142 
HORTICULTUAL NOTES. 
habitat, such in part as situation, aspect, ele- 
vation of site, temperature, humidity, time of 
flowering, seasonal changes, &c. 
These circumstances must he all more or 
less studied hy whomsoever would success- 
fully acclimatize exotic plants. A plant may 
he a native of a country warmer than our 
own in some degree, yet if its native situation 
he a moist height, or shady mountain side, 
we should undouhtedly do wrong in placing 
it in a dry, hot, sheltered situation in this 
country. 
On the other hand, a plant may he a native 
of a colder country than our own, yet if its 
native situation be a sunny, sheltered, and 
dry one, and its season of flowering late, it 
would surely be wrong and profitless cultiva- 
tion in this country, to place it in a dull, damp 
situation; which, were we to look to the only 
one circumstance of its coming from a colder 
country we would naturally do. Again, a 
plant may be, or may seem to be, from such 
a cool or shady native habitat, as to feel our 
summer sun too strong and scorching for it, 
and accordingly require shading from its too 
powerful beams ; while we must not, on the 
strength of that circumstance, conclude that 
the plant will stand our winter's rigour with- 
out protection. We must first learn whether 
it be a native of the northern or southern 
hemisphere ; if of the latter, that will account 
for its inability to withstand our summer's 
sun at a season when, though it be summer 
with us, it would be winter with the plant 
in its native habitat ; and its nature not being 
changed with its situation, it is only harassed 
by our summer's sun, at a time when it should 
have, and strives to enjoy its winter's rest; 
therefore it cannot withstand our winter's 
rigour at the season appropriated to it by 
nature for its summer of excitement. Were 
it not for this circumstance, there is no doubt 
that the half-hardy Solly a Heterophylla, Bil- 
larderia Longiflora, &c, would be among our 
hardiest wall plants. 
These are circumstances the acclimatizer 
must well attend to ere he plant out a single 
exotic ; and next, and of equal importance, 
the soil in which the exotic is placed, be its 
richness or poorness what it may, must be 
of an open, free, unretentive texture, and well 
drained. Such exotics, in general, as are na- 
tives of boggy or marshy places, can only be 
kept well over winter in felt-covered pits or 
frames, or at the bottom of ponds fed by 
springs. The plant must be started into a 
strong and rapid growth in spring and early 
summer, so as to have its growth completed 
and properly ripened before winter, when a 
covering of as dry and impervious a nature 
as possible must be laid over its roots, and 
around its base, or life knot, so as to ex- 
clude alike the frosts and moistures of our 
changeable winters. If the bole or branches 
of such plants receive any protection, it ought 
to be of a nature more to exclude moisture 
than air, which is often useful in the severest 
winters. By observing these simple and easy 
rules, I have never found much difficulty in 
having stout and abundant flowering speci- 
mens, of such generally considered green- 
house plants as Wistaria Sinensis, Maurandya 
Barclayana, Jasmines of all kinds, &c. ; on 
various aspected walls, in many and cold parts 
of Scotland they do well for years, where 
others of a much more hardy nature, but 
differently treated, died during the winters 
these plants survived. — John McDonald. 
Natural System of Botany. — To those 
who have not directed much of their atten- 
tion to this method of arrangement, it may 
perhaps be well to explain, in a very brief 
manner, the principal divisions into which the 
vegetable kingdom are separated. First, then, 
all plants are either vascular, that is, contain- 
ing tubes or vessels among their component 
tissue ; or cellular, that is, composed entirely 
of cells. Then, again, vascular plants are 
either exogenous, that is, the stems increasing 
by deposit from the exterior ; or endogenous, 
that is, increasing by internal deposit: cellular 
plants are acrogenous, that is, increasing by 
additions at the point of their axis. Again, 
taking another feature as the distinguishing 
mark, exogenous plants are the same as dico- 
tyledonous ones, or those whose seeds are 
furnished with two seed-lobes, or cotyledons — 
if more than two, they are opposite ; endoge- 
nous plants are the same as monocotyledonous 
ones, or those having but one seed-lobe — if 
more than one, they are alternate ; and acro- 
genous plants are identical with acotyledonous 
ones, or those which, being without seed-lobes, 
grow alike from any part of their surface. 
Carrying this subdivision still further, exo- 
genous or dicotyledonous plants are either 
dichlamydeous, that is, with both calyx and 
corolla distinct and present in the flowers, or 
monochlamydeous, that is, those which have 
but one of these present, and that called a 
perianth : again, dichlamydeous plants have 
three divisions ; — thalamifloral, or those with 
distinct petals in the flower, inserted upon the 
receptacle, or base of the seed-vessel ; calyci- 
floral, or those whose petals are inserted upon 
the calyx, or outer covering of the flower ; 
and corollifloral, or those whose petals are 
united, and not inserted on the calyx. Endo- 
genous or monocotyledonous plants, are either 
phanerogomus, (a term which also applies to 
all exogens,) or those with their fructifica- 
tion visible and regular; or cryptogamous, 
those whose fructification is either concealed 
or irregular. Cellular, acrogenous, or acoty- 
