790. 
THE GARDENERS’ 
CHRONICLE. 
[Nov. 28, 
—were made still worse by that method of coping ;:the 
projection on each side was from 3 to 4 ins., with a 
groove or drip on the north side as near the edge as it 
could be conveniently cut. On the east and west walls 
the face of the coping was shown inside the garden, and 
the water was all thrown off to the outside as before ; 
the joints were joined with cement, The above method 
of coping answers admirably as far as p ing the wall 
irom perishing is concerned, but nothing can be worse 
than te protect the trees on one side at the expense of 
those on the other, and this led me in my next attempt to 
divide the drip equa!!y on either side. The form of coping 
I then adopted was the same as sketch No. 6, allowing a 
projection on each side of 3 inches, with a groove. In 
south walls, under the coping, I fixed irons, so as to 
fix a batten to ward off perpendicular frosts when the 
trees were in bloom, or on which to suspend woollen 
netting. After the trees are out of bloom, and the 
weather mild, the little spray that chances to fall on 
the trees from the coping will be found in practice more 
beneficial than injurious. The joints of the coping 
were put together with mastic in oil. A few years ago 
I put up nearly 300 yards of substantial brick wails, 12 
feet high, coped as above, and they have given every 
satisfaction. Having erected a range of Vineries this 
summer, I had leave to add a portion of wall at each 
end, so as to form two wings, with a view to protect the 
ends of the houses. At the north side are the sheds, 
very near to which runs a belt of timber, so that at the 
north side of those wing-walls no fruit-trees can be 
planted; but one end must answer as a compost 
ground, the other a deposit for coals for the use of 
the Vineries, &c. Above or upon the head-plate of 
the Vineries is built a course of dressed Ashlar stone, 
1 foot in depth, and upon that and on the rest of the 
wall is fixed an Ashlar coping, 6 inches in depth, at the 
face, so that the centre or length of the houses is 18 ins. 
above the wing-walls ; the coping of the walls is 6 ins. at 
the face also, and bevelled off to 34 ins. at the north side, 
where it projects 3j ins. ; but to the south I have only 
allowed a projection of 2 inches, which, in my opinion, 
will be more to the advantage of the trees planted 
against them, as regards their health and fruitfulness, 
than all the 10-inch or 1-foot projecting copings ever 
recommended. The almost unprecedented high tem- 
perature experienced last summer led me to adopt the 
ittle projecti A tl pended against my 
cottage, stood as high as 122° Fahr, and afterwards 
one against the walls several times stood as high as 
118°, 116°, 112°, and 110° (it reached as high as 110° 
two or three times during September), the coping not 
being at that time set out or wrought. What would 
have been the consequence at that time if the trees had 
een in a bearing state, with a projecting coping of 
10 inches or 12 inches? why, solar heat, reflected and 
repelled by a broad coping, would have been so power- 
ful that the trees could not have supported the exces- 
sive drain upon the foliage by evaporation, and would 
have become a prey to red spider; the present year’s 
p would have been without flavour, and woe to the 
fruitfulness of the trees the following season. Those 
observations led me to adopt this little projection in the 
present instance ; still, no doubt, a temporary projec- 
tion is of great use at the time the trees are in bloom, 
and fora time after to protect the bloom and infant 
fruit, or until the weather becomes settled and mild in 
spring. For this purpose I have had irons fixed in the 
wall immediately under the coping, cranked to drop 
1 inch behind the top course of bricks, and again 
cranked so as to drop 1 inch down the face of brick- 
work. It then stands forward 11 inches from the face 
of the wall, with the outer end turned up 1 inch ; those 
irons are fixed 4 feet apart, so that I can secure within 
them a board 11 inches broad, and 1 inch thick close 
under the coping, so levelled as to throw the water off 
the outer edge. Upright laths or spars can be fixed to 
the edge of the board, with cross laths attached, and as 
a further protection netting or bunting can be sus- 
pended at pleasure.—James Roberts, Raby Castle. 
