AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
71 
Lord Bacon remarked, that “ a tree in full 
leaf, is a nobler object than a King in his 
coronation robes.” Cut down the trees in 
the city of New-Haven, and would not full 
half of the beauty of the place be destroyed 
for more than half of the year. Trees are 
not only beautiful, but they are useful. 
Their shade is grateful and healthful. They 
are worth all they cost in protecting build¬ 
ings. In a financial view a person can in no 
way increase the value of his buildings so 
much with the same money, as by having 
them surrounded with trees. If the late 
Daniel Webster’s mansion house was to be 
sold to-morrow, or rather we should say in 
June next, it would bring $500 more, simply 
on account of the magnificent elms in front 
of it. Let every dwelling, village and way- 
side in our land be blessed with shade trees, 
and what a paradise would our land present, 
compared to its present naked appearance. 
Trees have their" moral influences. The 
trees about the old homestead are remem¬ 
bered as long as the old house. They are 
associated with home and home influences. 
They are at once comforts and ornaments, 
and with a library, music and society, go to 
make up those purifying and attractive in¬ 
fluences that render home attractive and 
useful. A tree, from the time of its first 
budding in the spring until it is dressed in its 
full glory in mid-summer, and finally until 
the fall of the last leaf under the power that 
formed it, is a kind of daily sermon to every 
thoughtful observer. Plant trees, then, plant 
trees. If one can do no other good, he can 
at least plant a tree; and if it be elm or 
maple, the tree will be useful long after he 
has been buried, it may be, beneath its 
shadow.— Cor. of Journal of Commerce. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
THE FORMATION OF THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
The cultivation of flowers, if not the most 
useful, is at least the most pleasing occupa¬ 
tion of the horticulturist. The designing of 
flower gardens unquestionably belongs to the 
fine arts, involving in it, invention, taste and 
foresight. Its principles are more vague and 
evanescent than those of any of the sister 
arts. As flower gardens are objects entirely 
of pleasure, the principle which must serve 
as a guide in laying them out must be taste ; 
and here, as in other objects, there are dif¬ 
ferent tastes, which, embodied, are called 
styles : and the great art of the designer is, 
having fixed on a style to carry it out un¬ 
mixed with any other. 
Two varieties of flower gardens chiefly 
prevail; one in which the ground is turf, and 
the pattern, so to speak, is composed of a 
variety of figures cut out of the turf and 
planted with flowers or shrubs ; the other, 
where the flower beds are separated by 
gravel walks, without being dispersed with 
grass at all. The choice of one or the other 
of these styles ought greatly to depend on 
tho situation. When the flowers are to be 
seen from the windows, or any other ele¬ 
vated point of view, from which the whole or 
quarter part of the design may be seen at 
once, the former should be preferred ; but 
where the surface is irregular, and the situ¬ 
ation more distant, and especially where the 
beauty of flowers is the chief object of con¬ 
templation, the choice should fall on the lat¬ 
ter. This variety, too, is preferable on the 
principle of contrast, where there are large 
lawns in the outer grounds. 
Respecting the situation of the flower gar¬ 
den, no very precise directions can be given; 
for it must b<- influenced by the size of the 
estate to which it is attached. Generally 
speaking, it should not be far from the house, 
and in a situation where there is no distant 
view of importance. It may be constructed 
in retired places, under the windows, since 
it is so delightful to step out of a drawing 
room into the compartments of flowers. In 
the vicinity of a greenhouse, on the other 
hand, where the place is large, and the pros¬ 
pect extensive and picturesque, it is better 
that the flower garden be at some distance, 
but not more than seven or eight hundred 
yards from the house, and having easy access 
in any sort of weather. 
The particular form of a flower garden is 
beyond the inculcation of specific rules. In¬ 
deed, it may be any shape, and except where 
the dimensions are very limited, the bound¬ 
aries should not be continuously visible. 
The taste of the proprietor or designer, and 
the capabilities of the place, must determine 
not only the external configuration, but also 
the arrangements of the interior parts—be¬ 
ing careful to include all narrow-pointed 
beds if possible, as they are very difficult to 
fill, and do not look so neatly as any other 
figures. W. Summersbey. 
(To be continued.) 
EDITOR S TABLE. 
Twenty-first day of March, and we are 
still ice-bound here in western New-York. 
The greater part of our February snows 
have disappeared from open places, but on 
the east side of the fences, and in all the 
cross roads and lanes running north and 
south, solid beds yet remain. For two 
weeks past, spring has been promised—a 
fine, bright sun and a bland atmosphere, for 
a day or two, and then a freeze, heavy 
clouds, and perhaps violent gusts of wind. 
