448 General Notices. 



green fly occasionally attacks it ; but that is easily got rid of 

 by fumigating with tobacco. The plants are easily propa- 

 gated, cuttings of the half-ripened wood striking freely in 

 sand under a bell-glass. 



There are several other very handsome varieties of the 

 Leschenaultia in cultivation, the best of which are splendens, 

 a beautiful bright scarlet ; Arcuata, a fine light color, ap- 

 proaching to yellow ; and Biloba nana grandiflora, a very 

 pretty blue, of fine dwarf habit ; these require nearly the same 

 treatment as formosa. 



New Haven, Conn., September, 1848. 



The Leschenaultia is a most charming flower, but, like 

 nearly all the New Holland plants, it is rare to see a well 

 grown specimen. In a back volume, we have given an arti- 

 cle on its treatment ; but we need not refer to it, as that now 

 communicated by Mr. Saunders contains all the directions 

 requisite to grow fine specimens. We trust we may be fa- 

 vored with similar articles on the cultivation of other showy 

 and desirable plants. — Ed. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



Strawberries. — Persons who expend no scientific knowledge or care on 

 their gardens, are constantly complaining of failures with their strawber- 

 ries. The wonder really is, not that they should often be disappointed, 

 but that they should ever succeed. Were it not for the vis medicatrix na- 

 tural which so often helps men out of their scrapes and blunders, in spite of 

 their ignorance, many gardens would produce no fruit at all. The treat- 

 ment of the strawberry is often at variance with every physiological princi- 

 ple ; the plants are the runners of old stools, which have remained in the 

 same spot for many years ; the beds are allowed to be smothered with 

 weeds after the crop is gathered, until in the autumn a scythe mows off the 

 whole produce, Aveeds, leaves, and sometimes crowns in one promiscuous 

 heap. In this saure qui peut style, the bed is left to the chances of another 

 year, and a dressing of dung completes the annual process. It cannot be 

 wondered at, that, after this summary treatment, the crop should be poor in 

 quantity and quality, contrasted indeed in every respect with that of a more 

 thoughtful cultivator. 



This is the time to clear off all runners and weeds from old beds, and to 

 make new ones ; that is, if weeds have been allowed to grow, and runners 

 to accumulate, neither of which will be the case in a well-managed garden. 



