430 Foreign JSTotices. 



without having in the tohole of his '' seedlings of this year's sending 

 out," besi<les having in some of his former year's raising. Ne plus ul- 

 tra is in the prize pans at every exhii)itioM in EnijlancJ; a pretty good 

 test of its excellence. We hope, by our next, to he able to give the 

 names of the winning flowers, at the various exhibitions. We have 

 made such arrangements with our correspondents, as to be able to give 

 all the information relative to new dahlias. — Ed. 



Seedling Slraioherries. — Mr. Myatt lately exhibited at the London 

 Horticidtural Society three varieties of new seedling strawberries. Mr. 

 Myatt has already had the good luck to raise one tine seedling; this is 

 his new pine, which, though scarcely known in this country, beyond the 

 English catalogues and works on gardening, is said to be very superior. 

 If the above sorts should prove to be valuable, as no doubt they will, we 

 hope that plants will be introduced. — Ed. 



FRANCE. 



Elevation of the Ground in Pine Plantations. — It is now ahout nine- 

 teen years since 1 carefully examined the first stock of pines grown in 

 the forest. The pinus sylvestris were then but twenty or twenty-five feet 

 high, and the matter formed by their fallen leaves had already filled up the 

 cavities of the ground, and had formed, in several level places, a bed of 

 undecomposed leaves of about six or eisiht inches thick. The leaves of 

 the pine tree take a long time to decompose, on account of the resinous 

 matter which they contain; and 1 then foresaw that the depth of this 

 new soil would increase rapidly.* 



At present, these same j)ines have attained a height of from forty-five 

 to sixty feet, and are generally thicker than a man's body. The soil 

 produced by the fall of their leaves is so much elevated, that several 

 rocks, which appeared two feet out of the ground, are no longer visible; 

 and others, four or five feet high, are on the point of disappearing also 

 under the fallen leaves. A moss, a sort of hypnum, has sjirung up in 

 several places on the leaves half decomposed, and contributes exceed- 

 ingly to augment the thickness by its vigorous vegetation, and its prompt 

 decomposition. 



Resin. — In 1822, M. de Lnuriston, one of the ministers, brought two 

 men from La Teste, who were resin makers by occupation, to try if the 

 pines of Fontainbleau would yield resin by tap|)ing, as we see it produc- 

 ed in the Landes,t near Bordeaux. These two men submitted to the 

 operation, in two years, about four thousand feet of maritime pines, and 

 oi)tained from theivi nearly as much resin as in the Landes, that is about 

 an average of two pounds each tree. The details of this operation were 

 hitherto unknown in the neighborhood of Paris, and I think it may not 

 be uninteresting to relate a few particulars. Two men are e(]ual to the 

 task of tapping eight thousand pines, which produce each year thirty- 

 two thousand bushels of matter, at twelve or fifteen francs each. This 

 is assuredly an excellent revenue, when it is considered that the pines 

 which jiroduce it grow in the sands, which refuse all sorts of cultivation, 

 and many acres of which are sold for five or six francs. How ever, an- 

 other calculation suggests itself — whether it would not be better to pre- 



* I do not think tliat there is any tree wliich produces so miicli fresh soil liy the fall and 

 decomposition of its leaves, as the pine, particularly ihe maritime pine. I am nuisure that 

 this soil has yet been analyzed, or any experimenls made toarrivc at its properties when in 

 Cultivation. The vast quantity of resin wliich it contains ought to render it different from 

 all other soils; and it would "be interesting to ascertain if plants of all sort* accominodat- 

 ed tliemselves to it, or if only certain ones. 



t Sandy grounds, generally quite waste. 



