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PART III.

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ART. I. Foreign Notices.

FRANCE.

PARIS, June 6. 1829.- We have had a severe winter and a backward spring. The common laurel and the fig, where they were not covered, have suffered severely; but the Magnòlia grandiflòra has stood well. Admiral Tschitchigoff, as you know, has a great many at Sceau, not one of which is injured. The elm trees in the Champs Elysées are more than usually covered with seeds this season, which are now ripe, falling down, and might be swept up by sackfuls. Robínia Pseudacàcia is now beautifully in flower, and in the evenings perfumes the air of the public walks where it abounds. There is a great appearance of most kinds of fruit all round Paris: apricot, cherry, plum, and pear trees are almost overloaded; and the vines in most places where I have travelled show so great a prospect of grapes, that the vignerons are crying out that they will be ruined if the crop turns out as it promises.

1 do not recollect to have seen our method of cultivating early peas practised in England. The market-gardeners place their rows east and west, and raise a little ridge of earth on the north side of the row, which protects them from the north winds, and receives, at a more powerful angle, the sun's rays; by which more heat is reflected on the plants in the daytime, and at the same time more absorbed, to be radiated on them at night. When the plants show their second blossom, the top is pinched off, which throws the force of vegetation upon the forming pods, hastens the maturity of the crop, and increases the size of the peas. The operation is called chatrer. The crop is generally removed by the end of May, after which mangold wurzel is frequently sown; but sometimes rows of potatoes are planted between the rows of peas. Turnips round Paris are generally sown after winter barley, which is put in the ground early in autumn, and the crop cut green, for cows, in March, April, and May. Madame la Comtesse de Bruce is dead, and her place and extensive collection of plants are now to be sold. Yours, sincerely,— Thomas Blaikie. 3. Rue des Vignes, près la Barrière de Chaillot.

Paris, June 14. 1829.—I did not see any thing very remarkable in flowers at M. Boursault's. For rare and curious ones, I think we far excel the French in general: those they do know, I believe they bring to greater perfection. Thunbergia alata and Erythrina crista gálli are not known here at all. M. Boursault had a Wistària in flower outside of his green-house, on an eastern exposure (I think); it appeared rather sickly, the leaves were small and pale, and the flowers, though large, were not of a fine colour: the gardener gave me a bunch. He had beautiful ixias, and his geraniums were English. In the garden I remarked his rhododendrons one mass of bloom; and an elegant Austrian rose, or briar, in full bloom, overhanging some rockwork. I had been to M. Fion's before I received your letters; ***** had told him she would bring me. He pointed out the coup d'ail which you

admired. His azaleas were mostly over: he had fine ones of a reddish orange and white. A beautiful andromeda, covered with white flowers. All his plants were healthy. He has two daphnes, which are new; one D. Cneòrum, and the other D. Dauphini. Wood's man is to take some over. I saw, for the first time, what he calls Oranger poire: the flowers are very dark on the outside, and the buds shaped like a pear, and black: the fruit hangs in bunches, not like an orange; I think it must be a citron. M. Fion is a clever man; he talked and joked the whole time, and said the most piquant things, which required more ready wit than either of us possessed

to answer.

We often go to the flower-market. Yesterday they had a brilliant display of Cactus grandiflòra and speciosa, English geraniums, and a Vìola (heart's-ease), enormous, and of the richest purple, also English.

I was at Versailles last Sunday, to see the grandes eaux. I believe the pipes are out of repair, for all the jets did not play. I expected a grander effect. There was a great crowd of common-looking people, which took off from the dignity of the place. I was struck with the beautiful order the garden is kept in, though the court never goes there: there is not even a fallen leaf in the borders. I remark the same thing in the Tuilleries: the borders are full of handsome flowers, and they grow most luxuriantly; indeed, they take such precautions for the latter effect, that, instead of nice, clean, black mould on the borders, they have left a layer of rotten dung. From certain appearances, I rather think that they scrape the streets, or perhaps the king's stables daily, to contribute to their nourishment also. We have been walking this afternoon in the Duke of Orleans's park of Monceaux, Fauxbourg de Roule. You have seen it, I dare say. It is laid out in the English style, and certainly does full justice to our national taste. The groups of trees and walks are prettier than any thing I have seen for a long time. They were making hay, and I could almost fancy myself in England. I did not admire the Petit Trianon so much, the farm looked so dull, and going to ruin. - M-a. Place Vendome.

GERMANY.

The Hot-water System of heating, I have heard, has been established at Count Razumuffsky's, at Vienna, for upwards of eight years, and in a small propagating house at Dresden for a still longer period. Jacob Kinz. Ball's Pond, May 15. 1829.