We await the growing season impatiently, 
because until then it will be impossible to 
determine the extent of damages sustained 
by the extraordinary cold of the 6th and 7th 
of February. Already we know that not 
only are the peach fruit-buds almost totally 
destroyed through western New-York, but 
thousands of old trees are dead, dried up, 
seasoned as thoroughly as cord-wood was, 
cut six months ago. This is the case over 
a very large tract of country—indeed the en¬ 
tire peach district of western New-York, 
from Oswego to Buffalo. We think that 
nearly all aged trees, and those bordering on 
decline, must perish ; but there is yet hope 
for the young trees. They too have suf¬ 
fered ; but the vigor and elasticity of youth 
may enable them to recover.* This shows 
what we may expect when the thermome¬ 
ter descends to 20° or 25° below zero. Peach 
trees never could be better prepared to 
resist the effects of intense cold. The dry 
season of 1854 ripened the wood and ma¬ 
tured the buds in the most perfect manner. 
Neither could any intense cold be accom¬ 
panied or succeeded by more favorable cir¬ 
cumstances—a perfect calm during the en¬ 
tire two cold days and nights, at the same 
time cloudy, and remaing so until a day or 
two after the cold period had passed. 
A correspondent of the Rural New-Yorker 
advances the opinion that the peach buds 
have not perished by the cold alone, but 
from being unusually well matured and fully 
developed by last season’s drouth and heat ; 
that when we have cool, moist seasons, a - 
lowing the peach to grow late, the buds are 
able to withstand a much greater degree ol 
cold. In our opinion this reasoning is not 
sound. Give us well-ripened wood and buds 
to resist cold. We see that in the case of 
young peach and apricot trees that grew un¬ 
til a late period in the fall, the points of the 
shoots are quite winter-killed, while young, 
ripe shoots, in older trees, are comparatively 
safe. Buds may get into a stage,of develop¬ 
*The pear fruit-buds are considerably injured; cherries 
but slightly, as far as we are able tcfjuige at present. Mr. 
Downing informs us that at Newburgh the thermometer 
was not lower than 14° below zero, yet three-fourths of 
the peach buds are destroyed, and cherries considerably 
injured, 
ment, as in spring, towards blossoming time, 
when they would certainly be more easily 
injured than even imperfectly matured buds. 
But this state of things does not exist in 
winter. 
Fortunately there was a good covering of 
snow on the ground, so that peach and all 
other buds of last summer’s working in the 
nursery are safe. In examining some nur¬ 
series of young peaches budded 'last sum¬ 
mer, we found about half the stock above 
the snow, quite discolored, and what is 
usually called winter-killed ; while below the 
snow, all is safe and sound. It is surprising, 
too, how thin a covering of snow has proved 
to be a complete protection. In some cases 
we find branches of evergreens that were 
covered not more than one or two inches 
deep, come out as fresh and green as in mid¬ 
summer; while all above the snow-line, the 
foliage is as red as though it had been 
scorched by fire. 
In England the winter has been remarka¬ 
bly severe—unequalled witnin seventeen 
years past. In commenting on it, the Gard¬ 
ener’s Chronicle states the following, to 
show the protecting power of snow : 
“ The effect of snow, even in small quan¬ 
tities, as a protecting material, was strikingly 
shown on the night of the 10th (February). 
While the exposed thermometer stood at 1°, 
another close by, covered by two inches of 
loose snow, stood at 20°.” 
Here we see two inches of snow giving 19° 
difference—a fact that should not be forgotten. 
— Horticulturist. 
THE DAISY. 
BY JOHN MASON GOOD. 
Not worlds on worlds, in phalanx deep, 
Need we to prove a God is here— 
The daisy, fresh from winter’s sleep, 
Tells of His hand in lines as clear. 
For who but He who arched the skies, 
And pours the day-spring’s living flood, 
Wond’rous alike in all He tries, 
Could rear the daisy’s purple bud! 
Mold its green cup, its wiry stem, 
Its fringed border nicely spin, 
And cut the gold-embossed gem. 
That, set in silver, gleams within! 
And fling it unrestrained and free, 
O’er hill and dale and desert sod, 
That man, wdiere’r he walks, may see 
In every step the stamp of God. 
Dahlias. —W. C. Wilson, Esq., of Balti¬ 
more, who has always one of the best pri- 
v ite collections of dahlias in America, writes 
us as follows: 
“The following were the best dahlias in this 
latitude last season, and some of them were 
fine the previous year : 
Reine des Beiges, 10 
1 . 
2. Mrs. Hansard, 11. 
3. Emperor Maroc., 12. 
4. Elegantissima, 13. 
5. Diamant, 14. 
6. Hyppolite, 15. 
7. Victoria, 16. 
8. Cote d’Or, 17. 
9. Jonas, 18. 
Elizabeth, 
Miss Wayland, 
Madam Zahler, 
Miss Ward, 
Duchess of Kent, 
Gen. Fauchier, 
Unanimity, 
Flora Mdvor, 
Forget me not. 
These were the best of 120 varieties. The 
first five are unequalled as fancy flowers ; 
the 6th, 7th, and 8th are splendid self-col¬ 
ored. The 7th is remarkable for its full and 
perfect form ; color, a rich crimson maroon.” 
We can add our testimony in favor of all 
except Nos. 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, which we 
have not seen, but ask for no better recom¬ 
mendation than that of Mr. Wilson.— Horti¬ 
culturist. 
