Queries and Answers. 93 



light colour, and remarkably neat. The timber of the abele (P. alba or of 

 P. canescens, whichever it may be) was selected for this purpose (as I have 

 often heard from the late possessor of the property) for the very reason 

 hinted at above by J. D. An abele (or P. canescens) of very laro-e 

 dimensions grew, long since my recollection, upon the small narrow island 

 in the river immediately in front of the house at Newbold, but it has been 

 cut down some years. 



Larch. The timber of the larch, though, like other trees of the fir tribe, it 

 abounds with turpentine, is yet, contrary to what we should expect, re- 

 markably slow in igniting, and may almost be said to resist fire. A friend 

 of mine once had occasion to cut down some old larch trees, and thinking 

 that they would make particularly good firewood, he had them cut into 

 logs for that purpose, and reserved for his own use. To his utter surprise, 

 however, he found that they would scarcely burn ; I do not mean that fire 

 would not consume them, but that they burned extremely sluggishly, and 

 made the worst fuel that can well be imagined. The same I have found 

 by experience to be the case with the twigs and small branches of the 

 larch. Can you account for this extraordinary fact, which is so contrary 

 to what might have been expected ? The larch, too, I am told, has the 

 property of resisting the effects of water as well as of fire. The value of 

 this quick-growing tree as timber is, I apprehend, scarcely yet estimated 

 as it deserves in this country. 



Birch (Betula alba). — Are you aware that the thin white bark of the 

 birch, which peels off" like so much paper, will burn like a candle ? May 

 it not be applied to some useful purpose ? The wood and twigs of birch, 

 too, burn remarkably brisk. Yours, &c. — W. T. Bree. Allesley Rectory, 

 Dec. 20. 1831. 



Polygala vulgaris of different Colours. — Sir, Some apology is perhaps 

 due from me to your correspondent G. J. P., for having misunderstood his 

 meaning (Vol. VII. p. 246.), as it appears I did, respecting the varieties of 

 Polygala vulgaris (see p. 380.); and yet I know not how his words could 

 well be understood in any other sense than that in which I took them. 

 From his subsequent remarks (p. 717.), I perceive his meaning to be, that 

 flowers of several different colours are sometimes found on the same 

 individual plant of Polygala vulgaris ; and that he seeks an explanation of 

 the phenomenon. Now this reminds me of the old story about the hoaxing 

 problem once proposed to a learned society, viz. " Why a vessel filled with 

 water, and with a guinea placed in it, weighs no heavier than the same 

 vessel filled with water, but without the guinea? " Before we speculate 

 on such questions, I should wish to be informed, on somewhat less vague 

 authority, whether the fact be really so. Your correspondent says, " he 

 finds on a neighbouring common the Polygala vulgaris ; the flowers are of 

 four different colours, viz. dark blue, light blue, red, and white." (p. 246.) 

 All these varieties, i. e. specimens of the plant respectively bearing flowers 

 of these several colours, are of frequent occurrence. In his last com- 

 munication he tells us that he has read in some book (he forgets the title), 

 that the flowers of Polygala vulgaris are changeable, and that flowers have 

 been found of several colours on the same plant; "but this," he adds, "he 

 never saw." Neither have I ; and if any of your readers have ever met 

 with so unusual a party-coloured variety, it may be worth recording in your 

 Magazine. I would not, however, be understood as absolutely denying the 

 existence of such a variety, more especially as a similar anomaly, 1 am 

 aware, is known to take place in some other cases ; e. g. I have seen on 

 the same plant of Geranium pratense, in the Oxford Garden, blossoms, 

 some of which were entirely blue, some pure white, and others striped, or 

 partly blue (the usual colour) and partly white. Centaurea Cyanus, again, 

 is not unfrequently to be met with in the gardens producing, on the same 

 plant, flowers of four or more different colours, viz. blue, white, dark purple, 

 or chocolate, and particoloured. And, only in October last, my attention 



