45ft 



JOtJRKAL OF HORtlCtTLTURE AKD COTTAGE GAKDtt*fift. 



[ Job* 10, IML 



are poi«onons and <hc too( a drnstir pnrffe ; it will hfln(( one or two 

 months. That of P; jH>ltatnm, which is known in the Cnited Stat«*« 

 nnder the nanie of May Aj^jle, is of a peculiar li^'ht Rrren colonr, and 

 is intensely acid. It is occasionally nsed as a pubstitnte for Lemon. 



** No plant that I am acqninteU with is more impatient of removal 

 or di\'ision than Podophyllnm Kmodi. I was somt- years before I dis- 

 cOTered the canse. On poUiag gomo lecdlinx plants two yoaM old, I 

 fonnd only two thread-liie roots from 2 to 3 feet long, and when these 

 were shortened before repotting, no progress was made by the plant 

 tiiat year. "When, however, tho roots were anbrokcn, rapid increase 

 of size toot place. 



*' To grow the plant in perfection, it should be planted in good peat 

 and loam in nu open bnt sheltered situation and never distnrbed. If 

 moved, it mil not boar fmit tho following year. It is perfectly hardy, 

 and W(« iutrodnced in 1S45." 



The scientific contriLutions are too lengthy for extraction, 

 bnt the combined results announced in two of them are of 

 great interest to plant-cultivators, and command from us an 

 epitome. As long ago as lilOO years, Varro records that the 

 Roman husbandmen supplicated a goddess of their polytheism 

 to preserve their com and trees from rubiiiv. This vrns that 

 disease which we know as the rust, for Virgil particularises 

 rubigo as afflicting the straw. We could quote other authori- 

 ties in proof that it was then the received opinion that the 

 rubigo of com was identical with tho parasitical diseases of 

 trees, but it is only now that the truth of this opinion is 

 demonstrated. 



It has long been an observation that wliere the Berberry 

 abounds there mildew commonly affects the Wheat crops ; and 

 years since we were shown a Berberry bush in a hedgerow, and 

 a breadth of Wheat affected by mildew extending across the 

 field from that bush, whilst no other part of the field was so 

 affected; and we remember a Berberry-abounding village in 

 Korfolk bearing the unenviable title of " Mildew-Kollesby." 

 That the mildew on Wheat and the parasitical fungus afflicting 

 the Berberry are identical has been denied by excellent autho- 

 rities, and fungolists have sustained the denial by naming the 

 Wheat fungns Pnccinia grarainis, and the Berberry fungus 

 JJcidium Berberidis, but M. De Barry has shown tbat it is one 

 and the same plant, in different stages of development ; in one 

 Btage it will only vegetate on the Berberry, and in the other 

 only on the culms of Wheat and other Grasses. Nor do the 

 disooverieB tending to reduce the number of fungal genera 

 Btop here, for M. Oerstead has giTen evidence that, also in 

 different stages of development, the fungus Podisoma Sabina>, 

 ■which lives on the Savin, Juniperus sabina, is the same as 

 EcEstelia cancellata which attacks the leaves of Pear trees. Nor 

 do these discoveries stop here, for M. De Barry has shown that 

 Uromyces fab.T which infests the leaves of the Bean is only 

 another form of -Ecidium leguminosarum found on the same 

 ]»lant. 



A PEEP AT THE WOODS IN ODD PLACES.— No. 7. 



CUBA. 

 (Cantvuicd from parjc 442.^ 

 Having heard the band play, let us leave the sweet odours 

 wafted about the square opposite the palace of the Captain- 

 General, and proceeding on onr rambles take a look around ns 

 as we wend our way towards the fruit market, a peep at which 

 will amply repay our curiosity, and afford us some pleasure. 

 Before proceeding on our way, what, we must ask. can those 

 strange spider-looking things on two wheels be ? Tbey arc called 

 volantiis, and arc the national passenger-conveyance, being 

 iiscd in the place of our cabs, though, of course, the four- 

 wheeled hacknej' carriage is likewise common ; hut this is the 

 Jiative trap, and although presenting such an extraordinary ap- 

 pearance to an English eye, is exceedingly comfortable and 

 easy to ride in. I will, however, try to give you some notion of 

 them, for they are worth mention, and some of the private 

 ones are most gaudily got up, though they do present much of 

 the appearance of a huge gilded and burnished spider. Two 

 high but light wheels, on their axle-tree, are placed at the ex- 

 tremities of two excessively long springy shafts; between these, 

 suspended by straps and C springs, is hung rather than fas- 

 tened, but yet sufficiently firmly fixed to prevent too much 

 swinging motion, a body somewhat resembling that of a Hansom 

 cab, but lower and longer, and the back of which is about 3 feet 

 from the axle. In this lies, rather than sits, the passenger 

 Stretched at his ease, with his feet resting against a little iron 

 lail placed inside the dash-board, whilst he is protected from 

 the Btm or rain hy the iiood oWrheftd. In the shaftB, with his 



tail fully 4 feet beyond the botird, is a horse or mule, as the csce' 

