production of beginners, who are strongly recommended for their activity, industry, and integrity. They have another catalogue of Trees, Shrubs, and Herbaceous Plants of select sorts; either may be sent by post for 1d.

Catalogue des Plantes du Jardin de M. De Kwitka, situé à Osnowa aux Environs de Kharcow. One of the most extensive private collections of house plants in Russia, amounting to about 1000 species.

Traité de la Composition et de l'Ornément des Jardins, 2 vols. oblong 4to. This will be reviewed in an early Number.

De la Loi du Contraste simultané des Couleurs, &c. On the Law of the simultaneous Contrast of Colours, and its Applications. By M. E. Chevreul, Member of the Institute of France, F.R.S. of London, &c. 1 vol. 8vo, pp. 735, and 1 4to vol. of coloured plates. Paris, 1839.

This is a very remarkable work, containing much original matter, applied directly to the disposition of flowers in flower-gardens and shrubberies, and to the mixture of trees and shrubs in ornamental plantations. We intend to review it more at length, as soon as we have leisure; in the meantime we can strongly recommend it to all our readers of taste who understand French. Report of the Society for obtaining free Admission to the National Monuments. Pamph. 8vo, pp. 8. London, 1840.

Twenty-five public institutions are enumerated in different parts of Great Britain and Ireland, to which, chiefly through the exertions of this Society, the public are admitted free of expense on certain days, and under certain conditions. "The benefit conferred on all institutions for the promotion of literature and science, by the legislature exempting their premises from the assessment of taxes to the queen, is an important feature in the history of our civilisation, and it is hoped, that it will be made complete, by a similar exemption from parochial rates, as it is evident that any tax on popular knowledge must be injurious both to the funds and moral condition of the people."

Government has cancelled the practice of taking fees for the exhibition of the regalia of Scotland, and the Duke of Hamilton has ordered that no demand shall be made for seeing the Palace of Holyrood House. Since the regalia were free, 36,900 persons have visited them in the course of fourteen months. The public are under great obligations to Mr. Hume, the chairman of the committee of this Society, and to George Foggo, Esq., the honorary secretary. Histoire des Insectes nuisibles à la Vigne, et particulièrement de la Pyrale, &c. By M. Victor Audouin.

This work will develope one of the most ingenious and beautiful applications of science that ever was made, and one that will save millions of francs annually to France. It is under the especial patronage of the government, who have subscribed for a sufficient number of copies to send to all the departments where the vine is cultivated. The prospectus contains the contents of all the chapters into which the work is divided: it will be in 4to, with an atlas of 23 coloured plates, in 5 or 6 livraisons at 10 francs each; and, after publication, the price will be raised to 12 francs. A slight notice of Professor Audouin's discoveries will be found in p. 553.

Bibliothèque Huzard. Pamph. 8vo, pp. 16.

Notice Biographique sur J. B. Huzard. Pamph. 8vo.

The late M. Huzard was an eminent veterinary surgeon, and a great lover of books. He was born in 1755, and died in 1838, leaving behind him the best library on veterinary surgery ever collected in any country. Some expectations are entertained that it may be purchased by the French government; but, in the meantime, it is open to the governments or societies of other countries. We have directed the attention to it, both of the English Agricultural Society and the Highland Society of Scotland.

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ART. I. General Notices.

WOODEN Pavement for Streets. — Of various modes of paving with wood tried in London, we believe that of De Lisle to be the best. The chief advantage of this plan consists in the system of doweling employed, which, combined with the figures of the blocks unites the whole in one mass so effectually that it is prevented from subsiding unequally, or having the smoothness of the surface deranged until the wood itself is worn out. Neither is this plan so apt to cause horses to slip as some other modes, from the circumstance of the blocks being cut or grooved on the face, and so laid that the diagonal of the square of the surface of the block is always in the direction of the street. We submit these hints to our readers, because we think that when wooden pavement comes to be better understood, it will be adopted in the kitchen and stable courts of various country mansions, where the noise of the carts of tradesmen and others is felt to be offensive to the family. That the courts of honour of all the royal palaces of France will soon have this pavement substituted for the clumsy noisy stone pavements with which they are now covered, we cannot have a doubt. The only thing to be wondered at is, that, with the example of the courts of some hotels and palaces in Vienna, wooden pavement was not adopted in Paris twenty years ago. Cond.

