474 



flowers; but that vegetables should have a political colour is a fact of 

 which we were ignorant. 



X. Y. Z. 



Botanical Notes and Queries for 1851. 



The Exhibition of Scotch Cereals, 8fc., in the Crystal Palace, by 

 Messrs. Lawson 8f Son, of Edinburgh. 



Among the multifarious contents of the Crystal Palace, the botanist 

 will perhaps derive most satisfaction from an attentive examination 

 of this admirable collection. My attention was called to it by a 

 notice in the ' Athenaeum,' which is so descriptive and complete that I 

 shall quote it entire, in preference to penning one of my own, merely 

 premising that I would strongly recommend every botanist whose 

 attention it may have escaped to pay it an early visit. An intelligent 

 custodian will be found on the spot, willing to give every information 

 and explanation, " In this department [that of food derived from the 

 vegetable kingdom] will be found a very extensive series of cases and 

 fittings devoted to a display of the vegetable substances used in food, 

 medicine, and the arts, from Scotland. This Scotch exhibition is 

 almost an epitome of the raw produce of the vegetable kingdom 

 throughout the British Islands, as there are few things of any use that 

 will grow in any other part of this country that will not grow in Scot- 

 land. These specimens, which have been got together by the Messrs. 

 Lawson & Son, of Edinburgh, will be regarded with interest on ac- 

 count rather of their completeness than of their rarity. Here we have 

 the various cereal grasses of Europe, as wheat, barley, oats, rye, &c., 

 and the varieties which are commonly grown in Scotland, or which 

 are produced in that country as used in other parts of the world. Not 

 only are there exhibited the grains or fruits of those plants which are 

 employed, and the various substances which are manufactured from 

 them, but we have dried specimens of the plant, in blossom and during 

 the time of the ripening of its fruit. The various kinds of farm and 

 garden produce used for food are also represented here. In cases 

 where the vegetable substance could not be kept or dried, wax casts 

 are substituted : thus we have a series of specimens of roots, as car- 

 rots, turnips, &c. Casts also of rare specimens of curious forms, and 

 of the varieties cultivated, are exhibited. The grasses grown 



