Notes on the Brazils and New Holland. 249 



manner: — In a dry knoll a pit was dug of the ordinary size of 

 a hot-bed ; the stuff was watered and mixed up, the whole being 

 made equally moist, and deposited in the pit; the surface mould 

 and frame were placed in the usual way. The bed kept up a 

 steady heat for six months, and from the circumstance of its not 

 having been placed near the other frames in the melon ground, 

 but in a remote corner, in case the experiment should have 

 failed, it received less than ordinary attention ; yet a very good 

 crop of melons was produced, and the bed was but little reduced 

 in bulk by fermentation. 



Since Mr. Stephen has been so fortunate with a casual trial of 

 this article, I hope it will soon become more valuable; for, at 

 present, I am aware that it is a common practice at meal mills 

 throughout the country, to throw the refuse into the mill-lead, 

 that the stream may carry it off. Oats are always kiln-dried pre- 

 viously to their being ground, consequently the husks are to be 

 had in the driest state. It may be expected, therefore, that when 

 a person has had some experience in the operation of this mate- 

 rial, that the requisite degree of heat, as well as its permanency, 

 may be nicely adjusted by the quantity of water applied in pre- 

 paring it for use. Should repeated experiments prove this to be 

 the case, it is thought that this hitherto useless article will be of 

 especial service to those who have to preserve half-hardy plants 

 during winter. 



Forres Nurseries, April, 1839. 



Art. XII. Notes, horticultural and agricultural, on the Brazils and 

 New Holland. By Dr. John Lhotsky. 



Wherever Nature herself presents the aspect of a gorgeous 

 garden, man does not pay much attention to horticulture. This 

 fact admits only of some exceptions, in cases where civilisation 

 has been carried to a high degree. Thus, it is obvious, that 

 where amaryllises, fuchsias, &c, are growing wild at our very 

 doors, we will not trouble ourselves with the care of rearing 

 them in enclosed gardens, therefore horticulture, and still more 

 floriculture, in the Brazils, is in a very indifferent state. The 

 public gardens are either merely places of public resort 

 (Passejo publico), or they are experimental gardens, for any 

 given sort of new and useful plants ; for instance, tea, cinnamon, 

 or cloves, like that at Rio Janeiro. By the natural sympathy, 

 however, which men always retain for their native shores, 

 marigold, the wallflowers, and the mignonette, are grown by 

 Europeans, in some of the gardens of the tropical part of 

 the Brazils. 



But, whilst floriculture, and the exhibition of artificially grown 



