FOREIGN AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



we reach the outer one. By such a classifica- 

 tion we add color as well as design ; but 

 imagine the colors to be so arranged that 

 anotlier important feature is produced, viz., 

 contrast, and the picture becomes still further 

 improved, though not yet finished. "Would 

 not an edging render the whole more complete? 

 The beauty and brilliancy of the Rose would be 

 singularly improved, and relieved by an ever- 

 green margin. Tliis would in some measure 

 help as it wore to lift the group from the earth, 

 and i)lace it nearer the eye. This edging may 

 be of Ivy or Cotoneastcr microphylla or Per- 

 nettya mucronata, or in fact any low dwarf 

 evergreen shrub kept shorn into a formal rim. 

 In the above I have shown how much beauty 

 may be exhibited even in a circular bed, by the 

 exercise of a little taste and forethought ; but 

 these simple principles are by no means con- 

 fined to a Ro.se bed; they can be carried out in 

 every matter relating to the arrangement of a 

 garden, so tliat unity and comprehensiveness 

 of design maj" characterise tlie whole. When 

 a contrary state of things prevail, delight 

 vanishes, confusion takes the place of order, 

 disgust that of pleasure ; and instead of the 

 most charming of all pursuits, contributing to 

 relieve the man of business from the oppressions 

 and satieties of mind usually resulting from close 

 application, he abandons the whole in utter 

 dismay and hopelessness. — lb. 



The Plum as a Pyramidal Tree. — For 

 some few years I have amused myself by form- 

 ing my Plum trees into pyramids, feeling con- 

 vinced that no other mode of cultivating our 

 hardy fruits is so eligible for small gardens. I 

 was induced to lake extra pains, on account 

 of observing that our neighbors the French, 

 so fiimous in their cultivation of pyramids, 

 failed to a certain extent with the I'lum; as 

 tlieir trees, I observed, on being pruned to that 

 shape made too vigorous shoots, and were in- 

 clined to gum. They do not know the value 

 of root-pruning, and will not listen to it; I do, 

 and therefore felt some hope of success. At 

 first I commenced to root-prune once in two 

 or three years, but I soon found that was not 

 enough, for the Plum makes roots so rapidly 

 that it is difficult to check it; I have now, 

 therefore, for the last three years root-pruned 

 annually, early in autumn. My success is per- 

 fect; this I have generally done in September, 

 soon after gathering the fruit, but this year not 

 having any fruit, and awakened by your article 

 on " Summer Root-Pruning," given in Gar- 

 dcner^s Chronicle in July, I operated on them 

 in August; the trees almost innnediately M-ent 

 to rest,and are now pictures of forthcoming fruit- 

 fulness. The operation is so simple, that any 

 one may exercise it without any fear of failure. 

 Let me attempt to describe it ; and yet how 

 irksome it is to have to employ so many words 

 about what one can tell and do in a few minutes. 

 Open a circular trench, 18 inches deep (for the 

 Plum does not root deeply) round by one tree 



18 inches from its stem; for the first 

 or three years this distance will be enough; 

 increase the diameter of the circle as years roll 

 on, but very slowly, not more than from 1 to 

 2 inches in a year, and cut oft^ every root and 

 fibre with a sharp knife. This operation may 

 be likened to the manner in which old folks talk 

 of the way in which they used to cut the hair of 

 poor workhouse boys, viz., place a basin on the 

 boy's head and trim ott" the hair round its rim 

 — in short, the "workhouse cut;" then when 

 your roots are so trimmed, introduce a spade 

 under one side of the tree and heave it over, 

 so as not to leave a single tap root. Fill in the 

 mould ; if the weather is dry give the tree a 

 soaking of water, and it is finished. If your 

 soil is poor, give a top-dressing of manure, to 

 be washed in by winter rains. The following 

 summer pinch off the ends, in June, of any 

 shoots that seem inclined to push more than 4 

 inches, and thin those out with the knife that 

 are too crowded ; the result will be a handsome 

 and highly prolific pyramidal tree. Plums are 

 not yet half appreciated ; for, owing to the in- 

 troduction of many new and good varieties, 

 they are in season from July till November, 

 for the dessert and for the kitchen. — Jb. 



Conjectures as to the Mode in which the 

 Earth was originally clothed with Plants. 

 — It is an interesting question to determine the 

 mode in which the various species and tribes 

 of plants were originally scattered over the 

 glol^e. "\'arious hypothesis have been advanced 

 on the subject. Linnajus entertained the opin- 

 ion that there was at first only one primitive 

 center of vegetation, from which plants were 

 distributed over the globe. Some, avoiding all 

 discussions and difficulties, suppose that plants 

 Avere produced at first in the localities where 

 they are now seen vegetating. Others think 

 that each species of plant originated in, and 

 was diffused from, a single primitive center, and 

 that there were numerous such centers situated 

 in different parts of the world, each center 

 being the seat of a particular number of species. 

 Tliej^ thus admit great vegetable migrations 

 similar to those of the human races. Those 

 who adopt the latter view, recognise in the dis- 

 tribution of plants some of the last revolutions 

 of our planet; and the action of numerous and 

 varied forces which impede or favor the dis- 

 semination of vegetables in the present day. 

 They endeavor to ascertain the primitive Flora 

 of countries, and to trace the vegetable migra- 

 tions which have taken place. Daubeny says, 

 that analogy favors the suitposition that each 

 species of plant was originally formed in some 

 particular locality, whence it spread itself 

 gradually over a certain area, rather than that 

 the earth M'as at once, by the fiat of the Al- 

 mighty, covered with vegetation in the manner 

 we at present behold it. The human race rose 

 from a single pair, and the distribution of plants 

 and animals over a certain definite area, would 

 seem to imply that the same was the general 



