Queries and Answers to Queries. .535 



periodical publication. There is, I believe, no trouble attendant on the 

 propagation of this plant, which may be effected by separating the roots. 

 In the spring of the year ]e25, I accidentally broke off a part of one at the 

 crown of the root ; the broken part had very little fibre on it, and I had 

 little hope of preserving it; yet I was unwilling to throw away any part of 

 it while it had the least remains of life, the rather as it had been given me 

 by a friend; I therefore planted the broken part. It took root, grew, 

 flourished, flowered in the autumn as well as the parent plant, and I might 

 still have been admiring its beauty and fragrance but for one of those in- 

 corrigible imps of mischief, the race of Grimalkin. At a time when I was 

 absent from home, the pot was thrown down by a cat, the plant was not 

 properly replaced, and, when I returned home, it was to mourn the loss of 

 my primrose, doubly endeared to me, as the gift of a friend, and a thing 

 saved from premature destruction. I have not repeated the experiment, 

 but, from the success of this first attempt, am disposed to believe that part- 

 ing the roots of this plant will be found a mode of propagation as sure as 

 it is simple. I remain. Sir, &c. — E, K. 



Cape Heaths. — Sir, I shall feelj particularly obliged by you or some of 

 your correspondents informing me, through the medium of your Gardener's 

 Magazine, the best manner of treating the Cape heaths, in order to obtain 

 the largest quantity of young plants. Do they require the aid of a hot- 

 house to force the cuttings at any season ? I was once informed by a great 

 grower of heaths in Acre Lane, that he struck twelve hundred of the Ves- 

 tita from two plants in one spring, but he would not say in what manner 

 he managed them. I am. Sir, &c. — J. Dodds. Crondall, near Fariiham, 

 August 7. 1828. 



The Bamboo would be a great acquisition to the kingdom, if it could be 

 made to thrive on our numerous low wet islets at the mouths of all our 

 large rivers, or on the thousands of acres of shingle lying bare on the coast. 

 Is there any hope that this could be done ? If not, can any of your readers 

 «ay what useful plant would grow on the shingle ? At present no attempt 

 is made to cover it with vegetation of any kind. — R. in U. 



We fear there is little or no hope as to the Bamboo. The ^'lymus 

 arenarius, geniculatus, and sibiricus {Encyc. of Agr., § 4206.) are the best 

 plants we know of for the purposes mentioned. — Cond. 



New Variety of Black Cm^rants. — In a cottager's garden, near Bath, an 

 accidental variety of the black currant was produced about two or three 

 years ago, and, I am told, is still in existence ; it possessed ewery character 

 of the parent plant, except in the colour of the fruit, which was white. Do 

 you, or any of your readers, know any thing of it ? Probably it may be 

 that mentioned by G. S., p. 120. — R. in U. 



Botanic Gardens. — Can you, Sir, inform me whether there is any botanic 

 garden near London where persons may go and study, and whether there 

 is any mode of procuring garden specimens of our rarer British plants not 

 generally cultivated but in botanic gardens ? If you go to see the botanic 

 garden at Kew, you have a man at your elbow all the time, to prevent you 

 from stealing ; and, besides, are hurried over in half an hour, where I could 

 willingly spend day after day. I have been refused admittance into the 

 apothecaries' garden at Chelsea, and was told that nobody but members of 

 the company were admitted. This, however, I know is not the case, as I 

 have friends who have frequently seen them, and who had nothing to do 

 with the company. I remain. Sir, &c. — W. Griffith. 12. Queen Anne 

 Street. 



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