country by Mr. Fanning (p. 377.), we doubt if there be one now alive. Mr. Smith, formerly a pupil of Professor Jameson, but now resident in Guiana, has sent home a specimen of the milk, and the analysis will be given in a future number of Jameson's Journal. We very much doubt the probability of acclimating trees from that part of the world in Britain; but, when once known, they may become of immense importance to the cottagers of the West India Islands, of India, and of many countries. It thus appears difficult for a man to conceive what there may yet be in store for him in unexplored regions. Whatever tree will grow in Guiana, will grow on at least one fourth part of the earth's surface: here, then, is the prospect of a new source of one of the most agreeable and nutritious substances in use as food, for a considerable proportion of the human race. Cond.

The Guaco Plant. In addition to the beautiful account given by Sir Robert Ker Porter, Sir Ralph Woodford, as well as other learned gentlemen, of the guaco plant, I transmit the following accounts, which have come under my own knowledge, respecting its efficacy in curing the bite or sting of those poisonous reptiles which abound in South America, as well as in other warm countries: - As a man named Santiago was clearing land on an estate called Bogade Topo, he was stung by a tiger snake in the leg. In a few hours his leg swelled very much, and the flesh about the part stung turned quite black. The juice of the guaco was at length procured, and he drank a wine-glassful every hour, for six hours, and the part affected was rubbed with the leaves. The pain ceased, and the swelling shortly after went down without any sensation; but, for several days, the part affected remained black. Two slaves on an estate called Pilinseat, in the valleys of the Toye, were stung by a rattle-snake. The poor fellows suffered much before the juice of this vine could be procured: their legs and bodies swelled. They drank very freely of the juice, and rubbed their bodies for several hours. In the course of 12 hours, the pain ceased, and, shortly after, the swelling went down ; but it was several weeks before they were fit to work. A man named Don Pedro Pearos, who lived in the neighbourhood of Caraccas, was stung by a correll snake, and his life was in imminent danger. After drinking the juice for 18 or 20 hours, he got some relief; and, in the course of 48 hours, the swelling went down. A large piece of the flesh fell off the leg; and the part that received the sting, and the hollow of the wound, still remain, the part never filling up. Seeing the great virtue of this most valuable vine, I procured it, and cultivated it in my botanic garden at Caraccas, where persons daily apply for it. I gave two bottles of the juice to Mr. Ryan, who had laboured under rheumatism for several years. In four days after using it, the swelling went down; and in ten days he was enabled to attend to his work. I gave it to a Mr. Bell; and, in like manner, he got well in a few days. I also gave two bottles to a gentleman in La Guarryro, who was troubled with the gout. He got so well from drinking the two bottles, that he considered himself finally cured; and, having such good faith in it, he sent some bottles to a lady a relative of his in Hamburgh. In applying it for the toothache, one drop is sufficient to relieve the most violent pain. The dose is a wine-glassful, morning, noon, and night. It increases the appetite, and keeps the bowels gently open. -D. Fanning. London, Deo. 1829.

Mode of cultivating the Aracacha Plant in the Caraccas. Take a young plant or sucker, and cut it close to the top, leaving only two leaves on it. After it is cut, let it remain a day or two in the shade, in order to allow the eut part to heal. Plant them out early in April, about 2 ft. apart, on the top of drills, barely placing the plants in the earth. Let them remain thus till the latter end of August or beginning of September, when the roots will be fit for use. Then take up both root and plant, and place them in a warm dry situation until April, and then prepare again for planting, as stated above. Id.

