462 Domestic Notices. — England. 



also cultivated in the island of Penang, but only by the European settlers. 

 The Chinese, who occupy the greater part of the island, confine themselves 

 to the culture of pepper. {Asiatic Journ.) 



AFRICA. 



Spartium nubigenum, the White Retama, or White Broom, of the Canary 

 Islands. — The honey made by the bees upon the Peak of TenerhTe has long 

 been celebrated. Every village in the neighbourhood in the month of May 

 carries its bee-hives, which are hollow stems of the dragon tree {Encyc. of 

 Gard. § 1758.), and places them in the crevices of the rocks. Millions of 

 bees then swarm around the large and fragrant white bushes of the white 

 retama, and very soon fill their hive. The honey is taken from them twice 

 every summer, always in great abundance, and neither Hymettus nor Cha- 

 mouny have ever produced any thing equal' to it, it is so pure and trans- 

 parent, and the taste so aromatic and delicious. Whoever, indeed, would 

 import this bush to the bees of Europe, would deserve as well of his 

 countrymen as he who introduced the vine and fruit trees [?], and this would 

 be by no means difficult, for spartium grows perfectly well here, where snow 

 lies almost continually from December till the middle of April, and even 

 where the lowness of the temperature checks the vegetation of every kind 

 of tree. It might thrive extremely well in the interior of Norway, in Aus- 

 tria, and Poland. But no one has been hitherto successful in rearing it in 

 Europe ; and every thing that has been said of its flourishing in botanical 

 gardens is erroneous. {Prof. Jamieson , s Phil. Jour. Dec. 1826, p. 78.) 



Art. II. — Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



The Purple-coned Fir of Nepal, Vinus spectdbilis, has been raised by Mr. 

 Lambert from seeds received from Dr. Wallick. " This tree, which may be 

 regarded as the Silver Fir of Nepal, surpasses all others of the fir tribe in 

 beauty. Its lofty and pyramidal form, its numerous long, erect, cylindrical, 

 purple cones, studded with drops of pellucid resin, and its flat leaves, 

 silvery underneath, and of a bright shining green above, which thickly 

 adorn its ash-coloured branches, render it a truly admirable object. The 

 trunk is from seventy to eighty feet high, perfectly straight, covered with a 

 smoothish grey bark, and having a circumference of seven or eight cubits. 

 The wood is light, compact, and of a rose colour, resembling, in grain and 

 colour, the pencil cedar, Junipe'rus Bermudiana. Its cones afford, by ex- 

 pression, a purple dye. The resin, especially that of the seeds, is highly 

 pungent to the taste, and its scent is very powerful, not inferior to that of 

 the Deoddra. The elevation at which it is found, namely, of from 8000 to 

 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, induces us to hope that it will be found 

 capable of enduring our severest winters. A magnificent plate of this species, 

 accompanied by a complete description, will be found in the second volume 

 of Mr. Lambert's monograph of the genus, under the name of Pfnus spec- 

 tabilis." {Prof. Jamieson's Phil. Jour. March, 1827, p. 506.) — We under- 

 stand plants of this most interesting tree have been raised in the Fulham 

 nursery. 



New French Pears. — "I have planted out a number of the sorts men- 

 tioned in your list (p. 255.) as stock plants, as well to prove the sorts as to 



