A Walk Through Dr. Grant's Pear Orchard

We have received from Solon Robinson, Esq., some very interesting and instructive notes of a visit to Iona, the residence of Dr. Grant. On account of their length we have been compelled to divide them. The portion now given contains Dr. Grant's opinion of what he esteems the best twenty varieties of Pears, which will be useful and interesting to such of our readers as are about making selections. We begin with a "good idea".

"That is a good idea. Can you walk, talk, write, and hear me, all at once? If you can, take your pencil and make notes as we go along. We will take them somewhat in the order of their time of ripening.11

Walkers Seedling

Medium size; heart-shaped; color, very dark; flesh of a rich red color, firm, juicy, and of a delicious flavor, though slightly acid; a good bearer.

Wall Bosks

The secret of growing roses against a wall might be packed in a lady's thimble. A two feet deep border of strong loam, four or five feet wide, to be as rich as rotten dung can make it; the border to be thoroughly soaked with soft pond-water twice a week in dry weather, and when the roses are in bloom, to keep them thin in the branches, as if they were peach-trees, and to play the water-engine against them as for a house on fire, from the first appearance of insects till no more come. There is a reason for everything under the sun, and the reason for insects attacking roses in general, and those on walls more particularly, is from too much dryness at the roots, causing the juices to be more palatable through the action of the leaves.

The Walter Grape

For the last six years horticulturists have heard more or less about the Walter Grape, a variety which is claimed by its owners, Messrs. Ferris & Caywood, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., to be earlier, hardier, and better than any other, variety now in cultivation. It is advertised in our columns to be sent out for the first time next fall, beginning in October.

The Wandering Jew

A little runner with an ivy leaf and neat flower, which is perfectly hardy in our latitude and still further north, the Linaria cymbalaria, sometimes called the Wandering Jew, is a great favorite. In a wall it becomes a perpetual object of beauty; it will grow between stones, or bricks, about a cellar window, and at the foot of the wall it makes partially successful attempts at climbing. We commend it to the attention of amateurs.

The Wants Of The Many

In our table matter, we shall endeavor, as far as possible, to remember that the many have not greenhouses, and gardeners skilled in the knowledge of the practice of horticulture and floriculture, but that they are as we have been, viz., new beginners, with a love of fruit, flower, and vegetable, but with limited means and appliances for their growth and culture.

Grapevines may be pruned any time this or the coming month, provided the weather is at a temperature above 40°• Although we prefer early autumn for the operation, yet the labor must be done; and if omitted in the fall, then the first period of warm, soft weather, such as often occurs in January, should be seized upon for the work. At this season, make the cuts at least three inches from the bud, as by so doing there will be less risk of injury thereto from drying and freezing.

Ward's Late Free

A fine white fleshed freestone peach. Skin white, with crimson cheek; flesh white, and slightly red at the stone, and excellent flavor.

Warming Small Greenhouses

An English journal says that a gentleman who had a small greenhouse of half hardy, not tender plants, employed at first no heat but gas, during cold snaps. The gas was however found ruinous to the plants, and he substituted cheap paraffine lamps, distributed in different parts of the greenhouse, with entire success. In the colder winters of this country, the same means of softening the severity of the temperature might be adopted, provided the half hardy plants selected were sufficient to bear some cold, or in smaller greenhouses or plant cases.

Warsaw (III.) Horticultural Society

Officers for 1868: President - A. C Hammond; Vice - President - George B. Worthen ; Secretary and Treasurer - Thos, Gregg. Address of Sec'y, Hamilton, 111.

Wash For Barns

A Constant Reader, (Maryland.) Take hydraulic cement, 1 peck; freshly slacked lime 1 peck, yellow ochre, (in powder,) 4 lbs., burnt umbra 4 lbs.; dissolve the whole thoroughly in hot water, and apply with a whitewash brush. Window shutters, for a "rough cast house, left the natural color of the mortar," may either be dark green, or light brown. If the slats of the shutters are painted a light brown and the borders or frames of the same, two or three shades darker, the effect is good.