easily obtained; besides, no disagreeable and dangerous effluvia is produced in the neighborhood.

From the foregoing experiments, corroborated by other facts, of a similar nature, that have come under my notice, I conclude that carrion borders are positively injurious to grape vines. I have seen the vines, planted by Roberts, at Raby Castle, and at other places, upon the same principle; but in no one case have they given satisfaction, equal to those grown in a good border, without carrion. I have seen grapes shown at the London Horticultural Society's exhibitions, as well as at other places, but I have never yet seen them carry away the palm. I will not say that good grapes have not been produced by the carrion borders The vine is a very accommodating plant, and will sometimes produce good crops, under very unpromising circumstances; but, until carrion borders prove somewhat more satisfactorily their superiority and permanency over others, than they have yet done,-until I see carrion borders serve some other purpose than that of a hobby-horse for men to ride on parade, in pamphlets, and public periodicals,-until then, I will stick by the common system, should it be as antiquated as the pyramids of Egypt.

New Haven, January 9th, 1849.

It is not often that we have the pleasure of presenting our readers with so valuable an article as that of Mr. Leuchars. Indeed, we are not sure that we give it too high praise to say that it is one of the most common sense, practical, and thorough essays that we have ever read on the subject on which it treats, important as the subject is, especially at the present time, when so much attention is being given to the culture of the grape vine. It comes, too, at an opportune period, substantiating, in every particular, all we have stated in our remarks on the formation of borders in our previous volumes, and especially our observations on Mr. Allen's chapter on manures, which we reviewed in our last number.

Mr. Leuchars has recently arrived in this country, and is personally unknown to us. He is, we believe, a gardener of much experience, and has been employed in some of the most extensive gardens in England. His article will at once

commend him as a man who fully understands his profession. It is not made up of what he has seen-what he has heardor what he has read;-it is not collected from this book-from that pamphlet or from the periodicals of the day;—but is the result of his own experience-not conducted with a view to publication for mere authorship, but for his own practical purpose as a reference for future use-just such a collection of facts as any gardener who loves his profession would always seek to possess-but, unfortunately, what most neglect to obtain. His remarks, therefore, will have much greater weight than if they had been the results of experiments now in course of practice, or just completed.

It is unnecessary for us to occupy room with a review of Mr. Leuchars' article. It speaks for itself. But we may be permitted to state that not only do the facts he adduces show the injurious tendency of carrion borders, but they substantiate our opinion of the proper materials of which grape borders should be made, that is, loam, manure, and bones; just the substances we recommended in our first article, (Vol. XIII. p. 400.) It is easy enough to show that grapes can be produced in borders made of a melange of brickbats, old mortar, charcoal, old boots, rags, wood ashes, fat hogs, &c. So "accommodating a plant" is the vine, as Mr. Leuchars states, that nobody doubts grapes can be thus raised. The question is not what can be done, but what are the means of arriving at the greatest results. Facts only will determine this; these have been given us by Mr. Leuchars. He has shown what the soil alone will do which nature, in her bounteous gifts, has supplied us with. He has again shown what such ingredients as putrefying masses of dead hogs and horses will accomplish. Both are failures; and, though the author modestly tells us he will not undertake to give a chemical analysis of these substances, he states enough to leave no doubt in the minds of all intelligent cultivators, that both are contrary to all our notions of the action of soils; the first being deficient in organic matter; the latter in the inorganic compounds. His other experiment proves that a judicious admixture of loam and manure, in which a proper proportion of the organic and inorganic substances are supplied, is that which has produced the happiest results.

The best grapes which have recently been seen here were some fine ones exhibited at the annual exhibition of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, in September last, by G. R. Russell, Esq., of West Roxbury, which were awarded the highest premium of $25. A reference to our Vol. XII. p. 453, will show how the border was made, precisely as we have advised, and which Mr. Leuchars confirms. The vines were planted on the 17th of May, 1846, and were only in their third year last season, but the bunches and berries were very large, well colored, and as beautiful specimens as the most ardent cultivator could wish.

Mr. Leuchars has kindly promised us some hints on the culture of the peach, and we may congratulate our readers in anticipation of a most excellent essay on so important a subject.-Ed.

