6G THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 30, 1860. 
on it. So, look at it which way I will, I can come to no other con¬ 
clusion than that it is a plant that ought to be found in a great 
number more stoves than it is ; and that it is one that is worth 
cultivating for its foliage as well as its fruit.—A. J. Ashman. 
{To be continued.) 
ALONSO A WARCZEWICZII IN THE 
MANCHESTER BOTANIC GARDEN. 
“ It is an ill wind that blows no one profit ” is an old but 
still valuable proverb; and its application to certain things— 
the present cold wet season—may justly give rise to the question, 
What has the present summer been favourable to ? An ill- 
natured answerer would say, “ Weeds, dirty roads, and umbrella- 
makers.” But it nevertheless has merits of its own even in a 
gardening way, and in the flower garden too, notwithstanding all 
the complaints we hear to the contrary—and many of them, it 
must be admitted, are well grounded. Still, some things have not 
done amiss amongst the rain and other discomforts; and it would 
be worth while for the observant cultivator to take notes of the 
best ornaments of our gardens in a season when there has been 
so many failures amongst our most popular favourites. Ver¬ 
benas have invariably done badly, and the same may be said of 
Petunias. Geraniums have run all away to leaf after remain¬ 
ing stationary so many weeks after planting; so that, with the 
long dewy evenings which occur in autumn, we have not 
had much bloom this summer. Calceolarias, however, have 
been better, though not good; but they have been amongst 
the most useful of flower-garden plants. But, as I may at a later 
period describe more fully the merits or failings of the various 
bedding plants I have seen the present season, it will suffice to say 
that the most useful I have found at home have been the variegated 
plants, including the various Geraniums that are that way (Golden 
Chain excepted), Arabia variegata, Cerastium tomentosum, Alys- 
sum variegatum, and Cineraria maritima. These have been 
especially useful as contrasting so well with the green turf or 
other foliage by which they were surrounded. Another plant, 
remarkable for its foliage but in another colour, has also done 
well—the Perilla nankinensis, which has been a universal 
favourite at all places where I have seen it growing, and I think 
it will be more extensively cultivated another year. But I will 
hot say anymore until a future opportunity; but will call atten¬ 
tion to the merits of a plant I had previously thought was 
hardly deserving more than an unimportant place in the mixed 
border—the Alonsoa Warczewiczii, a plant differing but slightly 
from what was called Hemimeris coccinea thirty years ago, and 
Celsia urticifolia before that. 
This Alonsoa, with its unpronounceable specific name, was 
offered to the flower-gardening world about six years ago, more 
or less : but it never attained much distinction that I am aware 
of, and on dry seasons with me it degenerated into a miserable- 
looking object, with leaves scarcely larger than those of a Heath. 
Judge my surprise, therefore, when on a ramble lately amongst 
some distant gardens, to find a bed of this the most telling thing 
I have seen the present season. And its beauty was not of that 
transient character, like that of many annuals which present a 
great mass for a short time and are then totally done for. This 
Alonsoa had been amongst the earliest bloomers of the season, 
the rain seemingly having no other effect on its flowers than 
washing them brighter. And there seemed every prospect of its 
lasting until frost destroyed it; for a plant that will endure the 
perishing rains we have been visited with the past summer will 
bear it to the end. And this Alonsoa had received its full share; for 
the place where it was growing to such perfection was one noted at 
all times for its pluvial character—Manchester: for in the botanic 
garden attached to that important city a bed of this plant was 
the most showy in the garden, which contained several distinct 
geometric sets of flower-beds planted in the usual way, as well 
as some isolated ones at particular places. Most of the plants 
presented the usual feature complained of in the beginning of 
these notes. Whereas, this one was all that could be desired, 
and Mr. Finlay, the intelligent Curator, told me it had been the 
best during the whole season. He at the samo time justly 
observed, that its well-doing was in a great measure owing to 
the wetness of the season, so that in ordinary ones we must not 
expect to have it do so well as it has done in the case alluded to. 
