548 General J^otices. 



or weeping trees. Our gardeners, however, multiply no species so nume- 

 rously as the Fraxinus excelsior, var. pendula ; which variety often re- 

 tains its hanatini^ character when raised from seeds. We possess seve- 

 ral such trees of about ten feet in lieio'ht, which were raised from seed 

 of the orisfinal tree, obtained in 1780 from a nurseryman, who found it 

 a few years previously to that in the neighborhood of Newmarket, in 

 Cambridgeshire. (Wm. Anderson^ injthe Gard. Mag.) 



Cultivation of Cdnna Achiras, or C. edhlis, as a substitute for the 

 arton root. — From what you say in your Magazine, and the testimony 

 of Signor Conte Compton, I wrote a paper, suggesting to the Georgofili 

 Academy at Florence to try to cultivate it in the marshes which are oc- 

 casionally overflowed by the sea. The secretary of that establishment 

 informed me that, according to my proposal, they had planted and cul- 

 tivated the achira in the open air; and that the result was very success- 

 ful, as he thus writes: — " The four tubers which I planted have pro- 

 duced more than twenty of a large size. I have tasted them, and they 

 are excellent; the juice being sweet and agreeable. I have also ex- 

 tracted the fecula, and find it resembles that of the potato, and of the 

 Maranta arundinacea; and I have calculated that it produces at the rate 

 of eight to a hundred." This year I have also grown a considerable 

 number of tubers. When the extreme cold was over, I planted them 

 in the open air early in the spring, in a rich soil exposed to the sun, not 

 failing to water them abundantly every day; and by these means the 

 stems grew to the height of abf)ut nine feet, flowered freely, and pro- 

 duced abundance of seed. When the cold set in, which, this year, was 

 a month earlier than usual, because on the 13th of this month the ther- 

 mometer was at 3"^ of Reaunuu-, and on the 14th and 15th there was a 

 heavy fall of snow, I dug up the ground, and found that the tubers of 

 the achira had produced abundantly, and that those of a moderate size 

 weighed four ounces. I had some boiled, and some baked: I found by 

 botb the methods that they were agreeable to the palate. I had also a 

 little of the fecula prepared for the table, and found that it tasted like a 

 mixture of the potato and the beet root. I had, also, some tubers fried, 

 and found them excellent. This year it will become better known in 

 the country, and I hope its usefulness will be proved. The stems and 

 leaves might, probably, serve as food for cattle, if prepared by steam. — 

 (^Guiseppe Manetti, in Gard Mag.) 



Ornamental Gardening in Syria. — The following-is an extract from 

 a letter lately received from J. W. Farren, Esq., the British consul at 

 Damascus, by Wm. Wingfield, Jun., Esq., scm of Wm. Wingfield, 

 Esq., of Theobald's, Cheshunt, whose lady, Mrs. Wingfield, being 

 possessed of an excellent taste for ornamental gardening, and being, at 

 the same time, an anient admirer of the beauties of Flora, has had the 

 honor of first introducing the dahlia into that part of the world; and 

 who, in order to meet the wishes of the consul, has again very lately 

 forwarded a package, containing a variety of articles both in seeds and 

 plants, such as will, no doubt, be received with much pleasure. The 

 extract is as follows: — " I have often intended to write you a few lines 

 of acknowledgment and thanks for the very beautiful dahlias you sent 

 us; and you will be gratified to learn, that they have flourished in per- 

 fection; and that, while you are the first to introduce that beautiful 

 flower into Syria, it has ornamented the fair foreheads of all the Cir- 

 cassians in the richest. harems of Damascus; has decked the bridal gar- 

 ment, and publicly ornamented the tomb. Indeed, you have no idea of 

 the enjoyment your kind attention has been the cause of. The house 

 in which we reside is really an Oriental palace; courts, gardens, ter- 

 races, marble pavements, fountains, and jets-d'eau, &c.: and you can 

 scarcely have an idea of the luxury of these mansions. We are hav- 



