54<2 Summary View of the Progress of Gardenin. 



and plants, which were exhibited at the great agricultural 

 meeting at Dumfries, was more numerous than that held at 

 Perth last year; thus proving that there is an increased desire 

 for the cultivation of new varieties on the part of the farmers of 

 the northern counties. A great desire for the introduction of 

 better varieties of wheat, we are informed, exists in East 

 Lothian and Berwickshire ; and the farmers there must have 

 derived great satisfaction, and most valuable instruction, from 

 the perusal of Col. Le Couteur's Treatise on Wheats^ reviewed 

 in a future page. Agricultural museums are now established 

 at Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth, and Dundee ; and all persons 

 interested in agriculture and horticulture, whether in the 

 vicinity of these museums or elsewhere, are invited to contribute 

 to them specimens of vegetable productions of every kind, as 

 well as of manufactured produce. The inspection of the 

 different samples of grain in these museums by farmers is, 

 without doubt, the principal cause of the eagerness for improved 

 varieties of wheats, noticed above as a decided mark of progress. 

 Twenty years ago, the farmers of East Lothian and Berwick- 

 shire, then, as now, the best cultivators in the world, regarded 

 the improvement of their art, by attention to such minutiae as 

 the shades of difference between varieties of wheat, as beneath 

 their notice ; but they have now learned to calculate with Col. 

 Le Couteur, the number of grains to an ounce in different 

 varieties, and the consequent difference of produce of an acre 

 or a field, according to the variety used. 



Rural Architecture, we have the evidence of an eminent 

 architect for stating, is undergoing rapid improvement in 

 many parts of England ; and it is very gratifying to us to learn, 

 on the same authority (see George Godwin, Esq., jun., in 

 Arch. Mag., vol. iv. p. 484.), that much of this improvement 

 may be traced to the extensive circulation of our Encyclo})cedia 

 of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture among country gentle- 

 men and provincial builders. 



In Domestic Economi/, we may notice the mode of burning 

 the steam produced by the boilers, and by the operation of 

 washing, in wash-houses, and which is found greatly to increase 

 the efiect of the fuel. (See p. 370.) In the proper place, we 

 have directed attention to the Magazine of Domestic Economy, 

 as a periodical calculated to do much good. 



Railroads. — That between Birmingham and Liverpool is 

 now completed, and the line between Birmingham and London 

 is far advanced. When the whole is complete, gardeners will 

 have an easy opportunity of visiting the four best provincial 

 botanical and horticultural gardens in England, at a moderate 

 cost, and in a very short time ; viz., those of Birmingham, 

 Sheffield, Manchester, and Liverpool. The Bristol railroad 

 will be completed in a year, on the line of which are: Drop- 



