FOREIGN AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



season Roses, Hyacinths, and other flowering 

 plants. 



Tlic working classes, who cannot command a 

 wide range of temperature, prefer such plants 

 as Crinum, Maranta, Hoya carnosa, Asclepias 

 curassavica, and Lantana; Oranges, Jasmines, 

 Plumbago capensis, Ixora, Laurel, Cytisus and 

 Olea fragrans> 



The poor, wlio are compelled to live contin- 

 ually in the town, grow Pelargoniums, Roses, 

 Verbenas, Fuchsias, Wallflowers; and, in spring, 

 Lilies of the Valley. 



Flower Trade tn St. Petersbukgh. — 

 A fair, which is held as soon as the frosts are 

 over, and which lasts a whole month, viz: from 

 the 25th of May, to the 2r)tli of June, is almost 

 exclusively a flower fair ; it is at this fair that 

 the nobility and country gentlemen make their 

 purchases for decorating their country houses, 

 to which they are alwut to retreat. The flowers 

 are supplied almost entirely from Germany. We 

 remarked the hundred-leaved and four-seasons 

 Rose, planted in a sort of hamper; Cherry, 

 Apple, Plum, Service, and Sweet Chestnut 

 trees, a few Pear trees, all shrubs, and selling 

 for double what they do in Paris; the Lilies of 

 the Valley, especially, seemed to bear a most 

 exorbitant price. We saw, too, P.-eonies, and 

 all sorts of perennial and shrub-like plants. 



Flowers are sold, too, by travellers, who go 

 from house to house, carrying upon their heads 

 boards uiion which the flowers in])ots are close- 

 ly packed. But these pedlars oti'er their pur- 

 chasers neither variety nor beauty, a few Wall- 

 flowers, Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Lilies, Eehi- 

 um. Gcsneras, Roses, Mignonette, Cinerarias, 

 Verbenas, Phlox, and Justicia, form the whole 

 of their collections 



Although there are many more florists in St. 

 Petersburgh than in Paris, the collections of the 

 former are much more meagre than those of the 

 latter. Their trade in bou(]uets. and flowers in 

 pots, is prodigious, far surpassing what we had 

 imagined. — il/a.sso«'.s Rupoit. 



Ql'ERCUS AGRIFOLIA, A H.A.RDY EVERGREEN 



Oak fR'OM Calitornia. — A few miserable 

 living plants of this sfjceies were sent home by 

 Hartweg from California, and are now begin- 

 ning to grow in the Society's Garden. It will 

 probably be a hardy evergreen tree, concern- 

 ing v,-hieh Nattall, who knew it in its native 

 cbuntrj% has the following remarks-. — '• Tliis 

 species, almost the only one which attains the 

 magnitude of a tree in Upper California, is 

 aViundantly dispersed over the plain on which 

 St. B.irbara is situated, and, being evergreen, 

 forms a conspicuous and jireilominnnt feature 

 in the vegetation of this remote ami singular 

 ])art of the western world. It apin-ars more 

 sparingly around M(^nterey. and scarcely ex- 

 tends on the north as far as the line of the Ore- 

 gon territory. It attains the height of about 

 40 or 50 feet, with a diameter rarely exceeding 

 "les; the baric is neiirly as rough as intli(! 

 k. The wood, hard and brittle and red- 



dish, is used only for purposes of fuel, or the 

 coarse construction of log-cabins. As an orna- 

 mental tree for the south of Europe or the 

 warmer States of the Union, we may recom- 

 mend this si)ecies. It forms a roundish sum- 

 mit, and spreads but little till it attains a con- 

 siderable age. As a hedge it would forma very 

 close shelter, and the leaves, evergreen and 

 nearly as prickly as a Holly, would render it 

 almost impervious to most animals. The leaves 

 vary from roundish ovate to elliptic, and are of 

 a thick rigid consistence; the serratures are 

 quite sharp; the young shoots are covered more 

 or less with stellate hairs, and for some time 

 tufts of this kind of down remain on the under 

 side of the midrib of the leaves, which are, 

 however, at length perfectly smooth, and of a 

 dark-green above, often tinged with brownish 

 yellow beneath. The staminiferous flowers are 

 very abundant, and rather conspicuous; the 

 racemes the length of three or four inches ; the 

 flowers with a conspicuous calyx and eight or 

 ten stamens; the female or fruit-bearing flowers 

 are usually in pairs in the axils, or juncture of 

 the leaf with the stem, and se.ssile, or without 

 stalks. The cup of the acorn is hemispherical, 

 and furnished with loose brownish scales; the 

 acorn, much longer than the cup, is ovate and 

 pointed. We do not recollect to have seen this 

 tree properly associated with any other, except 

 occasionally the Platanusracemosa; their sliade 

 is hostile to almost every kind of undcr-growth. 

 By Persoon tliis species is said to have been 

 found on the eastern coast of North America, 

 while Pursh attributes it to the north-west coast, 

 about Nootka Sound. It does not, however, 

 extend even to the territory of Oregon, as far 

 as my observation goes." Nee says, ''I have 

 only seen branches collected at Monterey and 

 IS'ootka. The kiaves of the young plants are 

 perfectly smooth when first developed, of a 

 thin consistence, witli numerous sharp denttires 

 beneath ; they are of a brownish yellow color, 

 and appear smooth and shining." The long 

 narrow acorns, almost conical, are a remarka- 

 ble feature in the species. Journal of the Hor- 

 ticultural Society, vol. vi.. p. 157. 



Artifical BREEniNO OF Fish. — As the 

 amusement of fly-fi.shing is one which holds a 

 first place in the opinion of every one who un- 

 derstands it ; and as the trout and the salmon 

 are the c)rilj' fish \vhicli afford genuine s])ort to 

 the angler; and ns I b(>lieve that the latter, in 

 the southern counties of England, is nearly ex- 

 tinct, whilst the former is there far from being 

 abundant; I wish to call the attention of such 

 of y(uir readers as are possessed by the true 

 piscatorial furor, to the facility with which 

 these fish can be bred artificially; and as many 

 experiments have been made by my directions, 

 and r have witnessed the results, I beg to .say 

 that there is no fear of success, if due care is 

 taken. The experiments of Sharr, Agassis, 

 i &c., have proved that fish can bebrcdartificial- 

 I ly (the experiments of Boccius I have not j'ct 