Model Farms, which for many years have been adopted in France, Germany, and even Russia, are now begining to be formed in Britain. One is commenced by Mr. Morton, on the estate of Lord Ducie, in the Vale of Gloucester; one is in progress in Yorkshire, for the Yorkshire Agricultural Society; one is contemplated in Kent; one has been formed in Dingwall, by Sir F. Mackenzie, Bart., and there is one or more in Ireland. It seems to us equally desirable that an Agricultural Society should have a farm, as that a Horticultural Society should have a garden; and we therefore trust that the English Agricultural Society will soon have an experimental farm worthy of that powerful and respectable body, in the vicinity of the metropolis. - Cond.

Approach Roads, consisting of a layer of bitumen spread over a layer of macadamised stone, cost, in the neighbourhood of Paris, 4 francs the square metre, and garden walks which carriages are not to go over may be formed at 3 francs per metre. Footpaths along public roads, bordered with a kerb of sandstone, cost no more than 3 francs per metre.

A Layer of Bitumen inserted in a wall, above the foundations, will prevent moisture from ascending from the soil, as effectually as a course of brickwork in Roman cement. Bitumen also preserves wood at a cheaper rate than paint. (Daly's Revue générale de l'Architecture, p. 161.)

Clegg and Samuda's Atmospheric Railway is an invention that promises to be as great an advance upon the railways already in use, as these are upon common roads; but we cannot step out of our way to go into details. While observing the pumping of the engine in exhausting the air, we began to reflect as to whether the power of exhausting and compressing air could not be applied in some manner or other to the culture of the soil. If a regular substratum of broken stone were laid under a level space of two or three acres, and a system of cast-iron pipes pierced with holes throughout were laid in this stratum, and communicating with an air-pump, then, in spring, when the temperature of the atmosphere was considerably above that of the soil, which it often is in warm days in March and April, the soil might be heated to the same temperature as the atmosphere; either by working the pump as an exhauster, by which the heated atmosphere would be sucked down through the soil, so as to warm it and the stratum of stones; or by forcing it down the pipes into it, and up through it, so as to effect the same object. Whether such a system could be made to pay or not, is another matter; but we think in the neighbourhood of such a metropolis as London, an acre or two covered with grass, laid out as a public garden, and heated in this manner, might possibly answer. - Cond.

ART. II. Foreign Notices.

RUSSIA.

GARDENING in Moscow.-M. Holst, seedsman in Moscow, has lately been some weeks in this country establishing correspondents and collecting information. M. Holst is well acquainted with the gardens and nurseries about London, having been three years in the Hammersmith Nursery immediately after the peace, and having, about 1818, been one of the founders of the Southampton Nursery, with one of Mr. Kennedy's sons, now settled in New York. M. Holst is agent for the Moscow Agricultural Society, and the Moscow Horticultural Society; and, being a native of Riga, where he was brought up and educated as a gardener, he is well acquainted with the progress which has been made throughout European Russia. This progress is indeed wonderful. M. Holst's collection of seeds, according to his Catalogue, is as extensive as that of any London seedsman; and he has ordered all the principal implements sold by Messrs. Drummond of Stirling, and many of the best English works on gardening and agriculture, including our Arboretum, and the great work on cattle by Professor Low. The gardens about Moscow, he says, are as gay as those about London in the summer season. - Cond.

NORTH AMERICA.

The largest Purple Beech and Cedar of Lebanon, in the western hemisphere, are growing in the grounds of Thomas Ash, Esq., West Chester County, New York. The grounds had formerly been occupied as a nursery, I believe the original of all the American nurseries. These specimens were, as far as I can learn, among the first of their sorts which were introduced into this country; and they now serve, with other exotics and splendid native species, to render the residence of Mr. Ash one of the most superbly wooded places which has come under my observation on this side of the Atlantic.

Fagus sylvatica purpurea: height 56 ft.; circumference of the trunk, 3 ft. from the ground, 6 ft.; circumference of the head, 12 ft. from the ground, 108 ft This is a splendid specimen, with a most symmetrically formed semielliptical top, and I exceedingly regret that I am not a sufficient draughtsman to send you a correct drawing of it.

