262 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 5 



cHmates by the mean temperature of the actual 

 period of ils vegetation, you will obtain numbers, 

 which are very nearly equal. This result is not 

 only remarkable, insomuch as it seems to indicate 

 that, under all cliujaies, the same annual plant re- 

 ceives, in the course of its existence, an equal 

 quantity of heat; but it leads also to a direct prac- 

 tical result, in enabliuir us to decide upon the pos- 

 sibility of introducing any particular vegetable 

 into a country, as soon as we know the mean tem- 

 perature ol' the months there." 



From Loudon's Gardener's Magazine for June, 1837. 

 KYAIVIZIXG WOOD FOR GARDEN PURPOSES. 



By the Conductor. 



In vol. xi. p. 536, a short notice is given of the 

 nature of Mr. Kyan's [irocess lor the preservation, 

 not only of' every kind of wood, but also of every 

 kind of veiretable fibre, whether in the form of 

 cloth or conlaire. 'i'he object ol' M r. Kyan's com- 

 position is, to effect for wood what tanning eflects 

 ibr leather; and the chemical rationale of both 

 processes will be Ibund given in the jjrchilectaral 

 Magazine, vol. ii. p 236. During the last twelve- 

 months, we have heard various accounts of the 

 success of Mr. Kyan's invention; and the general 

 effect upon our minds, till lately, has been rather 

 unfavorable towards its use, than otherwise. Mr. 

 D. Beaton, however, inlbrins us that, while at 

 Hiiffield, (which place he has just left, see p. 205.) 

 he had an opportunity of using it, and seeing it 

 used; and that he has formed a very favorable o|ii- 

 nion, at least as to the use which might be made 

 of it in gardening. He has had several deal 

 boards saturated with it, and tallies for nammg 

 plants cut out of them; and he has seen thin elm 

 boards, which, after being newly sawn up, had 

 been saturated with the composition, remain in 

 the sun, against a wall with a southern exposure, 

 a whole sunmier, without shrinking or twisting in 

 the slightest degree. He recommends all boards 

 intended for hot-bed frames, plant-boxes, and all 

 similar purposes, to be Kyanized; and we would 

 farther suggest, that the process should be extend- 

 ed to all kinds of rods and stakes used for tying 

 up plants, or for protecting single trees (such as 

 those recommended by Mr. Lawrence, p. 166.); 

 to all rods, twigs and boards used in simuner- 

 houses, rustic vases, ornamental fences, and espa- 

 lier rails; and to all basket-work, hampers, wicker 

 protectors for jilants, &c. We would recoumiend 

 all bass mats to be immersed in Kyan's composi- 

 tion; all netting and canvass made of hemp or 

 flax; and all garden lines, sash-lines, packthread 

 for tying plants, lists for nailing wall trees, &c. — 

 It isonly necessary to send the articles which are 

 to be Kva'th^ed to the nearest Kyan's tank, where 

 the proce'^> '-y'll be effected in forty or fifty hours, at 

 a mere trifle ol expense. These tanks are now es- 

 tablished in various towns; and several gentlemen 

 have private tanks for their own use. If the be- 

 nefits to be derived from this composition come at 

 all near to what is held out by the patentee, by 

 X)r. Birkbeck, and Dr. Dickson, in his late lectures 

 on the Botany of Architecture before the Insti- 

 tute of British Ar^.hitects, wood tanneries will 

 soon be as common as tanneries for leather. — 

 There is a tank at Blackwall, where any gar- 

 dener, within ten -miles of London, may (with 



his master's permission) try some wood, cut into 

 the form of tallies for pots, and also Ibr plants in 

 the open air, and other specimens of the articles 

 mentioned above: and we should like much if they 

 wodld do so, and, in a year or two, let us know 

 the~r= -'t. We intend ourselves to have some 

 exps 7, )ents tried; an account of all of which, 

 witn a particular account of the [irocess, we shall 

 give in the jJrbnretiim Britannicum. In the mean 

 lime, we should be glad to hear the experience of 

 different persons on the subject, from difierent 

 parts of the country. 



From Loudon's Gardener's Magazine. 

 THE PALO DE VACA, OR COW TREE. 



After a variety of efforts, made through a con- 

 siderable number of years, I have at last succeed- 

 ed in obtaining, through the kindness of Sir Ro- 

 bert Ker Porter, the fruit of that interesting and 

 valuable production of the coast of Venezuela, 

 which has acquired such celebrity from the travels 

 of Humboldt, and which furnishes such an abun- 

 dant supply of veoretable milk to the thirsty pea- 

 sants of those burning regions; I mean the pah de 

 vaca, or cow tree, of which, I am inclined to suspect, 

 there are, if not many difierent genera, at least 

 some diversity of species. I am led to this con- 

 clusion from the discrepancy between the account 

 given of the tree, the (i'uit of which has been now 

 sent to me, and that of the illustrious traveller 

 just mentioned; as, also, from the accounts for- 

 merly received from my valuable correspondent, 

 of ihe three milk trees, the popa, the lerio, and 

 laule irrowirig in the forests of the Choro, along 

 the banks of the river, near Citara, or Quibbo, the 

 capital. 



I shall first transcribe the passage relating to the 

 sort now sent, and some other matters, from Sir 

 R. Ker Porter's letter of the 22d of last March, 

 from Caraccas: 



"I will not forget you on the subject of the Lirio 

 hermoso (Pancratium undulatum JFIumh.) and will 

 write to a friend in the Tay to iret some lirio bulbs. 

 I send you, with this, three seeds, or ft-ui*, of the 

 palo de. vaca, or milk tree: one of them is in its husk, 

 and the others are without it. I hope they will 

 vegetate with you. The average temperature 

 where these splended, lofty, and umbrageous trees 

 grow, is from 70° to 76° of Fahrenheit, amidst a 

 thick forest of oih'"^ large trees, at an elevation of 

 3000 ft. above the 'wel of the sea, in a soil black 

 and rich, and containing a great degree of moisture 

 the whole year through." 



As the work in which Humboldt speaks of this 

 remarkable production of a bounteous Providence 

 may not be accessible to all your numerous read- 

 ers, I shall, for their information, extract from the 

 fourth volume of the English translation of his 

 Personal Narrative, p. 212, 213, &c.. the observa- 

 tions of this distinijuishcd traveller, which differ in 

 some slight degree from Sir Robert's account, and, 

 at the same time, furnish particulars which he did 

 not feel it necessary to introduce: 



"We returned from Puerto Cabello to the val- 

 lej's of Aragua, and again stopped at the planta- 

 tion of Barbula, by which the new road to Valen- 

 cia is traced. We had heard, several weeks before 

 of a tree, the juice of which is a nourishing milk. 

 It is called the cow tree; and we were assured that 

 the negroes of the farm, who drink plentifully of 



