570 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



in order llint tl.c tVuit vlioiild rencli niatuiity. But 

 in central Fraiiie, during Imll' a century, there lias 

 not been n siiiplc year, exeejit tlifil oH IS 16, vlien 

 the alnioiiils have not ripened. JVlorcovcr, as tlie 

 almond oticn flowers in the month of February, and 

 as severe I'rosts are alien cxjiericnced ai the time of 

 its fertilization, would it not be rational to retard its 

 blosscminfr by every possible means, and would not 

 the most simple as well as most cfl'ectual be, to 

 place it in a cued aspect. In this case reason is 

 borne out by experience. Who has not seen, as I 

 have, that almond trees, planted behind walls, 

 barns and houses, exposed to the north, liear Iruit 

 in abur.dance, while their neighbors, in an opposite 

 exposure, remained unfruitful. 



13osc advises, in order to retard the vegetation 

 of the almond, to jiraft it upon the plum. I 

 know not if this operation would have the desired 

 result ; I have never had an opportunity of testinj^ 

 the fact, but I incline to a contrary opinion in con- 

 sequence of experience analaj^ous to it. I have 

 raised peach trees <rrafted upon almonds, and others 

 upon plums, si'owinjr side by side, and I have never 

 remarked any pcrcepiilile dilTcrence in the time of 

 their vepetation and blossoming. 



The almond is usually most successfully propaga- 

 ted by buddinp. either near the (iround, or hii;h up 

 on the stem. 'When stroncr j)l;ints are taken from 

 the nursery to transplant, it is necessary to treat the 

 roots carefully, as tlicy have but few fibres. This 

 tree, once jrrown, needs little care ; it is onlj' ne- 

 cessary to free it IVom dead wood, and useless or 

 badly shaped branches. While it is young it is well 

 to shorten Imck, a little, the annual shoots. Other- 

 wise, excessive pruning is injurious. Its greatest 

 enemy is gum, ol which it is difficult to prevent the 

 ravaifes. A longitudinal incision of the bark on 

 thc-e branches attacked. s( metimes heals them. It 

 is the method I have found most successful with ail 

 stnnc-fruiled trees. 



'i'he almond preserves the memory of its native 

 ch'maie, duiing an exile of 2.('0U years. The se- 

 verity oi' our M-inters is often fatal to it. 18° een- 

 ligrades (about zero of Fahrenheit) of cold that we 

 experienced in December, 1845, inju»cd greatly the 

 voung trees of one, two, and even three years old. 

 It is to be feared that in many localities the young 

 shoots of this year are much retarded. It may be 

 remarked nho, that these trees were still growing, 

 find had not lost their leaves, when this un.'-easona- 

 1 le cold fell upon them, without any jireparation. 

 Happily these extremes of temperature are very 

 rare in our climate. 



This is one of the most fertile trees, and would 

 yield a prrfitalde crop, if its fructification was not 

 so uncertain ; hut in Auvergne, only one harvest in 

 three years can be depended upon. At the time of 

 its flowering, it is one of the most beautiful orna- 

 mental trees. Bravy, in Reine Hortlcole. 



CoLcrKS CF Fiov.EKS. — The bright colours of 

 flowers are civcn by a matter of a very diflferent 

 character, always fiuid, and contained in cells situ- 

 ated immediately beneath the epidermal layer. 

 Many of the difl'erent shades of colour are given 

 by tlie superposition of cells containing dilierent 



coloured matters; thus yellow, seen throunli red, ap- 

 pears orange; green showing through red rciiders it 

 apparently brownish. The very dt e]> lints are jiro- 

 dueed by the close aggregatir>n of many cells lying 

 one over another. The laycrof epidermis, or cuticle, 

 (outer coat) of petals is colourless, and by assum- 

 ing a papillose structure, it gives them the peculiar 

 velvet-like character they sometimes jiosscss ; or 

 when less developed and tilled with colourless fluid, 

 render tl'.e surface glaucous, or crystalline in ajmear- 

 ance- The predominating colours are red, yellow, 

 and blue, with the various intermediate tints ; some- 

 times these colours are converted one into another in 

 the petal after fcriilizaticjn, (at which period the 

 coloursare briebtest.) In many Boraginacra, {Bug- 

 loss Uihc) the iilue flowers become red ; in Myosotiii 

 versicolor, the yellow flow crs b»come blue : and in 

 some 07(tfgracr(E, (evening primroses, )whitc flowers 

 turn red. Many flow crs have their colours bedimmed 

 or removed as they wither, especially the blue, 

 which become most frequently white ; while flow- 

 ers usually turn brown ; red coloured are more per- 

 sistent ; and yellow is generally unaltered, excc])! 

 in a few instances, when they are blackened. Hen- 

 frey's Outlines of Structural Botany. 



Chinese taste in Plants. — When I was trav- 

 elling on the hills of Hong-kong, a few days after 

 ni}- first airival in China, I met with a most curious 

 dwarf Lycopodiuw, which I dug up and carried to 

 Messrs. Dents' gaiden where my other plants were 

 at the time. " Hai-yah," said the old compadore, 

 w hen he saw it, and was quite in raptures of delight. 

 All the other coolies and servants gathered round 

 the basket to admire this little plant. I had not 

 seen them evince so much gratification since I 

 .showed them " the old man Catus" (Cercus senilis) 

 which I took out from England, and presented to a 

 Chinese nurseryman at Canton. On asking them 

 why they prized the Lycopodium so much, they re- 

 plied, in Canton English, " Oh, he too muchia 

 handsome ; he grow only aleete, aleete every j-ear ; 

 and suppose he be 100 ycar.s ould, he only so high," 

 holding up their hands an inch or two higher than 

 the plant. Fortune's Three year\s Wanderings in 

 China. 



Flowering of a Night-blooming Cereus dur- 

 ing the day. — M. FoRKEL, dijrector of the royal 

 hot-houses at Laekcn, has discovered a method of 

 causing this bcautilul Cactus, which usually opens 

 at night, to expand in the day time. The means 

 employed were the following : seeing that the flow- 

 ers were ready to open, he placed the plant in an 

 ice-house, in the evening. 'I'lie cold prevented the 

 flowers from expanding during the night. The 

 next day, the plant being carried into a parlour, the 

 blossoms opened with their usual splendour, with- 

 out the ])lant having received the least injury from its 

 abode in the ice-house. Bravy, in Revue Horticole. 



Dutch Husbandry. — The foundation upon 

 which the agriculture of Eelgium rests, is the cul- 

 tivation of clover, which seems indipenous, since 

 none of the most ancient records notice its intro- 

 duction, but speak of it as familiarly as of hay or 

 oats. It is probably from this country, that the 



