 price, .$5. On receipt of either five 

 dollars in cash or fifteen new subscri- 

 bers and fifteen dollars, I will deliver 

 it at the express office here to the ad- 

 dress of any person ordering this beau- 

 tiful book. 



D. W. BEADLE, Editor. 



EASY LESSONS IN BOTANY. 



BY H. B. SPOTTON, BARRIE. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The love of ffowers is universal. To 

 children especially flowers are a never- 

 failing source of innocent pleasure. At 

 this season, when winter is drawing to 

 its close, there ai-e few who do not look 

 forward with delight to the spring 

 ramble in search of the early Hepatica 

 and Spring Beauty and Dog's-tooth 

 Violet — those impatient and venture- 

 some harbingers which follow so close 

 upon the retreating footsteps of the 

 frost-king. Even while the snow still 

 lurks in hidden hollows, the pale Hepa^ 

 tica emerges from its woolly sheath and 

 sweetens the air with its mild fragrance, 

 and the Spi'ing Beauty erects its cluster 

 of purple bells to relieve the sober 

 brown of the forest's leafy floor. And 

 the interest attending the apjjearance of 

 these firs1>comers is not diminished, but 

 rather increased, as spring ripens into 

 summer, and the wealth of our meadows 

 and woods and water-margins is put 

 forth in unceasing variety of odor and 

 color and form. 



This universal love of flowers is in 

 itself a desirable thing — a thing to be 

 encouraged for the sake of the refining 

 influence insensibly exerted by it. 



