Retrospective Criticism. lOS 



four places in different parts of the country, with a good character for so- 

 briety, integrity, and industry from his last place. 



If every gardener will write his own specific character in the above man- 

 ner, he will see what he wants to render it complete ; because the first step 

 towards supplying a defect, is to know and feel that it exists. Gardeners 

 also who know different masters, might make out their specific characters, 

 and by these exercises leai'n to know others as well as themselves. — Cond. 



The Balm of Gilead Firs in Kinmell Park. — Sir, A correspondent in 

 Vol. IV. p. 563., says that in Kinmell Park, Denbighshire, are Balm of 

 Gilead Firs, of 84 ft. in height, and 10 ft. in circumference at the base. If 

 this is correct, they are the most rare and curious vegetable productions in 

 this kingdom. Every Balm of Gilead Fir that I ever yet saw, or before 

 heard of, planted in Britain, when it has attained a fifth or a fourth of that 

 height, becomes stunted, and dies. Has not your correspondent mistaken 

 the species ? and are not the firs in question Silver Firs ? These not unfre- 

 quentiy attain the size and bulk mentioned by your correspondent^ and even 

 a much greater size. 



The tvvo species of firs being considerably alike in leaf, it is not uncom- 

 mon to confuse them. An easy mark of distinction is this : the leading 

 bud of the Silver Fir is covered with a coat of hard dry resin, which does not 

 soil the fingers ; the leading bud of the Balm of Gilead Fir is covered with a 

 brilliantly clear liquid resin, which very difficultly dries, and adheres to the 

 fingers when touched. There is also a difference in the smell, which it is 

 easier to recognise than to describe. Probably some other of your corre- 

 spondents may be able to determine this fact with accuracy. I am, Sir, &c. 

 — Causidiciis. Nov. 9. 1828. 



Origin of the Otaheite Pine. — Sir, In No. viii. of the Pomological Ma- 

 gazine, the Anson, or Otaheite, Pine is stated to have been raised from seed 

 at Shugborough, which is incorrect. It was not raised from seed in this 



country, but was introduced by the late ■ Birt, Esq., of Colton Hall, 



near Rugeley, from the Island of St. Croix, in the West Indies. Some 

 plants soon found their way to Shugborough, and v>'ere probably fruited 

 there in great perfection, whence arose the erroneous idea of its having been 

 raised from seed there. I am yours, &c. — C. F. JV, Drayton, Oct. 25. 1828. 



The Pomolagical Magazijie. — My housewife, finding that we had more 

 gooseberries than we could consume, lately proposed to me to make some 

 British wine with them, to wiiich I assented ; and she desired me to get her 

 some book in which I should find a recipe for making it. Remembering to 

 have seen advertised a PojHo/ogjca/ilfagasiMZf, I immediately concluded that, in 

 this work, the name of which (being compounded of Trojxa (jwma) drink, and 

 Xoyoe {logos), reason or method) does, according to all grammar and Greek, 

 import to contain the science and theory of drinks, I should find information 

 on the manufacture and ingredients of ail wines and fermented liquors: but, to 

 my disappointment, when I came to buy it, I found only figures of four or five 

 fruits, and some description of them, but not a word of the means of making 

 them into drink ; and, worse,it appears as if the editor meant to go on publish- 

 ing plates and descriptions of four or five varieties or species of fruits in every 

 Number,for an almost interminable series; sothatland myhousekeeper shall 

 be dead before the name will become appropriate, and before the author will 

 begin to treat of the method of brewing the wines from these fruits. It 

 appears to me, that it would be much more useful if the editor, now that 

 he has given a plate and description of one or more varieties of several 

 species of fruit, as apples, pears, peaches, gooseberries, and strawberries, 

 would next give us a few chapters on the manner of converting them into 

 drink ; and, when he has fully treated thereon, he may add the descriptions 

 and plates of other varieties of fruits, and, if they require any difference in 

 the brewing process, he may mention it as he goes on with the fruits. I 



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