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Alluv. s. Catálpa syringifòlia. Along the banks of rivers, in rich dry soils. Cércis canadensis. In moderately rich soils, on elevated grounds; also in swamps and marshes.

Var. s.

Var. s.

Crataegus virgínica.
coccínea.

Cupressus disticha.
thyöìdes.

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In soils moderately rich, but invariably dry.

In stiff soils generally, but I have found
them in soils of a very opposite nature,
and in various altitudes.

Gelsemium sempervirens. This most beautiful plant flourishes in
the greatest abundance, in almost every soil and situation, in
the states of South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama; but I uni-
formly found it to luxuriate best in moist rich soils. In view-
ing this most superb creeper I experienced the highest grati-
fication. Where local circumstances were favourable for the
extension of its vines, the display was truly grand. Its rich
foliage, beautiful flowers, and delightful fragrance, no pen can
describe. The senses alone can appreciate its riches.
Gordònia Lasianthus. This tree grows freely in the lands where
springs prevail. I saw it in great perfection near Fort Bain-
bridge. In the Creek Indian nation (state of Alabama) some
of the trees were 60 and 70 ft. high. The soil was very rich,
and of a particularly loose texture.

Alluv. s. Halèsia tetráptera.
Alluv. s.

díptera.

Alluv. s. Hydrangea vulgàris.
Alluv. s. quercifolia.

Alluv. s. Illícium floridànum.
Alluv. s.

parviflòrum.

Alluv. s. Kálmia latifolia.

Alluv. s.

angustifolia.

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On the banks of running streams.

On the declivity of rising grounds in moderately rich soils, but invariably under the shade of other trees.

In dry, rich, light soils, near the southern extremity of Georgia.

On the banks of creeks, in light rich soils.

hirsuta. In wet soils, generally sand and vegetable matter. Laúrus Sassafras. In various soils and situations.

Alluv. s. Liriodendron Tulipífera. This tree is among the highest in the southern states. I found it in Alabama 110 ft. high, but delight

ing in the most fertile dry soils.

Alluv. s. Lonicèra sempervirens. This beautiful plant grows very abundantly in rich, light, dry soils, on the banks of running streams. Magnolia grandiflora. Of all the trees in the American forest, this superb tree, for beauty and magnificence, claims the superiority. What can be more beautiful than to see it 70 and 80 ft. high, with its regular pyramidal or semi-elliptical head, beautiful foliage, and flowers in such profusion. I do not consider it particular as to soil, having found it in the very richest and poorest, with their intermediate grades.

Alluv. s.

Hills (!)
Hills (!!)

Magnolia glaúca. In alluvial deposits of the richest quality. acuminata. This species prevails most in the mountainous districts, in a rich loam.

tripétala. Abundant in every part of the southern states through which I passed, soil similar to grandiЯòra. macrophylla. I did not meet with.

cordàta. Also escaped my observation; but I understood it abounds in some parts of Georgia and Alabama. O'lea americàna. This beautiful tree grows in rich light soils, within fifty miles of the sea coast in the state of Georgia. I thought I had found it on the banks of the Chatakootchie, 300 miles from the coast, but Dr. Wray assured me it never had been found there; and the probability is I was mistaken, as it was not at the time in flower.

Alluv. s. Prùnus caroliniàna. Margin of rivers, in rich light soils. virgínica. Very rich soils.

Alluv. s.

Alluv. s.
Hills

hirsuta. Moderately rich soils. } In low grounds.

umbellàta. Dry sandy soils.

chícasa. In dry cultivated lands.

Quércus Phéllos. Generally in swamps.
cinèrea. On sandy barren grounds.
virens. Along the coast, in rich soils.

These three species are very different in their site and
soil. The remaining species of this genus that I met
with generally thrive best in rich soils. So tenacious

are they of good land, that the settler regards them as the best criterion (except the vine) to direct his judgment respecting the fertility or sterility of the soil.

Alluv. s. Rhododendron máximum. On the margin of mountain streams. punctatum. Margin of stagnant waters.

catawbiénse. Only on the summit of the highest mountains.

Rùbus villòsus. In damp soils.

cuneifolius. Light dry soils.

occidentalis. In rocky soils.

trivialis. In soils, wet, dry, rich, and poor.

Ulmus americàna. In rich soils, near to swamps or marshy

ground.

fúlva. In rich fertile soils.

alata. In rich soils, on the margin of swamps.

Vaccinium Myrsinìtis. In sandy soils.

arboreum.

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Alluv. s.

Alluv. s.

Vitis rotundifolia. In light rich soils.

ripària. The same.

æstivalis. A vine, climbing the loftiest trees of the American forest, and reaching their very summit; in very rich lands, generally a free friable loam.

cordifolia. In rich light soils, but generally on the banks of rivers.

