4-6 General Notices. 



two seasons against a south wall ; but, what with the cold at night and the 

 sun in the day, the flowers were not in perfection above twenty-four hours. 

 So much for the extremes of heat and cold. South walls should only be 

 covered with late-flowering plants, as those are the plants which require 

 to be brought forward. lam, Sir, yours, &c. — H. Groom. Walworth, 

 April 12. 1831. 



Method of prolonging the Flowering Season of Border Flowers. — Lupines, 

 yellow, large blue, small blue, white, and straw-coloured. For all these 

 the same mode of culture will suffice. The seed should be sown between 

 the 20th and 30th of March, in pots, size 32, or larger, and not too thickly. 

 When the young plants crowd each other, turn them out of the pots, and 

 cut off the tap root of each. They may then be either potted or planted 

 in the open ground at pleasure. The only further culture they require 

 is weeding, watering, and cutting off the flower-stalks as soon as the 

 petals drop off. By this means the plant will not waste its strength in 

 forming seed ; fresh shoots will continually grow ; and the same plant will 

 be in full bloom from June to October. 



Pelargoniums. The flower-stalks should be cut off, as recommended for 

 the lupine ; which will very much lengthen their time of flowering, and 

 greatly conduce to the vigour and neat look of the plants. The same may 

 be said of the dahlia, scabious, rose-campion, and, indeed, of all sorts of 

 herbaceous plants. 



Georginas. The roots of the georgina should be planted in pots about the 

 latter end of February, and, if possible, placed under a hand-glass, or in a 

 frame. They may be planted in the border, about the beginning of June. 

 The compost for them should be three fourths sand ; and but little water 

 should be given them, otherwise they will grow to an immense size, and be 

 destroyed by the frost before they can bloom. It may be as well to plunge 

 pot and all into the ground. 



By the above it will be seen that the chief peculiarity of my mode of 

 culture is cutting off the flower-stalks as the petals drop. I must beg also 

 to remind the London horticulturist of the great benefits of using a 

 garden engine to wash off the soot. — Mattheus Sylvaticus. April, 1828. 



The Dividivi (Ca:salpi?da Qoridria), — In the month of June, 1829, I sent 

 seeds of this plant to Dr. Bancroft, and I have lately been gratified by a letter 

 from Mr. M'Fadyen, the scientific ex-director of the botanic garden at 

 Jamaica, dated the 3d of September, 1831, from which the following 

 extract will be satisfactory : — "In several situations we have succeeded 

 in raising the plant from the seeds which you were kind enough to send us 

 (viz. in 1 829). I have two very healthy plants at Hope Estate, one of 

 which is just coming into flower, and the other is preparing • so that in a 

 short time we shall have it in our power to try the experiment on a larger 

 and more satisfactory scale. Like its congener, the C. pulcherrima (Barba- 

 does flower-fence, or doodle-doo), it would appear to be adapted to flourish 

 in the hottest and most parched of our plains." This opinion perfectly 

 tallies with the account I lately received from Carthagena, and shows more 

 strongly the immense value of its introduction into our colonies ; while 

 his account fixes the age at which seedling plants begin to flower, at about 

 two years, or perhaps thirty months upon an average : the fact deserves to 

 be recorded in your Magazine for general information. The pods of this 

 tree, besides their utility in the arts, manufactures, and medicine, as a sub- 

 stitute for galls, are greedily devoured by cattle ; and, in times of scarcity, 

 furnish a valuable provender for them. The mean produce of tannin 

 from 60 grains, as deduced from the results of two experiments, is 6*625 

 grains ; while the mean produce of 60 grains of the best Aleppo galls was 

 only 4*625. Hence, taking 805. per cwt., or 80/. per ton, as the mean 

 value of galls (estimated from the prices in the Prices Current), the par of 

 value of a ton of dividivi may be found by the following proportion ; — - 



