Domestic Notices : — England. 8 1 



brought in as manure in the spring. I have now a full supply of it in my 

 old pink-bed. Coi'eopsis tinctoria and Cacalia coccinea are equally as hardy, 

 and come up spontaneously in abundance. — Mentor. Exmouth, Aug. 26. 

 1828. 



Large Crop of Grapes and Peaches in the same House. — Sir, In the 

 peach-house at Buscat Park, the seat of Pryse Pryse, Esq. M.P., near Far- 

 ringdon, Berkshire, is a vine trained up the rafters, which, last season, pro- 

 duced 384 good-sized bunches, with large berries, of Black Hamburgh 

 Grapes ; the weight of the whole, 225 lb. The house is 60 ft. long, and, in 

 the early part of the season, had produced a large crop of peaches. I am, 

 Sir, &c. — John Me7'rick, Gardener. Buscat Park, Nov. 10. 1828. 



A Cucumber, grown by Mr. Gummery, of Leech Street, Worcester, this 

 year, when cut and fit for the table, weighed 6 lb. 3 oz., was 17 in. in 

 iengtii, and 20 in circumference. {Worcester Herald.) 



A Rhubarb Leaf was plucked in a garden at Frampton, near Boston, in 

 October last, which measured, across, 3 ft. 3. in. by 3 ft. {Lincoln Merc.) 



Leaf of a Hybrid Rhubarb Plant. — Sir, In June last, I had occasion to 

 pay a visit to W. Terry, Esq., of Sutton Coldfield, in whose garden, near 

 that town, I observed some remarkably fine specimens of rhubarb ; it was 

 not the medicinal rhubarb (iSheum.palmatum), but of the kind now usually 

 cultivated for culinary purposes, which, I have understood, is a hybrid plant. 

 A lady of the party was so struck with the luxuriance of the plant, that she 

 begged to take a leaf home with her. A leaf was accordingly gathered, 

 together with its complete petiole, the weight and dimensions of which I 

 had the curiosity to take the next day, and found to be as follows : — 

 Weight of the whole leaf, 4 lb. ; circumference, not including that of the 

 petiole, 21 ft. 5 in. ; diameter, 5 ft. 10 in. ; length of the leaf, including the 

 petiole, 5 ft. 2 in. ; length of the petiole, 1 ft. 4 in. The leaf was not 

 weighed till the day after it had been gathered ; and, as the weather was 

 hot, and the nerves had been cut through in several places, for the purpose 

 of folding the leaf for more commodious carriage, it is probable it had lost 

 something in weight by evaporation. — W. T. Brce. AUesley Rectory, Nov. 

 17. 182S. 



Rhubarb. — I have seen in several gardens in Shropshire, a variety of 

 i?heum, I believe, quite different from any kind in general cultivation; it 

 is called Buntingsdale Rhubarb.* I was first attracted by the extraordinary 

 size of the leaves. I have this day measured several leaves on one plant; 

 four or five of them measured 2 ft. 8 in. by 2 ft. 4 in., exclusive of the pe- 

 tiole, or leaf-stalk ; and some, I am told, grow to greater dimensions. — J.M. 



Aguve ameiicana, or American Aloe. — There is now at Brislington, at the 

 residence of Mrs. Susan March Phillipps, mother-in-law to the Bishop of 

 Lichfield and Coventry (formerly the residence of the late Edward Rolle 

 Clayfield, Esq.), a splendid Agave americana, which has thrown up a flower 

 stem about 2 5 ft. high, having eighteen branches, which bear from 800 to 900 

 flower buds, and are expected to be in blossom in about ten or twelve days. 

 The flower stem made its appearance about the 10th of June last, and has 

 been increasing in height ever since. Mrs. Phillipps has a glass fi'ame, 30 ft. 

 hio-h, erected over it, to facilitate its bloom, as likewise a staircase and plat- 

 form', to approach near the height of the flowers, for the accommodation of 

 visitors. This plant was brought to Brislington fifty-eight years since, by the 

 late Abraham James, Esq., at whose death it became the property of the late 

 Mr. Thomas Tipton ; was a few years in the possession of the late Mr. Kin- 

 ton ; and thirty-eight years since it was made a present of to the late James 



* So called from the place where it was originally found ; and I am 

 informed that there are plants with leaves double the above size. 



Vol. v.— No. 18. g 



