FOREIGN NOTICES. 



situation out of doors, where they will not be exposed to the midday sun. Here they ■will grow 

 freely and will not be so liable to be infested with red spider as in the greenhouse. 



With a little attention it is easy to have these plants in bloom at almost any time during the 

 winter, but to effect this they ought to be started into growth sufficiently early to allow of 

 having the young wood firm by the middle of September, after which time the plants should 

 be freely exposed to the sun, and not over watered at the root. Treated in this way they wUl 

 commence flowering immediately thej' are placed in a moderately warm greenhouse, and if 

 supplied with manure water they wiU bloom profusely for a long time in succession. When 

 the specimens become too large to be conveniently re-potted every season, supply them liberally 

 with manure water while making their wood and blooming, which will preserve them in suffi- 

 cient vigor for several seasons ; or they may be slightly disrooted every year, re-potting them 

 in the same sized pots, and using very rich soiL — Alpha, in Gardencn' Chronicle. 



Spm.EA GRANDiFLORA, Hooker in Bof. Mag., t. 4795; alias AsiELAXcniER kacemosa, Lindl. in Bot. 

 Reg., 1847, suh. t. 38. — A very remarkable hardy shrub, found by Mr. Fortcxe in the Xorth of 

 China, and sent home as an Amelanchier, which it is much like in habit, except that its flowers 

 are as large as a Philadelphus. The leaves are thin, alternate, lanceolate, entire, and apiculate. 

 The flowers are from two to six on a raceme, white or cream colored, with a serrated petaloid 

 calyx, and a great fleshy green disk, in the centre of which stand five free carpels. Some of 

 the flowers are male, and it was an examination of one of these which led to the surmise that 

 the plant might be, what it is very like, and what Mr. Fortvxe called it, an Amelanchier. — 

 Living specimens have enabled Sir Wm. Hooker to show that this cannot be, and he refers the 

 plant to Spiraea. That the fruit, when it is prodiiced, will show the plant to be neither the 

 one nor the other, we cannot doubt. In the meanwhile we leave it with its latest name. It is a 

 very handsome plant, forming, when wild, a small bush ; and if it should prove hardy, which is 

 probable, it would be a great acquisition. — Gard. Chronicle. 



LiBROGEDRUs DoNiANA, End'Acker ; alias Thuya Doniaxa, Hooker. — This, singularly beautiful 

 and interesting plant, which is a native of the north island of New Zealand, where it attains a 

 height of from 30 to 70 feet, has stood the winter at this place altogether unharmed. It was 

 planted in the early part of June last year in a situation facing the south and somewhat shel- 

 tered from the northern and eastern winds. It had also the advantage of a covering of Fir 

 boughs during the intensity of the frost in winter ; that, however, had been discontinued for 

 many weeks previous to the 24th of April, the period at which the frost proved so very 

 destructive even to the hardiest trees of the country. The specimen I forward will show in 

 what excellent condition this rare and Fern-like form, from a climate, too, from which little can 

 be expected to be hardy, has withstood the severity of a spring almost unexampled in its severity. 

 James Duncan, Basing Park, Hants. [This is the Kawaka of the New Zealanders, and certainly 

 a very pretty shrub or tree.] — Gard. Chronicle. 



Kii-MARN'ocK Weeping Willow. — This beautiful weeping plant having lately attracted atten- 

 tion, its history may not be uninteresting. There lived in a sequestered corner of Monkwood 

 estate, near Ayr, an aged botanist, named James Smito, an enthusiastic lover of plants, and a 

 zealous collector. From him Mr. Lang, nurseryman, Kilmarnock, purchased one plant, about 10 

 years ago. Afterwards Mr. Lang procured a few more plants from Mr. Smitu ; and as the old 

 gentleman died shortly after, he never had an opportunity of ascertaining where he procured the 

 variety. It is probable, however, that he found it growing wild, as the species, Salix caprea or 

 Palm Willow, is one of the most common plants in the country. Mr. Lang has since been 

 engaged in propagating the plant, and nearly 1000 have been sold. Sir W. J. Hooker received 

 two plants of it in spring, 1852, and having observed, during last summer, how exceedingly 

 ornamental it was, he gave Mr. Lang a decided opinion, stating that he thought very highly of 

 that it was much admired in the Royal Gardens at Kew. The tree flowers freely in the 

 month of April, has broad glossy leaves, every branch is curved gracefully downward, and it is 



\y"& 



1 3 