 may be ; and on his back, in a most preposterous paddle, wHth a 

 very high pummel and crup, is seated the driver, often a nigger, 

 dressed in a tall hat, jacket, breeches, and huge boots, the heels 

 of which are armed with as huge spurs, and carrying in his 

 hand a formidable whip. Tho length of the whole ailair, in- 

 cluding the horse, will be from 20 to 25 feet ; and as tho stroete' 

 are very narrow, it is requisite to go to the intersection of two 

 streets to enable the driver to turn his vehicle. Those belong- 

 ing to private persons of means are, as 1 have said, often vety 

 expensively got np, most of them silver-mounted, both as to 

 the volauti' itself, and the harness, and sometimes the orna- 

 ments are of silver gilt. For such vehicles two horses are 

 used, one being in the shafts, and the other ridden by the 

 postilion, who leads the horse in the shafts. 



If, however, we stop so long looking at these, to English 

 eyes, extraordinary conveyances, we shall never reach the fmit 

 market, to which place we are bound ; only as we are just op- 

 posite Dominico's, we will step in, and sit down to rest our- 

 selves, and look about us for a few minntes, whilst we take a 

 little refreshment before we walk on, since the weather is ex- 

 tremely hot, and we have some distance to go beyond the wallB- 

 of the city. Dominico's is a restaurant, and really a most 

 beautiful and delightful place, where one may obtain any de- 

 licacy he wishes for, from English ale fliere a mo.st expensive 

 luxur}'), to Guava jelly, manufactured on the premises ; so call 

 for what you like — coffee or claret, champagne or chocolate, 

 soup or sardines, cigars or cakes, bonbons or Bananas, and 

 whilst you are resting, I will try to give you some notion of the 

 place. In a narrow street not more than 12 or 14 feet wide 

 between the curb stones, and with no footpath to speak of, for 

 that in any street of the city is seldom, indeed scarcely ever, a 

 yard in width, and where the houses run straight up, present- 

 ing a most gloomy prison like appearance, stands this palace of 

 Epicurus, cool, fragrant, and pleasant. We enter by an arched 

 gateway into a somewhat spacious hall. The floor is of black and 

 white marble ; the roof, which is beautifully painted and gilded, 

 is arched, and supported by a number of marble pillars, from 

 the capitals of which spring the groins of the arches. In the 

 centre, as in most of the large houses of Havanna, is a square 

 open to the sky, and likewise paved with marble, in which is 

 an elegant fountain ; planted around the pedestal of which, and 

 mingled with lovely specimens of coral and effigies of water 

 sprites, are Fems, small Palms, especially the Palmetto, and 

 wax-leaved tropical plants, most exquisite Moss filling up all 

 the interstices with the greatest luxuriance ; whilst in the basin 

 below surrounding the fountain, and playing about in and out 

 the rockwork at its base, swim with much apparent enjoyment 

 and appreciation of the jolly company around them, numerons 

 gold and silver fish. In the hall and square stand a number of 

 iron-framed, marble-topped tables, around which may be seen 

 seated various groups, silent or noi.sy, in sober conversation or 

 sprightly chat, consuming the various dainties here obtainable. 

 These persons are composed of various nationalities, generally 

 showing by their manners, tones of voice, and action, as well as 

 language, to what flag they may have the honour to belong. 

 Here are to be seen the lively, chatty Frenchman ; the sombre; 

 stately Don ; the phlegmatic Dutchman ; the swaggering, boast- 

 ing Yankee ; and last, though decidedly not least, the conceited 

 Englishman, who, if not in so many words, at least in manner, 

 treats the natives of whatever country he may be in, as in- 

 ferior creatures ; in fact. Englishmen generally, in their own- 

 estimation, are not foreigners, whether in tho Arctic regions, 

 the temperate or the torrid zone, amongst Esquimaux, Black- 

 foot Indians, Europeans, Ashantees, Hindoos, or Madngas- 

 cans ; but they all. at any rate by far the greater part of them, 

 seem to consider that they have a universal kingdom, and are, 

 like Eohinson Cmsoe, " monarchs of all they survey." 



Our own party in this hall was by no means an uninteresting 

 one, being comprised of seven persons, representing five dis- 

 tinct nationalities and one colony, each being fairly, indeed 

 favourably, represented. Of Englishmen, there were the captain 

 of our vessel and myself ; from New Brunswick, a tall, elegant, 

 exceedingly gentlemanly man, w'ho formerly held a bigb 

 position under the crown in the colony, and was of decidedly 

 tory and aristocratic tendencies ; from France, an ex-consnl, 

 thoroughly French, and a thorough gentleman ; from the 

 Southern States of America, a large cotton-press and plantation 

 owner, belonging to New Orleans ; from Pmssia, a tall, fine- 

 looking man of about thirty, who had fought on the Southern 

 side in the late American war, nnd had in a most courageotis 

 manner sared a large amotiflt of treasniro; -whioh flio Fedeials 



