336 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



the wooden rim of one piece, pencrally without 

 lire, carrying:, each of them, hut half a dozen 

 sacks of corn, and drawn by a pair of oxen; each 

 follow one another in strings of 20 to 40 or more, 

 one man to every four, or sometimes to every 

 three, ciury the corn at a slow i>acc, often 200 or 

 300 miles; and althoug^h the oxen are turned out 

 when they stop, to pick up what they can in tlic 

 parched stejipes or stubble by the roadside, yet as 

 they often return empty, these long journeys alone 

 must add much to the expense of the corn. Ar- 

 rived in Odessa, the grain is lodged in warehouses 

 situated in all parts of the town, even amidst the 

 best streets, and from these warehouses to the port, 

 light waggons with one horse and driver to each, 

 are trotting up and down all day long, enveloping 

 the town with clouds of dust, but giving an ap- 

 pearance of extraordinary activity. The port itself 

 (that is to say, the jetty where the corn is trans- 

 ferred from these waggons to the lighters which 

 take it to the ships in the harbor.) is all day long 

 like a bee-hive. The loaded waggons, (if half-a- 

 dozen sacks and a driver may be called a load) 

 trotting down, and the empty ones trotting up, 

 form each almost a continuous line, and the num- 

 bers of tine houses springing up in every direction, 

 show that this activity is not unproductive. It is 

 long indeed since I have seen a town of its size 

 (about 60,000 inhabitants) show so many outward 

 signs of prosperit}^ as Odessa, and that without the 

 dull, dirty-look of most business towns; the stone 

 used for building is whitish, but too soft, and in 

 architecture most of the warehouses look more like 

 private houses, or even palaces, than anything else. 

 Cranes and pullies are much too great an innova- 

 tion to be generally used; the corn is carried up 

 and down stairs by manual labor, so that not only 

 is there nothing peculiar in the construction of the 

 warehouses : but many houses are used for a year 

 or two for corn till they are thoroughly dry, and 

 then converted into private residences. The kind 

 of wheat shipped is, I am told, chiefly the Arna- 

 outh or Tagonrog Wheat, which is precisely the 

 same small-eared, bearded sort, which I have seen 

 almost universally grow in Russia, and never met 

 with in the west of Europe. A great quantity (as 

 I am assured here) is sent to Italy to make the 

 finest raaccaroni, and everywhere used to mix with 

 other sorts, and give a fine, white appearance to 

 bread. As it succeeds so well in all parts of tem- 

 perate Russia, from Nijni Novgorod to Odessa, why 

 should we not grow it also. — For. Cor. Gardeners' 

 Chronicle. 



Winter Cctltttre of the Mignonette. — Few 

 flowers are more esteemed for bouquets in winter 

 and early spring than the sweet-scented Migno- 

 nette (Rescdaodorata;) it is also very useful for the 

 decoration of the drawing-room and conservatory 

 at those seasons of the year. Although the Mig- 

 nonette is not a delicate plant, yet it is not gene- 

 rally seen in the perfection to which it might be 

 brought by the simple method of culture I am about 

 to describe. To flower at or soon after Christmas, 

 the seeil should be sown in the beginning of Au- 

 gust, in i)ots of any convenient size. The soil 

 should be good loam, moderately enriched with 



rotlen dung, and kejit oi)en by a pretty liberal in- 

 termixture with old mortar or lime rubbish. It is 

 essential that the pots be thoroughly drained, and 

 upon the drainage a handful (more or less, accord- 

 ing to the size of the i)0.ts) of one yearokl i)lgeon"s 

 dung should ho |)laccd. After sowing the seed, set 

 the pots where they will not rc(iuire frequent 

 waterings, too much moisture being extremely in- 

 jurious to Mignonette; for this reason, therefore, it 

 will be safer to place the pots in a frame or pit, 

 where they may be covered by the lights in rainy 

 weather. As the plants increase in size they should 

 be gradually thinned, ultimately leaving three or 

 five in each pot. The principal point to be attend- 

 eil to now is judicious watering; by this I mean 

 giving water only when the plants really recjuire 

 water, and then in suflicicnt quantity to moisten the 

 whole of the soil — not dribbling a few drops over 

 the plants to-day to prevent them from being dry 

 to-morrow — a practice too much followed with 

 plants in pots. Pinch olF any premature flowers 

 that may appear, keep the pots free from weeds, 

 and far enough asunder to prevent the plants from 

 being crowded, and when they are removed to 

 winter quarters, set them near the glass in an airy 

 situation. A few of the plants might be placed in 

 an intermediate house, or other situation rather 

 warmer than a greenhouse, to come into bloom a 

 little earlier than the rest. I have recommended 

 the seeds to be sown in pots, which is the method 

 I prefer; but if more convenient, a sufficient num- 

 ber of self-sown plants might be taken up and pot- 

 ted, only a few extras should be put in to allow for 

 casualties, as the Mignonette transplants badly. 

 The best Mignonette I ever saw grow was treated 

 in this way; but as it is not every gardener who 

 can procure pigeon's dung, I may aild, that guano 

 will be found an excellent substitute. This admi- 

 rable fertiliser must, however, be applied in a 

 liquid state, and not before the pots have become 

 well filled with roots, when a small quantity of 

 guano, given at intervals of a week or so, will in- 

 crease the vigor of the plants in an extraordinary 

 degree. A second crop might be sown in the be- 

 ginning of September, and managed in the same 

 manner. Single plants will attain a large size in 

 .32 or 24 sized pots, if the main branches are peg- 

 ged down as they grow, and the flowers are kept 

 pinched olf for a time. — Whiting, in Journal of 

 the Horticultural Society. 



Forstthia viridissima. Green-leaved For- 

 sythia. Hardy? Shrub- — A bush with a very rich 

 green color and handsome foliage, looking some- 

 thing like a Viburnum, was received from Mr. 

 Fortune some time before he returned from his 

 mission; but in the absence of flowers it could not 

 be determined. Dried specimens have now sup- 

 plied the deficiency, and proved it to be a new 

 species of the genus Forsythia, of which one only 

 had been previously known to botanists. That 

 plant, the Forsythia suspensa of Vahl, was called 

 a Lilac by Thunberg, who thus perceived its natu- 

 ral affinity, but was not happy in his identification 

 of it, for although its leaves are often pinnated, 

 yet its flowers grow in pairs from the axils of fallen 

 leaves, instead of forming terminal panicles. It ig 



