about the 20th of August to the 1st of September, in a good soil, and planted out, from November to January and February, in succession, at from 20 to 30 in. distance, in a good, substantial, well-manured soil; as no plant is more exhausting or requires a better soil, but, perhaps, no one plant produces so large a quantity of nutriment during its period of vegetation. About the month of April they begin (from the first crop) to strip the under leaves, cut them in small pieces, mix them with sour milk, bran, and other farinaceous substances, and give them as food to ducks, geese, hogs, &c. During the whole summer they continue stripping the plant as above stated, until it attains the height of from 6 to 12 ft.; and, if a scarcity of herbage prevails, the green leaves form excellent feed for cows and oxen, with alternate feeds of hay and straw. The tops and side shoots are excellent at table during winter and spring. The longest of the stalks are frequently used to support scarlet runners and other French beans, and as cross rafters for farm buildings under thatch, and have been known to last more than half a century, when kept dry, for the latter purpose. I am, Sir, &c. Nursery, Island of Jersey, April 14. 1829. BERNARD Saunders. SEEDS may be had from Mr. Saunders, or from Mr. Charlwood, seedsman, Great Russel Street, Covent Garden.-Cond. ART. XXVI. On the Day Lily (Hemerocallis fúlva), as a Forage Plant. By Mr. J. ELLES. Sir, As I shall not have an opportunity of witnessing the result of an experiment, which I have now in progress here, to cultivate the copper-coloured day lily (Hemerocallis fúlva) for the use of cattle; a notice of it in your Magazine might induce others to make further trials, and perhaps prove it ultimately to be a plant of no ordinary utility. In the years 1826-7, I observed, accidentally, how extremely fond cattle were of this plant, even eating it down to the roots when an opportunity occurred; and as I knew, from long experience, that it would, even in dry ground, produce herbage in the middle and latter end of April, equal in quality to any water meadow, the extreme facility with which it may be propagated and grown in almost any soil and situation, and also its apparently nutritious nature, I was induced to give it a trial in a plot of ground of about 20 rods, attached to the cottage in which I live. Accord ingly, in January 1828, I planted the whole piece in rows 2 ft. apart; between these a full crop of mangold wurzel was planted towards the end of April, which, of course, completely shaded the day lily for upwards of two months before it was gathered in and housed. This circumstance does not, however, seem to have had the least effect on it; for early in April, this year, the plants were 1 ft. high, and at the end of the month, upwards of 2 ft. I did not cut them down, intending to pick out the flower stalks only, to encourage the growth at the bottom of the plants; for, you must understand, the whole were single plants when first planted, now each has sent up two or three plants. This season, I have again planted mangold wurzel between the rows, and have in addition planted some of Cobbett's corn; for as both mangold wurzel and the day lily grow as well, or perhaps better, by being a little shaded, I thought a row of corn, in the alternate rows of day lilies, would be an improvement; and should these three, or any two of them, succeed together, and I see no reason why they should not, it would be difficult to form an idea of the immense produce highly manured and well tilled ground might yield. The day lily, being a permanent crop, will annually produce a supply of green food in April and towards the middle of May, when there is little or no pasture grass; and, if cut at this season, it will continue to grow during the summer. Still, I apprehend, its chief value will be in the first crop; for, by immediately digging between the rows, a crop of mangold wurzel, Cobbett's Indian corn, or both, may be planted, this being the proper season for planting both, both requiring the same culture, and both being ready to be gathered in at nearly the same time, which may be done without materially injuring the plant for the spring. Either of these late crops will, of course, be of much more value than any crop obtained by allowing the day lily to occupy the ground alone. It should be observed, that I never could detect any unpleasant flavour in the milk or butter, from the use of the day lily, and I have occasionally given it in considerable quantities: but, on the contrary, I have invariably found both the milk and butter as sweet as if the cow had been grazed on pasture land or mangold wurzel; a quality, which, if the plant should prove useful, will greatly enhance its value. I am, Sir, &c. Longleat, May 19. J. ELLES. THE Symphytum aspérrimum has also been strongly recommended as a forage plant, by Mr. D. Grant of Lewisham, of which a notice will be found in our next Number. - Cond. 443 PART II. REVIEWS. ART. I. Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. THIS half volume contains no fewer than 54 different communications, "written either by distinguished amateur horticulturists, or by practical gardeners of great experience." Materials for another half volume are ready to be sent to press, provided the sale of that now published" will indemnify the expense of paper, printing, and engraving." "All members are, therefore, earnestly requested to promote this object, by procuring their own copies without delay." In order not to interfere with the sale of the work, we shall defer giving the essence of it for two or three Numbers. Its essence, however, we shall not omit to give in due time, as we give that of every new gardening publication, for the sake of poor gardeners; but the rich in the profession, if there are any, and amateurs may very well afford to purchase the volume, which is so remarkably cheap, that it is difficult to conceive how it can pay. There is an excellent paper by that veteran horticulturist and eminent man, Mr. John Hay, planner of gardens, Edinburgh, which is absolutely worth the money. It is an account of a mode of producing a steady and uniform bottom heat in pineapple or melon pits, or in stoves for exotic plants, by means of steam introduced into a close chamber filled with waterworn stones. Pine-plants in pots are placed in a bed of sand or ashes over the chamber; or the chamber is filled with proper soil, and the plants planted in it as in the open ground, as practised by Mr. Lang at Nymphenburg. (p. 424.) 