Foreign Js^otices. 351 



climates, the same annual plant receives, in the course of its existence, 

 an equal quantity of heat; but it leads also to a direct practical result, 

 in enablinii us to decide upon the possibility of introducinjr any particu- 

 lar vegetable into a country, as soon as we know the mean temperature 

 of the months there." {Phil. Jour., vol. xxii, p. 383, 1837. — Id.) 



A Hijbrid betiveen the Cabbage and Horseradish is said to have been 

 produced by M. Sageret, of Paris. The plant has some seed-pods, 

 which resemble the short pod, or silicula, of the Cochlearia, and some 

 the long pod siliquaof the Brassica. " In consequence of M. Sageret's 

 statement, I tried, in 1835, to impregnate a plant of -Brassica with the 

 horseradish, and with the pollen of two or three other eenera of Cru- 

 ciferje; but I did not obtain a single seed from at least fifty flowers, on 

 which the experinients were tried, all other flowers being cut off from 

 the plant. I bee to be understood as not denying M. Sageret's asser- 

 tion, but requiring better proof of the accuracy of a fact so important 

 to science, in which he may be mistaken; and more detailed particulars, 

 and especially the production of the plants; and I invite M. Sageret to 

 communicate one of them to the Horticultural Society of London, that 

 opportunities may be afforded of examining it carefully." {Herbert's 

 Jlmaryllidacete, p. 353. — Id.) 



Transmitting Seeds from China. — I have just got a very interesting 

 collection of seeds direct from China. They are packed in a novel 

 way, in little China jars, full of bone ashes, and tied over with bladder. 

 They seem to have come verv safe. The bladder smells of oil of sas- 

 safras. (J?. Mallet.—Gard. ^lag.) 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 



ENGLAND. 



liaising Plants by Cross-breeding. — The Rev. and Hon. Wm. Herbert, 

 in his new work on the Amaryllidacece, strongly recommends to gardeners 

 the study of cross breeding. " To the cultivators of ornamental plants," 

 he says, " the facility of raising hybrid varieties affords an endless source 

 of interest and amusement. He sees in the several species of each ge- 

 nus that he possesses the materials with which he must work; and he 

 considers in what manner he can blend them to the best advantage, 

 looking to the several gifts in which each excels, whether of hardiness 

 to endure our seasons, of brilliancy in its colors, of delicacy in its mark- 

 ings, of fragrance, or stature, or profusion of blossom; and he may un- 

 ticipate with tolerable accuracy the probable aspect of the intermediate 

 plant which he is permitted to create; for that term may be figuratively 

 applied to the introduction into the world of a natural oliject which has, 

 probably, never existed in it." (Herbert's Amaryllidacece.) 



Grafting Epiphyllum trunciitam on Pereskia aculeula. — Mr. Symons, 

 of Clowance, states, that he finds the Epiphyllum truncatum to flourish 

 and blossom well when worked on the Cactus triangularis; but doul)ts 

 whether it would do on the Pereskia aculeata or not. I should therefore 

 wish to inform him tiiat I have seen several remarkably fine jdants of 

 the E. truncatum worked on the P. aculeata, and flowering luxuriantly. 

 They do, however, require support above the insertion, as the head is 



