522 Horticultural Jottanda 



canvass. The varnished linen is absolutely necessary to pro- 

 tect from rain ; linen, clothes, &c, may be tied up in a rect- 

 angular piece of grey canvass, prepared with short straps for 

 the purpose, which will preserve them clean and unruffled ; 

 a strong dressing-case should include all small articles : a 

 large sponge, for washing, is a great luxury in a southern 

 climate. A person of good general health will find much 

 advantage, in the south of Europe, from taking with him 

 abundance of Seidlitz powders ; magnesia, which the acid 

 wines render necessary ; and a box of aloetic pills, which will 

 be efficaciously purgative. 



For the preservation of specimens of natural history, he 

 should carry a strongly made box of wood, about 12 in. by 

 8 in., and 4« in. deep, with boards of soft pine to drop in, one 

 on another, leaving spaces, from 1^ in. to half an inch, for 

 sticking insects on, or laying by any small miscellaneous 

 fragile articles. Some loosely bound books of blotting paper, 

 that will fit into a leather writing-case, will answer for a tem- 

 porary hortus siccus. A stout leathern bag, with plenty of 

 lapping paper, will preserve mineral specimens ; none of which, 

 however, on account of their weight, should be collected, but 

 such as are really worth preservation. 



Many plants, especially succulent ones, may be brought 

 home alive, by being included in a cylindrical tin canister 

 with small holes in the top, and a piece of soft wet sponge in 

 the bottom, to envelope the roots. I brought home alive, from 

 Florence, specimens of the Agave lurida, Euphorbia triangu- 

 laris, Cactus monanthos [ ? Opuntia monacantha], &c, simply 

 by wrapping their roots in a bit of sponge, wetting it from 

 time to time, and including the whole in brown paper, and 

 that in an old boot. 



I would recommend a solitary or pedestrian traveller, in 

 Italy, to carry a strong pair of detonating pistols. A showy 

 military uniform, though singularly inappropriate for a gar- 

 dener, is probably the best travelling dress. 



I shall not attempt a regular tourist's journal ; of such too 

 many exist; and I have neither time nor inclination to add 

 to the number. Perhaps of all the guide-books of the Con- 

 tinent published, not one is to be wholly depended on. Good 

 maps are the best guides; the German published ones are the 

 most accurate and full. 



Every traveller to Paris, by the way of Havre, should go by 

 the steamer up the Seine, which I think rivals, if it does not 

 exceed, the Rhine in beauty. The banks of the Seine are in 

 most places lofty, in some abrupt, but nowhere flat ; always 

 either verdant, or clothed with a golden crop, and wooded 



