ART. II. Paxton's Horticultural Register. Edited by J. MAIN, A. L. S. In Monthly 8vo Numbers. 2s. each. No. XLVIII, for June, 1836.

THE cultivation of water-cresses is now becoming very general, by market gardeners, for supplying this fine vegetable. In the hope that the following article may render their growth more simple, we extract it entire from this work.

"The sanatory virtues ascribed to this vegetable have long made it valued as a salad plant. Being found wild in every streamlet in what is often called the old world, the necessity of cultivating it in England did not occur to any one, until a person residing near Rickmersworth, in Buckinghamshire (and who used to employ poor people to pick these cresses from the river Colne), could not at last supply the demand for the London market, more especially as he had no more right to the cresses in the river than any one else in the neighborhood. But the idea of their cultivation occurring to him, and having the offer of the tenancy of a large branch of the river which bounded his own vegetable garden, he eagerly embraced the offer, and, in a most spirited manner, commenced the culture of the plant, on what he could call his own premises, and with the most successful and profitable result.

"The great success attending this new branch of vegetable culture attracted the notice of the Horticultural Society of London, and, on application, he supplied the society with a detailed account of his proceedings and success; and for which the members of the society voted him a medal, or some other valuable mark of their approbation. Since that time numerous other cress plantations have been made in different parts of the kingdom, and it really appears that the demand about London is fully equal to the supply, thousands getting their bread by hawking cresses about the streets; and, from the quantities daily disposed of, a stranger to London might naturally suppose water-cresses to be, in that city, a necessary of life.

"The place chosen by the first cultivator was a very shallow and wide branch, or rather a tributary from springs to the river, where the water ran rapidly over a clean pebbly bed, and in depth from one to two or three inches. It is necessary that the pebbly bed have a uniform and regularly graduated fall, as this is conducive to the growth, cleanliness, and facility of picking the cresses. In planting, for the first time, such a part of a stream, plants are brought from where they grow naturally, with a little of the mud adhering to them, and beginning at the bottom of the pebbly bed, arranging the plants one above another in longitudinal stripes, or narrow beds, with open spaces of a foot wide between, to allow a free passage to the water, and paths for the pickers to tread in. Thus placed, the plants soon take root in the gravel, and are in no risk of being floated away.

"If the plantation be subject to be deeply flooded by sudden thaws of snow in winter, or heavy rains at other seasons, the owner should have some contrivance like a dam or barrier at the top, to turn the flood aside.

Any quick-flowing rivulet is suitable for growing water-cresses; but spring water fresh from the fountain-head is by far the best, not only from the heat of spring water inducing more rapid growth, but because the growth is continued throughout the winter, and is therefore more profitable in that season when the produce is most valued. The

success of the first cultivator depended very much on his supplies of spring water issuing from under the chalk formation in that neighborhood. But his industry and skill contributed greatly to make the business a profitable speculation.

"A plant of this kind is cultivated in India, in rather an expensive manner. It is called water-cress by the English residents, but whether it be the Nasturtium officinale, English water-cress, the writer is uncertain, as the plants were only very small seedlings when seen. The plants are cultivated in the following manner :-A trench of any length and about four feet wide is made in the ground about two feet deep. Into this water and the finest of the earth is thrown and mixed together, forming thin puddle, till it is nearly as high as the edges of the trench. Over the whole length and width of the trench a shed or hovel is raised, and thickly thatched with cocoa-tree leaves, but open on the side and ends. The hovel finished, young plants are stuck in pretty thickly all over the surface of the puddle, and as much water let on as just allows the leaves to float. As this is quickly exhaled away, more is from time to time added, to keep the surface always moist. In this shaded situation the plants grow quickly, and soon come into use as a most acceptable salad herb in that warin climate. It is only gentlemen of fortune, however, who can treat themselves with such a luxury.

"The anti-scorbutic powers of the water-cress constitute its principal value as a condiment to food; and as the plant grows plentifully in a deep dell under a natural cascade in the Island of St. Helena, the crews of ships touching at that island are sent on shore, for the purpose of having a feast of this pleasant medicinal plant.