The Cultivation of Fruit Trees, a Branch of General Education. — Instruction in the culture of fruit trees forms part of the education of the ordinary seminaries of the state of Mecklenburg Schwerin. No schoolmaster is admitted to exercise that function, without a certificate of his capacity to teach the management of fruit trees. The same masters are obliged to take care of fruit gardens; and those who, previously to the promulgation of the law on the subject, were ignorant of the art, receive the due instruction at the expense of the school fund. (For. Rev.)

SWITZERLAND.

M. Schleicher's Herbarium, he informs us, contains upwards of thirty thousand species, in excellent preservation, and arranged, according to the Linnean system, so admirably, that any genus can be referred to and examined, without disturbing any other genus. M. Schleicher, looking forward to the end of all things, is beginning to "set his house in order," and, thinking of selling his botanical treasures, invites all Europe to come and see them at Bex, Canton de Vaud.

ITALY.

A Nursery has been established by a Frenchman of the name of Maupoil, in the province of Dolo, about eight miles from Venice, and he now supplies all the neighbouring gentry with useful and ornamental plants, besides sending many to Greece and the Ionian Islands. He has also translated Le Bon Jardinier into Italian. He mentions, as a new discovery of his own, that the common black-thorn (Prunus spinòsa) forms an excellent stock for dwarfing different varieties of the cultivated plum. —A Constant Reader. June 6. 1829.

POLAND.

Warsaw, May, 1829.— The rise in the price of corn has put us all in good spirits here, and we hope soon to establish a wool market. Professor Schubert is every year adding something to his collection, as well from our native Flora as from what he receives from other countries. He makes a botanical tour in our provinces every year; and he has now got an assistant, by whose help he hopes soon to complete the examination of every parish in the kingdom.-J. L.

NORTH AMERICA.

The Jamaica Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture and other Arts and Sciences held a Meeting at Kingston on April 14., when the following prizes were awarded:- To Miss Roger of Port Royal Mountains, for a specimen of starch obtained from the Arracacha, 2 dol. To Mr. Mapother, of Good Hope, for a yam weighing 38 lbs., 2 dol. To Charles Stephen, a slave belonging to Smithfield, for a yam weighing 35 lbs., 2 dol.. To Mr. R. Smith, for flowers, including a newly introduced species of Helicònia and Metrosidèros, 6 dol. To Mr. Macpherson, of Industry, Port Royal, for cauliflowers, 2 dol. To Briston, a slave belonging to T. L. Yates, Esq., St. Andrews, for asparagus, 2 dol. To Mr. H. Johnson, of Albey Green, for artichokes, 2 dol. To Mr. Charles Satchell, of St. Andrews, for potatoes, 2 dol. Some specimens of Jamaica mailles [?] were presented by Mr. J. H. Smith, statuary, for which thanks were voted. A dinner followed, at which Dr. Bancroft presided, and Mr. Atkinson was croupier. I remain, Sir, yours, &c. - X. Y. July 6. 1829.

ART. II. Domestic Notices.

ENGLAND.

A MODE of setting up Sheaves of Corn during harvest has been promul gated by Mr. Robert Vazee, who, it appears, has taken out a patent for his improvement. In a letter which he has sent us on the subject, however, he liberally observes, that any agriculturist desirous of ascertaining the effect of the corn preserver, “will be at liberty to apply the same during the approaching harvest, without application to the patentee." The im provement, or corn preserver, is as follows:-"A stake from 6 to 7 ft. in length, being pointed at each end, is placed, by means of a bar, about 6 in. in the ground. There are then set round the stake eight sheaves of the usual size: a hood sheaf, of double the size of the upright sheaves, is bound tight near to the straw end of the sheaf; it is then inverted, suspended on the stake by which it is exclusively supported, and spread around the top of the lower sheaves, as per the elevation (fig. 98. a) and section (b) sent herewith. In this state the corn will remain without injury or further expense, until it is in a proper condition to be housed." In Cornwall, Scot

land, Sweden, and in various other wet or late countries of Europe, corn is set up in the above manner, and protected by a hood sheaf, but without the

stick, which would occasion a considerable expense and trouble to farmers on a large scale: but cottage farmers and gardeners who raise seeds may find it worth while to adopt it; and it is for this reason that we have noticed the subject. The idea of a patent for a hedge-stake! - we cannot all enter into.- Cond.

A Horticultural Impostor from Paris. - Sir, On reading your account of the Sheffield impostor, I determined to inform you how I have been deceived by a Frenchman. In December last, a M. P*****, from Paris, announced his arrival in the Times paper, at No. 4. Green Street, Leicester Square. I called on him, and was shown a printed catalogue of his stock, and I purchased several articles. The following I have already proved, and have little faith but that I shall be equally deceived in the georginas, carnations, yellow nerium, and others:

A double yellow camellia proves a single red; a double tricolor camellia the same; a yellow double China rose, and a tricolor, a lemon, and a brown ditto, all turn out to be Ròsa semperflòrens and common China roses; a yellow moss rose turns out to be the common moss rose, a double white the Cabbage Provins, and a tricolor the Rose de Meaux.

