Scientific Intelligence. — Botany. ' 199 



vines, collected from different vineyards in France, Switzerland, 

 and Italy. In the month of November 1827, a selection of the 

 best varieties was sent to Mr L. Alaman, one of the principal 

 proprietors in the Mexican United States. He planted them 

 on his lands in the state of Guanaxuato, and writes that a hun- 

 dred and five stocks are in full vegetation. He adds, that, on 

 the elevated plain of Mexico, the same inconvenience is not ex- 

 perienced in the cultivation of the vine which arrests its cultiva- 

 tion at Cayenne, and in several parts of the United States : 

 namely, that the grapes of the same cluster ripen unequally. 

 At Mexico, they ripen together as in Europe, and it is to be 

 presumed, that this cultivation, which was formerly prohibited by 

 the Spanish Government, might be estabhshed there, the climate 

 resembling that of Murcia or Rome. If these hopes are realized, 

 it will be curious that the Botanic Garden of Geneva should have 

 been the means of furnishing these plants to South America. 

 It will be recollected that it was the Paris garden that supplied 

 Martinique with the coffee plants, from which originated all 

 the coffee plantations in America ; and that, in our own days, it 

 has sent the bread-fruit tree to Cayenne, where it is now exten- 

 sively cultivated. Facts like these, evidently demonstrate the 

 practical utility of these establishments, which are commonly 

 looked upon as exclusively subservient to theoretical studies. 



24. Periodical appearance of' shoals of Herrings, in Loch 

 Roag. — Loch Roag, in the Western Islands, is one of the lar- 

 gest arms of the sea called lochs. Its jaws'are about 6 miles 

 wide, and it runs up through the island of Lewis for about 12 

 miles. The shores of the loch, following its windings, would 

 measure not less than 40 miles. In westerly gales, the Atlantic 

 swell rushes into it mth great fury ; but there are many little 

 islands in it, which afford shelter to shipping, so that the loch 

 abounds with places of safe anchorage. The finest and purest 

 kelp used to be manufactured on the rocky shores of this 

 loch, as evinced by its fetching at Newcastle generally a guinea 

 per ton more than the kelp of any other Highland district. 

 Before the middle of the 18th century, Loch Roag was the 

 most celebrated herring-fishery station on the north-west coast 



