9» A WJB TKUFlCAi, AGRICULTURIST. [AlTCl/ST I, iSty, 
From Editorial Notes in the Gardeners' Monthly, an 
American periodical, we quote as follows : — 
Cedrela sinensis. — This tree, as rapid growing and 
with foliage and habit much like an Ailanthus, stands 
our climate as well, and will probably become popular. 
Pinds excelsa. — The Bhotan Pine seems as hardly 
as the common white Pine, and is very beautiful. 
There are a number of mature trees in the vicinity. 
They are still regarded as among rare trees in nurseries. 
Swamp Tbees in ;Dby Ground.— The Sweet Gum, 
Red Maple, Deciduous Cypress and other trees usu- 
ally found in swamps, grow better on dry garden 
ground than in their native localities, but do not pro- 
duce perfect seed as readily. 
Hawthoen Trees. — "Wherever the different species 
of Crataegus will thrive, there are few things more 
beautiful. One of the grandest sights to our mind, on 
the grounds of Ellwanger & Barry at Rochester, is a fine 
tree of the scarlet fruited Hawthorn. It bears fruits as 
large as cherries, which are very good to eat. — [Has 
the Hawthorn ever suoceeded iu Ceylon ? — Ed.] 
How Forests Follow Rainfall. — A contemporary 
says : — " It is significantly said of the great Texas 
drought, which extends across that State for several 
hundred miles, that it decreases in severity as it ap- 
proaches the pineries. That is a point for " Arbor Day." 
Which is, that people should not plant trees for profit 
where dry climates exist. The pioeries only establish 
themselves where there is a fair annual rainfall with 
some certainty. 
Fruit or Vegetable. — A New York correspondent 
says : — " Will you kindly inform me whether a tomato 
is classed as a fruit or a vegetable ? " The horticultural 
answer is, that it is a vegetable. If the question were 
put to a botanist he would answer that it was 
a fruit. He would say the same of a pine cone 
with its seeds, or of a spike with its hay seed. On the 
other hand he would say that a pear was a vegetable, 
if the question were one that bore on the distinc- 
tion between plants and animals. We see that the 
answer depends on the view of the questioner. In the 
household, a fruit which is generally eaten cooked 
would be a vegetable ; that which is generally eaten 
uncooked would be fruit. We use the word " general- 
ly," because the lines sometimes overlap. A squash 
and a water-melon are both fruits botanically, but the 
squash is classed conventionally as a vegetable, and 
the water-melon as a fruit ! the cooking idea, evidently 
deciding the case. Much depends on the class in 
which the subject under discussion was originally intro- 
duced under. The tomato was first introduced to 
gastronomy by the cook; in subsequent years it has 
been found good to eat raw. But the law of priority 
gives the class to the cook ; it is a vegetable. 
It is the general or original uses of the article 
that decide its class when we come to arbitrary 
classification, outside of science. 
A Californian Floral Fete. — California must indeed 
be a land of flowers, judging by the festival that, extend- 
ing over two weeks, has excited the famous old town 
of Los Angeles. Hundreds of contributors of cut flowers, 
poured them in from all parts of the country. 
Designs, as they are called, of cut flowers, furnished 
freBh novelities every day. The "unveiling of a 
floral ship " was the great work of the first day. 
The sum, of $969.60, taken in that day, shows 
how popular the floral ship must have been, though 
the prayer of Reverend Joseph Pendleton, or the 
address of his Honor the Mayor, may have divided 
the attractions of the day with the ship. On the 
second day, a great attraction was the American 
flag — the red being of Zonale Pelargoniums, the 
white of Pyrethrum, and the blue of Heliotrope. 
