Queen of the West.-As a bedder, this has few equals, bright orange scarlet, large trusses, and profuse bloomer. Glory de Corbenay.-Salmon edged with white; fine variety. Plants grown in pots during summer, flower best during winter; if planted out, then lifted, do not do much good until next spring for flowering. They require a sunny position to succeed well. Fuchsias. Some kinds of fuchsias do well during winter, the best being Speciosa, Mrs. Marshall, and Earl of Beaconsfield. Plants propagated late in the spring and grown in a partially shaded position during the summer, getting regular shifts into larger pots and kept from flowering, do best. Chinese Primrose.-Had I no other place for growing plants but a window, and® were confined to one species, I would choose this one. Perhaps I am a little partial to it, but I must say a well-grown plant of this will give more flowers during winter than any other kind, and the great variety of colors now to be seen in a collection, both single and double, is considerable. The summer treatment of this class of plants is rather difficult. It requires a partially shaded position and plenty of water, but will not endure much upon the foliage, therefore it has to be protected from rains. Cyclamen.-A beautiful plant for window culture, blooming during the winter months. It requires a cool, moist atmosphere when growing. During summer, plunge the pots containing the bulbs in some shady position, where they can remain at rest until fall. Begonias. Some of the species of flowering begonias are well suited for window culture. Weltoniensis, Dregii, Sutherlandii, Digswelliana, and all the varieties of tuberousrooted kinds. The fine-leaved varieties are also very suitable, the Rex section espe cially. The Calla Lily is a great favorite with all growers of window plants. It requires plenty of water when growing, and a season of rest after flowering. By making its season of rest the summer months, it can be had in bloom during winter. Abutilons are well adapted for growing and flowering in the window. They require plenty of water and sun, and the foliage well sprinkled during clear weather. Ever-blooming Roses.-Roses which do not have very double flowers bloom best in the window during winter. The plants should be kept in pots during summer, and placed in a sunny, airy position, with plenty of water. The best varieties for this purpose are Saffano, buff; Agrippina, red; Louis Phillippe, pink; Hermosa, pink; Isabella Sprunt, yellow; Pactole, white; and Duchesse de Brabant, a beautiful pink. Give them the most sunny position available. Carnations-Strong plants of carnations, lifted out of the ground and potted early in the fall, bloom freely and abundantly during winter. Best varieties: President de Graw, white; Peter Henderson, new and white; and La Purite, pink. These are the leading winter blooming kinds of plants. There are others, such as Cigar-plant (Cuphea Platycentra), Peperomia Thymiflora, Sweet Alyssum, Mignonette, Violets, Eupatoriums, Browalia elata, Ageratums-especially "Blanche," white flowering, a perfect gem. Camellias are most excellent winter blooming plants, but with a good many do not do well; with others they are a perfect success. The general cause of failure is keeping them too warm. They require a shady position; in fact, the best camellia I ever saw grown in a window was in one with a northern aspect, and set out of doors during summer in a cool place, and plenty of water supplied, both at the roots and overhead. Azaleas require a sunny window in a cool room, and they will fl wer abundantly during the spring months. For fine foliage plants, Dracænas, terminalis, Cooperii, Braziliensis, conjesta, and in fact any of these varieties. They succeed best in a warm room with plenty of light. Agapanthus, the variegated-leaved variety, the varigated New Zealand flax, Echeverias and Sempervivums, Cactuses, the large red flowering and pink kinds do best, also the lobster Cactus, Epipyhyllums, are perfect gems during winter, commencing to flower about Christmas. Bulbous plants are favorites with every plant grower, such as Hyacinths, Tulips, Crocus, Amaryllis, and Narcissi, all of which are easily grown if a few particulars are attended to. With the exception of Amaryllis, they should be potted at intervals, for the purpose of having a succession of flowers, beginning the first in October, and potting at intervals until December. After they are potted, place in a dark place and sod until they make roots, when they can be brought into heat and light, when they will soon bloom. The Roman hyacinths are pure white, and produce several spikes from one bulb, and are generally esteemed for bouquets. Upon no consideration try to bloom hyacinths or other bulbs until once they have made plenty of roots. Basket or Trailing Plants.-No window do I consider well arranged with plants unless there are considerable climbing or drooping plants. The English ivy trained up and around the window is very graceful. To keep the plant in good health, where there is much dust, it should have the foliage frequently washed. Smilax make a good window climber, but young plants should be selected for that purpose, as they grow much freer than old ones. The climbing fern, Lygodium Scandens, is easily grown in windows, and much sought after by window gardeners. German ivy grows fast and looks pretty, so does the Tradescantia; also the Convolvuius Mauritanicus, with its pale blue flowers. For baskets, Saxifraga-sarmemtosa is well adapted, and looks pretty suspended from the center of the window. Climbing plants of all kinds require plenty of moisture at the roots when growing vigorously, and require sufficient attention to train them properly, for when allowed to get entangled, they lose their beauty. In conclusion, I would say, never begin window gardening with unhealthy plauts. It gives those of us having greenhouses all we can attend to, to bring plants into good health when orce in a sickly condition. Much more difficult is it to get them into a healthy condition in a window. I have only mentioned such plants as succeed in windows during winter. There are a good many plants which look beautiful and do well in windows during summer, unsuited for winter work; but time does not afford to say much on them. I may mention, however, if any should be so unfortunate as to get their plants frozen, not to be in too great a hurry in getting them