Forest Leaves

Forest leaves are invaluable to every gardener and horticulturist. They act not only as a mulch for growing plants, but are capital for incorporation in the manure heap. If decomposed by themselves, they form a natural mould, admirably adapted for the successful culture of flowering plants in pots. All our florists are glad to get wood mould. The question has been asked as to their manurial value. The answer has never been fully satisfactory. Owing to their bulk, they are not as valuable, in proportion to time occupied in gathering, as if the same time had been spent in carting muck. But, for the successful propagation of plants in green-houses, decomposed leaves are always worth the trouble to secure.

Forest Tree Catalogue

We have received the wholesale circular of Robert Douglass & Sons, which contains a valuable extract of A. J. Downing's letter in favor of the Larch tree, and also the testimony of Loudon.

The catalogue of Pinney & Lawrence, of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., is very full of notes and practical suggestions as to the best methods of planting, culture, and is a good aid to anyone in making his selection of evergreens or timber trees.

Formation Of Clouds

The visitor to mountain districts must often have observed the formation of clouds on the sides of the elevated portions, which take their flight to the upper regions and there become the floating drapery which is so much admired. Shelley in his Prometheus has finely apostrophised them thus: -

" And multitudes of dense, white, fleecy clouds were wandering in thick flocks along the mountains, shepherded by the slow unwilling wind".

Forsythia Suspensa (Pendulous Forsythia)

It is the Kengjo of Kaempfer, Syringa suspensa of Thunberg, and Lilac perpense of Lamarck. It was introduced from Japan in 1833 by Mr. Verkerk Pistorius, but has only recently been cultivated in England. Messrs. Veitch seem to be its first cultivators here, and sent flowering specimens to Kew in April of the present year. Its flowers are yellow, and "larger and handsomer than those of F. viridissima." - Ibid., t 4995.

Fort Wayne (Indiana) Horticultural Society

President, J. D. G. Nelson; Vice-Presidents, M. W. Huxford, Thomas Covington; Treasurer, O. W. Jefferda; Secretary, H. C. Grey.

Forty-Eight Pears To The Bushel

J. C. Parsons, of Vineland, N. J., raised, in 1873, from dwarf pear trees, but three years planted, some Duchess pears, forty-eight of which filled a bushel measure, and the average was nineteen ounces each.

Forty-Third Annual Report

Transactions of the Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden Agricultural 8ociety, For The Year 1861.

Here we have another volume of Transactions in which the State is carefully suppressed. This may not be a matter of much moment to those who live in Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden, but it is to many others who take an interest in such Transactions; for they contain valuable papers that possess more than a local interest.

Fountain For A Conservatory

THE illustration of a fountain upon the opposite page is selected from among a large variety of designs in the possession of the Composite Iron Works Co. of this city. It is simple, yet tasteful; the jets are well disposed in an artistic manner, while the figure, its base, and the spray descending into the basin, make a beautiful and appropriate display for either the parlor or conservatory.