332 Domestic Notices : — Scotland. 



The Yuccas are quite hardy j several of these, in exposed situations, have 

 passed the winter without the sh'ghtest injury. 



The Myrtles have suffered more than in any previous winter within my 

 recollection. Many of the tender varieties are destroyed. — N. Stoke, 

 near Devonport, March 21. 1829. 



The Achira (which is undoubtedly different from Canna edulis) flowered 

 in Pontey's stove in November last, and perfected three seeds last month. 

 The same plant is again about to flower, and the blossom will be expanded 

 in about a week, when I shall have a drawing made of it. The general ap- 

 pearance of the plant does not differ (except in size, and its tuberous root, 

 visible even above ground) from the Canna indica. The Cirhern Thevetia 

 flowered (for the first time, I believe, in England) in Pontey's stove last Oc- 

 tober. — W. H. March 1. 1829. 



JSrunsvjg'ia Joseph\nas has stood all the winter in an open border, without 

 the least protection, at the nursery of Messrs. Whitley, Brames, and Milne, 

 at Fulham, and not a leaf of it has been injured. It continued in full 

 leaf all through the severe frost, although Amaryllis Belladonna, which 

 was growing beside it, had all its leaves killed. — Robert Sweet. May 2. 

 1829. 



The viost effectual Method of destroying Wasps is to destroy their nests. 

 When I see them attacking fruit, or entering the bee-hives, I mark the di- 

 rection in which they fly away, and follow them out of the garden till I find 

 their nest. I then mark it, return about ten o'clock at night with a spade 

 and a pot of water, and work up the nest and its inhabitants into a puddle. 

 — T. C. Kensington, Sept. 12. 1828. [See T. N. Parker, p. 277.] 



Cast-iron Stakes for standard Roses have been employed by Mr. Camp- 

 bell in the Comte de Vandes's garden at Bayswater. They are in the 

 form of round tapering rods or poles, with the part which enters the 

 ground of a larger diameter, 4-sided and pointed. The lengths are 4, 6, 

 and 8 ft., and the average cost is \s. 6d. each; they are painted of a 

 blackish blue, and if they last six years will be as cheap as wooden props 

 of young ash, which cost 4d. each and last only one year. But as the 

 cast-iron will endure at least a dozen years, it is evidently much cheaper 

 than the wood, and is certainly far handsomer. These poles are manu- 

 fracture by Cottam and Hallen, Oxford-street, by the cwt. or ton. 



Alpine Plants and Seeds. — M. Schleicher, the Swiss botanist and col- 

 lector, is now in London with plants and seeds for sale or exchange. He 

 laments in our gardens and nurseries, the neglect of scientific botanical 

 collections, and the love of showy flowers, seminal varieties, and hybrids. 

 Speaking of the botanic garden of Geneva he represents it as fallen to a 

 very low state for want of funds j Professor Decandolle, he says, is so 

 much occupied with municipal matters as to have little time to attend 

 either to the garden or to authorship. M. Schleicher may be heard of at 

 No. 9. Jermyn Street, or a Bex, canton de Vaud, en Suisse. 



SCOTLAND. 



Jflorticullural Report for April. — In the different departments of horti- 

 culture the growth has advanced very little, from the ungenial state of the 

 weather this month, and every thing is considered very late. As a criterion 

 for the progress of vegetation during April, taken from a number of years* 

 experience, asparagus was always cut in the open ground from the 7th to 

 the 24th, but this season it was with some difficulty that a dish could be 

 obtained on the 28th. 



Notwithstanding the backwardness of the season, every variety of fruit 

 has a favourable appearance, and not a single bud or flower seems to be 

 hurt by the inclemency of the weather. Apricots have set well, and are a 

 large crop. Peaches have hung very long in flower, but most of them are 



