Domestic Notices : — England. 4,87 



many of which measure from 7 in. to 8 in. in diameter, having a most imposing 

 effect. I would beg to observe that the roof of the vinery is completely 

 covered with vines, and that no artificial heat has been apphed. — Bernard 

 Saunders. Island of Jersey, June 7. 1 836. 



Hcrflc/eum dspermn, the Siberian Cow Parsnep. — This magnificent um- 

 belliferous plant, when grown in good soil, will attain the height of upwards 

 of 12 ft. Even in our crowded garden at Bayswater, it last year ( 1833) was 

 12 ft. high when it came into flower j and the largest of its radical leaves mea- 

 sured nearly 5 ft., from the junction of the footstalk with the stem, to 

 the extremity of its central lobe. This year, a plant reached the height 

 of 10 ft., though crowded among trees and bushes. Its seeds are now 

 (July 29.) ripe; and we intend to distribute them among our friends : not 

 because the plant is useful, for we do not know any use to which it can be 

 applied; but because it is extremely interesting from the rapidity of its growth, 

 and the great size which it attains in five months. The plant is a biennial, and, 

 of course, does not flower the first year ; but, if sown in July, it will attain 

 considerable strength before winter, die down to the ground in December, 

 and spring up again in the beginning of February with extraordinary vigour. 

 By watering the soil round our plant, in April and May, with hot water, so 

 as to raise its temperature, we have caused it to grow sometimes at the rate of 

 above an inch a day; and afterwards, by watering with liquid manure, we have 

 had the foliage of extraordinary size and beauty. The plant is to us a great 

 source of enjoyment during the spring of every year. We do not know a more 

 suitable herbaceous plant for the retired corner of a churchyard, or for a glade 

 in a wood ; and we have, accordingly, given one friend, who is making a tour 

 in the north of England and Ireland, and another, who is gone to Norway, 

 seeds for depositing in proper places. We do not know any herbaceous plant 

 that attains so large a size in so short a period, unless we except the gourd 

 tribe ; and, as it is as hardy as a dock or a thistle, we think it an excellent 

 plant to give a beginner a taste for the study of vegetable phenomena. The 

 plant is quite common in the neighbourhood of London ; but, if any distant 

 reader should wish to have a few seeds, by franking a letter to us at 39. Pater- 

 noster Row, we shall be happy to send him a supply. — Cond. 



The Grapery at Kinmel Park. — A writer in the Caernarvon and Denbigh 

 Herald oi i\x\y 16., who "had the gratification of visiting Kinmel, the princely 

 mansion of Lord Dinorben (a nobleman whose name," the writer truly ob- 

 serves, " derives a far more splendid lustre from his patriotism and generosity 

 than from his coronet"), was much delighted with every thing ; but, when he 

 entered the hot-houses, his "surprise and admiration were raised to the highest 

 pitch." He adds, " I believe I may with safety assert that the abundance of 

 grapes in their different stages is not, under an equal space of glass, to be ex- 

 ceeded in any part of the kingdom; and I shall give the dimensions of a bunch 

 which I selected for examination, at random, without searching for the 

 largest. It was of the second succession crop, and had not yet reached 

 its maturity. It measured across the shoulders 2ft. Sin.; it was in length 

 2 ft. 6 in.; the diameter of the leaf was 18 in.; and, when the bunch is full 

 grown, it will probably measure each way about 4 in. more." We shall be 

 greatly obliged to our correspondent Mr. Forrest, the very skilful gardener 

 at Kinmel Park, if, after the bunch is ripe and gathered, he will let us know 

 the weight and the number of berries it contains. — Cond. 



Forming Meadows, by Inoctdation, in One Year. — The following particulars 

 are curious : they will amuse the scientific farmer, and be hailed as an " im- 

 portant agricultural discovery" by the enthusiastic and wealthy empirical 

 practitioner. Wedlake's newly invented turf-separating machine, for the laving 

 down of land by inoculation. The machine, in magnitude and general appear- 

 ance, resembles a straw-cutter ; and the mode of using it is as follows : — The 

 land intended to be laid down should be perfectly clean; and it should be 

 levelled and rolled ; then, with the paring-plough, pare the turf from a com- 

 mon, waste, or elsewhere ; and place the turf in heaps, that the wind may dry 



