1843.) 
THE GARDENERS’ CHRONICLE. _ 55 
Correspondent is advised to replace his Fish in the pond, 
but I consider that it would not be safe at this time. It 
would be better to keep them as they are for a month or 
two longer.—J. F'., Sudbury, Harrow on the Hill. 
Poultry.—In answer to your Renfrewshire correspond- 
ent, I beg to state that the Malay Hens are usually of a 
reddish brown colour, long in the leg, with a peculiar 
round-shouldered look in the form of the back. Mine 
were originally given to me by a friend from India ; but 
they are to be procured in abundance at Baker’s, or 
indeed of any of the poultry-dealers in Leadenhall market. 
My Dorking hens are coloured, as I prefer those to the 
white sorts. I have never found anything to complain of 
in the colour of their flesh. 4. E. S. 
NOTICES or NEW PLANTS WHICH ARE EITHER 
_ USEFUL OR ORNAMENTAL. 
VITELLINUM. Yolk.of-Egg (Séove 
Bulb.) Amaryllidiceze. Hexdndria Monogyni bulbous 
plant from Lima, whence it was sent by J. Maclean, Esq., to the 
Horticultural Society, with whom it flowered in ruary, 1842. 
It is essentially distinguished from oth: ecies by its 
broad leaves, depressed bulbs, and the intermediate teeth of the 
cup being obtuse and undivided. nt ered in 
Stove, where it ha kept warm and moist while growing, 
ever, was very pretty, and well worth the acquisition of the 
lovers of gay flowers,— Botanical Register. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Dried Plantains as a Confection.—Dr. Wallich exhi- 
bited at a meeting of the Agri-Horticultural Society of 
Tndia, in May 1840, a bottle containing dried Plantains, 
which had been prepared at Kornegallein Ceylon simply 
by solar heat, without any admixture of sugar. The mode 
of their preparation is as follows: the fruit is gathered 
when fully ripe, and is laid on light cane-frames exposed 
0 the sun. When it begins to shrivel, the outer skin is 
Stripped off (the stripping off the skin is a very essential 
Part of the process, as it acquires an unpleasant flavour 
by drying), and then the drying is completed. During 
the process it becomes covered with a white mealy efflor- 
scence of sugar, as the Fig does under similar circum- 
Stances. It is evident that the. fruit in this state bears 
Precisely the same relation to the fresh Plantain that the 
ried Fig and Raisin do to the fruits from which they are 
Prepared, and may be expected to keep good as long as 
€ither of them. Some samples, which were two years old, 
Were sufficiently moist, of a consistence and flavour be- 
tween the Date and’Fig, and very sweet without acidity. 
‘here are no seeds, the whole of the fruit being eatable. 
i nariscatton of the Agri-Horticultural Society of 
ndia. 
Cultivation of Hemp, as practised in the North of 
ndia.—The seed is sown in the hills about the middle of 
May, and when the plants spring up they are thinned to 
about four or five inches apart, and the ground is kept 
Clear of long Grass during the period of their growth. 
Hemp flourishes best on the northern side of the hills, and 
I a soil rich from the decomposition of vegetable matter. 
The plant ripens about the end of September or the be- 
Sinning of October: it is then cut down and dried in the 
Sun, being afterwards steeped in a pond or stream for 
€ight days; the fibre is then stripped off from the thick 
€nd of the stem, and when put together in small parcels 
1s beaten alittle with a piece of wood or tappee, and i 
made up into twists like yarns of cotton. There is another 
Plant, called the Large Nettle Plant, that grows in the in- 
terior of the hills, which makes even stronger ropes than 
@ Hemp. It frequently grows to the height of 14 or 15 
feet, The Hill people, in preparing ropes from it, steep 
it for three days only, and then strip off the fibre; this is 
Gone in a contrary manner to that of stripping Hemp— 
%e, the top of the Nettle is broken off, and the fibre is 
Pulled down from the thin end. Strong ropes are also 
Made from a creeper, called in the Hills, Malloo. For 
Suspension bridges, this plant has been found stronger 
than Hemp.— Transactions of the Agri-Hortioultural 
Society of India. 
harcoal.—During the past year, various experiments 
have been in progress to ascertain what effects would be 
Produced upon plants by potting, or striking them 
Tom cuttings in charcoal; or by mixing it in various 
Proportions in the soil in which they were to be grown. 
