Domestic Notices. — Scotland. 353 



this manufactory. The smoke of London is every year forcing the com- 

 mercial gardeners to recede farther from its influence, and we understand 

 evidence has been given before a committee of the House of Commons, to 

 show that plants cannot be kept in the windows or small gardens near the 

 gas manufactory at Westminster, as they used to be before that nuisance 

 was established. Mr. Anderson of the Chelsea Garden can speak to these 

 points. But, supposing it were doubtful to what extent smoke and gas are 

 injurious to plants, surely the prosperity of a national establishment like 

 the Caledonian H. S.'s Garden should not be risked by admitting near it 

 such works, when they might be erected anywhere else. We regret we did 

 not know before the publication of our last No. that such a project was in 

 agitation, because in that case we should have requested information on the 

 subject of the effect of coal gas on plants from all our readers who live 

 near gas-works. Though it may now be too late for this particular case, 

 we request such of our readers as are so situated, to state to us the com- 

 parative appearance of vegetation in the immediate vicinity of such estab- 

 lishments, before and after their erection. We should also be glad if 

 some of our chemical readers would make a few experiments. A cask of 

 portable gas might be placed in a small airtight green-house or hot-bed 

 frame, and portions of it from time to time allowed to mix with the included 

 air. Plants of domestic culture, such as the common culinary vegetables, 

 and fruit trees; also grasses, succulents, wild plants, and exotics, should be 

 subjected to this atmosphere for two or three months. 



Aberdeen Horticultural Society. — A List of the Prizes for 1827 has been 

 sent us ,• and in addition to the usual flowers and fruits, we observed three 

 which are peculiarly appropriate, viz. : 



To the person who produces the best six sorts of one year Seedling Fo- 

 rest trees, and 12 plants of each sort ; the best six sorts of two year seed- 

 ling Forest trees, and 12 plants of each sort; any esteemed Exotic Plant, 

 or Plants brought to the naturalization of the climate of Aberdeenshire, the 

 Society's silver medal. 



Botanic Garden, Edinburgh. \Oth March, 1827. — Rare plants which 

 have flowered during the last three months, as communicated by Dr. 

 Graham to Prof. Jamieson. Banksfa latifolia, and serrata ; Dichorisandra 

 thyrsiflora, Euonymusscandens, Liparia sphae'rica, Mirbelia speciosa, Penae'a 

 squamosa, and Perdicium brasiliense. {Phil. Jour. Mar. 1827. p. 586.) 



The Horticulture and Botany of France and England are compared by 

 Mr. Arnott of Edinburgh, in Professor Jamieson's Philosophical Jour- 

 nal for March last, and a very decided preference is given both to the gar- 

 dens and gardeners of France, in a botanical point of view. " I have now 

 examined various extensive gardens in France, and I uniformly find, that 

 their gardeners understand more of botany than those in the same situation 

 in England. In English and Scotch gardens there is scarcely one person who 

 can give the botanical name of a plant ; or, if they attempt it, it is ten to one 

 a wrong one, or some barbarous jargon that they have received from some 

 correspondent; and indeed,(the botanical gardens and principal nurseries ex- 

 cepted,) he who is at the head of the establishment knows least of all, being 

 generally unable to give the name, whether English or Dutch." (p. 251.) 

 We are none of those who delight to foster national prejudices, or flatter 

 any class of men ; on the contrarj', we consider it more in the line of our 

 duty to neutralize and humble, in order to make way for truth, and show 

 cause for exertion ; but we will venture to assert, that Mr. Arnott' s views 

 in this instance are not borne out by facts. The comparison indeed is too 

 indefinitely made. Let Mr. Arnott compare the botanic gardens and nur- 

 series of both countries, and decide as to them, and then take up the sub- 

 ject of private gardens. Things must be wonderfully advanced in France 

 within the last seven years, if the workmen in private gardens, whether 

 head-men or labourers, know half as much as the same classes in Britain. 



Vol. II. — No. 7. a a 



