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MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 
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about six inches high, and three inches broad—worth about four guineas—and seeing no prospect of 
increasing it either by seeds or offsets, I determined to produce the latter by decapitating it about 
mid-way—it indeed cut me to the quick. This was performed in June, 'while the plant was growing- 
fast ; the top was dried as described, and has rooted, and the old stump is now producing three or 
four offsets, which will be ready to take off next year. I have had the same success with Pilocereus 
senilis, and I find it an excellent plan for producing a clean healthy specimen, by practising it upon 
imported plants with discoloured bases. At some future period I may enter more particularly into the 
habits of the various genera. 
jfftkfUatraws Untiai 
Grave-yards. —We have one suggestion to make, respecting the graveyards now in use in the Metropolis, but 
which we hope shortly to see altogether discontinued for their present purposes. For what end will they after¬ 
wards be applied ? We trust that they will not be allowed to remain in their present state, as they will long 
continue to give forth pestilential exhalations from the masses of corruption contained in them, even should no 
fresh interments there be permitted. Are they to be built over ? This ought on no account to be permitted, as 
the edifices erected over them must long be subjected to their unwholesome and contagious exhalations, indepen¬ 
dent of the impropriety of thus violating the sanctuaries of the dead. What course, then, do we recommend to be 
adopted with regard to them ? Our plan is as follows : To cover them over with a thick layer of soil, then to turf 
and plant them as ornamental garden-ground, with small evergreens and shrubs. Instead of being the means of 
polluting the atmosphere around them, they will then aid to purify it. They will give a cheerful air to the 
crowded districts in which they are principally seen; and, to the poor of those parts, who are seldom permitted to 
reach the green fields and breathe the air of the country, they may afford much enjoyment. The use of vegetation 
in aiding decomposition, and dispersing the noxious gases which emanate from the corrupting carcasses, is des¬ 
cribed by credible 'witnesses. The gardens and greens already formed in some of the squares of the Metropolis 
contribute essentially to its health, and have appropriately been termed “the lungs of London.” If the remedies 
which we here advocate are adopted, not only will the great and appalling evils which we have pointed out be 
effectually removed, but some atonement may be made for the ills they have caused by the new sources of 
comfort, andhealth, and enjoyment, by which the means for their removal maybe accompanied.— Country Gentleman. 
Cotton Culture in India. —Dr. Cleghorn, at the meeting of the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, on July 11th, 
directed attention to the culture of Cotton in Mysore. He read extracts from a letter of Captain Onslow, super¬ 
intendent of Nuggur Division of Mysore, in reference to the culture of American Cotton at Cuddoor. In spite of 
an unfavourable season the experiment had proved satisfactory. The seeds were supplied from Dr. Wight’s 
government plantation at Coimbatorre. “ The natives pay in kind, and the produce is bought, if they like to sell at 
the market rates.” Dr. Cleghorn had given some attention to the momentous question of Indian Cotton culture, 
when traversing the Peninsula in the execution of duty, and felt no difficulty in expressing his opinion that in 
the extensive Cotton tracts above the Ghats, large quantities of Cotton might be supplied of an improved quality. 
In the present state of ignorance and poverty amongst the ryots, it is manifestly unreasonable to expect rapid 
progress in the agriculture of Hindostan. The aiming at new improvements are so many deviations from the 
practice of their ancestors, whose footsteps they follow with the utmost devotion and reverence—hence progress must 
be slow, but it is not imperceptible. The face of the country is much improved in the districts longest under our 
rule, and where good roads exist; the next essential for developing the Cotton trade is the presence of enterprising 
inland traders. Dr. Cleghorn had examined and compared all the species of Gossypium in the Herbarium of the 
Botanical Society, (comprising the collections of Hamilton, Buchanan, and Lady Dalhousie, with contributions from 
Wight, Campbell, Ac.), and also those in the Herbarium of Professor Balfour, with a view to expiscate the specific 
characters by which to discriminate them from one another; he considered the entire series remarkable, as show¬ 
ing the striking difference which soil, climate, and culture produce in species, and which may appear in nature, 
giving rise to a multiplication of species. The whole group of so-called species seems referable to G. herbaceum, 
L., G. arboreum, L., G. barbadense, L., and G. acuminatum, Box. The anxiously lookcd-for work of Dr. Boyle, 
our chief authority, is expected to contain the fullest information on the entire subject of Indian cotton and its 
culture. The approaching exhibition in 1851 is exciting much interest in India; committees having been formed 
in the different districts for collecting and forwarding native produce. 
Preserving Fruits for Winter Use. —The following remarks which we extract from a clever American work 
called the “ Horticulturist,” may not be without interest to some of our fair readers.—“Send to your tinsmith, 
and get a sufficient number of tin canisters, very carefully and tightly made. They should be of uniform size, 
and the shape preferred here is seven inches high by five inches in diameter—uniform cylinders. Select the 
fairest fruit—peaches, strawberries, or what you please. It should be just ripe, but not past the mature stage. 
Fill the canisters, place the tin lids on their tops, and solder them down very carefully. Only a small hole of the 
size of a pin should be left for the escape of air. The next point is to drive the air out of the canisters of fruit, to 
prevent its decay. In order to do this, take a broad boiler-pan, (with a fiat bottom), place the canisters in it, and 
fill it with boiling water within about three-fourths of an inch of the tops of the canisters. The boiler being over 
a gentle fire, the water in it should now be made to boil. This will drive the air in each canister through the 
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