196 Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. 



reposes, and is in contact ; and this again, blending with that 

 over the islet, will maintain an equilibrium of temperature, 

 and protect it from sudden vicissitudes." 



CameUia japonica. A plant of this shrub has withstood the 

 severity of the winters of 1819 and 1820, in the garden of 

 Mr. Welsh, in the neighbourhood of Inverness. The plant 

 has grown ever since on the face of a dry sandy bank, with a 

 south-west aspect and an inclination of 45°, nearly a mile 

 from the sea. Piiints intended to be acclimated, Mr. Murray 

 justly observes, should never be too small. 



Preservation of Fruits. In the north of Italy, grapes 

 gathered in dry weather, and freed from such as are bruised 

 or spoiled, are placed gently, stratum upon stratum, in a box, 

 to the amount of three or four layers, with thin layers of 

 peach leaves between. The boxes are then placed on shelves 

 in a dry airy room, and the grapes keep well till the January 

 or February following. 



Fruits in Domestic Wines. " In the south of Italy, the 

 Italians suspend the bunches of grapes to the ceiling of rooms 

 and in outsheds, and the taste acquired is sweeter than before, 

 in which, too, the flavour of the raisin predominates. If 

 ripe gooseberries or currants be permitted to remain pen 'ent 

 on the bush, additional saccharine matter seems to be elabo- 

 rated, and the fruit becomes much sweeter." 



On Wall Trees. " It would be well, could we so adjust 

 our trees to the wall, as to make removal during winter and 

 early spring frosts practicable. We would thus be able to 

 triumph over the destructive ravages of frosts on the early 

 blossom, and also to clear away the chrysalids and ova of 

 insects, with decaying leaves and other causes and sources 

 of injury." 



40. On the Gooseberry Caterpillars, and the Application of Heat for 

 their Destruction. By Robert Thorn, Esq., Rothesay. Read 

 Dec. 7. 1820. 



Mr. Tliom observes, " that instead of one brood in the 

 season, as described by all former writers on the subject, 

 there are often four or five distinct generations ; and that two 

 flies, coming up in the spring, may in that season produce 

 above sixty millions of caterpillars. During the whole of last 

 spring and summer a regular succession of these pupse was 

 confined in pots, filled with earth, and placed in the garden, 

 so as to have the same exposure as those that went into the 

 earth beside the bushes. Various ingredients were put into 

 these pots with the view of killing the pui)£e, but to no pur- 

 pose : the flies still continued to come up at the usual periods, 