fom what had been published on this subject in 
1 Licbig’s Organic Chemistry’’ and elsewhere, I had been 
a to expect some very decided results ; but after varying 
© experiments in many different ways, nothing has hap- 
Pened which proves charcoal to be useful as a chemical 
ie in the growth of plants. When pounded and used 
Y itself, it is very apt to get too dry, and then runs to- 
ace and sets very hard. Some Orchidaceous plants, 
suger ts and Cacti, were potted in it, but they did not 
wre evidently from the causes above mentioned. 
ch ‘en mixed with soil, in the proportion of two-thirds of 
Ene to one-third of soil, and also in’ smaller quanti- 
cee Such plants as Oranges, Ipomoea scabra, Gesnera, 
than cli grew very well in the mixture, but not better 
Cute Others which were treated in the common way. 
bia angs of the common Caper, Ficus eléstica, Euphor- 
Jacquiniflora, Ipomoea, and various other kinds, were 
planted both in pounded charcoal, and in different propor- 
tions mixed with sand; but the results were not more 
fayourable to the charcoal than to the common sand 
usually employed for that purpose. The Caper rooted 
freely in both ways, but the others did best in the sand. 
Many cuttings, when planted in pure charcoal, or even 
where that formed a principal part of the mixture, threw 
off their leaves in a short time and rotted at the base. 
From what has come under my observation during 
these experiments, I would not recommend this substance 
to be used by itself for the growth of plants or for strik- 
ing cuttings; and if it does produce any good chemical 
effects when mixed with soil, these will probably depend 
in a great degree upon the constitution of the soil, in the 
same way as lime and chalk are only good manures for 
certain lands. But ‘it is very possible that these effects 
are only mechanical, tending to keep the ground open, 
in the manner which renders ashes so very beneficial to 
stiff soils.— Robert Fortune, in the Proceedings of the 
Hort. Soc., No. 17. 
Penang—‘The Great Tree.” A day or two after, I 
visited the Great Tree. It is on the slope of a hill, so we had 
no great ascent to make. I recognised it as the Great Tree 
directly I saw it; though I had been told that even at alittle 
distance it would not look so large as itis. It is believed 
to be a species of Dammar tree. The natives call it the 
Milk-tree ; because, when bruised with a stick, a milky 
or rather creamy substance, very white, soft, and some- 
what glutinous, makes its appearance. It is said to be 
30 feet round the base (I think it is more), 110 feet up 
to the first branch, and at that height still 21 feet round. 
Ithas not many branches left, and it is said to be dange- 
rous to stand under the tree in windy weather. The 
trunk is very straight, like a huge mainmast. It is de- 
cidedly worth going to see, though seven miles from the 
harbour.—From the “ Last Year in China, by a Field 
Officer.”’—[The tree here mentioned is no doubt some 
kind of Fig: and not a Dammar, which is resinous, not 
milky. 
Substitute for Glazed Frames in Hot-Beds.—In the 
Rheinlindische Gart il a substitute for the glazed 
frames of hot-beds and green-houses is described. Instead 
of glass, the frames are covered with a fine white cotton- 
cloth. In order to render this more transparent, and enable 
it to resist moisture, it is covered with a preparation, the 
ingredients of which are 4 oz. of pulverised dry white 
cheese, 2 oz. of white slack lime, and 4 oz. of boiled 
linseed oil. These three ingredients having been mixed 
with each other, 4 oz. of the white of eggs, and as much 
of the yolk, are added, and the mixture is then made 
liquid by heating. The oil combines easily with the other 
ingredients, and the varnish remains pliable and quite 
transparent. The expense of a forcing-bed arranged in 
this manner is inconsiderable, and it yields at the same 
time many other advantages. Such a hot-bed needs not 
the anxious attention required by the ordinary ones 
covered with glazed frames. During the strongest rays 
of the mid-day sun, they do not require any particular 
covering or shade; the atmosphere therein preserves a 
nearly equaWle temperature almost the whole day, and 
requires only to be changed from time to time, according 
to circumstances.— Annals of Chemistry. 
GARDEN MEMORANDA. 
pearance. The 
tera, a winged-stem! 
other varieties. 
will also be in bloom shortly. In this house we noticed Banksia 
up with Araucaria imbricata, the seeds of which are sown sepa- 
rately in small-sized 60 pots; they are germinating rapidly, and 
{ : c the two 
4-inch iron pipes which warm the house, being seated in an iron 
Mebiews. 
Floral Fancies and Morals from Flowers. 12mo.? 
