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make a large succulent growth, and be killed by 

 the winter following. I have a pear, which 1 pro- 

 pagated from a tree growing a few miles from here, 

 which gets ripe in June, about two weeks before 

 any of the June apples. It is a small, yellow, pear- 

 shaped fruit, somewhat like Madeleine, with red next 

 the sun ; flesh a little tough, sweet, with some bit- 

 ter ; young growth of tree large, erect ; bark red ; 

 leaves thick, and shaped somewhat like Doyenne 

 d'Ete, but of a different color. It is not described 

 in Downing's Revised Book of Fi-uits. If itis, he 

 misses the time of ripening a long ways. Have 

 you any idea of the name? It is said it was 

 brought here from Washington City some ten or 

 twelve years ago." 



Greenhouse Glazing and Heating— j?., Chi- 

 cago. — I wish to build a span-root'ed greenhouse, 

 30 by 18, and purpose using 8 by 20 glass, not 

 lapped, but lead-glazed, and soft putty " run in " 

 before closing, — after the fashion of church win- 

 dows ; the lead glazing only where the laps would 

 otherwise be, the glass afterwards tacked and put- 

 tied to the sash-bars in the usual manner ; the roof 

 to be fixed, no running sashes. The object sought 

 is economy in the matter of breakage of glass. 

 Would the plan secure the end aimed at? 



How best had such a house be heated to be able 

 at all times to command a right temperature of 50° 

 to §5° in some portion of it? Cheapness, in the 

 sense of lowness of cost, being a sine qua non, I 

 shall have, to begin matters with, the materials of 

 about 55 feet of old flues and chimney and about 

 60 feet of 11 inch steam-pipe. How would a band 

 3 feet wide and 4 inches deep, all around the house, 

 do? Wood, lined with lead and covered with slate. 

 And if so, what sized boiler would be needed to 

 make all safe? 



Any information on the above, or kindred points, 

 would very much oblige the writer and some others 

 of your readers, equally interested parties. 



[We do not see what our correspondent is going 

 to gain by these leaden joints. Church windows 

 are not exposed to the direct rays of the sun as a 

 greenhouse roof is. The lead will get very soft by 

 the hot summer suns, and we think leakage must 

 ensue when the lead contracts again. Then the 

 lead will be very weak under the circumstances, 

 and, with such wide glass, be very liable to sink 

 some with the weight. 



As to heating, if lowness of cost be a sine qua non, 

 fire-brick flue-pipes are, by all odds, the cheapest, 

 both in first cost and after maintenance. But why 

 should this be the first essential in a house intended 



for pleasure? Nothing is so neat or nice as a hot- 

 water boiler and apparatus in an elegant house. As 

 to how large to get the boiler, it need not be a large 

 one. More depends on how it is "set" than on 

 the size, and also on the number of pipes. That 

 the air can only be warmed by actual contact with 

 a heating surface, the more heating surfaces the 

 better. We do not see that, in your case, a tank 

 would be of any use at all.] 



Mice in the Post Office.— A correspondent 

 complains that mice in the post office ate holes 

 through packages, and destroyed many of his seeds. 



Under the old Mosaic dispensation we find no 

 punishment for these depredators, nor do we know 

 that anything has been decreed against them under 

 the new. At any rate, they seem to have all at 

 once found a good chance to operate. Not only 

 seeds, but bank bills, letters, papers, &c., have dis- 

 appeared all over the country more during the past 

 six months than we have ever heard of before. 

 Cats ought soon to be at a premium. The pub- 

 lisher states that nearly 500 copies of the MonthJy 

 have miscarried during the time named. Where 

 are they ? 



Bad for the Employer.— 7I Gardener, writing 

 about a situation, tells us: — "This situation is get- 

 ting too hot for me, and I have given Mr. no- 

 tice to quit the place." 



It seems to us, if the place is Jiot, our correspond- 

 ent takes things very cool, to tell his employer to 

 leave. Generally it is the gardener who leaves, and 

 not the employer. We expect there will be a warm 

 fight between these two ; and we shall be glad to 

 know, in the end, which one beats. 



Smartweed. — A package of specimens of the 

 horse-fodder a Biiltimore correspondent recently re- 

 commended, has been received ; and we find it is 

 composed of about equal parts of Pohjgonum liy- 

 dropipej' and F . persicaria. The ass has long been 

 a laughing-stock to wiser animals for preferring a 

 thistle to softer food. The ass may now have his 

 turn, when he sees the horse warming his throat on 

 water pepper. There is no gainsaying facts. 



Dwarf Norway Spruce— 0. T. Hohhs, Ran- 

 dolph, Fa. — I enclose you branches of a Dwarf 

 Norway Spruce. The tree is about twelve years 

 old, and is about eighteen inches high, delicate and 

 beautiful. I have also a distinct and improved 

 Balsam Fir. 



[Dwarf Norway Spruces are common in nursery- 



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