Labrúsca. In the very richest soils, in deep river swamps. Yucca gloriosa. In light sandy soils.

filamentòsa. In poor pine lands.

The abridgement of the above communication was published in December, 1828, while we were in Germany, and we cannot now ascertain whether we abridged it ourselves, or committed it to another for that purpose. We regret that it has been so imperfectly done, and take this earliest opportunity of remedying the evil. Whatever errors we commit we are at all times ready to correct, and never feel more obliged, either to friends or enemies, than when they point them out. - Cond.

The Pots in which Mr. Knight grows his Pines.—I beg to ask Mr. Pearson, what kind of pot Mr. Knight uses for his pines? (Vol. V. p. 718.) When I visited Downton Castle, eight or nine years ago, I found them growing in pots about 13 in. deep, by 17 in. diameter at the top; the plants, strong and healthy, as I expected to find them, and I am surprised Mr. Pearson did not expect to find them so too, after all the noise which he must have heard about them. The next time I visited Downton, little more than two years after, I found a very different kind of pot; a friend with me observed that they looked like chimney-pots. I think they must have been near 2 ft. deep, and about 1 ft. wide. The plants were very fine; but not in any way resembling the American aloe in habit. I am now curious to know what size and shaped pot the president has finally determined on. I was sorry to see the peach trees at Downton so much infested with the red spider, and the fruit dropping off before ripe on that account. This and other things plainly spoke the want of a gardener. The cherries were fine; but I have seen far better fruit of pines at Mawley Hall in Salop and other places, grown, at much less expense and trouble, on the regular heat of a tan bed. Mr. Boughton of Worcester never pretended to be a pine-grower; but Mr. Knight is like the rest of us, and has his hobby.-W. March 1830. Treatment of the Peach Tree; in reply to Mr. Housman.- Sir, I perceive in the last Number of your Gardener's Magazine you have caused to be published an illiberal and a senseless letter, ridiculing my paper on the peach tree, which letter I consider to be no better than a mass of absurdity from end to end. I therefore call upon you to publish the following reflections in your forthcoming Number, that you may prevent inexperienced and presumptuous persons from making fools of themselves, and misleading the credulous. Mr. Housman is a very young gardener, he has had no experience in his profession, and is the last writer in the whole Magazine who could be prepared to say that any practice of mine could be right or wrong. What he has hitherto written shows that his opinion is not entitled to the least confidence. In his observations on my paper, he has betrayed the utmost ignorance of his profession, both practical and philosophical; and no man but himself could have so perverted my meaning,- that I meant to say that a tree growing as a standand in Malta bore any resemblance to another in England trained on a wall. I repeat what I before stated, that a shoot 1, 2, or 3 in. long was as capable of producing as large, if not larger, fruit, with much more certainty than another that extends as many feet; and I do boldly assert that fruit situated in proximity of exuberant wood is impoverished in its growth. So unfortunate has he been in attributing ruinous consequences to my practice, that I have now peach trees under

my care, that have yielded to my treatment, for half a lifetime, the best crops of fruit I ever saw. Modes of vegetable culture are not a matter of opinion like a political question; success will at once remove doubt and silence cavils. The best means, I believe, yet known to ripen the wood and mature the blossom buds for the future crop, in a short season of low temperature, is to repulse the growth of the shoot by cutting off its top towards the end of summer; and, unhappily for the horticultural sagacity of Mr. Housman, it is more applicable to the weak than the strong wood, because there is no danger of the former producing a second growth. So sensible are the French gardeners of the utility of this stopping, that they constantly practise it on their apple and pear trees. Who but the greatest novice would cast up longitudinal trenches on his peach borders, and expose the roots of his trees to the frost of winter, and dam up the water? suppose we shall be told in some future letter, that his border is provided with a pitchment like that of Mr. Hiver, or that the wall is built on a mound, which passes off the water right and left with the greatest facility. What will Mr. McMurtrie, who is perhaps the first of the first rank of pine-growers, think, when he hears it dogmatically asserted that the pine-apples he now cultivates so extensively are compared to a common codling apple, and a Swedish turnip? The truth is, Mr. M'Murtrie knows well, and so does every experienced gardener, that all the kinds of pine-apples are good when well grown, and bad only when badly managed; and I think he will concur with me in saying that Mr. Housman is a mere horticultural scribbler, but no gardener. If I mistake not, he may be ranked amongst that respectable class of human beings, who, if they were to live five hundred years, would never be able to conceive a new thought, nor invent a mousetrap. There has been lately so much said about the necessity of air to the roots of our fruit trees, that it is not improbable before long we shall see them mounted upon pillars, like the stacks of corn in a farmer's yard. Stirring the earth deeply to admit the ingress of air has the advantage of creating a profusion of suckers for budding and grafting; the truth of this, even those whom Mr. Housman calls "numskull" readers cannot have the audacity to deny. I invite the criticisms of the experienced intelligent gardener to my paper, but I will pay no future attention to any shallow or pretending critic, who has nothing but conceit and impudence to support him. If we are to rely implicitly on Nicol, Smith, &c., for what end was your Magazine intended? I am, &c.-H. S. Newington, April 14. 1830.

