I'his is an open department for tli. 

 ence is solicited on any topic of Jiorticultural interest, 

 out, but all will appear in due time. 



use of all interested observers, from whom correspond- 

 Valiiable items are frequently cro'uded 



If I could put my words in song, 



And tell what's there enjoyed, 

 All men would to my garden throng, 



And leave the cities void. 



— Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



The Satsuma Orange Discussion. — I was much 

 interested in the article headed " A Japanese Success," 

 in the May issue of The American Garden. I recog- 

 nized the reputed author as an expert in the "art pre- 

 servative of all arts," but the general tone and apparent 

 authoritative truthfulness of the article led me to suppose 

 the writer had mastered more than one profession, and 

 had invested his profits from one, like many another of 

 our well-to-do citizens, in a Florida orange grove, and 

 was merely recording the results of his experience for 

 the benefit of his fellow men. 



Of course, the precocity of the new candidate and the 

 lucky Florida nurseryman who realized fg a box for his 

 Satsuma oranges (whether one box or a thousand makes 

 no difference!), created in me a desire to get there, too ; 

 so I wrote my agent, a veteran pioneer in the business, 

 to post him in the matter, and found he had been on the 

 alert, having budded trees already growing, and had set 

 more buds only the week before. He further says : "I 

 think its reputed hardiness may make it valuable in the 

 northern portion of the orange belt ; have no trees in 

 bearing, but a neighbor has ; have sampled the fruit and 

 did not see as it was in any way superior in quality to 

 many other oranges. Knew Gen. Van Valkenburg quite 

 well, and have seen the trees which he brought from 

 Japan. Perhaps it would be a good thing to try a row 

 of Satsumas around the margin at the homestead, in 

 place of the lemons. This is the third time they have 

 been cut back and very seriously injured, and I am tired 

 of the fight against Jack Frost. Sorry to give up the 

 lemons, as they grow much finer fruit out there than in 

 the richer hammocks." 



Not having enough Satsumas to do as proposed, I 



wrote to Messrs. , nurserymen, asking if they 



could furnish me a few Satsumas next winter, and their 

 reply is : "All our budded trees in nursery were killed to 

 the ground last March, Satsumas among the rest. " So 

 you see Satsumas are not so very hardy after all ! 



This report settles the question of hardiness, and knocks 

 all the romantic inspiration out of the Japanese Success, 

 so far at least as competition in the orange market from 

 Delaware or any of its intervening states, and even north 

 Florida, is concerned. If any others among your read- 

 ers got the least enthused over the article in question. 



this bit of investigation may prov^ 

 a sedative, and admonish us once 

 more to take all such wonderful 

 announcements c!i?n grano sa/is. The advice of the late 

 Hon. David Crockett, to "be sure you are right before 

 going ahead," is well worth heeding. — E. Williams. 



Satsuma Again. — Almost an ignoramus in regard to 

 oranges, and without any intention of disputing Dr. 

 Phelps' conclusions respecting this Japanese variety on 

 page 431, July Garden, I yet wish to inquire if he refers 

 to the Satsuma as budded on Citris trifoliala stock, or 

 as grown on its own roots. And others may succeed so 

 well that they do want more than a half-dozen Satsumas 

 in their groves ; R. D. Hoyt, of Bay View, had a very 

 profitable crop last season, and it was a photograph of 

 one of his Satsumas on trifoliata stock which was used 

 for making the illustration on page 269, which tree had 

 625 fruits on it — rather more than half a box! Dr. 

 Phelps may be on the wrong tack. — J. H. McF., Penna. 



The Navel Orange. — What is known as the Navel 

 orange is said by dealers to be the queen of oranges. 

 The best growth comes from Southern California, where 

 the raising of this particular orange has recently become 

 a craze. Last season, in San Bernardino valley, 550,- 

 000 trees were planted, and it is expected that before this 

 season is over there will be 1,000,000 in all set out. The 

 genuine fruit commands a high price, and dealers in 

 California produce here in New York say that not many 

 of the real Navel oranges reach this market. The east- 

 ern limit of the supply just now is Chicago, but with 

 the growth of the added trees in the San Bernardino 

 district, there will come plenty of the fruit for New 

 York. Men who are in the orange business, and do not 

 care much for oranges as a rule, say they can not resist 

 the Navel. It has a delicious taste, superior to the 

 " Florida," is more juicy, and seems, in these latitudes, 

 more like ripened fruit when eaten near where it is 

 grown. — Ne'io York Sun. 



Strawberries vs. Grain in California. — A farmer in 

 Tulare county, who had grown poorer for several years 

 on grain raising, on 160 acres, resorted to two acres of 

 strawberries to help him out. Those two acres enabled 

 him to pay his most urgent debts, and also to plant a 

 good orchard. The two together emancipated him from 

 grain slavery and debt. He derives an income of $8oc 

 an acre from those strawberries. — Merced E.xpress, Cali- 

 fornia. 



English Walnut in California. — Don Bernardo Guir- 

 ado, one of the most sagacious of our country merchants, 



