102 General Notices. 



courses. The same work; would require twenty-five men per diem, with 

 scrapers, according to the present method. 



Comparative Expense. 



C Two horses, at 6s. each - £0 12 ") 



Machine, -j Three men, at 2s. - - 6 \ £\ 6 



( Wear and tear of machine, &c. 2 6 j 



Manual ^ Twenty-five men, at 2s. each - 210 0? 210 6 



Labour. ( Wear and tear - - 6 3 



Daily saving - - £1 10 



Supposing a road would require cleaning but twice a week, 

 the yearly saving at this rate would amount to - 156 



If but once a week, to - - - - 78 



On only five miles of road. 



The Sweeping Machine, with the same power and attendants, is capable 

 of cleaning three miles, 20 ft. wide, daily. — John JBoase. 53. Albany Street, 

 Regents Park, Nov. 23. 1829. 



New Mode of propagating the P<s?oraa Moutan. — Our readers will recol- 

 lect Mr. Maund's promise (Vol. V. p. 526.) of a mode of propagating this 

 splendid and most desirable plant, that would enable the nurserymen to 

 sell them at Is. each ; he has^now fulfilled it ; and, for the benefit of those 

 who do not possess his elegant work, we quote it at length, well knowing 

 Mr. Maund's liberality, and that the love of nature more than the love of 

 money stimulates him as an author. 



" Li February select any of the stems of the Peeonia Moutan, or all may 

 be used : and at the distance of half an inch from the centre of each bud, 

 both above and below it, cut out entirely round the stem a small ring of 

 the bark, rather more than the sixteenth of an inch wide, in the manner of 

 common ringing, as practised on fruit trees. Thus every bud will occupy 

 one inch of the stem, where the direct continuation of its bark is obstructed, 

 both above and below, by the rings which have been cut out of it. The 

 stems so prepared are then to be laid horizontally about 3 in. beneath the 

 soil, leaving only the leading bud at the end of each branch above the sur- 

 face. In six months every bud will have made a vigorous shoot, and, in 

 general, will have two radical fibres at its base. In August remove the soil 

 from above the layers, and having raised the newly made roots, carefully 

 separate each young shoot from the main layer, by passing a small knife 

 from one ring to the other, cutting out about one third part of the old 

 stem. The young plants should then be immediately potted, to remain till 

 they are required for planting out in then final situations. After thus gather- 

 ing the first crop of young plants, the old layers should be again covered 

 with good soil, and left as before ; and in the following summer a second 

 and greater crop of plants will be produced than in the first season, and, 

 what is most remarkable, they will issue from various parts of the stem, 

 where no trace of a bud was previously indicated. 



" Again, if a stem be detached from the parent plant and treated as 

 described above, and then laid in soil in a pine-pit or stove, it will shoot 

 almost as freely as if connected with the original root. 



" In another experiment, cuttings, of about an inch in length, were made 

 of the Peeonia Moutan, in the manner of vine cuttings, having one bud on 

 each, and about half of the stem behind the bud slit up, and the pith 

 removed. These were put 3 in. deep in pots of soil, and plunged into an 

 exhausted bark bed, having a temperature of about 60°. In the space of 

 two months, these cuttings made young shoots through the soil, and grew 

 freely. 



" The above ready methods of propagating a plant hitherto expensive 

 are truly valuable : they are not the results of our own experience ; but we 

 witnessed the success of part of the experiments, and can rely upon the 

 accuracy of the whole," (Botanic Garden, part v. No. 241.) 



