Transactions of the Prussiati Gardening Society. 597 



on the white or common bu'ch tree (i?etula alba L.). In the 

 year 1808 I observed such a bundle on a Cratae^gus (Mes- 

 pilus) Oxjacantha, and grafted young thorns with them, which, 

 in two or three years, produced beautiful weeping branches. 

 About the same time I observed such a bundle on C/'lmus 

 campestris, eyes of which were budded on healthy young 

 trees, and every one produced a long hanging shoot. Accord- 

 ing to this observation, it would be very easy to procure a 

 large collection of drooping or weeping trees. Our gardeners, 

 however, multiply no species so numerously as the i^raxinus 

 excelsior var, pendula ; which variety often retains its hanging 

 character when raised from seeds. We possess several such 

 trees, of about 10 ft. in height, which were raised from seed of 

 the original tree, obtained, in 1780, from a nurseryman, who 

 found it a few years previous to that, in the neighbourhood of 

 Newmarket, in Cambridgeshire." 



47. Experiments made hy M. Toussaint, Nurseryman at Berlin, to 

 ascertai?i 'what Influence different Soils and Manures have on 

 Annual Plants. 



M. Toussaint says a satisfactory result of this object could 

 only be expected after experiments conducted through several 

 years; but, as one summer (the given time to answer this 

 prize question) is too short to answer this question with cer- 

 tainty, he considers the following results only a proof that it 

 would be worth while to carry these experiments to a greater 

 extent. For his observations he chose melon plants (Bar- 

 baresken, a sort of cantalupe), a variety which, by its size and 

 abundance of juice, is most fitting to show minutely what 

 influence different soils and manures have upon it ; which, 

 however, could only be correctly ascertained in the course of 

 time, as it must be considered that the seeds were taken from 

 fruit produced in a different soil from that in which the 

 experiment was made. The seeds were chosen as much as 

 possible of equal weight and size. Fresh dung from pigs, 

 cows, and horses, and loam, and decayed wood, were the in- 

 gredients with which the experiments were carried on. These 

 were mixed with leaf mould in the following proportions : 

 firstly, one third of leaf mould, and two thirds of one of those 

 manures ; secondly, one third of one of the above manures, 

 and two thirds of leaf mould, which gave ten different mix- 

 tures, in which the seeds were sown. The temperature was 

 also ascertained by a thermometer fixed in the middle of each 

 frame. Two fresh and two old seeds were sown at an equal 

 depth in each light, from which two plants were afterwards 

 removed into another frame, filled with common garden soil 



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