Foreign Notices — Germany. 1 99 



are propagated and sold at a low price, as determined by a printed cata- 

 logue. 



Moveable Melon Grounds. M. Soulange Bodin having changed the site 

 of his melon-ground at Fromont, and found the soil impregnated with the 

 liquid manure which had drained from his dung-beds to a considerable 

 depth, proposes in future to move the site of his hot-beds from one part 

 of the garden to another, in order to manure the whole in succession. He 

 says, " we have folded our hot-beds as a shepherd folds his sheep, and the 

 drainings of the dung have done in the one case, what the droppings of 

 the sheep have in the other." Hurdles of reeds form a portable fence and 

 shelter. — {Bull. Univ. February, 1825.) 



M' Adam's Roads. The Paris Agricultural Society have printed a pam- 

 phlet on this subject, from a communication by Sir John Byerly, and 

 distributed numerous copies of it among the road engineers of the different 

 departments. 



Grafting the Cedar on the Larch. The union of these two species, 

 though practicable in theory, was never, as far as we know, actually 

 carried into execution, till M. Le Fievre, a nurseryman at Nantes, in the 

 west of France, tried it, and succeeded perfectly. — [Bull. Univer. October 

 1825.) 



Silk-Worms. At the last sitting of the Philomathic Society at Paris, a 

 memoir underwent discussion which had been read at the Society for the 

 Encouragement of Industry and the Arts, the object of which was to prove 

 that the cultivation of the mulberry -tree, and the rearing of silk-worms, 

 might be carried on as successfully in the neighbourhood of Paris as at 

 Lyons. In support of this opinion, the results of various experiments 

 made at Tours and at St. Germain's near Paris were cited; and it was 

 shown, that those results (owing, doubtless, to greater care) were superior 

 even to the products of Piedmont itself. The author of the memoir 

 further proves, that the countries which are the most favourable for the 

 cultivation of the mulberry-tree are those which lie between the 42d and 

 48th degree of latitude. — [Lit. Gaz. Jan. 1826.) 



Daphne laureola. In the island of Corsica, a man has been lately tried 

 for having caused the death of several individuals by poisoning a rivulet 

 with the branches and leaves of this plant. A law exists, dated so far back 

 as 1669, which provides that putting laurel leaves into small rivulets, with 

 the intent of poisoning the water, is punishable with death ; and even when 

 no bad intention is meant, with imprisonment. We may observe here, that 

 unless the scientific name of the plant is given in the ordinance it may 

 occasion much dispute; for on the continent as in Britain, the word 

 laurel is applied to several species of daphne, to two species of primus, to 

 viburnum tinus, and to iaurus nobilis. [Bull. Univ.) 



GERMANY. 



Myrica Cerifera. This plant has been cultivated for seven years, in the 

 open ground of the Botanic Garden of Carlshrue ; it there ripens its fruit, 

 five pounds of which furnish by decoction, upwards of 8 ounces ofgreen wax. 



Extraordinary Utility of the Nettle. In the weekly newspaper of the 

 Bavarian Agricultural Society, 1825., No. 6., the nettle is said to have the 

 following properties: 1. Eaten in sallad, it cures consumption; 2. It 

 fattens horned cattle, whether eaten green or dried ; 5. Experience has 

 shown that it not only fattens calves, but improves their breed; 4. It is an 

 antidote to most maladies; 5. Sheep which eat it, bring forth healthy, 

 vigorous lambs ; 6. It promotes the laying of eggs in hens ; 7. It improves the 

 fat of pigs; 8. The seeds, mixed with oats, are excellent for horses; 9. It 

 grows all the year round, even in the coldest weather ; 10. The fibres of 

 the stem make an excellent hemp. 



The Bavarian oracle might have added, that few plants force better or 



