432 Foreign ^Notices. 



insects and prevents their propagation; whereas the dry heat of a stove 

 is favorable to them. 



The plan of M. Guidon seems conducted with intelligence, and it does 

 not appear that any horticulturist before him has succeeded in success- 

 fully cultivating pine-apples, without the aid of fire, within sixty miles of 

 Paris. With respect to the economy of his plan, it is a different ques- 

 tion. M. Guidon employs pure manure, in order to obtain a greater de- 

 gree of heat than if he had mixed it with leaves. But the heat thus pro- 

 cured remains for a shorter period, and he is obliged to renew the bed 

 and the manure outside more frequently. If M. Guidon has under his 

 hand plenty of manure, and at an exceedingly low price, his method is 

 undoubtedly cheap enough; but wherever manure is as dear as it is at 

 Paris and its neighborhood, this method would become more expensive 

 than that where recourse is had to the heat of a sto^e. {Annales de la 

 Socieie Royale d' Horticulture de Paris.) 



BRAZIL. 



Mr. Gardner^s Travels in Brazil. — Under our Botanical Intelligence 

 we have made some mention of the dried specimens of plants sent 

 home from Peruambuco, where Mr. Gardner has been travelling as a 

 botanical collector. His narrative we have read with a great deal of 

 pleasure, and presuming that many of our readers would be as delight- 

 ed with it as ourselves, we have marked large extracts, for our pages. 

 Not having room, we shall not give the whole at this time, but shall con- 

 tinue them in a future number. We commend it to the perusal of our 

 readers. Mr Gardner reached Pernambuco, on the ninth of October, 

 1837, and from that date his letter commences. 



"On nearing the coast it presented a very flat and barren appearance, 

 forming a great and unpromising contrast to the magnificent entry to the 

 Bay of Rio de Janeiro. The town being built nearly on a level with 

 the sea, we could only obtain a view of that portion which immediately 

 skirts the shore. No part of the coast, within many leagues of Pernam- 

 buco, rises to any height, excej)t that whereon the old town, called Olin- 

 da, stands, and which is situated about three miles north of Receife, 

 which is the name of the sea-jjort. The first thing which attracts the 

 attention of a stranger when entering the harbor of Pernambuco is the 

 nature of the harbor itself. It is quite a natural one, being formed by a 

 coral reef which runs along the coast at a little distance from the shore, 

 and is entered through a breach in the reef, on the south side of which 

 a light-house and a small fort are built. However high may be the 

 swell outside this reef, there is always calm water within, which at full 

 tide is sufficiently deep to float the largest merchant vessels which visit 

 the port. 



"When I arrived, I found Dr. Loudon waiting, who kinrlly invited jne 

 to remain in his house during my stay in the place. Shortly afterwards, 

 having delivered the letters nf introduction which I brouuht from IVIr. 

 Hamilton, the English minister at Rio, to Mr. Watts the British consul, 

 the latter obligingly offered to introduce me to the President of this prov- 

 ince, Senhor Vicente Tliomaz Pirez de Fiqueredo Comargo, as soon as 

 it could be ascertained when it would be convenient for him to receive 

 us. The permission to wait upon his excellency having been given a 

 few days afterwards, Mr. Watts and myself ])rocecded to the palace, 

 accompanied by Dr. Loudon, who is a personal friend of the President. 

 He received us very kindly; and when Mr. Watts stated the object of 

 my visit to the country, he promised to afford me all the assistance in 

 his power, and desired me to call again the next day, when he would 



