670 General Notices. 



six years perfectly good by a renewal of this operation once a year. (Literary 

 Gazette, August 1. ]8*0.) 



Pumpkin Sugar. — M. L. Hoifinan, in Hungary, has procured a patent for 

 the manufacture of sugar from pumpkins, and he and M. Emeric Devay have 

 established a small manufactory of the article in Zamdor, in which they have 

 already obtained 4-0 cwt. of sugar from pumpkins, a small part of which they 

 have also refined : 1 cwt. of pumpkins yields as much sugar as 1 cwt. of beet- 

 root ; but the space of a hectar, viz., 2 acres, 1 rood, and 35 perches, yields 

 three or four times more pumpkins (according to the weight) than beet-root, 

 the space occupied by the Indian corn growing between the rows not being 

 included. 8 cwt. of sugar could be raised on 1600 square toises, fi-om which 

 a weight of 200 cwt. of pumpkins is obtained, and sometimes even 260 cwt. 

 of pumpkins. M.Hoffman has obtained from between 26 and 27 cwt. of 

 pumpkins, 1 cwt. of sugar, and as much syrup. In making the sugar, the 

 pumpkins are cut in pieces, and then with the rind are rubbed on a grating, 

 the same as is used for beet-root : and the seeds, which produce an excellent 

 oil, are kept separate. 1 lb. of oil is obtained from 5 lb. of seed. The juice is 

 obtained from the grated pumpkins in the same manner as from beet-root. 

 M. Hoffmann obtained from an indifferent press 82 lb. of juice, containing a 

 proportion of sugar of from 3° to 10°, according to Baunce. This juice is far 

 preferable to that of beet-root, because it does not so soon lose its virtue, 

 but remains good for 24 hours. It is purified and cleared with animal matter, 

 and the pumpkin juice is boiled in the same manner as that of beet-root. 

 Every machine intended for the above manufactory should be so constructed 

 as to cut the pumpkins to pieces before they are grated. 



Sheep prefer the refuse of the pumpkin to that of beet-root, which requires 

 a well-cultivated soil, while the former will thrive on one that is less so. The 

 beet-root is calculated for the north, and for moist atmospheres, and the other 

 is more adapted for the south. In the French colonies, and in the Isle of 

 Bourbon, a kind of pumpkin is found which produces much more saccharine 

 matter than our most esteemed sorts ; but it cannot be compared to the sugar- 

 cane, which has the incomparable advantage of producing fuel for boiling its own 

 juice. — M. Hoist: Moscow. (Translated for the Gardener'' s JSlagazineh'ji.X^.) 



The Bokhara Clover. — The small packet of seed which you presented to 

 the Marquess of Northampton in 1839 was equally divided between our 

 gardener and myself. I had my portion of the seed set singly, at a j'ard 

 apart, in rather poor stiff soil, in His Lordship's private nursery. Above 

 forty plants came up, and about half of these were eaten off, while in the 

 seed leaf, by some species of insect. From the rapidity with which the 

 seedlings disappeared, plant after plant, I apprehend that if this clover shall 

 ever come to be raised from the seed in England as an agricultural crop, 

 much disappointment will be experienced on account of its seeming liability 

 to the attacks of insects. The greatest height which it attained with me, 

 during the first summer (1839), was from 5 ft. to 6 ft. But I must observe 

 here, that, long before it reaches this height, it becomes so hard and woody 

 as to be totally unfit to use as fodder for cattle. When planted out singly, as 

 my plants were, the habit of growth is rather elegant. From the main stems, 

 which are numerous, proceed a profusion of irregularly situated lateral stems, 

 which, as well as the main ones, terminate in a flower spike ; and again these 

 laterals are furnished with numerous lateral flower spikes, and still the plant 

 does not look confused or crowded. The average length of the spikes is 

 from 5 in. to 8 in., and each spike supports from sixty to eighty small white 

 and scentless papilionaceous flowers ; but, if a handful of the stems, when in 

 flower, are cut and left in the shade for the matter of two days, a strong 

 agreeable smell is emitted, exactly resembling that of Anthoxanthum odora- 

 tum. During the past summer, my plants grew 8 ft. to 10 ft. high : those in 

 the gardens at Castle Ashby, where the soil is much richer, reached from 

 10 ft. to 12 ft. in height. Towards the commencement of last winter, I 

 discovered that this plant was not an annual, as I had supposed, and therefore 



