stances they each live upon, produce fat in the one, and gum or sugar in the other.

Sexes. As in animals the two sexes are distinct, so in vegetables they are equally marked and cognizable. The female blossom, or that part of it which is to perfect seed, would be barren without the presence of the male; and the necessity of the pollen coming in contact with the female stigma before the seed can be perfected, is too well substantiated to require further illustration here. In blossoms which have no male, the winds, insects, and even the horticulturist himself, must promote the hymeneal union. The entomologist, as well as the botanist, in tracing the wonderful provisions of nature for the perpetuation of the different species in each of their respective pursuits, can easily appreciate the truth of their wonderful analogy.

Seeds. The growth and preservation of vegetable life is promoted and maintained, as in animals, by the plentiful and regular motion of their fluids. Thus, when the seed has been perfected by the pollen, and deposited in the womb of the earth, and has swelled by the moisture which its vessels absorb, and which stimulate its vital principle, the embryo contained in it derives its nourishment by means so strictly analogous to the infant animal, that the same terms may be applied to either. The mother of the animal supplies it with appropriate nourishment, so the vegetable has a similar fluid, provided for its support; and the albumen or white, and the vitellus or yolk, which nourish the tender plant till it can obtain its appropriate food by its own powers and exertions, are in no way different from the blood and juices of the parent animal till the birth of its young, and the milk which sustains it afterwards. Each developes itself, and when at maturity becomes something totally different from its original appearance, either the giant oak of the forest, or the painted beauty of the garden; and there has taken place no greater change, from the stage when the vital principle was first called into action, than what has taken place in the tadpole that swims in the water, or in the butterfly which flies in the air.

Training. In animals as well as vegetables, in their wild and uncultivated state, nature has been left to range free and uncontrolled; and the same grandeur of character marks each in their respective attributes: but, when restrained by man, and domesticated for his use, or cultivated for his food or pleasure, then the education of the one and the training of the other become equally necessary. The young plant, if left to itself, would, like the animal, be injured by the luxuriance and rankness of its growth, and be rendered useless to man if VOL. VI. - No. 27.

D D

unrestrained and undirected by his skill and guidance. His art is to eradicate the evil habits of the one, and to prevent or remedy the bad propensities of the other. The shape, growth, and symmetry of both must be scrupulously attended to; the wildness of their natures controlled; and the most efficient means applied, to render them productive. The tender sapling must be trained with as much address and attention, to render it profitable for timber, or beneficial for food, as the animal must be educated for the purposes for which he is designed. In either case, neglect would be fatal ; and constant attention can alone render either profitable.

To enumerate the various other analogies between the vegetable and animal kingdom would swell this letter to a volume. The effects of cold and heat upon both, either in too great or too little a degree; excessive moisture or dryness; too much or too little exposure to air; the difference of climates, of food, or of soils; pestiferous air, fogs, smoke, and vapours; not omitting the accidents to which each are liable, and the effects from wounds and other injuries; these, and many others, must strike the most superficial observer as common to both. Nor ought I to omit the diseases which are common to both; such as tumours, canker, distortions, gout, measles, carbuncles, ulcers, fungi, gangrenes, and excessive bleeding: but, as I intend to show, in my next letter, that the diseases in both are occasioned by the same causes, and produce the same effects; so shall I then demonstrate that, by keeping in view the distinction between the animal and vegetable world, as consisting in the absence of that medullary substance called mind, we may palliate or cure most of the diseases of plants by remedies analogous to those applied to the material or vegetable part of animals.

A. W. N.

ART. IV. On preserving tender Plants in Winter by means of the Temperature of Spring Water. By Mr. A. GORRIE, F.H.Š.

Sir,

THERE is a curious coincidence between the annual mean temperature in the open air, and the annual mean temperature of water in a deep spring well at the same place. In a spring well of that description at Annat Gardens, I find the temperature of the water to indicate from 46° to 47° in the winter months, unaffected in the least by atmospheric temperature, however low that may be. As spring wells are frequently to be met with, and are always desirable appendages

to a farm-stead or cottage, it occurred to me that many plants, useful to the cottager, or amusing to the farmer's wife or daughters, might be easily preserved in the winter months, in the coldest regions of Scotland, by that class of people whose finances would not enable them to erect more costly structures for the purpose. To ascertain how far this theory was correct, I placed a small frame over the well on a floor of deal 2 in. wide by 1 in. thick, and 1 in. between each spar, to admit of the heat rising in the frame from the water. Knowing that glass would not be purchased by that class whose advantage I had in view, I covered the sash with cotton wrapper at 4d. per yard, and in the frame I placed pots of cauliflowers, lettuce, pelargoniums of different sorts, Chrysanthemum indicum, Prímula sinénsis, &c. The circumambient air generally, as might be supposed, nearly saturated with moisture; and, consequently, fresh air has to be admitted as frequently as possible. The vegetables and plants continue fresh, and the Pelargonium odoratíssimum has been all along in flower; and I am fully convinced that, where such spring can be rendered available, by means of a cut 2 ft. deep, 2 ft. wide, with 2 or 3-inch offsets at each side of the rill to support the ends of boxes 9 in. wide and 4 or 5 in. deep, placed within 2 in. of each other over the rill, into which boxes lettuce and cauliflower plants, chiccory, &c., might be planted, the whole to be covered over with hoops and loose matting to prevent the descent of what meteorologists call frigorific pulsation, a winter conservatory might be easily constructed on one spring, for the use of a whole village. As the rill brings a continual flow of water at the temperature of 46° or 47°, the earth in the box will always be kept considerably above the freezing point in the coldest nights. It may also be useful for nurserymen and others for preserving cauliflower plants, which in this country are always scarce and high-priced in the spring months. A glass cover, when it can be obtained, will be of infinite advantage, and will admit of a greater variety of tender plants for preservation. I am, Sir, &c.

