foreign 'Notices : —Italy. 307 



belonging to individuals who are devoted to the worship of Flora, and make 

 themselves agreeable to her by cultivating plants, and endeavouring to add 

 new glory to her crown by means of seeds. Although but few varieties have 

 been obtained this year in the catalogue of roses, dahlias, camellias, pelargo- 

 niums, &c., their exertions remain unabated. Amongst these amateurs is the 

 celebrated Cavaliere Dr. Luigi Sacco, physician and surgeon, to whom Italy 

 is indebted for the discovery of the vaccine matter indigenous to the cows of 

 Lombardy. We owe a great many of the varieties of the rose to this inde- 

 fatigable naturalist ; such as the Maria Luigia, Bella Aurora, Imperatrice, 

 Carolina, Coloural, Bella Archinto, indica foliacea. Hardy, odoratfssima, 

 wolacea, microphylla ?-6sea, m. cocclnea, m. alba, which three are frequently 

 called Maria Leonida alba, coccinea rosea, and Noisettiawa campanulata. 

 His chief attention is directed to two genera of plants, the camellia and the 

 rose. He was also one of the first who introduced the camellia into Italy. 

 He undertook a journey to Paris in 1810, and brought back with him the 

 Camellia japonica, alba plena, variegata plena, rubra simplex, and rubra 

 maxima ; but as he and other horticulturists did not know the method of 

 cultivating these shrubs, and as they had not the soil suitable for them, for 

 the space of ten or fifteen years you could not say that one of the camellias 

 looked healthy ; and, to prove that they did not spare expense to attain their 

 object, this very Dr. Sacco sent to Paris for the same sort of soil in which he 

 saw them grow so well; but, by continual and indefatigable exertions, they at 

 last succeeded in finding the soil adapted to this genus of plants. That from 

 the banks of the Lakes of Como and Maggiore is the best. Some mix this 

 vegetable soil with a proportion of a half or third of the chestnut soil ; that 

 is, the soil produced from the leaves and small branches of the chestnut 

 (Castanea vesca). You may easily suppose that all the amateurs and collec- 

 tors of camellias- reckon the prosperity of their plants from the date of the 

 discovery of this soil ; and the vigour they acquired from it was such, that 

 they have fructified, an advantage not always obtained. Dr. Sacco possesses 

 no fewer than 8000 camellias, and amongst them there are more than seventy 

 new varieties obtained by him, amongst which the following may be mentioned 

 as remarkable for the beauty of their flowers (as I was enabled to judge by 

 looking over the book in which the most remarkable are painted from time to 

 time) : — Coronata, fasciculata, venosa, annulata, Tirzi, Elena, Fanny, cnemo- 

 neflora, admirabile, althEeseflora, minima, paradisaica, odorata Hyacinth?, 

 odorata j;iolacea tubiflora, Maria Elisabetta, conchiflora, Raniesi, &c. A 

 very great many of the camellias are planted in the open air ; but, when the 

 cold weather sets in, the garden is covered with glass, which occupies a space 

 of 100 ft. long and 70 ft. broad. In winter this small garden is warmed in 

 the old way ; that is, with wood fires ; which article being expensive on 

 account of its scarcity, it becomes of consequence. The heat is conveyed 

 in brick flues under the paths, which is found to be the best way of dis- 

 tributing it. Dr. Sacco, when I visited his garden (June 22. 1836), told me 

 the expectations he had of making improvements in his silkworms, so as to 

 be able to prove that the calcine is a contagious disease. This learned natu- 

 ralist promised to give me the results of his experiments ; and as soon as 

 I receive them I will forward them to you. 



In speaking of the silkworms, you must already know, by the scientific 

 journals, that there are a great many persons here in favour of the mulberry 

 of the Philippine Islands (ikforus cucuUata or multicaulis) for rearing them, 

 and also a great many opposed to it. I will speak of it sine odio vel amove, as 

 I cannot be suspected of spirit of party, not having any interest in the 

 subject, either in a commercial point of view, or otherwise. I only bring the 

 subject before you, as it forms a branch of our agriculture. From some expe- 

 riments made by one of my brothers, he has succeeded in persuading me that 

 the mulberry of the Philippine Islands is far superior to the common mulberry 

 ( iliorus alba). 



1st. Because it grows with a rapidity perhaps threefold that of the com- 

 mon one, and thrives extremely well in any soil, and in various situations. 