Ti 
One of the most pleasing little books we know is 
Carovée’s “ Story without an End,’” charmingly translated 
by Mrs. Austin. Some, perhaps, think it too fanciful and 
flowery i but we, who have far too much of the real world 
for our liking, confess to our love for the sweet visions of 
Dreamland ; and especially for such as those of “The 
Child.”” The little work before us seems to have been 
intended as an imitation of Carové’s style, and we may 
add is in many respects a successful one. Itis a series of 
fables, intended, we are told, in part, to convey information 
concerning the economy and habits of some of the most 
beautiful or singular productions of the vegetable king- 
dom, and partly to illustrate moral truths by analogies 
drawn from the same source. Instead of criticising the 
book, we shall content ourselves with an extract, as a 
specimen of the author’s agreeable style. The subject is 
JEALOUS WILD FLOWERS, 
“On the first introduction of exotics into our gardens 
and conservatories, many native plants grew envious of the 
universal preference shown to these foreign intruders. It 
may seem strange how the secluded dwellers in wood and 
wild could ever have learned what was going on in the 
fashionable world; but they derived this dangerous infor- 
mation from a vile garden outcast, who, having travelled 
all the way from London in a dung-cart, chanced to grow 
up among our simple rustics, and poisoned their heads 
with news and notions never before dreamed of. For 
a while, however, the malcontent flowers only pined in 
silent jealousy, till one fine summer’s day, a large body of 
them met together, and consulted how they might best 
assert the national rights they considered so shamefully 
inyaded. A spirited Viper’s Buglos first addressed the 
assembly.) ‘I move,’ said he, ‘that a chosen party of 
us should forthwith go up to London, and make a deter- 
mined stand against the insolent pretensions of these con- 
temptible foreigners. Once fairly matched against theirs, 
our superior merits cannot fail to be acknowledged ; and 
if any should dare to dispute them—by the name of 
Flora! |!’ ..... Here the vegetable orator con- 
cluded with an abrupt pause, as the most emphatic expres- 
sion of implied threatening, and wound up all by[shaking 
his formidable spike, and raising his azure crest, with the 
bold bearing of an old English knight, eager to challenge all 
competitors. His heroic resolution was warmly applauded, 
and, in the violent clapping of leaves which immediately 
ensued, the opposition of two only di ient flowers, the re- 
tiring Violet and the modest Daisy, was completely drowned. 
Several of the Buglos party rose to second their leader’s 
proposal, and branched out into fine flourishes about their 
patriotic desire to uphold the honour of their native soil. 
Nothing else, they declared, would have induced them to 
undertake the danger and trouble of the projected expedi- 
tion. Perhaps, however, if these flowers of eloquence 
could have been thoroughly invesgigated, a few grains of 
personal vanity might have been found clinging to their 
roots. Several of the individuals who were to accompany 
Sir Viper Buglos had, indeed, long panted for a wider field 
wherein to display their respective attractions. The 
pheasant-like eye of the handsome Adonis, weary of gazing 
at the rustic beauties of the Corn-field, flashed fire at 
thoughts of conquest over fair and graceful foreigners. 
The lovely Nympheea alba daily viewed her image in her 
liquid mirror, and with pardonable pride, felt herself @ 
Queen of Waters; while the poetical Narcissus, like his 
ancestor of old, was more than satisfied with his own ap- 
pearance. Then, what dress of “purple and pall’’ could 
bear comparison with the Lady’s Mantle of silvery satin, 
unsullied as the snow of her native mountains? Others, 
again, of appearance less striking, prided themselves on 
their personal{accomplishments. The Shaking Grass was 
a most light and graceful dancer on the breeze; and the 
musical powers of the Reed had been acknowledged from 
the days of Pan, though his waving plumes had never been 
half sufficiently admired. How the floral party travelled 
is a matter of uncertainty, though clearly not, as in modern 
days, by post or railroad ; suffice it that they arrived im 
town, or its vicinity, and the day afterwards made their 
appearance at a grand exhibition of exotics, to which they 
gained admission through the interest of some Hee 
= in the flower- 
who as yet continued to hold high places in Serie 
But, alas ! for our native candidates, 
hey bad so im~ 
prudently-challenged. Then, blighted in the bud were all 
f many a sanguine 
native shades for 
in the crowd, or 
crowded show-room, ey ail the spectators, how did 
i i i droop fo! 
our disappointed ESP aU eee bold leader, Sir Viper 
elled to lower his azure spike before the 
Teale ae an African Gladiolus. The fiery eye 
was no less a necessary agent in his instrumental perform- 
ance; and, could even his molian strains have been 
awakened, the prevailing taste for foreign airs, as well as 
foreign flowers, would have caused his silvery tones to have 
fallen unheeded on fashionable ears. 
‘““Thus terminated the wild flowers’ silly attempt to 
obtain distinction by abandoning the stations wherein 
nature had placed them, and to which, convinced of their 
