840 



KEYEs'To^kiATO. — Western Pernio. . says: — "Those j copies 

 'who palmed off this variety as a novelty thirty days 

 ahead of any other article in the market, trenched 

 as closely on the fabulous as may be eonsidered ?afe 

 for men having a character for veracity to sustain. 

 It is just ripening here now, a week later than the 

 Early York sown at the ?arae time," 



Extra Early Tomatoes.- A correspondent eB- 

 quires whether we think it possible for any tcmat«> to 

 make such a " big juiap " oyer all others at once as 

 to ripen " 30 days earher than any other variety/'* 

 Certainly we do aadmore to. W have soBie in this 

 locality not merely 30 days, but 200 days in advance. 

 They are already Oct 20th just coloring. By using 

 this celebrated variety the fruit ripens actually 

 he/ore the seed is sown. Price $10 per packet of 

 ten seeds. 



Storing Cabbage for Winter.—^ hver oj 

 Calhage, Earrisburg, Fa. — We know no better 

 plan than the old one frequently noticed in these 

 pageSy to plant them heads down and roots up, 

 covering the heads about an inch thick with soil. 

 Brush wood or something of the sort may be put 

 over to keep away the heaviest of the frost. They 

 can be got out easily in winter as the crust of earth 

 cracks like glass with a blow from a pick. Eevers- 

 ing them keeps out the water, and frost does not 

 hurt when in the shade. 



Name of Plant, Amaranth"— J! W. K, 

 Denton, Md. — "Please to give, in your next issue, 

 the true name to flowering shrub, a specimen of 

 which is herewith enclosed. The bush grows well 

 in our vicinity, to the height of ten feet." 



[Baccharis halimifolta, the Groundsel-tree. It 

 is a pleasure to name specimens neatly pressed and 

 dried, instead of the fragments often sent. 



New 



Gray's Manual of Botany— 5th edition 

 York : Ivison, Phinney & Co. 



On an average of every four years, for the last 

 twenty years, a new edition of Dr. Asa Gray's work 

 has been called for, which is very gratifying to 

 those who feel the importance of science in the ele- 

 vation of all,.the.material ar^d moral interests of a 

 community. 



Botanical science particularly must be much 

 more popular than many suppose, when so many 



of such works caa be so readily sold. It 

 teaches ns another lesson. We have heard it said 

 in English nurseries that ^''any thing will do for the 

 American market," and mj?ny of our horticultural 

 book makers act as if tl.ej supposed the reputation 

 deserved ; but the avidity with which truly scien- 

 tific works like this are bought up by the public-^ 

 shows that the community of readers is much more 

 highly cultivated than many of those who would 

 teach them are aware. ^ 

 We need not &ay that this edition, like everj \ 

 thing from th© pen of Dr. Gray, is characterized : 

 by scrupulous acciiracy, even in the matter of typo- 1 

 graphical errors, so difficult ta entirely prevent, with 

 the exception of Mamchiua for m^xsncbia, we doubt 

 whether there is an error in the whole 700 pages. \ | 

 In comparing this edition with former ones, we j | 



find many changes and additions 



plants 



supposed to be distinct species are dow considered 

 mere varieties, and others referred to new orders^ 

 or the orders themselves changed. Oxalis, for in- 

 stance, is no longer the type of a natural order, hut 

 is thrown in with G erania tece ; and other arrange- 

 ments have been made, which the more recent de- 

 velopments of science have rendered necessary. 



Many names have been changed in accordance 

 with the rule of Ecience, that the oldest described 

 shall have the prei^rence. This Dr. Gray dees in 

 a way to satisfy his readers as well as himself by 

 adding the year in which the name was given. 



Over two hundred new plants dissovered during, 

 the past four years, in the district, are described. 

 Most of these are, of course, not new to science, 

 but are old species, not before found here. 



A large number of these dit-eoveries are due to 

 the researches of W. M. Canby and other botanists, 

 around Philadelphia, for all of v\hich Dr. Gray rea- 

 ders due credit. 



This edition, like the former, will speedily pass 

 from the publishers' shelves to the libraries of nur- 

 serymen and horticulturist generally, for it is a 

 book they cannot possibly do without. 



New Foreign Strawberry— Dr. Nicaise.— 

 By our foreign files we see that this variety is at- 

 tracting a very large share of the public attention 

 in France. Figures of this variety grown in the 

 United States, though evidently the same fruit, yet 

 indicate so marked a difference in some respects 

 that we have thought it would serve a good pur- 

 pose with those who love to study the influence of 



