ON NATURE. 
159 
tliat marks his writings, has kindly offered his information. I wish to cultivate 
the Housainee Melon, and would follow most strictly his ample directions, had I 
a proper house for the purpose. I am only possessed of a vinery, 30 feet long, 
and a small greenhouse with the usual melon frames. Can I make use of any of 
them for the purpose, either by raising the melon frames or making use of any 
part of the vinery, in which the vines are trained up the rafters, and not allowed 
to pass over the glass ? I will not mention mine own ideas, for they would oc¬ 
cupy too much space, and would probably expose my ignorance, being myself 
but a tyro in gardening. W. D. 
II.—OBSERVATIONS ON NATURE. 
Effects of Mountain heights on Plants. M. Gay, in his recent interest¬ 
ing tour among the Cordilleras, discovered many beautiful and rare species of 
Baccharis, Leasea, Alstroemeria, and, “above all,” he says, “those charming 
Mutisia which exhibit the following singular phenomenon.” The tendrils with 
which these plants are usually furnished, becoming useless in these cold regions, 
unprovided with shrubs or bushes, change into real leaves, organs of such great 
utility to alpine plants. I have also observed that the plants which are herbace¬ 
ous in the plains, become here entirely ligneous; and that several trees, especi¬ 
ally the Escallonia, instead of assuming that forked appearance which charac¬ 
terises it, becomes stunted, creeping along the rocks, and thus offering less 
surface to the cold, with which the wind is charged in passing over these 
numerous and immense glaciers. But another observation I have made among 
these cold regions, is still more interesting, it is the form of imbricated leaves, 
which the greater portion of the vegetables assume,—those genera even whose 
habitual form seems to be entirely contrary to this disposition. Thus, the 
leaves of the Triptilions, which are lax and small in the lower regions, become 
extremely hard and tough, closely imbricating the stalk, and even the flowers of 
these beautiful plants; the Mutisia, which is nearly devoid of leaves, when at the 
side of the mountains, produces at their summit a considerable number. The 
violets here have not that elegant form which we observe in those lower down, 
but are under a form altogether different; they represent a rosette, which may 
be compared to that of a Sedum, with this difference, that the leaves instead of 
being almost vertical, are in these alpine violets entirely horizontal. These 
leaves, which are extremely hard and tough, are round, shabrous, strongly imbri¬ 
cated, and exhibit at the footstalks, flowers which are sessile, and of a violet 
colour, somewhat approaching to red. Although very familiar with the genera 
Triptilian, Escallonia, Mutisia, Viola, the particular aspect of these alpine spe¬ 
cies caused me to mistake them entirely, and 1 did not discover to what genus 
they belonged until I studied them after my return .—Field Nat. Mag. 
Evil Effects of Turning Greenhouse Plants out of Doors during the Sum¬ 
mer months.—The practice of turning greenhouse plants out of doors in sum¬ 
mer may be necessary under particular circumstances, and with regard to cer¬ 
tain species of plants; but in cases where greenhouses are properly constructed 
and solely devoted to the cultivation of plants, these will generally be found to 
be injured, rather than benefitted by this treatment, particularly when turned 
out early in the season. Were it possible to manage greenhouse plants during 
the winter as it could be wished, and as they require : exposing them to the 
open air in summer would no doubt be highly beneficial to them; but, from the 