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Mr. Hiver's Mode of training the Pear Tree. Sir, Your correspondent Mr. Bernard Saunders, who has commented on my letter on the culture of the pear, must have read it with very little attention, otherwise he would have known the age, and the manner in which my trees were trained. Mr. Saunders has likewise totally misconstrued my meaning with reference to the thorn, in supposing that I meant to recommend leaving these trees to nature. I only wished to show the bad consequences resulting from the severe cutting of the tree confined to a limited space and rich border. So far is my practice from being hostile to handsome and well-formed trees, that I think I could show him as fine a collection of my training, as he or any other gardener ever saw, or could desire to see. It is surely as easy a matter to train branches uniform and straight, studded from end to end with blossom buds, as another naked as a sign post. But there may be many ready to condemn my system, who never have equalled my success; and no gardener can write for every reader. There will always be localities and various circumstances in which vegetable culture is placed, that no form of management, however general its application, would be found practicable. As I consider my letter of much importance to gardeners, I am not sorry to be thus induced to furnish such further particulars as have been connected with the progress of my trees. The kinds cultivated were the Brown Beurrée, Crassane, Autunn Bergamot, St. Germain, Colmar, and Chaumon

telle. They were planted in February 1813, and had previously been two years trained in the nursery. The first year I cut them back from two thirds to one half their length; the next year they were shortened somewhat less, and in the third season very little. As they now had furnished wood sufficient to form a good fan-shaped tree, they never were afterwards shortened. To fill the wall effectually, as the trees advanced, shoots were laid in between the main branches, and the whole of the superfluous breast wood was constantly cut away within an eye or two of the stem, as it was created. Thus the whole surface of the tree was exposed during the summer to all the light and heat its situation was capable of affording; and this was all the pruning the plants appeared to require. The system of not cutting away the breast wood before the end of summer, I have always considered to be bad; because the redundancy of sap and shade are the chief agents in sterility. Vegetable physiologists are at variance; but it is a well known fact in the anatomy of plants, that every shoot in its embryo state contains the rudiments of a blossom, and that it requires only a certain modification of the vegetable fibre and the juices of the tree to convert it into blossom, and this conversion can only be produced by light and heat acting on the requisite degree of sap. I am confident that I could cause the most luxuriant sort of tree that Mr. Saunders has described to produce blossoms and fruit in a short time, by giving it a scanty supply of earth to its roots, leaving the wood the full length, and exhaling its redundant and watery juices by exposure to the light and heat.

Mr. Saunders attaches much consequence to the mode of winter pruning, but I do not. It is true that every plant has some habits peculiar to itself, but the whole are subject to the same general laws, and may, with very little variation, be pruned in a similar manner. To render an exuberant pear tree, planted in a rich border, fertile by any act of pruning, would just be synonymous with restoring health to a luxurious glutton, diseased with indigestion, by giving the best-prepared medicine, and suffering him at the same time to continue his over-feeding. To prune is merely to cut away superfluous wood, and a goat first taught mankind to do so; it has, in the winter season, little or no influence in the production of future blossom buds, for these we must look to the earth and atmosphere. Those who have read ́ Mr. Harrison's complex and laboured definitions of the art, and seen the trees on the west and east walls in the Wortley garden, will readily admit the validity of these assertions. There are some persons who are great advocates for grafting the pear on quince and other feeble stocks, and Mr. Saunders appears to be a convert to this system; but to insert trees of such opposite constitutions as Mr. Saunders has mentioned on the same kind of stock would be exceedingly wrong. Surely, to manage these things by the border is more preferable, because it is so much under the control of the gardener. But, with regard to grafting the pear on different kinds of stocks, I have had considerable experience; and the best stock, in my estimation, to moderate the growth and induce early and permanent fruitfulness, is the Swan's Egg pear; for I never saw a pear tree of any age grafted on quince or other puny stocks, that did not exhibit those marks of disease consequent on poverty. Mr. Torborn, a gardener of great celebrity, at Ashridge Park, has published, in the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, a comparative estimate of pears grafted on their own and on quince stocks. But the trees at Ashridge on free stocks, like those at many other places, were too luxuriantly eircumstanced to yield much fruit. From what I observed of Mr. Torborn's fruitful trees, they did not equal my own in the quantity or the excellence of the produce. I may here mention that the most formidable rival I ever had to encounter, in the cultivation of this fruit, was the old farmer whose tree I noticed in my preceding paper: he took much delight in his garden, though he knew no more of vegetable physiology than a child, and all the assistance the tree ever received from his hands was, I believe, to fasten

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