General J^otices. 73 



will require about two bushels of leaves; they can be bruised in the 

 house, and placed in a tub or box, and covered with a sack or cloth un- 

 til a sufficient quantity is bruised; then they are to be strewed in the 

 paths, and between the pots and other vacant places, and the house 

 must be kept as close as possible for at least twelve hours. The even- 

 ing will be founti the best time, so that the house can remain closed 

 and covered with double mats all night. I have found, by rejieated 

 trials, that the plan thus described answers better than any 1 have ever 

 seen or heard of." — (Hort. Jour.) 



Monstrous Pine-apple. — There is now grownni, at the Earl of 

 Shrewsl)nry's, Alton Towers, Staffordshire, a pine-apple of a mon- 

 strous prodiictio!i; it may be said to have fifteen heads. It is described 

 as follows: — There is no crown where it generully is; the fruit swells 

 out round the top of the pine-apple, leaving it hollow where the crown 

 should be. It then divides into four parts. It then subdivides again 

 into eleven divisions, each having a crown; two of these four parts are 

 divided into four, the third into two, and the fourth into one, making 

 in all eleven, with crowns. From the bottom of the fruit there are four 

 more swellings, which almost appear to be distinct fruit, with crowns 

 to each. It may weigh about six pounds, and appears to be the brown 

 Antigua. It is the produce of a small plant. 



It in some respects corresponds with the description given of the ex- 

 traordinary monstrous state of the pine-apple that is sometimes found 

 in the Indian Archipelago and in China. — (Id.) 



Brugmdns\a. W hymdnn. — A plant, under this name, was lately ex- 

 hibited at one of the meetings of the London Horticultural Society, 

 with two expanded flowers of a fine purple color. It is stated, as a cu- 

 rious circumstance, that it proved to be only the old Datura Stramonium, 

 the seeds of which were formerly sold in packets, at sixpence each, as 

 a tender stove plant, while plants of the 13. Whymanusold as high as 

 three pounds three shillings each, to which exhorbitant price their title 

 probably materially contributed. — (Id-) 



A mushroom, attaining the almost incredible size of three feet one 

 inch in circumference, and from which very nearly a ))iiit of ketchup 

 was extracted, was last week gathered in a field belonging to J. P. Bur- 

 mau, Esq., Harley in Arden, Warwickshire. {Morn. Chron.) 



JAMAICA. 



The siceet Orange (Citrus Aurdnlium.) — Independently of the excel- 

 lence of the fruit, the orange is among the most ornamental of Jamaica 

 trees. It is graceful in its port, with leaves beautifully formed and of 

 a rich green; and it fills the air with the perfume of its delicate white 

 blossoms. In the parish of St. John, in particular, the trees may be 

 seen in thousands in the parterres and in negro villages, forming beau- 

 tiful objects during the months about Christmas, laden w ilh their golden- 

 hued fruit, and wdiich, for richness of flavor and for sweetness, cannot 

 be surpassed. In that district a bitter or sour orange is rarely to be met 

 with. It is deserving of remark, indeed, that the sweet orange is pro- 

 duced in its greatest perfection in districts, which, like that of St. John, 

 belong to the limestone formations; whereas they are very interior, (be- 

 ing more or less sour or bitter, even when raised from seeds of the 

 sweetest sorts,) when grown where any of the other rocks prevail. 

 Little or no care is bestowed in Jamaica on the cultivation of the orange: 

 as the fruit, notwithstanding this, is {jroduced in the greatest abundance, 

 and of so fine a quality, it nujst appear surprising that it is not made an 

 article of exportation, as f^iw of our objects of cultivation would give a 

 more favorable return. Were the fruit carefully hand-picked from the 



VOL. IV. — NO. H. 10 



