G50 General JVotices. 



tivateur, Dec, 1835,) that various forms were obtained from the seeds 

 of Fiifhsm globosa. 



M. Wieginann, in noticinji; the results obtained by M. Koch from the 

 cultivation of seeds of Taraxacum paliistre, (which resubs are commu- 

 nicated in Ann. des Scien. Nat., ii, p. 119,) informs us that sirnihir ex- 

 periments made by him in 1828 furnished the same results; but that he 

 was unwilling to publish them, fearing lest his observations shouki have 

 been incorrectly made. The seeds of JV/\os6tis sylvatica Ehr. were 

 sown by the author in the same localitj^, and produced five (bfierent 

 sorts; and those of Veronica agrestis gave birth to six different sorts. 

 It is to be regretted that the author has not pointed out the names of the 

 species thus obtained; for, in the case of ^l/yosotis at least, this appears 

 to us of considerable importance. He thiid<s that the numerous species 

 of Rubus of Weihe have been produced in the same manner. (Flora, 

 1835, p. 105, as quoted in the Jlnnales des Scien. Nat. 2 s., tom. v. p. 

 Sn.—Gard. Mag.) . 



Tulips, \\ hen raised from seed, require a peculiarity in management, 

 which would not readily occur to any cultivator who was not either a 

 vegetable physiologist, a reader of books on florists' flowers, or a tulip- 

 grower of great experience. The young bulb of the tulip is formed on 

 the radicle which descends from the seed; and, when the seed is sown 

 in a bed or in a deep pot of light free soil, the radicle will often pene- 

 trate to the bottom of the pot or bed, and scarcely produce any bulb at 

 all. The same thing takes place with the different species of bulbous 

 /Vis when raised from seed, and, to a considerable extent, with seedling 

 bulbs of everj^ kind. In order to prevent this, and to cause the radicle 

 to exhaust itself in the form of a bulb, instead of in the form of a long 

 slender root, the seeds shouki be sown in pots or pans, not above three 

 or four inches deep; or, if in beds, a bed of slates or tiles should be 

 formed, three or four inches beneath the surface. When this is proper- 

 ly attended to, the bulbs produced by seedlings the first year will be as 

 large as those of three years' growth, where no stop was given to the 

 descent of the roots. This doctrine is very well illustrated by an en- 

 graving in Smith's Florist's Magazine, vol. i, p. 88. (Gard. Mag.) 



Connection between Meteorology and Vegetation. — " M Boussingault 

 has addressed a note to the Academic des Sciences of Paris, which is 

 entitled ' Comparative Examination of the Meteorological Circum- 

 stances under which our common Grains, (the Cerealia,) Turkey 

 AVheat, (Maize,) and Potatoes, vegetate at the Equator, and in the 

 Temperate Zouq.' In this examination, the author has first made in- 

 vestigations into the time which elapses between the first springing of 

 the plant and its full maturity. He then determined the temperature of 

 the s]iace of time which separates these two extreme epochs of vegeta- 

 ble life. By comparing these data concerning any given plant which is 

 cultivated both in Euro])e and America, he arrives at thiscurious result: 

 that the number of days that separate the commencement of vegetation 

 from its maturity is more consideralde in proportion as the mean tem- 

 perature under the influence of which the plant grows is less; the dura- 

 tion of the vegetation will be equal, however diflcrent the climate may 

 be, if this temperature is identical in the two jdaces; and it will be 

 shorter or longer, according as the mean heat of the period of time ne- 

 cessary for the accomplishment of the vegetation is itself greater or 

 less; in other words, the duration of the veeetation ajtpears to be in the 

 inverse ratio of the mean temperatures. So that, if you multiply the 

 nnnd)er of diiys during which any given plant vegetates in these distant 

 climates by the mean temperature of the actual period of its vegetation, 

 you will obtain numbers which are very nearly equal. This result is 

 not only remarkahle, insomuch as it seems to indicate that, under all 



