Retrospective Criticism. 43 



held in the highest estimation by ourselves, as one of the most beautiful, 

 ornamental, and useful fruit-bearing productions in nature. The Shepherdia 

 argentea, or buffalo-berry tree, in our nursery, which was l^ ft. high in 1831, 

 is now 20 ft. high, 29 in. girt at 2 ft. from the ground, and its branches cover 

 a space 28 ft. in diameter ; that is, 14 ft. on each side of the main stock. It 

 is a female plant, and requires the proximity of the male plant ; but the 

 distance is immaterial while the pollen can be communicated by the wind, or 

 conveyed by a peculiar insect, in appearance like the common bee, but only 

 about one quarter the size. It will not mature fruit without the male. The 

 cultivation of it has been extensive. We have disposed of 20,000 plants, and 

 as fast as the male and female characters of the plants could be ascertained 

 by the; blossom buds. The tree is propagated by layering or by seeds ; 

 lately, altogether by seeds. We have recently sold them at 50 cents per 

 plant, formerly much higher. We have not sent any to Europe, but should 

 be disposed to sell a thousand, or thousands, to any person you might recom- 

 mend, to sell upon equal shares, and receive our payment in nursery plants 

 from England : that is, one half of the amount of sales to our credit, to meet 

 our orders as for the amount above stated. Unfortunately we cannot send 

 any fruit this season : we did not take our usual precaution of covering the 

 tree with a net, and those little warblers and depredators, the birds, had taken 

 all the fruit prior to our reception of your favour. Another year, if you 

 desire it, we will send you specimen clusters of the fruit in any way you may 

 prescribe. 



" We enclose two sprigs of the Shepherdza, male and female : the large 

 flowering buds are those of the male, the small ones of the female. The fruit 

 is of the size of the red currant ; a brighter red, richer, and more nutritious. 

 It is a fine eating fruit after the frost has operated upon it. It is also a very 

 superior fruit for jellies, jams, &c. Picture to your imagination a tree con- 

 taining a mass of fruit, the little specimen twig enclosed producing a cluster 

 of liin. in diameter, close and compact, even to hardness ; fancy a large 

 tree thus loaded, every branch and twig, with a bright and shining fruit, and 

 you may form some idea of this unsurpassed and beautiful production from 

 the American Rocky Mountains, discovered, as you must be aware, by that ex- 

 cellent man Nuttall, and named after his intimate friend Mr. Shepherd, for- 

 merly curator of the Liverpool Botanic Garden. 



" We shall be much gratified to hear from you frequently, and by the 

 Liverpool line of steamers for Boston, directed Messrs. J. and F. Winship, 

 Brighton, Mass., U. S. A."— J. and F. Winshij}. Oct. 1. 1842. 



[The specimens sent were of -El^agnus argentea Piirsh, Arb. Brit, and 

 Hort. Soc. Garden ; and it would therefore appear that the iiTippophae 

 argentea is not a synonyme to Shepherdea argentea. Some plants of each 

 sex of the Shepherdza have been ordered by Messrs. Whitley and Osborne of 

 the Fulham Nursery.] 



Art. III. Retrospective Criticism. 



Transplanting large Trees, (p. 387.) — I was much pleased with your opinion 

 on transplanting large trees without any previous preparation of their roots, 

 given in the August Number of the Gardener''s Magazine, p. 387., by thinning 

 out their tops at the time of transplanting, which is perfectly correct, according 

 to my practice. I have been obliged, upon the spur of the moment, and no doubt 

 many other gardeners have been so obliged, to remove trees that had received 

 no previous root-pruning preparation; and I have seldom failed, when a due 

 proportion of the branches and young spray has been cut out at the 

 time of transplanting. The general quantity removed has been one half or 

 more of the head of the tree. This is done, not by cutting out large limbs 

 and mutilating the tree, but by a careful and regular thinning of the whole 



