List of the Species and Varieties of Mòrus growing in the Government Plantation at Nymphenburg: — Large White Mulberry. Mòrus hispánica. M. rùbra. M. rubra, from New York. I have, moreover, received forty-two plants from Dr. Sacco of Milan, which he calls "particular kinds." All these species, with the exception of the Mòrus rùbra from New York, I received through the Agricultural Society, from Italy. I am, Sir, &c. Royal Nursery, Nymphenburg, Nov. 1828. M. BISCHOF. ART. XVII. On the Cultivation of the Hyacinth. By THOMAS FLEETWOOD, Gardener, of Donnington. Read at the Meeting of the Vale of Evesham Horticultural Society, September 24. 1828. To improve the culture of hyacinths and preserve the bulbs in good health, and to enable them to produce the finest blossoms, plant them in the third week of September in the following manner: - Take off the surface of the earth from the bed where they are to be planted, 12 in. deep; after loosening the soil for the next 6 or 7 in. by digging and making it level, add 4 in. of good well-rotted dung all over the bed; this done, take light, rich, vegetable soil that has been sifted and kept dry for three weeks previous to the time of planting, cover the dung with the soil so prepared 2 in. thick; then place the bulbs on the dry soil 10 in. asunder each way, and cover them 1 in. overhead with the above sort of dried soil, raising the beds to a level with the natural earth. On the approach of frost I cover the beds with dry litter, to prevent the frost from raising the bulbs out of the earth. When the severity of the frost is gone, remove the litter, and clean the bed as necessity may require, until the first bells begin to open; then carefully support them with a small stick, raising it 10 in. out of the earth, carefully placing between every row a layer of clean cake moss, to prevent their being spotted with dirt by heavy rain. I attend to the same method in planting them round circles or ovals, in all cases carefully mixing their varieties. To cover the bulbs with rotten dung is as injurious as to plant them in damp soil. preparing pots for hyacinths, select those about 6 in. in depth and width, and put in them 2 in. of good rotten dung. Then fill them well within, the thickness of the bulb, with rich light soil, placing in each pot three bulbs of different varieties; partially cover them with the same sort of soil, leaving a third part of the bulbs visible. Place them in a dry situation, and give them but very little water the first five weeks, increasing it with the growth of the roots until they have done flowering. Add no water after the leaves begin to decay; cover the pots with litter to preserve them from bursting by the frost, and place them in an open shed till the blossoms begin to open. Take them out of the earth as the leaves begin to decay, carefully cleaning them; but never remove the offsets until the leaves are withered away. When the bulbs are partially dry, take off all the decayed parts, separate and number each variety, placing them in the day where plenty of air can be admitted until the time of planting. I never saw a double hyacinth produce seed; but by impregnating the blossoms of the single hyacinth with the farina of a double variety, I have succeeded in raising a fine double flower. ART. XVIII. On the Culture of the Pine-apple without Pots, in the Royal Kitchen-Gardens at Nymphenburg. By Mr. JOSEPH LANG, Kitchen-Gardener to the King of Bavaria. Sir, THE satisfaction you expressed on visiting our kitchengarden and fruit forcery, and particularly with my culture of the pine-apple, induces me to submit to you the following account of the latter process. About the middle or latter end of March, a pit, like that shown in the drawing (figs. 91. and 92.), is filled 2 ft. deep with horse-dung, and 2 ft. with mould. The mould having reached a certain temperature, I put such plants in it from the pine stove as already show fruit and are in vigorous growth. Holes being made in the mould, which consists of two parts of rich black soil, and one part of turfy loam, with a little sheep's dung, the plants are turned out of the pots without the ball being disturbed, placed in the holes, and the soil made firm about them. When a row is planted (twenty-four plants are contained under one sash, forming six rows in the width of the pit), I place on the top of the soil, round the roots, some cow-dung, several years old, and therefore thoroughly rotten, and not too wet. The coldness of our climate renders it neces sary, when the heat of the manure subsides, or when there is a deficiency of solar heat, to light fires in the stoves at the ends (a a), and to keep up a heat of from 14° to 16° Reaumur, 63° to 68° Fahrenheit. In summer I allow the plants from 30° to 36° Reaum., 99° to 113° Fahr. of solar heat, and, only when the sun is too hot, a few hours' shade is given, by fir branches or reed mats being placed on the sashes. In July, or the beginning of August, the plants are watered, when necessary, with cows' urine, diluted with one half water; and subsequently I only sprinkle them with fine river water. When a day has been very hot, in the height of summer, the plants are rather freely sprinkled in the evening, before the sashes are covered up, with river water; which, producing a vapour during the night, is very beneficial to the fruit, and also gives the plants a clean look. When the plants have done