NOTES ON THE FLORA OF AMERICA. 
275 
to their cultivation; the deep pink blossoms coming out 
before the leaf. The finest growers only crop their trees for 
three years, then replace them, but the amount of fruit 
grown is enormous, as you may judge when I tell you that 
the carriage of peaches in two months pays the dividend on 
a branch line for the whole twelve months. At Baltimore 
10,000 persons are employed to “can” the peaches and 
oysters, which are brought up Chesapeake Bay, and are then 
sent out all over the civilised world. 
In some places the dandelion [Taraxacum, dem-leonis ) was 
growing in great abundance ; for instance, it gave quite a 
gay effect to the greensward of the public park at Pittsburg; 
and perhaps some of our friends who are not epicures will be 
surprised to hear that dandelion salad is quite a recherche 
dish. The Yankees are great upon oysters ; immense quan¬ 
tities are eaten in the large cities, and you will often find 
them cooked in four or five different ways ; and as if not 
satisfied with Father Neptune's supplies they grow oyster 
plants, but I did not appreciate them, the flavour reminded 
me so much of parsnips. 
The size of their country, stretching far into the tropics, 
and their vast railway systems, afford to New York a supply of 
fruits and fisli that perhaps no other city has ever dreamed of. 
In London, I know, you can buy simply anything, but you 
must pay for it ; but here in New York the quantity is equal 
to the demand, and hence is obtainable by all. 
At Philadelphia, near to Independence Hall, where the 
Declaration of Independence and many relics of the Rebel¬ 
lion of 1776 are most carefully preserved, is Washington 
Square, which is said to contain a specimen of each of the 
trees which grow in the States ; but if ever such a collection 
was planted there a vast number must have perished, as 
there is little left to make it attractive now. But just outside 
the city is Fairmount Park, which extends along both banks 
of the Schuylkill River, is seven miles long, and is said to be 
the finest park in the world. 
In Washington the streets are wide and flat and paved 
with asplialte, and are mostly planted with two rows of 
trees; some of the avenues are lined with the White Poplar 
(Populus alba), the cottony seeds of which were blowing 
about and piled into heaps like snow in a snowstorm. At 
Washington we visited the far-famed Smithsonian Institute, 
with its fine collection of specimens, the conservatory of 
which contains, besides a fine group of Australian ferns, 110 
species of palm trees and the finest collection of insectivorous 
plants I have met with. 
