102 Domestic Notices : — Scotland. 



several accounts of large pumpkins, but you have recorded none equal in 

 size to one I grew in the garden here in the summer of 1826. Therefore I 

 beg to solicit the favour of your goodness, that you will be pleased to give 

 the particulars of mine a place in your pages. It measured in circum- 

 ference 9 ft. 3 in,, and weighed 245 lbs. This pumpkin was considered by 

 every person who saw it to be the largest ever grown in this country. 

 But if we are wrong in our opinions, I hope some of your numerous 

 readers will correct us. I remain, Sir, &c. — Richard Saunders, Gardener 

 to C. Hoare, Esq. Liiscombe, near Exeter, Nov. 9. 18.30. 



I send you a large ^^ushroom, with a small one adhering to the summit 

 of its cap, from the mushroom-bed of Mr. Greenwood at Brompton. The 

 curiosity is not uncommon, and is easily accounted for by supposing the 

 mushrooms growing close together on an irregular surface, or pushed out 

 irregularly from irregular surfaces. — J.Morrison. Bromnton, Nov, 16. 

 1830. 



SCOTLAND. 



Neiv or rare Plants tvhich have flowered in the Neighbourhood of Edin- 

 burgh. — Calceolaria bicolor. An extremely pretty addition to our culti- 

 vated species (now fifteen in all, exclusive of the hybrids, and of the 

 narrow-leaved variety of C. integrifolia), resembling in colour the pleasing 

 subdued tint of C. scabiosEe folia. — Commelina formosa. Green-house. — 

 Gentidna ca;spit6sa. Open border. — i/ibiscus divaricatus. A handsome 

 species from New Holland. — Lodsa hispida. From the valley of Lima, by 

 Mr. Cruickshanks. Green-house. July. — Palav/a rhombifolia. A bor- 

 der annual ; pretty. — /Rhododendron lapponicum. The exertions of Mr. 

 Cunningham, of the Comely Bank nursery, have been rewarded by having 

 first in Britain brought into flower Andromeda //ypnoides and 7?hododen- 

 dron lapponicum. They are still under the same hand-glass in the nursery 

 at Comely Bank, near Edinburgh. This plant, as well as the other, was 

 brought from Canada by Mr. Blair in 182j. It flowered in July. (Prof. 

 Graham in Jamieson's Jour., Oct. 1830.) 



Iberis iimbcUdta. — I had this season some beautiful specimens of /bcris 

 umbellata (dark variety) : one plant 3^ ft. high ; others, though not quite 

 so tall, full 6 ft. in circumference. The seed was sown the previous season (as 

 directed by one of youi* German correspondents), the plants taken up and 

 potted about the end of October, kept in a frame during winter, and turned 

 out into the border in the spring. They should be planted out in some 

 sheltered place, or some precaution should be taken for their support, as 

 their long branches are very liable to be broken away by the wind, at the 

 junction with the centre stem. The method I took to support them was 

 to take two long thin pieces of mat string and plait them, including the 

 outside branches at about half their height, at regular distances, between 

 the strings ; and when this was carried round the plant and attached to 

 three or four short sticks stuck in the ground, I found it answer verj' well, 

 and it was free from that stiffness generally observable in plants tied up. 

 I find that the larger the plants are when potted, the larger in proportion 

 they become the following year. — - A. W. Crosslec Cottage, near Glasgow, 

 Oct. 25. 1830. 



Listera. corddta. — On searching for some plants of the Listerfls cordata 

 lately I entered a plantation on the estate of Lord Willoughby, parisli of 

 Cargill, Perthshire, composed of Scots pine, where I found it occupy several 

 acres, and the plants standing close. On passing into another plantation, 

 at some distance, where strips of Scots pine and larch stood alternately, I 

 found the plant abound amongst the Scots pine, but uniformly disappear 

 amongst the larch. I found it grow most luxuriantly amongst the half- 

 decomposed pine leaves and smaller branches, the roots running amongst 

 them a very short way under the surface, from which I conclude that, in 

 cultivating this plant, a soil from the surface of a Scots pine plantation 



