Domestic Notices : — Scotland, Irela?id. 371 



The above list, and others of a similar nature, may be useful in two points 

 of view : first, by showing gardeners, in the warmer parts of the south of 

 England, how greatly they may increase the number of plants they cultivate 

 in the open air ; and, secondly, by informing gardeners, in less favourable 

 climates, what are the most hardy description of green-house plants, and 

 what species they may venture to keep in pits, or to plant against conserva- 

 tive walls. 



'Leucojum vernum. — 1 have now in flower, in the Botanic Garden, some 

 bulbs of the Z,euc6jum vernum L., sent to me, about two years ago, by G. 

 Woodward, Esq., Surgeon, of Bicester, an excellent British botanist. This 

 gentleman informs me, that he obtained them from a brake near the Catholic 

 Chapel, Hethe, Oxfordshire, where they have estabhshed themselves in im- 

 mense quantities, though there is no house or village near the spot. This 

 species is a native of Italy, the south of France, Germany, Austria, and Swit- 

 zerland, and has been cultivated in this country ever since the time of Gerard 

 (1397) ; yet it is even now a very rare plant in our gardens. That it should 

 have become naturalised in such abundance in this place, seems rather an ex- 

 traordinary circumstance. Mr. Woodward tells me that it has been known 

 to grow there for more than a century. (See Brit. Flowering Plants, folio 13., 

 note). — Wm. Baxter. Botanic Garden, Oxford, March 7. 1836. 



The Tivickenham Botanic Garden Apple, a specimen of which has been 

 shown us by Mr. Castles, the curator of that garden, which was founded by 

 Mr. Swainson, and is now the property of Mrs. Canham. The apple tree 

 has a somewhat fastigiate habit of growth, the branches first spreading out, 

 and then turning upwards. The leaves are as large as those of the hawthorn- 

 den ; the flowers are middle-sized, with the petals white ; the fruit is also 

 middJing sized, irregularly conical, with a short stalk, and hollow eye ; yellow 

 when ripe, and streaked with red next the sun. It is an excellent kitchen 

 apple. What renders it particularly valuable is, its possessing the following 

 properties : the tree has never been known to be attacked by the American 

 blight ; the blossoms appear later than those of any other variety of apple in 

 the neighbourhood of London ; the fruit has a short stalk, and is not liable 

 to be blown off by wind ; and it will keep till the middle of April or begin- 

 ning of May. Mr. Castles, at our suggestion, has sent grafts of this tree to 

 Mr. Thompson of the Horticultural Society's Garden. 



SCOTLAND. 



Sir W. ./. Hooker. — We are happy to observe that the King has conferred 

 the distinction of knighthood on Dr. Hooker : not that we attach much 

 positive value to honours of this kind, but because we consider the circum- 

 stance of bestowing them on scientific men as indicating a more liberal and 

 enlightened, as well as a more impartial, spirit on the part of government than 

 has hitherto generally been disphyed. Till lately, honours of this kind were 

 almost exclusively confined to the army and navy ; as if defending the country 

 from its enemies were the greatest good that a man could do in enlightened 

 times, as it certainly was in times of barbarism. Not only the French, but 

 even the Russians, have been far in advance of us in the distribution of 

 honours. In Russia, not only professors of every description, but artists, 

 architects, engineers, mechanics, manufacturers, physicians, lawyers, &c., re- 

 ceive orders of knighthood, according to their degrees of merit j or to their 

 standing and respectability in their several professions or other occupations. 



IRELAND. 



A variegated simple-leaved Ash has been discovered, and propagated for sale, by 

 Mr. Henry Davies, Ogle's Grove Nursery, near Hillsborough, in the county 

 of Down. A drawing has been shown to us (from which ^^, 60. was re- 



E E 4 



