THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 17 1857. 
very pretty appearance, yet they did not come up to the idea 
I had previously formed of a vineyard. The large fields of 
Clover, Rye, or Potatoes now begin to give place to market 
gardens, when, making a curve round the foot of a hill, 
Dresden appears before us, with its palaces, its magnificent 
' churches, and the swiftly flowing Elbe. 
I proceeded at once to the garden of the Japanese Palace, 
but was disappointed to find it little better than a third-class 
nursery garden. Napoleon called England “ a nation of 
shopkeepers,” and parrot-like the world continues to repeat 
the phrase, never stopping to ask if it be true that that com¬ 
mercial spirit is more developed in that country than else¬ 
where. The London nurserymen would look astonished, I 
; believe, if purchasers went to Frogmore or Kew instead of 
visiting them; and yet such is the state of things in Ger¬ 
many. A friend of mine wished to have a hundred Azaleas, 
and bought them at the Palace Garden, because he could 
get them there cheaper than in the nurseries. The nursery- 
I men of Germany have to compete against the Botanic 
Gardens, and by far the greater proportion of private gardens 
sell plants if there is an opportunity. There was really 
nothing worthy of note in the Palace Gardens, although 
they were somewhat extensive. 
The Botanic Garden is cramped for room, but the most 
' has been made of that which they have. A little piece of 
ground, laid out with turf and winding walks, has lately been 
added for the hardy trees and shrubs. It is near the plea¬ 
santest promenade in Dresden, and, being always open to 
the public, makes a much-frequented resort for the citizens. 
The curator of the Botanic Garden was making some ex¬ 
periments with an insect-destroying powder: merely sprinkled 
over the dry foliage it immediately killed the thrips and 
red spider. He did not know for a certainty from what it 
was made, but believed it to be a species of Pyrethrum dried 
and powdered. Clerodendrums, Achimenes, Gloxinias, &c., 
were flowering freely under a canvass awning. Here also 
were placed the Orchids in flower, Miltonias, Stanhopeas, 
and Oncidiums : by this means they keep in bloom much 
longer than in the stoves. One of the most interesting 
plants I saw was Cyeas ciremails, producing a large head 
of female flowers. The mention of this plant recalls to my 
mind a curious custom in Saxony. At a funeral the principal 
mourners usually carry fronds of Cycas revoluta, or some 
similar plant, in their hands. This has led to a great 
demand for Cycadaceous plants, and in several gardens I 
saw houses devoted entirely to their culture. No one pos¬ 
sessing a Cycas can be prevailed upon to sell it, as it is a 
source of considerable profit. Each frond is worth at least 
a dollar (three shillings English money).— Ivarl. 
Large Citrouille and other Cucurbits. —I have now 
on view in my shop window a Citrouille, or Gourd, 250 lbs. 
in weight, and eight feet one inch in circumference; a 
Vegetable Marrow 88 lbs., five feet in circumference, and 
four feet long; a Melon grown out of doors 18lbs. lOozs. 
in weight, and exquisite flavour.—E. Persac, Exeter . 
BOOKS ON BEES. 
Some of your readers or correspondents are, no doubt, 
acquainted with many of the older publications on the 
subject of bees that have appeared in our own and other 
languages. I have a good many of various periods, but I 
lately met with one of which I was previously unaware, con¬ 
taining a mixture of much good sense and quaintness pecu¬ 
liar to the period in which it was published (1634). Perhaps 
some apiarian friend will favour us by saying whether 
mention of the tvork is to be found anywhere to his know¬ 
ledge. The title is as follows:—“ The Ordering of Bees, or 
the true History of Managing them from time to time, with 
their Honey and Wax, showing their Nature and Breed, &c. 
set forth in a Dialogue, resolving all doubts whatsoever, by 
the late unparalleled experience of John Levett , Gent.” The 
work is edited by his son, with a dedication “ to the ver- 
tuous gentlewoman, Mrs. Dorothy Kemp, wife to the Right 
Worshipfull Mr. Robert Kemp, Esquire, one of His Majisties 
Justices of the Peace in the county of Northfolk,” with some 
verses more flattering to the lady than poetical. Following 
is an address, written by Gervasc Markham, “ to the memory 
of the tlnice worthy gentleman, Mr. John Levett, deceased; 
and to the eternity ol his well-taken labour in this most ex¬ 
cellent and profitable relation and history of Bees.’’ After 
almost exhausting the dictionary of words sufficiently com-- 
phmentary to the apiarian labours of the author, the address 
concludes, “ And he that in this art will look beyond this, let 
him look beyond tho moono ; X will neither fend him mino 
eyes nor my commendations. 
‘ Non quantum sed quale, Jovis primordia parva, 
Rebus in exiguis grandia seepe latent.’ ” 
—An Old Apiarian. 
BOUVARDIA CAVANJLLESII. 
Raised from seeds received from Mr. Hartweg in January, 
1846, from Mexico, as a species of Bouvardia, with “ scarlet 
and yellow flowers.” 
A hairy bright green shrub, with short-stalked ovate 
leaves, intermediate three - toothed stipules, and scarlet 
tubular smooth flowers, nearly an inch and a half long. 
The segments of the corolla are very sharp, and spread flat 
when fully expanded. In a wild state it forms a stiff bush, 
with short lateral upright arms, having about nine flowers 
at the end of each. In cultivation it is about as graceful 
as a Fuchsia macrostema. 
It is a small greenhouse shrub, requiring the same kind 
of treatment and soil as the old Bouvardia triphylla, and 
freely producing its flowers from the old wood if rather 
stunted. It should be kept nearly dry all the winter. It is 
handsome wdien not overgrown and old, and flowers all the 
summer and snitnmn.^^Horticultural Society's Journal.) 
