352 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
will find a suitable soil to grow in, yet there is no necessity 
to give up this pleasing pursuit. Any one may grow either 
the rose, or any other shrub, where the soil is naturally 
good; but where it is not so, the cultivator must either 
exercise his own judgment in improving it, or depend upon 
the advice of those who have had experience in the matter. 
We will suppose, then, the worst situation possible in which 
to attempt growing roses, viz., a low wet swamp, with a thin 
stratum of soil, and that as bad as need be. The first thing 
to do is to try to get rid of the water, by drainage; if that 
cannot be done, the next remedy is to raise the surface of 
the soil, by digging deep ditches and throwing the soil on 
the surface, and then adding a covering of good loamy soil. 
Then plant the roses upon raised hillocks, so as to elevate 
the roots as high as possible above the bad subsoil. That 
this plan will answer we can bear practical testimony, even 
for the tender China and Tea-scented roses, if a large 
portion of decayed vegetable mould be mixed with the 
raised soil. For stronger growing varieties, sucli as E. 
Gallica, E. damascena, and Hybrid perpetuelle, a mixture of 
good well-decomposed manure will be useful. 
Again, suppose a more favourable situation—one elevated 
enough, but with a thin soil—the remedy here is obvious : 
drain the ground, and add soil and dung sufficient for the 
rose to have a good space for its roots to run into a nourish¬ 
ing, dry compost. In such a situation with a soil so 
prepared, the rose will thrive almost as well, as in the most 
favoured and best soil; but even here, the tender kinds will 
require a large admixture of leaf mould for their fine roots 
to run and flourish in. 
We may easily conceive a variety of soils, where it may be 
desirable to cultivate the rose, that are unfit for it, either to 
thrive in, or if it exists for a time in it, to find that its life 
will be short, and disappointment attend its cultivation. 
One other kind of soil we may notice, and that is a poor 
heathy soil, very much exposed. The remedy here is, either 
to dig out the poor soil, and replace it with a sufficient 
depth of the proper land, or, at least, to give a large 
admixture of it, to that soil already on the spot. In fact we 
cannot conceive any soil, or situation, so unfavourable as to 
be totally unfit for the rose. Industry and the application 
of the proper means, will overcome every opposition; so 
that the rose may blossom in the desert, and thus prove 
that “where there is a will there always is a way,” for 
industry and perseverance to overcome apparently insur¬ 
mountable difficulties. T. Appleby. 
NEW PLANTS. 
THEIR PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES. 
Clammy Astrap.ea (Astrapecea viscosa).—Botanical 
Magazine, t. 4544.—The genus Astrapesea was founded, 
about thirty years back, on A. Wallichii, by Dr. Lindley; 
a splendid low tree, with large rough leaves and droop¬ 
ing clusters of very handsome pink flowers; a native of 
Madagascar. The name is derived from astrape, light¬ 
ning, in allusion to the bright reddish pink colour of the 
flowers. The subject of our present biography is also a 
native of Madagascar, and a larger tree than A. Wal¬ 
lichii, attaining the height of thirty feet or more. It 
was named by Sweet, in 1823, from a plant in the col¬ 
lection at Mr. Colville’s Nursery, then a celebrated esta¬ 
blishment in the King’s-road, Chelsea, of which Mr. 
Sweet had the chief management for some years, and 
from which he derived much of the useful information 
he so industriously disseminated through his various 
' publications. Although this species of Astrapcaa was 
thus early named, we believe the drawing in the Bota¬ 
nical Magazine, is the first representation of it which 
has appeared in this country. 
[March 6. 
There is only one more species of them known in our col¬ 
lections; it is called the Lime-tree-leaved Astrapetea {A. 
tiliafolia), and is a native of the Isle of Bourbon. They 
belong to the 16 -Monadelphia 8-Polyandria of Linmeus, and 
the Natural Order Byttneriads (Byttneriaceie) ; an order 
founded by Dr. Brown as early as 1814, although, until very 
recently, acknowledged by some systematic writers as only a 
section of Sterculiads, having part of the stamens always 
barren, and the autliers turned inwards, or towards the par¬ 
tially monadelplious column. But they are readily known 
from the Sterculiads, which exhibit the columnar stamens 
of Mallow-worts, without barren ones, and with the anthers 
turning away from the column. All these orders, bordering 
on the Mallow-worts, abound more or less in gummy matter; 
and from the bark of some, fibre is obtained for cordage ; 
but the product for which Byttneriads is most remarkable, is 
the cocoa of commerce, the chief ingredient in chocolate. 
The common Chocolate-nut tree, is Theobroma Cacao of Lin- 
nseus; but several other species yield seeds equally good for 
this most widely consumed article—for it is only the seeds 
that are used in chocolate—and they vary in size, and in the 
number; each fruit yields according to the species from 
which they are obtained. The number of seeds is generally 
from twenty to thirty in a fruit—the pulp of which is eaten 
in the countries where they are cultivated. The seeds are 
called beans ; the average size is that of an almond kernel, 
but some are twice as large as others. The best are those 
which undergo a process of fermentation in heaps buried in 
the earth, and those dried in the sun are inferior. Since 
the reduction of the duty on chocolate in 1842, the con¬ 
sumption is on the increase; and for those who prefer it to 
tea or coffee, w r e would strongly advise them to use only the 
ground nuts, or flake cocoa, w'hich consists of the nuts merely 
pressed into flakes; whereas, wdien reduced into a paste, it 
is often adulterated. Hog’s lard and sago are added to 
make up weight, and red ochre to give it colour. 
Astrupma viscosa, as we saw it in flower last spring, is a 
noble tree studded over with balls of flowers, like the Gueldre 
llose, but rendered more brilliant by the crimson seen in 
the centre of each flower. Young branches and young leaves 
very clammy; leaves on stalks about eight inches long, broad 
heart-shaped, with three or five angles, and saw-edged. 
Flowers rise from the axils of the leaves near the ends of 
the branches; stalks about eight inches long, with two heart- 
shaped bractcs (floral leaves) near their middle. The globo 
of flowers about four inches in diameter; petals five, wedge- 
shaped, twisted, white, with a crimson base. It is easily 
