Foreign Notices. — Switzerland. — Italy. 225 



is to that gentleman I am indebted for the following information on 

 the properties of the Panicum Germanicum, and the engraving (from 

 which fig. 62. is taken) of the plant which accompanies these re- 

 marks. Count Malabailla, President of the Royal Board of Agriculture 

 in Bohemia, states that the German millet is cultivated in the German do- 

 minions of Austria, as well as in Hungary and in the Bannat, where it 

 obtained the provincial appellation of Mohar. The plant is an annual, 

 and often attains to the height of four feet, according to the soil. It delights 

 in a light moorish soil. It is sown in the spring, at the rate of about one 

 and a half peck per acre, and slightly harrowed in. It is cut either for 

 green food or to be made into hay. The hay is found to be so nourishing, 

 that in Hungary the horses, when fed with it, are reduced to almost half 

 their usual allowance of oats j and in winter oxen are entirely fattened 

 with it. 



Professor Shoenburn, of Pest, in Hungary, likewise bears testimony to 

 the value of mohar ; he says that all farmers assert it to be very nutritious 

 and an excellent fodder. He remarks, that it grows best in a light humid 

 soil, and that it will grow luxuriantly even in boggy soils, after they have 

 been drained. 



Mohar has been tried on Dartmoor, and found to succeed so well as to 

 perfect seed ; and as it appears to grow and come to maturity with unusual 

 quickness, and that when cut it is made into hay with very little loss of 

 labour or of time, these circumstances hold out strong inducements to 

 make trial of the seed on such farms, in the northern parts of the king- 

 dom, as are subject to a scarcity of fodder in winter. 



Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt has sent for seed of the mohar from Germany, in 

 order that a fair trial may be given to the plant in the ensuing spring on 

 soils adapted to its culture and situations where its properties will be duly 

 appreciated. I am, dear Sir, &c. G. Sinclair. 



New Cross, Surrey, Jan. 1827. 



As Mr. Sinclair will probably receive a portion of the seed from Sir Tho- 

 mas Tyrwhitt, whose paper on the subject in the Communications to the 

 Board of Agriculture will be recollected by some of our readers, such of 

 them as wish to give it a trial may write to New Cross, or to their seeds- 

 man to apply there, — Cond. 



SWITZERLAND. 



Botanic Garden at Basle. — On the 7th of September I visited the Botanic 

 Garden at Basle, on the Rhine, where I noticed a fine plant of the Mimosa 

 catechu and Stapelia planiflora, in bloom, unprotected. Altogether 

 the garden is of limited dimensions : there is a small pond with aquatic 

 plants ; from its centre issued ajet-d'eau, and it was surrounded with rock 

 work covered with alpine plants. What I thought most worthy of remark 

 was the Arundo donax, fifteen feet high, and two fine specimens of 

 Cactus heptagonus, one in flower fourteen feet high. They stood as sen- 

 tinels at the entrance, and had always been exposed. J. M. 



Jan. 23. 1827. 



ITALY. 



Manuring the Vine with the Shoots pruned from it, has been found very 

 advantageous by G. Ramello, an Italian cultivator. There can be no doubt 

 that the best manure for every plant is the mould produced by decayed 

 plants of its own kind ; for no other mould can contain its constituent in- 

 gredients in such nicely adjusted proportions. Some plants, and especially 

 those of domestic culture, will attain great vigour when supplied with 

 powerful animal manures; but by such manures other plants are killed. 



Vol. II. — No. 6. o 



