HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
470 
losing its stems by frost, and at others only 
the tips of the shoots. It is remarkably pro- 
lific of blossom, and the flowers are bright 
coloured, and approaching the globe variety in 
shape. In some places, this variety attains a 
large size. At Mulgrave Castle, in Yorkshire, 
there is one which has been planted out for 
six years, and has never received the slightest 
protection, nor been injured beyond hav- 
ing the tips of the unripe wood killed. It 
stands on the lawn, clear of all protection, 
and measures eight feet in height, and from 
thirty- five to forty feet in circumference; it 
is, in fact, a perfectly monstrous bush, and 
during the summer months is completely co- 
vered down to the ground with flowers. It is 
hardly possible to conceive a plant more beau- 
tiful and striking in its effect, than this must 
be.— 31. 
Pitjiaston Champagne Gooseberry. — 
This is an improved valuable garden produc- 
tion, raised by John Williams, Esq. of Pitmas- 
ton, between that variety of Gooseberry known 
in our gardens as the Red Champagne, and one 
of the robust North American species, with 
strong double spines, and small black astringent 
berries. The flowers of the Champagne were 
fertilized with the pollen of the American plant, 
the name of the species being now unknown, its 
cultivation having been discontinued on account 
of the superiority of its offspring. The produce 
of this cross inherited too much of the qua- 
lity of the exotic plant, therefore seedlings, 
without hybridization, were subsequently 
raised from it. This variety has the rich 
sweetness of the Champagne Gooseberry com- 
bined with a little of the black-currant-like 
aroma of the North American parent. The 
chief peculiarities exhibited by the bush, are 
its luxuriant spreading growth, as it promises 
to become four times the size of a common 
Gooseberry-bush, and its having very strong 
spines, some nearly an inch long. The fruit 
is small, but very abundant ; and it ripens 
and remains long on the trees in its mature 
state. — Fruit 1st. 
Horticulture. — If the admiration of the 
beautiful things of nature has a tendency to 
soften and refine character, the culture of them 
has a still more powerful and abiding influ- 
ence. It takes the form of an affection; the 
seed which we have nursed, the tree of our 
planting, under whose shade we sit with de- 
light, are to us as living, loving friends. In 
proportion to the care we have bestowed on 
them is the warmth of our regard. They 
are also gentle and persuasive teachers of His 
goodness who causeth the sun to shine and 
the dew to distil ; who forgets not the tender 
buried vine amid the ice and snows of winter, 
but'bringeth forth the root, long hidden from 
the eye of man, into vernal splendour or 
autumnal fruitage. 
The lessons learned among the works of 
nature are of peculiar value in the present 
age. The restlessness and din of the railway 
principles, which pervade its operations, and 
the spirit of accumulation, which threatens to 
corrode every generous sensibility, are modi- 
fied by the sweet friendship of the quiet 
plants. The toil, the hurry, the speculation, 
the sudden reverses which mark our own 
time beyond any which have preceded it, 
render it particularly salutary for us to heed 
the admonition of cur Saviour, and take in- 
struction from the lilies of the field, those 
peaceful denizens of the bounty of Heaven. 
Horticulture has been pronounced by medi- 
cal men as salutary to health and to cheerful- 
ness of spirit; and it would seem that this 
theory might be sustained by the happy coun- 
tenances of those who use it as a relaxation 
from the excitement of business or the ex- 
haustion of study. And if he who devotes 
his leisure to the culture of the works of 
nature benefits himself, he who beautifies a 
garden for the eye of the community is surely 
a public benefactor. He instils into the bosom 
of the man of the world, with the gold fever, 
gentle thoughts, which do good like a medicine. 
He cheers the desponding invalid, and makes 
the eye of a child brighten with more in- 
tense happiness. He furnishes pure aliment 
for that taste which refines character and 
multiplies simple pleasures. To those who 
earn their subsistence by labouring on his 
grounds, he stands in the light of a benefactor. 
The kind of industry which he promotes is 
favourable to simplicity and virtue. — Cham- 
bers's Journal. 
Propagation of the Lettuce. — It may 
be an object with some to propagate lettuces 
without waiting for their more tedious pro- 
duction by seed. Everybody knows that when 
a lettuce is cut, the stump sends up a parcel 
of shoots ; but it may not be known to every 
one that each of these shoots possesses its own 
peculiar root, and that by slipping it off, with 
a portion of the skin and stalk below it, a 
perfect lettuce plant will be obtained. It is 
said cabbages are thus propagated in India. 
A lettuce, however, has much the advantage 
of a cabbage in this matter, for it is much 
easier to slip off with the lettuce shoot a small 
portion of the old root, which may probably 
assist the rooting of the plant. I have, 
within the last few days, attempted thus to 
propagate lettuces, and as yet I see no fear of 
being successful. I proceed thus : I take up 
the stump when the shoots are about an 
inch long ; but I havo taken some even 
three or four inches long. I slice the 
stump for about an inch or so down, so 
as to form a small triangular shaped 
slice of old stem to each shoot, and tear 
this off so as to bring a small portion of 
