Miscellaneous Intelligence. 43 
after quitting Madras. He took a great liking when on board of ship, to arti- 
cles of femal apparel ; while at Black wall, he took from her head, and devoured 
without ceremony, a lady's bonnet, and took from another her reticule, con- 
taing half-a-dozen nonpareils, which he swallowed, bag and all! — Der. Rep. 
May 26. 
II. — RURAL AFFAIRS. 
Nature of Earths with reference to the growth of plants. — The 
report of M.M. Thenard and Sylvester, on a memoir upon this interesting 
subject by M. J. St. Hilaire, is to the following purport. The author remarks 
that most persons who have analyzed arable earths, have taken exclusively 
such as have been cultivated , the original constitution of which has been 
more or less altered. He believes the various kinds of earths in their first 
state, have peculiar properties of nourishing particular plants ; and that the 
exact knowledge of these peculiarities would enable cultivators to put those 
seeds in the ground, which are most suited to it. From various analyses, he 
draws the following inferences ; — 1st, that all earths are composed of silica, 
alumina, lime, magnesia, &c. in different proportions, together with a vegito- 
animal matter, which is more abundant as the earth is more fitted for the 
nourishment of plants. — 2ndly, that plants placed in earths, of which the con- 
stituent parts have an analogy with the particular nature of the plants do not 
exhaust the soil. — 3rdly, that a series of observations on the different species, 
genera, and families, which grow naturally and in great numbers, perpetu- 
ating themselves on certain soils, with the analysis of these soils, would be 
of great utility in agriculture. — Rcimc Encyclopedique. 
Cabbage Tree of Lapland. — M. Gamier, of Auxonne, has received from 
the direction of the nursery of Lyons, twenty seeds of this cabbage, which is 
said to be entirely different from the choit cavalier, the rutabaga, or the com- 
mon cabbage of Lapland. M. Gamier says, that it thrives better and puts 
forth more shoots, the more bitter the cold is ; that its leaves are rather more 
than a foot long. In the second year it attains the height of four or five feet 
that its top becomes ramified, (branching ont,) its flowers yellow, and streak- 
ed. The fruit is about four inches long; and it produces three times as much 
seed as other oleaginous plants, and also in winter it affords a considerable 
forage. — Journal de Bruxclles. 
II I. — HORTICULTURE. 
Gagea Fascicularis. — The limestone rocks in the vicinity of Doncaster, 
abound wtih this beautiful and rare indigenous plant; and the tulipa sylves- 
tris is found in the fields near the river Don, in such dense patches, as to leave 
little doubt of its being a native of this kingdom.— S. Appleby, Sf. James's 
Garden, Doncaster, May lOt/i, 1831. 
The Pilgrim Oak. — On Sherwood Forest, by the left hand side of the turn- 
pike Road, leading from Nottingham to Mansfield, about one hundred yards 
north of the little pot-house, universally known by the name of Robin Hood's 
Hut, being, it is said, the place where that distinguished outlaw often resorted, 
to levy his tax upon the passing traveller, stands a majestic spreading oak* 
At the time the late Lord Byron's grandfather held the Newstead estate, he 
ordered all the trees on his domain, that were saleable to be cut down; this, 
however, was preserved from the fate of the others, by Mr. Dodsworth,a 
wealthy and highly respectable attorney, of Mansfield, who had often, when 
on his road to Nottingham, admired its beauty ; and hearing that his favour- 
ite was about to share the common fate, went himself to Newstead and oflfered 
