Foreign Notices. — South America. 157 



tree grew. It is an autumn fruit, and, according to my taste, inferior to no 

 fruit of the season; tender, juicy, and well flavoured. — The Beauty of the 

 West Apple. A large showy winter fruit, and of pretty good flavour. — 

 The Cas Apple. A good keeping winter fruit; juicy, mildly acid, and 

 well-flavoured ; the skin striped with dull red and green, and of a large 

 size ; the surface more oily to the hand than any other apple I have ever 

 seen. — The Blucker's Gage Plum. Named after the clergyman who first 

 raised it from a dried fruit received from Germany. It has a high repu- 

 tation here, where plums grow in as great perfection as in any part of our 

 country. Colour yellow; size pretty large. 



These fruits have all of them an American origin, are most of them new 

 varieties, and are but partially known to our nurserymen. Since making 

 up the packet, I observe that the Straat, and that only, is in the collection 

 of the Horticultural Society. — J. Buel. Albany Nursery, Feb. 28. 



Our best thanks and wishes attend Mr. Buel for these cuttings, and for 

 another communication, which shall appear in a future page. The cut- 

 tings are grafted and doing well, and we shall dispose of the shoots produced 

 among our friends as scions. — Coiid. 



Botanic Garden of Montreal. — Such is the distribution and arrangement 

 of the grounds of St. Helen, that the whole exhibits the appearance of a 

 beautiful park. We found fine fruit, and some of the best grapes ever 

 tasted, growing in the open air. A botanical garden has been partially laid 

 out, but I was given to understand that Government had lately reduced the 

 salary of the principal gardener. This will be highly detrimental to the 

 horticultural interests of the country, and diminish the resort of travellers, 

 and of the people of Montreal, to this charming island. {De Boosts Per- 

 sonal Narrative, p. 135.) 



SOUTH AMERICA. 



The El Achira is a plant producing an esculent root ; thus described by 

 Mr. Watts, in a letter dated Carthagena, July 19th, 1825 : — " My Choco 

 correspondent promises to send me two curious productions of that pro- 

 vince ; the one is called FA Clavellino, or Palo de Sangre, the Blood Wood, 

 which is a powerful styptic. The other is called El Achira, the plant and 

 flower resemble so perfectly the Indian Shot plant as to be often taken for 

 it, but it contains no pod bearing the black globular seeds of the former. 

 When the plant begins to wither and decay, the root of it is mature, and 

 proves a fine esculent substance, equal, if not superior, to the Arracacha 

 root." The Clavellino I have since ascertained to be the Brownia coccinea, 

 a handsome shrub, abundant in the vicinity of Scarborough, Tobago. The 

 El Achira appears, from Mr. Watts's account, to belong to the order of 

 Scitamineae, the roots of which are more or less aromatic. The Canna 

 indica, which, he says, it so strongly resembles, bears the open air here 

 during, at least, six months of the year ; and, hence, I am led to hope 

 that the El Achira may furnish an addition to the stock of plants capable 

 of cultivation in England. I have not yet succeeded in procuring the Cow 

 tree, but hope, through the unremitting exertions of Mr. Watts, to do so 

 ultimately. Mr, Watts writes me, that the Arracacha grows in the plains 

 of Bogota, on an elevation of 8,700 feet (near three times the height of 

 Snowdon, and above twice the height of Ben Nevisl above the level of the 

 sea, and, consequently, in a temperature not greatly varying from that of 

 the south of England to the westward. The mean temperature of Santa 

 Fe de Bogota is 58° ; the mean of the warmest month, 62° ; and the mean 

 of the coldest month, 57°. If there is any part in the south of England or 

 Ireland of a similar temperature, there the Arracacha will grow in the open 

 air all the year. The mean temperature of Plymouth is nearly 55^ ; the 

 mean of the hottest month, 650 ; and the mean of the coldest month, 42". 



