128 



TRUITS. 



After flowering, the foliage and roots decay, and a bulb or 

 bulbs are formed of the juices of the old plant. A bulb 

 contains all the parts of the future plant, and soon becomes 

 as much disengaged from the decayed parent plant, as the 

 ripe acorn is disengaged from its parent tree. At this time, 

 they may be carried (like many other bulbs) any length 

 of distance in dry moss or dry sand. They should be plant- 

 ed out, about three inches below the surface, in a rich soil, 

 in August or September ; after which they throw out roots, 

 and prepare for an early appearance in the ensuing spring. 

 If the bulbs be kept through the winter, and planted in the 

 spring, they do not thrive that s*eason. The nice varieties 

 should be taken up after the decay of the old plants, every 

 year, air-dried, and kept until September or October, and 

 then planted. 



Venitian sumach, or Fringe tree — PJius cotinus — is a 

 very singular and beautiful tree, which is loaded " during 

 summer with tufts of russet-coloured down, and forms the 

 most singular ornament of the garden." It has been called 

 the smoke tree. Propagated by layers and by suckers. 



Violet, blue, fragrant. — This little plant ( Viola odo- 

 rata) is perennial ; the flowers blue, double and fragrant. 

 It blooms early in the season, and continues in flower for 

 some time. " It is of considerable use in chymical inqui- 

 nes, to detect an acid or an alkali ; the former changing 

 the blue colour to a red, and the latter to a green." It is 

 best propagated by dividing the roots, which spread very 

 much. 



FRUITS. — The following was written for this work, at 

 the request of the compiler, by a distinguished member of 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural Society : — 



Under the titles of each species of fruits, we have 

 treated of their culture, and general character : this article 

 will be devoted, exclusively, to the selection of the most 

 approved sorts of each species of fruits. Nothing can be 

 more annoying, nothing more embarrassing to those, who 

 are desirous of making valuable collections of fruit-trees, 

 without any previous personal experience, than the inter- 

 minable lists, and the indiscrrminate praise bestow ed by 

 nursery men. We blame them not — it is their business 

 and their profit — the greater the variety of new names, 

 the greater the sale. Yet it is true, that of the 150 varie- 

 ties of apples, and the equally great number of pears — of 

 the vast collections of peaches and cherries, there are 

 but a few which are of superior quality, and these few^ 



