286 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



two feet apart, and eighteen inches in the rows, 

 and taken up this day '(Sept. 24,) and weighed. 

 The average of all my experiments gives exaetly 

 an increase of one-fourth in favor of not earthing 

 up ; but some of the plots gave still more, viz., as 

 42 lbs. is to 31 2 lbs. The experiment has been 

 made on a sixteenth of an acre of good deep loam, 

 with a cool moist subsoil. G. W. Johnson. 



Heliotropum voltairianum. — M. Thibaut, hor- 

 ticulteur, rue St. Maur 45, Paris, advertises a 

 magnificent new variety of Heliotrope, under the 

 above name. "Its leaves are of a dark green ; 

 its flowers are very fragrant, of a deep bluish- 

 violet colour, (white in the interior.) The panicles 

 are enormous ; planted in the open border in May, 

 the clusters of blossoms measure from four to six 

 inches in diameter." 



Raising Thorns from Sked. — In a paper read 

 some time ago, by one of the most intelligent Scotch 

 horticulturists, Mr. Mc Nab, giving an account of 

 a tour in North America, we find the following 

 practical remarks on raising hedges from our na- 

 tive thorns, which we reprint as follows : — 



" He was agreeably surprised to see such a vari- 

 ety of native Hawthorns, being convinced of their 

 fitness for forming hedges, so very much wanted in 

 this country, and which many of the inhabitants 

 expressed a great desire to have, instead of the 

 unsightly snake fences which at present separate 

 the fields. But apparently they never thought that 

 the indigenous thorns would answer for this pur- 

 pose, as they talked of importing haws and white 

 thorns from Britain. Mr. McNab gave instructions 

 to those individuals with whom he had an opportu- 

 nity of conversing upon the subject, so that they 

 may raise thorns for themselves, as an abundant 

 supply of seeds may be annually procured at no 

 great distance from each settlement. As these in- 

 structions may be interesting to others, we here re- 

 peat them : ' The fruit should be gathered about 

 the end of October, care being taken to keep the 

 seeds of the luxuriant growing sorts separate from 

 those of the d warier kinds. A pit should be pre- 

 pared about one foot and a half deep, into which 

 the fruit is to be put with a mixture of earth and 

 sand. It should be turned several times during the 

 following season, and if dry a little water may be 

 added ; one or two inches of soil being a suiiicient 

 covering to insure the decomposition of the pulp. 

 During the succeeding October, a piece of ground 

 should be prepared, and the seed sown as it is taken 

 from the pit, pretty thick, in drills about a foot dis- 

 tant from each other, or in beds three feet wide. 

 In the succeeding spring the plants will begin to 

 appear ; at which time, and throughout the season 

 they must be kept clear of weeds. If properly at- 

 tended to, the seedlings will attain a height of from 

 six to twelve inches the first year. The following 

 spring, the strongest plants may be either trans- 

 planteil into drills, or placed where they are intend- 

 ed to remain as a permanent fence. The smaller 



ones should be left in the seed drills or beds for an- 

 other year, when they may be treated in the same 

 manner. In forming a live fence, the ground ought 

 to be prepared as soon as the snow disappears; by 

 making a trench about two feet broad, and a spade 

 in depth. Along the centre of this trench, the 

 young plants should be put about six or eignt in- 

 ches apart, and afterwards well watered, and firm- 

 ly trodden in. Care should be taken to protect tiie 

 young plants from cattle, and to keep them clear 

 of weeds. The second year after planting, the 

 the thorns should be headed down to within six or 

 ten inches of the ground, and each year afterwards 

 switched on both sides to a centre ridge, so as to pro- 

 duce the shape usually termed sow-backed ; hedges 

 trained in this form, being less liable to be destroy- 

 ed by snow resting upon them, than when cut flat 

 at the top.' If the method here recommended be 

 properly attended to, Mr. McNab has not the least 

 hesitation in saying, that an excellent hedge of na- 

 tive thorns may be acquired five or six years after 

 planting. At several places he saw the indigenous 

 thorns employed as a fence ; at least they had been 

 planted with that intention, and had attained a con- 

 siderable height, but from want of pro])er attention, 

 to pruning and weeding, they were so slender that 

 easy access might be obtained between each stem. 

 From such instances of mismanagement, an erro- 

 neous opinion seems generally to prevail, that hedges 

 will not succeed in America. ' But,' he very pro- 

 perly remarked, ' if newly planted hedges in Bri- 

 tain were equally neglected, there can be no doubt 

 that they would soon degenerate, and become no 

 better than those which I observed in the United 

 States and Canada.' " 



Large Fruited Monthly Raspberry. — I beg 

 to send you some Raspberry canes cut olF near the 

 ground and placed in pots. The variety is, I think, 

 one of the most valuable introductions we have late- 

 ly been favored with in that class of fruits. It is, 

 1 believe of Continental origin, and may be called 

 the ■' Large Fruited Monthly Raspberry;" it con- 

 tinues to bear from the end of August all through 

 September, October, and if the frost is not very se- 

 vere (it does not mind a slight frost) till the end of 

 November. The late heavy rains have injured its 

 flavor slightly; before they visited us it was quite 

 equal in flavor, as you will observe it is in size, to 

 Raspberries in July. To ensure a very abundant 

 crop in autumn, all the canes should be cut down 

 in spring close to the ground, but a good autumnal 

 crop may be obtained, as well as a crop in summer, 

 by leaving only one cane, cut in the usual maimer, 

 to each root, cutting the others down closely lor the 

 autumnal crop. My plants are now covered with 

 fruit in all its stages, and many lateral shoots are 

 just coming into bloom, so that if grown in large 

 pots and placed under glass. Raspberries may be 

 gathered in December. — [The canes submitted for 

 inspection were healthy and fine, and loaded with 

 fruit, wiiich was, however, unfortunately spoiled by 

 travelling.] — Gard. Chron. 



