are the first things to be considered, arrangement the second: in short, that a botanic garden should affect first the geographical distribution of species, and, when that is settled, then their natural grouping. A lithographic sketch of the beds (marked A, B, C,) with an alphabetical index of the genera, would be sufficient to direct any one to the different parts of a garden, in which the species of any genus were to be found.-J. S. H. Cambridge, July 1. 1830.

A picturesque Mass of Rock-work. — Mr. Brookes, being about to change his residence, begs to acquaint Mr. Loudon, that he has for sale an extensive and picturesque mass of rock-work, composed chiefly of considerable pieces of the rock of Gibraltar, adapted to the purpose of a vivarium, at present inhabited by an eagle, and several smaller rapacious birds. The structure is excavated in different parts for the seclusion of its tenants. The four principal entrances of the adyta are ample, and arched with rude portions of rock: there are likewise numerous cryptæ arranged irregularly, for various animals, and subterranean passages intersecting each other for their convenience and retirement. The whole covers an area of about 30 ft., and is upwards of 10 ft. in height, somewhat in the shape of a truncated cone, on the surface of which there is a spacious reservoir for fishes, aquatic plants, and oceanic birds, with a jet d'eau in the centre, ascending through an interesting specimen of rock much elevated above the level of the water, which is prevented from overflowing by a siphon, that conveys it through the mouth of an antique head of a gigantic reptile, nearly resembling that of an Ichthyosaurus. The interstices of the rock are verdant with alpine and appropriate indigenous plants; these, descending over the stones, embellish and augment the pleasing appearance of the fabric, which would prove a beautiful object in an arboretum, or at the termination of a vista. The largest caverns were for a long period the domiciles of an uncommonly fine vulture, a white-headed eagle, an ossifrage, and a magnificent auriculated owl, all natives of the most inhospitable regions; but such, however, as may be readily obtained. Those that remain are domesticated, and will be given to the purchaser: the two former birds were presented to the Zoological Society, and are now living. Occupying an angle in the garden there is a pilgrim's cell, constructed in a great measure of the jaws of a whale, having furniture manufactured of the bones of the same animal, and lighted by a circular stained glass window. Mr. Brookes hopes Mr. Loudon will accept his apology for troubling him with this detail, but conceives that gentlemen having occasion to consult him on horticultural subjects might avail themselves of this, perhaps the only means of raising a noble rural ornament with many tons of the rock of Gibraltar. Blenheim Street, Great Marlborough Street, June 24. 1830.

New-invented Trap for Earwigs. (fig. 92.) — Nothing is more injurious

92

to the finer sorts of wall-fruit than the earwig; and nothing is more disgusting than to find that those hostile-looking insects have taken possession of it when brought to table. It being impossible to defend the fruit from their attack by any means applied to the trees, they can only be assailed by capture. This has

been the old, and is the only, expedient in practice to check the depredations of this annual plague on fruit walls.

A bundle of hollow dry

bean-stalks is placed in the trees, as a lure for them to resort to during the day, as they are chiefly migratory during the night; but, though beanstalks answer the purpose, they are of too fragile a substance to last long, or be so convenient in use as traps made of a more durable material. The inventor (a person well acquainted with the subject) has, therefore, proposed them to be made of tin, which will add durability to their efficacy as a trap. They are composed of a limited number of small tubes, soldered together; which, being first dipped in honeyed or sugared water, will at once attract the insects to feed, and invite them to remain in the tubes, from which they may be shaken out into a pail of hot water, as often as necessary. Such traps, kept in the trees during the ripening season, will preserve, undamaged, much fine fruit.-J. M. Sept. 1828.

A Broccoli Plant which has stood Six Years, and produced good Heads every Year.- Sir, Permit me to record, in your valuable Magazine, a rather singular instance of six years' growth of a spring white or cauliflower broccoli, from the same plant, in the garden of Lee Priory, the seat of Colonel Brydges Barrett. In the month of April, 1824, I sowed our broccolis, but when I cut them in the following spring, by accident I happened to leave a solitary plant, which stood rather aloof from the rest. The next year this plant produced, to my astonishment, as fine and beautiful a head as any of those which I had freshly planted. This excited my wonder and curiosity; I left it again and again, and now it is the sixth year, and it was but a very few days since that I cut from it a superb head! I enquired of several intelligent and well-informed gardeners of the surrounding neighbourhood, whether they had ever known such a thing, and, to my satisfaction, they, one and all, answered in the negative. I am perfectly well aware that there are many instances known and upon record of a second sprout, but it has never come within my practical knowledge, and I have been a gardener for more than five and twenty years, that the same root will produce for six successive years. Perhaps you might be induced to give me some information upon this curious and, as it appears to me, no less important point. In referring to several works upon gardening, I do not find a single instance mentioned that broccoli has been ever known to produce more than one (or, at most, a second) sprout from the same plant. I am, Sir, &c.— Solomon Philips. Lee Priory, April 16. 1830.

