MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 71 



On Nerium Splendens, &c. — During the past summer, I flowered a few 

 dwarf plants of Nerium Splendens, by the following method : — In April I 

 looked over my old plants, and discovered those shoots which had a leading hud 

 of blossom ; I then took a small garden-pot, knocked the bottom out, and 

 carefully drew the shoot through, at about six inches below its crown; I notched 

 the stem like a Carnation, putting a hit of soil to keep the tongue open. I then 

 tied a piece of sheet-lead under the pot, to enable me to fill it with fine rich 

 soil. I pressed the soil tight, and placed the plant in a hothouse for a month ; 

 the layers rooted speedily. I then cut it off the parent, repotted into a larger 

 pot, kept in the hot a fortnight longer, which was then the first week in June, 

 and a most beautiful bloom succeeded upon all the plants, and they not more 

 than a foot high. A free supply of water was given, whilst striking root, as well 

 as subsequently. I beg to assure the readers of the Cabinet, that the plan is 

 worth trying. I should be glad for this to be inserted in the March Number. 

 (Too late for the first sheet of the work. — Conductor.) 



Honiton, Feb. I'dth, 1836. J. P. Clark. 



N.B. The same treatment with Nerium Oleander would doubtless be equally 

 successful. 



Allspice or Pimenta, — is the dried berry of a West Indian species of 

 myrtle (Myrtus pimenta,) which grows to the height of twenty feet and upwards, 

 and has somewhat oval leaves about four inches long, of a deep shining green 

 colour, and numerous branches of white flowers, each with four small petals. 

 In the whole vegetable kingdom there is scarcely any tree more beautiful or 

 more flagrant than a young Pimenta tree about the month of July, branched 

 on all sides, richly clad with deep green leaves, which are relieved with an 

 exuberance of white and richly aromatic flowers ; it attracts the notice of all 

 who approach it. Pimenta trees grow spontaneously, and in great abundance, 

 in many parts of Jamaica ; but they cannot be propagated, without great dif- 

 ficulty. The usual mode of making a Pimenta walk, or plantation, is to appro- 

 priate for this purpose a piece of woody ground in the neighbourhood of an 

 already existing walk, or in a part of the country were the scattered trees are 

 found in a native state. The other trees are cut down, and, in a year or two, 

 young Pimenta plants are found to spring up in all parts, supposed to have been 

 produced from berries dropped there by birds, which eagerly devours them. 

 About the month of September, and not long after the blossoms have fallen, the 

 berries are in a fit stute to be gathered. At this time, though not quite ripe, thev 

 are full grown, and about the size of peppercorns. They are gathered by the 

 hand ; and one labourer on a tree will strip them oft' so quickly, as to emplov 

 three below to gather them up ; and an industrious picker will fill a bag of 

 seventy pounds weight in a day. The berries are then spread on a terrace, in 

 the sun, to be dried; but this is an operation which requires great care, from the 

 necessity of keeping them entirely free from moisture. By the drying they lose 

 their green colour, and become of a reddish brow r n ; the process is known to be 

 completed by their change of colour, and by the rotting of the seeds within the 

 berries. They are then packed into bags or hogsheads for the market. When 

 the berries are quite ripe, they are of a dark purple colour, and filled with a 

 sweet pulp. Pimenta is thought to resemble nutmegs and cloves, whence it has 

 obtained the name of all spice. It is also employed in medicine, as an agreeable 

 aromatic, and forms the basis of distilled water, a spirit, and essential oil. The 

 leaves of the Pimenta trees yield, in distillation, an odoriferous oil, which 

 is not unfrequently used in medicine preparations instead of the oil of cloves. 



London Horticultural Societv Meetings, Feb. 7th. — Dr. Henderson 

 V. V, in the chair. Several books wen' announced. Lord O'Neill, Sir I'. (J. 

 Kgerton, Mr. Richard Forest, G. Coode, Esq,, and Christopher Rawson, Esq., 

 were elected Fellows of the Societv. Dr. Lindley read a letter from Mr. 

 Buchan, gardener to Lord Bagot, Blithfield, Staffordshire, forwarding therewith, 

 forty seeds of the true Cinnamon Tree, from a tree which was imported into 

 this country. The fruit much resembles acorns hanging in clusters of two or 

 three, and it is considered that the plant would well hear exposure to the air in 

 winter, in most seasons, and without much protection. Specimens had been 



