We have seen several of the affidavits alluded to, on both sides of the question, conversed with four of the deponents, and examined the trees. Most of the depositions proceed on the supposition of the gas escaping from the pipes under ground, and being absorbed by the vessels of the roots; but one argues on the idea of the gas escaping in the atmosphere, and acting by contact with the parts injured. Some of the deponents, as Mr. Lindley, reason on physiological principles; others, as Mr. Sinclair, from experience and observation; a third class decide empirically; and one gentleman experimentally. This last deponent, an eminent chemist, planted some sets of potatoes in natural soil, and some in soil impregnated with hydrogen gas, and found that those in the latter soil were some days later in appearing above ground than the others; however, they did appear, and grew very well.

That plants, like animals, may be poisoned by the absorption of deleterious substances, has been proved by M. T. Marcet (Gard. Mag. 89.): but that the disease in the bark of these elms is not owing to the absorption of poison, Mr. Lindley has satisfactorily deduced from the known facts, that the sap absorbed by the root of a tree ascends by the wood to the leaves, and there being changed into proper juice, analogous to the blood of animals, returns by the bark; consequently, in returning, it would first bave affected the young shoots at the top of the tree, and on the extremities of the branches, before it could have injured the lower part of the trunk. That the disease is not owing to the presence of gas in the atmosphere is evident from the circumstance of neither the leaves of the elms, nor the flowers and tender shrubs close to that side of the road where the gas pipes are laid, being in the slightest degree injured. What, then, is the cause of the disease? Old age and the want of nourishment. This is our decided opinion. The soil is thin, on a gravelly subsoil; the trees stand close together, and, consequently, the ground is completely filled with their roots. Already stinted in their growth, and beginning to decay, this process was accelerated by the dry summer of 1825, and by a series of excavations made in that year along one side of the avenue for a row of houses; which completely drained the gravelly stratum.

The extravasation of the juices mentioned by Mr. Lindley, did not appear to us general, and the insects alluded to by our correspondent are found under the bark of most elm trees in a state of decay, and are to be considered as the consequences

of that process. In addition to the trees referred to, as similarly circumstanced with those at Camberwell Grove, may be mentioned a number at Lisson Grove, Paddington.-Cond.

ART. V. Remarks, including the Results of some Experiments, on budding the Peach and Nectarine on Almond Stocks. By Mr. WILLIAM ANDERSON, F.L.S. H.S. &c. Curator of the Botanic Garden, Chelsea.

Dear Sir,

A GARDENER'S Magazine was much wanted, and one conducted by you, who have been so much employed in the various practices of horticulture, cannot fail to be patronised by the gardeners, and become useful to the public. With this persuasion, we send you the following observations on the almond as a stock, which you may perhaps think worth a place in your pages.

At an early period of our practice, it appeared strange that the almond was not employed as a stock for the peach; we enquired the reason amongst the nurserymen, but got no satisfactory answer. This induced us, in the spring of 1815, to plant six-pennyworth of sweet almonds in the vacant places on the wall of our little kitchen-garden here: some of these were strong enough by September following to take buds; but we waited to have several of the best sorts of peaches worked at the same time. In July and August, 1816, we budded twenty-eight of these stocks, with fifteen sorts of peaches, as follow:

2 Late Admirable

2 Violet hâtive

2 Grimwood's Royal

2 Royal George

George

2 Avant Rouge

2

Budded in 1816.

2 Têton de Venus

2 Galande

2 Red Magdalen

Alive in 1826.

2 Red Roman Nectarine -
2 Newington Nectarine

1 White Nectarine

2 Red Magdalen Peach
1 Abricot Pêche

Total budded in 1816, 28; alive in 1826, 13.

1

· 2

· 1

These buds succeeded as well as they usually do on any of the plum stocks. In 1817 they made very strong shoots. Our expectations were now raised very high, although one plant, on which was Grimwood's Royal George, after perfecting its wood, dried up with its leaves on in October, when the sap was descending. This we thought might be owing to some evil at the root, as nothing appeared above ground to account

for the failure. In 1818 many of the sorts flowered and produced larger fruit than the same kinds on plum stocks; the shoots were strong, and all promised well for a great crop the following year. About the end of September, however, five of the best trees began to decay, and by the middle of October they dried up, keeping their leaves on. The remaining trees had now become fans of three feet radiation, with fine shoots. These ceased to elongate about the end of August, and afterwards they swelled the wood and flower buds. It should be observed, that the almond, left to itself, usually continues growing, even till checked by the frost of December.

In 1819 we lost three fine trees, as in 1818; in 1820 we lost but one tree; in 1821 we lost two trees; in 1822 we lost one; and in 1823 we thought the like misfortune was at an end, as the remaining twenty-one trees shed their leaves and flowered well in the spring of 1824, and all of them produced fruit less or more. Our reviving hopes were blasted, however, in October following, for then two fine large trees dried up with all their leaves on. In 1825 there was a great show of large flowers and plenty of fruit, but two of the remaining nineteen went off as on former years.

