374- Queries and Answers. 



catechisms. Whenever any bookseller shall be found willing to undertake 

 such publications, we shall be ready either to write them, or to get them 

 written in the very best manner. — Cond. 



Murray's Tallies (fig. 16. Vol. III. p. 29.). — I can get none of these 

 tallies about London ; and knowing no one about Glasgow, I apply to you 

 for advice, &c. — R. S. T. Exmouth, Feb. 20. 1832. 



These tallies may be had of Messrs. Cottam and Hallen, of Winsley 

 Street, London, in quantities under a cwt., at 2s. 3d. per dozen, with 

 the iron only ; or 3s. per dozen with the iron and small pieces of deal for 

 writing the name on, and of glass to fit. In quantities above a cwt. 

 the price will not exceed 18s. per cwt. for the largest size, or 22s. for 

 the smallest. We recommend purchasers of these tallies, or any others of 

 the iron kind, to pay a trifle extra to the manufacturer for putting them 

 when nearly red hot into train-oil or gas-liquor. We also recommend 

 gardeners, when they send for only a dozen or two of small articles of this 

 sort, to pay the postage of their letters. Of all the tallies which we have 

 seen, Murray's are by far the cheapest and best for herbaceous plants in 

 the open air. For large trees and shrubs, brick tallies (figs. 1 1. and 1 2., p. 33. 

 of our present Volume) are preferable, on account of their durability, and 

 the more fixed and permanent character of their appearance. — Cond. 



Weights and Measures in Covent Garden Market. — Sir, It was observed, 

 Vol. VII. p. 255., that the lists of prices in Covent Garden Market are 

 deprived of half their utility to country readers from many of the terms 

 being used only in London. I perfectly agree in this opinion ; and hope 

 that the objection may soon be removed, by having such terms as punnets, 

 sieves, &c, explained in such a manner as to be intelligible to your country 

 raaders. — J. W.L. Birmingham, Sept., 1831. 



The indigenous Flowers and Fruits of the State of Ohio. — Mrs. Trollope, 

 in her Domestic Manners of the Americans, vol. i. p. 87., says, speaking 

 of Cincinnati : — " The flowers of these regions were as bad as the fruits. 

 Whether this proceeds from want of cultivation, or peculiarity of soil, I 

 know not ; but, after leaving Cincinnati, I was told by a gentleman who 

 appeared to understand the subject, that the state of Ohio had no indi- 

 genous flowers or fruits." As Mrs. Trollope is considered to have given 

 way to her prejudices on other subjects connected with America, and as I 

 intend, notwithstanding all she has said to emigrate thither, as soon as I 

 can raise money to pay for the passage of myself and a large family; 

 I should much wish to know what truth there is in this information of " a 

 gentleman, who appeared to understand the subject." Perhaps some of 

 your readers who have been in America, or some American correspondent, 

 can solve my difficulty. I am the more anxious to have it solved, be- 

 cause, assuredly, if there be no indigenous flowers and fruits at Cincinnati, 

 it is the very part of America that I would emigrate to in preference. It 

 will be rather odd if I do not find some of the fruits and flowers of corre- 

 sponding latitudes that will flourish there, whatever may be the " peculiarity 

 of soil." —J?. S. T. Holdemess, April 15. 1832. 



The Tree Mignonette. — In Jesse's Gleanings in Natural History, just 

 published, it is stated (p. 165.) that, " in trenching for a plantation in a 

 part of Bushy Park which had probably been undisturbed by the spade or 

 plough since, and perhaps long before, the reign of Charles I. ; the ground 

 was turned up in the winter, and in the following summer it was covered 

 with a profusion of the tree mignonette, pansies, and the wild raspberry." 

 Now, Sir, on turning to your Hbrtus Britdnnicus (p. 190.), I find that 

 .Reseda odorata var. frutescens was not introduced till the year 1752, 

 upwards of a century after Charles I. was beheaded. In the same page it 

 is stated, that, so completely is the ground impregnated with seeds, if 

 " earth is brought to the surface at the lowest depth to which it is found, 

 some vegetable matter will spring from it." This last is by far too in- 

 definite an assertion to be made in a scientific work. Will the author 



