Domestic Notices. — England. 



21. 



tap-roots, and are not included in the pine and fir tribe. It was invented 

 by Mr. Munro, formerly of the Bristol nursery, and is made by Mr. Fussell, 

 of Nunney, in Somersetshire, at 85. each. The mode of using it is as fol- 

 lows: — One man employs the instrument while another man or boy holds 

 a bundle of plants. The man first inserts the instrument in the soil, holding 

 it up for the reception of the plant, round which, when introduced, he 

 inserts the iron three times, in order to loosen the soil about the roots, 

 then treads down the turf, and the plant becomes as firmly set in the ground 

 as if it had been long planted. Two men will plant in one day from five to 

 six hundred, at Is. per hundred; whereas, by digging holes, the expense 

 would be os. per hundred, and the planting not done so well. (Sir R. C. 

 Hoare, in Com. to the Bath Agricultural Society, of Dec. 1826.) 



Bregazzi's Bark-bed Thermometer (Jig. 61.) is one of the best instru- 

 ments of the kind which has been invented. By inserting it so 

 that the bulb may be of an equal depth with the bottom of the 

 plunged pots, the greatest heat to which the fibres in the pots are 

 subjected is ascertained by inspection (a), without the trouble 

 of moving the instrument. 



Bregazzi's Hot-house Thermometer (fig. 62.) has a double back; 



the advantage of which is 

 that, when hung from the 

 roof of the hot-house, the 

 heat of the sun against the 

 back (b c) is prevented from 

 operating on the bulb (d), 

 by the current of air which 

 passes between the backs. 



In Jessop's Nursery, Chel- 

 tenham, is a standard Bour- 

 dine peach tree, growing in the most luxuriant manner, and 

 covered with several hundreds of fine fruit ; also a remarkably 

 large netted oblong melon, which weighs 14 lbs., is 15 in. in 

 length, and 2 ft. 3 in. in circumference. In the pinery, rice may 

 be seen growing under water. (Cheltenham Chron., Sept. 15.) — 

 The melon and some of the peaches were sent us by Mr. Jessop, 

 but they were too far gone to judge of their flavour. 



The Diamond Plum is perhaps the largest fruit of the plum 

 kind that is known. In form and flavour it resembles the 

 Magnum bonum, but its colour is a dark purple, and flavour 

 perhaps rather superior. It was found by chance in the nursery 

 of Mr. Hooker, at Brenchley, near Lamberhurst,in Kent. The tree 

 is a standard, supposed to have sprung up accidentally from 

 seed ; it grows vigorously, and, in orchards, its fruit will form a ' 

 fine contrast to the Yellow Magnums. The Purple Magnum 

 bonum, we think, would have been a suitable name for it, as 

 conveying a good idea both of the fruit and of the tree. Plants 

 of this and the Washington Plum, another fruit of superior excel- 

 lence, introduced by Robert Barclay, Esq., of Bury Hill, will be eagerly 

 sought after by orchardists. 



The Beurre d'Aremberg Pear is one of the greatest bearers that we have, 

 and comes very early into bearing ; it is also considered a good keeper, and 

 stands in the first class in point of flavour. Some trees in the garden of 

 Lord Farnborough, at Bromley Hill; Kent, may be referred to as proofs. 



Preservation of Apples. — Any good baking sort, which is liable to rot, if 

 peeled and cut into slices about the thickness of one sixth of an inch, and 

 dried in the sun, or in a slow oven, till sufficiently desiccated, may afterwards 

 be kept in boxes in a dry place, for a considerable time ; and only requires 



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6. 



61 



