376 Queries and Answers. 



enclosed, but not so thick, and of a greyish colour. This material is so thick, 

 that a gentleman, a neighbour of Lord Radnor's, has had a waistcoat made of 

 it. The specimen sent has been taken from the ground for above six weeks. 

 Any information you can give me respecting this singular production will be 

 most thankfully received. Small pieces of the filmy white scum have often 

 been found in the low lands and ditches in the same neighbourhood, but 

 nothing at all of this kind. The green side was next the ground. — L. R. 

 Grosvenor Street, May 30. 1840. 



The substance sent was about 6 in. square, and a quarter of an inch thick ; 

 white and cottony above, like a piece of fleecy hosiery, and on the under side 

 green, exactly like fresh conferva, with some withered blades of grass and 

 other extraneous matters mixed with it. This green side was evidently tliat 

 which had been next the surface of the ground, and the grass, &c., had adhered 

 to it when it was torn off. The upper side had become white, in consequence 

 of being bleached by the sun, as is frequently the case with the conferva on 

 the sides of ditches and ponds, during summer, after the water has been some 

 time drained out of them. We sent a specimen of this substance to the Rev. 

 M. J. Berkeley, and the following is an extract from his letter : — 



" I am sorry that I cannot give you any very definite information on the 

 substance of which you transmitted me a specimen. 1 have very frequently 

 seen over meadows, after the floods have subsided, a coat of a similar substance, 

 but not beautifully bleached as your specimen. I suspect that it is Conferva 

 rivularis, which, when dry, scarcely differs under the microscope ; but, if so, 

 the mass cannot, I should think, have arisen from plants washed out of the 

 main stream, but from individuals that have vegetated on the spot, the flood 

 having probably been of long duration. I cannot say, however, that I have 

 ever seen Conferva rivularis grov/ in such a situation ; but I know not to what 

 other species to refer it. I do not think there is more than one species of 

 Conferva in the substance ; but there are a few individuals of Closterium, 

 Vorticella, Gomphonema, Scenedfsmus, Bacillaria, Oscillatoria, Fragillaria, 

 &€., but none in a very good condition. If I remember right, the substance 

 found in Russia and Prussia consisted principally of those minute algse which 

 resemble infusoria. — IM. J. Berkeley. King^s Clijj'e, Warnsford, June 10. 1840." 



Stock for the Moorpark Apricot ; in answer to J. W. D., at p. 280. — 

 Generally, throughout the county of Leicester, apricot trees, that are planted 

 by the side of a dwelling, rarely die in that sudden manner I have witnessed 

 them do in gardens. 1 have often felt humbled when passing these fine 

 specimens, to think that we could not compete with them ; the trees in our 

 gardens dying yearly off by large branches, whilst theirs are annually pro- 

 ducing fine crops, and the trees rarely dying, except from old age. These 

 trees are pruned and nailed by men who in general can have but an imperfect 

 knowledge of the constitution of plants. I have thought the cause of their 

 dying in our gardens arises from a bruise ; for gardeners of this sort are in 

 general more careful with their trees than we are. There is not that straining 

 and twisting exercised by them, to give the tree the artistical appearance 

 which many of us of the "new school" think is requisite. — W. Brown, 

 Merevale, June 5. 1840. 



A new System of cultivating Frame Potatoes. — Covent Garden Market. Fj'ame 

 potatoes were plentiful enough, but owing to a new system of cultivating this 

 universal and indispensable root, by planting them in the autumn in a peculiar 

 soil, and keeping the beds warm by rich dung, and impervious to frost, 

 the potatoes produced in frames are in less demand, and scarcely at a re- 

 munerating price, whilst those planted in the autumn are sold freely at 4(5?. or 

 Qd. per lb., and pay well. (Moi-n. Chron., May 25. 1840.) Can you or any of 

 your correspondents give an account of the mode of culture above mentioned, 

 stating what are the peculiarities of the soil referred to, and what the mode 

 of keeping the beds warm by rich dung, &c. — T. R. Liverpool, May 28. 1840. 



