certained does not wait for a sick tree to operate on. 

 Unfortunately, we have no fire-blight in our imme- 

 diate neighborhood, so that we are unable to see 

 any cases in the earlier stages of development ; and 

 when we go anywhere else, we never have it pointed 

 out until the deed has been done, and the fungus, 

 if one, died away with the life of the Pear branch.] 



41 



Early Catharine Pear.— 7?. i?., JoUet, Ills., 

 inquires: — "When living in Pennsylvania, many 

 years ago, this was considered one of the best early 

 Pears. I can never find it now in any nursery. How 

 is this? Does it not do well now in Pennsylvania? 



[It does wary well. We do not know any other 

 reason why they are not often in Nurseries, except 

 that customers seldom ask for it. Nurserymen 

 strive to keep what their customers want, and find 

 that that is almost always " something new."] 



Hybridizing Ferns—" Salem , ' ' Mass. — "I read 

 with much interest, and no little surprise, the article 

 on the hybridization of Ferns in your February num- 

 ber, purporting to be the mode of process pursued 

 by a gardener somewhere in Holland. It interested 

 me to find that hybridization was possible : it sur- 

 prised me to find that the union of two species was 

 not by phytona and archegonia, — coriesponding to 

 the fovilla of pollen and to the ovary of higher plants, 

 — but by " a gelatinous mass of diff"erent spores com- 

 mingling at the very moment the spores commence 

 to germinate, and before the pro-embryo has been 

 produced!" And, what is very remarkable, the 

 hardier and native (European) species do not ob- 

 serve this method, "of which the spores always re- 

 produce the same forms" even in the varieties from 

 the original type. 



Being much devoted (lor my amusement and in- 

 struction only) to raising Ferns from the spores, I 

 should be glad to ^comprehend the philosophy of 

 Mr. Stelzner's method, so contrary to sound reason 

 and common sense. I have mixed the spo.*es of 

 several species before sowing, but have never seen 

 or expected a hybrid, — certainly by no means so pe- 

 culiar as he supposes. 



I can imagine that hybridization, or cross-hreeding 

 rather, might occur, if two or more species or kinds 

 of the same genus were in flower at the same mo- 

 ment ; but how the mingling of a gelatinous mass 

 can produce a new form of frond, I am at an utter 

 loss to comprehend. If the first threads which pre- 

 cede the pro-embryo or protothallus, in some Ferns 

 at least, if not in all, should become arrested in de- 

 velopment, and remain an algns or conferva, which 

 they resemble, "commingling of the gelatinous 



mass" or conjugation and njinglingof the chlorophyl 

 would be normal in the production of a propagating 

 spore. But this would be a retrograde motion from 

 a leaf-like, frond-bearing plant to a green slime or 

 conferva, which cannot be the method or result pro- 

 posed. 



Indeed, I have been unpleasantly reminded, in 

 reading the account of the matter, of some crudities I 

 told me years ago, and exciting my organ of wonder j 

 besides challenging my spirit of disbelief : that to ' 

 produce new varieties of Garden Pinks of any re- | 

 quisite color, sew together the roots of any two or 

 more with colored silk, and you will have flowers of 

 the color of the thread employed ; and to change 

 the style of color in Tulips, draw silken threads 

 through the bulbs ! And to obtain black E-oses, graft 

 them on the black currant bush ; and yellow Roses 

 will come of Berberry bushes when budded with 

 the white rose : certainly a mingling of juices if not 

 of "gelatino'js masses." 



Confident, from your writings and articles, Mr. 

 Editor, that you consider the science of botany all- 

 important in the science of horticulture, I beg leave 

 to direct your eye to these points among others, 

 and Ci. lighten me as to the modus operandi -pro- 

 posed, will confer a lasting favor on one who reads 

 the Monthly with profit, and who would be a Fdico- 

 cnlfnn'st.'' 



[AVhatever appears in our "Foreign Intelligence" 

 we give, of course, as mere "information," that our 

 readers may understand the status of Horticultural 

 literature in other parts of the world. Manv of the 

 ide<ts we no doubt often dissent from, but this we 

 endeavor to maintain in other departments of the 

 journal. The importance which has been given to 

 this pape»- by the best European journals, seems to 

 indicate that it is as far as the knowledge of Fern 

 hybridization has reached there. 



It is, as our correspondent shows, any thing but 

 clear. We think the German Botanists are a long 

 way ahead of the English in the knowledge of this 

 interesting matter, and we will endeavor to have 

 some translations made for our next issue.] 



Farming an Orchard. — C. E. R. enquires:— 

 1. "Will it injure a young orchard (set out lastfall) 

 to plant a crop of oats on the ground occupied by 

 the trees? 



1. Will it be injurious to plant said crop of oats 

 if a space of three feet clear be left around each 

 tree." 



[ (1) There is no objection to sowing the oats, if 

 kept clear of the trees. 



(2) We should sow the oats close up to the trees, 



-^1 



