1^ 



Cities are overcrowded. The countrj' is not half 

 populated. Where there is one chance of making 

 a competency in town life, there are a dozen from 

 the cultivation of the soil ; and hundreds will take 

 Mr. Henderson's book to the land from the more 

 overcrowded walks' of an 1 man}^ a score of 

 them live to thank the author as the first instigator 

 of their improved circumstances. 



A huge number of new works, issued from the 

 pxcss during the past few years, have been what is 

 popularly known as "rehashes." They tell nothing 

 new; but as old works go out, ne v title-pages are 

 stuck in, or two or three old authors are selected, a 

 few catalogues of some Pomological Societies, and 

 "Loudon " and "Knight," not to say Philip Mil- 

 ler and Abercronibie, thrown together like a lot- 

 tery; and the " new book " is the prize we draw. 

 It is refreshing to read an original book ; and, 

 though some will say that Mr. Henderson tells 

 much that may be found in McMahon's admirable 

 " Gardener's Calender," that is no objection, since, 

 by actual experiment, he has made the teachings 

 of others his own. 



Yet Mr. Henderson is not free from the charge 

 of slighting too much the experience of others. 

 We notice this particularly in regard to the Tilden 

 Tomato, which, he says, "should never have been 

 sent out." No one could object to his saying he 

 had not found it any better than any other, — that 

 might be his own experience ; but no one, who has 

 read the public papers the past year closely, could 

 feel justified in making such a sweeping decision. 

 We published in our paper the first intimation the 

 public received, that the Tilden Tomato had failed 

 to give satisfaction in some quarters. This has 

 brought out innumerable correspondents in, we be- 

 lieve, every agricultural paper in the land, in which 

 the great majority praise it as a great improvement. 

 We have never known any variety of fruit or vege- 

 table meet general approbation ; but in all our edi- 

 torial experience we have never known any thing 

 on which so many persons have recorded them- 

 selves favorably, except, perhaps, Wilson's Straw- 

 berry, Philadelphia Raspberry, or Concord Grape. 

 We cannot think all these people ignorant of what 

 they write. We prefer to think Mr. Henderson's 

 judgment too hasty in this matter. On the other 

 h'and, we think his praises of some varieties too 

 decided ; but as we are looking for his experience in 

 this work, we cannot object much to any partial- 

 ity on this score, on the strength of the old motto, 

 to "speak well of the bridge that carries us safely 

 across the stream." What he has found the best, 

 it is the object of his work to set forth, and it is 

 right for him to recommend. 



Horticultural Annual for 1S67. By Orange 

 Judd& Co., New York. 



We are very glad the publishers have made this 

 attempt to fill a want many of us have long felt. 

 It is very well to fi^el that we are marching along, 

 and that we have gained considerably in our pro- 

 gress along the road to improvement ; but it al- 

 ways chejrs the traveler to see a milestone occa- 

 sionally. The philosopher mwy argue that it makes 

 the road no shorter, but practically it does. So 

 with a good Annual. We stop awhile, and see 

 what has been done, and can go on with fresh 

 vigor. 



This being the first number, it is, of course, an 

 experiment; but we hope the publishers will find 

 it so well encouraged, as to get out another and a 

 better one next year. 



ftpls aiili Pjrp yianh. 



The Botanical Magazine for the months of Sep- 

 tember and October give us representations of the 

 following plants. 



Rhododendron Fortune:, described in our 

 volume for ] 859, is said to be closely allied to the 

 R. Griffithianum ; it has flowered with Mr. Lus- 

 combe, of Kingsbridge, Devon, and proves to have 

 fine trusses of lovely pale rose-colored fragrant 

 flowers. 



Ilex latlfolta, a fine Japanese HoHy, hardy at 

 Kew when trained against a wall, but not flowering 

 there, though bloom in i* freely in a temperate house. 

 The leaves are 6 to 7 inches long, paler than those 

 of common Holly ; the flowers yellow-green, in dense 

 axillary heads, and the berries globose, bright red. 



HuNTLEYA CERINA, a distinct and rather hand- 

 some Orchid from Veragua, a bulbless epiphyte, 

 with one-flowered peduncles much shorter than the 

 the leaves, the flowers of a pale waxy straw-color, 

 the lip large yellow, with a semicircular rufi" of 

 plaited fold at the base of the disk. 



NiERSMBERGiA A^EITCHTT, a pretty little South 

 American herb, of prostrate habit, with slender 

 branching stems, obovate-oblong leaves, and bell 

 shaped pale-lilac flowers having a very slender co- 

 rolla-tube an inch in length ; it was introduced by 

 Messrs. Veitch & Sons from Tucuman. 



Kgempferia Roscoeana, a beautiful-leaved 

 dwarf Scitamineous plant, long since introduced, 

 and probably long since lost to our gardens. It has 

 a pair of orbicular-oblong horizontal leaves, of a 

 bronzy-green, zoned with pale green, and between 



