80 HORTICULTURE. 



feature whatever, and the annual value of the grapes, even to the 

 markets-gardener, is a very satisfactory interest on the outlay made 

 in the necessary building. 



Now that the point is well settled that the foreign grapes cannot, 

 be successfully grown without the aid of glass, our most enterprising 

 experimentalists are busy with the production of new hybrid varie- 

 ties — ^the product of a cross between the foi-mer and our native vari- 

 eties — which shall give us fine flavor and adaptation to open air 

 culture, and some results lately made public, would lead us to the 

 belief that the desideratum may soon be attained. In the mean 

 time the native grapes, or at least one variety— the Catawba — has 

 taken its rank — ^no longer disputed — as a fine wine grape ; and the 

 hundreds of acres of vineyards which now hne the banks of the 

 Ohio, and the rapid sale of their vintages, show conclusively that we 

 can at least make the finest light wines on this side of the Atlantic. 



In ornamental gardening, many and beautiful are the changes 

 of the last few years. Cottages and villas begin to embroider ihe 

 country in all directions, and the neighborhood of our three or four 

 largest cities begins to vie with the environs of any of the old world 

 capitals in their lovely surroundings of beautiful gardens and grounds. 

 The old and formal style of design, common until within a few years, 

 is almost displaced by a more natural and graceful style of curved 

 lines, and graceful plantations. The taste for ornamental planting 

 has ejctended so largely, that much as the nurseries have increased, 

 they are not able to meet the demand for rare trees and shrubs — 

 especially evergreens— so that hundreds of thousands of fine species 

 are annually imported from abroad; Though by no means so favor- 

 able a climate for lawns as that of England, ours is a far better one 

 for deciduous trees, and our park and pleasure-ground scenery (if 

 we except evergreens) is marked even now by a greater variety of 

 foliage than one easily finds in any other tempetate climate. 



A peculiar feature of what may be called the scenery of orna- 

 mental grounds in this country, at the present moment, is, as we 

 have before remarked, to be found in our rural cemeteries. They 

 vary in size, from a few to three or four hundred acres, and in char- 

 acter, from pretty shrubberies and pleasure-grounds to wild sylvan 

 groves, or superb parks and pleasure-grounds — ^laid out and kept in 



