Foreign Notices : — JDenmark. 54.7 



dred : on this occasion there were, I suppose, half that number ; but it is dif- 

 ficult to judge, as a large portion is always scattered about. It was quite a 

 novelty to botanise in such a croivd, and a very amusing novelty. The 

 party seemed to be taken from all classes ; among them were several ladies, 

 and many who had the appearance of gentlemen ; but the larger portion, I 

 apprehend, were students in the School of Medicine at Paris, and these are, 

 in a great measure, derived from a lower class in society than that which 

 peoples the English, or even the Scotch, universities. No person can exer- 

 cise the trade of an apothecary without a certificate of having attended 

 certain courses of botany. Some were evidently mechanics, and one or two 

 private soldiers. It has, I understand, always been the case in France, that, 

 among the private soldiers, there have been some who have attended the 

 different courses. How honourable this is to the French character, and 

 how much more favourable to morals than where the only resource for an 

 idle hour is the alehouse ! Nor should I be satisfied with the observation, 

 that they would be better employed in working for their families. Man has 

 a right, occasionally, to relaxation, and to some exciting amusement j nor 

 do I believe that either his moral or physical health can be well preserved 

 without it. In England, a gentleman or lady would not choose to be seen 

 in such an assembly of all classes : why is it that our pride will not permit 

 us to enjoy, without excluding our inferiors ? In fact, with all our boast of 

 superior religion and superior charity, there are more of contempt in our 

 manners towards the lower classes, and less of kindness, than in, I believe, 

 any other nation of Europe. It may be merely in manner, and may regard 

 only trifles : but nine tenths of human life is made up of trifles ; I am more 

 indebted to him who will make me happy in them, than to him who would 

 relieve me in the other tenth of serious misfortune. ( Wood's Letters of an 

 Architect, vol. i.) 



The Cultivation 0/ Maize is likely to become general in France. At the 

 sitting of the Academy of Sciences in Paris, on the 31st ult., it was proposed 

 to give a prize of J 500 francs value to the author of the best essay on the 

 cultivation of Indian corn in the four departments surrounding Paris, with 

 a view to render this grain useful for the nourishment of the human species. 

 Hitherto it has been grown chiefly in the south of France, as food for cattle 

 and fowls. It is a singular fact, that fowls fed exclusively upon this food 

 have a yellow appearance. {Lit. Gaz., April 11. 1829.) 



Superior Salubrity of high and dry Situations. — In the French AnniiairCy 

 or Almanack, for 1829, various statements respecting population are given. 

 Among 855,658 deaths in 1826, 158 had reached or exceeded their hun- 

 dredth year ; and, what is remarkable, and shows the superior salubrity of 

 high and dry countries, by far the greatest proportion of these centenarians 

 was in the two departments of the Upper and Lower Pyrenees. {Scotsman, 

 March, 1829.) 



DENMARK. 



Royal Gardens, Rosenburgh. Aug. 20. 1829. — If the weather do not 

 change, we shall have no harvest at all. No gardener living remembers such 

 a season. Grass and cabbages, and the like, thrive luxuriantly ; but grapes, 

 peaches, and the late sorts of pears, on the open wall, will not ripen this 

 season. For several nights the thermometer has been down at the freezing 

 point, and, one day, it was only 4° above it at 12 o'clock. Even the grapes 

 in the vineries do not ripen. I am told, by one of our principal nursery- 

 men, that Campanula pyramidalis will stand our most severe winters in the 

 open ground, provided it be not covered ; if covered, it rots. I shall try it 

 this winter. Professor Schouw's Geography of Plants is an excellent work 

 which you should translate from the German, and publish in your Magazine 

 of Natural History. Rothe (a young gardener of education) has published 

 his horticultural tour in Germany, Holland, France, and Upper Italy, in 



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