Alve-steep v. Mice, &e.—lt was suggested to me by 
a friend, last season, to try the effect of a solution of 
aloes for steeping Peas, as a preventive to the ravages 
of birds, mice, and slugs, &c., and as it is now about 
time for sowing those intended for an early crop, your 
readers who are desirous of having an abundant erop 
will ensure it by following my plan, The gardener has 
again this year, by my direction, adopted the same 
course, and in fact to secure healthy and plentiful crops 
where they are liable to the above-named depredators, 
I consider the steeping indispensable. The best method 
of making the solution is to pour boiling water on the 
aloes (which can be obtained from any chemist), and 
let it remain till cold; the Peas should be soaked in 
this for about 12 hours. The quantity is not important ; 
One ounce to a quart makes a sufficiently strong solution. 
—W. Tebbitt, Clapham Common. 
Vines.—Your leading article lately contained a 
Speculation, apparently at variance with received prin- 
ciples, that ** the bleeding of the Vine in spring is not 
so Serious an event as is generally believed." But in 
the data adduced, may there not be some (trick) cause 
not exhibited for the phenomena stated. After the 
Vine had been forced during the period necessary for 
the production of the first crop,—may not the forcing 
have been discontinued for the time during which it 
was pruned again, before the forcing for the second 
crop was recommenced? A Vine will bleed less on a 
cool day, than during a warm one. What space of 
time must elapse—after pruning,—before the cut ends 
become seared or secure against bleeding 1—D. S. E 
[The faets are as we have stated. We do not enter | 
into the spirit of those who doubt all evidence except 
their own.] 
Foreign Correspondence. 
Moscow, Sept. 1, 1846.—An excursion from hence to 
Nijni Novgorod (where the great fair is now being held) 
and back has led me over a good deal of country much 
less uninteresting than most of that we crossed from 
Petersburgh here. The distance is near 300 miles in 
an eastward direction, perhaps a little more north than 
Moscow, but the soil in many places must be richer, or 
rather, less poor. Occasionally, it is true, there are 20 
or 30 miles together, in one place 40 miles, of flat sandy 
or boggy Pine forests ; but in others the country is 
hilly, with a good deal of cultivation, and on the banks 
of the Kliasma, particularly about Viasniki and Goro- 
koyskaia, really very pretty. The Rye was in most 
places in, the Oats and Buckwheat just commenced 
cutting appeared to me to be very short crops ; there 
was also a good deal of a small kind of bearded Wheat, 
the ears much smaller and the awns shorter and more 
spreading than the large coarse-bearded Wheat grown 
in the south of France ; very little Barley, and scarcely 
ever any green crops, except Cabbages, near the 
villages and towns. As we returned on Friday and 
Saturday we saw the peasantry employed in sowing the 
autumn grain crops, which is always begun here after 
the fast, which ends on the 15th August, O. S. (27th, 
N. S.). The weather hitherto has been beautiful ; some 
rain has refreshed the ground and brought it into the 
best state for sowing, and they are hastening to get in 
the seed before the break up of the season, which may 
be expected in a fortnight or three weeks at furthest. 
Near Viasniki we passed through two or three miles of 
the only Oak forest I have yet seen. It was apparently 
of 30 or 40 years’ growth since the last cutting, thick, 
and the trees vigorous and healthy ; all Q. pedunculata. 
Nijni Novgorod, or as it is often called for shortness, 
Nijegorod or Nijni, is the best situated town I have yet 
seen in Russia. The town itself, including the ancient 
citadel or Kremlin, is on the edge of the line of hills 
forming the high right bank of the Oka at its junction 
with the Volga, and contains a number of fine buildings 
and churches interspersed with gardens and trees ; the 
lower part of the town stretches along the river under 
and on the side of the hill, and opposite between the 
two rivers and across the Volga extends a vast wooded 
plain, terminated by low hills on the horizon. The 
fair is held between the rivers at their junction. 