bearing, which is in August or September, I let them stand without doing any thing to them, except shortening the leaves of the main stem where the fruit has been growing, for the purpose of procuring more air and light to the new shoots or suckers. I have frequently taken from thirty to forty suckers from one old stock. About April the suckers are thinned, the finest being left standing: the others are put into pots, although never smaller than of the appearance of two or three years' growth. Then the ground is loosened (an operation which is rather difficult), and fresh cow or sheep dung put round the plants. During the summer months they are watered and treated as before. If I find in autumn that the plants, after having done bearing, do not look so promising as might be wished, I transfer them carefully, with the ball, to a new bed, made like the former, except that it is advisable to put some sand round the necks of the plants; and here I treat them as before. During the winter a heat is -kept up of from 8° to 10° Reaum., 46° to 50° Fahr. There is no fear of their suffering, even though the coverings cannot be opened for several days, for the plants do not begin to grow till the month of February. The fruit-bearing plants may remain for three years in the same place; and I have seen them, in several instances, producing from three to six fruit during every year of that period, of from 1 to 2 lb. weight each. I call this the wild mode of pine culture, because one sees on the same plant fruits large and small, ripe, half ripe, green, and in blossom. The other pine plants which I keep through the winter in the stove are grown during the summer in pits, and those of the queen kind generally bear fruit in fourteen months. They are repeatedly transplanted, and always kept through the summer with bottom heat, shaded, watered, and sprinkled. In the month of March, those plants which show no fruit are transplanted, with balls, into larger pots. The bottom of the pot is always covered with cow-dung thoroughly rotten, and the neck of the root surrounded with sand and sheep's dung; the plants propped up with sticks, and plunged in the tan; the hot dung being, by this mode of culture, covered with tan instead of mould. If the bed is too hot, I have the pots but half plunged, often only one third, in order not to burn the mould; and they are not completely plunged till the temperature is what it should be. In October I have the potted plants which, from the month of May, have been kept plunged in beds, removed to the stove. In winter, when the days are fine, I repeatedly water the larger plants, but those which have or promise fruit more frequently, with the view of not checking their growth, as the constant heat of the stove dries them considerably. In the house where the larger plants stand, which bring fruit in spring, a heat of 16° Reaum., 68° Fahr., is kept up, in pursuance of the above-described method. In the succession house, where the younger plants are kept, the heat is 10° Reaum., 54° Fahr. The plant taken from the mother stem brings me fruit in the second year, frequently in the first; and it is necessary here to keep always a great many of such plants, in order to obviate a deficiency of fruit. My present mode of treatment teaches me that bottom heat is not indispensable to the growth of the pine-apple, as I have kept some of them for three or four years in the same bed, where, towards the last, the heat of the dung and tan was not greater than that of the atmosphere or the natural soil, without preventing my plants being adorned with the most beautiful fruit. It has also shown me that ripe fruit may be obtained by growing without pots in pits, as first described, throughout the whole year, as I can prove by regular tables kept for the last five years, showing that I furnished ripe fruit from these pits every month in the year during that period. By the above communication, I hope to have fulfilled your desire, and have the honour to be, Sir, &c. Nymphenburg, Nov. 4. 1828. JOSEPH LANG. ART. XIX. On the Destruction of the Mealy Bug and Scale on Pine Plants. By Mr. JAMES DALL. Sir, As none of your correspondents has taken notice of the insects that are so destructive to pine-apple plants, I beg leave to send you a statement of the method adopted by me for their destruction; which effectually killed every mealy bug and scale that was on my pines. When I came to this place in 1808, I found the pines covered with the mealy bug and white scale, and I had immediate recourse to a recipe of an old acquaintance of mine, Mr. W. Nicol, with this difference, that I used 4 lb. soap, where he recommends only 2 lb. In that case my mixture consisted of 4 lb. soft soap, 2 lb. flower of sulphur, 1 lb. leaf tobacco, and 2 oz. nux vomica boiled in 8 gallons of rain water. After shaking the plants out of the pots, and trimming their roots, I washed them well with this mixture. I also had the woodwork and glass, inside of the houses and pits, washed with the same mixture, and the walls and flues washed with a mixture of lime and sulphur. The tan in the bark beds I had sifted, and fresh tan added to make good the dust taken away; the whole, old and new, being well mixed together, the plants were repotted and replunged, and attended to as usual. From that time I was no more troubled with the mealy bug, but the scale was not entirely destroyed: for, towards the end |