2/2 GENERAL REVIEW. 



or two ago by M. de Groot of Bruges. Its form may be 

 described as similar to that of the Scarlet Oak, which will 

 convey some idea of the size and beauty of its foliage. 



The Lucombe Oak ( Quercus cerris Lucombiana and Quercus 

 cerris Lucombiana crispa}. These two varieties may" be seen 

 at the Old Nurseries at Exeter, which are still carried on under 

 the name of Lucombe, Pince, & Co. Neither the ordinary 

 Lucombe Oak nor the variety called crispa is ever found 

 without the leaves, as before they shed one year's leaves the 

 new ones are all but fully expanded. There is a history attached 

 to this most beautiful of all the evergreen Oaks. Mr Lucombe 

 found one or two young trees in a seed-bed of the acorns of 

 the Turkey Oak {Quercus cerris] which held their leaves all 

 through the winter whilst the rest were quite bare ; the above 

 two varieties of the Lucombe Oak were thus discovered. The 

 ordinary Lucombe Oak is an upright-growing tree, whilst the 

 variety called crispa is partially pendulous in its habit, the 

 lower branches forming themselves into very graceful curves. 

 There is a tree of this latter variety (crispa] at the entrance to 

 the above nursery, measuring 62 feet in height, and n feet 4 

 inches in girth at 2 feet from the ground. The appearance of 

 this fine Oak leads me to suppose that Q. suber is the male or 

 pollen parent, its leaves being evergreen and the bark corky in 

 texture. Q. rubra, var. Sada, is a handsome large-leaved seed- 

 ling raised by Signor G. Sada, a nurseryman at Milan. It is 

 a seedling from Q. rubra, var. macrophylla. 



THE HOUSE-LEEK FAMILY (Crassulacece). 



A group of hardy and half-hardy succulent plants or shrubs, 

 principally natives of the Cape of Good Hope, Europe, Siberia, 

 and the Canary Islands. The common House-leek, Semper- 

 vivum tectorum, is one of the best-known examples ; and this 

 plant almost always bears ovules instead of pollen in the 

 anthers. Nearly all the species are easily propagated from 

 seeds, which are freely produced if the plants are grown on a 

 dry and sunny shelf in a pit or greenhouse ; and these should 

 be sown in moist sandy earth as soon as ripe, and placed in a 

 moist, genial temperature. After germination, place the seed- 

 lings in a dry, airy place, as the young plants of this order are 

 apt to rot off in the seed-pan if the atmosphere is too moist. 

 Rocheas, Echeverias, Paehyphytums, Bryophyllums, and many 

 Sempervivums, are readily propagated by inserting the old or 

 fully-developed leaves as cuttings in pans of sand. Offsets are 



