FOREIGN AND MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



A NEW VARIETY OF PORTULACCA. 



BY PROF. CHARLES O. PAGE, WASHINGTON, D. C, 



Deae Sir — The varieties now cultivated of the Portulacca splendens, are four in num- 

 ber, viz : the crimson, the scarlet, the tohite, and the yellow. The white is subject to the 

 freak, not uncommon in florist's flowers, of bearing difierent colored flowers upon the same 

 stalk. Sometimes every flower will be a pure white, and occasionally two petals crimson, 

 and two white; occasionally a dash of crimson in one or more petals, and so on. I have 

 even seen a pure crimson flower, on the white variety. But the yellow has, for the three 

 seasons I have raised it, been pertinaciously yellow, although I have made many attempts 

 to cross it with the crimson and scarlet. I have at last succeeded in obtaining a new and 

 exceedingly beautiful variety between the crimson and yellow, and what is quite interest- 

 ing, it has occasionally a pure crimson flower upon the same stalk. It has not yet borne 

 a pure yellow, though by analogy it should. Thus far, the mixed flowers have the yel- 

 low and crimson nearly equally distributed, the crimson generally predominating a little. 

 Two petals are generally crimson, and two yellow, slightly spotted or dashed with crim- 

 son. The difierent colored petals are sometimes opposite and sometimes in pairs. 



C. G. P. 



Washington, Sept. 1, 1851. 



/nrrigu nnt Mmllmmm jMlm, 



Influence of Gypsum on Vegetation. 

 By M. 0. Mene. — Ever since Franklin's 

 great experiment, gypsum or sulphate of 

 lime has generally been considered as pos- 

 sessing much fertilising power, and of being 

 of great importance in agriculture. Having 

 paid some attention to this substance, I 

 make known my results, in the hope that 

 they may be found of value to the public. 



1. I tilled two zinc boxes with pure sul- 

 phate of lime obtained from the double de- 

 composition of sulphate of soda and chloride 

 of calcium; in one of these boxes I sowed 

 some grass seeds, in the other some wheat. 

 The two boxes were then placed under glass 

 shades, in order that all external influences 

 might be avoided; the seeds were watered 

 every other day. At the end of a few weeks 

 plants had come up green and healthy, as in 

 common soil; but as they developed, their 

 fine appearance diminished, and at the end 

 of a fortnight they looked dried and with- 

 ered. 



2. In boxes similar to the first, I placed 

 a mixture of equal quantities of pure sul- 

 phate of lime, obtained as before, and clay, 

 and sowed the same seeds as in the last ex- 

 periment; the plants came up, but not near- 

 ly so well as in an unartificial soil, and they 



not ripen. 

 In boxes, and under circumstances the 



same as before, I sowed the same seeds on 

 dung covered over with a layer of sulphate 

 of lime three-tenths of an inch deep. At 

 the end of a fortnight the plants had come 

 up and giown wonderfully; they ripened 

 well and were magnificent specimens. 



These facts, though of considerable prac- 

 tical importance, would not have shown in 

 what way sulphate of lime really acts, had 

 it not been for the following accident : 



Happening to have a glass of muriatic 

 acid in my hand one day, when looking at 

 box No. 3, I accidentally spilled some of the 

 acid on one of the boxes, and to my great 

 surprise the lime effervesced, and on further 

 examination I was satisfied that the sulphate 

 had become changed into carbonate of lime. 

 I concluded from this fact that the carbonate 

 of ammonia, given off" by the decomposition 

 of the dung, being volatalised by the heat 

 of the sun, came in contact with the sul- 

 phate of lime, Avhen double decomposition 

 ensued. 



To ascertain how far this was true, I got 

 some zinc pots, Avith bottoms pierced like a 

 sieve; in the pots I placed some dung, then 

 some sulphate of lime, and then I sowed 

 some grass seeds. 



When the plants had appeared and be 

 come tolerably developed, 1 watered 

 abundantly for a quarter of an hour, 



