rural improvements. Planters and designers should 

 go and see them before they mature their delibera- 

 tions about arboral embellishments for best eiiect ; 

 for they will, ere long, make a revolution in the 

 decorations of the grounds in ornamental gardening. 

 A few species may be set out every year upon old, 

 established grounds, that they may keep pace with 

 the progress of time. Here are a few of the names 

 we wrote down : Bnxus, Fortunii and rosmarinifo- 

 lius ; Cedrus Africana ; Cephdotaxiis, Fortunii, 

 japonica and drupacea ; Cupressiis, Lawsoniana and 

 funebris ; Juniperus^ phoenicea and oblonga ; Liho- 

 cedrvs decurrens Reflnospora anifolia, Thvja, 

 cristata and Lobbii ; Taxits, Dovastonii and varie- 

 gata anrea, and a Rhododendron and an Azalea 

 that flourish and bloom abundantly in the full sun- 

 shine and exposed to the winter's blasts. We were 

 shown a new seedling Pyrus (Cydonia), so heavily 

 laden with fruit the size of the Morris White 

 Peach that it lay spread upon the ground. The 

 fruit is yellow, with red cheek, and very trans- 

 parent and fragrant. One put in a drawer or trunk 

 will perfume all the clothes with a sweet, Apple 

 scent, and keeps sound eight months, it also makes 

 a high-flavored preserve. There are fine hedges at 

 Rosedaleof American, Chinese and Siberian Arbor- 

 vitges, Norway Fir and Hemlock Spruce, all ever- 

 green. The following are deciduous : Locust, 

 Beech, Madura, Althea, Privet, Pyrus and For- 

 sythea ; the last four bloom profusely in their sea- 

 sons and are very ornamental. 



Mr. Buist still retains that energetic fire for 

 which he has long been distinguished. Plis soul 

 is as young as it was forty years ago. Whatever is 

 new and choice he must have it, and will accli- 

 matize it if he can. What an immense impulse he 

 has given to the progress of horticultural improve- 

 ments ! His nursery is a vast depository of valua- 

 ble horticultural productions. Ornamental trees 

 and shrubbery, ligneous and herbaceous flowers, and 

 perennial vegetables and all kinds of choice exotics 

 in his extensive glass structures, and a correct 

 nomenclature kept up. 



We once s :ggested to the readers of the 31ontliIy 

 the propriety of so pruning some of our evergreen 

 trees as to keep them as large shrubs, so that a 

 greater number and variety might be grown upon a 

 given space of ground, without apparent confusion, 

 and would make a greater diversity, and allow a 

 more extensive view of the grounds and the sur- 

 rounding landscape from the mansion over their 

 tops. We did not then know that the practice had 

 been in successful operation for many years at 

 Bloom sdale, where David Landreth & Son raise 



833 



their filmed garden seeds, but a visit lately to the 

 place acquainted us of the fact. We gave an ac- 

 count, two years ago, of the very handsome trees 

 growing there, made by scientific pruning ; and 

 now we will describe only a few specimens of trees, 

 dwarfed and kept as shrubs by pruning. 



An Austrian Pine is the shape of an umbrella ; 

 perfect in form ; five feet high and its branches ten 

 feet in diameler on top ; the stem is in the centre, 

 free of branches as the midstick of an umbrella ; 

 the top is thickly covered with short shoots and an 

 abundance of foliage. 



A Norway Fir is the form of a Chinese parasol \ 

 the stem is bare six feet from the ground, and 

 above that some tiers of branches grow out per- 

 fectly horizontal, and form the head ; the main 

 leader on top grows erect, like the ornamental top 

 of a parasol ; it makes an excellent sunshade. 



A Hemlock Spruce in the form of a haycock ; 

 perfectly shaped ; branchy and leafy from the 

 ground, all over, and finely rounded on top ; the 

 foliage is so plenty that no part of the wood is 

 seen ; it just looks like a green haycock. 



There are many others of curious forms ; but 

 from the above facts, the readers may well imagine 

 that many of our evergreen trees can be readily ! 

 pruned into various figures of different sizes to suit i 

 their fancies, and a large number of species may be « 

 grown upon small places. The pruning must be ! 

 begun when the trees are small. j 



We took a look through the seed department of ^ 

 Bloomsdaie, but we cannot find language to ex- I 

 press our admiration and bewilderment at the im- ? 

 mense extent of the grounds and the magnitude \ 

 of the various crops and their skilful arrangement. | 

 The many huge buildings of ingenious construction; | 

 the improved machinery for threshing out and win- | 

 nowing ; the expeditious and careful mode of j 

 harvesting ; the high system of culture ; and the | 

 expertness and precision in which the seed^ are j 

 made into packets for sale. Just think of a large I 

 granary filled with Landreths' Extra Early Peas I 

 alone, and scores of sacks with four bushels of 

 late Cabbage seeds in each ! Who, after this, will 

 be so infatuated as to pay high wages to men to 

 gather seeds and clean them with their hands ? 



LARGE APPLE TREES. 



BY G. FOSTER, EAGLE ROCK, N. C, 



I see in the Monthly for September a notice from 

 the JacJiSon Standard, of a " Large Apple 

 Tree." We can beat that down here. Oa the farm 

 of Charles M. Horton, in Little liiver District, 

 Wake Co. N. C, there is an apple tree which is 



