Vegetable Representative System. SIS 



wei'e brown, or had fallen off. This tree stands in an open situation in 

 front of the mansion : and, according to the information which I received 

 from the gardener of Mi*. Paxton, it retains its leaves through the greater 

 part of the winter ; and afterwards, in a decayed state, till replaced by new 

 ones in spring. Duhamel observes, so liable is the oak to mutability, that 

 scarcely two trees exactly alike are to be found in a wood; and Mr. 

 Cobbett, in his Woodlands, has the same remark : but, though I agree in 

 the justice of this observation, I nevertheless consider the variety highly 

 deserving of the attention of arboriculturists. . 



There are some weeping lime trees in the neighbourhood of this oak 

 tree ; they are graceful, and by no means of common occurrence. 



I have often wondered that the weeping beech, decidedly the most 

 elegant tree of British growth, not excepting the birch, is not more fre- 

 quently noticed by writers on ornamental planting. I observed some fine 

 specimens of it in Tweeddale, in Scotland ; but the finest with which I 

 am acquainted are those in the park of John Corry Moutray, of the 

 county Tyrone, Ireland. Their trunks are upwards of 10 ft. in circumference ; 

 and the branches, which extend 50 ft. from the stem, touch the ground. 



There is a fine weeping white thoi'n in the garden which belonged to 

 the residence of the Regent Murray in Scotland : it is a very beautiful 

 tree. I observed, in the following places, trees or shrubs which have not 

 been described : — Liverpool Botanic Garden ; Mr. Skirving's nursery 

 at Walton, Liverpool ; Messrs. Dickson and TurnbuU's nursery, Perth ; 

 Dickson and Go's nursery, Edinburgh. [We should be glad to have the 

 names and dried specimens of these trees, with such information, historical 

 and descriptive, as the parties possessing them can furnish,] 



I may mention that the Cedrus Deoddra, at Hopetoun House, is 

 thriving amazingly; it increased 15 in. in length last season. It stands, 

 you are aware, in the open au*. The son of Mr. Smith the gardener, ob- 

 serving an account in your Magazine of some experiments on grafting the 

 genus Pinus, copied them, and has been very successful, not only in pro- 

 pagating this genus, but many others of the ^bietinae. — E. Murphy. 

 December, 1830. 



The Lime Tree is preeminently suited for the manufacture of butter 

 casks, because it is the only British wood free from the pyroligneous acid : 

 this was proved "by innumerable experiments by Mr. Geo. Moir, salt 

 manufacturer, Edinburgh, and communicated by him to the Highland 

 Society. {Highland Sac. Trans., vol. vii. p. 355.) 



U7e.r europcB'a contains salt, which is the reason why horses and cattle 

 fed on it soon get a clear skin. (Alton's Dairy Husbandry, p. 39.) 



Art. IV. The Vegetable Representative System. 



The Vegetable Representative System. — We stated (p. 176.) that we 

 should apply to Mr. Alton of the Kew Botanic Garden for such green- 

 house and hot-house plants as we could not procure from our friends 

 about town. We did so, and the result has far exceded our expectation. 

 Mr. Alton supplied us with sixty-two rooted house plants, and cuttings of 

 twelve species of house-plants, to illustrate seventy-four orders and tribes, 

 and he promises more at a future time. He has also sent plants or seeds 

 of forty-four species of grasses, to illustrate the various sections and tribes 

 of the order Gramineas. We have the greatest pleasure in thus doing jus- 

 tice to his liberality. 



From Messrs. Loddiges, Mr. Donald, Mr. Lowe, Mr. Knight, and Mr. 

 Malcolm, we have been enabled to complete our representiitive Arboretum^ 



B B 4 



