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JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



[ October 81, 1812. 



extent of tree-framework. But this operation has an equally 

 great importance when viewed from another point ; this is the 

 giving to the framework of the trees a shape suitable for the 

 position they are intended to occupy. It may he mentioned 

 that over a great part of our country many species and varieties 

 of our fruit trees, such as the Peach, the Apricot, certain kinds 

 of Pears, and the Vine, can only yield satisfactory crops when 

 sheltered on walls exposed towards a favourable quarter. These 

 shelters are expensive to erect, and one should therefore strive 

 to obtain from the expense as much produce as is possible. In 

 order to effect this, it is necessary that the framework nailed to 

 the wall be trained along it in such a manner that not only do 



the branches occupy regular intervals over the whole surface „ 

 but each one in addition may be furnished with shoots through- 

 out the whole of its length. But if the wall trees be not pruned, 

 and the grower content himself by merely fastening the branches 

 against the wall as they increase, they will be very far from- 

 occupying regular spaces upon the wall; and, on the other 

 hand, as each of the branches is allowed to grow larger every 

 year without restraint, there will be numerous gaps in the- 

 order of fruiting branches they ought to carry. Pruning very 

 effectually prevents these two inconveniences. — A. dtj Breu t l- 

 — (Revue Hortkole.) 



(To be continued.) 



DE. WELWITSCH— WELWITSCHIA MIEABILIS. 

 Those who are in the habit of attending the meetings of the I health, will he both surprised and sorry to hear that he died 

 Royal Horticultural Society at South Kensington, and have on the 20th of this month at his apartments in Fitzroy Square- 

 but very lately seen Dr. Welwitsch there in apparently good | In opening life, a legal career having been marked out for him... 



Welwitschia mirabilis. 



he was obliged to study law, but ultimately forsook it to study 

 medicine, for which he had a greater inclination. By so doing 

 he displeased his father, and suffered much inconvenience in 

 consequence of the latter refusing to supply him with the 

 money necessary for the continuance of his education. He 

 took a medical degree at Vienna, and for some time devoted 

 himself to the practice of his profession. His botanical pro- 

 pensities, however, were not to be suppressed, and at length, 

 throwing up medicine, he abandoned himself to the unrestrained 

 indulgence of them. "Whilst on a visit to Portugal he had 

 the good fortune to attract the attention of the Government, 

 and was appointed their foreign botanical coDector. In this 

 capacity he went to Angola in 1853, where he remained nine 

 years, making most laborious observations on the physical 

 geography and natural history of that region, the results of 

 which he has given to the world in a number of articles com- 

 municated to various scientific journals, both English and 

 foreign. 



In order to compare and classify the numerous specimens 

 which he had collected during this time, Dr. Welwitsch came 

 to England, where the numerous and excellent museums 

 afforded him better opportunities of so doing than could be 

 obtained elsewhere. During his stay in England he rendered 

 great assistance towards perfecting the work described as the 

 " Flora of Tropical Africa," by lending those specimens of 

 plants which he had collected in that quarter of the globe. 

 These specimens of the flora of the western coast of Africa are 

 held to be of great value, and our readers will be glad to hear' 

 that England is likely to possess two sets of each. In course 

 of his travels on the western coast of Africa he discovered a 

 gigantic terrestrial Orchid and a gigantic umbelliferous plant. 

 He was also the first to record the existence of the unique 

 plant that bears his name, and of which we here append a 

 description. 



It is now nearly fourteen years since this extraordinary 

 plant, the very name of which will, no doubt, be unknown by 

 many of our readers, was first brought under the notice of the 

 scientific world. Dr. Welwitsch, whilst travelling through 

 Southern Africa in 1859, discovered it growing among sandy 

 tracts of land, exposed to the most intense of a tropical sun, 

 and but rarely moistened by rain. As far as is at present- 

 known, its home is in portions of land of this description 

 lying between the fourteenth and twenty-third parellels of 

 south latitude. 



At first sight there is but little likeness between its fx- 

 ternal appearance and that of any other vegetable with which 

 we are at present acquainted. Dr. Hooker, however, after 

 subjecting it to close botanical examination, assigned it a 

 position among the " Gnetacea?," the highest order of the 

 naked-seeded exogenous plants, such as the Conifers and 

 Cycads, and some individuals of which show very close affini- 

 ties to the lowest forms of covered-seeded exogens, as the 

 Beefwoods and Birchworts. The stock or stem rarely rises to- 

 more than a foot above the ground. It is narrow at the 

 bottom, but gradually expands at the upper part as it grows 

 higher and older into an irregularly-shaped basin, which 

 varies in diameter according to the age of the plant. Roughly 

 speaking, its shape is not unlike that of the cap of the Poly- 

 porus squamosus fungus, and on the inside presents an uneven 

 wrinkled appearance, caused by the projection of the con- 

 centrically-arranged layers of wood. These, if split open, have 

 a dull red colour and granular-looking texture. The leaves- 

 are nothing but two long green strips attached to the edge of 

 the dilated portion of the stem at opposite sides, and even 

 when the plant has attained to the age of a hundred years do 

 not exceed 6 feet in length. Whilst still young they become 

 torn by the heat and wind, and in this tattered condition, 

 draggling over the burning sand, nevertheless continue to per- 



