590 Culture of Bnigmam\2i suaveolens in the open Air. 



to where the moisture was most wanted, instead of letting it 

 remain to be dried up on the surface. In a week after this, the 

 plant had made thousands of young roots, which found plenty 

 of food close at home. This treatment I repeated twice in the 

 season, the last time cutting the roots 1 in. farther from the 

 ball than the first time. This does not injure the plant; on the 

 contrary, it is surprising to see how it will grow immediately 

 after the operation : and another advantage of cutting off the 

 roots is, that the plant is easily repotted in the autumn ; pro- 

 vided the diameter of the space included within the last cutting 

 be a little less than the pot for which it is intended. By the 

 above treatment, this plant (without including the flowers that 

 were on it in May) has, from the middle of August to the end 

 of September, expanded 1050 flowers, each of which measures 

 50 square inches ; so that it has produced, in six weeks, 52,500 

 square inches of flowers. The height of this plant is 6 ft., its 

 diameter lOjft., and its age four years. We have two more, 

 nearly as good ; and two others, one year old, which have opened 

 100 flowers each. In the morning and evening, the fragrance 

 of these flowers scented the air to the distance of 60 yards. 

 Putney Hill, Oct, 8. 1836. 



The above we consider to be a very interesting communication, 

 and one that by generalising might be turned to excellent ac- 

 count by the cultivator. In Lancashire, the gooseberry bush 

 is treated in the same manner, when the fruit is wanted of an 

 extraordinary size, as Mr. Saul has explained to us in a prece- 

 ding volume. The pricking out, and frequent transplantation 

 into very rich soil, of celery, cabbage, lettuce, &c., is intended 

 to operate on the same principle ; viz. that of increasing the 

 number of mouths, and placing the food in close contact with 

 them. The effect of this mode of treating plants is somewhat 

 analogous to that produced on animals, by giving them rich 

 food when young ; and, as short legs, small bones, and abundant 

 muscle are produced in the one case, so short and weak branches, 

 and few and short ramose roots, and numerous leaves and 

 fibrils, are produced in the other. It is easy to conceive to 

 what important consequences this mode of treating many kinds 

 of plants would lead ; while at the same time it is hardly ap- 

 plicable at all to other kinds ; such, for example, as the Eri- 

 caceae. We should like much to see it tried on the grape and 

 the melon, and even the pine-apple. By way of experiment, 

 the grape might be planted in a tub, pierced with innumerable 

 holes on the sides and bottom, and suspended in a larger tub, 

 among semi-liquid manure of the richest kind. The pruning 

 ought to be performed on Clement Hoare's principle ; and the 

 fibres might be cut off close by the inner tub periodically ; say one 



