236 THE BUORIST. 
It will be observed that Lastrea Foenisecii, Asplenium lanceolatum, 
and Hymenophyllum Tunbridgense, are apparently wanting in the Isle 
of Wight, though any one of them is likely enough to occur. 
WASHINGTON POMOLOGICAL MEETING. 
THE following extracts will show that the subject of pomology is discussed 
and well studied by our transatlantic friends. The Hon. Marshall P. 
Wilder, of Massachusetts, founder of the society for the encouragement 
of horticulture and agriculture, said that on the formation of the Massa- 
chusetts society there were only three or four nurseries in that 
region, while now they were numerous and cultivated in the best 
manner, covering hundreds of acres. In Rochester, there were nurseries 
each covering 800 or 400 acres, and in three counties there were 
50,000,000 of trees for sale, the scions of many of them having been 
sent out by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 
Strawberries, Mr. Wilder said, were almost unknown there in 1829, 
and now they had become an important and profitable crop. He 
illustrated this by stating that two-fifths of an acre of ground in 
Belmont, last season, yielded at the rate of 1300 dollars per acre. 
The Apple, said he, is the great product of the farmer, and he would 
mention the quantity exported from Boston in the winter 1858-59; 
this was 120,000 barrels, and the majority of these were Baldwins. 
He said he had so often spoken of the practical methods of cultivation, 
that he would only glance at the most important matters now. The 
first and most important point is thorough drainage. Next, the ground 
should be thoroughly and deeply worked; and to show the benefit of 
this he spoke of Parsnips and Horseradish three feet long, which were 
grown in a garden, the soil of which had been thrown up from a cellar, 
and was thoroughly worked. He also spoke of a Pear tree he had 
seen in a garden in Roxbury, where the soil was four or five feet deep, 
drained by a rivulet flowing through the ground; and which produced 
last season S800 Pears, while one he had of the same size and age, 
but not having the same advantages as the Roxbury one, only bore 
100. Digging circles round trees, he added, is of doubtful utility. He 
mentioned a Peach tree, to illustrate his position, that had a heap of 
manure lying 15 feet from the trunk, that pushed shoots four feet long 
from the feeding of the manure; this digging among the roots is conse- 
quently injurious. Circle manuring don’t feed the roots, as they run 
beyond it on one side or the other. More orchards are injured by deep 
digging and deep ploughing than by anything else. He would allow 
no ploughing in his orchards, and only used a hoe to scarify the soil, 
manuring on the surface, and working it in with a hoe or a light culti- 
vator, and this was done in the autumn. The Baldwin Apple was 
next introduced, concerning which Colonel Stone said if he was going 
to plant an orchard of 1000 trees for profit, 999 should be Baldwins. 
Many people, he observed, declined to engage in fruit growing because 
so many fail, but a good orchard could be obtained as easily as a crop 
