216 



tion, for it has been nearly fifteen years in tliis coun- 

 try, and was we think first introduced by the Feast's 

 of Baltimore, about that time. 



There is another plant, allied to this, Stauntonia 

 latifolia, often met with in greenhouses, which, 

 coming from the same place, might prove hardy if 

 tried out. 



if 



Hermaphrodite aucubas— We have long since 

 noticed the introduction from Japan of a male plant 

 of the Aucuba japonica, and the coLsequent produc- 

 tion of plant- bearing fruit in this country. Pre- 

 viously we had only plants bearing female blossoms. 

 Mr. Stand iijh, promptly taking advantage of the 

 production of fruit, has raised seedlings, and with 

 more than expected success, for one of them exhib- 

 ited at the Royal Horticultural Society produced 

 hermaphrodite flow rs — that is each flower had sta- 

 mens and pistil. Many naturalists consider that 

 when either set of organs is not developed in a flow- 

 er, yet the rudiments of that set exist, and only 

 require some particular mode of cultiv i tion for their 

 develo])ment. — Cottage Gardener. 



^oniFsfir InfpfligrarF, 



Death op Hon. Isaac Inewton, Commission- 

 er OP Agriculture. — This our readers have been 

 advised ot by the daily papers. Mr. N. was ap- 

 pointed from Philadelphia, where he kept a popu- 

 lar ice cream saloon, and had a farm near the city. 

 Mr. Newton was not distinguished by superior edu- 

 cation, and we, in common with the press generally, 

 have often felt free to critiei,-e his short-comings in 

 this respect, — but we never joined in the clamor for 

 his removal, because we have never had any expec- 

 tation that in a country like ours, government in- 

 stitutions of this character can ever be equal in 

 value to individual enterprise, ar.d consequently 

 such institutions can never get first-class men to oc- 

 cupy them. 



Mr. Newton was a much more honest man than 

 many of the regular politicians, and a man of great 

 energy; and we believe made the department quite 

 as useful as it was capable of, and as it would be 

 under many of those who thought he ought to be 

 put out and be them.selves put into his situation. 



' good ' in quality. It is as hale and hearty as ever. 

 At Cahokia are some trees estimated at 120 years, 

 forty to fifty feet high, with a trunk 3 feet in dia- 

 meter. They produce from 15 to 20 bushels each of 

 a fruit said to rival Seckel. It has been dissemina- 

 ted as the Cahokia Seedling. — W. C. Flagg, in 

 Boston Journal of Horticulture. 



Old Pear Trees on the Mississippi.— On the 

 " American Bottom, " opposite St. Louis, are Pear 

 trees estimated to be 70 or 80 years old, and proba- 

 b y of French origin. One resemble^ the Bartlett 

 in outline and color, and ripens in August, but only 



Trees and Fruits in Kansas.— A correspon- 

 dent in Iowa Homestead says : " Ottawa, the coun- 

 ty seat of Franklin, is a handsome village of about 

 twelve hundred inhabitants. It is sit'jated on the 

 south bank of the Marias des Cygnes, (pronounced 

 Meri de Sene. ) The lands are those of the Ottawa 

 Indians. They are civilized, and their lands have 

 only been open for white settlers two j^ears. These 

 Indians have donated fifty thousand acres of their 

 best land to build a University. One wing of the 

 building is nearly completed — a handsome, cut- 

 stone edifice. On the reserve, which is twelve 

 miles square, are a few old seedling orchards plant- 

 ed by the Indians many years ago, and the most of 

 the tree^ are scarred by prairie fires. The settlers 

 now opening farms are putting out trees. Outside 

 of the reserve there are some young orchards that 

 look promising. Peaches are raised here, but are 

 not a certain ero[> every j^ear. This fall I saw a 

 few specimens that were really nice, — George 4th, 

 Old Mixon Cling and Melocoton. Nineteen of 

 those raised, however, are seedlings. 



"Grapes are said to do well. Concord, Del 

 ware, Clinton, Norton's Virginia, Isabella and Ca- 

 tawba are principally raised. Concord is the most 

 popular, 



" There is the greatest variety of soil and expo- 

 sures in this country. Hills of sandstone. Hills of 

 limestone. Hills of all shapes, and bottom lands 

 rich in alluvial deposits. Bottoms salty, alkaline 

 lands they are called. W here countless herds of 

 buffalo, in generations back, have trodden all the 

 life out of the soil. Scanty herbage and the cactus 

 mark the buffalo tramps. Great efforts are being 

 made to encourage and induce tree planting in 

 Kansas. An act of her legislature pays $2.00 per 

 acre for twenty-five years to the planter of groves." 



! 1 



The Santa Barbara Grape-vine, &c., &c.— 

 In the spring of 1860 I had occasion to visit Santa 

 Barbara, and went to M ^ntecito. According to the 

 statements then made to me by parties of undoubt 

 ed veracity, the yield, per annum^ was set down at 

 10,000 pounds of grapes, from which 1000 gallons 

 of wine could have been produced— ten pounds of 

 grapes of the same variety, and identical in quahty, 



