102 ' Monthly Botanical Report. [Feb 1, q 
said to have declined in some particular districts, but to be increasing yearly, asa 2 
general practice. ~ ; : sf 
The stock of turnips and cattle food at present, very sufficient and good, remaining % 
unhurt by the frost. The stock of cattle itself, very great, and markets going on in 
the general routine. Store pigs, although in considerable plenty, very dear; much 
pork expected to be made. Great demand from Ireland for breeding stock of this 
description. The fiorin grass, the uses of which have latety been discovered by Dr. 
Richardson, of Clonfecle, in Ireland, under experimental culture in various parts of 
England, Scotland, and Wales, and great hopes entertained of its utility. The wheat 
markets have been for some time ata stand, but to expect them cheaper, seems out 
of all probability, since the crop has at last turned out considerably below an aye- 
Fage une; and the increasing demand, both for home consuinption, and that of our 
armies and allies abroad, will be fully equal to our power of supply, however con- 
siderable may be the imports. 4 
Smithfield. Beef, 5s. to 6s.—Mutton, 5s. 6d.—Veal, 6s. 8d. to Ss, 8d.—House- 
Jamb, 7s. to }0s.— Pork, 5s. 4d. to 7s. 8d.—Bacon, 7s. 2d. to 7s. 6d.—lIrish bacon, 
Gs. §d.— Fat, 4s. 6d. to 4s. 8d.—Skins, 25s. to 40s. 
Middlesex, Jan. 23. 
MONTHLY BOTANICAL REPORT. 
THE Borawnicat MaGazine for last month contains, 
Alée Radula of Jacquin, the attenuata of Haworth. Of the smaller aldes, which 
are better snited to the size of the work, Mr. Edwards has given Some excellent spe- 
cimens of his superior skill as an artist. Indeed we have seldom witnessed any thing . 
superior, even in the splendid botanical productions of the Paris press. 
Alde saponaria 8. latifolia; one of the old varieties of perfoliata; avery large 
species, but of which a good idea is given by the insertion of a diminished outline, 
representing the habit of the whole plant. Mr. Ker has inthis, as in all the tribe, 
taken great paint to elucidate the confused synonimy. He informs us that the smaller 
wariety of this («) minor, is the umbellata of Decandolle, excluding all his synonyms, 
which belong to A, picta; and is also the picta (8) minor, of the new edition of the 
Hortus Keweusis, as far as regards the synonym of the late edition; but that those 
quoted from Linnzus and Dillenius belong to A. picta, Although this species has 
been called American aloe, and Carolina aloe, it is not a native of America, but of 
the Cape. - . 
Taonus Eliphantipes, a female plant of the Cape Bryony, from Mr, Knight’s col- 
lection in the King’s-road, Chelsea, A male plant flowered in 1783, in the Kew- 
garden, from which M. L’Heritier had a drawing taken for his Sertum Anglicum ; 
the engraving, however, though quoted in books, was never published ; nor is there 
any figure of it that we know of extant. To those who have never seen this very, 
singular plant, Mr, Edwards’s outline sketch behind the flowering stem will not be 
easily understood, It represents the curious rootstock, which rises above the surface 
of the ground, and somewhat resembles a hemispherical section of the trunk, or ra- 
weer of a warty excrescence, of some old tree. Jn this apparently lifeless state, it 
sometimes remains many months, now and then putting forth climbing stems, bearing 
alternate cordate leaves, with here and there branches of flowers in the axils of their 
footstalks, much in the same manner as the common black bryony. _ It is this shape~ 
less, massive rootstock that has occasioned its being called, by the inhabitants of the 
Cape, the Elephant’s-foot. P 
| Hermannia tenuifolia; anew species, which is probably lost to our gardens, as the 
drawing wastakenin Mr, Curtis’s time, and, exceptan imperfect specimen in the Bank~ 
sian Herbarium, Dr. Sims has not been able to find any thing respecting its existence. 
Hermannia flammea, a beautifal little shrub from Mr. Knight's collection, Al- 
though we are presented with a good drawing of this plant, with flowers fully ex- 
panded, yet, as it is rarely seen in this state, we could have wished that some of the 
flowers at least had been represented in their very remarkably tight-twisted state, in 
which they look almost as if the tips had been rounded off with a pair of scissars... 
Mr. Andrews, in his Botanist’s Repository, though his figure is otherwise very indif- 
ferent, has seized this peculiarity. The nocturnal fragrance of the flowers adds to 
the value of this plant, : 
Astragalus sinicus. It seems remarkable that this pretty little annual should never 
haye been before figured, though it has been at times in our gardens for forty years 
past. 
Tropceelum peregrinum, This is at present a searce, and considered as a tender 
plant; but being a native of the same country as the common tropw@olum majus, there 
seems no reason why it should not become as hardy as that which is now almost natu-_ 
ralized to our clime: for Miller says, that this last will sow itself,and come upspon-" 
taneous the following summer, in fayourable situations, There aré several species OO 
36 this, 
