Foreign Notices, — Portugal, North America. 4*65 



A much more effectual mode of destroying snails, worms, and similar 

 insects, and one with which, unlike salt, there is no danger of injuring 

 plants, is the use of lime water. Nothing astonishes us more than the 

 tardy dissemination of this fact among gardeners. 



Importing Orange and other Trees from France is sometimes resorted to 

 on the principle of economy; but the result is not unfrequently the reverse, 

 in consequence of the enormous expense of carriage and shipping charges. 

 A case has lately come to our knowledge, in which the shipping charges on 

 some trees in tubs from Rouen came to three times the price of what 

 the trees could be purchased for in London. We would recommend 

 those who order garden articles from abroad, to contract for their delivery 

 in a British port at a certain price, free of all charges whatever. Some- 

 thing like the cost of the articles will then be ascertained beforehand. 



PORTUGAL. 



Elvas, November 13. — St. Martin's is the day fixed for proving 

 the quality of the new wines, which this year prove remarkably good ; but 

 the quantity is very small, about one fourth of last year's crop, or not so 

 much. The price last year was from 600 to 700 reis (2s. 6d. to 3s.) per 

 almunda (4| galls.) in Borba ; in Vella Born it is lower. The method of 

 making wines here is much cleaner than in the neighbourhood of Lisbon. 

 The grapes are spread on a clean brick floor, in the centre of which is a cis- 

 tern to receive the juice, and are broken by men trampling upon them with 

 wooden shoes. The pulp is then collected and pressed. After the ferment- 

 ation, it is put into large earthen pots, containing from 32 to 57 almundas 

 (a pipe and a quarter). At the top of the jar they pour oil upon the wine, 

 and add no other covering. When they want to prove it, they blow the 

 oil aside with their breath, and take out a small quantity of wine in a little 

 cork dish ; they say any thing else will injure it. There are wines of many 

 different qualities, white and red, and both excellent. The best quality of 

 red is the Bastard and White, of the flavour of Bucellas ; but the trans- 

 portation is so enormous, together with the duties and other expenses that 

 none can in the present state of things ever find its way to Lisbon. 



The collecting of the olives has just commenced, and their quality never 

 was surpassed, and the quantity not often equalled. The olives here are 

 not the little black fruit you see in the north of Italy, but of a fine bright 

 green, very fleshy, and some as large as plums. The trees have not that 

 sombre appearance, which is so tiresome in the north of Italy : here they 

 are regularly pruned, and the leaf has a rich velvety appearance. The 

 country is thickly covered with them, and, from its diversity of hill and 

 dale, forms a delightful prospect at every season of the year. 



Every inch beneath these is cultivated, and produces fine crops of wheat, 

 beans, peas, &c. ; Indian corn is not cultivated in this quarter. From the 

 month of October asparagus springs up wild among the other crops, which 

 is plentiful until the month of June, and many persons get a living by bring- 

 ing it to market ; it is sold at from 15 to 30 reis (fcL to l|of.) per bundle, 

 a very respectable quantity, quite as much as one person can eat. In the 

 spring artichokes are uncommonly plentiful, and are sold at from 20 to 30 

 per penny ; they also grow wild. They are rounder than ours, and the bot- 

 tom parts more fleshy, and of excellent flavour. (Newsp., Nov.) 



NORTH AMERICA. 



Linnean Botanic Garden, Flushing, Long Island, near Neiv York, Dec. 6. 

 1827. — Dear Sir, I lately sent you a barrel of different sorts of apples, and 



Vol. III. — No. 12. hh 



