Foreign Notices ; — France. 295 



Preservation of Fruit. — Dr. Loiseleur des Longchamps preserves apples 

 three or four years, and pears more than one year, by enclosing them in an 

 air-tight box, and depositing it in an ice-house. Previously to placing them in 

 the box, each pear is wrapped in five or six thicknesses of absorbent paper, 

 which, in case of decay, prevents one fruit from contaminating another. 

 Burying the box, which may be of zinc or lead, or perhaps an earthenware 

 vessel, 3 or 4 ft. deep in the soil, would answer equally well ; and even a cool 

 common cellar might be used for the same purpose. (Annates d'Hort. de Paris, 

 vol. xxi. p. 196). 



A Benefit Society for Gardeners. — I have been requested to write to you on 

 a subject, which may be said to come home to the feelings of every gardener 

 in the United Kingdom. It is on the formation of a Benefit Society on a 

 large scale, exclusively for gardeners, to provide relief in sickness, and pro- 

 vision for old age. When we consider the number, the influence, and the 

 respectability of this class, it may seem surprising, that a society of this de- 

 scription has not been established before. The accidents of human life, the 

 improvidence of some, and the misfortunes of others, would by this means 

 be mitigated. If we compare the gardeners of the present day with those of 

 thirty years back, we find them as much improved as the plants they culti- 

 vate. It requires only to establish a benevolent society for their sick and 

 unfortunate brethren, to raise them still higher in the scale of humanity. — E.S. 

 We refer our correspondent to the paragraph in p. 196., where the esta- 

 blishment of a Gardener's Benevolent Association is mentioned, the leading 

 particulars respecting which will be found in our Advertising Sheet ; and it may 

 be sufficient to state here, that the secretary is Mr. Bowler, at the Gardener's 

 Gazette Office, and at Mr. Wright's Hotel, Strand. — Cond. 



Prevention of Hail Storms. — M. Arago has proposed a plan for discharging 

 clouds, in cases of storms, of the electric fluid which they contain, and thus 

 preventing the frequent occurrence of hail storms ; which, as is well known, are 

 generally produced by two currents of clouds, charged with positive and nega- 

 tive electricity, crossing each other. It consists in an improvement upon 

 Franklin's experiment of the kite, with which he obtained an electric spark 

 from a cloud. M. Arago recommends that a small balloon, properly secured, 

 armed with metallic points, and communicating with the ground by a rope 

 covered with metallic wire, like a harp string, should be kept permanently 

 floating in the air, at a considerable height, over the spot which it is wished to 

 preserve from the effects of lightning or hail ; and he expects that by such an 

 apparatus as this a cloud might have its electric contents entirely drawn off, 

 without any damage being caused, or that at least the intensity of a hail storm 

 would be greatly diminished. The experiment is so simple that it is well worthy 

 of a trial. (Galignani's Messenger, as quoted in the Morning Chronicle, April 

 12. 1839.) 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 FRANCE. 



La Greffe herbace, or herbaceous graft, is commonly thought to have been 

 the invention of the Baron de Tschoudy of Metz, who employed it exten- 

 sively in grafting the pine and fir tribe ; but Francis de Neufchatel says this 

 graft was known in France in the 16th century. (Annates de la Societe d'Hort.) 



The Grapes of Fontainebleau and Thomery are, unquestionably, the best 

 produced in the open air in the neighbourhood of Paris. At Fontainebleau, 

 the vines have been cultivated in the Royal Gardens, as far back as the time 

 of Francis I. They are grown against a wall, above half a mile in length, 

 built in the direction of east and west ; about 10 ft. high for three fourths of 

 its length, with the remaining portion in the centre from 18 ft. to 20 ft. high. 

 This wall is covered on the south side with a variety of grape called Chasselas 



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