256 Obituary. 



willow, and iSalix viminalis, the ozier, and in general all our largest and 

 best willows, will grow in pure water j but I have tried them in every 

 possible way in moss grounds, and I am satisfied that they will not grow 

 there, even on the sides of moss ditches." 



I need not, however, inform you that there are many tribes of dwarf 

 willows which occupy the surface of peaty and marshy grounds ; and, be- 

 sides, one is naturally misled, from the aquatic nature of willows in general, 

 to think that all of them would grow in mosses ; and from this idea I was 

 grievously mistaken at my first cultivation of moss grounds. Having pro- 

 cured from the botanic garden at Edinburgh, and other places, several 

 sackfuls of the cuttings of the most useful willows, I planted them in the 

 banks of my moss ditches ; but I was much disappointed to find, after re- 

 peated trials, that the moss water was poisonous to them. They indeed 

 sprung a few inches at first, but they soon died away, and not one of many 

 thousand cuttings survived. 



I dare say that you may be nearly correct with regard to the other trees 

 that you mention as thriving well on drained moss grounds. Mr. Arthur 

 Young, in his Irish Tour, says that almost any tree will thrive on dry moss 

 lands ; but my own experience points out the spruce as the best. Other 

 trees may be preferred perhaps in the following order : Scotch fir, birch, 

 mountain ash, alder, larch, oak, beech, poplar, sycamore. Also the follow- 

 ing willows thrive in such soils, and grow to ten or fifteen feet or more in 

 height, viz. the pentandrous or bay-leaved willow, iSalix pentandra, the 

 apple-tree-leaved willow, tfalix »2alifolia, the ash-coloured willow, or sallow, 

 Salix cinerea. I have the honour to be, Sir, &c. — Andrew Steele. Willow 

 Grove, near Edinburgh, July 10. 1827. 



We have real satisfaction in recording the corrections of Mr. Steele, and, 

 as we have repeatedly mentioned, shall always feel obliged for similar com- 

 munications from every description of readers. As we do not spare others, 

 we cannot reasonably expect to escape ourselves. 



Art. XIII. Obituary. 



Died lately, at Mile End nursery, Mr. Samuel Stirling, who had been 

 foreman there for a long period of years. His natural sobriety, and 

 steadiness of moral character, made him an excellent example, as well as 

 monitor, to the thousands of young men who, in the course of so many 

 years, became known to him in that respectable establishment. His abilities, 

 as a practical nurseryman, were of the first order, and his indefatigable 

 attention to the more difficult processes of propagation was eminently 

 useful to his employers. Naturally unobtrusive and unassuming in his 

 manners, he refused several offers of co-partnership in the nursery business j 

 and remained stationary in the scale of rank, as well as of emolument, 

 while he assisted many of his juniors, as well as inferiors, into places of com- 

 parative wealth and respectability. J. M. 



Died, on the 3d of October, Mr. William Scott, nurseryman, Dorking, 

 many years gardener at Chart Park in that neighbourhood. Mr. Scott was 

 a pupil of the late Mr. Aiton of Kew Gardens, and one of the first who was 

 successful in propagating the rarer species of .Erica and the Single Camellia 

 from cuttings. This art he taught to Mr. Rollison, sen., of Tooting, till, 

 as he used to say, the master was beat by the scholar. He was an honest 

 and amiable man, and much respected in his station. — R, D. Oct. 22. 



