570 [Assembly 



amount of dried figs and raisins imported Into England in 1850, 

 was nearly four millions pounds of figs, and nearly twenty-eight 

 millions pounds of raisius. This shows how great may be the 

 quantity of bananas. 



No plant that is cultivated yields per acre any alimentary sub- 

 stance in such great quantity as banana. The potato is by no 

 means equal to it. We will quote the learned men (savans) who 

 have lived in or visited equatorial America — men whose knowl- 

 edge and veracity are incontestable. "In New Grenada, says 

 Mr. Humboldt, " they raise about forty to fifty tons per acre. It 

 is at any rate a very large crop, and can be grown in quantities 

 equal to any named, and its remarkable durability vastly increas- 

 es its commercial value, keeping good many years. 



[Revue Horticole. Extracta by H. Meigs.] 



Young Elms of Hyde Park «n the Crystal Palace. — When 

 it was proposed to enclose the elms in the palace, the honest peo- 

 ple of London with one voice cried our — " Our beautiful trees 

 will be destroyed, they will perish with the heat, with dryness, or 

 be suffocated by the dust." A special committee was appointed to 

 take care of the trees, viz : Dr. Lindley, Mr. Paxton, and other 

 learned botanists. After these trees had been covered by the 

 Palace for six months, they cut off several young branches and 

 compared them with similar branches on the trees in open air. 

 The first had grown in six months from five to seven feet, while 

 the latter had not grown quite one foot. 



The trees in the Palace were carefully watered three times a 

 week, and fire engines were used to sprinkle them from top to 

 bottom, to the great terror of exhibitors, in order to wash off all 

 the dust which was constantly rising from the crowd below and 

 settling on the leaves. The trees in the transept, over which no 

 cloth had been suspended, and where the full rays of the sun 

 came in, were the most fresh and vigorous. It is a fine evidence 

 of the high benefit of glass conservatories for vegetation when 

 proper care is also taken of the plants. 



Prussian Road Borders. — The Prussian Government has pub- 

 lished an ordinance of a remarkable character relative to planta- 



