324f foreign Notices : -~ France, Spain. 



to grow were flued underground, and a tarpauling, or any water-proof cover- 

 ing, placed over them at the times when it might be requisite to exclude 

 either rain or cold. The covering might hang on the two sides of a strong 

 longitudinal pole, like the two slopes of a roof, and be made to roll up either 

 with or without a spring. There are many plants which seem to enjoy a cool 

 atmosphere, but will not flower or thrive vigorously without the stimulus of 

 heated earth at the root. Having chosen a situation where a furnace and 

 boiler could be placed under ground, I would carry the smoke-flue as far as 

 its heat would extend on one side, and hot-water or steam-pipes in a different 

 direction, as might be found convenient, enclosed in a stone or brick flue, to 

 as great a length as its influence might reach. In such a border, I believe, the 

 genus Hedychium, and many others, would flower perfectly, with the assist- 

 ance of fire, in the summer, requiring nothing in winter but a covering to 

 throw off the wet ; and the heat might be turned into other pipes, for the 

 advantage of plants which might require the warmth in winter rather than in 

 the summer. If, in front of a wall, a movable veranda, which might be 

 either ornamental, or made of thatched hurdles or hurdle-gates, would throw 

 off the wet, which is the principal cause of injury in winter ; for many shrubs 

 will endure the access of severe frost to the head, if all wet can be effectually 

 excluded from the base of the stem and from the root by any sloped heading. 

 Under such a veranda, with occasional heat to the flue, during the early 

 summer, and, perhaps, in severe frost, Amaryllis, Brunsvfgia, Buphane, 

 Nerine, Hsemanthus, and all the allied genera of African bulbs, as well as the 

 South American, would certainly succeed better than with any other treat- 

 ment. I believe that not only those, but even some of the tropical crinums, 

 would succeed better than in a stove, and, probably, many shrubs which might 

 not be expected to live there. The advantage of a veranda or pent cover- 

 ing, however rude, on the north side of a wall, for the protection of half-hardy 

 plants, such as Camellia japonica, the Asiatic species of iZhododendron, &c., is 

 not sufficiently known. It is the excitement occasioned by the access of the 

 sun that makes such plants liable to injury ; and a south aspect, whether in 

 summer or winter, is prejudicial to them. I believe that the covering of a 

 pent roof, in a northern aspect, without any flue, is more congenial to those 

 plants than a green-house, care being taken to prevent any heavy rain or snow 

 from being driven upon them by a strong north wind, which is easily done by 

 hanging mats along in front in such an emergency. (^Herbert's Amaryllidacecs.') 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 FRANCE. 



The beautiful Hot-houses of M. Tassm of Douai contain an immense col- 

 lection of rare plants, managed with the greatest care, by his excellent gar- 

 dener, Calot. The collection of Orchideae in these hot-houses far surpasses 

 that of every other in France. Many of them have not yet been described by 

 botanists ; and other known species have been procured from England, without 

 regard to expense. {JJK'cho du Monde Savant, May 13. 1837.) 



SPAIN. 



(^Continued from Vol. XII. p. 367.} 

 Thuja articuldta. — Captain Cook has the merit, in common with the con- 

 sul at Morocco, Mr. Drummond, of discovering the tree which produces the 

 timber of unparalleled durability, known in Spain and the north of Africa 

 as the alerce, and which Captain Cook and Mr. Drummond have ascer- 

 tained to be the Thuja articulata of "Vahl. In England it is a frame 

 evergreen tree, which may be found at Messrs. Loddiges's and in some 

 other nurseries. It is figured in the Botanical Cabinet and in the Kouveau 

 Du Hamel. There is a specimen of the timber at the Horticultural Sooiet/s 



