AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 277 



The Secretary read the following translations and extracts made 

 by him, (viz:) 



[Revue Horticole, May 1855, Paris.] 



A NEW LAYER POT. 



An English gardener, Mr. Keir, now resident in Paris, gives 

 us the following account of his new mode of raising plants by 

 layers : 



Pots with a slit on one side to admit a layer have been long in 

 use. But there is often some difficulty in them, especially in the 

 open air. Mr. Keir has contrived pots which have a socket in 

 which is fixed a perch or pole of suitable length, which is fixed 

 in the earth by one end and supports the pot at the desired 

 height above the ground. The slit in the side of the pot to be 

 of proper size to admit the desired layer, and by suitable pieces 

 of board fixed in side of the pot about the layer, the earth in 

 the pot is held in place. 



SOWING FLOWER SEEDS ON SNOW. 



The florists who grow auriculas much, find it best to sow the 

 seeds upon the snow which covers the beds. The seeds of auri- 

 culas, rhododendons, azaleas, calceolarias, ferns, and epacris and 

 leptospermum, germinated eight days sooner, when sown on the 

 snow than in the soil, or in pots in conservatories. 



AMERICAN CHERRIES. 



Mr. Henry A. Hildreth, a member of several American horti- 

 cultural societies, while he was in Paris, told us of three new 

 very late cherries grown by Mr. George Walsh, a horticulturist 

 of Boston, which are for sale. We know of no such cherries in 

 Europe or elsewhere. They ought to draw the attention of the 

 fruit growers (pomiculteurs) of Europe. Tliese come from three 

 out of thousands of cherry pits planted. H. A. Hildreth, 15 

 Trinity Building, No. Ill Broadway, New-York. 



ADULTERATION OF FOOD. 



The London Quai'terly Review for April, 1855, devotes 17 

 pages to this subject. 



A very unpleasant theme — but one which in many cases, goes 

 beyond nauseum and profound disgust even to poisonous adulter- 

 ations. 



In 1820, the world was awakened to this serious matter by the 

 celebrated book by Frederick Accum, of London, entitled, 

 " There's Death in the Pot." 



