58 
THE VINEGAR PLANT. 
having several faintly marked primary veins, diverging from the midrib at an angle of 45 degrees, and 
running parallel to each other. The flowers are bright yellow in solitary heads, and pairs of heads, 
projecting beyond the phyllodes, upon stalks arising from the axils of the latter.—A. H. 
In a genus of plants remarkable for the sameness of their flowers, the present subject is certainly 
one of the most distinct and desirable, not only on account of its profuse habit of blooming, but like¬ 
wise for the distinct character of the plant. The Acacias are not difficult to cultivate. Most of them 
strike root with facility; and they may also be raised from seed, which some of them produce with 
great freedom. The best cuttings are the little, short, sturdy pieces, produced from the sides of the 
main branches; and when they can be taken off with a heel or piece of the mature wood adhering, 
they are less liable to damp. When the cuttings are procured, smooth the bottom of each with a 
sharp knife, and insert them about half an inch deep, making the sand tolerably firm. The cutting- 
pot should be prepared by first thoroughly draining, and then filling it to within an inch of the rim 
with turfy loam, peat, and sand, filling the remaining portion with silver sand. If you have a close 
pit, frame or hand-glass, bell-glasses will not be necessary, but if not, they must be used. The cuttings, 
at the time they are taken off, must be about half ripe, and the cutting-pots should be placed in about 
the same temperature as that from which the cuttings were taken. Acacias may also be increased by 
cuttings of the roots, and a well-established plant will furnish a considerable supply. The strong 
roots must be cut into pieces about two inches long, and be inserted like cuttings, leaving about a 
quarter of an inch exposed to the light, from which young shoots will be produced. 
If you are desirous of growing large specimens, select well started young plants, and pot them, any 
time during spring, in equal portions of peat and rich turfy loam, to which some charcoal and gritty 
sand may be added. The soil should be broken tolerably fine, and, if the plants are well rooted, a 
tolerable shift may be given, As the plants will grow with great freedom, supply them liberally with 
water, and syringe them daily in the growing season, not more to promote free growth than to secure 
their being kept quite clear from insects. Manure water may be used occasionally when the pots are 
full of roots, and care must be taken to stop the plants regularly, and to train them into proper form. 
Towards the end of the season, when the growth is nearly completed, place the plants in the full sun, 
to secure the ripening of the wood, as, unless the wood is properly matured, they will not flower pro¬ 
fusely, especially if the plants are in free and luxuriant growth. The Acacias are very liable to be 
attacked by white scale, the best remedy for which is hot water, applied with a syringe until the in¬ 
sects are washed off.—A. 
THE VINEGAR PLANT. 
!>\ VERY interesting series of observations respecting the Vinegar plant, were recently laid before 
A the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, by Dr. Balfour. Of these, which we have not hitherto been 
enabled to notice, we now present a summary :— 
Much interest has been recently excited by the statements relative to the Vinegar Plant. This 
plant, which has a tough gelatinous consistence, when put into a mixture of treacle, sugar, and water, 
gives rise to a sort of fermentation by which vinegar is produced. After six or eight weeks the 
original plant can be divided into two layers, each of which acts as an independent plant, and when 
placed in syrup continues to produce vinegar, and to divide at certain periods of growth. The vinegar 
thus produced is always more or less of a syrupy nature. Various conjectures have been hazarded as 
to the origin of the so-called Vinegar plant, some stating that it came from South America, or other 
distant regions, and others that it is a spontaneous production. Bindley states that it is a peculiar 
form of Penicillium glaucum , or common blue mould. There seems to be no doubt that it is an 
anomalous state of mould, or of some fungus allied to it, and the peculiarity of form and consistence 
appears to be owing to the material in which it grows. In place of producing the usual cellular spori- 
ferous stalks, the mycelium increases to an extraordinary extent, its cellular threads interlacing 
together in a remarkable manner, and producing one expanded cellular mass, with occasionally rounded 
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