■ Domestic Notices'. — Scotland. 403 



toads as guardians of his melon and cucumber frames, fully corroborates all 

 that has been said respecting their usefulness in such situations, and is so 

 attentive to them, that, when they have cleared his beds of insects, and he 

 finds them uneasy in their confinement, he actually feeds them, in order to 

 keep them there. He offers them the different insects which are considered 

 noxious in gardens, all of which they devour ; even slugs are eaten by them 

 (though this is denied by another correspondent) ; and if so, this despised 

 reptile must be a beneficial assistant to the gardener at times, and in a way 

 he is at present but little acquainted with. — J. M.for Cond. 



The Cow Cahliage. — There is a plant of this valuable variety now coming 

 into flower in the garden of a friend near this, from which I hope to obtain 

 a fresh supply of seed in a few months, some of which I shall transmit to 

 you for distribution, and the remainder I shall retain for those who may 

 wish to apply to me for it. — Wi/tiam Hamilton. Oxford Place, Plymouth, 

 Feb. 17. 1828. 



Apples may be kept all the year round, by being immersed in corn, 

 which receives no injury from their contact. If the American apples were 

 packed among grain, they would arrive here in much finer condition. In 

 Portugal it is customary to have a small ledge in every apartment (imme- 

 diately under the cornice), barely wide enough to hold an apple; in this 

 waj^ the ceilings are fringed with fruit, which are not easily got at without 

 a ladder, while one glance of the eye serves to show if any depredations 

 have been committed. {Brande's Quar. Jour., Jan. 1828, p. 497.) 



Loasa nitida. — Mamma desires me to write you respecting that vile 

 plant Loasa. She wishes you would examine it, and see if there is not a 

 poisonous fluid in each of its stings, they are so corrosive. — A. M. 

 July 10. 



You should warn your readers against gathering the flowers of Loasa. 

 The prickles of that plant appear to me to be hollow conical tubes, filled 

 with fluid poison. A sting, which my child received a week ago, is not yet 

 better. — /. K. August 7. 



Swedish Tu7-nij]s have grown on the same soil, on the property of W. 

 Whitehouse, Esq., of Studley, for seven successive years, with undiminished 

 fertility and weight of crop. The soil consisted principally of decomposing 

 vegetable peaty matter and chalk. (G. Sinclair in Farm. Jour., July 7. 1828.) 



The Achira is a species of Canna, bearing a tuberous esculent root, equal, 

 if not superior, to the potato. I have given seeds to Dr. Bancroft of 

 Jamaica, and Mr. Alton of Kew. My zealous correspondent, Mr. Watts, 

 procured me this valuable plant from the hot regions of the Choco, and I 

 am not without hopes of adding it to our stock of cultivated roots. I 

 propose naming it the Canna tuberosa. — W. Hamilton. Plymouth, Jidy S. 



tlse of Botanical Geography^ — James Lee, the grandfather of the pre- 

 sent nurseryman at Hammersmith, is said to have discovered what islands 

 had belonged to Europe, and what to Asia, by the heath, which is abun- 

 dantly dispersed over Europe, Africa, and America, but is not to be found 

 in Asia, or in any of the islands which must have once formed a part of 

 that continent. {Thornton in Lee's Introduction to Botany, pref. p. xiy.) 



SCOTLAND. 



Tlie Caledonian Horticidtural Society held a Meeting on August the 7th. 

 Thirty-five sorts of seedling gooseberries were produced, chiefly raised from 

 the Sulphur, Ironmonger, and Warrington, at Whitehill, near Lasswade ; 

 seed sown in 1824, and the berries sent from the original seedling bushes. 

 The whole having been carefully examined, nine of the sorts were judged 

 good, but two more especially preferred, — a very rough white, and a very 

 rough yellow kind. The Meeting judging it right to encourage such zeal 

 in raising seedling fruits, awarded the Society's silver medal to Mr. DnviJ 



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