48 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
golds, &c. 5 like good rich soils ; and Sphcno- ' 
gynes, Calendrinas, Misembryanthmums, &c, 
like sunny situations — and by making a sowing 
(of any or all the hardy annuals, including 
Stocks and Asters) in the open ground, from 
middle to end of September, as ground may 
be in fit condition ; and a second from middle 
to end of March (Stocks, Asters, Marigolds, 
Clintonias, &c, will require to be sown in 
weak hotbeds this time), with a third sowing 
from beginning to middle of June, a brilliant 
bloom may, with the aid of spring bulbs, be 
maintained during nine months of the year, 
even if only the following sorts (heights and 
colours of which may be got in any catalogue 
— Carter's for instance) were used: — Alyssum, 
Asters, Bartonea Aurea, Brachycoma Iberi- 
defolia, Candytufts, Chryseises, Clarkias, Clin- 
tonias, Collinsias, Convolvuluses, Coreopsises, 
Eutocas, Gilias, Larkspurs, Leptosephons, 
Limnemthas, Lobelias, Marigold (African, 
Cape, and French), Nemophillas, Oenotheras, 
Oxyneas, Papavas, Phlox Drummondii, Pla- 
tystemons, Ehodanthes, Schizanthuses, Schizo- 
petaton Walkerii, Sphenogynes, Stocks, Sweet 
Peas, &c— John McDonald, C.M.C.H.S. 
Fuchsia Floribunda. — The following ex- 
periments have been tried at the Horticultural 
Gardens with this plant, to ascertain the 
effect of different manures. Eleven struck 
cuttings were potted at the same time in 
32-sized pots — in compost of peat and loam in 
equal proportions. To No. 1, was added one 
teaspoonful of Harris's Liquid Manure, in 
half a pint of water — No. 2, half an ounce of 
Apatite, spread on the surface of the soil — 
No. 3, half an ounce of Apatite mixed in the 
soil — No. 4, one ounce of charcoal on the sur- 
face of the soil — No. 5, one ounce of char- 
coal mixed with the soil — No. 6, half an ounce 
of superphosphate of lime mixed in a pail 
of water — No. 7, one ounce of cow-dung 
mixed in the soil — No. 8, quarter of an 
ounce of phosphate of ammonia mixed in half 
a pint of water — No. 9, half an ounce of 
superphosphate of lime mixed with the soil — 
No. 10, one teaspoonful of Hallett's Concen- 
trated Liquid Manure in half a pint of water 
— and No. 11, had nothing added to the soil. 
The substances were administered a second 
time, and the result was as follows : — 
Nos. 1, 2, and 3, were the most luxuriant 
and nearly alike. — Nos. 4, 5, and 6, the next 
so. — Nos. 7, 8, and 9, the next, — No. 10, the 
next. — And No. 11, to which nothing was 
added, was the least luxuriant of the whole. 
Mexican Vegetation. — " They left the 
stream on the following morning, and striking 
northerly across the country, came upon a 
wide expanse of luxuriant plains and wood- 
land, glowing in all the splendour of tropical 
vegetation. The branches of the stately trees 
were gaily festooned with clustering vines of 
the dark purple grape, variegated convolvule, 
and other flowering parasites of the most bril- 
liant dyes. The undergrowth of prickly aloe, 
matted with wild rose and honeysuckle, made 
in many places an almost impervious thicket. 
Amid this wilderness of sweet-smelling buds 
and blossoms, fluttered numerous birds of the 
parrot tribe, and clouds of butterflies, whose 
gaudy colours, nowhere so gorgeous as in the 
terra calcente, rivalled those of the vegetable 
creation ; while birds of exquisite song, the 
scarlet cardinal and the marvellous mocking- 
bird, that comprehends in his own notes the 
A'diole music of a forest, filled the air with de- 
licious melody. The hearts of the stern con- 
querors were not very sensible to the beauties 
of nature, but the magical charms of the scenery 
drew forth unbounded expressions of delight ; 
and as they wandered through this ' terrestrial 
paradise,' as they called it, they fondly compared 
it to the fairest regions of their own land. 
As they approached the Indian city, they saw 
abundant signs of cultivation, in the trim 
gardens and orchards that lined both sides of 
the road. They were now met by parties of 
either sex, who increased in numbers with 
every step of their progress. The women, as 
well as men, mingled fearlessly among the 
soldiers, bearing bunches and wreaths of 
flowers, with which they decorated the neck 
of the general's charger, and hung a chaplet 
of roses about his helmet. Flowers were the 
delight of this people. They bestowed much 
care in their cultivation, in which they were 
well seconded by a climate of alternate heat 
and moisture, stimulating the soil to the spon- 
taneous production of every form of vegetable 
life." — Prescotfs Conquest of Mexico. 
Potatoes. — If some of our readers would 
plant a few potatoes in autumn, four inches 
deep and whole set, instead of cut ones, they 
would find a healthier and better crop ; and 
unless it were one of those seasons in which 
frost is severe enough to penetrate the ground 
to something below that depth, which is not 
one season in twenty, and even then it might 
be kept out with any kind of litter, they will 
be somewhat earlier. If any potatoes have 
been left in the ground accidentally, and have 
been left undisturbed, the next season it must 
have been observed that the potatoes were 
numerous and fine, as compared with a potato 
of an ordinary crop. It has long been a sub- 
ject of discussion, what caused decrease in the 
potato ; but when, as is almost always the 
case, potatoes have been growing their very 
insides out, before they are even cut up for 
sets, it can hardly be expected that a healthy 
crop can be the result. Autumn planting 
prevents any loss of strength by this prema- 
ture growing. 
