Domestic Notices. Retrospective Criticism. 239 



natives the Mother of the Ferns), the stem of which is eatable towards its 

 root. In the plume-like disposition of its branches it bears a resemblance to 

 the Cycas tribe of plants, which constitutes, like the palms and ferns, a prin- 

 cipal feature of antediluvian or fossil vegetation. (Neiv Zealand, South Australia, 

 and New South Wales; a Record of recent Travels in those Colonies, p. 332.) 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



A COMMON Laurel (Cerasus Laurocerasus), of the following dimensions, is 

 now growing at Totteridge in Middlesex : height 25 ft. ; circumference of the 

 space occupied by the branches, 81 ft. There are six principal branches, 

 which recline upon the ground, and their circumference respectively is as 

 follows: — No. 1.42 in.; No. 2. 33 in. ; Nos. 3 and 4., 27 in.; andNos.5 and 6., 

 20 in.— R. T. 



SCOTLAND 



Edinburgh, March 4. 1842. — Browm'« coccinea has just flowered in the 

 Botanic Garden, and Mr. J. M'Nab has made a beautiful drawing of it. His 

 exertions for procuring funds for getting up an exhibition hall have been 

 very successful. I went from Edinburgh to Ayr the other day by railroad in 

 five hours, and returned here in the evening ! When shall we be able to 

 reach London in one day and return the next ? In about five years, as near 

 as I can calculate, if the projected railroad from Edinburgh to Newcastle is 

 begun next year, as I trust it will. A rule is about to be made at the Horticul- 

 tural Society's Garden here, " That regular entries shall be made of all dona- 

 tions of seeds, plants, &c, made to the Society, and a monthly report furnished 

 by the superintendant, specifying the employment which may have been made 

 of them, and an account of the results of any trials made of them in the expe- 

 rimental garden." This will probably be attended with useful consequences. — 

 W. W. B. 



Art. IV. Retrospective Criticism. 



Books on Gardening, fyc. — "Don't you think there is a great deal too 

 much fiddle-faddle in books on gardening ? So far as my experience goes, 

 there is no need of following their empirical directions in growing plants. 

 What necessity, for instance, is there for a person who has got a garden that 

 will grow kitchen produce well, to follow Mr. — — — 's advice about the cul- 

 tivation of lobelias ; see the article " Lobelia," in a recent work, where this 

 passage occurs : — " In the beginning of May the soil is to be taken out to 

 the depth of 1 ft., and the bottom loosened up ; the bed is then filled to 

 within 2 in. of the top with one half loam, rather stiff" than light, and 

 one half good rotten dung from a cucumber or melon bed ; it is afterwards 

 filled up with some of the soil that was taken out, and, as soon as settled, the 

 plants," &c. Now, to a novice in gardening, such directions must be deter- 

 rifying, if I may coin the word, and puzzling at the same time. The labour 

 of taking out the soil would deter him, probably, from growing lobelias, or, 

 if not deterred, he would be puzzled to know what the writer meant by loam, 

 whether a stiffish subsoil or a stiffish soil ; and whether no sort of rotten 

 dung but that from a cucumber or melon bed would suffice. Thus he might 

 be put to great inconvenience by blindly following such directions to the 

 letter, which would not befall him if the reasons for observing those directions 

 were made manifest. But it would be difficult to assign reasons in this, p,s in 

 most cases, where deer droppings, bullock's blood, coal ashes, road scrapings, 



