14 



PROPAGATION OP FRUIT TREES IN CHINA. 



lowed the suggestion of nature, and or- 

 dered a handful of grass to be cut m 

 shreds of about half an inch long; and 

 when mixed with butter to be put down 

 the animals throat; the dose was repeated 

 three times in every twenty-four hours, 

 and a visible amendment almost imme- 

 diately took place, which terminated in 

 recovery. 



He admits the case to be a solitary one; 

 but as the remedy appeared to him to be 

 pointed out by nature, he considered it to 

 merit attention and made it public, that 

 the efficacy of this simple medicine might 

 obtain a fair and unprejudiced trial. 



Observations. — The remedy suggested 

 in this article for a disease which so often 

 proves fatal as a distempc.T, and deprives 

 both the farmer and sportsman of a valua- 

 ble attendant, is deserving of a trial when- 

 ever an opportunity is aflbrded of admin- 

 istering it. It is certain that it can do no 

 harm; and nature not unfrequently works 

 the greatest efi'ects by the simplest means. 



From the same. 

 ON FARM BUILDINGS, 



With an account of a new species of Roof. 



By Mr. John Graham. — Farmer''s 



Mai; I zinc, No. 33. 



The observations on farm buildings are 

 mostly relative to the question in political 

 economy, whether the expense .ought lo 

 fall on the landlord or on the tenant, and 

 are therefore little adapted to a publication 

 which professes to confine itself to new 

 discoveries or new applications of those 

 already known; but the account of a new 

 species of roof is a proper subject for the 

 Retrospect. 



It is well known that few merchant ves- 

 sels are sheathed with copper, and that 

 their hulls are preserved fi'om the worms 

 by covering tiicm with jiaper, inanufac- 

 tured for the purpose, called sheatliing 

 paper, which is nailed on upon the wood, 

 and tiie paper itself is secured by being 

 covered with a coat of thin deal; and 

 though tlie worms penetrate this outer 

 deal, yet the paper coated with tar pre 

 vents them from penetrating into the hull 

 of the vessel. The new species of roof, 

 mentioned in this paper, is formed by a 

 covering of this paper laid on boards, pre- 

 viousl}' nicely litted, without any inter- 

 vals between them, the paper being lli'st 



saturated with tar, and afterwards coated 

 over with the same material. This roof 

 is said to be equal to slates in durability, 

 though executed at about half the expense. 

 The practice is stated to have been intro- 

 duced about twenty years ago, by a Mr. 

 Wood, a ship-builder, in Grenock, whose 

 example was " long gazed upon in stupid 

 silence." l?ut last summer a pile of build- ^ 

 ings for preparing alum, and a village, 1 

 containing about fifty families, were erect- 

 ed \vith p;ij)cr rools of this description, 

 which have been found to answer. 

 ( To be continued.) 



Fi-om the same. 

 ON THE CHINESE METHOD OF PROPAGAT- 

 ING FRUIT THEES BY ABSCISSION. 



By Dr. Jamks Howison. — Trans. Soc. 



ofJirts, Vol. 25. 



It is stated that the Chinese do not raise 

 fruit trees from seeds or grafts, as is cus- 

 tomary in Europe, but in the following 

 method: 



They select a tree which they wish to 

 propagate, and fix upon a branch which 

 will disfigure it the least by the removal, 

 and round tliis, as near as conveniently 

 as may be to its junction with the trunk, 

 they wind a rope made of straw, be- 

 smeared with cow-dung, until a ball is 

 formed five or six times the diameter of 

 the branch. This is intended as a bed into 

 which the young roots may shoot; and 

 immediately under the ball tlie bark is di- 

 vided down to the wood, for nearly two- 

 thirds of the circumference of the branch: 

 a cocoa-nut shell, or small pot, is then 

 hung over the ball, with a hole in the bot- 

 tom, so small, that water put therein will 

 only fall in drops, by which means the 

 rope is constantly kept moist; a circum- 

 stance necessary for the ready admission 

 of the young roots, and for the supply of 

 nourishment for the branch. When the 

 vessel has been supplied with water for 

 three weeks, one-third of the remaining 

 bark is cut, and the former incision car- 

 ried deeper into the branch, as by this 

 time some roots have struck into the rope, 

 and assist in giving support. After a si- 

 milar interval, the operation is again re- 

 peated, and in about two months from the 

 commcncementof the process, the roots are 

 generally seen intersecting each other on 



