VIRGINIA MYRTLE. 247 



in France. M. Deshayes describes it as flourishing 

 with native vigour in his botanical garden at Ram- 

 bouillet, where there are many of these trees which 

 have attained to their full growth ; and every year 

 the numerous suckers proceeding from the roots of 

 the large shrubs being planted out, produce a con- 

 stantly increasing number of these valuable plants. 



This species of myrica requires very little care in 

 its cultivation ; a light sandy soil somewhat moist 

 is most congenial to it, and it may be successfully 

 cultivated in regions much farther north than that 

 to which it is indigenous. M. Cadet received from 

 M. Thiebault the following interesting notice on this 

 subject: M. Sulzer, the author of a general dic- 

 tionary of the fine arts, had obtained from Frederic 

 the Great of Prussia an extensive piece of waste 

 land on the banks of the Spree, at the distance of 

 half a league from Berlin, in a place called the 

 Moabites, and where there was a most barren soil, 

 barely covered with thin poor turf on a bed of fine 

 light sand. This unpromising spot was converted 

 by M. Sulzer into a garden worthy of a philosopher. 

 Among other remarkable things he formed a planta- 

 tion of foreign trees, consisting of five long avenues 

 running east and west. In these there were not two 

 trees of the same kind near to each other. The 

 avenues most exposed to the north were planted 

 with none but the highest trees capable of with- 

 standing the severity of the climate. Hence, pro- 

 ceeding from the north to the south, the first walk 

 exhibited trees of about seventy feet in height, the 

 second trees of from thirty to twenty-five, and so on 

 in the form of an amphitheatre.; so that all the trees 

 had the benefit of the sun at least in part, and the 

 weaker were sheltered by the stronger. "In the 

 most southern avenue," says M. Thiebault, " I 

 observed a sort of shrub which rose only to the 



