CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
1-13 
in all former works, will find that the diagram 
but ill represents the figure described by the 
writer. 
Electro Culture. — Some years ago the 
Gardener's Gazette contained the particulars 
of some experiments in the application of gal- 
vanism to the culture of wheat and other 
vegetable productions ; the result was then 
said to be surprising, and subsequent experi- 
ments have confirmed some, and disappointed 
others, as to the supposed or real efficacy of 
that singular agent. We have never seen 
anything very authentic to shake our faith in 
the parties who originally stated the fact, that 
galvanism affected vegetation ; and although 
the means at first employed appeared very 
trifling to be capable of affording such results, 
yet so much has to be learned as to the power 
of electricity, and the extent of its agency in 
the ordinary mode of cultivating plants, that 
we rather desired to learn more, than doubted 
what we had heard and read. An experi- 
ment carefully conducted in the gardens of 
the Royal Botanic Society, Regent's Park, 
has confirmed this much — it has proved that 
galvanic influence, applied by means of a com- 
plete battery upon a small scale, produces an 
extraordinary effect upon plants, and we have 
only to learn the quantity required, and the 
best means of producing it, to render it a 
valuable agent in the cultivation of the land. 
New Vegetable ; " Riiaflower." — Mr. 
A. Forsyth, the Earl of Shrewsbury's gar- 
dener, at Alton Towers, in Staffordshire, sug- 
gests the use of the flower-stalks of Rhubarb, 
as an excellent addition to our list of culinary 
vegetables. He says : — " We have been in 
the habit of eating the leaves of the Rhubarb 
plant tor many years ; and, seeing that the 
fruit stalks were counted as waste, I thought 
it very likely that they were the better part 
of the plant, and I now find that the pouches 
of unopened flowers bear the same relation to 
the leaves of Rhubarb, that Cauliflowers do 
to Cabbage leaves, and may be obtained in 
great abundance, and that at a time (April) 
when all kinds of vegetables are valuable. 
The pouches of flower-buds are of a beautiful 
colour, when dressed in the same manner that 
Rhubarb is dressed, and resemble the inside 
of a fig ; the flavour is milder than that of 
Rhubarb stalks, but I do not look upon it so 
much in the light of an article for making 
tarts of, as I do for its use as a boiled vege- 
table, to be used like Brocoli. Let no one 
take my opinion of this matter, but let every 
one judge for himself, as soon as the. flower- 
stems show themselves. As a matter of course, 
tlir plants should be grown in rich ground, 
and the pouches to be crisp should be got 
very young, and will require some care in 
cooking. 
Raising New Peaks. — The mode pursued 
by Dr. Van Mons, the raiser of many excel- 
lent Flemish Pears, was to sow the seeds of 
garden varieties in the first instance : the fruit 
of this generation was generally very inferior; 
but seeds from it were sown for a second 
generation, and so on : amongst the seedlings 
of the fourth and fifth generations, in a direct 
line, many excellent varieties were found. In 
this country thousands of seedlings have been 
raised from the finest varieties, and proving 
inferior, on fruiting, have been in disappoint- 
ment thrown away, after years of nursing ; 
whereas, it appears the seeds of this degene- 
ration, as it may be termed, ought to have 
been sown as above mentioned. Dubamel 
had been in the habit of sowing seeds of the 
finest table Pears in France for fifty years, 
without ever having produced a good variety: 
because his seedlings were bad, he had never 
dreamed of sowing their seeds, otherwise, with 
half a century of perseverance, he might 
have been as successful as was the indefa- 
tigable Van Mons. — D. 
Hollyhocks foe Show. — It has been often 
questioned how these flowers can be shown so 
as to be seen to the greatest advantage; and, 
after a good deal of consideration, the conclu- 
sion to which we have come is, that five full- 
blown flowers should be exhibited at that part 
of the stem which shows the best, taking off 
all above and all beneath them. The consi- 
derations are these : If the whole spike were 
shown, the tops would soon droop, and totally 
spoil the effect ; and if single blooms are ex- 
hibited, like Dahlias, the stems, or rather the 
foot-stalks, are not long enough, nor suffi- 
ciently flexible, to allow of the flowers being 
placed to advantage ; besides which, one of 
the best properties of the plant is a close spike 
of flowers, and the single blooms do not show 
whether they have been close or a foot apart 
on the stem, so that one test of the flower, the 
way in which the blooms are seated on the 
spike, would be quite lost. Now, by leaving 
five full blooms on the stem, and cutting off 
the stem above them, each variety would form 
rather a showy bunch, and the closeness of 
the flowers would be tested as well as their 
individual quality. This, therefore, is our re- 
commendation, and it is in accordance with 
the opinion of one good authority, who has 
already recommended the same course. Since 
Mr. Baron's varieties have been seen, people 
are taking some pains with these flowers; and, 
shown as we. recommend, they form a very 
pretty feature in any floral exhibition. 
Stands fob Pansies. — So various are the 
stands for Pansies, that there, seems a general 
suit of objection on the part of showers, on 
the ground that the stands and boxes are 
known, and may be distinguished by judges, 