The Tobacco Plants of Colombia are: The Cumanacoa, Tobacco de la Cueva, de las Misones, de la Laguna de Valencia cura seca and Caraco, de la Laguna de Valencia cura negra, de Oriluca, de Varinas cura seca, de Casavare, de Bayladores, de Rio Negro en Andullas equal to the tobacco of the Brazils. The tobacco of the Cueva, in the department of Cumana, is said to be a tobacco growing from the excrement of certain birds that deposit them in a cavity, and from which the natives extract it: it is considered the finest tobacco in Colombia. The birds are a species of the owl. The natives of Varinas, and through the whole kingdom, chew a substance called chimo, which is made of a jelly, by boiling the Varinas tobacco, and afterwards mixed with an alkali called hurado, which is found in a lake near Merida. Both are an estanco of government, and produce a large annual income. The mode of cultivating the above tobacco by the natives is as follows:- They prepare a small bed, sifting the earth very fine, on which they sow their seed, and then cover it with plantain leaves for some days. As soon as the plants make their appearance, they raise the leaves about 2 ft., so as to give the plants free air, and to allow them sooner to grow strong. When they become large enough to plant, they have the land prepared; and, as soon as the rainy season sets in, they plant out their young plants, taking great care to protect them from the sun, and to keep them clean as they grow up, as well as to prevent the worms from destroying or eating the leaves. When the leaf is ripe, it gets yellow spots on it; and, on bending the leaf, it cracks. Then it is fit for pulling off, which is done, and the leaves are neatly packed in handfuls, placed in a dry situation, and occasionally shifted from one place to another. When the leaves are well dried, they are all packed closely, and well covered, to keep the flavour in. The leaf is left in this state for one or two months, and then made up for use. They never top their tobacco, and the leaves never ripen together. The mode adopted by the North American planters is somewhat different: they top their plants when they have attained eight full leaves, or they keep it secured; and, by this means, the leaves are large and sappy. They cut off the stem at the ground, when ripe, and hang it on laths for one day and a night, with the leaves all hanging down; they then place it in their barns; and, when these are quite full, they smoke it for some days, and let it remain in that way until the stem, as well as the leaf, is quite dry; they then put it in a heap, and cover it up for market. They strip off the leaves, and pack them in hogsheads, as it is received in London. D. Fanning. London, Dec. 1829.

AUSTRALIA.

The Agricultural and Horticultural Society of New South Wales. The address for 1829, by its president, Sir John Jamieson, has just been received in London. "The account given in it of the state and progress of agricul ture in the colony is highly favourable. It appears, from this address, that the culture of the tobacco plant has answered every expectation: 30 tons of it, as much or more than all the settlers have grown in any former year, have been produced by five estates alone. There is, therefore, a prospect that, in a few years, shiploads of the leaf may be despatched to England for manufacture, provided the British markets afford a remunerating price. A skilful planter is reviving the growth of the sugar-cane on the river Manning. The growth of the opium poppy is more exuberant than in many other countries; and the quality of the opium made from it invites its more general cultivation. It is but a few years since the olive tree was introduced in the colony; and the rapidity of its growth, together with its excessive fruitfulness, shows that the soil and climate are particularly favourable to it. Every year's experience tends to the belief that the vine will one day become an important plant in the colony. The variety of the European grapes, and the perfection which they attain, hold out a promise

that wine will hereafter become the most important export of Australia. Had the settlers been brought up in climates where the vine and olive are cultivated, wine and oil would long ago have been among the exports of the colony. But the British population had directed their attention chiefly to their native agricultural pursuits: and hence the delay of other productions more congenial to the soil and climate, and of greater importance to the trade of the colony. It does not appear that the attention of the British settlers has been yet sufficiently diverted from those pursuits, so that the Society's exertions will most probably be directed to those purposes which the circumstances of soil and climate render more particularly recommendable. (Morn. Chron., May 7.)

So.

