General Noiices. 



265 



As the fitness of this wh-e for general purposes must depend much on its 

 cost, relatively to that of other materials, we give the following scale of prices 

 of the metallic wire : — 



No. 8. is 6d. per lb., measuring two yards in length ; No. 10. is Sd., and five 

 yards ; No. 12. is lOd., and seven yards ; No. 14. is 1^., and twelve yards ; No. 

 16. is Is. 2d., and eighteen yards; No. 18. is Is.M., and thirty yards; and No. 

 20. is Is. 6d., and sixty yards. 



The prices of the metallic nails have not been stated to us by Mr. Rowland 

 The circumstance of these nails being made round, alone, renders them much 

 better adapted for having the shoots of trees tied to them, than the square- 

 shanked cast-iron nails in conmion use. Every gardener knows that it is the 

 sharp angles of these cast-iron nails that chiefly wound the shoots. We would 

 strongly recommend that all cast-iron nails, intended to be used for training 

 purposes in gardening, should, in future, be cast like the metallic nails of Mr. 

 Rowland, both with round shanks, and with round heads. They would then 

 be less likely to do mischief than they are at present, though they would still 

 be liable to rust. If Mr. Rowland's nails be any thing like as cheap as the 

 cast-iron ones, they are certainly' greatly to be preferred to them. — Cond. 



Waterproof Strands of Bast for tying Trees, and Waterjiroof Bast Mats. — In 

 our Second Volume, p. 192., a mode of rendering ties of bast waterproof is'men- 

 tioned by Dr. Van Mons ; and, while recommending a trial of metallic" tiep, 

 it is but fair that we should remind our readers of this very simple mode of 

 increasing the durability of bast. To make bast ties waterproof, it is only ne- 

 cessary to wet them first with a solution of soap, and next with a solution of 

 alum. A neutral compound is formed from the soap and the alum, joined to 

 the albumen of the wood of which the bast is composed, which is insoluble 

 in water. It has often occurred to us, that, if common matting could be woven 

 in Russia, with the weft of pack-thread, and the woof of strands of bast, mats 

 would then throw off the rain nearly as well as canvass ; and the whole might 

 be tanned, or rendered waterproof by Dr. Van Mons's process. Perhaps our 

 friend at Cronstadt might be able to induce some of the Russian mat manu- 

 facturers to try this process. — Cond. 



