84 Foreign Notices : — Itali/. 



jects, as do Messrs. Cottam and Hallen; and very handsome designs, with 

 very low prices af&xed, are to be had of Messrs. Young of Edinburgh. A 

 correspondent in Scotlanci, on whom we can rely, says of Messrs. Young : 

 "They are young men who have carried., into their business the scientific 

 knowledge of the age, acquired at our cheap and'greatly improved educational 

 institutions. They are intelligent, tasteful, enthusiastic, and of a good address, 

 and they are being very extensively employed. Sunk fences are now seldom 

 made in Scotland, though I see you occasionally recommend them in England. 

 A wire fence 3 ft. 6 in. high is sufficient for cattle and sheep. It consists of 

 six horizontal wires passed through, or fastened on, wooden posts, and is put 

 up for 9d. per yard ; and with an additional wire, to render the fence 4 ft. 6 in. 

 high, for 10c?. per yard j the posts being supplied and fixed in the ground by the 

 propiietor. These posts, if tarred and charred, are found to last 20 years. 

 The wires are generally painted with gas tar. Instead of running the wires 

 through the wooden posts, it is found an improvement to attach them by iron 

 staples ; which admits of renewing a post when it decays, without disturbing 

 any of the others. Very strong deer fences Messrs. Young erect at from 2s. 

 to 3s. Qd. per yard, according to the height ; the proprietor providing stones for 

 the straining pillars, and stone or wood blocks for the intermediate uprights, 

 &c. Curved wire fences [which are so beautifully put up by Mr. Porter, with 

 under-ground stays, and no prop or brace of any kind shown above ground] 

 are also put up by Messrs. Young."— fF. D. S. Sept. 28. 1842. 



Gregson's Green-Flesh Melon is a small fruit, seldom weighing more than 

 three pounds, but it is decidedly the best-flavoured Cantaloup melon that I 

 have ever tasted. The person from whom I had the fruit has grown it for 

 many years, and never had any other variety that gave so much satisfaction. 

 He does not know its origin, — J. B. [We have a few seeds of this melon at 

 the service of any one who chooses to ask for them, enclosing a postage 

 stamp.] 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 ITALY. 



{J'lmus fulva. — I was much surprised to read (Vol. for 1840, p. 231.) of the 

 medical properties of the C/'lmus fulva, owing to the great quantity of muci- 

 lage with which its cellular tissue abounds ; and as the mucilage is very 

 nutritious, and as the leaves and bark of the common elm fatten cattle in a 

 short time, on account of the portion of mucilage which they also contain, we 

 may hence conclude that cattle would fatten much more quickly if fed with 

 the* leaves of the [7'lmus fulva. In the Maison Rustique du XIX S'wcle it is 

 said that the leaves of the Populus canadensis in a green state are equivalent 

 to the same weight of the best hay: what is meant is, that a certain weight of 

 these leaves in a dry state nourish or fatten equal to twice (due) the weight 

 of the best hay. A comparison of the nutritive properties of the leaves of the 

 Canadian poplar, the common elm, and the C/'lmus fulva, is well deserving of 

 a trial. — Giuseppe Manetti. Jllonza, N'ov. 1. 1842. 



Nelumbium tibetidnuvi. — At the house of my friend George Compton, Esq., 

 to whom Lombardy is indebted for many fine and rare plants, and who lives 

 in the neighbourhood of Como, I saw Nelumbium tibetianum in full flower in 

 August last year (when it flowered for the first time), as well as in the same 

 month of the present year, and which I do not think has been as yet de- 

 scribed. He grows it in a pot 2 ft. in diameter, and lift, high, filled with 

 mould to the height of 1 ft., in which the nelumbium is planted, and from this 

 point to the top it is kept filled with water. The flowers are rather smaller, 

 more round (see the two figures sent), and of a darker colour than those of 

 the Nelumhium speciosum. There is no difference in the leaves and smell of 

 the flowers from the other species ; therefore I consider it a variety. In the 



