f 



156 THE PHILADELPHIA FLORIST. [Sept'r. 



the open border, should be sown on a little patch of sand, or very r» 

 sandy soil prepared for the purpose. Mr. Bisset, who is generally sue- ^r 

 cessful in this department, treats his so ; he does not make a deep hole 

 with his finger and bury the small seeds, but scatters them thinly over 

 this prepared spot of sand, where they seldom fail to vegetate. The 

 sand also attracts moisture and retains it ; does not become baked into 

 hard masses after rain, but serves as a fair .medium for germination. — 

 We hope to see many of the commonly sown annuals rejected at an 

 early date from seed catalogues ; they only serve to confuse the ama- 

 teur. 



United States Agricultural Society. 



117 s " This newly organized Society has at length published ajournal 

 of its proceedings — a bulky affair, and presented gratis. We begin to 

 tremble for the small practical sheets at $2 and $1 per an. which are 

 now in competition with this formidable document. We are favored 

 by a friend, with the perusal of No. 1., for August, of the Journal of 

 the United States Agricultural Society; and of course look for some- 

 thing extra from the centre of this great Confederacy. Nothing prac- 

 tical is there — pardon so small a journal as ours, for sitting in judg- 

 ment on the celebrities who have issued the Journal, raised as they are 

 to a high platform which we never may reach. Jn fact, they may 

 sweep us off the carpet by the power of centralization. 



Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. 



The report of the stated meeting of July we were obliged to cur- 

 tail. Amongst the objects exhibited on that occasion, which were not 

 enumerated last month, were a plant of Zauschneria Californica, by 

 Wm. Mcintosh, foreman to K. Buist, Rosedale ; Apples and Peaches 

 by John Perkins ; Pears and Gooseberries from Isaac B. Baxter; five 

 varieties of Cherries and one of Plums, from Mrs. J. B. Smith ; and 

 white Currants from the garden of Miss Gratz. 



The President having taken the chair and the meeting being called 

 to order, reports of committees read, &c, &c, notice of a motion was 

 handed in by Dr. W. D. Brinkle to alter a standing by-law regulat- 

 ing the payment of members. A motion was offered by the same 

 gentleman for the appointment of fifteen delegates from the Society to 

 the Fruit Congress to meet at Philadelphia September 13th, carried. 

 The President stated, that as he had not made himself familiar with 

 the members, he would request two days leisure to make a selection. 

 A report was called for from the delegation to the Agricultural Con- 

 vention at Washington. Thomas Hancock, the only member of the 

 delegation who had attended there, then in the hall, stated that he was 

 excluded from the delegation representing Pennsylvania, being a New 

 Jersey delegate. C. B. .Rogers had presented his certificate, but made 

 no report. Mr. Hancock informed the Society of the result of the 

 ^Convention. The President requested that the Society would excuse 



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