108 



whole will root, and that, too, with buds but slight- 

 ly developed. If they were Grape vines, instead of 

 Roses, all or nearly all would form white roots with 

 buds dormant, when kept at this low temperature. — 

 These are facts, incontrovertible facts, that any one 

 may have ocular evidence of by a visit to my "glass 

 pens." Whether I might have had the offer of 

 "munificent sums" for the secret, like Mr. Barnett 

 has, I know not, for I have not dealt much in the 

 article. 



Look out, Mr. Barnett, or I am afraid you will 

 not be able to take rank with your "once fellow 

 townsmen, Whitney and Goodj^ear,"— the great 

 "disco v^erers," — those to whom you say I am in- 

 debted lor my shirts and shoes. 



The clouds are lowering ! " The immutable laws 

 of physiology and chemistry" are just as certain in 

 the "glass pens" at South Bergen, as in the secret 

 crypt of that "one-horse town" in the Nutmeg 

 State. Be rapid in your movements: do not even 

 limit your supply to one million, or even ten mil- 

 lions, for you know not the day nor the hour when, 

 like Othello, your occupation wi 1 be gone. 



NOTES ON J. E. J.'s REMARKS ON GERA- 

 NIUMS, IN THE JANUARY NUMBER. 



BY J. M. 



On perusing the instructive chapter by J. E. J., 

 in the January No., on the above subject, which, in 

 the main, I quite agree with, T could not, how- 

 ever, coincide with him when speaking of scarlets; 

 he says, " with but few exceptions the other shades 

 of color fail to satisfy out-of-doors. Christine, a 

 most excellent pink, does tolerably well, but the 

 Salmons, — white, rose and pink shades, — usually 

 bloom shyly and poorly in beds and borders." 



I agree with him in regard to Christine ; it is but 

 an indifferent grower but blooms well : but nothing 

 in the way of Scarlets could surpass a bed of the 

 beautiful pink, " Helen Lindsay ;" its growth and 

 flowers were all that could be desired. It was, truly, 

 a splendid bed. 



"Clara," another of the pink colored ones, to- 

 gether with "Beaute de Suresne," grew finely, but 

 the latter named, I thought, somewhat shy of bloom 

 although as the plants of it were small, and it being 

 my first season with it, I cannot say that it is char- 

 acteristic. 



Of the Salmon and Rose shades, in which might 

 be placed "Rosamond" and '*Countess of Guada," I 

 found them to be all that could be desired. " Col. 

 Harcourt" and "General Scott," the former a well- 

 known Salmon, are unequaled out-of-doors. With 

 Whites I confess to have failed in getting them to 



flower well. "Lad" seems to be about the best 

 with me, though not a pure white. 



Of Rose shades, "Hector" and "President King" 

 would, I think, satisfy any one as to their capabili- 

 ties to cope with the Scarlets. 



I should have no fear of their not doing well if 

 planting out some of almost every color to be found 

 amongst them. 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 



BY HORTICOLA, 



To be intelligible, I follow the custom generally 

 adopted in this country, of calling the Sparrow in 

 question also the .English Sparrow, although no 

 yame could be less appropriate and correct. The 

 bird is exceedingly common all over Europe, the 

 temperate and colder parts of Asia, and the north- 

 ern part of Africa : for the slight variations which 

 the Italian and Spanish Sparrow show can hardly 

 be considered as constituting a variety, certainly not 

 a species. The Sparrow is the Fringilla domesticn^ 

 Lin., Pt/rgite domestica., Cuv. In Germany it is 

 called Home Sparrow, because it is always found 

 about houses in villages and cities. 



There is another species of the Sparrow tribe, 

 the Jield Sparrow, — Fringilla or Pyrgite montana, 

 — closely allied to the house Sparrow, and also very 

 common. 



In the male and female of the house Sparrow 

 there is a difference of color, — the female being 

 gray all over, and the male having the crown of the 

 head bluish-gray. The male and female of the 

 field Sparrow are alike in color, the crown of the 

 head being of a brownish-copper. While the house 

 Sparrow builds its nest under the roofs and eaves of 

 of houses, the field Sparrow selects hollow trees. 

 Both have the same habits. 



The house Sparrow is very common in the city of 

 Hoboken, as well as in Jersey City, N. J. Should 

 it be true, what has been asserted, that Sparrows 

 were imported to keep the noxious insets in the 

 Central Park in check, a mistake was made in the 

 choice of the species. The Field Sparrows would 

 have remained in the Central Park, but not the house 

 Sparrows, which are, even on the Continent, want- 

 ing in villages surrounded by large forests. 



I do not intend to write the Natural History of so 

 common a bird, but to contribute my mite to the 

 solution of the question, still agitated in Europe and 

 in this country, whether it is useful in destroying in- 

 sects, or detrimental by devouring grain, berries, &c. 



First, we will turn our attention to some well au- 

 thenticated facts. 



Frederick the Great, being annoyed at seeing 



