Queries and Answers. 



8 



made across the road directly under the gate, working at one end on the heel 

 of the hanging post by a pinion at h, and at the other by a bevelled pinion at i, 

 on the upright shaft k. This shaft has a pinion which works into another at /, 

 on the axle of which is the winch m, which is supposed to be at the bedside of 

 the gatekeeper- (Eneyc. of Cottage Architecture, § 831. See also VIII. 163,) 



Spontaneous Vegetation of Broom in a Wood after a Fire. — Sir, The follow- 

 ing facts I can vouch for ; perhaps they may excite enquiries not altogether 

 unprofitable. About seven years ago, the branches broken off by the wind, in 

 one of my plantations, being carried off, the twigs were gathered and burned. 

 In a year or two, but where the ground was burned, and amidst the charred 

 remains of the fire, some plants of the common broom (Spartium scoparium £., 

 Cytisus scoparius Lk.) appeared, and grew vigorously. This seemed odd to 

 me, and I showed them to some of my family; but the same burnings, and the 

 same growth of the same sort of plants, have since been twice repeated. This 

 I cannot account for by even the vaguest guessing. I am sure there were no 

 broom plants among the small branches burned ; and, if there were, the seed 

 must have been consumed : in fact, we have only a very few plants of broom 

 on the grounds. Then whence came the seed ? For I do not believe in 

 vegetable creations in our times, though Ray seems to countenance something 

 of that kind by his " seminal tinctures" in the earth; and, even if the earth 

 preserved the function to originate without parentage, fire does not seem to 

 be the engine to eifect such an operation. The fire weed in America, and 

 other particulars of the same kind, will, of course, suggest themselves to you. — ■ 

 George Ensor. Ardress, Dec. 20. 1833. 



Grottoes at Painshitt and Ascot Park. — You would confer an obligation upon 

 myself and others of your distant subscribers, by giving detailed descriptions 



Vol. X. — No. 48. g 



