98 Foreign Notices : — ■ France^ Sweden. 



dung together, with water enough to render them liquid : with this he covered 

 the stems of some young trees which he wished to convey to the Mauritius, 

 and he also steeped in it the roots ; he then covered them with common moss, 

 and filled up all the insterstices with straw. He closed the case hermetically ; 

 and, when it was opened at the end of the voyage, not only were the trees 

 alive, but bearing both leaves and blossoms. (^Athencemn, Dec. 9. 1837.) 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 



FRANCE. 



Agriculture. — The sup of 500,000 francs has been placed at the disposal 

 of the French Minister of Public Works, for the encouragement of agriculture 

 during the year 1838. There have been also several gentlemen travelhng in 

 Scotland, at the expense of the Society of Agriculture, in order to examine the 

 system of farming in that country. {Ibid., Dec. 2. 1837.) 



Vegetable Monstrosity. — M. Decroix of Norbecourt presented, at the last 

 meeting of the Society d' Agriculture at Douai, a curious vegetable mon- 

 strosity : it is a pear, so disfigured as to have the appearance of an artichoke. 

 {VE'cho du Monde Savant, Oct. 21. 1837.) 



Cordage from the Napce^a Ice^vis L. — At the last show of the products of in- 

 dustry of the Cotd d'Or at Dijon, cordage made from the bark of the Napse'a 

 IseVis L. was exhibited. This plant belongs to the natural order ikfalvaceae. 

 It is a native of North America, and has long been cultivated in the gardens. 

 It attains the height of 6 ft., even in poor soil. The bark separates easily from 

 the stem after it has been steeped for two days in water : the fibres are not so 

 strong or so fine as those of hemp, but they are very useful for the manufac- 

 ture of the coarser kind of cordage, and far preferable to the bark of the lime 

 tree. {Ibid., Nov. 8. 1837.) 



SWEDEN. 

 A Visit to Hammarbi/, the Country Seat of Linnceus, in the Spring of 1834, bt/ 

 the Royal Swedish Physician M. Af Pontin. From the Transactions of the 

 Swedish Horticultural Society for the Year 1835 ; translated into German by 

 Colonel C. v. Dannfelt ; and from the German into English, for the Gardener's 

 Magazine, by J. L. The journey from Stockholm to the Royal Castle {Lust- 

 schloss) of Rosersberg, and the University of Upsal, was undertaken in com- 

 pany with two members of our Horticultural Society, viz. Bishop C. A. 

 Agardh, and the secretary, J. A. Rosenblad. 



Before leaving Upsal we paid a respectful visit to the only remaining branch 

 of Linnseus's family. Miss Louisa von Linne, who, although about 80 years 

 of age, was still cheerful and in good health. Old persons testified that her 

 features exceedingly resembled those of her immortal father. We received 

 from her the key of the rural dwelling, which was the favourite retreat of 

 Linnaeus. The road to this place, which is about a mile and a quarter from 

 Upsal, runs through the well-known King's Meadow {Kiinigswiese) men- 

 tioned in the works of Linnaeus, which was yet completely covered with the 

 varied shades of the purple fritillaria {damspiels-tulpe), and presented an ap- 

 pearance not unlike that of the meadows of the Hartz Mountains in Sep- 

 tember, where the colchicum flourishes. Three colours generally predominated 

 here : bluish purple, pale red, and white. I dug up a considerable number of 

 all the varieties of these bulbs to plant in my own garden, where I found that 

 these plants soon spread themselves, and generally far from the mother plant ; 

 •which led to the conclusion that the wind conveys the seed to a distance.* 



* All that were brought home flowered this year, and have retained their 

 peculiar variety of colours. 



