614 General Notices. 



5. The menispermums resemble other dicotyledones (of which they form a 

 part) by the annual formation of a layer of cambium into wood ; but differ in 

 the woody fibre not being divided as they increase in length, and in the com- 

 plete absence of the cortical body formed by the liber. {UE'cho, Sept. 9. 

 1837.) 



Transporting Plants and Seeds from Abi'oad. — The following extracts are 

 from the instructions relative to this subject given by M. Mirbel to the ex- 

 pedition in the Astrolabe: — " Formerly, in long voyages, it was very difficult to 

 preserve plants alive for any length of time. During the voyage, they were 

 liable to perish from many circumstances j and, upon their arrival, it was ne- 

 cessary to pay a heavy duty, without any drawback. Now, however, by a 

 sure and simple process, seeds and plants may be brought from the most dis- 

 tant countries, with the certainty of the greater number of them arriving safe. 

 The mode recommended by the English gardener, Luschnath (?) is this : — 

 He places in the bottom of a strong water-tight box a layer of clay reduced 

 to a proper moist and soft consistency; and above this young ligneous plants 

 with the leaves stripped oiF, laid horizontally side by side. He next spreads 

 above these plants another layer of clay, similar to the first ; and beats it well 

 with a lai'ge wooden mallet, for the purpose of expelling the water and su- 

 perfluous air, leaving to the plants only just as much space as they can fill. 

 He continues to spread alternately a layer of plants and a layer of clay, until 

 the box is quite full, taking care to beat properly every layer of clay; andj 

 finally, the box is hermetically closed." 



M. Fischer, director of the Imperial Botanic Garden at St. Petersburg, 

 writes thus, in 1836 : — " Some ligneous plants, packed according to the method 

 of Luschnach (?), which have been sent from Rio Janeiro to St. Petersburg, 

 have arrived there for the most part alive, after a voyage of more than five 

 months ; and others, which were packed in the ordinary manner, died." 



This method is also applicable to seeds. They should be placed in layers 

 between strata of clay, and kept at such a distance from each othei', that, should 

 any of them germinate during the voyage, which is not unfrequent, they might 

 not injure one another. By this method, seeds, and a great many species of 

 trees and shrubs, which are known to lose their germinative property in a 

 short time, may be brought safely to Europe, and thrive there if properly 

 treated. In the same box both seeds and plants may be packed at one time. 

 (L'E'cko die Monde Savant, Aug. 1837.) 



Every Bud, when it shoots sends down Roots tinder the Baric, as a seed does in 

 the soil. " The Pterocarpus marsupium, one of the most beautiful of the large 

 trees of the East Indies, and which grows in the greatest perfection about Malac- 

 ca, affording by its elegant wide-expanding boughs, and thick, spreading, pinnated 

 leaves, a shade equally delightful with that of the far-famed tamarind tree, is 

 readily propagated by cuttings of all sizes, even if planted after the pieces have 

 been cut for many months, and appear quite dry, and fit only for the fire. I 

 have witnessed some, of from 3 in. to 7 in. in diameter, and 10 ft. or 12 ft. long, 

 come to be fine trees in a few years. While watching the transformation of 

 the log into the tree, I have been able to trace the progress of the radicles from 

 the buds, which began to shoot from the upper part of the stump a few days after 

 it had been placed in the ground, and marked their progress till they reached 

 the earth. By elevating the bark, minute fibres are seen to descend contempo- 

 raneously as the bud shoots into a branch. In a few weeks, these are seen to 

 interlace each other. In less than two years, the living fibrous system is com- 

 plete; and, in five years, no vestige of its log origin can be perceived. Its 

 diameter and height are doubled, and the tree is, in all respects, as elegant and 

 beautiful as if it had been produced from seed. These details are introduced, 

 because I think they afford a clear explanation of the process of nature, which, 

 with so little assistance, converts branches into trees, and will help to unfold 

 those subsequent steps, by which the same process is so modified, that, instead 

 of a full-formed beautiful tree, the bough is tortured into a grotesque dwarf." 

 {Hort. Trans., iv. p. 227.) 



