General Notices. 



321 



as those recommended by Mr. M'Nab in his Treatise on Cape Heaths. Mr. 

 Coiiper assures us that most, if not all, of the best modern practices in propa- 

 gating and rearing plants were known and practised by Mr. Henderson before 

 the commencement of the present centur}', and he refers for proofs to the 

 Caledonian Horticultural Society's Memoirs. In Mr, Couper's nursery we ob- 

 served a number of rare plants which he is propagating rapidly, more especially 

 some of the new hybrid rhododendrons, which he increases by budding and by 

 herbaceous grafting ; placing the stocks, after they have received the bud or 

 graft, on heat, and covering them with a hand-glass in the grefFe etouffee 

 manner. — Cond. 



The most economical Mode of dividing a Square Plot of Ground. — I have 

 this year two pieces of turnips, of ten acres each, nearly square, which I 

 intend to divide by hurdles into eight divisions each, for eating on the ground 

 by sheep and young cattle : now it is plain that if I divide them straight 

 across the field, from hedge to hedge, I shall have seven settings of hurdles, 

 of 220 yards in length in each field, making in the whole a length of .3080 

 yards for setting hurdles at different times. 



To save labour, I A 1, . -, B 



therefore adopt the 

 method explained 

 in the annexed di- 

 agram, ^g. 79. 



Suppose the fi- 

 gure A B c D to be a 

 square field of ten 

 acres, then a b will 

 be the first setting 

 of hurdles, c d the 

 second, b e the 

 third, c/ the fourth, 

 b g the fifth, h i 

 the sixth, b k the 

 seventh, and / m 

 the eighth ; in the 

 whole, eight settings 

 of 110 yards each, 

 or 880 yards; in 

 both pieces 1760 

 yards, or one mile : 

 and the turnips will 

 be eaten in rotation 



2 



1 





% 



y 



^ L 



1 



8 



h 



D 



Fig. 79. Diagram showing the most economical Mode of hurdling off 

 a Field of Turnips. 



a3 the plots of ground are numbered. 



Yards. 

 Length of hurdling in former way - 3080 



Length of ditto in latter way - - 1760 



Saving of labour 



- 1320 



— (Young's Annals of Agricultjire, vol. xiii. p. 346.) 



This article may afford the gardener and planter some useful hints relative 

 to the division of ground into beds, the sheltering it by hedges, or the distri- 

 bution of surface or underground drains. — Cond. 



Scott's Patent Improvements in Cast-iron, IVrought- Iron, and Soft-Metal 

 Pipes. — Since the vastly extended use, in recent times, of pipes for gas-Hghting, 

 and heating by air, water, and steam, a ready mode of joining numerous 

 lengths of pipes tightly together, and of disjoining them again at pleasure, has 

 become every day more and more a desideratum. The old spigot and faucet 

 joint, commonly used for cold-water pipes, was never, even with the aid of 

 the best soldering, a very sound one ; and, when applied to pipes constantly 



Y 3 