In answer to some questions respecting his plants, Mr. Philips sent us the following additional observations:

The sprouts or shoots come from near the bottom of the stem in the second (but, to write more precisely, rather the first) year, almost in the same manner as in the Woburn Kale. They produced four heads of a middling size. In the third (or rather the second) year, the shoots came from the middle of the stem, and produced two remarkably fine heads. In the fourth (or rather the third) year, the shoots came from about the same place in the stem, or they might have been perhaps a little higher up, as in the last year, and brought forth three very fair heads. In the fifth (or rather the fourth) year, the shoots came as usual from the middle of the stem, and produced two very fine heads and a small one. In the sixth (or rather the fifth) year, the shoot, (for there was only one), came from near the top of the stem, and produced, as I have formely stated to you, a large and beautiful head. The first year it was about 1 ft.; the second year about 1 ft.; the third year about 2 ft.; the fourth nearly 24 ft.; the fifth 23 ft.; the sixth about 3 ft., more or less; and the seventh, or present year, about the same. The stem is larger at the top than at bottom, which is not the case with the generality of broccoli plants. If it should be my good fortune to have this plant shoot in the following year, I shall certainly permit it to run to flower, and save some of the seed, which I now much lament that I did not do in this and the preceding years.

The soil is a deep, rich, and loamy one: without wishing to boast, I will add, that perhaps there is not richer and more productive land than this in

the whole county of Kent, and actually may affirm that there is not within twenty miles around. The land is so rich, so capital, and so yielding, in the garden here, that it requires but little manure; and the part in which this remarkable and curious broccoli plant has grown we have not manured for very many years, and for the last twenty years I think I may safely venture to affirm that there has been no manure whatsoever thrown upon it. It may be proper to add, that the part of the garden in which this plant stands is by no means exposed either to the air or to the sun. Indeed, the whole garden in this respect labours under immense disadvantage, as it strikes me, as it is surrounded by numberless trees, such as oak and elm, beech and fir.-S. P. April 23.

Remarkable Crops produced upon a very fertile spot in the Vale of York.Upon land reserved for the autumnal crop of potatoes the preceding autumn, I planted brown Bath lettuce between the spot or rows where the potatoes were to be hereafter planted, and every two yards I planted a gar den bean in the potato row itself. The neighbouring markets were supplied with early salads. The beans having such plenty of air were very firm and prolific. Secondly, Scotch cabbage crops; two early York, or sugar-loaf cabbages in the row, between each Scotch plant, and a full row of the early ones between each Scotch row, alternately. Another:―oats, barley, &c., drilled and cross-drilled into squares, then in the middle of every square a Scotch cabbage plant. I might name various other trials, but am afraid to trouble you further; and I have endeavoured to shorten my letter so much that I fear I shall be with difficulty understood.-C. P. York, May 5. 1830. Naturalisation of Exotics, &c. - The Canna índica, Blètia hyacinthina, Linum arboreum, flourish and flower with me in the open border, without any other shelter than that afforded by a south wall. The former produces plenty of ripe seeds, and has increased so much as to prove troublesome.— C. P. York, May 5. 1830.

Seeds from Carthagena. Sir, I have only time to enclose two or three seeds of the small collection received by the Plover from Carthagena: No. 1. El Madrono (of which I received but three seeds); a tree of Popayan, bearing, as Mr. Charles Hauswolf acquaints Mr. Watts, one of the most delicious fruits of South America. It grows almost exclusively about the city of Caty, where the temperature ranges from 75 to 80° Fahr. Conservatory? No. 2. Same paper, El Mechoacan, ó Rhubarbaro blanco; a convolvulus, with a purgative root. No. 3. El Barbero; a convolvulus, with a pale pink flower. Vicinity of Turbaco. Stove? No. 4. Quito Tomata, Solanum Humboldtü? fruit from 12 to 14 oz. Conservatory?—No. 5. La Bahagua; unknown. A spreading shrub, with pinnate leaves; leaflets oblong; flowers in a pyramidal spike, of a rich yellow. Tree 8 ft. high. W. Hamilton. Plymouth, June 3. 1830.