I hope you will caution your readers against being duped by such travelling gentry, and enable them to profit by my experience, and go in future to respectable nurserymen.-A. B. Banbury, June 13. 1829.

Breaking Stones in Gravel Walks.-The two last times we turned our gravel walks, we used a hammer of 2 lbs. weight, with a green ash rod handle to it. With this we broke all the large stones. Gravel thus prepared, as it is dug from the pit, binds well, and makes the best walks. William Anderson. Botanic Garden, Chelsea, February 4. 1829.

Ornamental Flower-pots, Vases, and Baskets, as figured in our first volume, are now made of various sizes and prices, as indicated on a lithographic plate of patterns, by W. Dalley, Rudge, Chilmark, Wiltshire.- Cond.

Hyde Park. We hear it is intended to conduct water pipes to different points of the highest and dryest places of the grassy surface, for the purpose of irrigation in dry weather. This will be an excellent improvement, provided it be limited to the quantity of water necessary to keep the grass green; but if it be carried so far as to produce a moist surface in the daytime, we should deprecate the idea, as tending to destroy all the comfort of walking, and to increase the production of malaria. Of course, we never

suppose irrigation gutters will be introduced, but that the water will be distributed by tubes of canvas, as at Admiral Tschitchigoff's at Sceau, or by leather tubes, or, better still, copper ones, pierced with very small holes, after the manner of the rain pipes at Messrs. Loddiges. By a little contrivance of main and subordinate tubes, all portable, and by a plug of supply in every 10,000 square yards, the whole might be regularly, speedily, and economically watered every evening after 10 o'clock. Cond.

The Tree Cabbage, Brássica oleracea L. var. acéphala Dec.; chou cavalier, chou à vâches, chou branchu, chou mille têtes Fr.; caulet Flem. (Bon Jardinier, 1829, p. 251.).—The seeds of this cabbage, recently brought into notice by Dr. Hamilton (Vol. III. p. 351. and supra p. 440.), and which he enabled us to distribute last year, have grown with great luxuriance in a garden at Craven Hill, and in our own at Bayswater, and produced abundance of seed, which will be offered for distribution. Two hundred and fifty small packets will be left, in the first week of August, at 39. Paternoster Row, and delivered to such individuals as may call for them, leaving their names and addresses; ten packets will be sent to the London Horticultural Society; ten to the Caledonian; and fifty to Mr. Mackay, Trinity College botanic garden, Dublin. — Cond.

The finest Show of Geraniums which we have seen in any private collection this season, was in a garden at Craven Hill, Bayswater. The circumstance is worthy of particular notice, on account of the plants having been kept all the winter in pits, without the aid of artificial heat of any description; but well covered up every night, aired in fine days, and never over-watered. The gardener, Mr. Samuel Daniells, is most assiduously attentive, and has been rewarded with the most gratifying success, not only with geraniums, but with the cow cabbage (supra): he is also orderly and systematic in his operations, and weeds below the economic point (p. 372.). — Cond.

The King of France's Head Kitchen-Gardener has lately been in this country, to acquire a knowledge, from ocular inspection, of the mode of heating hot-houses by hot water, and its application to the growth of the pine-apple. After inspecting a number of gardens about London, he expressed himself to us as most pleased with the pines in the Royal Forcing Gardens, Kensington, and with the boilers and mode of applying the pipes of Messrs. Cottam and Hallen. He recollects a hot-house at Malmaison being heated by hot water about twenty years ago, but paid little attention to the circumstance at the time, and believes it did not succeed. Never heard of M. Bonnemain, nor knew that the hot-houses in the Jardin des Plantes were heated by hot water, till the fact was pointed out to him in the Gardener's Magazine. Found things in general here a little later than at Paris, but not much; not quite a fortnight, the difference of climate being more perceptible at midsummer.- Cond.

Cast-iron Pins with Eyes (Encyc. of Gard. § 1514. fig. 221.) have been adopted in the Earl of Stradbrooke's garden, Hentham Hall, for many years with perfect success. The nails cost 15s. per thousand; the shoots are tied to them with shreds of bass mat, and the walls are not disfigured with holes for harbouring insects. ·Geo. Fenn, jun. Beccles Nursery,

Dec. 26. 1828.

Saffron in England. It is supposed by many persons that saffron is grown for sale in the county of Essex. It was formerly cultivated to a great extent near Saffron Walden, but has not been known there as an article of trade in the memory of the oldest inhabitant. A few years ago a man named Nott, living at Daxford, a village about six miles from Walden, cultivated about half an acre of it, which gradually dwindled down to a few rods, and about seven years since the bulbs were purchased by a medical gentleman at Saffron Walden, who planted them in his garden. This is the last remains of the saffron of Saffron Walden, and there is no prospect of its cultivation being renewed. — J. H.