or twelve have been long enough cultivated to ascertain with certainty whether they will succeed on the quince. By certainty, we mean whether they will make good sized trees, and bear one or two good crops, without impairing their health and vigor. The Seckel will succeed on the apple for a year or two, and then it dies out. Of Mr. Reid's list, only the Andrews, Seckel, Stevens's Genesee, and the Cushing, have been introduced a sufficient time to test their growth. We have not been able to make the Seckel grow well on the quince, though it may do so. With the exception of Swan's Orange, we have not tried either of the others. Two years grafted trees of the former look exceedingly well, and we hope they will continue to thrive. The Andrews and Columbia are very poor growers, even on the pear.

We should be pleased to know that every pear, American or foreign, would grow well on the quince, for we think that the most desirable stock for all purposes but orchard culture; and we trust that every nurseryman, and, indeed, every amateur, who has any experience on this subject, will communicate to us the results of their experiments. By this means, a fund of valuable information may be secured, and, by comparing results, a list made out of such sorts as grow well on the quince, which will be a safe guide to all who are propagating trees for sale, or for their own gardens.-ED.

ART. III. Some account of a New Seedling Cherry. By HENRY VAIL, Esq., Troy, N. Y., in a letter to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. With a description and engraving of the Fruit. By the EDITOR.

THE following letter was communicated to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, at a late meeting, by Henry Vail, Esq., of Ida Farm, Troy, N. Y., with specimens of the cherries for trial; and it has been kindly furnished us for publication by the president, Samuel Walker, Esq. The cherries, when they came to hand, were somewhat injured by carriage, and a just estimate of them could not be made by one trial. The variety appears to be equal to the Late Duke

in quality, and being a native seedling it may be better adapted to our climate than foreign kinds, and deserves further trial. A few of the cherries were placed in our hands, from which we have made the annexed engraving and description of the fruit.

Mr. Vail's seedling belongs to the class of late subacid cherries, of which we now have the Arch Duke, Late Duke, Lemercier, and Belle Magnifique, all large and fine kinds; what particular merits it possesses over these, one trial does not give us an opportunity to decide. But its American origin must give it a hardy habit, which, combined with productiveness, size, and good quality, will render it a desirable acquisition.

MY DEAR SIR,-I take the liberty of sending you, per express to-day, a few specimens of a seedling cherry which originated on my place. The tree from which I send the fruit is now seven years old, and, in its habit, very nearly resembles the Late Duke. It appears to be very prolific, the fruit growing in clusters, and is now just in perfection, although the tree stands very much exposed, being in a position to receive the rays of the sun from early day to its setting.

A. J. Downing, Esq., to whom I sent a few specimens of the fruit, writes to me under date of 7th inst:-"I am really much obliged to you for a sight of your new seedling cherry, which I am greatly pleased with. Indeed, if this variety continues to prove itself as good a bearer as these branches before me indicate, it will be a great acquisition. It very nearly resembles the Late Duke in appearance and season of ripening, but it is a better cherry and a far more prolific one, as the Late Duke is such a poor bearer that it is very little cultivated. I have made a drawing of the specimens sent, and will be glad to notice it in the Horticulturist. What shall I call it? Perhaps Vail's August Duke."

As I should be pleased to have the fruit examined by yourself and the fruit committee of your truly valuable society, I take the liberty of sending to your address a few specimens, which I hope will reach you in good order, and in season for your exhibition on Saturday next, and shall be

pleased to hear from you whether it passes the ordeal of your discriminating committee.-Truly yours, Henry Vail, Ida Farm, Troy, N. Y., August 9, 1849.

To SAMUEL WALKER, ESQ.,

President Mass. Hort. Soc., &c.

The fruit committee of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society reported that the "cherries were somewhat decayed, and they could not so well judge of their quality, but, from their being so late, and said to be an abundant bearer, the cherry promises to be a valuable acquisition."

Our description is as follows:

Fruit, large, fully one inch in diameter, and about the same in length: Form, roundish, heartshaped, slightly flattened at the base: Skin, deep shining red: Stem, very long, about two inches in length, rather stout, and inserted in a medium sized shallow cavity: Flesh, pale amber, tender, and melting: Juice, abundant, subacid, rich, and good: Stone, small, ovate. Ripe in the early part of August.

Vail's Seedling Cherry.

