72 Domestic Notices. 



Boston, was destroyed by fire on the morning of December 6th. The 

 fire took from the wood-work near the smoke-pipe from the furnace, where 

 it runs up through the floor in the centre of the house, and all the timbers 

 under the floor had become half consumed before it was discovered by 

 the gardener, who sleeps in a room below the conservatory. The crack- 

 ling of the fire aroused him from his sleep and he immediately gave the 

 alarm. Horses were despatched for the engines, which soon arrived, and 

 the fire was soon got under. Not a single plant in the house was burnt 

 or scorched, but the great heat, arising from the burning timbers, and the 

 deleterious gases generated, completely baked the plants. In the gallery 

 the wood of tlie passion flowers and other plants was dried to a crisp. In 

 addition to this the night was exceedingly cold (14<^), and the air which 

 rushed in at the places broken in the roof to admit the water (salt water), 

 would alone have nearly ruined the plants, without the assistance of fire. 

 We visited the conservatory the day following the fire, and the fine large 

 camellias and rhododendrons which we had only a short time agfo alluded 

 to when speaking of the new arrangement of the interior (Vol. IX. p. 379), 

 presented a ruinous condition. Early in the autumn Mr. Teschemacher 

 had, with his own hands, top-dressed and repotted all the camellias, and 

 they Avere rapidly recovering, under iiis good management, from a sickly 

 state, just as the fire occurred. On one white camellia we counted 

 hundreds of flowers which were in full beauty the day previous. In this 

 collection was one of the largest plants of the Camelh'a Floyi'i'. All the 

 plants on which Mr. Teschemacher had tried, and was still trying, so many 

 interesting experiments with guano, nitrate of soda, charcoal, &c., were 

 among the rest, entirely lost. — Ed. 



Purchase of the. Latin School House by the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society. — This Society has recently purchased the old Latin School-house 

 in School Street, for the sum of $18,000, possession to be given in June. 

 The Society have already chosen a committee for remodelling or rebuild- 

 ing the same as soon as operations can be commenced. It is the expect- 

 ation of the Society that they will be able to complete the new building 

 so as to hold their annual exhibition in it in September next. The Society 

 is in a flourishing condition, and we are happy to learn that they have se- 

 cured so central and excellent a location. — Ed. 



Rats fond of the Tigridia pavonia (Tiger flower.) — Would it not be well 

 to state that rats are very fond of the bulbs of the Tigridia (Tiger flower) I 

 I pat a quantity of them in my cellar this fall, and on looking over my 

 roots a few days since, I found that the rats had eaten them up entirely. 

 Yotirs, J. M. E., Worcester, Dec. 1843 



Horticultural Society in JVeiv Jersej/. — The amateur horticulturists of 

 New Jersey have lately formed a horticultural society, and organized by 

 the choice of the following officers : — R. S. Field, Esq., Princeton, Pre- 

 sident. Hon. W. Wriofht, Newark, Richard Fetters, Esq., Camden, Chas. 

 Bispham, Esq., Mt. Holly, A. N. Archer, Esq., Burlington, Chas. C. Yard, 

 Esq., Trenton, Roswell Colt, Esq., Patterson, Vice Presidents. Ira B. Un- 

 derbill, Burlington, T^-easurer. William White, Esq. Laurenceville, Cor- 

 respondincr Secretary. W. W. King, Burlington, Recording Secretary. 

 Yours, T. Hancock, Burlington, Dec. 1843. 



Beurre Spence Pear. — Having seen in your Magazine for October, that 

 the Beurre Spence pear has been exhibited before the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society by Mr. Vandine, of Cambridgeport, and it being the 



