Foreign Notices : — Ital^. ' 663 



lias tried it assures me that since he had his trees neltoy'es (such is the 

 term), he has always had larger and better-flavoured fruit. — J, Heseliine. 

 Tournay en Belgiqite, June 6. 1831. 



The practice was brought into notice in Britain by Mr. Lyon of Edin- 

 burgh, about fifteen years ago, and is not uncommon in England, with apple 

 and pear trees, and very general with regard to vines under glass. — Cond. 



General Improvement. — " The Reign of the Mind." The Central Com- 

 mittee of the Belgian Provisional Government has issued a decree repeal- 

 ing all the laws and regulations previously imposed on the open expression 

 of opinion, and declaring every man free to propagate his doctrines, reli- 

 gious or philosophical, by discourse, by the press, or by teaching, without 

 hinderance or molestation. This is far more liberal than even the French 

 reformers, and sets your boasted liberty at defiance. However, you may 

 •console yourselves with one thing, viz. that so great a good will not exist 

 long in any country without finding its way into those w^hich are around it. 

 Good laws are like travelling plants ; and you know that a single plant of 

 spearmint would soon cover the island of Great Britain. — H. J. Brown, jun, 

 Brussels, Oct. 3. 1831. 



ITALY. 



Genoa, Se^ji. i. 1831. — Notwithstanding the troubles which have af- 

 flicted this country for some time past, we still seem to be going on with 

 diiferent horticultural and agricultural projects. Gallesio's splendid work 

 on the fruits of Italy continues to appear in quarterly numbers ,* and, at 

 Placentia, a Horticultural Review has lately been commenced, which pro- 

 fesses to give some account of all the European works on gardening as they 

 appear, with extracts from those considered the most impoi'tant for Italy. 



When do you intend to give us the Life of Vilaresi, which Mr. S sent 



you two years ago ? — R. M. S. [It is translated, and shall appear as soon 

 as we can find room.] 



Method of obtaining the Oil from the Olive. — Happening to cast my eyes 

 upon the paragraph entitled the " Olive," in your Encychpcedia of Plants, 

 I found that the processes there given, both for grinding the fruit and pro- 

 pagating the trees, are different from those of our best Italian horticulturists ; 

 and knowing that j'ou desire just criticisms to be made upon your works, 

 I take the liberty of offering a few remarks upon both subjects. 



After the olive is broken in pieces, it is put (you say) into woollen bags, 

 and then pressed. Woollen bags soil very easily, and are very difficult to 

 clean ; they consequently soon contract a bad smell, as the oil with which 

 they are saturated very soon becomes rancid from exposure to the air. This, 

 of course, must spoil the fresh olives that are put into them j and, conse- 

 quently, the oil made by those who use woollen bags is never so good, nor 

 has so exquisite a flavour, as that made by those persons who employ bags 

 of linen, hemp, or rushes. This last kind of bag (that of rushes) was con- 

 stantly used in the last century by the best olive-breakers (infrantei) on the 

 banks of the Lake of Como. 



. Speaking of the Proj^agation of the Olive Tree, you say, that " it is also 

 propagated bj' chips of the stool in the following manner : — An old tree is 

 cut down, and the cej^iw or stock is cut into pieces of nearly the size and 

 shape of a mushroom, and which, from that cu'cumstance, are called novoli 

 (instead of which you should read uovoli). Care is taken that each novoli 

 (iiovoli) shall have a small portion of bark." What is the origin of these 

 uovoli ? They are knots, swellings, or tumours, in the wood, occasioned by 

 the sap not flowing freely to the root, but swelling through the bark of the 

 stock, and thus forming excrescences containing embryo buds. One may 

 compare the uovoli to bulbs, because they possess the faculty of producing 

 a plant. In order to separate them from the ti'unk, it is necessary to cut 

 them close ; and, by introducing a good sharp penknife between the trunk 



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