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it is comparatively warm. One rather inconvenient arrangement is, that the public road must be crossed in passing from the mansion to the gardens, to which a walk, or rather two walks separated by a row of nut trees, leads through an orchard. The kitchen-garden is small, but well situated, declining gently to the south. Against the north wall there are two vineries, in which the vines have formerly been spread under the whole of the roof, but it is the intention of Mr. Weatherston (the very intelligent gardener) in future to adopt, as far as practicable, the method described several years since by Mr. Mearns, and which may be termed the successional system. By this method it is expected to obtain finer fruit, and also to admit more light into the interior of the house. Black currant trees, a novelty in the forcing department, have recently been planted in the earliest house, to be trained up the back wall.

At the bottom of the kitchen-garden, on the south side, are the pleasure-grounds, in a low and damp situation close to the river Lugg, besides which there are several small streams and a pond in the grounds. Close to the entrance from the kitchengarden there are two hot-houses; the one a peach-house, the other a singular structure in which plants are kept. The chief part devoted to flowers is a very pretty group of beds directly in front of, but on a lower level than, the peach and green houses. These beds have lately been formed by Mr. Weatherston, who, as I am informed, has greatly improved the whole of the place. There is one great drawback, however, to the beauty of this little spot, and that is, some lanky poplars which stick themselves up between those beds and the houses, only a few yards from the front of the latter Besides their ungainly appearance, these trees are injurious by shading the houses, and their roots must likewise impoverish the border of the peach-house.

A piece of ground close to the river side is now in the course of preparation for a fruit-garden; it is, however, by no means well adapted for such a purpose, being, from its low and damp locality, peculiarly liable to be affected by that greatest imperfection of our climate, the late spring frosts, which are invariably much more injurious in moist than in high and dry situations.

Sir Harford, with great liberality, grants permission to the inhabitants of the town to walk in his grounds, and I believe his kindness is never abused.

Herefordshire, Jan. 20. 1840.

ART. II. Postscript to Mr. Herbert's Article on Cytisus Adàmi in p. 289. By the Hon. and Rev. W. HERBERT, D.C.L., F.H.S., &c. HAVING written to you hastily on the subject of the Cytisus Adami, or purple laburnum, and kept no copy of what I wrote,

I am not sure whether I stated, as I should wish to have done, that, in the case which I suppose, of a hybrid bud proceeding from the joint operation of the cellular tissue of two woods brought into intimate union and contact by any sort of grafting, it may naturally be expected that the hybridity should be less indissoluble than in the case of a hybrid produced from crossbred seed; because the two sides of the bud may severally have received more of the influence of the wood to which they were most nearly approached, while the centre of the bud might perhaps partake more of the joint types. That view of the subject would account for the anomalous habit of this Cytisus, in throwing out fertile branches which nearly revert to the respective characters of the two parents, while a portion of the tree continues to be hybrid and sterile. In recommending to gardeners to make experiments with a view to produce such curious artificial results, and to verify my theory, I should wish them to lacerate the edges of the graft or piece inserted by budding, as well as of the stock, so that the cellular tissue of the two plants might become not merely united, but absolutely intermixed and blended together, at the line of union. The wood must be then teased into breaking from that line, by rubbing off all buds that appear elsewhere. Of course it would be advisable to try the experiment first with such plants as break most readily from the hard wood. It appears to me possible that a cross between the olive and privet might be so obtained, which probably could not be effected by a seminal cross; or of such a sterile plant as the double yellow rose, with some other species or variety. London, May 20. 1840.

ART. III. Further Remarks on the Cytisus Adami. By the Hon. and Rev. W. HERBERT, D.Č L., F.H.S., &c.

I HAVE received your note, enclosing M. Poiteau's letter with reference to the papers in the Ann. de la Soc. d'Hortic. de Paris, relating to the Cytisus Adami. I perceive that M. Prevost conceives the original shoot of C. Adàmi to have proceeded from a preexisting aberration of C. Labúrnum, which sent an anomalous shoot through the graft of C. purpureus, a supposition repugnant to all that we know of the process of vegetation. M. Poiteau having, in 1830 (vol. vii. p. 95.), published M. Adam's statement, that the branch issued together with some shoots of C. purpureus from the bark of C. purpureus, round a bud inserted in C. Labúrnum, which had perished or remained sulky for a year; that he had sold the original plant before it had produced flowers, together with others grafted from it; and that it no longer existed in his garden; M. Camuzet (vol. xiii. p. 196.), in 1833, visits the original plant in the garden of M. Adam, at

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Vitry, after his death, examines it, and is satisfied that even to its roots the stock is C. Adàmi, and not C. Labúrnum; and asserts thereupon that it was a mule from seed, and that M. Adam must have been mistaken in thinking the shoot had proceeded from the graft. No reliance can be placed on this conflicting statement. M. Camuzet has furnished no proof of the identity of the plant he examined, nor even of the inference he draws, for he does not say that the stock had any branch below the graft; and its supposed difference from C. Labúrnum could have been only perceived in the appearance of the bark, which is not satisfactory. M. Leclerc Thouin's observations are not directed to this Cytisus, but to a monstrous orange differing from the fruit of the plant from which the graft was supposed to have been taken. He supposes that vessels of cellular tissue, in lateral contact with each other, may be filled with the sap of the two different varieties separated by the most slender partition, and the sap of the one modified by passing into the other. It will be seen by the original words which I have subjoined in a note*, and which form the only sentence directly to the point, that M. Leclerc, speaking of mathematical surfaces with reference to such a subject, does not make his meaning very distinctly intelligible; but, as far as I can understand it, it does not seem to militate against my supposition, and I see nothing in the papers to which I am referred which should induce me to alter it.