thawed. Syringe with cool water, and place in a dark, cool room, and allow to thaw out gradually. Hundreds of plants, often killed by putting them into heat after being frozen, could have been saved if kept cool. This class of geraniums have undergone considerable change within the last few years, in color of flowers and largeness of trusses. The immense variety now mentioned in catalogues is somewhat perplexing to purchasers, especially such as are but slightly acquainted with many kinds. I have selected, in the varieties mentioned below, such kinds as are suitable for bedding out in the flower beds during summer; also, for enlture in pots The ground most suitable for them when planted out, is well-enriched light soil, and when preparing it for planting, dig it just as deep as possible; this entices the roots to go deep, and makes them better able to resist the summer drouth. The following paper upon the newer grapes of recent exhibition and introduction was read at the annual meeting of the Society at Canton, December, 1879: REMARKS UPON THE NEWER VARIETIES OF GRAPES. BY GEORGE W. CAMPBELL. The appearance upon exhibition of rather an unusual number of new grapes the past season may be, perhaps, safely regarded as an indication of a renewed and growing interest in the cultivation of the vine. The discussions upon grapes at the last meeting of the American Pomological Society at Rochester, New York, last September, were more full and interesting than they have been for several years, and clearly pointed to a better feeling and increased confidence in the possibilities of successful and profitable grape culture. The judicious introduction of new and improved varieties of grapes will, doubtless, have an important influence in sustaining and carrying forward this awakened interest to a satisfactory conclusion. That many varieties of grapes have been produced within a few years past, of great beauty and remarkable excellence, is well known to us all. Each succeeding year seems to bring still more additions to the already long list of new kinds; and the effort to make a choice for trial, even among the most promising, is quite bewildering. I am sorry to say, but little can be accurately determined as to the real and permanent value of a new grape simply by seeing it upon exhibition; as it is generally a specimen of what can be produced by extraordinary attention, and not what the grape would be under ordinary care and culture. There are many of the hybrid crosses between our native vines and the foreign kinds, that produce in peculiarly favored and sheltered locations the most excellent and beautiful grapes, fairly rivaling the exotic grapes of the vineries, that are wholly unsuited to open vineyard culture. I do not wish to say anything to discourage the most extensive trial of any grape that promises in any reasonable degree to be adapted to the wants of the people for general culture; but I believe it to be for the best interests of all to be cautious in the recommendation of new and untried varieties. The depressed condition of grape culture for several years past has been largely caused by the failure of new kinds to meet public expectation, and a general distrust, especially of all novelties in this line, is but too prevalent. Health and hardiness of the vine are the first and most important considerations. If these are assured, the quality of the fruit and its adaptation to the purposes required naturally follow, and its greater or less excellence becomes the true measure of its value. Hence, no variety, whatever may be the character and excellence of the fruit, should be recommended for general use in vineyard culture, unless it has been carefully and conscientiously tested as to health of foliage, and a reasonable degree of hardiness in severe winters. How many of us remember the Rebecca grape, closely following the introduction of the Delaware, and the cheerfulness with which we paid our two and three dollars each for this new and hardy white grape that was recommended as possessing all the qualifications of a popular, hardy variety. I need not dwell upon the disappointment that followed the discovery that the vine was neither vigorous, healthy, nor hardy in most localities. The excellence and beauty of its fruit, however, still causes it to be grown as an amatuer and garden variety, wherever it will succeed under skillful and careful culture. Among many others, the Iona grape was at length heralded to the world as the one variety for which we had all been waiting in anxious expectancy, and which was claimed to possess all the requisites for a perfect grape for all purposes and for all sections. The adjectives were exhausted in chanting its praises; and its faultless perfestion was so persistently declared, and so extensively advertised, that for a time ne grape was ever so eagerly sought or purchased at so high prices, and so extensively planted as the Iona. A more wholesale failure was, perhaps, never known. We all know the disappointment and disgust which followed the discovery that the Iopa was but a bundle of imperfections. Its really fine quality, in the few localities where it could be grown, being its only redeeming feature, while it was wholly unsuited to general culture. From this point may be dated the rapid decline in grape-growing, and although the Walter and some other new varieties subsequently appeared which awakened a temporary interest, the general downward tendency has continued till the present time. More rational views, I believe, are now entertained upon the subject, and extravagant notions of immense profits from grape-growing are abandoned. I believe that where grapes have been grown in suitable localities, and with the requisite care and intelligence, success has been general, and equal to that of average horticultural pursuits. In speaking of new varieties, it may be profitable to consider what constitutes value in a new grape? My answer would be, that it should be in some important particular, better than other older kinds already known and established. Of varieties which may be still considered as new, but which have been sometime introduced and planted to considerable extent, may be briefly considered Brighton, Worden's Seedling, Lady, Eva, Elvira, Black Pearl, or Schraidt's Seedling, and Moore's Early. Brighton seems to have met with general favor, and from my experience with it, should expect it to succed