Shirreff's Tour through North America. 197 



Vilmorin and Co. of Paris. Among the ryes are also four sorts 

 from the same house. The barleys and ryes were most nume- 

 rous, and there were even a good many sorts of Indian corn, 

 rice, and millet. We need not go through the other agricul- 

 tural plants, because, unless we went into details, we should only 

 have to repeat, under each head, our admiration at the number 

 and excellence of the specimens. A variety of garden pro- 

 ductions were also exhibited, including a great many sorts of 

 apples, some pears, grapes, &c. Perhaps the most numerous 

 collection of all was that of grasses, on which subject Mr. Lawson 

 is the author of some excellent papers in the Quarterly Journal 

 of Agriculture. Under the head of forest trees we find that 

 specimens of no fewer than twenty-four sorts of pine were ex- 

 hibited, fourteen firs, three larches, the common and the Indian 

 cedar, the Chinese pine (Cunninghamm sinensis [?]) ; and Arau- 

 cdria brasiliana, Alting/a excelsa, and Al. Cunningham/ are said, 

 when grown in the open air in the climate of Edinburgh, to 

 require a slight covering in severe winters. We are equally 

 gratified and astonished to find that they can be grown in the 

 open air at all. There are several facts in this part of Mr. Law- 

 son's Report which will be useful to us when treating on the pine 

 in our Arboretum Britanniciim. In Mr. Lawson's nursery, we 

 believe, there is one of the most complete arboretums in the 

 neighbourhood of Edinburgh. We should occupy more space 

 with this tract, had it not been already widely circulated in the 

 Qiiarterly Journal of Agriculture. 



Art. V. A Tour through North America, together xvith a Compre- 

 hensive View of the Canadas and the United States, as adapted for 

 Agricultural Emigration. By Patrick ShirrefF, Farmer, Mungos- 

 wells, East Lothian. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1835. 



For a gardener or farmer, intending to emigrate to America, 

 this appears to us by far the best book that has hitherto been 

 published on the subject. It consists of two parts : first, a per- 

 sonal narrative of the author's travels ; and, secondly, a compa- 

 rative view of the Canadas and the United States, as adapted for 

 agricultural emigration. 



As much of the interest which we take in the personal nar- 

 rative of a traveller depends on the knowledge which we have 

 previously formed of his habits of thinking, it is satisfactory to 

 be able to form an opinion of Mr. Shirreff's mind from his 

 preface. There are passages in this which prove him to be of a 

 truly philosophic turn of mind, and we therefore accompany him 

 in his tour with confidence and delight. It has been reported 

 that Mr. ShirrefF was appointed by a party of East Lothian 



p 3 



