276 General Notices. 



state of this country, that we should raise the timber for our navy or import 

 it — whether a sufficient supply can or cannot be obtained without keeping 

 up public forests for the purpose — and whether, if our timber is to be of 

 hime growth, we can depend on obtaining a sufficiency from private estates. 

 What is certain is; that the royal forests have for a long time contributed 

 very little timber to our dockyards, and that the growth of oak for sale has 

 been a very unprofitable speculation in the hands of the government. We 

 doubt whether the growth of the deodar will be found more remunerative, 

 under the same management; at all events, it is desirable that it should not 

 be introduced extensively into our forests merely on the evidence of travel- 

 lers as to the quality of the timber. Why not bring a ^ew loads of it to 

 England for trial ? The experiment of bringing timber from Cashmere may 

 be costly, but it might save money eventually. It M'ould be far more ex- 

 pensive to plant a large quantity of these trees, and to find, after the lapse 

 of a hundred or hundred and fifty years, that we had made a mistake. 

 Great expectations were formed at one time as to the value of larch for 

 ship-building. Where are they now ? The oak and the beech, however, 

 still stand their ground in our forests. — [Gard. Jour.) 



Cultivation of Achimenes. — These very pretty blooming plants are, 

 no doubt, grown by most of your readers who are in possession of a green- 

 house and frame. To such persons, the fjllowing remarks on the cultiva- 

 tion of the Achimenes will, I think, be found useful. 



Soil.^They thrive best when grown in the following compost : — one-half 

 of good turfy peat, broken in lumps, and the other half to consist of equal 

 parts of turfy loam, leaf mould, and well-rotted cow-dung, to which add a 

 small quantity of sand and broken bits of charcoal ; the whole to be well 

 mixed together. 



In potting (if pots are used,) let them be well drained, and over the 

 broken pot let there be upon it the roughest part of the soil, and fill up witli 

 the finer. 



In growing for extra specimens, pans should be used, being a foot or 

 more across ; and as the roots do not strike deep into the soil, the pans need 

 only be s'x inches deep. Grown thus in a mass, a profusion of bloom is 

 produced, which produces a fine appearance. 



Previous to the tubers pushing, they should be carefully turned out of the 

 pots or pans they were grown in last year, and be placed in small pans in 

 some fine mould, but slightly covered, and having them put into a hotbed 

 frame to start their growth, where the temperature is from 65 to 75 degreeg. 

 Let them be kept tolerably moist, and when shoots have pushed, they may 

 be removed from the hotbed, and placed in their flowering pots or pans. In 

 doing this, the tubers must be placed at equal distances over the surface of 

 the pot or pan ; for the pan I have described, ten or twelve tubers are re- 

 quired. After potting, those that have the convenience of a stove, or close 

 warm pot frame, should place the pans in it, and keep tiiem near to the 

 glass When they have grown to about five inches high, the top should be 

 pinched off; this will cause them to break laterals freely, and the plants 

 will become handsorne and dwarf. Some varieties that are strong growers 



