92 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



CO^HAPHY. 



Geo f/raplty.— In Jan. 1838, the Gen~raphical Society of Paris had existcn 

 little more than six years. In the course of that short period it had esta- 

 blished prizes to the .amount of 16,-WO francs; published a series of question-- 

 with re 'ercnce to the principal desiderata in the science; caused several 

 maps to be engraved ; given the most complete text extant ot the Travels 

 of Marco-Polo : prepared instructions for a great number of travellers; 

 obtained for them the countenance 01 the French and foreign g-overnments ; 

 pointed out Cyrena'ica as one of the most useful objects of inquiry; re- 

 warded the admirable travels of M. Pacho, and M. Brugniere's remarkable 

 memoir on the horography of Uurope; published two volumes of memoirs 

 and manuscript narratives; received an immense variety of communica- 

 tions from all parts of the globe: maintained a scientific correspondence 

 with the principal academies and learned societies in the two worlds; 

 formed a valuable library; conceived the idea of a new hydr graphical 

 map of France, and concurred in its production by a committee from its 

 own body; and, finally, offered a reward of eight thousand francs to the 

 traveller who may be so fortunate as to penetrate into central Africa, either 

 by the French p in Senegambia, or by the countries in the vicinity 



of the region ot' the upper Nile. 



The members of the Society were then 348 in number. Twenty-two travel, 

 lers were then pursuing their inquiries, under the auspices of" the Society, 

 in Peru, Colombia, Chili, Persia, India, Thibet, Arabia," Georgia, Nuaaidia, 

 Abyssinia, Senegal, &c, not to mention the Antilles, and a voyage round 

 the world. It had recently been proposed to the Society by its President, 

 to offer two annual medals for the most important geographical discoveries 

 ot the year; t.> receive communications on the subject written in either 

 English, Spanish, or Latin; to accelerate the publication of a volume of 

 memoirs and question* ; and to address a circular letter to all the travellers, 

 consuls, and correspondents of the Society. [An example of diligence and 

 activity.— Jid. Li. Gas.] 



RtJRAl ECONOMY, GARDENING, &C. 



On the Introduction of Turnips info Britain.— Until the beginning of the 

 eighteenth century, this valuable root was cultivated among us only in gar- 

 dens or other small spots for culinary purposes ; but. Lord Townshend, at- 

 tending King George the First in one of his excursions to Germany, in the 

 quality of Secretary of State, observed the turnips cultivated in open and 

 extensive fields, as fodder for cattle, and spreading fertility over lands 

 naturally barren ; and, on his return to England, he brought over with 

 him some of the seed, and strongly recommended the practice which he had 

 witnessed to the adoption of his own tenants, who occupied a soil similar to 

 that of Hanover. The experiment succeeded ; the cultivation of field-tur- 

 nips gradually spread over the whole county ot Norfolk; and, in the course 

 of time, it has made its way into every other district of England. — Quarterly 

 licvimc. 



Method to preserve young Turnips from the Fly.— When two kinds of 

 turnips are sown in the same field, those which are the most tender and succu- 

 lent will chiefly suffer from the fly. A like distinction will be observed, if 

 only one kind" be sown, but the "seed unequally scattered. Those plants 

 that rise in clusters, protect one another from the sun and air, and offer a 

 more agreeable food to the fly than those which come up at greater respec- 

 tive distances. Reasoning from these well known fact-, Mr. Poppy, (to 

 whom the Society, whose transactions are afterwards referred to, voted tne 

 Ceres Gold Medal for the discovery), was induced to drill four acres on his 

 nun farm, employing one pint of" Swedish turnip seed per acre for those 

 rows intended to vtand for a crop, and half a peck of common turnip seed on 

 the rows alternating with the former, and intended to attract the fly from 

 them. The result was, that the thin sown Swedish turnips were not sensibly 

 injured by the fly, while the thirk sown ones were quite black with swarms 

 of this insect. After the Swedish turnips had got into the rough leaf, the 

 'lancer from the <ly being over, the rows of common turnips were ploughed 

 up, and the crop being afterwards managed in the usual way, turned out 