Annat Gardens, February 4. 1830.

A. GORRIE.

ART. V. Method of destroying the A'carus or Red Spider, Slugs, and other Insects on Plants, without injuring the Leaves. By N. T.

Sir,

As the time approaches in which insects begin to make their appearance on hot-house and green-house plants, you

perhaps will not object to insert another recipe for destroying them, in addition to the many which have already appeared in the Gardener's Magazine. In all the recipes for destroying Acari which I have seen, sulphur is an ingredient; this, in its crude state, will not unite with the liquids used for that purpose, and therefore it can have little or no effect, except when applied as a wash on the heated flues of a house. In order to make it unite with soapsuds, tobacco water, and other liquids usually made use of for destroying insects, it must be converted into a sulphuret, by boiling it with lime or an alkaline salt, as in the following mixture, which expeditiously and effectually destroys the red spider, by merely immersing the plant, or part infested, in the mixture:

Common soft soap half an ounce, sulphuret of lime one ounce by measure (or two table spoonfuls), soft water (hot) one ale quart. The soap and sulphuret to be first well mixed with an iron or wooden spoon, in the same manner as a mixture of egg and oil is made for a salad; the hot water is then to be added by degrees, stirring the mixture well with a painter's brush, as in making a lather, by which means a uniform fluid will be obtained, like whey, without any sediment, which may be used as soon as it is cool enough to bear the hand in it.

This mixture will destroy every insect usually found in the green-house, by mere immersion, except the Coccus, or scaly insect, which adheres so closely to the stem, or under side of the leaf, that the mixture cannot reach its vulnerable parts; therefore, in this case, the mixture must be applied with a brush that will dislodge the insect. If the mixture be put into a wooden bowl, or any other shallow vessel, small plants in pots, and the leaves and branches of larger ones, and of fruit trees, may be easily immersed in it by pressing them down with the hand.

The above mixture will not destroy the black A'phides of the cherry tree, nor the green A'phides of the plum tree, by immersing the leaves and branches in it; there being an oiliness on these insects which prevents its adhering to them. It will destroy them by applying it with a brush; but this is too tedious a process. It has been recommended, by writers on horticulture, to wash these and other fruit trees against

-Take

The sulphuret of lime is easily made in the following manner :of flour of sulphur one ounce; fresh lime, finely sifted, two ounces; soft water a quart; boil the mixture in an iron vessel about a quarter of an hour, frequently stirring it after it begins to boil; let it stand to settle, and pour off the clear liquor. If it is not used on the same day, it must be put into a bottle filled with it, and be well corked; for, if it be exposed to the air, it will soon attract oxygen, and will then curdle the soap, and smear the plants with a white substance, which is not easily washed off.

walls, before the leaves and buds appear, with mixtures which cannot be safely applied after; for which purpose the above mixture, with the addition of spirits of turpentine, is likely to succeed as well as any other, or better: but I have not yet had an opportunity of giving it a trial. Half an ounce, by measure, of spirits of turpentine being first well mixed with the soap, and the sulphuret and water added as before; or the wash may be made stronger, by adding twice the quantity of each ingredient to the same quantity of water.

For destroying slugs and worms there is no recipe so simple, attended with so little trouble, and, when properly applied, so effectual, as common lime-water. The plants on which the slugs are found must be watered with it twice at least, at an interval of three or four minutes. If you place three or four slugs on the ground, and pour lime-water on them from a watering-pan, you will soon perceive them throwing off a kind of slough, and after that crawling away; but if you sprinkle them again with the lime-water, they will not be able to throw off another slough, and soon die after the second operation. When a person has therefore watered as many plants as takes up the time of three or four minutes, he must turn back to the place where he began, and water them again.

Lime-water, for this purpose, may be easily made so as to be always ready. Into a trough, containing about fifty-five gallons of water, throw in two or three shovelfuls of lime, stir it up three or four times on that day, and the next day the liquor is clear and fit for use, and will continue to answer the purpose for some time, without adding any fresh lime, by stirring it up again before it is used, and letting it settle. If the lime-water be of sufficient strength, it will destroy the large grey snail with twice watering, and all worms that are out of the ground at the time of watering, and it will not injure the most tender plant when used in a clear I am, Sir, &c.

state.

February, 1830.

N. T.

ART. VI. On the Birch Rind of the American Indians, and the Uses to which it might be applied in Gardening. In a Letter from Mr. HAWTHORN, of the Honourable Hudson's Bay Company, to Mr. Baillie of Dropmore Gardens; with a Note by Mr. BAILLIE. Sir,

HAVING Some time ago spoken to you on the subject of birch rind, and suggested its application in horticultural prac