476 Foreign Notices : — Germany. 



we are at the present time partly surrounded by plantations that have 

 been planted about thirty years with one common mixture of trees, in which 

 the birch predominates : they are not more than from 4 ft. to 10 ft. apart, 

 and are from 40ft. to 50ft. high; few of them carry a trunk more than 

 6 in. in diameter, at 3 ft. from the ground, and many of them are of much 

 less size. Had they been properly thinned in time, they would now have 

 served the purpose for which they were intended, viz., shelter and ornament. 

 (H., in Gard. Gaz., February 19. 1842.) 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 GERMANY. 



Vienna, August 3. 1842. — The Railway Company (of the Nordbahn) 

 intends to plant fruit and other useful trees along the railway, on those places 

 where they will not interfere with the main object : for this purpose, several 

 large pieces of ground are preparing for nurseries in different parts along the 

 road, which will be stocked from the principal nursery at Florensdorf, near 

 Vienna, where they have already planted 60,000 stocks for fruit-trees, part 

 of which are to be budded this summer, and the rest grafted next spring. 

 Seeds of different fruits and other useful trees, oaks, acers, &c, are also sown 

 to obtain a sufficient supply for the branch nurseries ; and, as the Company 

 purposes to plant only few, but the most approved sorts, suited to the 

 different soils and situations along the road-sides, arid round the station- 

 houses, it is expected that they will do a great deal of good that way. 

 — C.R. 



Art. III. Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



THE Thunder Stoim at Walton Hall, August 10. 1842. — During the terrible 

 storm of thunder and lightning on Wednesday last, the poplar tree which 

 you- will see in the picture adjoined to the Essays, was struck and sadly 

 rent. I had passed the day at Leeds with our celebrated Doctor Hobson. 

 Having had an early dinner, I felt a great inclination to get home, and 

 repeatedly requested that the carriage might be brought to the door. To 

 this the doctor obstinately objected, but, finding me unceasing in my entreaties, 

 he at last consented, and off" we drove. You must know that every body, 

 rich and poor, has permission to fish here, from the first of April till the first 

 of October. Having reached home, I saw that the thunder storm was just 

 going to burst over us ; the rain having begun to fall. Seven of the fisher- 

 men had collected under the poplar tree ; and on seeing them there, I ran out 

 of the house, and warned them of their danger, and desired them to repair, 

 without loss of time, to the saddle-room, where they would get shelter from 

 the impending storm ; forbidding them, at the same time, to stay for a moment 

 under any of the large trees on their way thither, as the consequences might 

 be fatal to them. Scarcely had they reached the saddle-room when the 

 lightning struck the poplar tree, and sent fragments of it in all directions. 

 You may well suppose that we were not long in thanking God Almighty, on 

 bended knee, for the escape from death of those who had intended to 

 remain under the shelter of the poplar tree, until the storm should have 

 passed over. — Charles Waterton. Walton Hall, August 14. 



In a subsequent letter Mr. Waterton informs us that the poplar tree itself is 

 of some interest. " My father," he adds, " brought it, a plantling, in his pocket 

 from a gentleman's house near Doncaster, and planted it where it now stands, 



