Domestic Notices : — Ireland. 183 



In looking over )'our magnificent work the Arboretum, which is my vade 

 mecum, as it ought to be that of every gardener and amateur, containing as it 

 does all that is known of the science, I do not find among the uses made of 

 the fruit of the whortleberry (raccinium Myrtillus), that to which it is ap- 

 plied in the mountains of the Lago Maggiore (Verbano). In those years 

 when grapes are scarce, the mountaineers make wine for their own use of 

 these berries. They gather them and put them to ferment as grapes are treated, 

 in vessels, adding water in the proportion of three fourths of a Milanese boc- 

 cale (about 4 pints) to every pound weight of fruit. I have been assured by 

 persons every way worthy of credit, who used it, that it is an excellent 

 beverage, not inferior to the common drinking wine of the country; and that 

 wine made solely of the fruit, that is entirely without water, cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from our best wine. In one year, in three communes, more than 

 100 Milanese brente (about 960 gallons) were made of it. 



The celebrated Dr. Roberto de Visiani, Professor of Botany in the Uni- 

 versity of Padua, who intends publishing the flora of Dalmatia, in his Semina 

 H. Patavini Anno 1840 collecta, gives a new species of Cytisus, which he 

 dedicates to the discoverer, Professor Alschinger. Here is the description as 

 given by Visiani : — 



" Cytisus Alschingeri Vis. 



" C. fruticosus, adpresse canescens, petiolis canaliculatis, foliolis oblongis 

 utrinque attenuatis, ramis racemisque patulis rigidis, calycibus profunde labiatis, 

 labio inferiore ovato-lanceolato subintegro longiore, leguminibus margine in- 

 crassatis. 



" Habit. In sylvaticis mont. Vellebith in Dalmatia, ubi detexit et sub nomine 

 Cyt. Laburni communicavit egreg. Prof, Alschinger. Modo colitur in Horto 

 Patavino. 



" Admodum affinis Cyt. Laburno, qui difFert petiolis planis, calycibus leviter 

 labiatis, labiis subaequalibus, inferiore ovato apice tridentato, et praecipue 

 ramis racemisque gracilibus pendulis." 



" Shrubby, appressedly canescent, petioles channelled, leaflets oblong 

 tapering on both sides, branches and racemes spreading rigid, calyx deeply 

 lipped, lower lip ovate-lanceolate subentire longer, pod thickened at the 

 margin. 



" Found in woods on Mount Vellebith in Dalmatia, by Prof. Alschinger, and 

 communicated by him as Cyt. Laburnum. Now in the Padua Garden. 



" Closely related to C. Laburnum, which differs in having smooth pe- 

 tioles, and a slightly lipped calyx, with subequal lips, the lower terminating 

 in an ovate three-toothed apex ; and especially in having slender pendulous 

 branches and racemes." 



The same professor gives an account, in the above catalogue of seeds, of 

 three other new plants, of which I will speak in my next, as well as of many 

 other things. In the meantime I hope you will make the following correc- 

 tions to some errors in the Gard. Mag., vol. xvi. 



In p. 305. line 17., for " Milanese pestichi," read " Milanese pertiche." 308. 

 lines 9. and 41., instead of " Lomani," read " Lomeni." 309. line 20., instead 

 of " Abate Swagani," read " Abate Longoni." — Giuseppe Mannetti. 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 

 IRELAND. 



VfNUS pumilio. — The tree which afforded the specimens I now send you 

 has been about forty-two years planted, and is now 18 ft. high, branched from 

 the base, and forming a kind of pyramid, with rather a light and elegant ap- 

 pearance, different from any of our other pines. During the tremendous 

 hurricane which occurred here in January, 1839, this tree was completely 



N 4 