wherever Roger's Hybrids can be successfully grown. It is a good grower, and doubtless productive, but requires protection in severe winters, the wood having been killed two years in succession at Delaware. It is a handsome, red grape and of very good quality, equal to the best of Rogers' Hybrids. Worden's Seedling is a large and handsome black grape, of Concord character, and evidently a seedling from it. In foliage it resembles the Concord very closely, but is a liitle more slender in the growth of its wood. Its clusters average larger than Concord, and it ripens at least a week earlier. To my taste it is better flavored, and more juicy, with less pulp, and perhaps less of the flavor called foxiness. The vine is very healthy, hardy, and productive, and I think will take a permanent position among standard varieties, as a reliable and profitable grape. The Lady grape has now been quite extensively planted in all sections of our country where grapes can be successfully grown, and it has proven generally satisfactory. Reports from the south, north, east, and west are alike favorable, and I think its claim to be the best and most promising early white grape for general culture is fully established. With strong, healthy, and persistent foliage; hardiness that endures very severe cold uninjured; a moderate but compact and vigorous growth; great productiveness with very good quality, and the earliest ripening of any really good grape, it presents a combination of excellencies unequaled by any other variety yet introduced within my knowledge. I will mention one peculiarity of the Lady grape, which is possessed by no other early variety, so far as I know. Although it is so very early in ripeninggenerally from the 10th to the 20th of August-it is very late in starting its buds in spring; and thereby escapes the effects of late spring frosts, which in my locality are very prevalent, and often cut off the fruit buds of all other early ripening grapes. The Eva, which is a white seedling from the Concord, and a twin sister with the Martha, resembles the latter in many particulars; but by close observers is pronounced not only distinct from the Martha, but a better grape. Elvira, a seedling from the Taylor, grown by J. Rommel, of Missouri, is also a white, or light green grape, of great vigor of growth, hardy, and of remarkable productiveness. It has attained considerable reputation in Missouri as a wine-grape, and in favor It is free from able locations and seasons will doubtless be valuable for that purpose. foxiness, and ripens medium early, perhaps a little later than Concord. It has the unfortunate habit, however, of crowding its berries so closely in the cluster that many of them burst about the time of ripening, as the skin is very thin, and the bunches rot in the most wholesale way, often destroying nearly the entire crop. It has always too much of the peculiar, immature flavor of the Taylor, to make it desirable for a table grape, as I have grown it, but its friends in Missouri elaim for it there good quality for the table as well as for wine. Black Pearl, or Schraidt's Seedling, is claimed to be a seedling from the Delaware, but has all the general characteristics of the Clinton, and is valued about Put-in-Bay, where it originated, for producing a fine, red, claret wine. It is a strong-growing and very productive vine, and is probably a valuable addition to the quite limited number of red-wine grapes. Moore's Harly has, I think, been somewhat over-praised, and also misrepresented as to its earliness, but it has still merit enough to make it a valuable and popular grape. It is not, as has been widely published, "two weeks earlier than the Hartford;" nor is it better flavored than the Concord. It is, however, about as early as the Hartford; a strong, healthy, and productive vine, with much of the Concord character, and far better in quality than Early Champion, Hartford, and several other early black grapes that have been more or less recommended or planted, but which, in my judgment, are really anworthy of cultivation. Moore's Early seems to have all the valuable characteristics of the Concord, with equal size, productiveness, and quality, and ripening a week or perhaps ten days earlier; and for an early black grape, is certainly among the best yet introduced. At the meeting of the American Pomological Society at Rochester, last September, an unusual number of new grapes of remarkable beauty and excellence were exhibited. Among them were some of Mr. Rickett's productions, of which I have often heretofore spoken. They were not in as large numbers as have been sometimes shown, but they were not less interesting, and not below their former character. Although Mr. Rickett's experiments in producing hybrid crosses between our natives and the foreign sorts, may not result in the distinguished success which it was hoped would crown his efforts, he has neverthelees performed a most interesting and important work, producing many varieties of grapes more or less adapted to open-air culture, in great variety, and of a higher character for beauty of appearance and excellence in flavor, than has been heretofore produced. And although Mr. Ricketts himself has succeeded in growing these grapes in great perfection, and has brought them to our exhibitions year after year, it was found by testing some of them in other localities, they did not succeed as well in other hands, and that they possessed too much of the foreign element in their composition to be recommended for general or vineyard culture. While much improved over the purely foreign varieties, and succeeding well in some places, as Mr. Ricketts has abundantly demonstrated, in other and less favored localities they were injured by severe winter-freezing, and suffered in common with many of our natives, by mildew and rot in variable and unfavorable seasons. I have always hoped and believed that some of these remarkable grapes, or their successors, would be found adapted to general cultivation; and even if they require a little more careful treatment than our hardiest natives of coarser mould, they are well worth the extra trouble, and their greater value will abundantly pay for it. A judicious selection of soil and situation, and perhaps protection during winter, and care as to training and pruning adapted to the habits of different varieties, may be necessary for complete success; but a vineyard filled with |