U THE FLORIST AND 



Collections of six Primula sinensis, by B. Gulliss, Isaac Collins, gr. to : 

 Gen. Patterson, T. Megrahn, gr. to R. Cornelius, and others. 



Philadelphia Botanical Association.— At the close of the course of 

 lectures on Botany, by Dr. A. L. Kennedy, alluded to in a former number, 

 about twenty ladies and gentlemen, members of the class, organized them- 

 selves into a society for the mutual study of the science during the floral sea- 

 son. Officers were elected, a constitution adopted, and regular meetings 

 provided for, which are held on Monday evenings, at the convenient room 

 over No. 44 North Eighth street below Arch. The society is composed of 

 amateurs, who, by the formation of a herbarium of indigenous plants and 

 other means, propose to provide for themselves the best facilities for acquir- 

 ing a knowledge of this attractive science. 



There is a great deal in the following remarks of a private cor- 

 respondent in the matter of exhibitions : 



" There is nothing which requires the pruning knife of reform more than 

 these — -not in a captious manner, * * * but with judgment and indepen- 

 dence. 



There is no other means by which a taste for plants is fostered so much as 

 by exhibitions of well grown specimens in flower — not in simply filling a 

 room with plants more or less valuable, which comparatively very few can 

 appreciate — -but with specimens which show the untiring skill and patience 

 of the gardener, and which strike the beholder as something worthy his ad- 

 miration, and excite in him a desire of possessing a similar object. 



In this way the interest of all is promoted — the tradesman by the increas- 

 ed demand for his articles — the amateur, by having superior flowers, fruits,, 

 and vegetables ; and the gardener, by a proportionate demand and reward 

 for his services. 



Do try and impress upon the horticultural public, that because a man pre- 

 sents a plant or plants, he is not entitled to a prize, without any regard to' 

 their" evincing any skill in their culture; and that such are not the purposes- 

 for which prizes are awarded." 



The" annual meeting of the National Agricultural Society has just taken ; 

 place. A large proportion of the States were represented. The Hon. Mar- 

 shal P. Wilder delivered an address, of which we have received a copy. Of 

 Prof. Booth's paper on the " Chemical Analyses of Soils," the correspondent 

 of the German-town Telegraph says: — "The doubts and suspicions which it 

 casts over the high-sounding professions of some of our modern philosophers 

 created quite a stir. This essay., the property of the Philadelphia Agricul- 

 tural Society y will, when committed to print, do some good, and must prove 

 a wholesome ^admonition to empyricism." With which we agree entirely. 

 The formation of an Agricultural Department by the government was re- 

 commended. 