Twelve long lines of shops, with dwelling-rooms over 
them, and covered ways round them, separated by 
11 longitudinal streets, and intersected by four cross 
ones, are permanently built of brick ; the central street 
is a very broad one, with a fine church at one end, and 
at the other a handsome building for the governor’s 
residence, with a bazaar, restaurateur, club-room, &c., 
underneath. There are also two cross rows on each 
side of the cathedral, and all round this permanent 
part innumerable booths, eating and lodging-houses 
more or less substantial; countless piles of goods 
covered with matting extend far along the banks of the 
two rivers, and in this fair a temporary population of 
near 300,000 men circulate and transact business for 
millions upon millions of money, not only without dis- 
turbance or confusion, but with a quiet and absence of 
noise and bustle which much surprised me. The goods 
that appeared to be in the greatest quantities are iron, 
Siberian furs, hides, skins, and leather, wooden work 
(for instance, casks, hoops, enormous piles of wooden rims 
for wheels, made here of one piece bent in shape of a 
hoop, &c.), and especially immense piles of boxes of 
Tea from China brought by Siberian merchants, and 
European goods taken by them in return for Siberia 
and China. The broad Oka was almost blocked up by 
the mass of barges which covered for a considerable 
length and extend also up the Volga, and on the long 
wooden bridge over the Oka, connecting the town with 
the fair, an almost continuous line of telegas, tarantases, 
droshkies, and other vehicles for the transport of men 
or goods is circulating cach way from early in the 
morning till dark. The much-talked of variety of 
costume did not strike me, though it would a West- 
European could he be set down at once in the fair 
without passing through Petersburgh and Moscow, for 
the great mass are either with the rough beard, coloured 
shirt, loose trowsers tucked into the boots, and outer 
caftan, or robe of the Russian peasant, or in the more 
or less dressed beard and finer dress forming every 
gradation from the Russian to the European costume of 
the tradesmen and merchants, and only here and there 
a few Persians, Circassians, or Tartars. 
In agricultural produce I saw very little at the fair. 
Harvest being so far from complete itis not the time for 
the sale of much corn; indeed, there did not appear to 
be more than what was brought to market for the con- 
sumption of the temporary population, except, perhaps, 
Cucumbers for salting, cartloads of which covered one 
of the market places, or were being transferred to small 
barges to be carried up the Volga. In the corn and 
fruit-dealers’ shops amongst the bags of nuts of various 
kinds, were quantities of Sunfl ds eaten as nuts 
y the peasantry, and pods of Caroub (Ceratonia) much 
liked by them, under the name of sweet pod, and 
imported, I was told, from Smyrna, 
Societies. — 
BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 
Nov. 6.—The Presinenn in the chair. The following 
donations were announced :—50 specimens of Carduus | 
setosus, and some specimens ot Luzula nivea, presented 
by Dr. Dewar. 50 specimens of Galium Vaillantii, 
presented by Mr. G. S. Gibson. 90 specimens of 
Sisyrinehium anceps presented by Mr. J. Lynam. 60 
specimens of Glyceria plicata presented by Mr. T. 
Moore, Upwards of 300 specimens of Spartina, alter- 
niflora collected at Itehen Ferry, near Southampton, in 
September last, by Mr. Hewitt Watson, and Mr. G. E. 
Dennes, The Rev. A. Bloxam presented a copy of his. 
Fasciculus of British Rubi. Some thousands of speci- 
mens of Azorie plants had been received from TT, C. 
Hunt, Esq., her Majesty’s consul at St. Michael's. 
This was in continuation of Mr. H's former series of 
specimens sent to the Society. A large parcel of 
Pyrenean specimens had also been received from Dr. 
Southby. The following papers were read :—“On 
Hieracium maculatum,” by Mr. J. Bladon; “On the 
Potato disease,” by Mr. Maberly. 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 
Nov. ll.—The Presipenr in the chair. W. A. 
Boyle, Esq., was elected a Fellow. A paper was read 
by Mr. Quekett, entitled * Additional Observations on 
the Intimate Strueture of Bone." After alluding to 
his previous researches on the form of the bone-cells in 
the various classes of animals, and their application to. 