A grand cross which had been used the clay before 
in Episcopal services, was exhibited. The golden 
colors, made of yellow Marigolds. A huge shield made 
of Marigolds, Roses, Geraniums and stock Gillies, 
was sent by Mrs. Crocker as a contribution from 
the Citrus Valley. A huge fan, the rays fifteen feet 
long, was a " design " highly applauded. A huge sno n» 
shoe, made of White Pyrethrum aud Geraniums, 
divided the applause with it, bringing cooling J 
memories into a warm day. The floral chip was Vi feet I 
long, and bore a cargo of oranges. The grand design, 
however, was the famous shoe of Mother Goose, in 
which her huge familv of children where all re- 
presented — as large as life. Geraniums made the 6hoe, 
except Marigolds were at the heel, and a binding 
of Smilax fringed the orifice. Out flowers were sold, 
ice cream, lemonade and everything useful in 6uch 
a gathering, everything having a booth to itself, and 
the materials sold with the attendants being almost 
smothered in flowers. These attendants — young ladies — 
are described as being truly lovely, though when a 
reporter suggested this to one of the young ladies, 
she replied to him " now don't be soft. " She was 
after his cash just then instead of his compliments. 
It was an example of misplaced confidence at that 
time. Roses 6eem to be the favourite flower as well as 
elsewhere. A branch of the Washington Noisette, had 
13 flowers full blown and 57 utexpanded buds. Mrs. 
Heaver exhibited 100 named varieties in cut flowers. 
Mrs. Fox sent a flower of Pau Neyron that measured 
18 inches round. The " shoe design " was 6 
feet long and 3 feet high. The public school children 
sent a huge painter's ease), with geometrical ferns 
arranged in flowers. The triangle was made of Lilies. 
The Public School Booth however gave diversions 
for the designs, in literary exercises in the form of 
criticisms on poetry. The illustrations were however 
given in floral designs. Some connected with the 
Merchant of Venice were quite taking. The door 
money taken in during the first four days was 
$3053.80. The proceeds all go to charitable purposes. 
♦ 
What One Woman Did. — A Massachussets woman, 
having an hour or two each day to spare from house- 
work, decided to try raising Strawberries for market 
on a piece of land about 57 feet square. The plants 
were well taken care of through the season, and the 
last of October the bed received a final hoeing, and 
a little later the plants were mulched about 2 inches 
deep with Pine needles. Before the picking season 
commenced, she bargained with a market-man, a mile 
and a half distant, to take all her berries, by allowing 
him, as his share, four cents a basket for all berries 
sold for 20 cents and over, and three cents for those 
bringing less. In picking she was careful to put in 
only sound fruit, to have as large berries at the bottom 
of the basket as on top, and to have them heaped as 
high as the crate would allow. It being a poor year 
for Strawberries, owing to drought, which did not 
affect her low ground, she received good prices. None 
were sold for less than 15 cents a basket. The entire 
crop sold was 350 baskets, for which she received 
52*80 dols. Expenses were 2P55 dols., leaving a nett 
profit of 31 - 25 dols. — American Agriculturist. 
Tea in England 40 Years Ago. — A planting friend 
has copied the following and sent it to us to pub- 
lish :— 
The Tea Trade. — The hedges about London seem 
to be in a very healthy state. We have heard it stated 
by a gentleman whose news is relied upon by all per- 
sons in the trade that there will be a capital crop of 
Souchong in the fields off Primrose Hill. We have 
tasted a leaf or two near Greenwich, and can safely 
predict the English market will be unusually glutted 
this year with a quantity of full flavoured Bohea. 
The Hyson is partly spoilt by the caterpillars, and 
the blight has taken the bloom off the Twankay, in the 
plantations about Enfield, though it is expected they 
will be passed off in the provincial towns as good for 
mixing when seasoned with a little Gunpowder that 
is now being grown in pots at the large market- 
gardener's at Woolwich. There will be a good supply 
of green tea at 4s. a lb. if the sloe-bushes at Bays- 
water only keep their present appearance. There is 
no truth whatever in the report that the interior of 
Leicester Square is to be cultivated for this article of 
commerce by a Hongkong merchant. There is no ne- 
cessity f r it as long as there are so many fields yet 
unexplor d in the vicinity of the metropolis, besides, 
the nettles that abound there have been found to be 
unfavourable to the growth of the celestial plant,— 
Punch, July-Deer, 1845, 
