362 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, September 8, 1857. 
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QUERCUS AGRIFOLIA. 
evergreen, forms a conspicuous and predominant feature in 
the vegetation of this remote and singular part of the 
Western world. It appears more sparingly around Monterey, 
and scarcely extends on the north as far as the line of the 
Oregon territory. It attains the height of about forty or 
fifty feet, with a diameter rarely exceeding eighteen inches; 
the hark is nearly as rough as in the Red Oak. The wood, 
hard and brittle and reddish, is used only for purposes of 
fuel, or the coarse construction of log- 
.cabins. 
“ As an ornamental tree for the south 
of Europe or the warmer States of the 
Union, we may recommend this species. 
It forms a roundish summit, and spreads 
but little till it attains a considerable age. 
As a hedge it would form a very close 
shelter, and the leaves, evergreen and 
nearly as prickly as a Holly, would 
render it almost impervious to most 
animals. The leaves vary from roundish 
ovate to elliptic, and are of a thick rigid 
consistence; the serratures are quite 
sharp; the young shoots are covered 
more or less with stellate hairs, and for 
some time tufts of this kind of down re¬ 
main on the under side of the midrib of 
the leaves, which are, however, at length 
perfectly smooth, and of a dark green 
above, often tinged with brownish yellow 
beneath. The staminiferous flowers are 
very abundant, and rather conspicuous; 
the racemes the length of three or four 
inches; the flowers with a conspicuous 
calyx and eight or ten stamens; the female 
or fruit-bearing flowers are usually in pairs 
in the axils, or juncture of the leaf with 
the stem, and sessile, or without stalks. 
The cup of the acorn is hemispherical, 
and furnished with loose brownish scales ; 
the acorn, much longer than the cup, is 
ovate and pointed. 
“ We do not recollect to have seen this 
tree properly associated with any other, 
except occasionally the Platanus racemosa ; 
their shade is hostile to almost every kind 
of undergrowth. 
“ By Persoon this species is said to have 
been found on the eastern coast of North 
America, while Pursh attributes it to the 
north-west coast, about Nootka Sound. It 
does not, however, extend even to the 
territory of Oregon,'as far as my observa¬ 
tion goes." 
Nee says, “ I have only seen branches 
collected at Monterey and Nootka. The 
leaves of the young plants are perfectly 
smooth when first developed, of a thin 
consistence, with numerous, slender, sharp 
dentures beneath; they are of a brownish 
yellow colour, and appear smooth and 
shining." 
The long narrow acorns, almost conical, 
are a remarkable feature in the species.— 
(Horticultural Society's Journal.) 
Quercus agrifolia. 
A few miserable living plants of this species were sent 
home by Hartweg from California, and are now beginning to 
grow in the Society’s garden. It will probably be a hardy 
evergreen tree, concerning which Nuttall, who knew it in its 
native country, has the following remarks:— 
This species, almost the only one which attains the mag¬ 
nitude of a tree in Upper California, is abundantly dispersed 
over the plain on which St. Barbara is situated, and, being 
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ON THE CULTIVATION OF CELERY. 
By James Duncan, C.M.H.S., Gardener to Joseph Martineau, Esq., F.H.S., Basing Park, Alton. 
To cultivate the same area of ground for any lengthened 
period, so as to produce in tolerable perfection the varieties 
of vegetables usually grown for the consumption of a family, 
requires the adoption of a well-regulated system, by which 
not only a proper rotation of crops can be maintained, but it 
is also essential as a means of successful cultivation that the 
earth be well pulverised and aerated as often as the nature 
of the several crops will admit of it; and, when the soil is 
of an obstinate or sterile character, the necessity for this 
will be the more readily apparent. In all farm operations 
the value of a proper rotation of crops is fully recognised 
and acted on—how much more necessary then is such a 
system in garden practice, where the nature of the crops 
cultivated assimilates so very closely ! And as the Turnip 
crop forms the basis of the field system of cultivation, so, 
in like manner, I have chosen the Celery crop as that on 