Cèdrus Libàni: height 53 ft.; circumference of the trunk, 3 ft. from the ground, 6 ft.; circumference of the head, 12 ft. from the ground, 90 ft.

As far as I can learn, these trees have been planted about sixty years, but on this point I am not able to obtain sufficiently correct data. Alexander Gordon. New York, June 21. 1840.

Architecture and Gardening have been making rapid progress in New York for several years past, but we have lately observed in the books and engravings received from that country an extraordinary advance in architectural taste. This we believe to be partly owing to the necessity of rebuilding a number of new houses and some churches, in consequence of the great fire a few years ago. We have before us an engraving of New Trinity Church, New York, by Mr. Upjohn, architect, which, for correctness of style, and elegance of design, may vie with some of those of Barry or Blore, for example, at Stratford le Bow and Brighton. The length of New Trinity Church, New York, is 183 ft. 5 in, and the height of the spire 264 ft. It is built of brown stone closegrained, and very highly finished. - Cond.

ART. III. Domestic Notices.

AN additional Park in London.

ENGLAND.

A meeting is about to be held in the city, for the purpose of founding a royal park within the Tower Hamlets. The institution of such a park, to secure fresh air and a wholesome promenade in the middle of a dense population, cannot but be advantageous to the public

health. The object is supported by some of the most respectable residents in the metropolis. (Times.)

An Addition to the Regent's Park is said to be contemplated by the Woods and Forests, which will carry that scene of fresh air and recreation as far as Highgate; and probably some future Earl of Mansfield will join to it the grounds at Caen Wood, decidedly the most beautiful of their kind in the neighbourhood of the metropolis. Hyde Park, we hope, will one day be united to the park of Lord Holland, by the purchase by the government of a narrow strip of ground over the highest part of Camden Hill, so as to join Holland Park with what is now the kitchen-garden of Kensington Palace. The grand entrance into this united Park should be by a magnificent gateway at the end of Pall Mall. Cond.

66

Public Park at Liverpool. We have heard it stated that there is a wealthy and truly patriotic gentleman of Liverpool, who is so peculiarly favourable to the formation of at least one park, for the health and recreation of our good old town," that he has expressed a desire, should he find a suitable site, to lay out a sum of 50,000l. in the purchase and laying out of the ground, and to dedicate the same gratuitously to the use of the public for ever. The statement of our informant was derived from a gentleman of the first respectability, who, we believe, heard it either from the individual himself or some intimate friend. We sincerely hope that the statement may be verified. Meantime, as so munificent a donation by one individual is so rare in this too mercenary age, as naturally to suggest the possibility of a mistake having arisen; all we can say is, that, if it be the fact, the gentleman alluded to, should he nobly come forward, will earn for himself while living an enviable reputation amongst his contemporary fellow-subjects, and when he has gone to "that bourne from whence no traveller returns," his name, linked with his benevolence, will be cherished with feelings of gratitude and respect for ages to come. (Liverpool Standard.)

The Leeds Zoological and Botanical Gardens were opened in June. The Society has expended between 10,000l. and 11,000. on the purchase, planting, and laying out of the ground, and on the erection of walls and buildings. The site is most eligible, being in a slight hollow betwixt rising ground on the east and west, sheltered on the north by a hill, and gently sloping down towards the south. Its direction from Leeds is such that it will scarcely ever be reached by the smoke. (Newsp.)

Kew Gardens. - Various rumours are afloat as to changes which are about to take place in the arrangement and management of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, but we shall only mention one of them, having heard it from respectable quarters. Sir W. J. Hooker, it is said, has offered his services without salary, provided he has a house rent free sufficiently large for containing his extensive herbarium. · Cond.

Victòria règia Lindl.-Living plants of this vegetable prodigy have reached Demerara in safety, and may soon be expected in England. That they will prove as capable of cultivation as other tropical Nymphæàccæ cannot be doubted. (Bot. Reg. Chron., August, 1840.)

