Natural History. 409 



7. Native Sulphate of Uranium. — Dr. John has observed the 

 existence of native sulphate and sub-sulphate of uranium, in Elias 

 mine, a short distance from Joachimsthal in Bohemia. The sulphate 

 is crystallized in flat prisms, from one to three lines in length, of an 

 emerald-green colour, glossy lustre, transparent, though sometimes 

 opaque, brittle, and soluble in water. The sub-sulphate occurs as 

 a thin crust, of an intense sulphur-yellow colour, on other uranium 

 minerals. It is friable, partly soluble in water, and entirely in 

 nitric acid. 



8. On a mode of Planting through Trees.-^A memoir, by M. A. 

 Thouin, on the mode of planting through trees has been published 

 in the Mhn. du Museum, ii. 161. Reference is first made to the 

 statement of Pliny, that he had seen in the grounds of Tullius, at 

 Tibur, a tree grafted in all possible methods, and bearing all kinds 

 of fruit : one branch was covered with nuts, another with berries, 

 (cherries, prunes, Sfc.) another with grapes, another with figs, an- 

 other with pears, another with pomegranates, and finally others with 

 all sorts of apples ; the life of this tree was of but short duration. 



M. Thouin, after remarking on the impossibility of the effect de- 

 scribed by Pliny, as produced by grafting, describes other processes 

 by which it may perhaps have been obtained. He notices the sin- 

 gular results produced by the growth of parasitic plants on others, or 

 of certain plants, in the decomposed and decomposing wood of 

 trees; also the effects produced by the association of twining, trailing, 

 and creeping plants, either together or around forest trees, where, 

 after many years, the fasciculus of many trunks appears so much like 

 one trunk as to deceive even persons of some experience. He then 

 proceeds to remark on an effect sometimes produced in Italy, and 

 still more deceptive than any of the above. The gardeners of Ge- 

 noa, Florence, Venice, §-c., choose an orange-tree, which thev de- 

 prive of its branches; the trunk is then perforated through its whole 

 length, and through the roots to the ground beneath. They then 

 select young plants of the jasmine, the dwarf almond with double 

 flowers, fig-trees, rose-trees, myrtles, and other ornamental plants, 

 and these being arranged in twos, or threes, according to fancy and 

 the size of the aperture in the orange-tree, are planted either in the 

 ground or in a tub, according to the climate, passing them through 

 the orange tree, so that the plants may reach a short distance 

 above the upper end of the trunk ; the roots of the tree are then 

 covered with earth, watered, and cultivated, as if it were a tree just 

 planted. Tlie tree and the young plants all grow together, and 

 ■will live for ten or fifteen years. 



This experiment was repeated by M. Thouin, at the agricultural 

 school. A tilleul (linden tree,) 1 1.8 inches in diameter, was taken 

 up with parts of its roots, and cut horizontally about the height of 

 forty inches ; the roots were shortened to about twenty inches, and 

 the fibres thinned, or entirely removed, where too abundant. The 



Vol. XVIII. 2E 



