DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



433 



pulverised previous to planting, Wbtoh should 

 take place in a warm, shady situation it possible] 

 thou ^i\<' them a watering] and shade for a few 

 days from sun and cold winds. The tiles are for 

 causing the roots to take a horizontal direction, 

 in order that the plants may be removed more 

 readily in the autumn to their final destination. 



The following is a good method of treating 

 roses intended to (lower the following March and 



April: pot in the autum. and plunge the pots in a 

 bed of leaves, with the tops exposed to the at- 

 mosphere; they will make roots then, and be in a 

 tit condition for gentle forcing in spring. 



The roses that I Struck in the way mentioned 

 above were Chinas, Teas, Bourbons, Noisettes, 

 and Hybrid Perpetuals. If well managed, they 

 blossom freely the first season. D. Hay, gardener 

 to C. Lawrence, Esq., Cirencester. Ibid. 



DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



Gardening in California. — Those who have 

 turned their attention to gardening in El Dorado, 

 seem to have been better paid than many who 

 have been busy at " diggings" of the other sort, 

 One market gardener, near San Francisco, sold 

 his entire crop of melons (which are as easily 

 grown there as turnips,) for $4000, averaging 

 $1 each. We saw a letter a few days ago from 

 a reliable source — a gentleman of our acquaint- 

 ance, who has purchased nearly a mile square on 

 the Sacramento — in which he stated the latest 

 prices of farm and garden products as follows: 

 Hay. 12-j cents per lb.; cabbages, $4 each; on- 

 ions, 30 cents per lb. ; potatoes, 20 cents per lb., 

 &c. He has ordered a quantity of the best gar- 

 den seeds (a great scarcity there,) from one of 

 our seedsmen, and intends to try the productive- 

 ness of the soil on a considerable scale the coming 

 season. .... 



The Winter. — The past winter on the whole 

 has been a very mild one. The thermometer 

 here has not fallen below 8° of Fahrenheit ; and 

 during a considerable part of the time, transplant- 

 ing, trenching, and other operations have been 

 going on. As usual, they have had quite the 

 contrary season on the other side of the Atlantic ; 

 late accounts from Rome telling us of two feet of 

 snow, and plenty of ice in the streets of the eapi- 

 tol of the Caesars. 



Report of the Pom. Congress. — We learn, 

 by a letter from Hon. M. P. Wilder, President 

 of the Pomological Congress, that in considera- 

 tion of the delay by the American Institute in 

 printing the Report, it has been resolved to with- 

 draw the manuscript, and put it to press immedi- 

 ately in Boston. The members of the convention 

 may therefore hope to have copies sometime 

 during the month of March. 



Packing Seeds for Long Voyages. — We no- 

 tice a letter in one of the daily papers from Dr. 

 Junius Smith, of S. C, who, our readers will 

 remember, has patriotically undertaken to intro- 

 duce the culture of the tea into the southern 

 states. Dr. S. gives an account of the failure of 



his experiment, last year, in raising seedling tea 

 plants; the seeds having been badly packed in 

 China, so that their vitality was destroyed on the 

 passage ; but he hopes for better results with 

 another importation, now on the way. He puz- 

 zles us a little with his description of the seed of 

 the tea, which he calls a " nut," when all bota- 

 nists, familiar with this genus, agree in calling 

 the seed vessel a " capsule, of three carpels, bear- 

 ing three seeds." 



We suppose the seeds spoiled on the way to Dr. 

 S. were packed in sealed cases; a common, but 

 very poor mode. As this is a matter of some im- 

 portance, now that our relations with distant 

 countries are so multiplied, we extract the fol- 

 lowing multum in parvo, on this subject, from 

 Lindley's Horticulture, for the benefit of our read- 

 ers: 



" Upon the whole, the only mode which is cal- 

 culated to meet all the circumstances to which 

 seeds are exposed during a voyage is, to dry them 

 as thoroughly as possible, enclose them in coarse 

 paper, and to pack the papers themselves very 

 loosely in large coarse canvass bags, not enclosed 

 in boxes, but freely exposed to the air; and to 

 ensure their transmission in some dry and well 

 ventilated place. Thus, if the seeds are originally 

 dried incompletely, they will become further dried 

 on the passage; if the seed paper is damp, as it 

 almost always is, the moisture will fly off through 

 the sides of the bags, and will not stagnate round 

 the seeds. It is true that, under such circum- 

 stances, the seeds will be exposed to the fluctua- 

 tions of temperature, and to the influence of the 

 atmosphere ; but neither the one nor the other of 

 these is likely to be productive of injury to the 

 germinating principle. The excellence of this 

 method I oan attest from my own observation. 

 Large quantities of seeds have been annually 

 transmitted from India for many years, doubtless 

 gathered with care, it is to be presumed prepared 

 with every attention to the preservation of the 

 vital principle, ami certainly packed with all those 

 precautions which havr been erroneously sup- 

 posed to be advantageous; the hopelessness of 

 raising plants from such seeds has at length bo- 



