REVIEWS.

ART. I. The American Fruit Book; containing Directions for raising, propagating, and managing Fruit Trees, Shrubs and Plants; with a Description of the best varieties of Fruit, including new and valuable kinds; embellished and illustrated with numerous Engravings of Fruits, c. By S. W. COLE, Editor of the New England Farmer, &c. 1 vol. 12mo. pp. 288. Boston. 1849.

AFTER SO full and explanatory a title, we need scarcely mention that this little manual, by Mr. Cole, is a very useful aid in the spread of more information upon the cultivation of Fruits and Fruit Trees. The author is well known as editor of several agricultural papers, and as having, in that capacity, a wide acquaintance and extensive correspondence with various fruit-growers. "These advantages," as he informs us in the preface, "with diligence and zeal in turning them to account, with our own practice from early life, in the pleasant pursuit of growing fruits, and in raising and managing trees in the nursery and orchard, may justify us in offering this work as the result of long experience and extensive observation, combined with the opinions of a great many of the most intelligent fruit-growers and able pomologists in the country."

Every work which conveys information on the culture of fruit, be it ever so small, we hail as an important aid in the dissemination of a taste for good fruit; and when, as in the present instance, this information is furnished at the cheapest rate, it must be highly beneficial in opening the way, where more expensive and scientific works would not be read. Mr. Cole has, therefore, in his compact volume, done a good service, and though "of humble pretensions, both in size and price," it will not be the less welcome.

The volume commences with a treatise on the culture of fruit trees generally, viz., Soil,-Situation,-Propagation by budding, Grafting, &c.,-Manures-Transplanting-Pruning-Training-Effects of Climate-Dwarfing-Insects, &c. The remainder, and by far the greater part of the work, is devoted to a brief description of the various fruits, with out

line engravings of many of the more important and valuable kinds. The volume comprises two hundred and eighty-eight pages of small type-handsomely printed, and forming a neat addition to every farmer's library.

ART. II. A Practical Treatise on the Management of Fruit Trees; with Descriptive Lists of the Most Valuable Fruits for General Cultivation, adapted to the Interior of New England. By GEORGE JACQUES. 1 vol. 12mo. pp. 256. Worcester. 1849.

HERE we have a treatise purely local, being adapted to the interior of New England. "Having waited" says Mr. Jacques, "a long while, in the hope that some one, better qualified for the work, might be induced to furnish the fruit cultivators of interior New England with a treatise such as their local wants demand, I have at length ventured upon the undertaking myself. ✶✶ ✶ ✶

"If there are pears which ripen freely at Salem, but will not succeed at Boston; if the climate of western New York, and the shores of the Hudson differ so widely, as to affect the quality of several varieties of different species of fruits, one might infer-what it has cost the writer something to learn--that whoever would succeed with fruit trees, in the hill country of the Eastern States, may rely with tolerable safety upon the uncertain testimony of his own neighborhood, while the profoundest wisdom that has ever recorded the experience of other countries would only mislead and bewilder."

This is all very true, and Mr. Jacques has succeeded well in his undertaking, and proved himself well qualified for the task. The cultivators of New England will be especially indebted to him, and we have no doubt his work will be the means of enabling the possessors of the hilly and colder sections of our own New England to select such varieties as will give them an abundance of the choicest fruits.

We have always contended that it was utterly useless to allow ourselves to be guided by the opinions of cultivators in the warmer portions of New York and the Middle States

just so long as we do so will disappointment follow our efforts. There is a greater difference in the climate than the degrees of latitude and longitude would naturally lead us to imagine-and, sooner or later, this fact will be learned-to the interest of all.

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ART. 1. General Notices.

Transplanting Budded Roses.-It is well known to all rose-growers, that those varieties which are budded or grafted on briars are apt to degenerate unless removed every three or four years. In my own experience, this has especially been the case with the hybrid perpetuals, many of which have become more sickly every year, and some have died off, although, when planted, they were vigorous and healthy. The causes of this are probably numerous, arising from the unnatural, or, more properly, artificial union of the stock and the graft, and the little attention generally paid to congeniality of habit when performing the operation. But, as far as the evil admits of correction by transplanting, the cause appears to lie in the soil or the state of the root; and, when taking up a large number last week, I particularly observed the condition of that organ, and its relation to the state of the tree. I found, in most cases, that the unhealthy subjects had very few root fibres, but, in the place of them, a mass of wood, often in a rotten state, fully accounting for disease in the tree. It was evident that, in my case, the briars had been improperly prepared in the first instance, old stools having been used, with no root fibres, and incapable of producing any. Where this was not the case, the rough mode of digging them from their native hedges had left fractures and wounds, accounting for a want of health. The mode of procuring briars, as often practised, thus becomes the source of injury to the budded head in future years, and cannot be too much reprehended. Men are engaged to get them at so much per hundred, and they are hacked up in the roughest manner. To have briars in a proper state for grafting or budding, they should be grown for the purpose, that a young stem may proceed from a root of its own age, and not from one become venerable from twenty summers.

