115 



genus already described." French Botanists, head- 

 ed by Decaisne, told them the same thing ; and, 

 even in their own leading journal, one, at least, of 

 their Botanists has lightly admitted it; yet it is 

 Weliingtonia with them, and always will be. 



For years they have been puzzling themselves 

 over the circumstance that a tree is often killed du- 

 ring a given degree of the thermometer, when, at 

 other times, it escapes entirely unhurt under the 

 same temperature ; and to this day they are discus- 

 sing the influence of "ripe and unripe wood," "dry 

 or wet autumns," and all the other matters long 

 since shown to have but a trifling and incidental 

 bearing on the question. The rest of the world 

 have long since learned the reason why trees die at 

 times under severe cold, is by the evaporation of 

 their moisture iaster than the roots can make good; 

 and that, consequently, when the plant is in a con- 

 dition favorable to the retention of its moisture, — a 

 condition continually varying, — it does not lose its 

 heat (or, in other words, does not freeze to death) 

 HO easily as under other circumstances. 



Again, in our first volume, page 87, in reply to 

 some notes of Mr. Sargent, we showed that the Eng- 

 ligh had confounded two very distinct things, Libo- 

 cedrus decurrens and Thuja gigantea ; yet, to this 

 day, European periodicals confound the two, and 

 we look in vain for any account of Libocedrus de- 

 currens in any first-class English Catalogue. The 

 influence of this stubborn literature is so great on 

 this continent that, notwithstanding our acc .unt of 

 the difl"erences between these two were so clear as 

 to carry conviction to every unprejudiced mind, very 

 few of our Nurserymen, now, are aware of tlie real 

 value of the beautiful and hardy Libocedrus in con- 

 trast with the comparative worthlessness of the 

 I Thuja gigantea, with which ihe English have per- 

 sistently determined to confound it. At length the 

 light seems to aawn upon them, for we find the fol- 

 lowing announcement: 



"The Rev. M. J. Berkeley, ^^ho has been in- 

 vestigating the characters of the trees kno'^'n in nur- 

 sery collections as Thuja gigantea and Thuja Lob- 

 biana, has discovered that what is known by the 

 former name is not Thuja gigantea but Libocedrus 

 decurrens; and that Thuja Lobbiana is the true 

 Thuja gigantea. These facts Mr. Berkeley has as- 

 certained by an examination of Lobb's specimens in 

 the herbarium at Kew." 



As we have said before, it would not be any busi- 

 ness of ours what they believed, or how long it took 

 them to get hold of an idea, if our people would 

 only think more for themselves, and not depend so 

 much for their thoughts on "foreign extracts." A'^ 



it is, it is our duty to caution them that what they 

 read is not all " gospel," but often pernicious here- 

 sies, which have a baneful efi"ect on their successful 

 horticultural operations at home. 



Communications for this department must reach the Editor 

 on or before the 10th of the month. 



jr3^The Editor cannot answer letters for this department pri- 

 vately. 



Peaches from Seed— 7?. R. J. , Raleigh, N. C 

 — "I have sown a bushel of Peach stones, with the 

 intention of planting the seedlings out this summer 

 and budding them in the fall. I have not much ex- ' 

 perience in horticulture, and a friend, who has more 

 than I have, advises that I should set them out and 

 let them bear without grafting. His argument is, 

 that disease in the Peach is from a breach of Na- 

 ture's laws. Nature never grafts, but reproduces 

 from seed ; and trees can only be healthy by a care- 

 ful following of Nature. " 



[Always be careful of men's advice when their 

 chief arguments are "Nature's laws." What is 

 called Nature's law is but the sum total of human 

 experience. As new facts are developed every day, 

 Nature's laws change with them, and "Na- 

 ture's law," to-day, becomes all nonsense to- 

 morrow. Inoculate your Peach trees with healthy 

 buds,and never mind your friend of "Nature's laws. " 

 That is our advice.] 



The Animal and Vegetable World. — An in- 

 teresting writer rem-drks : — "In some of their forms 

 it is puzzling to tell where vegetable life ceases and 

 animal life begins. " 



[The most remarkable fact connected with that 

 truth is, that some forms are animal or vegetable at 

 (lifFerent periods of their existence.] 



Fire Blight. —"Co/;?o" inquires: "What is the 

 nanje of the insect which causes the blight in Pears, 

 and the best means of preventing its ravages?" 



[We do not know what insect he means. As the 

 Pear blight often attacks large limbs, where the 

 indurated bark must be a quarter of an inch thick, 

 it must t;ike a pretty " big bug" to poke his pro- 

 boscis through ; and if our correspondent looks out 

 he must soon see him, and we shall be obliged for a 

 specimen, when he gets one. 



Our belief is, that fire-blight is the result of one 

 of those lively parasitic fungi, the habits of which 

 'WO nnt woll known, but which it is now very well as- 