A transplanted Mulberry Tree, which remained a Year dormant.-In carrying out some improvements at Lime Grove, Putney, it was deemed necessary to remove a mulberry tree of about forty years' growth, which, standing among other trees, was somewhat stunted, although a tolerably handsome tree of about 18 ft. high, with a head in proportion. Being unwilling to destroy it, considerable pains were taken to lift it with its roots and fibres with the least possible injury, which was effected with corresponding success. The tree was carefully removed, and planted in an open part of the garden, in the autumn of 1838, and I had but little doubt of having succeeded in its preservation. In the spring and summer of 1839 I frequently visited it, but with repeated disappointment in seeing no indications of life, otherwise than that the wood seemed to preserve its vitality. The autumn succeeded, and closed, still leaving the tree in a leafless state. I then concluded that all was over, but still perceiving life in the wood, it was left to remain over winter. In the

beginning of June in the present year, the tree began to push all the way up its main stem, and from several of its larger lateral branches; and, being now pruned in, it promises fair to make in the course of time a handsome tree.T. Rutger. Lime Grove, Putney, July, 1840.

The Bokhara Clover (Melilotus arbòrea) at Oxborough, near Stokeferry, Norfolk, in the garden of Mr. Johnson, is nearly 11 ft. high, and bearing abundance of seeds. Mr. Johnson is so much pleased with this plant, that he means to lay down a small field of it, and treat it like lucern. The seed ripens freely. Samuel Taylor. Stokeferry, August 31. 1840.

SCOTLAND.

Thirlestaine Castle, East Lothian. - The Earl of Lauderdale is making splendid improvements in Thirlestaine Castle; as many as forty masons are at present employed on the garden wall, which, when finished, we are told, will be the finest in Scotland. (Scotsman.)

The Earl of Stair is making extensive improvements at the ancient family residences in Wigtonshire, among which may be included the restoration, in the style of Le Nôtre, of the terrace and other architectural gardens, which have been in a state of comparative neglect for nearly half a century. (Ibid.)

Gladiolus cardinalis, at Hafton Gardens, the seat of James Hunter, Esq., in Argyllshire, measures 23 ft. in circumference, and exhibits upwards of 100 stems, terminating in spikes of its rich scarlet flowers. This plant, in common with various others at Hafton, says much for the mildness of the climate, and does great credit to the skill and care of the head gardener, Mr. M'Dermaid. (Glasgow Courier, Aug. 8.)

A Weeping common Oak (Quercus pedunculàta péndula) was found in a bed of seedlings sown at Ochtertyre in 1825. It was planted on the lawn at Ochtertyre House, and is now (1840) 33 ft. high, with regularly drooping branches, which, after they touch the ground, run along it for some distance. Plants of it have been propagated by grafting on stems 5 or 6 feet high, which form beautiful weeping trees. - Patrick Robertson. Petworth Gardens, Sussex, Aug. 16. 1840.

IRELAND.

The Belfast Botanic Garden. — In p. 363. we expressed a wish to see the design for the range of plant-houses erecting in this garden, and one has kindly been brought to us by Mr. Ferguson, the curator, now (Sept. 3.) in London. It comes nearer, in general appearance, to the range erected in the Sheffield Gardens, than any other which we recollect, but it is much handsomer. We have not seen ground plans or sections, but these are promised, and when we receive them we shall speak of the whole more in detail. We are happy to have confirmed, by Mr. Ferguson, the favourable accounts which we have heard from various persons, of the prosperity of the garden, and of the extensive source of recreation and enjoyment which it affords to the subscribers and the inhabitants of Belfast generally. The climate of Belfast is so mild, that the common broad-leaved myrtle is as hardy there as the laurustinus is about London. In the winter of 1837-8, when the thermometer about London was 10° below zero, it never fell lower than 14° at Belfast. It is easy to conceive, therefore, that many of the Australian, and especially the Van Diemen's Land, shrubs attain here a degree of vigorous growth never seen in England. - Cond.

National Education in Ireland, according to the Sixth Report of the Commissioners, is making steady progress, notwithstanding much opposition. The increase of the number of schools, in the course of the year 1839, has been 197, and of scholars 23,736! The Irish people have a much greater aptitude for education than the English, and, if the latter do not soon enjoy the benefits of a national system which shall be applied to all, the Irish, as the Scotch did formerly, will inundate the country with skill as well as strength. (Morn. Chron., Sept. 10.)