Domestic Notices : — England, Scotland. ^T7 



branches off to ten branches of from 6 in. to 10 in. in diameter. Height from 

 35 to 40 ft., with a wide round top, and handsomely formed. 



I presume you know that our beautiful ships of war, and many of our merchant 

 vessels (the Philadelphia and Liverpool packets for instance), are built of the 

 durable live oak. I spent the winter of 1805 and the following spring on St. 

 Simon's, and saw groves of the live oak, from the lower branches of which 

 hung the Tillandsia usne'oiAes waving in the wind, to the length of 15 or 20 feet 

 Any part of the living plant, according to Mr. Bartram, torn off and caught in 

 the limbs of the tree, will presently take root, grow, and increase in the same 

 perfection as if it had sprung from the seed. When fresh, cattle and deer will 

 eat it in the winter. The acorns of the live oak are pleasant food, and the 

 deer are very fond of them. They fatten on them speedily, and I can speak ex- 

 perimentally of the high flavour of the venison. Mr. Cowper says that the 

 live oak grows quickly in open cultivated ground, but slowly in its native 

 forests. — J. M. Philadelphia, July 14. 1841, 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 



ENGLAND. 



The Effect of Under'draining. — There is a field on the estate of the Earl of 

 Leicester, at Longford, in this county, which some years ago was occupied by 

 Mr. John Sherratt, and brought forth rushes in such abundance that the occu- 

 pier gave leave to any body to carry them away who would be at the trouble 

 to mow them. Three years ago the field was drained, under the direction of 

 Mr. T. Harper of Foston ; and this year, we are told, the present occupier, 

 Mr. T. Robinson, has cut three tons an acre of as nice herbage as ever grew. 

 (^Derbyshire Chronicle.) 



Brugmdnsiz, hicolor. — There is now (Aug.) in the garden of the warden of 

 Wadham College, Oxford, a splendid specimen of this noble shrub. It has 

 been very successfully grown for several years by Mr. Robinson, gardener 

 there, and this season, in the open air, it has attained the height of 8 ft., the 

 branches extending over a surface of 9 ft. in diameter, and presents daily, on 

 an average, about 300 perfect blossoms. — W, H. B. Aug. 1841. 



SCOTLAND. 



The Douglas Monument. — This mark of European respect for departed 

 genius and worth is now in course of erection by the Messrs. Cochrane, 

 brothers, mai'ble-cutters and sculptors, Perth, who furnished the accepted 

 design to the committee ; and we have no doubt the design itself and the 

 execution thereof will do much credit to these gentlemen. The sub- 

 committee appointed t: superintend the erection, consisting of Colonel Mur- 

 ray Belshes of Invermay ; Mr. Robertson, gardener, Kinfauns Castle ; Mr. 

 Dodds, gardener. Scone Palace ; and Mr. Gorrie, gardener, Annatt Cottage, 

 met by appointment at the place of erection, in Scone churchyard, for the 

 purpose of depositing, near the foundation, memoranda that may tell to the 

 men of far distant ages of the passing events of the present day. Col. M. 

 Belshes, whose chaste taste, untiring zeal, and sound judgment, have rendered 

 the labours of the other members of the committee comparatively easy, depo- 

 sited in a cavity made in a stone for the purpose, a paper containing a portrait 

 and biographical notice of the late Mr. David Douglas, furnished by J.C. Loudon, 

 Esq., Bayswater, a copy of the Gardener's Gazette of Saturday, the 24th of July, 

 the Perth Constitutional of the 28th of July, with other papers and memoranda; 

 and, at the request of the colonel, Mr. Gorrie deposited in the same cavity the 

 gold and silver coins of the present reign ; after which the repository was 

 closed, and overlaid with a large stone, whereon is hewn an elegant wreath 

 of foliage, flowers, and fruit, to be surmounted by the marble slab with the 



