Propagation of Green-liou&e Plants. 85 



Propej'ties, Uses, Proj^agation, S^c. The timber of this tree is said to be very 

 hard, and of great durabilit}'. General Napier informs us that, in pulling down 

 some old houses in the town of Argostoli, which had been built from 150 to 300 

 years before, all the wood-work of the Black Forest fir was as hard as oak, 

 and perfectly sound. In Britain, the tree may be considered as one of the 

 most interesting and beautiful of the Jbietinae ; and, when it attains the 

 dimensions of our cedars of Lebanon, which there is no reason to suppose it 

 will not do in favourable situations, its timber may probably be found as useful 

 here as it was in Cephalonia. Should, however, its timber be of no more use 

 than that of the cedar of Lebanon, it is still in every way as worthy of being 

 planted as an ornamental object as that fine tree. As the plant strikes with 

 great readiness by cuttings, a number have been propagated in the Devonshire 

 nurseries, and also in the neighbourhood of London. There are plants in the 

 pinetum at Dropmore, and in the garden of Robert Mangles, Esq., of Sun- 

 ninghill. The large plants at Hendon Rectory, and in the pinetum at Woburn 

 Abbey, are upwards of 3ft. high; but the one at Dropmore is only about 

 18 in. high. Price of young plants, in the British nurseries, 2 guineas each. 



Since the above was printed for the Arboretum Britannicitm, we have seen 

 two of the plants given to Messrs. Young and Penny of the Milford Nursery, 

 in the conservatory of the Rev. Theodore Williams at Hendon Rectory, each 

 about 18 in. high; and we have also been informed by Lord King, that the 

 three plants he received from Mr. Long are about \5 in. high, that two of 

 them are in the pleasure-grounds at Ockham Park, and one at the Dowager 

 Lady King's, at Woburn Farm. 



Since the preceding part of this postscript was sent to press, we have re- 

 ceived from General Napier a work by Dr. Delia Porta on the medical and 

 alimentary plants of Cephalonia, published in Corfu in 1821. It is entitled 

 Prospctto delle Piante che se trovano nelV Isola de Cefalonia, e che si possoiio 

 adoperarc, e Titolo di Alhnento o di Remedio. Del Signor Dr. Niccolo Delia Porta, 

 Medico Fisico, &c. 4to. Corfu, 1821. 



In this work, only two species of Pinus are mentioned, the P. Pinea and 

 P. ^^bies of Linnaeus. Of the latter species it is said, that it merits attention 

 for the uses to which the wood is applied, and the medical virtues of some 

 parts of the plant, much more than the Black Mountain on which it grows. 

 This shows, either that the common spruce fir abounds on the Black 

 Mountain, as well as the species which we have called J^bies cephalonica, 

 or, which is much more likely to be the case, that Dr. Delia Porta has mis- 

 taken the latter for the former. 



In enumerating the medical virtues of his Pinus ^^bies, the doctor mentions 

 that the points of the shoots are used for communicating antiscorbutic properties 

 to water and to wine. The same is effected by the cones. It is reported, 

 he says, that the points of the shoots, cut into small pieces, and strewed on 

 the floors of rooms in summer, exhale a refreshing fragrance ; and he adds 

 that, possibly, the same effect may be produced by keeping branches of the fir 

 in vessels of water in rooms. He next mentions the resin, which is applied 

 to various uses ; and, lastly, a manna, as a resinous product ; but which, he says, 

 is not gathered by the country people in Cephalonia. The reader will ob- 

 serve that all these virtues attributed to the Cephalonian fir are precisely 

 those which are attributed to the common spruce in Norway ; even to the 

 refreshing of the air of rooms by strewing the sprigs on the floor. It is clear, 

 therefore, that J^bies cephalonica was not recognised by Dr. Delia Porta as a 

 distinct species. 



Art. VII. Mode of propagating Green-house Plants. B3' John 

 Fyffe, Gardener at Milton Bryant. 



The practice which prevails at present in floriculture, of 

 planting out exotics, must call forth the exertions of every gar- 

 dener, to keep up a stock of young plants. 



G 3 



