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Queries and Answers.' 





it, and was within 2 ft. of the glass. 

 There was considerable circulation in 

 the tube, as was evidenced by observ- 

 ing the animalcules drawn into the 

 tube at one end and expelled at the 

 other. This experiment was on a 

 small scale; but I fear it is sufficient 

 to show that by this method no ma- 

 terial increase of heat can be obtained 

 from the sun's rays. — R. Mallet. 

 Dublin, July, 1832. 



The White-Jloivered Everlasting Pea. 

 — Sir, G. C.'s remarks on iathyrus 

 grandiflorus (p. 50.) remind me of a 

 a circumstance, which 1 have observed 

 several seasons, with respect to the 

 everlasting white pea. I have some 

 plants which grow m ost luxuriantly, and 

 produce a profusion of fine bloom, with apparently perfect pods : but I have 

 always found the seed small and withered, and it has never vegetated ; al- 

 though I have had from the .Lathyrus latifolius, which is growing close to it, 

 a quantity of good seed. Perhaps some of your readers will be able to state 

 whether they have succeeded in raising any seedlings, and also if the plants 

 so raised have always produced the white flower ? Is this pea a seminal 

 variety of the common everlasting pea ? It has, within these few years, 

 been considered scarce ; yet, I have been told, it was known many years 

 ago. If this is really the fact, it would be curious to trace its origin ; and 

 as it is a plant not easily killed, or likely to be despised or neglected, how 

 was it lost for so many years to our gardens, and to whom, or to what 

 chance, are we indebted for its resuscitation ? It is, doubtless, a most 

 delicate and lovely flower, being of the purest white, and deserves to have 

 a place in every flower-garden. Has it been figured in any botanical 

 work, or noticed in any catalogue ? I am, Sir, yours, &c. — E. London. 

 Feb. 13. 1832. [In Sweet's Hort. Brit, and the Sup. to our own.] 



The Chelsea Apple-powder. — Do you happen to know a little work 

 called The Fruit-Groiver 's Instructor, by G. Bliss ? I procured it when 

 last in town ; and my reason for asking the question is this ; it professes 

 to recommend, in very high terms, " the Chelsea apple-powder," the in- 

 vention, as it is stated, of the said Bliss. Is the book authentic, and is the 

 powder worth trying ? Perhaps you can ask this question in the Gardener's 

 Magazine, where some kind Christian in the apple line may take compas- 

 sion on it. I am unfortunately plagued with this tree cholera (the canker), 

 and therefore lay my case before you, as president of the Pomological 

 Board of Health. My trees are all of the dwarf sorts; the soil a gravelly 

 loam upon a chalk bottom ; not a very congenial one for an orchard, but 

 there it is, and I must make the best of it. My gardener tells me this 

 Chelsea powder is a hum, which is as bad as a bug ( I am not sure if he 

 did not use the compound word ; the compound certainly, per se, he has 

 used), and, though inclined to the Roman, turns up his nose thereat. He, 

 of course, does not give his countenance to Bliss, being, moreover, a very 

 plain [dealing] man. — S. T. Stokeferry, June, 1832. 



Shustoke Pippin Apples. — I send specimens of a kind of apple, which, 

 I believe, is the Shustoke pippin. (Shustoke is a village in Warwickshire, 

 rather famous for its apples.) It does not pretend to be any thing more 

 than a kitchen apple; but is worth growing for its size and keeping: it 

 will make, as you may see, a very decent tart or roasted apple now in 

 June, or later. Is it known about London ? — W. T. Bree. Allesley 

 Rectory, June 6. 1832. 