19. On the raising of Mushrooms, and on the forcing of Rhubarb Stalks in the open Air. By Mr. James Stuart, Gardener to Sir John Hope, Baronet, at Pinkie House, Musselburgh. Mushrooms. Against the back wall of a shed form the base of the bed 3 ft. wide of rubbish, to keep it dry; cover it with dung from a cattle shed, 5 in. thick next the wall, sloping to one inch in front; in a week or ten days, cover with 4 in. of horse droppings; and, when settled, bore holes 4 in. in diameter, and 12 in. apart, through to the rubbish; when all danger from burning is over, fill these holes with fresh horse droppings a little dried; then spawn the bed, and cover the whole with earth 3 in. deep. Mulch with hay of a soft nature, or with straw, and water lightly as occasion requires, with water at 60°, or not exceeding 75°, which ought to be the maximum heat of the bed. Rhubarb. Cover in the open ground with boxes or pots, and around these lay leaves or hot dung, as in forcing seakale. 20. On the ripening of Fruit by artificial Heat, after being taken from the Tree. By James Howison, Esq., of Crossburn House. Pears gathered some weeks before they were ripe, "owing to the danger of their being stolen from the trees," were placed in the drawers of a book-case in a room where a fire was constantly kept, and the temperature from 58° to 68°. After 10 or 12 days the jargonelle, and after a month the moorfowl egg, were found ripe, and better flavoured than if matured in the open air. Melons gathered in the end of October and supposed useless were, after lying in the same room till the end of December, "found nearly as high-flavoured and juicy as those ripened in the frames. In 1816, when wall-fruit in the upper ward of Lanarkshire did not even arrive at its usual size, fire heat had the effect of rendering such fruit more eatable than any which Mr. Howison. tasted," ripened on the tree in one of the warmest situations of Scotland. "From the foregoing it would appear, that the organic elaborations of the constituent parts of fruit are all finished in the early stage of their growth, or when arrived at their full size, and that their ripening is a process of chemical changes similar to fermentation, which, with a sufficient and regular application of heat, goes on, in some degree, independent of the living principle." Hawthorndean apples, gathered in the end of October, 1816, were, on the 27th of May, 1817, as fresh and plump as when taken from the tree, which Mr. Howison conjectures to be owing to the great quantity of unconverted acid contained in the unripe fruit. (To be continued in Vol. VI.) ART. II. Catalogue of Works on Gardening, Agriculture, Botany, Rural Architecture, &c., published since June last, with some Account of those considered the most interesting. BRITAIN. Curtis's Botanical Magazine, or Flower-Garden displayed; New Series. Edited by Dr. Hooker. In svo Numbers, monthly. 3s. 6d. col.; 3s. plain. No. XXX. for June, contains In 2911 to 2917.— Annòna reticulàta; Annonàceæ. A shrub, or small tree, with spreading tuberculated branches, and numerous oblong-lanceolate leaves, and small greenish yellow flowers, succeeded by a pulpy berry as large as a good-sized orange, of a reddish brown colour, and said to taste like a custard. Native of the West Indies, and grown in our stoves. St. Domingo the fruit is esteemed more as a quick and certain remedy against diarrhoea and dysentery than for the table. - Lòtus pinnatus; Leguminosa. "Another of the many interesting novelties discovered by Mr. Douglas, and thus introduced to the gardens of the Horticultural Society, where it flowered in June, 1828, in the open border, and in common soil." Perennial, and the only species of the genus with the leaves pinnate. Justícia nodòsa; Acanthacea. A low shrub, glabrous throughout the stems and leaves, and worthy of a place in every stove, on account of the large size and rich pale crimson colour of the flowers. - Calceolària thyrsiflòra; Scrophularinæ. An erect shrub, raised in the Edinburgh botanic garden, from seeds received from Dr. Gillies of Mendoza; "but it flowered first in the collection of P. Neill, Esq., of Cannon Mills." The plant is much used in Chile for dyeing woollen cloths a crimson colour. The blossoms have a light fragrance, not unlike the flowers of the laburnum. - Dischídia (dis, twice, schizō, to split; dividing of the segments of the corolla) bengalensis; Asclepiadea. A stove epiphyte, of straggling growth; succulent, glaucous, and of no beauty. Plumbago rhomböídea. A stove. annual, with small purple flowers. We are glad to see one step taken in the road of improvement in this Number, viz. the derivations of the botanic names given. The others will follow in due time, or perhaps (but we hope not) out of time. Edwards's Botanical Register. Continued by John Lindley, F.R.S. L.S. &c. Professor of Botany in the London University. In 8vo Numbers, monthly. 4s. coloured. 1240 to 1246. No. IV. for June, contains Rhododendron arboreum var. ròseum; Ericeæ. From "the summit of the highest mountain among those which confine the great valley of Nepal on the north, and at an elevation of not less than 10,000 ft., where it grows intermixed with the white variety, which is, however, the less common of the two. In this mountainous region they both attain, along with the scarlet sort, the size of large forest trees. The latter, however, although it is found growing among them, is more naturally the inhabitant of a zone 5000 ft. lower. It is also found all over the mountains of Nepal and Kumoon, and Sirmore; and this may, as Dr. Wallich remarks, account for its being less hardy than the red sort, because the collectors are more apt to gather their seed from the trees low down on the mountains, than from those at a greater elevation."- Clintònia (Governor De Witt Clinton, an amiable excellent man, and a distinguished patron of |