554; Retrospective Criticism. 



not to be softened or decomposed ; and an instance has lately happened (we 

 believe, at Catrine), where a peat remained in the boiler of a steam engine for 

 months, and came out as hard as when put in. We earnestly recommend a 

 trial of this mode of draining to farmers who dwell in the moorland districts 

 of our country. The adoption of such an improvement would soon make 

 their moors assume a very different aspect, and contribute most materially to 

 the healthiness of our climate. {^KilmarnocJi Journal, ex Scotsman, June 

 29. 1836.) 



IRELAND. 



Yucca glorlosa, in the nursery of Mr. Robertson, at Kilkenny, is now in 

 flower. The flower spike is 5 ft. high j the main stem girts 3 ft. 10 in., and 

 the space covered by the leaves of the plant is 12 ft. in circumference. The 

 number of flowers on the spike is 700. Total height of the plant from the 

 ground, 8 ft. — J. R. Killcenny, July 30. 1836. 



G'lea excclsa, in the same nursery, is 30 ft. high, having stood out, without 

 any protection, for many years. — Id. 



Clethra arborea is 7 ft. high, against a wall, having stood out for several 

 years without an}' protection. — Id. 



Upright, or Irish, Yems {Tdxus baccdta fastigihta). — Two upright yews, 

 growing in the shrubbery of James Andrews, Esq., Comber, county of Down, 

 Ireland, are about 50 years old: one, 20 ft. high, 40ft. in circumference at 

 the swell of the ground, and the stem 4 ft. 2 in. in circumference near the 

 ground; the other, 19 ft. 6 in. high, circumference of the head 46ft., and 

 that of the trunk 4 ft. 1 in. near the ground. — AI. Andrews. Ardoyne, Belfast, 

 May 9. 1836. 



Art. III. Retrospective Criticism. 



Errata. (Vol. XI. p. 639.) — Besides correcting the mistakes already men- 

 tioned in a former letter respecting my qualifications, I beg of you to put Dais 

 cotinifolia, instead of Z)«« m'ticifolia ; Marquis Cusani for Marquis Casoni. In- 

 stead of at Deris, put at Desio ; instead of Vilkresi, put Villoresi; instead of 

 Villa Eravesi at Derio, it is Villa Traversi al Desio. It is not the JSumelia 

 /ycioides that is grafted on the i^raxinus excelsior, but the Chionanthus vir- 

 ginica. You say, in the sequel of the article, that the public garden was planted 

 in 1820, by the late Villoresi, with 7^ilia americana and T. argentea; on the 

 contrary, it was planted in 1808, by Villoresi, but with the T'ilia microphylla 

 and T. platyphylla. — G. Manetti. Monza, near Milan, May 3. 1836. 



Arrangement and Management of Fruit Trees in Kitchen-Gardens. — Your 

 able and intelligent correspondent, Mr. Robert Errington, will be glad to hear 

 that we of the " profession," in the north, are not only fully disposed to 

 peruse his " observations and suggestions (p. 126.) with candour and cau- 

 tion," but that we have also the pleasure of informing him that the utility of 

 those " suggestions " has been proved in practice. We could name several 

 places in this county where the table or Dutch trellis has been in use for 

 some years, producing fine figs, pears, and the more choice sorts of table 

 apples, especially at North Berwick House, formerly under the superintendence 

 of a very scientific horticulturist, Mr. Archibald Wilson. The death of Mr. 

 Wilson's employer, however, was the cause of breaking up the whole esta- 

 blishment ; and, consequently, of putting a stop to the farther prosecution of 

 all his truly interesting plans, which we in this country have cause to regret, 

 as his example and success might have led to many useful results. He had 

 commenced a plan of securing to us all the benefits of attaining early crops 

 without interfering with the fruit tree borders (a practice now universally 

 condemned), by having dwarf walls, with small movable lights glazed with 

 the mere refuse of the glazier's cutting-room. Mr. Wilson now holds a situ- 

 ation as forester, at Worksop Manor, to His Grace the Duke of Norfolk, and 

 he has a brother who is head gardener there. I mention this in the hope that 