But in some localities noted for the quantity of rain that falls— 
as many in the west of England are, this may possibly be found 
a valuable acquisition ; bub in places of a contrary description, 
it ought to be used with more caution, for a marsh can no more 
thrive well in the same situation as a rock plant than fish and 
land fowl can enjoy the same element. 
To gardeners visiting this Lancashire metropolis, the Botanic 
Garden affords many attractions. An excellent collection of 
exotic plants in the best possible order occupies a long range of 
houses ; while the grounds are laid out with considerable taste, 
and well kept; but the close proximity to a large smoky city is 
at variance with the well-being of many things out of doors, 
that the contents of the house will in a general way be found 
most interesting, and, as I have before observed, they are remark¬ 
ably well managed. Many excellent specimens of plants usually 
accounted rare graced the shelves of the various houses ; and 
there were some good examples of recently introduced plants of 
various kinds. The whole are arranged for effect, combined 
with a certain amount of classification ; but this latter principle 
does not form an absolute rule in the garden, for, as Mr. Finlay 
justly observed, the multitude patronised showy good plants 
rather than those having little to boast of but an unpronounce¬ 
able name—consequently, in addition to a good collection of 
Cape, New' Holland, Stove Orchids, Ferns, and other plants, 
varieties of some of them were also cultivated ; and excellent lots 
of double and single Chinese Primulas, as well as Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, Cinerarias, and other plants were to bo seen in a tempt - 1 
ing state, and reflected great credit on all concerned ; and the 
coiu'tesy with which Mr. Finlay showed and explained all made 
me regret my time was too short to take other than a passing 
notice of what I saw, but I may re f er to it again.—J. Robson. 
VARIETIES. 
Bread. —The earliest and most primitive way of making bread 
was to soak the grain in water, subject it to pressure, and then 
dry it by natural or artificial heat. An improvement upon this 
was to pound or bray the grain in a mortar, or between two flat 
stones, before moistening and heating, and from this braying 
operation some etymologists propose to derive the word bread 
(as if brayed). A rather more elaborate bruising or grinding of 
the grain leads to such simple forms of bread as the oat-cakes of 
Scotland, which are prepared by moistening oatmeal (coarsely 
bruised oats) with water containing some common salt, kneading 
with the hands upon a baking-hoard, rolling the mass into a thin 
sheet, and ultimately heating before a good fire, or on an iron 
plate, called a girdle, which is suspended above the fire. In a 
similar manner, the barley-meal and pease-meal bannocks of 
Scotland are prepared ; and in the East Indies (especially the 
Punjab and Afghanistan), as well as in Scotland, flour is kneaded 
with water, and rolled into thin sheets, as scones. The passover 
calces of the Israelites were also prepared in this way. A similar 
preparation of Wheat-flour, but where the sheet of dough is made 
much thicker, forms the dampers of Australia. The Indian corn- 
meal, kneaded with water and fired, affords the corn-bread of 
America. The kinds of bread referred to above are designated 
unleavened , as no leaven has been added to the dough to excite 
fermentation. Even in the time of Moses, however, leaven was 
employed in making bread. It is held probable that the Egyptians 
were the first to use leaven; that the secret afterwards became 
known to the Greeks ; and that the Greeks communicated the 
process to the Romans, who spread the invention far and wide in 
the northern countries during their campaigns. The grain of 
Wheat is generally employed in the manufacture of bread among 
the better classes, and more advanced nations, though Rye, 
Barley, Indian corn, and Rice are also extensively used. The 
average composition of the grain of Wheat when dried, so as to 
evaporate about 14 per cent, of moisture, is 
Gluten and albumen... 13£ 
Starch . 541 . 
Gum, sugar, oil, and fibre. 30 
Saline matter. 2 
The proportion of these ingredients varies, however; and though 
the native country of Wheat is unknown, yet it is found that, 
within the Wheat zone, the quality improves as we travel south. 
Thus, Scotch Wheat is inferior to English, the latter to French, 
that to the Italian ; and the finest Wheat in the world is grown 
in Barbary and Egypt. The principal constituents of Wheat 
may be separated from each other without much difficulty. 
Thus, if Wheat-flour be placed in a cloth-bag with the mouth 
