92 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
after the carnage of a desperate field, these 
dogs have been found stretched on the mangled 
bodies of their youthful friends. A French 
officer, mortally wounded in the field, was 
found with his dog by his side. An attempt 
having been made to seize a military decora- 
tion on the breast of the fallen officer, the dog, 
as if conscious how much his master had valued 
it, sprung fiercely at the assailants. An un- 
fortunate soldier, condemned for some offence 
to die, stood bandaged before his comrades 
appointed to give the fatal volley, when his 
dog, a beautiful spaniel, rushed wildly forward, 
flew into his arms to lick his face, and, for a 
moment, interrupted the sad solemnity. The 
comrades, with tears in their eyes, gave the 
volley, and the two friends fell together. A 
youthful conscript, severely wounded in the 
terrible field of Eylau, was carried to the hos- 
pital amongst hundreds of his fellows. Many 
days afterwards, a little dog had found its way, 
no one knew how, into the place, and amongst 
the wounded, the dying and the dead, had 
searched out his early friend. The fainting 
boy was found by the attendants with the dog 
beside him, licking his hands. The youth soon 
breathed his last, and a kind comrade took 
charge of the dog ; but the animal would take 
no food, pined away, and shortly died. And 
a thousand other examples might be given of 
an affection in this creature, unaltered by 
changes of fortune and enduring to the last." 
—Pp. 693, 694. 
As a book truly useful to all who keep do- 
mestic animals, whether for profit or amuse- 
ment, and entertaining to those who do not — 
as a valuable lesson in natural history, and a 
standard book of reference, we cannot say too 
much in its praise. It must be read to be 
appreciated ; and the sooner it is read by all, 
the sooner all will be improved, not only in 
the knowledge of animals, but it will set them 
reflecting on their knowledge of themselves. 
The work is beautifully printed, and the 
wood engravings are excellent. 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS 
AND ORIGINAL NOTES CONNECTED WITH HORTICULTURE 
AND NATURAL HISTORY. 
Protection of Poses. — The tender kinds 
of Roses when grown as dwarf in beds, or as 
simple specimens, are most effectually pro- 
tected by pressing the shoots close down to 
the ground after the bloom is over ; and then 
covering them over with dry fern, branches of 
spruce fir, or dry litter laid on loosely and 
thinly, just sufficient to hide the branches. 
The most tender Poses are safely preserved in 
this way, provided the shoots get fairly ma- 
tured in the summer and autumn. Where it 
can be had, fern is the best material for several 
reasons : in the first place, it does not lie so 
compact as straw, and thus affords more pro- 
tection ; it is less littery; and its colour is less 
conspicuous, and therefore less objectionable, 
than that of straw or litter. For standard 
Roses of tender character, some pieces of fern 
may be loosely tied among the branches form- 
ing the head : they should be tied together by 
the stems, and then set over the branches like 
an extinguisher, the branches being first loosely 
tied in so that it may cover them : a hay- 
band may also be wound round the stems. 
When the plants are growing against a wall, 
a few pieces of fern may be stuck in among 
the branches. All these protecting materials 
must be gradually removed during April and 
May — gradually, because the young shoots 
which are always liable to be injured by spring 
frosts, are specially so after the plants have 
been covered up in winter. 
Chapman's Prince of Wales Plum. — 
This Plum was raised at Brentford End in 
1830, and is a seedling from the Orleans, but 
is quite distinct from that variety. It is 
larger, of a different shape, being inclined to 
be oval, different in colour, which is a bright 
purplish pink, with much more bloom, and the 
flavour is much superior. The flesh is yellowish 
or pale amber, and parts from the stone. 
Unlike the Orleans it never cracks, and the 
shoots differ from those of that variety in 
being smooth, whereas in the Orleans they 
are downy. The leaves are broad, roundish, 
and easily distinguishable from those of any 
other Plum. The trees are of vigorous gowth. 
Upon stocks planted in the spring of 1844, and 
budded in August following, are this year 
shoots upwards of 8 feet in height. The bloom 
is protected by the foliage in a most remark- 
able manner, and it has a peculiar habit of 
spurring all up the branches. Trees of this 
variety, three years old, have been covered 
with Plums as thickly as they could be placed, 
at 3 feet up the stem, so that it has been neces- 
sary to fasten the branches up with stakes to 
prevent them breaking down. It bears well 
on suckers from the mother plant. 
The Mimultjs. — As it is the generally re- 
ceived opinion that the different varieties of 
Mimulus variegatus and M. cardinalis have 
been crossed by hybridizing, and having for 
long entertained a similar opinion, I venture 
to trouble you with the reason that has in- 
duced me to come to a contrary conclusion ; 
and I do this under the impression, that it will 
probably induce such notice as may determine 
the question. If we take a theoretical view 
of the matter, we shall at once conclude that 
the union of the two species has not taken 
place ; else knowing how usually seedlings 
assume the colour of their male parent, we 
might expect to see amongst the M. varie- 
