CONTEMPOEARY WRITINGS. 
527 
border are of an oblong form, roundish or 
obtuse at the points ; overhipping each other 
in the bud. The fruit is somewhat oval, from 
three to four lines in diameter, and is, for the 
most part, concealed in the broad, cup-shaped, 
woody calyx ; it is one-celled and indehiscent. 
I cannot speak exactly as to the flowering 
time of this plant ; seeing that I found it in 
bloom both in the rainy and the dry seasons. 
It likes a damp place, in the vicinity of brooks, 
on open and sunny slopes. I found it growing 
in such situations, on the mountains of the 
province of Caraccas, at an elevation of from 
5,000 to 6,000 feet. The soil w-as of an or- 
dinary kind." — Karsien's Plants of Venezuela. 
Heixtzia tigrina. — " The stem of Heintzia 
attains a height of from four to five feet ; it 
is branchy, of a brownish colour, and, at the 
younger parts, tetragonous. The leaves are 
opposite, and nearly a foot in length, sup- 
ported on a foot-stalk from three to four inches 
long, and w^hich, with the younger branches, 
are fleshy, and of a brownish colour : this 
colour is also found on the larger and pro- 
minent veins of their under side. The surface 
of the leaf is uniformly hairy, dark green on 
the upper side, while the under side is of a 
bright bluish green. It is lanceolate, atte- 
nuated at the base, and obtusely acuminate at 
the apex, crenate or serrated at the margins. 
The flow^ers, which are produced at the axils 
of the leaves, are supported on a bractaceous 
rose-coloui'ed involucel, and are arranged in a 
kind of umbel or cyme, on a short peduncle ; 
and the pedicels are surrounded by a small 
bract, which is nearly as long as the leaf-stalk. 
The calyx is five-parted, and the segments, 
which in the bud overlap each other, are re- 
curved. The corolla is funnel-shaped, one 
inch long, slightly curved, and unequally five- 
parted at the limb, and studded with white 
hairs or wool, by which it assumes a satin-like 
gloss that contrasts agreeably with the rose- 
coloured tips of the calyx. It is of a snow- 
white colour, with purple spots and freckles. 
The interior of the tube is downy. The fruit 
is nearly globular, about the size of a hazel- 
nut, and surrounded by the persistent calyx ; 
it is between a berry and capsule. The seeds 
are very small, and of a glossy brown colour. 
I found this beautiful and distinct plant in the 
moist narrow dells and shady slopes of the 
mountains in the province of Caraccas, at an 
elevation of 5,000 feet. Cedars of a thousand 
years raise their heads to the heavens, and 
gentle breezes play in the shade formed by the 
feather-like leaves of the palms and tree-ferns, 
which spread a sombre canopy over the more 
humble kinds of plants. The gold and 
ebony coloured Cyathese, the Alsophilee, and 
the tree-like Polypodise, expand their magnifi- 
cent forms over the Heintzia ; the brilliant 
purple of whicli, on the white base of the 
corolla, and the rich rosy calyx, together with 
the delicate dark green leaves, all are in ad- 
mirable harmony with the solemnity and 
beauty of the scene. In such warm, moist 
situations the Heintzia flowers in the summer ; 
and the fruit ripens in the dry season of 
winter." — Karsten's Plants of Venezuela. 
The Situation of a Garden. — In the 
case of small gardens there is seldom an op- 
portunity of selecting the situation, and there- 
fore all that in such cases can be done, is to 
I look to the other particulars which affect the 
amelioration and proper preparation of the 
, soil for the reception and production of the 
I crops. Suppose the spot to be open to choice. 
I At first, many would prefer a low-lying 
i sheltered situation, under the impression that 
in such places the crops would be highly fa- 
voured as to temperature, and would bring an 
earlier and more abundant j^roduce. This, 
however, is not the case, for such situations 
are subject to damp, and the plants are kept 
too much in a continued state of excitement 
and growth ; as a consequence of which they 
are more tender, and more liable to suffer in- 
jury from frosts, whether it be the severe ones 
of winter, or the nipping ones of the spring 
mornings. In such places, plants always com- 
mence growing very early in spring, and 
though this may seem an advantage, yet so 
seldom in that case do they escape the blasting 
influence of the keen morning's frost, that in 
many cases the crops are injured or lost, and 
in many more retarded, so as to be actually 
behind those produced in more elevated situa- 
tions. But, on tlie other hand, the extreme of 
elevation, without shelter, is not desirable; for 
here, though in most cases the crops are safe 
from direct injury from cold, yet they in 
general do not progress in the ratio, nor at- 
tain to the ultimate perfection, which is desired 
in all kitchen-garden produce. A situation 
moderately elevated, sheltered on the north 
and east by distant — not contiguous — trees, 
should be selected. Nothing is better than 
the slope of a hill facing the south-west, 
backed on the north by thick plantations at a 
moderate distance, and sheltered on the east 
side by less dense and more distant belts of 
trees. There is a very general impression 
among those who are not very familiar with 
this subject, that the morning rays of the sun 
are of incalculable value to vegetation, and 
hence they would be led to suppose that the 
situation should bear more towards the east than 
the point already recommended. But this is 
not the case, and the chief circumstance which 
leads to a different conclusion may be easily 
explained. When plants at all tender are frozen, 
if the sun's rays strike them before they have 
become thawed, they suffer material injury, 
whereas if they are allowed to thaw in a more 
gradual manner, the injury is immaterial. — M. 
