1 851 THE PHILADELPHIA FLOPJSf. 313 



\£) And, above all, when you see other gardeners doing their best, and % { 



O showing what they have of plants^ because they have more energy cj 



than you, don't stand by and disparage their work and sneer at it, but 



go to work like men and beat it if ydil can; and then like men also', 



you will be satisfied with your victory, and will not plume yourself 



upon an advantage gained over one of less skill. 



We have good gardeners here ; We say it willingly, for We are 

 proud of them, and are friendly to those who have come among us to 

 gain their livelihood by the exercise of the skill which they have ac- 

 quired in the establishments of their native countries; but we want 

 deeds, not boasiing — and we want to see Philadelphia, New York, 

 Boston, Baltimore and Albany coming up to the work, and compet- 

 ing for the prize of skill. Let us see in the coming year what can be 

 done in this matter, and we will have fair reports of all that will be 

 exhibited at the principal points of the country. And if, as we hope, 

 the men for whose benefit prizes at horticultural exhibitions are offer- 

 ed, come up to the work and show what they know, we shall have 

 no more talk of ''Paddies" from any country; \J 



The last received "Gardener's Chronicle," (Nov. 20,) contains se- 

 veral articles of interest. First — a notice of an introduction by M. 

 Lamare-Picquot, who was sent out by the French government about 

 six years ago to procure some of the dried fruits used by the Indians 

 of North America as a substitute for the Potato, which was then threat- 

 ened with extermination. He procured a leguminous plant, with tu- 

 berous roots, which turned out to be the Pso ralea escuienta. M. La- 

 mare-P. modestly gave it the name of the Picquotiane. 



Analysis proved it to abound in farinaceous matter; and in its na- 

 tive state it was very hardy, and not affected either by wet or long 

 dryness. But the experiments of the French cultivators have not pro- 

 ved successful, [t cannot be multiplied to advantage by tubers, nor 

 in an agricultural way by cuttings, so that the only way of increasing 

 is by seed ; but here we are stopped by the fact that but a small pro- 

 portion of the cultivated plants produce seed. The editor of the 

 "Chronicle" however, is of opinion that in the hands of experienced 

 gardeners it may succeed. 



Signor Gasparrini, Professor of Botany, at Naples, is anxious to 

 sell his herbarium of Phanerogamous and Croytogamous plants, con- 

 taining about 8000 species, arranged according to the natural system. 

 The price asked is somewhat more than eight hundred dollars. 



Mr. Fortune contributes a notice of one of his introductions, the 

 r \ Skimmia japonica, a hardy evergreen dwarf bush, with handsome p 

 {£ bright red berries. To this gentleman We owe the introduction ofG\ 



