330 Foreign Notices : — No7'th America. 



any membrane, yet closely compacted ; and if unravelled with a little care 

 they will be found to be, occasionally at least, arranged in beaded lines of 

 perfect uniformity. {Flora of Berwick.') 



Derangement of the Spinal Column. — Though this is a subject that has nothing 

 to do with gardening, we trust we shall be excused for noticing it on account 

 of the connexion it has with a gardener, one of our correspondents, for 

 whom we, in common, we believe, with all who know him, have a very great 

 respect. We allude to Mr. J. D. Parks, a botanical collector sent to India 

 and China in 1825 or thereabouts, by the Horticultural Society, and for the 

 last fifteen years a nurseryman at Dartford in Kent. Mr. Parks, being out on 

 a professional journey, had the misfortune to sleep in a damp bed, which 

 brought on one disease after another, till, at last, his spine was so much injured 

 that he could neither sit nor walk. For several years he was wheeled about 

 in his nurserj' in a litter ; and we have frequently, when calling on him on our 

 way to a villa the grounds of which we were laying out, been edified at wit- 

 nessing his patience, resignation, and even cheerfulness. After trying nu- 

 merous methods of cure, some prescribed by regular practitioners, and others 

 by quacks, Mr. Parks at last cured himself. Of all this he has given the 

 history in a shilling pamphlet, the perusal of which is as entertaining as a 

 romance, and, to those families where there is a tendency to spinal complaints, 

 it will be found as instructive as it is entertaining. The pamphlet, which is 

 entitled, The Cure of Spinal Complaints, may be enclosed in a twopenny letter; 

 and we recommend such of our readers as wish to read an intensely interest- 

 ing narrative, to write to Mr. Parks for it.[ — Cond. 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 NORTH AMERICA. 



New Cherry Tree from the far West. — Messrs. Lewis and Clark, on their 

 return from their western tour (1806), brought with them, among other trees, 

 a new species of cherry, which was planted in Washington Square. The late 

 C. S. Rafinesque ascertained that it was a new species, and sent an account 

 of it to DeCandoUe in the year 1830. He called it Primus (Cerasus) rotundi- 

 folia, and thus describes it in his Atlantic Journal* : — " Arborescent. Leaves 

 rounded, base often subcordate, end obtusely acuminate, margin serrulate. 

 Flowers fasciculate. Berries oblong, small, and black. A fine large tree, 20 ft. 

 high in 20 (29) years' growth. Bark very dark, nearly black. Branchlets slender, 

 with a greyish brown bark. Buds small, rufous, with obtuse scales. Leaves like 

 those of the apricot, but much smaller, about 1 in. long, not so smooth; a little 

 rough, but not pubescent. Blossoms in May ; and produces abundance of white 

 flowers, with a fine smell of honey. The cherries are ripe in July ; small, one 

 fourth of an inch long, elliptical, resembling small wild plums, but black, soft, 

 and sweet when ripe. Good to eat, but if too many are eaten causing nausea, 

 like all wild cherries. Stone oblong, acute, as in the plum, but without the 

 three keels, as in the cherry." — J. M. Philadcljyhia, March 29. 1841. 



Mammoth Cabbage. — Some seeds of this French phenomenon were sent 

 over last spring to the post-master of this city, Mr. Page, by an agent of the 

 general post-office. Having been favoured with a few, I gave them to my 

 neighbour, P. M'Kenzie. One only vegetated, and from its rapid growth, bid 

 fair to become a sight ; but now, when one year old and carefully nursed all 



* Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knoivledge, in eight numbers : containing 

 160 articles (original) and tracts on natural and historical sciences ; the de- 

 scription of 150 new plants, and 100 new animals and fossils; many vocabu- 

 laries of language, &c. &c. (Philad., 1833.) 



