Floricultural and Botanical Notices. 367 



force. On the contrary, they are, as has been already stated, 

 and as we all know, delicate hair-like fibres, whose bark is 

 little more protection to them than the skin of a leaf Such 

 being their structure, they are emptied of whatever fluids 

 they may contain the moment that the earth in contact with 

 them becomes dry ; and once emptied they necessarily per- 

 ish. All those directions, therefore, which insist upon keep- 

 ing the level of American beds completely below the sur- 

 rounding surface, when the situation is not naturally damp, 

 are founded upon a correct appreciation of the nature of 

 these plants. 



Why chalk should be off"ensive to them we are unable to 

 explain. Such is certainly the fact ; and we apprehend that 

 one of the reasons why the American plants at Knap Hill 

 and Bagshot are so much finer than any in the valley of the 

 Thames, is essentially owing to the great abundance of lime 

 in the water of all the latter district. It appears from analy- 

 sis that while London water, that is to say, Thames water, 

 contains sixteen grains of lime in a gallon, Bagshot water 

 contains only one grain, or less. 



The true difficulty, then, in growing American plants, is 

 not, as is generally alleged, the want of proper soil, for that 

 may be made any where, but the want of a sufficient supply 

 of pure water ; and it may be a question whether a very 

 material difference would not be found in those places where 

 American plants grow badly if rain-water alone were used 

 in watering them, instead of that from pumps and ditches. 



Art. V. Floricultural and Botanical Notices of new and 

 beautiful Plants ; with dcsci'iptions of those more recently 

 introduced into, or originated in, American gardens. 



Calystegia pubescens. — This fine running plant, which 

 we have already noticed and figured, (XIV, p. 400,) proves 

 to be perfectly hardy. From the roots of one very small 

 plant, left out last autumn, more than twenty strong shoots 



