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PART II. 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. Foreign Notices. 



FRANCE. 



The Horticultural Society of Paris held a Meeting on the 1st of October, 

 at which several papers and letters were read, some books and pamphlets 

 presented, and some flowers and pears exhibited. A paper on Pruning 

 Forest Trees, by M, Februrier, of Versailles, advocate, gave rise to a good 

 deal of discussion. He recommended pruning when the shoots were young, 

 and, if possible, under an inch in diameter. It was argued by others, that, 

 though this might be better for the trunk of the tree, yet, as it was highly 

 desirable that the prunings of trees should repay the expense of the operation, 

 it were better to allow the branches to grow larger. The former practice 

 might be the more scientific, and the better with reference to the trees, but 

 the latter was more expedient, and the better with reference to the pro- 

 prietor. It was settled by Baron Silvestre that, before determining which 

 mode of pruning was best, it was necessary to consider the object in view ; 

 that when a large fine trunk was the object, unquestionably it was best to cut 

 off the side branches when they were very small ; but that where fuel was 

 the object, more would be gained by letting the branches become large, and 

 most of all by pollarding the tree, or cutting it over periodically by the sur- 

 face, in the manner of coppice wood. A letter was read on the Cormier, 

 (j96rbus domestica), in which the writer deplored the scarcity of this tree 

 in many parts of France where it was formerly abundant. The timber was 

 valued beyond that of all other indigenous trees for the formation of screws 

 for wine-presses ; the fruit was eaten, and a wine made from it as well as 

 a very strong spirit. The writer recommended the culture of this tree, not 

 so much for its fruit (as it seldom blossomed till it was thirty years of age), 

 as for the sake of its timber for screws. The recommendations of this 

 writer were opposed by several members ; it was affirmed that the fruit of 

 the co7'7iiier was one of the most wretched that was pi'oduced in France, 

 and never eaten by the peasantry when they could get any other ; in dis- 

 tricts where this tree abounded, it had become a common expression, to 

 designate the greatest degree of misery, to say, " // ne mange que des co7'- 

 miers" (They live upon sorbs). With respect to screws, the argument was 

 worth little, because it was well known that better and cheaper screws 

 Vv'ere made by machinery from iron, than could be made by manual labour 

 from the wood of the sorb, or from any wood whatever. It was remarked 

 that the writer of the paper had stated a circumstance in the natural his- 

 tory of the Cormier, which showed the great improvement which might be 

 made by art on objects in a state of nature, and that the susceptibility of 

 natural objects of such improvements ought to be an encouragement to 

 them to proceed in their labours. The sorb, it was stated, in its wild state, 

 did not produce blossoms till it was thirty years of age ; this is because in 

 its wild state it is propagated by seeds ; in our nurseries it is propagated by 



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