522 Reh'ospedive Criticism. 



nearly as strong as the best fields in the neighbourhood, grown from sets. 

 From the pretty extensive scale on which the experiment has been made, and 

 the scientific manner in which it has been conducted, it seems well deserving 

 the attention of the agriculturist, as a great number of new and important 

 varieties may be obtained, no two stems exhibiting the same characteristics. 

 (^Edinburgh Evening Courant, Aug, 17. 1837.) [We trust our correspondent, 

 Mr. Arthur, will not forget the readers of the Gardener'' s Magazine, when he 

 has matured his experiments, and fixed on some varieties that he thinks de- 

 serving of general cultivation. — Cond?\ 



Art. IV. Retrospective Criticism. 



Sweet's British Flower- Garden. — You have recorded, at p. 431., Ln- 

 pinus versicolor Lindl., Bot. Beg., 1979., from California, ?183], as a new 

 species. There was a iupinus versicolor Swt. figured in the British Flower- 

 Garden for August, 1829, n. s., 12., said to be introduced from Mexico in 

 1828 ; which is also in your Hortus Britannicus, p. 486,, and also recorded in 

 the Gardener'' s Magazine,Yo\.Y. p. 524. and 614. Sweet's plant, I pre- 

 sume, has proved to be identical with some previously described species, and 

 his name, consequently, abandoned. What species is it ? If not so, it must 

 have been an oversight to apply the same twice to two different species. 

 Although not, perhaps, admissible, I may mention having seen, in another 

 work lately, under the head of Floricultural Notices, Desmodium canadense 

 Dec, stated to be a newly introduced shrub. Upon referring to your Hortus 

 Britannicus, I find it is perennial, and was introduced in 1640. The plant has 

 long been cultivated in gardens as iZiedysarum canadense L. In another work 

 of this month, I see that Messrs. Rollison of Tooting have Cephalanthus 

 occidentale flowering in the stove. In your Hortus Britannicus, it is marked 

 as a hardy shrub, and I believe you are correct ; at least, I have never seen it 

 treated otherwise. In the work first alhided to, there is a notice of a new 

 orchideous plant having flowered, which is called Miltonza spectabilis ; but it 

 does not state that the same plant had been previously figured and described 

 for Macrochilus Fryajzzw. These are errors which do not affect you, not 

 being in any of your works ; but they certainly lead to confusion, and ought 

 to be corrected. — E. B. Sept. 5. 1837. 



Thiija articiddta. — The following has been sent us by a correspondent : — 

 " Amongst the extracts we have made at various times from the work of 

 Captain Cook in Spain, we have omitted to mention the interesting facts 

 brought to light by him respecting the woodwork of the celebrated mosque, 

 now the cathedral of Cordova. This edifice, the most considerable ever 

 erected by the Mahommedans, was built in the ninth century ; and, being 

 intended to represent Mecca in the westei'n portion of their dominions, no 

 pains or expense were spared to render it worthy the rank it was designed 

 to hold. On examining the roof, it was found that the parts of the original 

 woodwork to which the water had not penetrated (a casualty to which the 

 mode of construction made it too liable) were perfectly preserved, the 

 carving with which they had been ornamented remaining uninjured. It was 

 naturally an object of interest to ascertain, if possible, the species of tree 

 which produced timber with such remarkable properties of durability. The 

 only information to be obtained on the spot was the common report, which 

 has been copied from book to book, that it was the produce of the larch, 

 and that forests of this tree formerly existed in the neighbourhood. The 

 only foundation for this idle story is the resemblance of the Spanish word 

 alerce to the Latin larix, from which we derive the English larch. Not a 

 shadow of proof, or even a rational ground for conjecture, can be adduced, 

 that this tree ever existed in any part of Spain, much less in the vicinity of 

 Cordova, the locality of which is in every respect singularly unsuited to it. 

 After carefully examining the wood in question, and comparing it with that of 

 the alhambra, the alcaza, or royal palace of Seville, and other remains of the 



