Domestic Notices : — England. 637 



the city and its environs, and he is ably assisted by a clever landscape-gardener, 

 a Hessian by birth, who has been for the last twenty-five years in the king's 

 service. This man, whose name is Schaumburg, has very great taste, and is 

 the only man of his calling-in the north of Germany; he has travelled both in 

 France and England, and is consulted by all possessors of gardens or parks." 

 (Morn. Chron., Oct. 12. 1838.) Should M. Ruhmann, or M. Schaumburg, 

 or any of their friends, see this, we beg to say that we shall be happy to 

 receive further details of these improvements, accompanied, if convenient, by 

 a general plan, or bird's-eye view, such as we have given, in a preceding volume, 

 of the public gardens of Frankfort on the Maine. — Cond. 



AUSTRALIA. 



Australian Wine. — As any improvements of the colony must be grati- 

 fying to the public, I beg to apprise you that the district of the Hunter has 

 this year produced many thousand gallons of wine. As my observations have 

 not extended to the upper districts, I can only speak of them from report ; 

 but, at Patrick's Plains, or the adjacent country, there have been above thirty 

 pipes, or 3,600 gallons. It would be unfair to judge severely of its quality, 

 as it is an established fact, that young trees never do in any country, or under 

 any system of culture, produce a valuable article. But, to adduce a proof of 

 what may be expected from it, a bottle of Sauterne was purchased at a 

 dealer's, to compare the respective qualities, and it was decided, that the 

 growth of the colony, although only produced from plants of five years old, 

 was the more agreeable liquor. In fact, Capt. Pike, and some few others, 

 have been so successful in this branch of husbandry, that they have had (if 

 I mistake not), oiFers of 40/. per pipe, for as much as they could produce, 

 which will demonstrate to you that there is no great mystery, as many have 

 supposed, in the production of this article. The points of prime importance 

 are, to select a suitable soil, to let the fruit be thoroughly ripened before press- 

 ing, and to preserve cleanliness in the vessels and casks which are used. I am 

 certain that, these essentials being attended to, the colony may soon become 

 independent of foreign countries for this article ; every country has a different 

 mode of procedure ; and their success, or the want of it, may be attributed 

 chiefly to their attention to, or non-observance of, these few rules. (An Observer 

 in the Colonist Newspaper of April 28. 1838.) 



Art. II. Domestic Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



AlJ old Apple. — There is now in the possession of Mr. Daniel Harvey, 

 residing in the parish of Exininster, an apple which was growing in St. Sid- 

 well's in the year 1787. It was presented by the father of the possessor to 

 his grandson, at his christening in the May following. It was grown in a 

 bottle, the latter being fastened to the branch, and the mouth was closely sealed 

 as soon as it was cut. It is now as fresh as ever, and maj' be seen by any one 

 who will call on Mr. D. Harvey. (Sherborne Journal, as quoted in the Times, 

 May 30. 1838.) 



A gigantic Field Pea. — I send you two stalks of the field pea, about which 

 we have corresponded. I sowed one land ridge of a ploughed field, and I staked 

 three or four rows experimentally. The stalk that has the blossom yet upon 

 it is one of those that were staked ; the other was not staked, but lay on the 

 ground. The haulm generally measures from 6 ft. to 8 ft. in length. It is a 

 late pea, as you will perceive, by none of the pods being yet ripe, and by so 

 much blossom being yet to expand. This is a delicious pea to be eaten when 

 young ; it has a fieldy taste, which I like, and, to my surprise, a " southron " 

 ate them, and liked them also. I mean to have the land measured, and also 

 the produce. — Richard Lowndes. Binfield, Bracknell, Berks, Aug. 21. 1838. 



We sent the two stems to Mr. Lawson, Edinburgh, for his Museum, who, 

 in his letter dated Oct. 12., is anxious to thank Mr. Lowndes, and expresses 



