General Notices. 



525 



MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE. 



Art. I. General Notices. 



Neglect of Arboriculture by the British Government. — It is impossible to 

 close this subject [the introduction of new species of trees], without re- 

 marking on the neglect with which it is still treated by the government. With 

 the most ample means of every kind, with gardens and parks of which the 

 extent and capabilities are the admiration of every one, we do not possess 

 one common public botanic garden or arboretum for study or reference. This 

 circumstance we cannot but consider as disreputable and disgraceful to the 

 government and to the country ; immense sums being annually expended in 

 the department to which it properly belongs, without a thought being cast on 

 the advancement of science. {Captain S. E. Cook in Annals of Nat. Hist., vol. iii. 

 p. 341.) 



Marders Grafting Composition is recommended as a substitute for grafting- 

 wax, and is said to be at once expansive and adhesive. If so, and if it 

 comes as cheap as grafting-wax, it will, undoubtedly, be preferable to it ; 

 because, with excessive heat, the grafting-wax, while it expands, runs off, and 

 leaves the graft, or the wound to which it has been applied after pruning, bare. 

 Possibly, Marder's composition may contain caoutchouc ; in which case, it 

 will, doubtless, both expand and adhere. We have received a specimen, 

 which we shall try, both in the open air and under glass ; and if any thing 

 worthy of notice occurs, we shall lay it before our readers. — Cond. 



An Earthen Water-Holder. — I send you a specimen of an earthen water- 

 holder {fig. 1 29.) which I made three years since, and which I have found 

 to answer its object extremely well. 

 Many persons may be situated, like my- 

 self, where water is an object ; and my 

 mode of applying it to newly planted 

 flowers, but more especially dahlias, 

 saves considerable waste. The holder, 

 or vessel, is made conical in form (of 

 any given size), the large end being 

 placed downwards ; and it should be 

 sunk in the ground to its neck, at a 

 little distance from the plant. Pour in 

 the water (at any time of the day), and 

 it will gradually ooze (the slower the 

 better) through three or four small 

 openings near the bottom ; thus con- 

 veying the moisture to the very root of 

 the plant at once, without any external 

 evaporation. By this method of ap- 

 plication, one pint will go as far as two 

 or three ; but this is not the sole ad- 

 vantage, for the fibres are not drawn 

 upwards, as is the case with surface- 

 watering, but follow the course of the. 

 moisture to the bottom of the holder, 

 and there soon become established 

 beyond the influence of external 

 drought. A garden pot is sometimes 

 sunk in the ground, for the same object 

 as I had in view ; but my holders are 

 more economical of water, and less un- 

 sightly to the eye. — H. Taylor. High- 

 gate Common, June 28. 1839. 



