berry, Virgilia lutea, Cryptomeria Japonica, Prinos glabra, Wistaria frutescens, Frasiniis 

 quadrangiilata, Halesia diptera, &c. &c. A stamp inclosed and directed to Mr. M., German- 

 town, Penn., will procure it, and any of the articles may be ordered in twenty-five cent 

 papers. Sucb. collectors are public benefactors. 



The New Seedling Roses of Mr. James Pentland, Baltimore, are now added to our collec- 

 tion, by the kindness of tbe proprietor. We sball report on them when they bloom. 



Coach-Makers^ Magazine. — It was news to us, as it may be to many of our readers, to 

 learn that there was a publication devoted to coach-making, and a capital periodical of its 

 kind it is, coming within the scope of notice in a work devoted to rural art. The Coach- 

 Makers' Illustrated Magazine is published at New York, by C. W. Saladee, at three dollars 

 per annum ; it is a quarto, profusely illustrated, and doubtless a very useful publication. 

 There is also another, issued in Ohio. What next ? 



Seed!? fkom California. — We are greatly indebted to B. B. Redding & Co., of the State 

 Journal, Sacramento, California, for a package of seeds of value. Among them is one of the 

 greatest vegetable curiosities, called the Sing, or Vegetable Chestnut, sold by almost every 

 Chinese vender of edibles in Califor- 

 nia, and brought from China in a 

 cooked state. It resembles the horns 

 of a bull. 



Tl\e editors say that they have 

 found but one place where these odd 

 nuts are sold uncooked, ajid these 

 are so damaged by age and mould, 

 that there is no possibility of making 

 them grow. 



The plant producing this nut is 

 well known to botanists. It is the 



Chinese Trapa bicornis — the word is Trapa bicoinis. 



abridged from calcitrapa, the Latin 



name of a dangerous instrument furnished with four spines, which was formerly used in 

 war to impede the progress of cavalry. Both this and the T. natans are aquatics ; the nuts 

 are farinaceous, and are esteemed nourishing and pectoral. The skin, with the spines, being 

 removed, there is a white, sweet kernel within, somewhat like a chestnut. The natans are 

 sold in the markets of Venice, under the name of Jesuits' nuts. They are also much eaten 

 in Switzerland, and the South of France. Some of the canals at Versailles are covered with 

 the plant. Pliny says that the Thracians made them into bread ; and Thunberg states that 

 the seeds of the T. bicornis are commonly put into broth in Japan. The plant flourishes in 

 a cistern in the stove, and was fruited in England, in 1815. It is cultivated, by the Chinese, in 

 marshes, and is a favorite article of food, which accounts for its being common in the oriental 

 shops of California. 



Accompanying these curious water-chestnuts are specimens of an apparently new walnut, 

 lately discovered in California, in appearance between our native walnut and the Madeira- 

 nut. Mr. Redding brought from a distance suckers from some old stools, and has them 

 growing at Sacramento. We shall pay every attention to our specimens, and endeavor to 

 raise them. The tree is recommended for shade and ornament. Other specimens were sent 

 to the Patent Office, but no leaves or flowers having been received, we are unable to say 

 more of it at present ; it does not appear to be described either by Michaux or Nuttall. 