We have sent the seeds to Mr. Mackay of the Clapton Nursery, who will no doubt report on them, and distribute the plants raised. Cond. June 10.

SCOTLAND.

New or Rare Plants which have lately flowered in the Neighbourhood of Edinburgh, and chiefly in the Royal Botanic Garden; communicated by Dr. Graham, Professor of Botany in the University of Edinburgh, to Jameson's Philosophical Journal for July: —

Brachystelma crispum. "Several bulbs of this plant were collected in Southern Africa, by Mr. Bowie, and sent, with many other roots, in spring, 1829, to Mr. Neill, in whose stove, at Canonmills, it flowered in May last. It approaches Brachystélma spathulatum." Bot. Reg. t. 1113.

Hybrid Calceolarias. "Mr. Morrison, gardener to Lord President Hope, at Granton, being aware that several of the finest species of Calceolaria were shy in producing seed, suspected that this defect might be corrected by applying the pollen of certain kinds to the stigmata of others; and he first has had the merit of presenting to the florist, hybrids thus produced, which

equal, if they do not surpass, in beauty, any of the species of this handsome genus. Mr. Morrison's experiments have been confined to four species, all herbaceous, viz. C. corymbosa, C. arachnöídea, C. plantaginea, and C. Fothergillä. He has succeeded in crossing the whole of these. C. plantagínea he finds most apt to produce seeds of itself, and most readily to fertilise others. The hybrids which Mr. Morrison has sent to the Botanic Garden are the following:'

1. C. plantagínea-corymbosa, raised from seed of C. corymbòsa; produced by the pollen of C. plantaginea. An exceedingly handsome plant, with the foliage of C. plantagínea, and the outline of its flowers.

2. C. plantagínea-arachnöídea; raised from seed of C. arachnöídea, produced by the pollen of C. plantaginea. A large healthy plant.

3. C. arachnoidea-plantagínea; raised from seed of C. plantagínea, produced by the pollen of C. arachnöídea. Almost identical in appearance with the last.

4. C. corymbòsa-Fothergillä; raised from seed of C. Fothergill, produced by the pollen of C. corymbòsa. Quite unlike any of the others.

Eutoca sericea. A pretty and hardy alpine, raised in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden in 1828, from seeds collected in Captain Franklin's second expedition to the arctic coast of America. Flowered first in spring, 1829.

Ferraria elongata. From Buenos Ayres, by Dr. Tweedie, in 1828, to Mr. Neill. Flowers expand about six in the morning, and decay about three in the afternoon.

Habenaria obtusata. From Montreal in autumn, 1829, and flowered in a cold frame at Canonmills in May, 1830.

Halenia Fischèrii. From Dahurica, to the Botanic Garden, in March, 1829, and flowered in the open border in June.

Hibiscus splendens. Raised from seeds sent by Mr. Fraser from New Holland, in 1828. Its only fault, as a cultivated plant, is its great size: but in its native situation it must present a most brilliant appearance. Mr. Fraser writes of it:- "This I consider the king of all the Australian plants which I have seen. I have it 224 ft. in height. The flowers this season measured 9 in. across, were of the most delicate pink and crimson, and literally covered the plant."

Salvia rhombifolia. From Lima.

Schizanthus Hookèrii. Raised from seeds gathered on the Chilian side of the Cordilléra of the Andes. Biennial ?

Scilla pumila. A pretty little species, from Portugal, which flowered blue, and sometimes white, in the garden of David Falconer, Esq. of Carlowrie, in May, 1830.

Vegetable Market. June 1. Grapes, 3s. 6d. to 4s.; pines, 5s. to 68. a pound; gooseberries, 6d. per quart; cucumbers, 6s. to 9s. per dozen; early cabbages, 6d. to Is. per dozen; asparagus, 1s. 6d. to 2s. per hundred; rhubarb, 4d. to 6d. a dozen; new potatoes, 3s. a quart. Green pease grown here have been sold privately, but none have been exposed in the market excepting a quantity purchased in Covent Garden, London, and brought down by a steam vessel. They were as fresh and green to appearance as if they had not been above six hours gathered, and sold for 5s. the imperial peck. Tart gooseberries have also been brought by steam from London, and sold considerably cheaper than those raised here. (Scotsman.)

