700 domestic Notices : — 'Enuland. 



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Grant Thorburn, Esq., the celebrated seedsman of New York, the 

 Lawrie Todd of Gait's novel of that name, arrived in London from New- 

 York, in the last week of October, and, after remaining a few weeks, will 

 proceed to Scotland to visit his father (who is still alive, and ninety-two 

 years of age), in the neighbourhood of Dalkeith. Mr. Thorburn pro[)Oses 

 to return to London in February, and to embark again for America in 

 March, taking with him an extensive assortment of trees, plants, and seeds. 

 Mr. Thorburn assures us that he has seen no seed or plant establishment in 

 or about London, not even excepting Chubb's splendid shop in Newgate 

 Street, or the Bedford conservatories, at all to be compared to his own 

 store in New York. Mr. Thorburn has also brought with him his auto- 

 biography, with the intention of publishing it in London. — Cond. 



Sheffield Botanic Garden. — The subscription for this establishment is 

 going on rapidly. Above 6000/. have been already subscribed, and as soon 

 as the subscription amounts to 10,000/. land is to be purchased. The 

 Duke of Devonshire and most of the nobility and gentry in the neighbour- 

 hood, patronise this undertaking. (^Weekly True Sun, Nov. 3.) 



A jJublic Cemetery has recently been proposed for Manchester and its 

 vicinity. By a prospectus which has been sent us, it appears that the 

 capital is to be raised in shares of 10/. each. We wish the scheme success, 

 and hope a sufficiently extensive piece of ground will be purchased, and 

 that it will be laid out in an appropriate style. We say appropriate, be- 

 cause we have never yet seen a British cemetery appropriately laid out. 

 The best is Liverpool, because the artist had only to follow the accidental 

 features of the spot. In general the great fault is the employment of 

 curved lines in the walks, which renders the cemetery like a pleasure 

 ground, instead of giving it a distinctive character. In our forthcoming 

 Encyclopcedia of Landscape-Garde ning we shall have a good deal to say 

 on this subject. — Cond. 



A Chalybeate Spring, of extraordinary strength, has lately been brought 

 into notice at Dorton Park, the seat of C. S. Ricketts, Esq., near Brill, in 

 Buckinghamshire. The situation is singularly hilly and romantic, and very 

 little known to the public, having been, till lately, almost inaccessible for 

 want of roads. Notwithstanding this, Dorton House is an immense struc- 

 ture, built in the time of Queen Elizabeth; and the park was laid out, or at 

 least improved, in modern times, by the celebrated Brown. The present 

 spirited proprietor is erecting a magnificent Grecian building as a bath 

 room, from the designs of Mr. James Hakewill, and the grounds are laying 

 out by our esteemed friend Mr. Main, who speaks with rapture of the 

 situation; and, from the high opinion we have of his taste, we feel con- 

 fident he will make the grounds among the finest of the kind in England. 

 An account of the spa has been published in a pamphlet, sold by Whit- 

 taker and Co., entitled. The History of the Dorton Chalybeate, &c., by F. 

 Knight, surgeon. Brill. 



The True Service trees (of which there are two, the apple-fruited and the 

 pear-fruited) in the Horticultural Society's gardens, have this year borne 

 an abundant crop. We could wish such of our correspondents as have an 

 opportunity, to look at these handsome trees, with a view to their more 

 frequent introduction in pleasure grounds, and even orchards. The 

 nurserymen might easily import plenty of plants of the true service from 

 Paris, BoUwiller, or Tarascon. — Co7id. 



Of the Wheat of the Neighbourhood of Victoria, a Village in the Province of 

 Caraccas, which Humboldt, in his Personal Narrative, p. 10-i — lOZ., has 

 noticed as being very productive, and as ripening, in Victoria, in 70 or 73 

 days from the sowing. Dr. Hamilton, 13. Oxford Place, Plymouth, has re- 

 ceived seeds from Sir R. K. Porter, and distributed them in small quantities 

 to various individuals in Britain. He has sent us 125 grains, which we have 



