524 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



of turfy loam and well-decayed cowdung previously prepared by exposure 

 to air, by frequent turnings so as to thoroughly incorporate them ; and to 

 this add about one third silver sand, for they delight in a gritty open soil ; 

 I prefer 6-inch or 32-sized pots so as to give plenty of room for their strong 

 roots. Fill the pots about one third with draining materials — I use broken 

 oyster shells, although potsherds will do as well — and the remaining two 

 thirds with the compost; clear the root of all offsets and loose parts, and 

 press tightly into the soil, leaving one third above the surface ; then water 

 them sufficiently to settle the soil, and plunge them a foot at least under 

 coal ashes or old tan out of doors, or in a cold pit or frame. This is done 

 to cause them to make roots before the crown is excited into growth : this 

 is, I think, the most essential point, for unless the pot is well filled with 

 roots, good flowers cannot be obtained. In a month or six weeks, the latter 

 being the better time, take as many as may be required for the earliest 

 blooming, and gradually inure them to light previous to placing them in the 

 forcing pit, and as soon as these show their color proceed with others in the 

 same manner. The end of September is soon enough to pot the earliest 

 sorts, repeating the operation until the end of November, by which means 

 a succession of flowers can be had from Christmas till April. The finest 

 flowers will be obtained from those not too strongly forced. If for exhibi- 

 tion, I recommend potting not later than the middle of October, gradually 

 bringing them forward as before described. Give them plenty of water, 

 and use liquid manure in a very weak state twice a week. These will be 

 in full bloom during February and March, and I consider that no hyacinths 

 should be exhibited after the latter month. I look forward to the time 

 when those blue-bell looking flowers, such as are generally seen, will only 

 be subjects for remembrance, for I am convinced that hyacinths can be had 

 nine inches or more in circumference, and with length of spike in propor- 

 tion.— (Garrf Chron., 1856, p. 630.) 



Washingtonia gigantea. — M. Jules R^my, a learned French traveller, 

 has given a very interesting account of the Big Evergreen trees of Califor- 

 nia, in Van Houtte's Flore des Serves, which we copy, as follows : — 



At 5 leagues from Murphy, in following the course of one of the afflu- 

 ents of the Stanislas river, which finds its winding murmuring way at the 

 bottom of a deep wooded valley at the entrance of the Sierra Nevada, the 

 traveller stops in amazement at the edge of a little basin about two miles 

 across and some 1490 yards above the sea. Here stand the giants of the 

 vegetable world. At the sight of these colossal Conifers, which seem to 

 belono- to some other planet, it is impossible to restrain one's feelings of 

 admiration. 



Ninety of these gigantic trees, the smallest of which is not less than 15 

 feet in diameter, are confined in a space of 50 acres, where they stand 

 above other species of their race just as Lombardy Poplars overtop the 

 Pollard Willows that accompany them in Europe. Yellow Mosses and 

 Lichens floating like long tresses adorn their proud trunks; while a parasite 

 of the genus Hypopiiys attaches itself to their roots, and gracefully surrounds 



