Foreign Notices : — America. 569 



will have begun to be protruded before the old ones have finally decayed." 

 (Phil. Mag., third series, v. 211.) Mr. Keith appears to have been the first 

 to discover that vegetating roots do not receive their increments of length 

 solely by the extreme points. Professor Lindley has since confirmed the ex- 

 periments of Mr. Keith, which were made so long ago as 1819. (Ibid. p. 208.) 



Art. IV. Foreign Notices. 

 AMERICA. 



The first Annual Exhibition of the Columbian Horticultural Society was held 

 in the City Hall of Washington, on the 5th and 6th of June. A large and 

 splendid collection of green-house plants, and a great variety of garden flowers, 

 vegetables, and fruits, were brought from the different parts of the district to 

 the hall of exhibition. The season having been very unfavourable, it was ap- 

 prehended that the exhibition would disappoint public expectation; but such 

 were the zeal and enthusiasm of the horticulturists, florists, and others of the 

 district, that it presented, even on the first day, a spectacle of beauty and 

 splendour that surprised all who saw it, and that was said to be unsurpassed, 

 in variety and profusion, by any thing of the kind ever before seen in this 

 country. The committee, to whom its superintendence was assigned, displayed 

 great taste in its arrangement by the admirable grouping and disposition of the 

 plants, and, assisted by several ladies of the city and its vicinity, who kindly 

 lent their aid on the occasion, succeeded in rendering it a scene of enchant- 

 ment. The green-house plants and the numerous garden flowers were arranged 

 on pyramids, in different parts of the spacious hall and along the walls of the 

 apartment, leaving alleys, through which the visiter passed to gaze on the 

 beauties and inhale the fragrance that breathed around him. Two small floral 

 pyramids were constructed and arranged in the most tasteful manner, by several 

 ladies of the district, consisting of at least four hundred varieties of the 

 choicest and most beautiful garden flowers, chiefly from the parterres of Mrs. 

 Bomford and Mr. J. Peirce, and supporting a magnificent silver vase crowned 

 with flowers. Glass globes, surmounted with bouquets of roses, lilies, pinks, 

 &c, and containing goldfish, were placed in different parts of the hall. At 

 night the spectacle was, if possible, still more splendid and enehanting; as 

 lights, interspersed among the shrubs, tropical fruit trees, and groups of flowers, 

 gave additional brilliancy to the scene. During the exhibition, on both days, 

 the hall was crowded by visiters, and all seemed delighted at the first effort of 

 the Society, which so far surpassed their expectations, and gave so fair a pro- 

 mise of future excellence and utility. The committee of arrangements are 

 entitled to high praise for their assiduity, and for the taste and untiring zeal 

 they displayed in making the exhibition so attractive and beautiful. The 

 exhibition was closed on Friday evening, the 6th, by an address from George 

 Watterston, Esq., Cor. Secretary. After recapitulating the heads of Mr. 

 Watterston's discourse, the names of the principal contributors are given, 

 and afterwards lists of eleven persons who received premiums for flowers of 

 from three to ten dollars each j of six persons who received premiums for 

 fruits, viz., strawberries, gooseberries, cherries, almonds, limes, oranges, lemons, 

 and citrons, from two to ten dollars each ; and of twenty-two persons who 

 received premiums for esculent vegetables of from three to five dollars each. 

 Among the exhibitors only four gentlemen's gardeners are mentioned. A 

 number of ladies and some gentlemen exhibited flowers and fruits without 

 any view to premiums. The committee regret that it is not in their power 

 " to name all who contributed their share to that splendid profusion of garden 

 and green-house flowers in the bowls and vases, and on the pyramids, with 

 which the upper end of the hall of exhibition was so richly decorated ; they 

 can only add, to the list of the names already given, those of Mrs. Seaton, 

 Mrs. Col. Towson, Mrs. Dr. Gunnell, Mrs. A. Suter, Miss C. B. Smith, Miss 