A bud of the Moorpark apricot was inserted on one of these stocks in 1816, and produced fruit in 1820. It now covers about four yards of wall, and its fruit is larger, smoother, and better flavoured than when worked on the plum; but we are afraid it will be of short duration, for two years after budding, the almond stock, being about two feet high, became as rugged as an aged apricot tree, and lately we have discovered that one side of it is quite rotten. The stocks of the peaches and nectarines, the white nectarine excepted, which is become very rough, are as smooth barked as those which are not worked.

From the above are we to conclude that peaches will not thrive many years on almond stocks? or are we to wait ten years longer, to know how many of these remaining thirteen trees are in a thriving state at twenty years' growth? In the meantime, you may, perhaps, hear the result of other experiments on the same subject.

The trees alive are denoted by the numbers following the names in the list. There are twelve of the almonds which have never been worked at all; these have been all along, and still are, in perfect health and vigour.

I am, dear Sir, yours, &c.
WM. ANDERSON.

In France the peach and nectarine are most commonly worked on almond stocks, and both there and in Germany they are found to do well on such stocks when the soil is deep and dry. When the soil is not deep, or where it is wet bottomed, they prefer the damson or Julien plum stocks. Apricots are also frequently grafted on almond stocks, and found to do quite well. See the Bon Jardinier for 1826, articles Pécher, Amandier, and Abricotier. If we might suggest an opinion as to the cause of the failure of Mr. Anderson's trees, we should say, as the soil is loose and deep, might it not be owing to the wet bottom? They are within a few yards of the Thames, which rises within two feet of the ground's surface every spring tide.. Cond.

ART. VI. On the Culture of the Cyclamen Persicum. (fig. 79.) By Mr. JOHN WILMOT, F. H.S. Isleworth.

Sir,

THIS beautiful bulb appears to have been introduced about the year 1731 from the island of Cyprus; and though it has been nearly a century in our possession, yet the general culture certainly cannot be sufficiently understood, as we seldom find it in any thing like perfection, being generally a weak plant, both in leaf and flower, with seldom more than twenty blossoms at a time on the bulb. My object for thus addressing you is to see it more extensively cultivated; 'and as you profess, in your Magazine, the ornamental as well as the useful part of horticulture, I trust that the observations I am about

to make relative to the culture of this elegant plant may not be unacceptable to my brother gardeners, or considered a presumption on my part, or a digression from my particular department in the profession.

The method generally pursued with this handsome bulb is to suffer it to flower in the green-house, and, at the latter end of the summer and autumn months, it is usually put away in some dry place, and frequently the pots turned on one side in a dry state, together with the Ixias, Amaryllises, &c. and not suffered to vegetate until the following spring, when the bulb

is frequently found as dry as possible. It then undergoes the same treatment as in the preceding year, after a renovation by moisture, heat, &c. Nature having performed its office, it is again assigned to the drying system.

Being extremely partial to this fine-scented bulb, I turned my attention to its propagation and culture, and with that success which astonished every one who saw it. At one time I had some hundreds of pots, and so uncommonly luxuriant was their growth, that an eminent botanist, one of your correspondents, once asked me what plants they were.

As this plant blossoms early I would advise assisting it with a little heat. Select a few pots, and place them in the stove in the beginning of February; they will soon show their blossom; remove them, by degrees, into their old quarter, the green-house, and select only those plants that are scented, some being much more so than others; they will soon form their seed-vessels, if assisted with plenty of air, and, when you find the seed sufficiently ripe, sow it immediately in pans. The plants will appear in the autumn; let them remain in the green-house to about the beginning of May; and, in removing the plants from the, pans, you will find they have formed bulbs about the size of a pea, and some as large as a hazel-nut. Prepare a bed for their reception by digging and raking the soil to a fine mould, and cover the same over with about two inches of sifted loam, leaf mould, or rotten dung, with a mixture of sandy peat. Plant the bulbs six inches apart from each other, and let them be kept covered, either with hand-glasses, which at that season can be spared, or with hot-bed sashes, to protect them from the cold and probably frosty nights, and, in the daytime, admit what air is required, according to the state of the weather. About the middle of summer, when you apprehend no danger from the frosty nights, &c. the glass may be taken away, as the plants will require no farther care than sufficiently watering them, if the season proves a dry one, and as often as occasion may require.

At the time you remove the green-house plants into the house let the cyclamen be taken up carefully and potted, one bulb in a small pot. Fit the pot to the size of the plant, and be careful not to place a small plant in a large pot. The pot No. 60. for small ones, and the No. 48. for the larger, will be sufficient; and, if a fine growing summer succeed, some of the bulbs will be two inches in diameter, and produce as much blossom as a plant two years old by the drying system. The soil I made use of was loam, leaf mould, and dung, with some