if lie is honest and careful — and of course, all seedsmen are both. For garden flowering the 
Tuberose should be planted as early as possible, and the plan of potting as done by our corres¬ 
pondent is a good one. To secure flowers for winter, plant the Tuberose in pots the latter part of 
July, sink the pots in the garden, and remove them to the house in early autumn. 
- m + m- - 
THE JAPAN COCKSCOMB. 
The Japan Cockscomb is the best annual introduced into Europe or America in the last 
twenty years. Some envious seedsmen, who, of course, are not florists, at first declared it to be 
a sport. Well, it is a wonderful sport , with its beautiful red, round stems, elegant leaves and 
coral-like combs. In 1871, soon after our return from Europe, a friend and florist, Mr. Edward 
Dagge, informed us that he had seen in Canandaigua, in a private garden, one of the most 
strange and beautiful plants he ever beheld. We were about to make a pilgrimage in pursuit of 
this new and beautiful flower, when one of our friends and customers, Mrs. M. b IN LEY, of Can¬ 
andaigua, N. Y., called upon us and described a beautiful new Cockscomb which she had 
received from Japan, and which we knew, from the description, to be the same which had so 
captivated Mr. Dagge. We secured the seeds Mrs. Finley had saved, perhaps a hundred, and 
a few in the original package, and asked her, as winter was coming on, to take up her plants (two 
or three), put them in pots and send them to us, as we designed to try to ripen a few more seeds 
in the green-house. Perhaps in all we secured the first season two hundred seeds. Mrs. Finley 
kindly made no charge, as she was anxious to have so beautiful a flower disseminated. How¬ 
ever, we could not cause a lady so much trouble without compensation, so if our recollection 
serves us, we handed Mrs. F. twenty-five dollars, as a slight compensation for the trouble and 
expense we had caused. Had we then known the value of the flower we would have given ten 
times this amount to have secured its dissemination. The first year but few seeds germinated, as they 
were somewhat unripe, but since then we have grown good sound seeds, and by care the flowers 
have improved every season. Meeting Mrs. F. at one of our Fairs last autumn, we asked for a 
statement of the time this seed was received from Japan, and any other facts in connection there¬ 
with, interesting to the public. We are very much obliged for the following reply: 
Mr. Vick : — Dear Sir: — On referring to the letter of ir.y friend who sent me the seeds of the Celosia, I find 
that it was in November, 870, that I first received them. The package contained, in all, eighteen different 
kinds of seeds; each little bag of seeds having painted in colors on its outside, a representation of each particu¬ 
lar kind of flower. Early in the spring of 1871, 1 planted a few of each sort, but nearly all proved to be very 
common annuals. The Celosia, however, I knew to be very different from and much superior to anything of the 
kind I had ever before seen, and for this reason I was anxious to call your attention to it, knowing that you would 
be the best judge of its merits. It is a source of much gratification to me to know that it has proved to be a per¬ 
manent acquisition ; and that it not only retains its original characteristics, but has improved in beauty under your 
cultivation.— Mas. M. F. 
THE HATHAWAY TOMATO. 
F. N. Hathaway, of Kankakee, Illinois, grew the original Hathaway Tomato, and gave us 
the seed, which we introduced to the public several years since. Mr. H. charged us nothing for 
the seed, and we sold it at merely the price of 
common sorts, after we had fully tested its quali¬ 
ties, and after it had been recommended as the 
best Tomato known by the London Horticul¬ 
tural Society, by the English papers, and by the 
most intelligent cultivators in America. We 
have no patience with those who introduce a new 
Tomato, or any other vegetable or flower, with 
a great flourish, and at a high price, without 
proper trial, and which a few years’ experience 
proves to be entirely worthless. From Mr. N. 
we have received a photograph of a fine cluster 
of the Hathaway Tomatoes, which we have engraved. Mr. H. writes: “I herewith hand you a 
photograph of the finest bunch of Tomatoes I ever saw — I have seen heavier, but not more in 
the bunch. I send it to you, thinking it would make a fine cut for your catalogue.” 
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