Sydney, October 22. 1828. You have, no doubt, heard that New South Wales has been suffering from drought for the last three years. We have just had a month's rain, and the country has changed from an arid desert to the most beautiful and luxuriant green. The wheat is ripening; and we shall, no doubt, have a plentiful harvest in another month's time. After the very excellent description of the scenery and peculiarities of New South Wales which you will find in Cunningham's work, I am almost afraid to enter on that subject. The foliage has been represented as very, nay, preposterously ugly; and so, indeed, it is; though the fault does not rest with the nature of the foliage, but in the circumstance that our timber is not only all primeval, but the natives are accustomed to set it on fire, for the purpose of attracting the kangaroos when the new grass springs up: so that you may imagine that forests, presenting an assemblage of burnt and dead trees of the most awkward and fantastic shapes, mixed with and rising above more youthful foliage, cannot be very picturesque, but rather grotesque. This is the general appearance of all the forests at present; and, until the whole face of the country undergoes the renovation of settlers, it must continue But, far from being ugly, the foliage is really beautiful. Nothing can be more so than the young gum trees, with large leaves; they have a good deal the character of the birch, and the leaves, hanging at an angle to catch the sun's rays, glitter splendidly. The swamp oak (Casuarina strícta?), tea tree (Thea viridis L.), apple tree, &c. &c., are all of them excellent varieties; and I have seen spots that were cleared on the first establishment of the colony, and that are now wooded, present as beautiful masses of foliage as you would wish to behold. Then we have the fan or cabbage palm, the burwan, the grass tree, and the fern tree, all of them the most beautiful things in nature; the wide-spreading fig tree, seemingly a species of mangrove; and vines that would induce you to believe that you were contemplating the famous banyan of India: we have all these to add variety to our endless forests. Then, as to flowers, who that has not seen the warratan enlivening our gloomy glens with its magnificent crimson flowers, can form any idea of the power which it possesses in making even our rocks seem interesting? The others are mostly small, but present an endless variety; and, about July and August, the whole neighbourhood of Sydney is a perfect flower-garden: not growing here and there like a solitary primrose or violet, but covering the whole surface with one mass of varying colour. Every week is sure to present two or three new varieties; and though the spring months are most flourishing, this is the case all the year round. Then there are all the shrubs, the banksias and acacias or wattles, adding their share towards the completion of this wild garden. The scenery around Sydney is very pretty, there being great variety of surface created by the varied figure of the waters that surround it. What beautiful little spots there are, in which one fancies life would slide easily away in the improvement of one! There are no large spaces calculated to form a park; but for the grounds of a villa, from 10 to 15 acres, the variety of surface and diversity of view is charming. Many bits are now being given away on the conditions of building to a certain amount, and I hope to put

my thumb on one ere long. Your lessons on landscape-gardening and laying out have not been lost upon me even here. I have made a design for laying out and planting what is called the Hyde Park here, and also for building allotments around it; and it has pleased the governor. We have a large botanical garden here; but it does not appear to me to be well kept up, and possesses nothing very rare. It is open at all times to the public, the consequence of which is, that no one visits it. There is also an Agricultural and Horticultural Society very well supported, almost every respectable person being a member. The pursuits of the settlers are merely the increase of their stock, and the growth of wool, wheat, and maize. I am so ignorant of what has been done in the way of naturalising our trees and shrubs to the climate of England, that it is almost folly for me to talk about it; but I should certainly like to see the gum or eucalyptus adorning your lawns: so disposed, I think, they are the most beautiful of trees. The burwan I remember to have seen at Loddiges', and think it could be natnralised; also, the grass tree and fern tree would add a striking and agreeable feature to your shrubberies. It will prove a most fertile source of amusement to me, should I return to England, to recognise the flowers, trees, and shrubs of Australia. Though I do not know their names or classes, I know them all by sight, and shall never forget them. The flowers I have always on my mantle-piece, sumptuous nosegays that would fetch half a guinea in Covent Garden, and these are got in five minutes in the bush. I am unable to study as I ought to do; but the climate is so relaxing, that, after six hours' teasing in an office, you are little calculated for aught but exercise and society. You can have no idea of the delightful temperature of our winter. The clear sunny days, without the excessive heat of summer, are enough to revive the spirits of the most gloomy invalid.-I.T.

The Hobart Town Courier. We have to thank an unknown correspondent for a series of this paper to the 30th of May last. These papers are highly interesting as showing the progress of the colony; the spread of civilisation of a high and advanced kind over an immense tract of country, and the growing consumption of European, and especially British, manufactures. In almost every paper there are several advertisements, containing lists of the British goods just arrived, and for sale in the ships, or in certain stores. As centuries must elapse before Australia can become a manufacturing country, the prospective advantages of the colony to Europe, even if it should, which it most likely will, in the course or thirty or forty years, become a free union, are incalculable. We wish we could see, under the present governments of the different settlements, a description of allotments of land for the support of schools, similar to what obtains in North America. We have sent the editor of the Hobart Town Courier a copy of our Parochial Institutions, &c. and of Des Etablissemens, &c.; and we hope he will be able to find room, portion after portion, for the whole of both pamphlets. In his pages they will remain to be consulted, at a period more auspicious than the present for the establishment of Parochial Institutions, or at least allotting lands for them throughout the whole of the civilised part of Australia. We recommend also, both to the Australians and the Americans, the subject of village breathing-places, or play-grounds, noticed in a former Number (Vol. V. p. 686.) - Cond.

