H. BOTANY AND HORTICULTURE. 305 



aperture large enough to admit the hand. The interior is 

 then completely cleaned out, the ripe grapes are placed in- 

 side, and the cover replaced and pressed in firmly. The pump- 

 kins are then kept in a cool place, and the grapes will be 

 found to retain their freshness for a very long time. We are 

 told that a very careful selection must be made of the pump- 

 kin, the common field pumpkin, however, being well adapted 

 for the purpose in question. 8 (7, 1871,*/^?/ 28, 240. 



TREMELLAT PROCESS FOR PRESERVING GRAPES. 



A method for preserving grapes through the winter, intro- 

 duced by M. Tremellat, of Marseilles, is commended in agri- 

 cultural journals as answering its purpose better than many 

 of the improved methods of the day. This depends upon 

 the fact that, in the ordinary storage of grapes, a portion of 

 the water, both of the stem and of the berry, is lost by evap- 

 oration, so that they dry up unless moisture is restored to 

 them. To obviate this difficulty, the bunches are cut in such 

 a manner as to leave a considerable portion of the adjacent 

 woody part of the vine, and are then suspended over a ves-. 

 sel filled with water, so that while only hanging near the sur- 

 face of the water the ends of the stems are immersed. As 

 the moisture evaporates from the grapes it is restored by 

 capillary absorption through the stem, and no change takes 

 pla.ce. By means of the arrangement thus indicated, M. Tre- 

 mellat has succeeded in keeping grapes from one year over 

 into another, fresh and fair as in the moment of gathering, 

 and his method is now used on a large scale in Paris and 

 elsewhere. 13 (7,1871,791. 



THE JARDIN D'ESSAI IN ALGIERS. 



The French government established many years ago in Al- 

 geria a " jardin d'essai," in which all plants likely to be easily 

 grown in Algeria, and which might be useful either for their 

 ornamentation or from their economic value, should be kept 

 for distribution or for sale. The Societe Generale Alfyerienne 

 has now the control of these gardens,* and, under the able 

 management of its present president, M. Auguste Rivere, they 

 have attained great interest and importance. An avenue was 

 planted in 1847, which now consists of about eighty trees of 

 the date-palm, from 20 to 50 feet high, and about one hundred 



