216 Retrospective Criticism. 



gardener for upwards of eight years, I am well acquainted with the plant in 

 question, and am of opinion that it is of a different variety from any I have 

 ever observed in any other place. I therefore hope that a short history of it 

 will prove interesting to you, and also to your readers; and, if so, I shall feel 

 a pleasure in having placed it at your service. 1 purchased the plant a seed- 

 ling at the Clapton Nursery, in the autumn of 1830; and I was there informed 

 it had been raiserl from some fieeds imported by Mr. Loudon, conductor of 

 the Gard. Mag. [We brought seeds, and also a few plants, from Carlsruhe, in 

 the winter of 1828, and gave some of the seeds to the Clapton Nursery. We 

 were informed by M. Hartweg, the director of the Botanic Garden at Carls- 

 ruhe, that they were produced by Glycine sinensis ; but the tree being, at that 

 time, without leaves, we could not ascertain the fact from our own knowledge.] 

 Tn the spring following, I planted it out where it is now growing. In July, 

 1833, it showed three clusters of flowers which produced seeds, the plant at 

 that time being in a very vigorous state of growth. In the end of June, 1834', 

 the plant was again in flower, and again produced seed ; the greater part of 

 which, at M. Bernasconi's particular desire, was sent to the London Horti- 

 cultural Society ; for which, I believe, he received a letter of thanks. In the 

 autumn of the same year, it flowered a second time ; but the season was too 

 far advanced for the seed to ripen before the approach of winter. The above 

 dates are only taken from memory ; but, to the best of my belief, they are cor- 

 rect; and, taking these facts into consideration, I cannot agree with Mr. Sleigh, 

 in supposing that the fructiferous habit of the plant is to be attributed to the 

 nature of the soil it grows in ; but am of opinion it is entirely owing to its 

 bemg a variety, or, perhaps, species ; and I flatter myself that the three follow- 

 ing reasons will convince you also. 



First, the plant produced seeds the third year after planting, and the fourth 

 year from the seed, being at that time, in a very vigorous state of growth ; 

 secondly, it flowered at a much later season than the common kind ; and, 

 thirdly, I have seen many plants of Wistan'« chinensis, growing in a similar 

 situation to that described by Mr. Sleigh, by the side of gravel walks, that 

 never showed the least inclination to produce seed. One of these last-men- 

 tioned plants grows over the door of the mansion in Cashiobury Park, the 

 princely residence of the Earl of Essex ; and I have no doubt that niy worthy 

 friend Mr. Anderson (His Lordship's very intelligent gardener) will feel a 

 pleasure in showing it to Mr. Sleigh. A few seeds, which ripened while I 

 was with M. Bernasconi, which I had remaining, I gave to Mr. Young, a very 

 respectable nurseryman at Taunton, who has now got a stock of plants. — 

 James Duncan, Gardener, Walford House, N. Taunton, Somerset, Feb. 19. 1836. 

 The Destruction of the White Scale on the Pine Plant seems to have drawn 

 forth the jarring elements of contention between L.O.L. and J. B. W. (p. 160.); 

 the one affirming that these insects can be thoroughly eradicated without 

 previous removal from the plant, and the other that they cannot. I have, 

 unfortunately, been subject to the facetious rub of J. B. W., in meeting in my 

 peregrinations with pine- apple plants inordinately " prolific in the white scale ;" 

 and yet I have succeeded, though every plant has been infested with myriads, 

 in destroying them, without having recourse to the shampooing process. 

 After trying various methods, I was successful, on about 600 plants, with the 

 following mixture, which, you will observe, is little different from the recipes of 

 old writers on gardening : — 2 lb. sulphur, 2 lb. soft soap, H lb. tobacco, 2 oz. 

 mix vomica, 1 oz. camphor dissolved in a wine-glassful of spirit of turpentine. 

 Add 8 gallons of water, and boil the whole an hour. When the mixture has 

 fallen to a temperature of 120°, immerse each plant separately, keeping the 

 liquid as near as possible to that degree of heat. This I did in March, 1832, 

 when the plants were disrooted ; and I have never seen a scale on them since. 

 I am in possession of a more simple mixture, which has proved, in other in-- 

 stances, equally efficacious ; but to the above I can speak from my own un- 

 qualified success, without the auxiliary process of rubbing. — R. G, Bicton, 

 March 8. 1836. 



