474 Arboricultural Notices. 



2 ft. from row to row. I mention this to show that there is no waste of room 

 more than ordinary. The soil in the alley is now to be excavated, and laid on 

 the bed from 4 in. to 6 in. deep : this quantity will therefore lower the alley at 

 least a foot below its old level, and with the rise and the slope will give a 

 slanting surface of 2 ft. facing the morning and evening sun at right, or nearly 

 right, angles ; and will give the 4 ft. bed a surface exposed to sun and shower 

 of at least 7 ft., that is, three fourths more than flat beds, as shown in^g. 101. 



J 



4-/, 



Fig. 101 . Section through Ground, showing that a imich larger Surface is exposed to the Action of 

 the Atmosphere by laying it up in Beds, than by retaining it in an even State. 



As there is no earthing-up wanted, you have no deep hacking and hoeing; and, 

 be it remembered, as the land is only once on the spade, no double digging or 

 trenching. If the weeds between the rows were to grow as they might, they 

 could never choke the crop, because they are beggared for want of manure in 

 the first instance, for there is not a forkful between the beds ; and, if they start 

 with or before the potatoes, they will have at least 18 in. to grow before they 

 come to the level of the ground line where the potatoes spring from. I have 

 given this system a fair trial on the worst of land, and with various crops, as 

 potatoes, onions, &c., and have no doubt of its superiority, especially on ill 

 drained stiff clay, which it goes far to correct and cure, being a regular summer 

 fallowing : and in the case of shallow land, for carrots or the like, the depth 

 can be doubled by making the alleys wider, and thus laying one half on the 

 other ; for the air will circulate between the beds equally well for the crops, 

 whether the alley be rich mould or barren sand. 



Begging pardon for this lengthy explanation, 1 must conclude by saying I 

 have spoken from experience ; for I have cultivated several acres in this way 

 for years past, and have detailed the system with truth and faithfulness for the 

 benefit of those who have no better way, begging those who know better to 

 help their neighbours, and me their humble servant. 



Alton Towers, St. Andrew's Day, 1842. 



Art. III. Arboricultural Notices. 



Ops' ROUS pedunculdta fructu longissimo, ov gldnde longipedunculdta, the long- 

 fruited common oak, is a variety strongly marked both in its foliage and fruit. 

 The general form of the leaves is lanceolate, compared with those of the 

 common oak, widest in the middle, and equally pointed at both ends ; and 

 the lobes are acutely pointed. Length of the leaves 6 in., and breadth in the 

 widest part IJin ; length of the acorn, taken out of the cup. If in., breadth 

 i in. The tree from which, through the kindness of M. Charles Ranch, we 

 received a specimen and some acorns, is in the Imperial Park at Laxemburg, 

 near Vienna, where it is 60 ft. high, with a trunk 4 ft. in diameter. We have 

 distributed the acorns, but are very doubtful whether, after having been kept 

 so long (July 23.), they will grow. 



Trees at Smeaton, near Dalkeith, the property of His Grace the Duke of 

 Buccleugh, measured by order of His Grace for the Arboretum Britannicum in 

 December, 1838, but inadvertently not forwarded. 



Cedrus Libani, with a trunk containing 113 cubic feet, and 13 limbs contain- 

 ing 91 ft.; in all 206 ft. 

 Castanea vesca, containing in the trunk and limbs 146 cubic feet ; another 