The cause now mentioned, and the necessity for a change of soil, render it desirable to remove budded roses, and I will detail the plan I adopted myself, and am still pursuing. Choose your new situation as remote as convenient from the old one, and well dig the soil to the depth of eighteen inches, incorporating with it a large portion of well rotted manure. I employed night-soil and ashes, which have been mixed for twelve months, but should have preferred the dung of an exhausted cucumber bed; although

I must mention that Mr. Paul recommends the former compost for light soils in preference to the latter. The holes being ready, dig up the rosetrees, taking care not to break the roots, which is very likely to happen if they are not well loosened with the fork. Prune the head close in, and cut away all dead parts about the juncture of the stock and the bud. Then prune the roots, leaving as much as possible of the young fibres; cut away all useless and decayed portions, and see that no rough wounds remain. As each tree is finished, let it be put in its new situation, allowing the roots to be exposed to the air as little as possible. Arrange the fibres nicely on the surface of fine soil, and cover with the same; tread the whole firmly in, and give a good watering. This must be repeated occasionally in dry weather the first season, and, with this care, the trees will not suffer by removal. The pruning of the roots, and the new soil, will excite to the production of fresh fibres, and the results of your operations will appear in finer flowers and a more vigorous growth.

Although budded roses suffer most by continuing too long in one locality, all kinds will be improved by occasional removal. Let a few be done every year, and the whole collection will be kept in high condition. The flowering will be retarded by the process, but this will be an advantage, by prolonging the blooming season. It should have been mentioned that, when examining the roots of the briars, all those parts of the buried stem which have thrown up suckers should be cut away, to prevent that nuisance in future. If you intend to bud roses yourself, choose proper stocks, avoiding all those club-footed things which are so plentifully found in hedges. -(Gard. Chron., 1849, p. 181.)

Weigelia rosea.-Although this is perfectly hardy, it deserves notice as a pot plant for window or balcony gardening, and it also answers admirably for forcing. For the latter purpose, any time during February, March, or April, select strong plants in 3-inch pots, and shift them into 6 or 8-inch pots, using turfy loam, a little leaf-mould, and some sand. Let them be plunged in an open situation fully exposed to the sun. They will require some little summer-pruning, or rather pinching, in order to make them bushy. By autumn, they will be nice dwarf plants, and may be removed to the forcing pit, cool part of the stove, or warm greenhouse, taking care not to prune them. Few plants present a more graceful appearance, and require less care.-(Gard. Chron., 1849, p. 181.)

Hint respecting the Culture of Araucaria imbricata.-There was planted in a park in the south of England, in the autumn of 1845, a number of good sized plants of Araucaria imbricata, in various soils and situations, all considered more or less good, with one exception. This latter plant was placed in what might be considered a disadvantageous site in all respects; when planted, it was looked upon as certain not to do well, being in a low valley where fogs appear earliest and leave latest, and where the most powerful winds sweep along more destructively than in the exposed places at the foot of a hill facing the north, and shaded by large trees during the whole winter season, and where, six inches below the turf, there is a hard bed of stones; yet this tree looks most luxuriantly, and has made growth in the

proportion of three to one more than any of its contemporaries. There is no doubt that the sweeping winds, the bed of stones, and the entire absence of sun for several months have all proved favorable to it.-(Gard. Chron., 1849, p. 181.)

Culture of Neapolitan Violets.-We extract the following passages from a communication we received a week since from Mr. Allan, of Dumfriesshire, deeming it more than possible that some of our readers might feel interested in the method of their cultivation-the more particularly as the directions given are clear and distinct. The violet is, at all times, a favorite flower for the bouquet, a distinction it richly merits, from its color-the rarest in floriculture--and, still more so, by the delightful fragrance it yields, which, unlike many other perfumes, is agreeable to every one, or, at least, we never knew any party who objected to the scent of violets. We proceed with Mr. Allan's observations 66 :- Having been very successful, this winter, in growing the Neapolitan violet, I think it only right to make my treatment of it known for the benefit of others. In the spring of 1848, I had the old plants properly dressed, by taking off all the dead leaves, forking up the soil round about the plants. The first week in April, I topdressed the old plants with fresh soil, to encourage runners. These young shoots will become well rooted little plants about the latter end of May. Having prepared a bed for the plants, by mixing a compost of two parts loam and one of vegetable mould, just colored with fine sand, remembering that the soil requires to be porous, with the usual garden soil, I proceeded to mark my bed in rows, about 16 inches apart, placing the plants at 10 inches distance from each other. I was very particular in lifting the young plants with as compact balls of earth as possible, removing them carefully with a trowel. I then gently watered them with a fine rose watering pot, shading them from intense sun. All they now required was attention to weeding, occasionally running the Dutch hoe among them. In the first week of September, I prepared to pot them in large size 32. I took great care to have the drainage well attended to. The compost with which I filled my pots is three parts sandy loam and one part charcoal. In this I placed one plant in each pot. Having a three light frame ready, placed on four bricks, I put about 10 inches of gravel over the surface of the ground under it, and on this I placed my pots, 10 inches apart. They require careful watering, or they are certain to suffer from the effects of over-watering or stagnation. I gave them air on all occasions, by tilting the lights back and front at night, and drawing them off entirely in the day. I was very particular in removing all decayed leaves every day, stirring the soil in the pots. In November, I endeavored to keep the plants as free from damp as possible, using little or no water in dull weather. About the first week in December, I removed part of my stock into the greenhouse, and placed them on a front shelf, near the glass, where it is warm and airy. By this mode of treatment, I have been able to ensure an abundance of flowers since Christmas, and shall continue to have an excellent supply for the next six weeks to come. I have cut 60 flowers from one pot at a time." We feel assured these few hints will not be lost on many of our