be upon Vases, Baskets, etc., and these can be filled at a trifling expense, for the hills abound 
in beautiful ferns, that delight in the cool shade. With a few flowering plants for variety, 
nothing can be more appropriate or more beautiful. These can be filled a week or so before 
the assembling of the people, and will of course be in their best estate, beyond peradventure. 
We did see some tasteful fern work; in fact, we never saw better. An elegant tent had been 
erected for the President, but on each side was perhaps fifteen feet unoccupied and unsightly. 
A rustic fence had been made in front of the tent, leaving about ten feet of a yard. This Mrs. 
Prof. TlNGLEY, of Meadville, Penn., had undertaken to beautify, and it was done with so much 
taste and skill, that we secured a photograph, from which our engraving was made, but it does 
no kind of justice to the work. The little front yard was covered with moss from the woods, 
giving it the appearance of a lawn, in which were beds of ferns. On each side of the tent an 
elegant screen was made of bark, stumps, etc., covered with ferns, and we think it the prettiest 
piece of ornamental work we have seen this season. 
- » — - 
A NEW LETTUCE. 
hor several years a Lettuce of a very peculiar character has been grown here, and principally 
by German people. The leaves are very much cut, as shown in the engraving, while the whole 
plant forms a globular mass of foliage, quite singular and handsome. It is very hardy, and not 
only endures cold weathers, but heat better than most kinds. In fact, it is the only sort 
popular in our market in warm 
weather. This variety does not 
seed well, as it keeps its eatable 
head so late, and we have had the 
greatest difficulty in securing seed. 
Our German market gardeners 
have usually found it difficult to 
save enough seed for the next 
season’s sowing. We consider it 
a very tender, useful lettuce; and 
though we do not desire to over-praise anything new or comparatively untried, we think this 
shows sufficient evidence of merit to warrant a trial in other sections of the country. It is called 
the Cut-leaved, and we have now secured a pretty fair stock of seed. 
Will Stumps of Cabbage or Cauliflower Produce Good Seed?— This is in brief the 
question contained in a letter from one of our friends in Michigan. We do not think it would 
be well to grow seed from the stumps of Cabbage or Cauliflower for a series of years. We 
always grow from heads of Cabbage, and as much as possible from the strong central shoot. 
A number of years ago, soon after we first imported the Lenormand Cauliflower, an old English 
farmer, residing about twenty miles from Rochester, purchased a package, but bought no more 
Cauliflower seed for five or six years, though we heard his neighbors speak occasionally of the 
splendid Cauliflower he always grew. One spring the old gentleman called upon us in a great 
state of excitement. He had been sick, and instead of planting the Cauliflower stumps for seed 
the previous spring, his sons, in clearing up the cellar, had thrown them away. lie had grown 
his seed for six or seven years from stumps saved in the cellar, and feared he would never get 
another lot of seed so good as that which he had lost. 
Keeping Potato Onions.— We stated that Potato Onions are not good keepers, and we think 
this statement true, that is with usual treatment, and for ordiuary family use. Of course, they 
can be kept over winter, or we could not offer them for sale every spring. Mr. John Moyer, 
of Pike County, Ill., furnishes the following information on the subject: 
You say In your Catalogue that Potato Onions are not easy to keep. I have been growing the Potato Onion 
fifteen years. They are good keepers, if treated right. As soon as pulled they must be dried in the shade, for 
they will not bear the sun. Spread them out thin on a barn floor and leave them until just before winter'sets in. 
Then select a place in the garden where the water will not settle, put the Onions in a heap like Potatoes, put a 
little straw over them, then four inches of dirt. They will in this way keep well until spring. 
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