Anthophilus.

P. S. - I ought to add, that, in regard to the rest of B.'s remarks, as well as your comments on Committees, etc., I fully agree with you both; as you say, Mr. Editor, committees are admirable contrivances to do nothing, or to act the part of the wet blankets. Committees look well on paper, but when the days of exhibition come nothing is to be seen. Home and foreign exhibiters must do the best they can in exercising their philosophy, not to wish to be home, instead of overshadowing the horticultural community. A.

As a diversion to the above criticisms, let me ask you if you are acquainted with a plant called Olivia miniata. It is one of the very best plants introduced since a good many years. Should I express in words my admiration of this gem I would say it is the best new flowering plant we have. I see one in bloom now, which has flowered three times in less than a year, (almost a suitable plant for people who want plants that "blow" all the year round.) Without flowers it is a beauty; might rank among ornamental plants; but, with flowers, it is unsurpassed. It flowered for the first time last January or February; gave a scape with 10 flowers; in June following gave another with 11; and last month one with 17 flowers, of a splendid orange scarlet, and every flower being of the size of an Amaryllis; but, to be exact, I give you the dimensions of flowers : almost 5 inches long, with the pedicels and the corolla almost 3 inches across; and add to that, that it lasts in bloom a considerable time - four or five weeks. It entirely overshadows the old and elegant Olivia nobilis, but differs as much from it as a Black Hamburgh grape would from a Charter Oak, or other tut generis.

Mr. Andrew Bridgeman might corroborate my eulogium of this plant, he being the only one in New York, to my knowledge, who possesses it, and, as far as known, has developed the same degree of beauty as the one I refer to. Anthophilus.

[The criticisms of Anthophilus are straightforward. We have already ex pressed the conviction that the Brooklyn Society is too much indebted to outsiders to be able or willing to give them the cold shoulder now. Where a good feeling prevails, they produce a happy spirit of emulation. In getting up Horticultural exhibitions, we have had a much larger experience than any other person about New York or Brooklyn, and we can not forget our deep obligations to foreign exhibitors; we can say this without in the least impairing our obligations to local ones. Our motto is, that we should all work together for good. In regard to the other matter, we repeat the hope that the society may be able to ! treble its numbers without going into this particular form of the commission business. We trust that this and all other measures will be so framed as to conduce to the honor and welfare of the society. In regard to slumbering, An-thophilus seems to have confounded another society with that of Brooklyn. We have seen the Clivia miniata referred to, and endorse all you say in praise of it. - Ed.]

Editors Horticulturist : - Allow me to correct you as to what I said in the memorandum I sent you about the earliness of the Adirondac Grape, i. e., "That it is two weeks earlier than the Northern Muscadine and Hartford Prolific, and from four to six weeks earlier than the Isabella." It was three or four weeks earlier than the Delaware this season. It may be proper to remark, however, that the difference may be less further south, for the reason, that when the cold and wet weather sets in, in this climate, which is usually by the middle of September, such grapes as are not ripe mature very slowly. The Adirondac ripens before cold weather, hence its superiority. As to its quality, I hope to send you samples next September that will satisfy you. Very truly, John W. Bailey.

Plattsburgh, N. Y.

[Will you please let us know the conditions under which the Adirondac was growing, nature of soil, exposure, etc? - Ed].

Mr. Editor, - Dear Sir, - The prompt notice which my inquiries received in your October number encourages me to seek information on some other points in which my own limited experience can not assist me. First, as to the use of potash and lime, those important ingredients in the food of fruit trees, if it is true, as has been stated, that, applied together in the soil, they become valueless, how does practical skill meet this difficulty either before or after planting, so as to secure to the plant the full benefit of each substance.

As ashes are difficult to get here, may not potash be used, in some way, to even better advantage, and how can strong ashes be safely applied 1 In all these interrogatories I refer especially to garden culture. Is not guano valuable, and how should it be used? Lime from the gas-house, too, although dangerous in the hands of novices, is it not a valuable fertilizer?