Mr. Downing, in his letter to Mr. Vail, speaks of the Late Duke as such a "poor bearer that it is very little cultivated." Does he here have reference to the true Late Duke, or to a spurious one which we had from the Highland Horticultural nurseries six or seven Fig. 35. years ago, and which appears to be some sort of a Morello? The true Late Duke, as figured in our Fruits of America, and described in our Magazine, (vol. xiii. p. 397,) is a great and constant bearer, and one of the very finest late cherries in our collection. We have had it in bearing three or four years, and the Pomological Magazine particularly recommends it on account of its "appearance, size, flavor, and productiveness."-Ed.

ART. IV. Notice of a fine and showy species of Cowparsnep. (Heracleum Wilhelmsii.) By JOHN LEWIS RUSSELL, Prof. Bot. and Veg. Physiol. Mass. Hort. Soc., &c., &c.

IN 1844, Professor Fischer, of the Imperial Botanic Garden at St. Petersburg, forwarded to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society a collection of seeds, out of which I was so fortunate as to raise the interesting subject of this article. The seeds were sown in April of that year, but the plants did not make their appearance until the following Spring. In June, 1846, two surviving plants, out of the only three which vegetated, produced flowers; and for the successive seasons have rendered themselves eminently conspicuous for magnitude of dimensions, as well as for elegance of style in inflorescence.

Any one who is familiar with dark, shady, and rich woods on rocky soils in this vicinity, must have frequently noticed, in the month of June, a tall plant, with coarse, downy foliage, commonly known as cowparsnep, and incorrectly called by some, "master wort." Passing through HARMONY GROVE, in which the cemetery grounds of Salem, Massachusetts, are located, early in that month, my attention was arrested by a fine natural groupe of these cowparsneps, covering the shelving sides of a slope, and giving to the spot the air of some exotic culture. The peculiar beauty which this otherwise coarse plant threw around the scene, suggested to me that some of its foreign co-species might, perhaps, be worthy of cultivation, as well adapted to cover such grounds which are often filled with unseemly briars. I wished that I could have seen, at the time, the Siberian species, which, of the foreign species, is the only one known to me, and which, as an object of curiosity, I shall attempt to describe.

Heracleum Wilhelmsii (fide Fischer,) is a very showy plant, growing to the average height of about five feet, with large umbels of numerous snowy white, rather small, flowers, and with enormous leaves. Of these latter, I have specimens before me, cut from the two plants above-mentioned, which have been growing in a rich, stony soil, on the edge of a peat meadow, and under no especial cultivation. One of these leaves measures, from the base of the petiole to the

tip of the leaf, five feet and ten inches in length, and its greatest breadth is that of more than four feet. The other leaf, cut at random, was five feet in length, measured in the same way as was the last. The petiole is hollow, stout, and longitudinally grooved, smooth, irregularly marked with dark red spots and dashes, and highly scented (as is indeed the entire plant) with a strong anisate odor, rather too pungent to be entirely pleasant. Each leaf is pinnate; the two lower pinnæ being also petiolated, the two next above, sessile; while the two upper become connate with the odd leaflet which terminates the leaf. Each leaflet or pinna is deeply gashed or cut into; and is subdivided many times by similar incisions on the edge of each subdivision. The color is of a deep, rich and dark-green above, much paler beneath, and very strongly veined. At the joints and nodes of the entire plant are delicate glass-like hairs, which, when immature, as for instance on the young foliage, are straight, stiff, and very conspicuous, but become less so, and, indeed, turn to a curled appearance, or into a sort of wool or down.

From the bosom of several of these noble leaves, one or several main flower-stalks ascend, bearing modified leaves of the same general character, but towards the top having at their bases ochrea or sheaths, forming the involucral investment of the unexpanded umbel. As the main umbel expands, several partial ones are extended from beneath the uppermost, which give a succession of flowers after the head has passed out of blossom. Each blossom consists of five white petals, two of which are longer than the other three, and are divided into two very unequal lobes. The stamens are five in number, and the styles are two, all situated about a disk, which crowns the seed vessel. This little blossom, it is to be observed, is pedicillate, and is clustered, with several others, into a partial umbel, which umbel is again supported on another longer and larger pedicel, as is the character, indeed, with the generality of the umbelliferous plants. The heads of blossoms of these flowers will measure across from one to two feet, and become by mere aggregation very showy.

Notwithstanding its strongly aromatic scent, the plant is freely visited by numerous sorts of insects, such as bees, flies, cantharis, &c.; though I have noticed no special injury that