102 Rclrospective CrUiclsm. 



degenerating in the slightest degree. We have sent sets by post to several 

 correspondents, and some in packets to others. — Cond. 



Pearson^ s Draining Plough has been used extensively by Sir C. M. Burrell in 

 clayey soil, at Knepp Castle, near Horsham, in Sussex, by which the land 

 has been increased in value one third. The drains are made in parallel lines 

 about 8i ft. apart; they are from 2-1 in. to 26 in. deep ; a tile is laid in the 

 bottom ; and, charging at the rate of 2s. a day per horse, the total cost, the tiles 

 being made on the spot, is about 525. per acre. — C. M. B. Dec. 1839. 



SCOTLAND. 



The Lig7ieoi(s Flora of the Shetland Islands, — Dr. Edmonston of Baltasound 

 has sent us a list of plants observed by his son Thomas, a boy 14 years of 

 age, in the Shetland Islands, accompanied by dried specimens of the whole. 

 This is the first attempt at a regular flora of these islands, and it is supposed 

 to include nearly all the species which are indigenous there. The list is ar- 

 ranged, first according to the Linnaean system, with the habitats ; and secondly, 

 according to the natural system, with the names only. We regret we have not 

 room for details, but we may state that the total number of species is 250 ; 

 and that the ligneous plants are as follows : — Legumindsce: Z7Mex europse'a. 

 Aralidcecs : Hedera He[i\. CaprifolidcecB : Lonicera Periclymenum. JiosdcecB : 

 jJorbus aucuparia, i?6sa tomentosa, Cratse^gus Oxyacantha, YacciniecB: Tac- 

 cinium Myrtillus. 'F.ricecB : Azalea procumbens, Arctostaphylos UVa ursi, 

 A. alpina, jBrica cinerea, E. Tletralix, Calluna vulgaris. 'Rmjjetrece : iiJ'mpe- 

 trum nigrum. Amentdcece : j^etula alba, S&Yix fiisca, S. aurita, S. aquatica, .S'. 

 herbacea. CupressinecE : ,/unfperns communis. In all 20 species. Let us hope 

 that some patriotic individual, native of, or settled in, Shetland, will multiply 

 the ligneous flora ten or twenty fold, which now, by the penny post, he might 

 do by procuring seeds from the London or Edinburgh seedsmen. A hor- 

 ticultural society established in Shetland, or an arboretum planted there, 

 would be delightful news. We have sent the specimens and the lists to Mr. 

 Charlesworth, the conductor of the Magazine of Natural Histori/. — Cond. 



Suhsoil-Plonghing. — Mr. Smith of Deanston had offered a set of premiums 

 to ploughmen for expertness and effect in subsoil-ploughing, and a match took 

 place accordingly, on the 12th of December last, in the neighbourhood of 

 Stirling, at which four prizes were awarded. The ground was divided into 

 different lots, and these were drawn for by the candidates. The ploughs were 

 of different forms, but in general heavy, with a long beam, and the}' were 

 generally drawn by four horses. " This exhibition, upon the whole, did great 

 credit to the ploughmen, and showed again forcibly to the public the power 

 and efficacy of the subsoil plough, in producing, at a cheap rate, a thorough 

 movement of the subsoil. The efficacy of such movement in improving the 

 productiveness of the soil was most apparent in an adjoining field, where Mr. 

 Gray pointed out to those present two equal divisions, the whole having been 

 thoroughly drained, and one of the divisions having been subsoiled, while the 

 other remained in its original state." {Stirling Journal, Jan. 10.) — Cond. 



Art. IV. Retrospective Criticism. 



KeW Plants raised in the Birnnngham Botanic Garden. (Gard. Mag., 18,39, 

 p. 626.) — The list of plants in a living state in this garden, with their native 

 country and year of introduction, which was handed to you when you last 

 visited us, I had no intention of claiming as being all raised here. The ap- 

 propriately named Begonia macrophylla, with a leaf now measuring 21 in. long 

 and 15 in. broad, was first grown by George Barker, Esq., of Springfield, near 

 Birmingham, from tubers imported by himself from Mexico. The Cheilan- 

 thes farinosa was raised from seeds obtained from a dried frond from the 

 East Indies, by J. Riley, Esq., Papplewick, near Nottingham ; who has 

 been very successful, at different times, in raising ferns from seeds obtained 



