THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. S77 



The Fruit of PyHrs (Cydonia.) Japonica is sufficiently rare to warrant 

 mention of the fact that a crop has been ripened in the garden of Mr. Voight, Stoke 

 Newington. A sample before as has somewhat the appearance of a small sumple 

 of the French crab. The pleasant quince-like aroma of the fruit suggests the 

 proper culinary use for it, which is to flavour marmalade or make a preserve entire. 

 Staxdard Cotonbasters form an interesting feature in Messrs. T. Bunysrd St 

 Son's nursery at Ashford. Cotoncaster Siinonni is worked on the common Thorn 

 stock, and the scicn grows strongly and berries profusely, and makes a highly 

 ornamental plant for mixing in a choice shrubbery border or standing singly on a 

 lawn. C. mierophytla and C. thifmifolia are also grafted in this way, but the best 

 is C. Simsonii, the berries of which are large, and are now of a brilliant orange- 

 red hue- 



The Dead Leaves in the Pcblic Gardens of Paris are, says a French paper, 

 given to the h rticulturalists and growers of fruit and vegetables in the environs of 

 Paris, in exchange for a few plants, and they use them for their hot-beds. They 

 are at the cost of removing them, and the garden of the Tuileries furnishes about 

 100 loads. Tlie leaves of the Champs Elysees, of which the quantity is double, 

 are utilized in the nursery of the City of Paris at Passy. Those of the Luxembourg 

 remain there, and are used to protect the more tender plants from the cold. Those 

 from the squares and other promenades or plantations are sent to the horticultural 

 establishment at Sevres. 



Larc« Plane Trees. — According to the Presse there are two gigantic Plane 

 Trees in the garden of Count Gozze at Canosa in Dalmatia. They are growing in 

 a sheltered situation, whence they were transplanted, it is reported, from Constan- 

 tinople, 300 years ago — about the date of the introduction of the Plane into Britain. 

 The size of these trees is so great that a battalion of soldiers might comfortably 

 encamp beneath the widely-spreading branches of one of them, which has a trunk 

 thirty feet in circumference. Six of the biggest men could scarcely span the trunk 

 with outstretched arms. 



Victoria Regia. — According to " Science pour Tous," an experiment was lately 

 made at the Botanic Gardens at Ghent, to determine the weight required to sub- 

 merge a leaf of the Victoria regia. A leaf was selected and weighted with bricks. 

 It was found that a load of 7 cwt., which is about equal to the weight of three 

 full-grown men of average height and size, vfas required to produce submersion. 



Gilbert White of Selborne. — A very interesting series of unpublished letters 

 (ten in number), from the Rev. Gilbert White, author of the "Natural History of 

 Selborne," to Robert Marsham, F.R.S., Stratton Strawless, were read by the 

 secretary of the Norfolk and Norwich Society, at their last monthly meeting. The 

 letters were written between Aug. 13, 1770, and June 15, 1773. The contents 

 consist of remarks on arboriculture ; remarks on the rain 'all ; gossip about birds 

 and insects ; and the confirmation of Mr. Marsham's supposed discovery of a bird 

 new to Britain, the Wall-creeper or Spider-catcher {Certhia mumria, Tichodrovia. 

 mtisa'ia); extracts from his brother's — the Rev. John While, ot Gibraltar, who 

 resided there in 1756— unpublished "Natural History of the Rock," in which he 

 describes the difference between the Crag Swallow and the Sand Marten ; the former 

 he names " Hirundo hyemalis," from the great numbers that frequented Gibraltar 

 in the winter season. The last letter of the series is dated June 15, 1773, and is 

 probably the last he ever wrote, as he survived only eleven days. It is the intention 

 of the Society to publish these interesting letters in the next part of their Transactions. 



TO COEEESPONDENTS. 



W., East Yorlcahire. — The seedling geraniums should be kept in the small 

 pots until the spring, and then be shifted into five-inch pots. Tiie compost used 

 should be rather poor, because of their tendency to grow too luxuriantly to produce 

 flowers. They would bloom earlier in the season if left in tlie small pots, but the 

 flowers would in all probability be too small to sliow their true character. They 

 may be kept under glass or be "placed out of doors in a sunny situation, as may be 

 the most convenient. When under glass they must be fully e.Kpusid to the sun, ind 

 enjoy a free circulation of air about llu-iu. 



Jjecember. 



