MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE 167 



I procured a plant in April 1836, and kept it in a warm part of the 

 greenhouse, it bloomed profusely from June to September ■ I found that cut- 

 tings struck as readily as the Verbena melindris, I therefore took off during 

 autumn fifty cuttings, which I potted off in November into small pots and 

 and kept them in the greenhouse through winter. Early last May I planted 

 them all out with balls entire, into a raised bed of rich loamy soil in my 

 flower garden ; not attending at first to tying up, the plants laid down on the 

 ground, and in a few weeks I perceived the shoots had taken root similar 

 to the roots of the Verbena. I allowed them to continue and spread, which 

 they did in such a manner as to cover the soil entire, and the plants 

 bloomed in July, August, and September delightfully, forming a fine con- 

 trast to the scarlet and white Verbenas. Its beautiful purple flowers mak- 

 ing a showy appearance The plant well deserves the attention of all who 

 possess it. It may be procured very cheap. The plant is not capable to 

 endure the open air in winter, so that a fresh supply of plants has to be 

 raised, every summer or autumn in order to supply the following year. 



Clericus. 



ON SOME NEW PLANTS. 

 The Quarterly Review, No. 121, gives the following notices of 

 plants which Mr. Moorcroft considered likely to prove valuable 

 in this country if they coidd be introduced.— Travels in Kathmir 

 Bockhara, &c. By Messrs. Moorcroft, and Trebeck. 



The Pkangos.— Prangos Pabularia of Lindley, Asiatic Journal, V. XIX 

 p. 798, Silphium of the antients, Royle's Botany of the Himalay p. 230* 

 ' One of the most valuable sources of fodder in Ladakh, and perhaps in 

 any country ; it varies in size according to age, from a single leaf, not more 

 than an inch in circumference, to a cluster of flowers and leaves spreading 

 to a circumference of from twelve to eighteen feet. The head of the Prangof 

 including leaves, flowers, stems and seeds, is converted into hay for winter 

 todder for goats, sheep and cows. Considering the value of this plant as 

 forage, its growing in a poor sterile soil, in every variety of site, except 

 actual swamps, and in a bleak cold climate, and its flourishing wholly in 

 independence, without the care and industry of mau, it would seem pro- 

 bable that it might be introduced with national advantage into many 

 parts of Britain, and would convert her heaths and downs, and highlands 

 into store-houses for the supply of innumerable flocks." 

 r j T " B , LoNG - M A° r sand grass, furnishes almost the whole of the winter 

 food of the unstabled brood mares and colts of the rajah of Ladakh, of the 

 keary or WI ld horse, of the yak, and of all the cattle which are left unhoused 

 at that season. 



The Porik, a small species of sheep, common in Ladakh, Mr. Moorcroft 

 says, " It would be an invaluable appendage to the cottage of the British 

 peasant, as it could be maintained at scarcely any cost. During the day in 

 the summer months, it is pastured amongst the mountains, but at night and 

 in the winter, it finds shelter in a walled yard, or under the roof of its master 

 in this state it seeks with incessant assiduity grass, straw, chaff, peelings 

 ol esculent vegetables, always attends the meals of the family, for morsels 

 ot flour cake barley meal, &c. and will sometimes even nibble a bone " 



I hough a breed of these little animals might be atttended with some ex- 

 pense and d.fliculty, could not the seeds of a Prangas and Long-ma be 

 more easily procured by some of the numerous botanical collectors or spe- 

 culators ? r 



(The subject is well worth the attention of any of our readers who have 

 correspondents in those countries. A small portion of seed of each would 

 •uthce to sow for the first season, so as to ascertain a satisfactory knowledge 

 ?i,l! pr T/ tie j and suitability to this climate, &c. and to a more extended 

 culture, it found worthy of it,— Conductor ) 



