65 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 30, 1860. 
extremity are five large pedunculated tentacles of a bright orange 
colour, with dark spots. The muscles of the Psolus are remark¬ 
ably powerful. It has been taken off Scarborough, and has 
been occasionally found both in Devon and Zetland, so that its 
range is pretty extensive. It is also to be met with on the coast 
of Berwick, in deep water off the coast of Fife, and at Bangor, 
in the county of Down, Ireland.—W. 
(To be continued.) 
FRUITS OF 1860 AT BURNTWOOD GRANGE. 
(Continued from page 10.) 
Musa Cavendishii. 
This most splendid and valuable plant is a native of China 
and was first brought to this country from the Mauritius 
in 1829. The history of it is to be found* in No. 27 of “ Paxton’s 
Botanical Magazine.” It 
is there said to differ widely 
from any of the known 
species of this genus, and 
more particularly from the 
dwarf kinds. The fruit is 
said to be its most valuable 
quality. It is also there 
confidently expressed at 
that date that this, as well 
as many of the other various 
kinds of Musa, would ere 
long, for the sake of their 
fruit, be cultivated for the 
tables of the great. 
Close by the side of a walk 
that poets -would delight in 
giving a description of (the 
sides of the greater part 
of which are composed of 
tastefully arranged rock- 
work, with many of the 
various kinds of British 
Ferns inserted at every 
available space, in quite a 
different part of the grounds 
to where the vinery is situa¬ 
ted, and on the selfsame 
spot where many a little 
warbler has delighted the 
listeners by his soft, plain¬ 
tive, and melodious strains 
at all hours of the day), 
stands a small octagon¬ 
shaped tropical house—oc¬ 
tagon-shaped, because the 
same walls with a little 
alteration were made to do 
for this ; as the former one, 
which, as might be gleaned 
from above, was an aviary. 
In this house, in a small 
box two feet five inches in 
length by one foot eleven 
inches in breadth and one 
foot two inches in depth, 
is now growing a fine speci¬ 
men of this highly interest¬ 
ing and most ornamental species. All the neighbouring gardeners 
that have seen it, as well as many from a distance, call it a gigantic 
plant. According to the size of the box that it is growing in 
the depth of mould cannot be a foot, beside drainage ; for with 
the latter included it is only 13 inches deep. It has at present 
seventeen leaves on it (and has lost a far greater number than 
that), varying from 6 feet to 7 feet in length by from 2 feet to 
2 feet 6 inches in breadth. It is about 4 feet from the base to 
the top of the stem—that is, to the base of the fruit-raceme; 
circumference at the base 2 feet 2 inches; at the top of the stem 
1 foot 10 inches; length of fruit-raceme (October 12) 3 feet; 
with something like two hundred matured fruits growing on it 
all in tiers, with from sixteen to twenty-two fruits in each tier. 
To-day (October 18th), I have cut the top, or spadix,off within 
2 inches of the last tier of perfectly-set fruit. 
In the month of March,1859, this plant was in a 48-sized 
pot, when it was grown in, and shifted from pot to pot in rapid 
succession, until it was finally shifted into the box that it is 
now in, which was about eight months ago. It has been 
liberally fed with liquid 
manure all through the dif¬ 
ferent stages of its growth, 
which seems to suit it to a 
very high degree—in fact, 
there are but few plants, if 
any, under cultivation that 
make such rapid progress 
through high feeding as 
this does, and when in its 
growing state the quantity 
required is almost incred¬ 
ible. Day after day, up to 
within this last month, this 
plant has received from one 
to two gallons of powerful 
liquid manure per day for 
the greater part of the sum¬ 
mer months, which have 
told with wonderful effect, 
especially on its foliage, 
which is of the most ma¬ 
jestic description imagin¬ 
able. 
Choice fruit certainly is 
very valuable, especially a 
fruit of these not-generally- 
cultivated exotic species. 
That its fruit will prove a 
great acqui sition there seem s 
not the least doubt. If its 
fruit was the only thing 
obtained, it would amply 
repay the cultivators of it 
for their trouble. But it 
is not: look for a moment 
at its noble leaves, which 
form one of the grandest 
objects in vegetable life. 
Then, nest, its culture, 
which is of the easiest de¬ 
scription imaginable. The 
principal points to be most 
particularly attended to in 
this being moisture, both at 
its roots and in the house 
where it is growing; the 
latter should have a strong 
moist heat, ranging from 70° to 80° of Fahr. Not under any 
circumstances while it is in its full growing state ought it to 
receive a check, for if it does there is a kind of stuntedness 
given which it is utterly impossible to recover. 
The soil of an old Melon or Cucumber-bed, with a little sand 
and dung, suits it admirably. It is possible to grow it in 
peat, but not into such specimens as from the above-mentioned 
soil. The latter would do where the fruit was not the point 
aimed at; but where fine fruit and foliage both are required, it 
cannot be either fed too high or grown in too rich a soil. I have 
now three young suckers, one taken off in March last, the other two 
in the latter part of August. The first-mentioned one required 
shifting very nearly monthly for the last three months. The 
growth of it is most rapid. When young it is highly interesting 
to watch its progress ; but when full grown it has that attractive¬ 
ness about it which commands admiration from all who gaze 
