211 



ment came near being defeated by tlie mice, as I 

 covered the trees with cedar boughs, which afforded 

 them a very nice refuge in winter, the trees were 

 very much injured by them. 



" Now, knowing that you must be frequently be- 

 set by correspondents who spin long yarns needless- 

 ly, I owe you an apology for this long epistle, but 

 relying on your patience and courtesj^ I feel confi- 

 dent that you will excuse me," 



[We do not object to long inquiries. Like to 

 have them. It guides us as to what our fiiends 

 want to know. In tubs peaches do as well on peach 

 as on plums. A yello v, si.kly leaf, but not tJve 

 yellows, comes on peaches worked on the Mi/roba- 

 laa plum, not on others.] 



Subscribing to the Gardener's Monthly.— 

 Many prefer to commence their subscriptions from 

 July instead of in January, and we hope our friends 

 will do what they can to introduce the magazine to 

 the notice of their friends who have not subscribed. 

 We believe every horticulturist of note in the lani 

 already subscribes for it, — but there arealwa3S new 

 horticulturists coming "nto the circle, and these we 

 like to gather in wdth the rest of our leaders. 



The Montldy has taken no factitious means to 

 extend its circuifition. This could be made to rep- 

 resent an astonishing figure if we were to send to 

 numbers who would never pay and never read, ai;d 

 thus be of no use to either publisher or advertiser. 

 The Mo}dhhj is sent to no one who does not pay for 

 it in advance. This is the great secret why the 

 Monthly is so profitable to those who advertise in 

 it. It is sustained by genuine horticulturists, all 

 of whom are buyers ; and we have no bad debts 

 which must be made up by increased rate in adver- 

 tising. 



Hence, we can afford to give our readers as much 

 reading matter for two dollars a year as others do 

 for three, and the advertisers' bills are moderate io 

 proportion. 



As the season of fairs and exhibitions is approach- 

 ing we hope our friends will take the opportunity 

 to speak a word for us. 



Forget-me-not— i?. B. PhiladeJpMa.— The 

 specimen you send, bought in the market for " For- 

 get-nie-not," is Polemonium reptans^ or Creeping 

 Valerian, a native plant. The Forget-me-not of 

 poetry is Myosotis palustn's, which is a native of 

 the continent of Europe, — Italy chiefly, and spar- 

 ingly io England, and is nowhere naturalized in 

 this country. Our ¥7lld kind is M. lax'i, which is 

 also common in England, The true Forget-me-not 



blooms all the spring and summer in a moist and 

 partially shaded place, and is a beautiful ornament 

 to the garden. 



Names 0¥ Plants.— Some sneak thief walked 

 out of our office with the editor's coat — not much 

 matter to the reader, except that a bundle of " in- 

 quiries" was in one pocket, put aside for examina- 

 tion after sorting the mail. If any one do not 

 find replies, ^vill they please write again. A Vir- 

 ginia corresp ndent had some plants for name, of 

 which we only remember that the orange flowered 

 one was Li.thospernmm hlrsntnm^ and the aster - 

 like ^ower JEn'geroR belUdifob.mn. Correspondents 

 should send better specimens for name — half an 

 inch, or portions of Sowers or leaves are difficult to 

 determine. 



The American Grape Culture : Peter B. Mead. 

 Published by the Harpers, New York. Phil- 

 adjlphia: J. B. Lippiiicott & Co, 



The interest in the culture of American grapes 

 has wholly developed itself within the last fifty 

 years. Since then, more works have been written on it 

 than on any other branch of fruit culture. Johnson 

 of New J-rsey, now sixty years ago was the first 

 we believe to write on the subject; but it was not 

 until 1828, when Major xldlum's treatise appeared, 

 that what we may call modern grape culture dates 

 itself. Spooner's book twenty years later did good 

 service, but io '56 and '58 when Chorlton, Keemelin, 

 and Allen's books appeared, that which i^ called the 

 "Grape Fever" properly began. Then every one 

 r^jshed to plant a vine, and there has been no abate- 

 ment of interest in the matter from that tim i to 

 now. Phin, Strong, and Fuller, have all had an 

 use ul influence, and now Mr. Mead follows with 

 the present handsome work, — the most beautiful 

 certainly of all the grape books, and we may say of 

 any Horticultural work from the American pre.-s. 



Of course it is not possible for Mr. Mead to say 

 much that has not already been said on the subject. 

 It has been discussed by Mr. Phin whether a piece 

 of ground that will grow ,i ood corn, will not also 

 bear good grapes. Mr. Mead takes up the argu- 

 ment in the same way, but adds that there are many 

 soils that will not grow good corii,b,it which will bear 

 good grapes, and this litt e illustration will give a 

 good idea of what Mr. M. book is, namely a little 

 farther growth or development of cert liri matttio u. 

 grape culture, than others have reached. 



