General Notices. — Foreign Notices. 1 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



The Buds, Twigs, and Branches of Trees are really so many Plants, growing 

 on one another ; for as they all proceed from buds, or may rather be said to 

 be buds expanded, we may thence infer that the buds they came from did, in 

 every respect, perform the office of a seed. The buds take root in the twigs, 

 the twigs take root in the branches, and the branches take root in the stem. 

 All these, taken separately, may be made to take root ; and even the roots of 

 a tree, being cut to pieces, and planted after a proper method, will vegetate 

 and become perfect trees. All this, and much more, has been shown by 

 Dr. Agricola of Ratisbon, in his Philosophical Treatise on Agriculture, which 

 1 have translated. (^Bradley's Works of Nature, \12\, p. 42.) 



Naturalisation of Plants. — Heat being found to increase or decrease nearly 

 in a regular progression, according to the degrees of latitude, if we know the 

 mean annual temperature of any one latitude, and know also the latitude in 

 which the plant has been found, we may know the temperature it requires, 

 with certain exceptions, depending on elevation above the sea, the presence of 

 lakes or other bodies of water, or the shelter, shade, or reflection of woods, 

 rocks, mountains, &c. Thus, if the mean annual temperature of London be 

 54°, by adding one degree of heat for every degree of latitude southward, and 

 subtracting one for every degree of latitude northward, we shall have the 

 temperature sufficiently near for general purposes ; always, however, subject 

 to the modifications caused by the above accidental circumstances. Water 

 freezes at 44° of latitude on the European continent; while, on the American 

 continent, it freezes at 34° in the month of Januaiy. Three hundred Lapland 

 plants are found in the neighbourhood of Paris, and many of them farther 

 south. Some Lapland plants are even natives of India, such as iVymphae^a, 

 Drosera, Sagittaria, &c. {Templeton?^ 



Covering Wall-Fruit Trees luith Ivy was practised by R. Gole, Esq. F.R.S., 

 in January, 1744; the result of which was, that he had vast quantities of 

 apricots and peaches, while his neighbours had hardly any. {Phil. Trans. 

 Abrid., x. 793.) 



Plants were grown in Moss by C. Bonnet of Geneva, F.R.S., in 1746, and 

 found to thrive perfectly. He tried wheat, barley, oats, and peas, pinks, gilli- 

 flowers, daisies, tuberoses, tulips, hyacinths, narcissus, and cuttings and layers 

 of vines. {Phil. Trans. Abrid., x. 796.) 



Transplanting large Trees. — • At Eastbury, in Dorsetshire, was formerly an 

 extremely magnificent seat, erected by the facetious George Bubb Dodding- 

 ton, Esq., afterwards Lord Melcombe Regis. The expense of building 

 amounted to upwards of 140,000/. The gardens were very extensive, and 

 ornamented with canals and various plantations of trees, many of which were 

 brought thither after fifty years' growth, and from the distance of several 

 miles. {Beauties of England and Wales, Dorsetshire, p. 417.) 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 BELGIUM. 



Foreign Trees of the Netherlands. — I shall send your Return Papers to all 

 my horticultural friends in this country ; and they are numerous both among 

 gardeners and amateurs. American trees and shrubs thrive remarkably well 

 both in Holland and the Netherlands ; and you will be surprised to find how 

 many species and varieties of magnolias are cultivated here. The hot sum- 

 mers and cold winters, and the sandy peat soil, and abundance of water, make 

 this country seem to resemble North America more than any other part of 



