MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 191 



with a vast number of flowers, and I can very strongly recommend it. It is 

 very superior to blotting-paper, the specimens drying much readier, the paper 

 seldom requiring to be changed, and the colour of the flowers, &c, much better 

 preserved. 



The plan I pursue is to have some sheets of millboard, and having laid one or 

 two old newspapers quite smooth upon a sheet of millboard, I put a sheet of the 

 drying paper, and lay the plant to be dried, carefully spreading the leaves and 

 petals. I then place another sheet of the drying paper over the specimen, and 

 a few more newspapers to absorb the moisture, and over the whole I then place 

 a sheet of millboard ; and thus proceed until I have laid out my specimens, 

 taking care to have a sheet of the millboard between each layer of specimens. 



I put a heavy weight upon the top of all, i->r, which is far better, put the 

 whole in a screw press, and continue to shift the papers and increase the pies- 

 sure daily. Should the plants be very succulent, the paper will require the 

 oftener shifting and fresh paper. The*plant3 should not be taken out until per- 

 fectly day. The paper, when dried, will be ready for use at any future time. 

 The size I recommend is 16 inches by 10 or II. The drying paper is as cheap 

 as common blotting paper, and far more useful in drying botanical specimens. 

 51 V F. N. B. 



On Glass Labels. — " In a recent number it was suggested that hermeii- 

 cally-sealed glass tubes, with the names or numbers of the plants inclosed in 

 them, might be employed as labels, the originator of the plan observing that it 

 would be necessary to send the names or numbers to the glass-blower, which 

 would be attended with inconvenience and expense. I also fear that when com- 

 pleted, the insertion of one end of the tube in the ground, while the other was 

 exposed to the great heat of the sun in summer, would injure, if not destroy, the 

 written or printed labels. Having made several experiments in joining glass 

 with Jeffery's marine glue, it has occurred to me lhat very neat, simple, and 

 most endurable labels might be formed by any gardener during his leisure 

 hours, at a comparatively nominal expense, the marine glue being only &d. per 

 lb., and the glass the fragments or waste of the kind used for common windows. 

 I send you three specimens, one written, one partly written and partly printed, 

 and one wholly printed, attached to the fragments of glass in the manner I have 

 alluded to; and I am convinced ihey would prove imperishable for the purpose 

 for which they are intended. The marine glue at that part of the glass which 

 is inserted in the earth would contract ; while the part exposed to the sun would 

 expand, and each end would suit itself to the circumstances under which it 

 might be placed without the least injury to tlie labels ; for moisture has no effect 

 whatever upon the composition invented by Mr. Jeftery." 



The manner of preparing them seems to be by pasting a paper label to the face 

 of a piece of glass, then smearing another piece of the same form and size with 

 Jeffery's marine glue, and immediately afterwards pressing the two pieces to- 

 gether. — Gardener" a Chronicle. 



Cultivation and Planting of the Ranunculus. — " The soil should be 

 trenched eighteen or twenty inches, and composd of good rich loam, to which I 

 adil one-sixth part of very old, well-rotted cow manure, and the same quantity of 

 clay broken into small pieces; add to this a little sand, and thoroughly mix the 

 whole ; if the soil binds, add some sandy peat ; make the bed on a level with the 

 path or walks; the plants would do better if the bed was below rather than 

 above the level. Having prepared the soil, as above, sometime during the sum- 

 mer or autumn, take the earliest opportunity in the succeeding spring to stir up 

 the bed one spit deep, and take off one inch and a half of the soil ; then place 

 the plants in an upright position on the surface, six iuches apart each way, and 

 replace the soil carefully, which will cover the crown of the Ranunculus about 

 one inch and a half; dieper planting would be injurious. After the plants 

 appear, keep them free from weeds, and press the soil firmly around the plants 

 alter they get two inches high. If the weather prove dry, water them freely 

 early in the morning, and shade them from the sun from 'J o'clock, a.m. to 



