is much esteemed, and is served in its natural state
at the table as a dessert. With the addition of lemon-juice, it is
sometimes preserved in the manner of the plum, as well as stewed and
served like cranberries.

If kept from the action of frost, the fruit retains its natural
freshness till March or April.

PURPLE ALKEKENGI.

Purple Ground Cherry. Purple Strawberry Tomato. Purple Winter Cherry.
Physalis sp.

This species grows naturally and abundantly in some of the Western
States. The fruit is roundish, somewhat depressed, about an inch in
diameter, of a deep purple color, and enclosed in the membranous
covering peculiar to the genus.

Compared with the preceding species, the fruit is more acid, less
perfumed, and not so palatable in its crude state, but by many
considered superior for preserving. The plant is less pubescent, but has
much the same habit, and is cultivated in the same manner.

TALL ALKEKENGI.

Tall Ground Cherry. Tall Strawberry Tomato. Physalis pubescens.

Stem about four feet high, erect and branching; leaves oval, somewhat
triangular, soft and velvety; flowers yellow, spotted with deep purple;
fruit yellow, of the size of the Common Yellow Alkekengi, enclosed in an
angular, inflated calyx, and scarcely distinguishable from the last
named.

It is grown from seeds, which are sown like those of the Tomato. It is
later, and much less prolific, than the species first described.

* * * * *

CORN.

Zea mays.

_Garden and Table Varieties._--

ADAMS'S EARLY WHITE.

A distinct and well-marked table variety. Ears seven to eight inches in
length, two inches in diameter, twelve or fourteen rowed, and rather
abruptly contracted at the tips; kernel white, rounded, somewhat deeper
than broad, and indented at the exterior end, which is whiter and less
transparent than the interior or opposite extremity. The depth and
solidity of the kernel give great comparative weight to the ear; and, as
the cob is of small size, the proportion of product is unusually large.

In its general appearance, the ear is not unlike some descriptions of
Southern or Western field-corn; from which, aside from its smaller
dimensions, it would hardly be distinguishable. In quality, it cannot be
considered equal to some of the shrivelled-kernelled, sweet
descriptions, but will prove acceptable to those to whom the peculiar,
sugary character of these may be objectionable. Though later t