WEST INDIES.

Jamaica Agricultural Society, May 20.- Read. A paper on the Natural History, Climate, &c., of the vicinity of Spanish Town; by the secretary, Presented. Fourteen varieties of Kidneybean, cultivated at the Caraccas; by Dr. Lockhart of Trinidad.

Thanks were voted to the Hon. Vice-Admiral Fleming, for his polite attention in forwarding the views of the Society, by the introduction of several new objects of cultivation in the island.

Netlam, Tory, and Colin M'Kenzie, Esq., were elected members. — X. Y. July 17. 1829.

Botanic Garden, Bath, Jamaica, March, 1829. The following plants have been received by Thomas Higson, Esq., the curator from St. Anne's, Trinidad, as extracted from Mr. Lockhart's letter of March 16.:- Piper nigrum; I'nga, species scarlet-flowered; Jasminum undulatum; Lécythis coccinea; Cássia, species Caraccas; Pìper Bètle; Ròsa odoràta, new; Méspilus japónica; Pùnica Granàtum var. álbum; Flacourtia, species excellent, native fruit; Ròsa hùmilis; Bignonia ophthalmia; Polygala, species Caraccas; I'xia sinensis; Strophanthus dichotomus; Sórba, native of St. Vincent, their mangosteen; Amòmum éxscapum, two varieties; Ficus elástica, cutting; together with four nutmeg plants. Two of them are natural, and two are females, one of which is inarched and the other a layer. Another box has been received, which contains four layer plants of natural nutmeg, and cuttings of the Salix Humboldtiana, which I hope will succeed, and be an ornament to Bath garden. I have found the nutmegs grown best in the shade or virgin land. If irrigation can be adopted during the dry season, it would be a great convenience, as watering is absolutely necessary. When the trees are in fruit, they show the want of water, by the skin of the fruit shrivelling; which symptom will require double the quantity of water, and perhaps fail, after all, to bring the fruit to perfection. We have now several trees in fruit in this garden, and some of them may mature 1000 fruit: 1200 were taken from one tree last year. The black pepper, a climbing plant, also delights in a shady and rich loamy soil. The Erythrina Corallodendrum is an excellent plant for it to run up; it also requires water in the dry seaThe Guinea pepper grows in the shade or virgin land, and is in flower in March; after which, to the rainy season, the fruit is maturing; water is necessary to perfect their pods. I have sent three plants of a supposed Flacourtia, as it is a diœcious plant, that you may have a chance of fruit. The loquat grows to a handsome tree, and the fruit is said to be good. The elastic fig grows to a very large spreading tree: one planted in this garden, in 1821, spreads 25 paces in diameter. The sorba is a fruit which has been cultivated in the botanic garden at St. Vincent for several years, and called there the mangosteen. I found other species of the same genus in Demerara, St. Vincent, and Trinidad, all of which resemble most the Xanthochymus pictòrius, and may probably belong to the same genus when better known."-X. Y. July 6. 1822.

son.

The Importation of Castor Oil from the West Indies seems to be increasing. If that most unjust tax of 3d. per lb., which is equal to a charge of 221. on the ton, were removed, there is no doubt it would become an object of great commercial importance, besides being a cheap article of the greatest medicinal value to the poor. But so the poor, colonial agriculture, and the manufacture of England are treated.-X. Y. July 17. 1829.

ART. III. Domestic Notices.

ENGLAND.

HARDY Plants generally treated as Green-house.—Acàcia armàta, Calceolària rugosa, Commelina tuberosa, Hippocrèpis baléarica, and Fuchsia grácilis I have found sufficiently hardy to stand our winters, though they are generally treated as green-house plants. J. D. London, Jan. 19. 1830.

List of Plants sent to England, in the ship Rose, from the port Oratava, Teneriffe, May, 1829, by P. B. Webb, Esq., to his gardener, Wm. Young, Milford House, near Godalming, Surrey: