REMARKS ON WHITNEY'S PREPARED CALICO. 2S7 



and of a fine bright-green colour. This plant is in appearance 

 between the cypress and the common heath. Its flowers appear in 

 July, and are produced in taper -spikes at the ends of the branches ; 

 they are very small, and set close all round the spike, of a lilac colour, 

 with red anthers. These are succeeded by oblong, acute-pointed, 

 three-cornered capsules, filled with small downy seeds. 



When planted in the shrubbery the Tamarisk should mix with 

 plants of broad and fixed foliage, as the laurel or holly. It is also 

 calculated to cover the sides of hills, where it is desirable not to take 

 off the view by taller trees ; but its principal advantage over most 

 other shrubs is in marine gardens, where it soon acquires sufficient 

 height to protect rose-bushes and other low flowering shrubs. The 

 Tamarisk is a deciduous tree, although when in foliage it has all the 

 character and appearance of an evergreen shrub. 



ARTICLE X. 



REMARKS ON WHITNEY'S PREPARED CALICO. 



BY MR. CHARLES SHAW, OF WORSBRO' HALL, NEAR BARNSLEY. 



Seeing an inquiry in the Cabinet of last month, page 247, relative 

 to Mr. Whitney's prepared Calico, &c, I beg to add the result of an 

 experiment which we tried during the past summer at this place. 



About the middle of May we had a fig-tree out of doors which 

 showed a nice crop of fruit, but it stood in rather a cold situation. I 

 was very desirous of ripening the fruit, and from what Mr. Whitney 

 had said of his composition when applied to Calico, &c, I judged 

 a covering of it would just be the thing to aid me in realising my 



wishes. 



I therefore procured two quart bottles of the composition, and 

 eighteen yards of glazed Calico, which just covered the tree. After 

 the Calico was cut in proper lengths and hemmed together, I had 

 the outer edges bound with strong tape binding, to prevent the Calico 

 tearing, and preserve the whole entire. When thus completed it was 

 taken into the coach-house, very tightly stretched against some 

 rafters, and then well saturated with the composition, applying with 

 a painter's brush. It was then left for several days to dry. 



I had some strong rafters of wood placed over the tree at two feet 