It is known that a bud proceeds from the cellular tissue of the plant. It must therefore originate in the juices within the cells, or in the juices between the cells, or in both. Whichever of the three be assumed to be the true fact, I see no reason why the two woods united by insertion may not operate jointly to produce a bud, and, if they do so, the produce must be expected to partake of their joint peculiarities. Taking it to proceed from the juices within the cells, it is certain that cells may be confluent, and their contents in progress become mingled in some one cell, because, unless two lacerated or cut cells could unite, no nourishment could be given to the piece inserted; and, if two half cells can grow together, their contents can be mingled, and the cells proceeding therefrom will partake of a joint origin. Taking the bud to proceed from the outward juices pervading the interstices of the cells, the combination of the two fluids, so as to produce a joint result, is still more easy; and, if it

*"Il devient facile de concevoir que la matière organisable soit absorbée également et assimilée différemment dans deux vésicules voisines, alors même que leurs parois se seraient en partie sondées; que la sève de l'une se modifie en passant dans l'autre, et que la différence spécifique apparaisse nettement tranchée du deux côtés d'une double cloison, si minée à nos yeux, que nous pouvons presque la considérer comme une surface mathématique." (Vol. xviii. p. 303.)

is possible in either case separately, it is equally possible if the bud be considered as proceeding from the juices without and within, or even from the very substance of the cellular partitions. But it is certain that the sap is not modified (as M. Leclerc supposes) by passing from the cells of one wood into those of the other; on the contrary, it conforms itself in all usual cases of insertion to the nature of the wood through which it last passes, so as to produce that wood unchanged in its growth and progress. My reason for giving credit to M. Adam's assertion with respect to the origin of this curious plant is, that we have had no instance of a hybrid from seed resolving itself in the course of its growth into its component and fertile elements, nor of any mule, either animal or vegetable, becoming (either altogether or in part) more like one of its parents than it was in the form first assumed after its perfect developement.

London, May 29. 1840.

ART. IV. On pulverising Soils, as a Means of improving them. By JOHN FISH.

THE fertility of adhesive soils becomes greatly increased by frequently exposing them to the atmosphere, by which means they become so much pulverised, as to encourage the growth of the fibres of plants. One cause of the unproductiveness of adhesive soils is, that air cannot penetrate to the seeds or roots of plants; preventing the germination of the former, and the future wellbeing of the other. In such cases, the roots of plants can receive no advantage from the carbonaceous matter which exists. in the atmosphere, from the decomposition of animal and vegetable substances on the earth's surface. Another cause of unproductiveness is, that such soils cannot retain a sufficient quantity of moisture, but are saturated upon the surface at one time, and burnt as hard as a brick at another.

In the former case, the fibres of plants are generally rotted, whilst in the latter they are torn in pieces by the cracks in the ground. The moisture will neither sink freely, nor rise freely, when the sun has evaporated the moisture on the surface. Again, in such soils the full advantage of manure cannot be realised, as it must be within the reach of the atmosphere before those changes can be effected, by which alone it can become the nourishment of plants. Hence the importance of trenching, ridging, and frequent digging, by which a large portion of the soil is exposed to the atmosphere, and rendered more friable and open in its texture. These operations may be performed as soon as the ground is clean. The depth will depend upon the nature of the soil and subsoil: strong soils can scarcely be dug or

trenched too deep; nor indeed can any soil, unless the subsoil contains something noxious to vegetation.

Pulverisation ought to go on during the process of vegetation, by the free use of the fork or hoe. In summer such operations prevent the soil getting dried up, as evaporation proceeds more rapidly from a hard surface than a loose one. It is some time before water can penetrate a hard surface, upon a loose one it sinks to the roots at once. The more soil is stirred among crops of any description, the more fibres will plants produce, and this increase of strength to the plants will more than pay the labour. Independent of the neat and orderly appearance of the drill system among culinary vegetables, it possesses the advantage of enabling us freely to stir the soil: for this purpose I consider a three-pronged fork preferable to a hoe, as by using the latter the ground gets hard below. Believing pulverisation to be of great importance for loosening the texture of strong soils, enabling the fibres of plants to run in all directions in search of food, imbibing and imparting a sufficiency of moisture, without receiving too much, or retaining it too long, and also as tending to eradicate deleterious properties in the soil, I should wish to see it more generally adopted, and extended to the cultivation of many of our field crops.

Exotic Nursery, King's Road, May 18. 1840.

ART. V. Description of an Instrument used for taking the Heights of Trees. By H. W. JUKES, Esq.

IN the autumn of 1836 I spent several months at Studley Royal, in Yorkshire, the residence of Miss Lawrence, making portraits of trees for the Arboretum Britanicum. As these portraits were all drawn to a scale, it became necessary to measure the trees; and their heights were taken with the instrument or machine of which fig. 47. is an outline, to a scale of a foot

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to an inch. This instrument consists of a thin board of oak, 2 ft. 9 in. long, shaped like a gun-stock, the end a being adapted for the shoulder, the muzzle or line b c for taking a sight of the top of the tree, and the square, of which c d is a side, being marked or cut on the board, at the farther extremity.

The

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