698 Domestic Notices : — England. 



erected. Here, as in other parts of Britain, country gentlemen are beginning 

 to discover that it is always for their interest to purchase from local nursery- 

 men, when the articles procured are true to their names. Hence the retail 

 business of the London trade is now comparatively local, and their trade price 

 business is, chiefly, to supply novelties to the country nurserymen, and to 

 foreigners. — Cond. 



Wasps in Wariuicksliire. — We have had no wasps this summer till after 

 September had commenced, and then they were not numerous. I believe a 

 scarcity of these insects has been remarked this year by others, in many dif- 

 ferent parts of the country. I expected it would have been a great year for 

 them, for there was no lack of what we suppose to be breeders in the spring; 

 and, early in the summer, we found no less than three embryo nests in moving 

 one heap of litter in my fold-yard. — W. T. Bree. Allestey Rectory, near 

 Coventry, Oct. 1. 1836. 



Rooks and Walnuts. — The rooks have begun to be very busy among my wal- 

 nuts. Strolling to-day up my shady walk, where the elm trees grow in which 

 the rooks build, I observed many walnuts strewed on the path. The rooks were 

 making a strange clamour, and cawing over my head; and I was witness to 

 their letting fall several walnuts in my path way, I take it they lose, in this 

 way, a good many of the walnuts they take, and they do not seem to be in the 

 habit of retrieving them. — Id. 



The comparative Protection afforded to Arboriculture and Horticidlure hy the 

 Englisli Laiv. — In England, the cutting of a tree, a sapling or a shrub in a 

 rich man's park, to the extent of twenty shillings, subjects an Enghshman to 

 the punishment of a felon — to transportation ; but an injury to any root or 

 plant in a garden, though to the same amount, is imprisonment, or payment 

 for the injury, and a fine of 20/. only. The park and the tree belong to the 

 rich man — the garden and the root to the poor man. A rich oppressor may 

 now, in England, by law, destroy a poor man's garden, and every root, and 

 pay the amount, and 20/. ; and, if a poor man were in return to injure the 

 oppressor's tree, sapling, or shrub in a park (we quote the words of the 

 act), he is banished his country for seven years, nominally, but (as every 

 poor man knows), in effect, for life. At the very same moment, were the two 

 men, the rich man and the poor man, to be tried on the same day, at the 

 same assizes, for the same offence, in the presence of their respective neigh- 

 bours and friends, this, by law, would be the different results to those two 

 Englishmen : the rich man, paying 20/. and the damage done to the garden, 

 would sit down on the same bench with his brother squires ; whilst, by those 

 same squires, the poor man would be transported as a felon. We refer to the 

 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. .30. s. 19., and to the 21st section of the same act. 

 {Morn. Citron., June 20. 1836.) 



Grafting tlie Oalt. — I have scions of the cork oak, doing quite well on the 

 common oak ; and also, standard high, on the Turkey oak. They were put 

 on in April last, in the whip or splice manner, and are now making vigorous 

 shoots : they appear likely to form fine heads. — .John Cato. Heanton Satch- 

 ville Gardens, Okeliampton, Devon, Sept. 26, 1836. 



Grafting the Qydonia japonica and the Cratce'^gus T'yracdntha on the common 

 Hawthorn. — This I have also done, last spring, the grafts being made at the 

 height of 6 ft., 7 ft., and 8 ft. from the ground. They promise to make curious 

 little trees. — Id. 



Grafting tlie Zelkoua, or Pldnera RichdrdW, on the common Elm. — This is done 

 in the P'rench nurseries ; and the first year's shoots are said to be from 6 ft. 

 to 9 ft. long. The zelkoua is a most valuable tree, and there are large speci- 

 mens of it at Syon and Kew; but it is rare generally. This is much to be 

 lamented, as the value of this tree for timber is very great. It is a native of 

 Mount Caucasus, where, and in France, it grows to the height of 60 ft. or 

 70 ft., or more, in about fifty years ; and a tree of that size is generally 30 ft. 

 in the bole, before it ramifies ; the branches, though numerous, being very slen- 

 der in proportion to the size of the tree. The trunk is nearly of the same cir- 

 cumference throughout its whole length; and the sap-wood is very elastic, and 



