"B. F.," Lincoln, Neb., says. "Will you please inform an appreciative reader, what is the Russian Olive advertised by some of our nurserymen, as well adapted to our northern climate? I am interested in oil-producing plants. Would it be safe to experiment with these?"

It is well to "experiment" with anything and everything when knowledge is to be gained, and when there is reasonable ground to warrant the experiment.

As to what is the Russian Olive, we have no knowledge. No olive is a native of Russia. It is probably a mere new catchpenny name for some old thing, that would not sell at all under the name it originally bore.

Carpenter & Gage, Fairbury, Neb., write: "We notice a short article in the Gardeners' Monthly on the Russian olive. The so called Russian olive may not be a native of Russia. The tree was introduced into this State by the Russian Mennonites. While the tree is very hardy, we believe it to be nothing more nor less than the wild olive of Europe. The tree grows to the height of 30 feet, its branches are covered with sharp thorns, the leaves are a dark rich silver color and are evergreen in the South. The flowers are small, color dark golden, and very fragrant. The fruit is small and worthless. The tree is not only valuable as a hedge plant, but is an ornament to the lawn. There are miles of olive hedges in southern Kansas that are a perfect barrier for stock. ' B. F.' can see one of the trees on the post-office grounds at Lincoln".

[If our correspondents will send us a small piece in a letter, we will, with pleasure, give them its correct name. Mr. Teas, of Indiana, sends us a piece which he says is the Russian olive, as sold "in the West," and it is nothing but the common Siberian pea of Eastern nurseries, Caragana ar-borescens, and has nothing about it by which it might honestly be termed an olive. - Ed. G. M].

Messrs. Carpenter & Gage send specimens of the Siberian Pea shrub - which is correct - and is Caragana arborescens. The Russian olive is the old Siberian Oleaster, and is Elaeagnus Songarica, cultivated under the name of Elaeagnus flava. It is closely related to the common garden Oleaster, E. hortensis; the leaves and branches are not scurfy as that usually is, but are densely covered by star-shaped hair, and the leaves are short and broad, instead of long and narrow. The fruit is about the size of a small cherry, olive-shaped, with a somewhat sweet pulp. It is a very hardy and handsome bush.

A species from Asia, Elaeagnus parvifolia, is an admirable hedge plant; in our opinion standing next to Osage orange and Honey locust. This is known in Eastern catalogues as *' Silver Thorn".