188 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
the plants which are placed on walls, or under 
protection ; in such situations the racemes are 
produced as early as July, but as they expand, 
the flower buds fall off; being apparently 
unequal to sustain the heat to which they are 
exposed. The leaves are as beautiful in their 
way as the flowers ; they are nearly a foot in 
length, of a peculiarly delicate pale green, and 
elegantly pinnated. The plant does not re- 
quire any nicety of management; it is impa- 
tient of the knife, and succeeds best in good 
rich loam. The branches are of considerable 
length, and in a conservatory should be placed 
near the glass. When trained against a wall, 
it has been found that the branches which are 
carried horizontally, produce a greater abun- 
dance of flowers. When not placed on a wall, 
they require the support of a stake or trellis. 
The plant is readily propagated by laying the 
young green shoots in pots buried in the earth, 
and as these advance in growth, continuing 
to peg them down into fresh pots, leaving 
some eyes or buds above the ground ; and thus 
many plants may be obtained from a single 
branch. Cuttings both of the wood and of 
the roots, planted in loam, are said to succeed. 
I believe it has not yet borne ripe seed in this 
country, nor has any been brought from China. 
■ — Letter by J. Sabine, Esq. 
[There is hardly a more beautiful hardy 
creeping plant than the Wistaria sinensis. 
Trained along the top of a wall, just beneath 
the coping, the wall being covered with orna- 
mental evergreen plants, its appearance when 
in bloom in the early part of May is most 
charming. It is a fine plant for ornamenting 
the fronts of cottages, or any other buildings. 
We have seen a single branch introduced with 
capital effect along the top of a span- roofed 
greenhouse.] 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS, 
AND ORIGINAL NOTES CONNECTED WITH HORTICULTURE 
AND NATURAL HISTORY. 
Moss or Lichen on Fruit Trees. — Old 
orchard fruit trees, especially in situations 
where they do not grow kindly, are very apt 
to get the branches and trunks covered with 
lichen and moss, which does them injury. 
This moss and lichen may be cleared off in 
several ways, but one of the simplest, and a 
very effectual one, is to well dredge the trees 
when they are damp with gentle rains or heavy 
fogs, with dry wood ashes. If this is 
persevered in for a short time, the trees will 
be effectually cleared. 
Sloping Banks in Gardens. — Those who 
have small gardens and desire to make the 
most of them, may effect considerable gain by 
disposing of part of the surface in flat ridges, 
instead of making it level ; this plan also serves 
to protect and shelter the crops, and secures 
the advantage of various aspects. The ridges 
may be formed from eight to twelve feet wide 
at the base, according to the depth of good soil ; 
they should run east and west for the sake of 
securing a south (or early) and a north (or 
late) aspect ; the elevation of the ridges may 
be more or less according to the available 
depth of soil ; from two to three feet will be 
suitable. 
The Papaw Tree. — This tree, the Carica 
Papaya of botanists, fruits freely in the hot- 
houses of the Duke of Northumberland at Sion 
house. The fruit of this plant is used as an 
esculent, and when cooked is esteemed by 
some, but has little to recommend it. The 
tree itself has the very singular and hitherto 
unexplained property, of rendering animal 
substances tender, by causing a separation of 
the muscular fibre. Newly killed meat sus- 
pended among its leaves is said to become 
tender in a few hours. It forms a handsome 
tree, with large palmate leaves, and greenish 
coloured flowers, the sterile and fertile ones 
growing in separate bunches, the latter much 
larger than the former, and succeeded by good 
sized egg-shaped fruit. 
The Vesuvius-pippin Apple. — This apple 
was raised from some fruit obtained by A. 
Arcedeckne, Esq., from the Priory, on Mount 
Vesuvius ; it is called by the monks there the 
Mela Appia, and as it resembles a good deal 
the Lady Apple, or Pomme d'Api of the 
French, it has been supposed that the latter 
name is a corruption of the former. The fruit 
is small, oblong contracted beyond the middle ; 
the colour is yellow and bright red, and the 
skin glossy ; the flesh is crisp and juicy, sweet 
and slightly perfumed. It ripens and is in 
perfection in the middle of January, and will 
probably keep till April. 
Fertilizing Cucumbers. — It is not only 
unnecessary to fertilize the blossoms of cucum- 
bers, so far as the growing of fruit fit for 
table is concerned, but positively detrimental, 
where fine and symmetrical fruit are required, 
such as for exhibition. This admits of expla- 
nation. When the blossom is fertilized, the 
young ovules (future seeds) begin to form their 
embryo, and as all the ovules in the fruit are 
seldom or never influenced in this way, those 
which are influenced, when they begin to grow, 
cause the fruit to swell unequally, thus pro- 
ducing an unsymmetrical outline. But though 
the fruit, as an horticultural production, will 
come to maturity without the fertilization of 
the ovary having been effected, yet the seeds 
of such plants will be abortive ; consequently 
when fertile seed is required, it is necessary 
to have recourse to fertilization. In the case 
of unfertilized fruit, too, the blossom remains 
expanded much longer than when the ferti- 
lization lias been effected ; and this is a point 
