AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 411 



" The man wlio removed them does garden work for me, and he said all 

 that he reset, he cut off the quince stock, and he told it as quite an import- 

 ant fact. These trees were fastened firm to a stake when first set out, and 

 the graft was not an inch under ground, in many cases, he said, just on a 

 level with it." 



NATIVE FLOWERS. 



She also inclosed some seeds of native flowers, two varieties : Penste- 

 mon and some of the Dodecatheon media, (the American cowslip). " The 

 latter," she says, "some one ought to have, who has a green-house, for if 

 carefully managed, each seed will make a plant." 



The Penstemons are very showy perennials, blooming the second year 

 from seed, sending up tall spikes from handsome flowers. The foliage is 

 very glossy and handsome. These plants can be propagated from cuttings. 



A PREMIUM LIST. 



Judge Meigs read the following from Bulletin Manuel de la Societe Im- 

 periale Zoologique D'Acclimatation, Paris : 



List of Premiums for 1860, /or establishing the Alpaca on the Mo2int ains 



of Europe or Algeria. 



Francs. 



Three males and nine females, at least, a medal worth 2,000 



For the Hemione, a medal worth. 1,000 



Kangaroo (raacropius gigantus), a medal worth 1,000 



Cassowary of New Holland— Nandou Rhea Americanus, 1,500 



Great Bustard (Otis tarda), a medal worth 1,000 



Any new game bird, a medal worth 500 



Any useful fish (of brackish water), a medal worth 500 



A new silkworm, a medal worth 1,000 



Any wax-making insect (other than the bee), a medal worth 500 



New varieties of the Chinese yam — Dioscorea Batatas,. 500 



Quinquina, in south of Europe, or any European colony, 1,000 



Premiums by Meinbers. — Camel (by M. Chagot, sen., a merchant), 



medal 2,000 



FRUIT CULTURE — (CONTINUED). 



Prof. Mapes. — I make my dwarf trees pay the second year after setting, 

 and afterward they give a large profit. I set my trees so as to get roots 

 from the pear stock. I think the quince roots a great advantage at first. 

 One great secret in successful fruit culture is, to keep the bodies clean. I 

 simply wash my trees with caustic soda. Take one pound of common sal 

 soda (bleachers' No. 1 soda) and heat it red-hot, in an old pot, and put it 

 in a gallon of water, and apply it with a brush. It is far superior to any 

 other substance, and will kill every insect, and make the boles perfectly 

 clean. It takes off all old dead bark, and it will destroy the scale insect. 

 To heat it, you may take an old stove-pipe and hammer up one end, and 

 put the sal soda in it, and set it in a hole of the cook-stove, and it will 

 heat hot and expel all the water, and you may then put it at once in the 



