Domestic Notices ; — England. 677 



Culture ofGuavas. — I have been very successful in fruiting both the red 

 and yellow guavas, having had abundant crops, which have contributed to 

 the dessert for several months, with ample supply for preserving and making 

 jelly. I will send you a notice of my treatment. — H. Dalgl^isk, 



La7'ge Asparagus. — A few days ago Mr. Grayson, the famous cultivator 

 of asparagus, presented the Duchess of Bedford with a bundle of that 

 delicious vegetable, consisting of 110 heads, and weighing twenty-nine 

 pounds. (^Preston Pilot, June 4. 1831,) 



JEnormous Cabbage. — There is now in the garden of Mrs, Diana Arch- 

 bell of Healaugh, near Tadcaster, a red cabbage plant, which measures 

 13 ft. in circumference. (^Lancaster Herald, July 30. 1831.) 



A remarhable Specimen of Mimosa pudica, or Humbly Plant. — Sir, I am 

 aware that many may think it ridiculous to say any thing on this subject ; but 

 I do not think any one will who has taken like pains with myself to bring 

 the plant to a tolerable state of perfection. Many people are satisfied 

 with this plant if they can grow it 1 ft. high, with a few leaves, just suffi- 

 cient to show those who have never seen them that they close and drop 

 on being touched- If this be all that is to be expected from it, it is not 

 worth growing, as it is not, in this state, an object of beauty j and as most 

 ladies and gentlemen are aware of its falling when touched, it is thought 

 but little of. But when grown to a good size it is a beautiful thing; and 

 it also looks much more curious to see branches of 2 ft. in length falling 

 down round the plant, thap merely a few leaves. Those who have nothing 

 more than 3. green-house, as far as I am acquainted with it, I should think, 

 could not obtain one so large and so full of flowers as the one I am abput to 

 describe ; but those who can command from 30° to 60° heat through the 

 winter may. My plant was raised last summer in a frame ; and, after 

 remaining in a green-house till the nights became too cold, it was removed 

 to a pit of the above heat till about January, when it was put into a 

 cucumber frame, where it remained as long as there was room for it j I 

 pinching the tops of the shoots oif, to prevent their touching the glass. I 

 then removed it, after shifting into a large flower-pot, to a house of about 

 70° heat, where it is at this moment in full flower, and forms a bush up- 

 wards of 3 ft. in diameter. It has several times this summer had upwards 

 of 100 heads of flower-buds and flowers on it at once. I am. Sir, yours, 

 &C. — R.T. May21.lSB\. 



Mimosa pudica, called the humble plant from its timidly shrinking from 

 the touch, not unfrequently receives the appellation of " the sensitive 

 plant ; " and very sensitive it is, even more so than the true sensitive plant. 

 Mimosa sensitiva ; a figure of which may be seen at table 23. of the Botanical 

 Register : it and M, pudica, which is also figured in the Botanical Register, 

 t. 941., are remarkably dissimilar plants. — J. D. 



The Tea Shrub [Thea viridis]. — This shrub has been tried in Brecon- 

 shire, not far from the source of the Usk, about 1000 ft. above the level of 

 the sea, and found not only to endure the last winter, and the severe frost 

 of the 9th of May, but to make vigorous shoots. (S, Rootsey, m Plymouth 

 and Devonport Journal, July 28. 1831.) 



Large Seedling Pelargonium. — One raised by me, in 1828, from the 

 Waterloo, is now 3 ft. 10 in. high, and the stem within 3 ft. from the ground 

 is 3i in. in circumference. One branch contains eighty-five bunches of 

 flowers, all out at the same time, and another nearly as many. — A Sub- 

 scriber. Northampton, Sept. 1831. 



The Esperione Grape. — This grape, which Mr. Plimley has found 

 reason to believe the same as the black muscadine (see, however, p. 688.), 

 has arrived at a very high degree of pei'fection, in the open air, in the forcing- 

 grounds at Kensington Gardens. One plant, on an eastern aspect, has a 

 jgopst abundant crop, perfectly ripened. Mr. Plimley strongly recommends 



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