Supposing the border for a fruit tree to have been prepared to the proper depth, with good surface soil well supplied with vegetable mould and other insoluble substances, as, for instance, lime, bones, etc., may it not then be left to receive, afterward, and from time to time, stable manure, potash, etc., in a liquid form?

Again, in regard to manure as it is obtained in this vicinity. The proportion of straw, which is about one bundle to the manure of one or two horses a day, seems to me too large to admit of the addition of the mould of leaves, wood, and turf. These last must be more valuable for fruit trees than straw, but under these circumstances might they not make an excess of vegetable matter, excepting in very stiff clay?

The autumn here has been rather favorable for ripening the grape. The Isabella and Catawba have reached that state popularly known as "ripe," that is, of the berries, two thirds would be of a ripe color, and of these a portion would be quite sweet, while, perhaps, a third of the bunch would be unfit to eat.

I do not believe these varieties ever become in this region more mature than this, not often as much so. Commonly we have frosts in September, which are sometimes followed by a term of pleasant weather. For this after season, our vineyards ought to be prepared by a board coping, one or two feet wide, placed upon the top of the trellises.

On the subject of peach culture, which, with us, is very difficult and uncertain, we hope to hear soon from the Horticulturist.

Very respectfully yours, "A Subscriber".

Owego, Tioga Co.

[There can be little objection to putting lime and ashes together in a compost heap with muck for immediate application : we have often so used them, and with great benefit. We have also applied them separately (at different times) as top dressings, with marked results. We do not, therefore, hesitate to recommend their application in this way, independently of all theory. It is certain that potash and lime are sometimes found in the same soil in a neutral state, just as we would have them. Potash may be mixed with dry muck, road sweepings, old headlands, etc., and applied as a top dressing: it will soon find its way to the roots of plants. We can not recommend the use of guano, unless vegetable matter is very abundant: the results on the growing crop are generally good, but the after effects are bad; that, at least, is the result of our experience, as well as of a good many others. Gas lime, though dangerous in inexperienced hands, is not without its value: insects usually become very scarce where it is used.

It should be applied very sparingly. - In regard to the border for fruit trees, we answer, yes, and with the best results. - The proportion of straw in your manures is not too large to admit of the addition of the mould of leaves, wood, and turf; and there is no danger of your getting an excess of vegetable matter in your soil as long as you can get a little shell lime. Vegetable matter is the great want of nearly all soils in this part of the world: we are never afraid of having too much of it. - We do not believe you can depend upon the Isabella and Catawba for a crop in your region one year in ten; we think you might realize a fair annual crop with some hardy and early ripening kinds. You ought to have a nice little grapery. - We will try not to forget your wants in Peach culture. - Ed].

Mr. P. B. Mead : - Dear Sir: Will you have the goodness, by the magic stroke of your pen, to disperse the mist-icism which enclouds the following queries?

What is meant by the term "regular bearer" as used in our common fruit books? Does it mean always "annual bearer?" or does it sometimes refer to the mode of distribution of fruit on the tree? If it is not used with uniform meaning it had better not be used at all. So with regard to the phrases "uniform bearers" and others.

Can trees, which bear alternate years only, be rendered annuals in bearing with certainty, permanently, and with little cost? If manuring be one determining cause to this end, when should it be applied? In the bearing or non-bearing year 1 In the spring of the bearing or fall? In the spring of the non-bearing or its fall? When do fruit buds commence forming for a crop?

East New York, Sept. 14th, 1861. S. J. Hutchison.

["Regular bearer," "uniform bearer," and "annual bearer" are convertible terms; that is, they are used to express one and the same thing. If we should answer your next question collectively and dogmatically, we should say, No. If a tree which is very fruitful be judiciously thinned of its fruit, it will the next year, if no extraneous cause intervene, bear a fair crop. In general terms we may say, if a proper system of thinning be adopted, so that a tree is at no time allowed to overbear, a fair crop of fruit may be expected every year. Manuring is indispensable to continued fruitfulness, but is not a "determining cause" of "annual bearing." Fruit buds commence forming, in the sense you seem to have in view, with the first growth in spring, and the process is continued till the fail of the leaf. Your question, however, is by no means clear. - Ed].