Mauritius Vanilla. 



' and says, that he has recently, by means of a sHght incision reme- 



* died this fault, which appears to be almost general in the conforma- 



* tion, and finds that in all the plants so operated upon, he has by 



* thus mechanically assisting nature, entirely restored the due rela- 



* tions between the organs of fructification.* 



* A letter from M. Geneve shews, that formerly out of 10 grefFes 



* or shoots rich in flowers, scarcely one or two pods would be 



* produced, but that now, thanks to Mr. Bojer, each stem (grefFe) 



* after losing half its flowers, yields as many as 10 pods. M. G. 



* adds, that in less than 15 days, 10 or 12 vanilla plants have formed 



* (nou^J 236 pods, and that he expects to have from them 325 to 350, 



* a very satisfactory result, — and which could have been doubled, 



* had the operations been performed in due time.' 



From the same. 



I suppose you saw the remarkable Meteoric, if not Cometic ap- 

 pearance in the heavens, yesterday evening, and which astonished us 

 not a little. 



I first observed it on leaving the oflice, at about 6j to 6-20 p. m., 

 I then imagined that it was a streak of smoke from some steamer 

 illumined by the sun, and afterwards that it was one of those radia- 

 tions sometimes seen, when the sun has just set, or is setting under 

 clouds, but it had a brighter appearance, and in fact seemed as a 

 luminous cloud-like ray, of prodigious length, converging towards or 

 almost towards the place of sunset. 



I expected, therefore, to see it melt away, but on the contrary, 

 it became brighter and better defined with the increasing dusk, and 

 it grew gradually shorter, by the earth's motion, as it seemed to 

 decHne, and sink into the horizon. 



By the time I got to the gardens, it had assumed all the appearance 

 of a Comet's brush, but was fast setting behind our Casuarina trees, 

 when I took the probable bearing of the point, where I think it may 

 have cut the horizon, and which I think lay by comp,ass, between 

 W. b S. and W. b S. ^ S. 



* Mr. B. informed me, that the vanilla, a parasitic plant, the mango tree, the iron -wood 

 tree, and some others grow in the Isle of France.— W. E. 



