314} . jRetrospective Criticism, 



to be adopted by them. " Cultivate necessaries and import luxuries/' is 

 an old political maxim ; and the substitution of tobacco for wheat (it re- 

 quirinj^ the same preparation of land), can never be either a pleasant or 

 a profitable speculation with the farmer. The extract, however,may be use- 

 ful to private individuals. — J. A. M. Feb. 182S. 



Dr. Mitc/ieU's Address. (Vol. III. p. 86.) — There is more truth, com- 

 mon sense, and sound philosophy in this address, than have emanated from 

 learned societies for a long time ; his general views are excellent, his 

 opinions of meteorological instruments erudite, and his advice for the 

 general diffusion of knowledge as judicious as honourable to his head and 

 heart. — Id. 



Paragreles are said to be useful (Vol. III. p. 88.) — In England we 

 happen to possess myriads of them, which fashion has unintentionally 

 provided, viz. the iron palisades, which now surround every mansion 

 in town, and every villa in the country. These are most efficient paragreles, 

 and it will be well if their multiplication do not cause another effect, equally 

 disastrous, namely, an excess of unseasonable rain I — Id. 



Miscellaneous Intelligence (Vol. III. p. 90.) contains a curious article 

 on the " metamorphoses of male and female plants. " Experiments 

 with the common hemp, have proved that they are convertible into each 

 other, and that the soil, season, or management will occasion the change. 

 On the subject you add, " so that each seed appears to contain a germ for 

 the developement of either sex." This single idea is so rational, that it is 

 in itself, when applied, as it may be, to vegetation in general, worth all the 

 " organisable matter " which ever flowed from the teeming brain of the 

 most conceptive physiologist that ever lived ! — Id. 



Oatlands. (Vol. 111. p. 24.) — Vines that are always in the pinery are, 

 nevertheless, productive. This seems to show that we are mistaken in the 

 supposition that all extra-tropical plants require a winter's rest. But, in 

 such a case, we know that the reduced temperature of our autunm has 

 some checking influence on vines so placed, and the question still remains 

 unanswered — would they not be better if they had a winter's rest ? Yes, 

 certainly. Vines planted within the tropics never do well. The continual 

 excitement renders them weak, irregular in growth, and almost always bar- 

 ren. — Id. 



Covering Ranunculus Seed. — In Mr. Waterson's directions on this sub- 

 ject (Vol. III. p. 310.), there must surely be an error of the press. He says, 

 cover an inch and a half. On turning to your JEncT/clopcedia, you say, 

 cover the thickness of a half-crown piece. How do you reconcile the dif- 

 ference? — Rana. Feb. 11. 1828. 



Our correspondent is right in conjecturing an error of the press to be the 

 cause. The passage ought to stand thus : — " The coarse parts of the soil 

 were reserved for the bottom of the boxes, which were of wood, is in. long, 

 10 deep, and 12 broad, with holes bored in the bottom. About 2 in. of the 

 bottom were covered with the refuse, then 6 in. of the sifted mould, which 

 left 2 in. I then took a watering pot with a very fine rose, and completely 

 saturated the earth in the boxes. I next put in about 1| in. of the same 

 mould, which was previously passed through a very fine sieve j the fine 

 mould soon absorbed from beneath as much moistm'e as was necessary to 

 render it fit to i-eceive the seed. In some of the boxes I covered the seed 

 very slightly at once ; with others I followed the plan recommended by 

 Maddock, of covering by degrees; both ways succeeded equally well." 

 ( Memoirs Caled. Hort. Soc.) 



Cotyledon umbilicus. — Young gardeners are recommended to avoid the 

 common error of pronouncing these words Cotyledon umbilicus. Mono- 

 cotyledon, is frequently pronounced Monocotyledon, which is also wrong. 

 — S. 



