Arhoretum Britminicum. 371 



These pegs may be had of Mr. Charlwood, 14. Tavistock Row, Covent 

 Garden, with or without peg baskets. The pegs are from Is, to \s. 3d. a 

 dozen, and the baskets 2s. each. 



Thora Skewers. — Su', In your last Number (p. 232.), under the head of 

 Arboretum Britannicum, you have thought well to insert a rather hasty and 

 rambling letter of mine, which was written, I assure you, without the least 

 idea of its ever appearing in print, but merely with a view to throw out 

 some useful hints for your private information. Had I been aware that 

 you meant to insert it in yom- Magazine, I would have endeavoured to 

 put the substance of it in a somewhat more methodical form, so as to 

 render it less unfit to meet the public eye. I do not, however, complain 

 of what you have done, especially as the letter in question has been the 

 means of introducing to public notice the thorn skev/ers (see fig. 35.), 

 which I am much pleased to find are so highly approved of by yourself, and 

 others to whom you have shown them. I am only surprised that they 

 were not known to you before ; they have been in use in this house before 

 •I was born, and I am informed are employed in the north (Cumberland) 

 for the purpose of dividing hog-puddings into links, instead of tying them 

 with a string, as is usually done here. For the benefit of cookery, I hope 

 these thorns will henceforth become a regular article for sale in the London 

 shops. My principal object in again adverting to the subject is to state that, 

 in gathering the thorns from the hedge, care should be taken to select such 

 as are strong and clean ; i. e. as free as may be from knots and side shoots, 

 and more especially from the small lateral thorns with which the primary 

 thorn or skewer is frequently armed. It may not be unimportant to add 

 that, if the thorns are boiled in water for a few minutes before they are 

 scraped, the bark will peel off with much greater facility, and the operation 

 may then be performed almost with the thumb and finger only, without the 

 help of the knife. The boiling somewhat alters, I think I may say im- 

 proves, the colour of the skewers, giving them a slightly cream-coloured 

 tinge ; whereas when scraped raw, without being submitted to the process 

 of boiling, they usually assume, while fresh at least, more or less of a - 

 greenish hue; as you may perceive by the specimens prepared after such 

 method, which I send herewith. The colour, however, makes no difference 

 in the utility, but merely in the appearance, of the skewers. After the 

 thorns are scraped and freed from the bark and knots, if a little sand or 

 glass paper be employed in polishing them up, the superior neatness which 

 is hereby given to the article will amply repay the additional labour. 



The watchmaker's skewer, made of the wood of Fiburnum O'pulus, of 

 which you have given a specimen at p. 234;. fig. 34., it should be observed, is 

 figured in the rough. It is almost needless to add that the point should 

 be sharpened, and its bulk considerably diminished, in order to fit the 

 minute pivot-holes in the works of a watch, before it is fit for the use of the 

 manufacturer. Yours, &c. — W. T. Bree. AUesley Rectory^ April 5. 1831, 



Art. III. The Arboretum Britannicum. 



Sir, It is with pleasure that I see announced in Vol, VI, p, 718. the 

 notice of your coming Arboretum Britannicum, a work which appears 

 calculated to be eminently useful, as well as interesting, in many respects : 

 and the mode you have taken to elicit materials from all quarters is 

 both liberal and candid, and, as it appears to me, calculated to be 

 crowned with success, I am much gratified to see, by your third para- 

 graph, that it is intended to " include the distribution of the trees in 

 different countries, native habitation as to soil and subsoil, and rocks," 

 I have before ventured to trouble you with ray sentiments on the great 



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