228 General Notices. 



I take the machine to the pump, and, turning them briskly the contrary way, 

 clean them better in half a minute, than, by scraping them, I could in half an 

 hour. Of Mr. Budding I know nothing; and, therefore, all I have said or 

 may say on this subject is perfectly disinterested. I believe that I shall be 

 the means of selling him several machines here, and chiefly from the use I am 

 seen to make of it in the winter months. My garden, as, I think, you are 

 aware, abuts upon the turnpike road; and I am seen at work by every body 

 passing. If there should be any point on which, in your opinion, Mr. Budding 

 could give me information, so as to promote the sale of this very valuable 

 invention, perhaps he would do it by letter. I had mine from Willett of Lynn. 

 — Samuel Taylor. Whittington, Stokeferry, Norfolk, Nov. 23. 1836. 



A Stage for Green-house Plants on a new Plan. — This stage is erected in an 

 old pine pit. Having procured eight posts, I had the middle of them cut out 

 3 ft. downwards, and 2iin. wide, so as to allow the rafters to pass through 

 them ; a hole being made through each end of the rafters, and also through the 

 posts, for pegs to pass through, to fasten the posts and rafters together. There 

 are holes at different distances down the posts, so that the rafters can be 

 lowered at pleasure, by taking out the pegs, and lowering them to the next hole, 

 and so on to the depression of 4 ft. 6 in. The first hole is 1 ft. 6 in. from the 

 glass. There are also brackets placed on the rafters for shelves. The whole 

 can be moved higher or lower in the space of a few minutes. — G. M. 

 Faringdon House, Faringdon, Berks, Nov. 24. 1836. 



Trees and Shrubs of the Canary Islands likely to prove hardy or half-hardy 

 in the Climate of London. — Tn the parts just published of the Histoire Naturelle 

 des lies Canaries, by P. Barker- Webb and S. Berthelot, are beautiful en- 

 gravings of the following species : — ^nagyris latifolia, t. 40. ; Genista splendens, 

 t. 43. ; Polycarpia carnosa, t. 22. ; Cerasus Hiva, t. 38. ; a splendid kind of 

 Portugal laurel (see Arb. Brit,, p. 714.) ; G^enista microphylla, t. 42. ; Genista 

 stenopetala, t. 45. ; and (Sempervivum ijoochicB, t. 32. The views of entire trees 

 in this work, given under the head of Facies, are exquisitely beautiful. (Sonchus 

 fruticosus, a seventh part of the natural size; and Prenanthes arborea, a ninth 

 part of the natural size, in the Atlas, pi. vi., are very singular and beautiful 

 objects ; but still more so are Adenocarpus franken;^^^^, and la Retama 

 bianca, the white broom (Cytisus nubigenus : see Arb. Brit., p. 602.), in pi. ix. 

 These two shrubs are perfectly hardy, growing at the height of from 6000 ft. 

 to 8400 ft. above the level of the sea. In a Fue Phytostatique, which forms 

 pi. vii. of the Atlas, an immense plateau is shown, partially covered with 

 these shrubs, and showing several bee-hives formed of sections of cork bark ; 

 the retama being singularly productive of honey, and that of the Canaries 

 being celebrated. Boehmeria rubra and O'lea excelsa (Facies, pi. xi.) are inte- 

 resting objects; and more particularly so /uniperus Cedrus Webb et Berthelot, 

 Vue Phytostatique, pi. viii. fig. 1., which we shall, probably, have copied for the 

 article J^uniperus in the Arboretum Britannicimi. — Cond. 



Management of Plantations. — Mr. Major, landscape-gardener at Knosthorpe, 

 near Leeds, strongly impressed with the importance of thinning plantations 

 with a view to ornament, has sent us a long paper on the subject ; and, as we 

 are not likely to have room soon for it, we give the following as the essence 

 of what he recomm.ends : — 1. " Choose such trees as are likely to remain 

 where they are planted ; and, at each successive thinning, clear off a few of their 

 lower branches, till a clear stem is formed to the height of 3 ft. or 6 ft., or to a 

 greater height in trees having pendent branches, such as the wych elm, lime, 

 &c. 2. Cut down all the trees which are not intended finally to remain, by 

 degrees." —J. Major. Knosthorpe, near Leeds, Bee. 7. 1836. 



Tulips, when raised from seed, require a peculiarity in management, which 

 would not readily occur to any cultivator, who was not either a vegetable 

 physiologist, a reader of books on florists' flowers, or a tulip-grower of great 

 experience. The young bulb of the tulip is formed on the radicle which 

 descends from the seed ; and, when the seed is sown in a bed or in a deep pot 

 of light free soil, the radicle will often penetrate to the bottom of the pot or 