Palzontology, the author stated that he had recently 
had an opportunity of examining the Proteus siren, 
and Menobranchus, a group of reptiles which ap. 
proached in many of their characters the fish. In these 
animals the bone-cells were very large, much larger 
than in the other reptiles, They had also large blood- 
globules, and he had found that the size of the bone- 
cells was always proportionate to that of the blood- 
globules ; that where the one was small, the other was. 
small also, The bone-cells of these animals resembled 
more those of fish than of reptiles, and assisted to con- 
firm Professor Owen’s view of their piscine natuxe.—A. 
paper was read from Mr. John King, of Ipswich, on a 
new arrangement of microscopic objects to produce 
polarisation of light. This paper was followed by a 
discussion in which Mr. Varley, Mr. Legg, and other 
members took part, in which it was stated that some 
objects were better defined through the agency of the 
colours of polarised light than by common light, 
LINNEAN SOCIETY. 
Nov. 17.—E, Forster, Esq., V. P., in the chair. 
A collection of dried plants from the neighbourhood of 
Sydney, collected by J. E. Bicheno, Esq., late Secretary 
of the Society, was presented by him to the museum, 
A small collection of plants, found about Wellington, 
Van Diemen’s Land, was presented by Mr. James 
Bonwick. Francis J. Graham, Esq., and William 
White Williams, Esq., were elected Fellows. W. Han- 
son, Esq., was elected an associate. "The Assistant- 
Secretary read a portion of Dr. Buchanan Hamilton’s 
Commentary on Van Rheede's * Hortus Malabaricus.” 
The portion read consisted of descriptions and identi- 
fications of various species of Cucurbits. 
BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 
Nov. 12.—Dr. Batrour in the chair.—At this the 
first meeting for the session the following communiea- 
tions were read :—1. On three species of Glyceria, by 
r. F. Townsend, Ilmington, Warwickshire. In this 
paper the author gave full descriptions of Glyceria 
fluitans, Br., G. plicata, Fries, and of a supposed new 
species found in Cambridgeshire an arwickshi 
which he proposes to name G. hybrida, and pointed out 
the distinctions by which they may be known from ea 
other. The paper will appear in the “ Annals of Natu- 
ral History.” 2. Dr. Balfour read a description of 
Exogonium Purga, Benth., the true Jalap plant, and 
noticed some points connected with its medical history. 
The Jalap plar: was for a long time referred to Convol- 
vulus Jalapa of Linneeus and Willdenow, or Ipomoea 
macrorhiza of Michaux, a native of Vera Cruz. It has 
recently been proved, however, from various sources, 
to be the plant now under notice, which grows in the 
hill eountry, near Jalapa in Mexico, at a height of 
about 6000 feet above the level of the sea. The plant 
was first sent to the Edinburgh Botanic Garden by Dr. 
Christison, who received it from Dr. Coxe, Philadel- 
phia, and it has flowered several times in a cold frame, 
lt belongs to the natural order Convolvulacese. The 
genus Exogonium has been separated from Ipomoa by 
Choisy, on account of its exserted stamens. Specimens 
of the recent plant were exhibited. Dr. B. also de- 
scribed Stenocarpus Cunninghami of Hooker, and ex- 
hibited a fresh specimen in flower. This plant has 
been long known in gardens under the name of Agnos- 
tus sinuatus, It is a small evergreen tree, belonging 
to the natural order Proteacesx, sub-order Folliculares, 
and tribe Grevillee. It was found by Allan Cunning- 
ham on the banks of the Brisbane River, Moreton Bay; 
and is remarkable for its umbellate inflorescence, and 
showy orange-searlet flowers, with reflexed and sub- 
secund segments of the perianth. The plant was first 
introduced into the Royal Gardens at Kew, whence it 
has been distributed over the kingdom. It has flowered 
this season for the first time in Britain, 3. Remarks 
on a Pyrola found in Lancashire, by Mr. Kenyon. Spe- 
cimens of this plant, which is considered by its dis- 
covereras a new species, and which he proposes to 
call P. maritima, in allusion to the localities in which 
it is generally found, were shown to the meeting. It is 
nearly allied to P. rotundifolia, from which it may be 
distinguished by its size, the form and length of its 
sepals, and length of the stamens. Some excellent. 