The Infant Schools in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen are in a most prosperous state. Mr. Wilderspin has given a series of lectures in Leith on his principles of infant education. A most interesting account of the exhibition of the Edinburgh infant school will be found in the Scotsman of the 5th of May, and abstracts of Mr. Wilderspin's lectures in subsequent numbers of the same excellent journal.

Two Cooperative Societies have been established at Perth, and one is now establishing at Dundee. A cooperator, writing on the subject in the Dundee Courier, recommends buying and selling for ready money only, keeping

a strict watch over office-bearers, frequently auditing the books, and the cultivation of unanimity and good feeling.

Annat Garden, June 14. -.. I had a very pleasant jaunt to the Lothians I found there, as at home, generally speaking, the same effects following the same causes. Apples a scanty crop, the result of a preceding wet autumn, producing imperfectly ripened wood, and a weak blossom, which was cut off by a severe frost in the beginning of April, and 8th May; late flowering varieties setting rather better, but apple trees, in general, exhibiting lassitude, from over-exertion last season. At Lufness, Arniston Hall, and Preston Hall, pears on walls abundant, and many of the new varieties from France in full-bearing. Apricots and plums fair crops. At Arniston Hall saw the original John Monteith's pear tree standing side by side with one of the largest and oldest yew trees in Scotland, noticed in some Scottish statistical works. The stem measures at 4 ft. above the ground, 17 ft. in. in circumference, and the branches cover a circumference of 180 ft. The pear tree, of which I may hereafter send a drawing, is supposed to have stood three centuries, and, tradition says, was named after a gardener who lived at that place, and raised it from seed. Mr. Pearson, the very intelligent gardener now at Arniston Hall, informed us that he had ripened some fruit of this variety on a wall, but found it dry, meally, and every way inferior to the fruit grown on the standard, except in size. A Turkey apricot tree at this place covers 63 ft. of an east wall, 16 ft. in height, bears regular crops, and ripens about a week later than the same variety on a south aspect. Vegetation, by the flowering of herbaceous plants, seemed to be in the same stage of forwardness in the Lothians as in the early districts of Perthshire. Much of the corn crops in the Lothians are drilled; but oats have suffered severely this season by what is there called the " tulip root," a disease, the cause of which is not hitherto properly understood. Lucern is cultivated near Musselburgh, and, from some recently sown there, it would appear the practice deserves extension. The woods at Arniston furnish a fine lounge to the botanist. Mr. Mathieson [an old friend of ours?], gardener at that place, who to his other professional qualifications adds a considerable knowledge of plants, pointed out the habitat of the parasite the Lathræ a squamària. The Impatiens nóli me tángere was growing profusely in the woods near the garden, and Mr. Mathieson thinks it a native. There are several rare plants cultivated in the hot-house and garden at Arniston. The flower grounds on both sides of the river Esk are in excellent keeping, and possess an interest which, without water, could not be easily imparted. A. Gorrie.

The Wheat Fly. The wheat is in the ear, and in general is looking well, but we are very anxious just now about its fate with reference to the fly. I found, upon examining my father's wheat the other evening, that the insect was in existence. I found dozens of them busily at work depositing their eggs among the soft chaff of the young ear. We are anxious that the present cold weather should continue for another ten days, to prevent the eggs from hatching, until the wheat be sufficiently hardened, and beyond the state which affords nourishment to the maggot. Another year or two of the wheat-fly will make two-thirds of the farmers here bankrupts. Yours truly.-P. Bell. Mid Lioch, Auchter House, June 24. 1830.

IRELAND.

Belfast Horticultural Society. — The Society's first Show of flowers, fruits, &c., took place on June 5. The judges on the occasion were, the Marquess of Donegall, Sir Robert Bateson, Bart., John Agnew, Esq., John Montgomery, Esq., Mr. L. Farrell, and Mr. T. Drummond.

Flowers. Geraniums, Mr. S. Millikin, gardener to Sir Robert Bateson, Belvoir. Six Geraniums: 1. Mr. A. Anderson; 2. Mr. S. Millikin. Bouquet, Mr. J. Scott, Mr. A. Dixon, and Mr. J. Gamble, gardener to James