88 
THE LADIES’ MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
instrument it has the advantage of not getting out of tune. This instru¬ 
ment the children" often dance to; and at dear Port Augusta I used to 
take it on the grass plat and play on it by moonlight; accompanied by 
the murmuring of the beautiful broad waters of the Blackwood gliding 
by ; the distant roar of the bar, and every now and then the wild scream 
of a flight of swans going over to the fresh water lakes—the air being 
perfectly redolent with the powerful scent of the Virgilia , (Enothera biennis , 
some stocks, and some clove pinks that I had planted in the borders. 
“ Your box of plants is just opened, and we find that some of the trees 
have made shoots six or seven inches long, all white, of course, from the 
exclusion of light. The lily-of- the-valley has also thrown out long white 
suckers. The plants packed at the top and at the bottom of the box are 
in better condition than those in the middle. The stocks of the apricots 
were alive, but the grafts had withered; and the Verbenas, Myrtles, and 
Camellias were all dead. I think they do not do well in pots ; the roots 
are so compressed, and the earth so dense, that it is difficult to keep it 
moist. The hyacinths are all vigorous, and one has produced offsets. I 
am afraid the double violets are only alive at the roots, the stems seem 
quite decayed ; but considering they have been seven months out of the 
ground, they have arrived in excellent keeping. I have had them planted 
just under my window. To-day they have been severely wetted by the 
violence of the waves ; and they would have floated had it not been for 
my vigilance in getting them planted just beyond the water-mark.” 
Fairi-awn. 
RETROSPECTIVE CRITICISM. 
In Mr. Main’s very interesting article on birds in your last number, 
though he describes the Goatsucker, or fern owl (see p. 57J, he does not 
mention the very curious comb-like claw with which the bird’s feet are 
furnished. He also says very little of the bearded Titmouse (p. 53), which 
I believe is the same as the Reed Pheasant; and if so, builds its nest in 
reeds. I cannot mention these trifling omissions, as they appear to me, 
without again adverting to the great pleasure I have experienced from 
reading the paper. 
Rochester, 
February 3, 1841. 
