839 



23='Communkations for this department must rea«h the Editor 

 ea or before the 10th of the raonth. 



|r3='Th© Editor caanot answer letters for this d-opartment pri- 

 rately. 



Friends of the Gardener's BIonthly. — We 

 trust our friends do not supj3ose that because we 

 seldom notice the compliments they pay us, we do 

 Kot appreciate the kind manner in which they are 

 pleased to express themselves as to the value of the 

 Magazine. The fact is did they come only occasion- 

 ally we might print them. Tliey are too many to 

 print all, and ail too good to select from, and we 

 coiitent ourselves with feeling that if we do not 

 deserve all that is said, we will try and improve till 

 we do. A Canadian correspondent who tell us, "We 

 (the Toronto Gardener's Society) subscribe for only 

 one Hortieulturai pauer from the United States, 

 the Gardener s MonthJy^ and consider it at least 

 €qual in value to us with the several Horticultural 

 magazines we get from Europe," has suggested to 

 Hs to say this much to all our friends. 



Macadamizing a Carriage Koad. — Querist, 

 W. FMladdpMa^ Pa. — "I am about macadamizing 

 a carriage road to a new dwellmg 1 am building, and 

 propose to dig out one foot deep for the broken 

 stone. A friend tells me this is not enough, that 

 good road making requires at least eighteen inches^ 

 as I have about one-eighth of a mile to make, and 

 stone costs considerable here, I don't want to use 

 more than is necessary, and yet want to make a 

 good job. What is the usual depth ?" 

 • [Fou seem to use " Macadamizing" and " broken 

 stone" as syonymous. Macadamizing consists in 

 breaking hard stone so fifie, that it will pack so 

 €lose as to prevent rny water going through the 

 mass of road material. The great aim of macad- 

 amising was to keep the road bed perfectly dry. 

 We have never seen a true macadamized road 

 in the United States, and we doubt whether with 

 the disintegrating power of our hot summers and 

 heavy winter frosts, a macadamized road would not 

 soon abrade and wash away. 



The common plan here is to break the stone 

 about the size of duck eggs, which is filled to within 

 a half ineh of the surface, on which the gravel is 

 laid. If the road bed on which the stone is laid is 

 dug out convex instead of fiat., ten inches of broken 

 stone is enough. It forms a stone arch in this way. 

 It is a common practice to put large stones at the 

 bottom of a flat road bed and small stone only at ' 



the top. This is a great error. After a thaw in 

 spring, the heavy stones sink in the slush by their 

 own weight, the slush being lighter than the stone 

 works up through the crevices, and the road soon 

 becomes good for nothing. 



Almost all gentlemen think road making so sim- 

 ple an affair that they seldom seek professional 

 advice, but employ common laborers to " dig out " 

 and "fill in " the road ; but there is nothing in all 

 gardening in which more money can be saved by 

 paying for the he'it professional advice than in this. 

 A man had much better make his own breeches all 

 his life, than make his own carriage road once.] 



Return from Europe of Mr. Sargent. — We 

 are very much pleased to hear of the return to this 

 country of this generous patron of American gar- 

 dening, after a two years tour over almost every 

 part of the continent of f^urope. We have on hand 

 some notes from him, giving the results of his ob- 

 servations on certain points of contrast between 

 American and European gardening, such as the 

 quality of our lawns, difficulties of fruit growing, — 

 liberal employment of variety of plants, etc,, which 

 we shall give in our next number. 



Grape Growing near Baltimore—" Pali- 

 sades,^^ a well known and intelligent correspondent, 

 says: — "My vines on 7 acres did well, but Dela- 

 ware and lona had some mildew and lost leaves; 

 Ives are the healthiest of all, but I am not fond of 

 the grapes for eating. Mr. McCullough, of Cincin- 

 nati, has sent me a box ; I believe in them for wine. 

 Grapes around here have rotted and mildewed this 

 season." 



Compensation for Answers. — A correspon- 

 dent very kindly says, while sending us a string of 

 inquiries, he is quite willing to pay us for the an- 

 swers. W e ask nothing but good will. Any thing 

 we know, or can find out, is cheerfully at our 

 friend's service in this department. Any original 

 facts or observations sent us in turn is pay enough 

 for us. 



Automaton G\TE—G.,PIuIa., writes: - "Some 

 years ago I procured from the patentee's travelling 

 agent an automatic gate which was opened by the 

 carriage as it approached. Y/here can I get such 

 an one for my present residence ?" 



[If any of our readers know of such we should be 

 glad to hear of it. All the automaton gates we have 

 ever seen proved failures in a few months.] 