ART. V. Ives's Seedling Plum, a new Variety, with a Description and Engraving of the Fruit. By the EDITOR.

THE catalogue of American varieties of the plum has been greatly extended within a few years, and, if we except the Green Gage, and two or three other sorts, the principal kinds now cultivated are American seedlings. In size and beauty, they surpass most of the foreign varieties, and, with the exception above named, they are superior to them in flavor and general excellence.

A larger part of our American plums have been produced on Long Island, and in the famous plum region on the North River. To these localities we are indebted for the Imperial Gage, Yellow Gage, Red Gage, Jefferson, Columbia, Albany Beauty, &c., &c. New England has furnished a much smaller number of plums than other fruits; this has undoubtedly been because the soil is not quite so favorable as in the places we have just named. We are glad, therefore, in having the opportunity to draw the attention of cultivators to a new and very superior plum, originated in Salem, where two or three other varieties have been produced, but not of the merit of this.

In the autumn of 1847, we learned that Mr. Ives had raised a seedling plum of considerable merit, but it was then so late in the season, that we did not have an opportunity of seeing the fruit. The last fall, Mr. Ives, agreeably to our request, sent us some superior specimens for examination, and for the purpose of making a description of the plum; at the same time giving us permission to name the variety. It is almost unnecessary to say, that we found it one of the most delicious fruits we had eaten, equal to, if not surpassing, the Washington, being nearly as large, and, to our taste, possessing a richer and more luscious flesh. We made a full and complete description of it, with a drawing of the fruit, of which the annexed engraving (fig. 13,) is a copy. Wishing to accompany the description with a complete account of the origin of the plum, we requested him to communicate the particulars, which are as follows:

"DEAR SIR,-Your letter, requesting information relative to my seedling plum, is before me.

"The original tree came up in my garden, about midway between a Washington and Blue Imperatrice, which are about ten feet distant from each other.

Fig. 13. Ives's Seedling Plum.

From the strong resemblance of its fruit to the former, and from the circumstance of nearly all the fruit usually dropping from the Washington, when ripening, it is probably a seedling from that variety.

"The tree came up in the spring of 1840. In the fall of 1841, I budded it without success, and it was left to bear. In 1845, it produced two or three plums, which, from their appearance, promised well, although the fruit was injured before maturing. It has, however, borne, for the past two years, a handsome, as well as a fine-flavored plum, beautifully spotted, and tinted with red; flesh yellow, rich and delicious; size and form of the imperial Gage.

"The tree makes long-jointed shoots, very much swollen at, or below, the buds. The shoots of my tree are not so stout and strong as those of the Washington, but a plum-grower, to whom I gave scions, informs me it is one of the strongest growers he had, and another cultivator, that it was the strongest grower. One of our amateur fruit-growers, I do not now recollect the individual, who tasted the fruit, the season previous to the last, pronounced it superior in quality to the Washington.

"In my last edition of the Book of Fruits, in a brief notice of this variety, I have called it the Washington seedling, but, as this may not be definite enough, I prefer that, as you are now about giving the first correct description of the plum, you should have the liberty of giving it a name.-Yours respectfully, J. M. IVES."

To this full account of the history of the original tree, we append the following description, made from some beautiful specimens of last year's growth:

Size large, about two inches long, and one and three quarters in diameter; Form, roundish oblong, tapering little to the apex, one half larger than the other, with a distinct suture running half round; Skin, yellow, very much mottled, clouded and dotted with red all over the base of the fruit, extending to the sunny side, and covered with a thin whitish bloom; Stem, short, scarcely half an inch long, rather slender, and slightly sunk in a very small cavity; Flesh, rich amber color, melting, and separating freely from the stone; Juice, abundant, rich, luscious and high-flavored, equalling the Green Gage; Stone, medium size, ovate, rather smooth. Ripe the first of September.

We can recommend Mr. Ives's Seedling as one of the very finest plums, superior, in our opinion, to the Jefferson, a variety of great excellence, but which, we think, has been rather overrated. The numerous spots and marblings of red, which cover most of the specimens of Ives's Seedling, give it a greater claim to beauty, than the Jefferson or Washington; and it is fully equal in size to the former plum. It is one of the greatest acquisitions to this class of fruit.