"It but seldom happens that it is necessary to cultivate water-cresses for private use; because, wherever there is a stream of water, there the plant is spontaneously found, and where there is no stream they cannot be introduced. Stagnant pools are unsuitable; for though the plant will grow, they are neither so clean nor so palatable. For the supply of cities or large towns, however, wherever a branch of a river can be appropriated to the purpose, or even where a constantly wet part of a meadow could be formed into a shallow channel for the growth of water-cresses, the space so occupied would be, without doubt, as profitable as any other portion of the land."

ART. III. Literary Notices.

The Suburban Gardener, by J. C. Loudon, Esq., F. L. S. &c., is to appear in December next. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood. The whole intended as a complete gardening book for such as are not professed gardeners. It is to contain as follows:

1. Directions for choosing a House and Garden in a town or its suburbs, with some Plans for Street Houses, and Suburban Cottages and Villas. 2. Designs for laying out Small Gardens,

Cottage, and Villa Grounds, of from one perch to ten acres or more in extent; including plans of some of the more interesting small gardens in the suburbs of London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Munich, and Vienna. 3. Directions for their Planting, Culture, and General Management. 4. Directions for the Cultivation of all the Culinary Plants, Fruits, Flowers, Shrubs, and Trees usually grown in small Gardens. 5. Directions for

Building and Furnishing small Green-houses, Pits, and Frames; for the Culture of such Plants as are usually grown in them in small Gardens, and for the Management of Plants in Pots, in Balconies, on House-tops, and in Rooms. 6. A Monthly Calendar of Work to be done, including Directions respecting Poultry, Pigs, Cows, Grass Fields, &c. 7. A priced List of the Trees, Shrubs, Plants, Tools, &c., usually required for small Gardens.

Geraniacea.-A new work on the geranium tribe was to appear on May 1st, in 4to numbers, on the first day of every alternate month, price 7s. The flowers will be painted in oil, by the first artists in flower-paintings, from which the engravings will be taken, and colored to imitate the originals. In the execution of the flowers it has been attempted to surpass any works that have preceded it, so that any individual flower might form a copy, that ladies fond of flower-painting might use, preparatory to their painting from nature. It will be published by the Messrs. Ridgeway.

Zur Geschichte, Kultur, und Klassifikation der Georginen und Dahlien. This is the German title of a work now publishing in 8vo numbers, in Leipsic, at one dollar each. It may be translated as the History, Classification, and Culture of the Dahlia.

Flora Hibernica was preparing for publication about the middle of April. Part I, comprising the Flowering Plants and the Ferns of Ireland, by J. T. Mackay, M. R. I. A., A. L. S., &c.; and Part II, comprising the Musci, Hepáticæ, and Lichènes, by Thomas Taylor, M. D., M. R. I. A.; and the Algæ, by W. H. Harvey. In one royal 8vo volume of about six hundred pages.

The Flora Domestica, or History of Medicinal Plants indigenous to Great Britain, illustrated by numerous colored plates, by Benjamin H. Barton, F. L. S., will be published in parts. Part I was to appear on May 2. The work will contain a correct description of all the medicinal plants growing wild in the woods and fields of Great Britain, and such as are cultivated and easy of access in the gardens. The history of each plant will comprise its botanical and popular character; its poisonous qualities, if any; the uses to which it has been applied in medicine, the arts, and in rural and domestic economy; the mode

of appropriating its active principle, with the proper directions, &c.

The Floricultural Magazine and Miscellany of Gardening. -Conducted by Robert Marnock, Curator of the Botanical and Horticultural Garden, Sheffield. This is the title of a new periodical work, No. I of which was to appear on June 1st. Each number will contain a colored plate, and will comprise original communications and inquiries; editorial observations and answers; notices of new flowers, or novel modes of cultivation; reviews of books, selections from interesting works, current and other notices, &c. Mr. Marnock is well known as an intelligent and experienced cultivator, and fully able to do justice to such a work. Each number will contain twenty-four 8vo pages, at 6d. each.

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ART. I. General Notices.

Method of preserving Plants during a long Voyage.-The following letter was communicated to Messrs. G. C. and R. W. Fox and Co. by Capt. R. Gillies, of the ship Hibernia :

In accordance with your wishes, I have much pleasure in describing to you the mode in which the plants brought by me from Calcutta were put up. The plants were all intended for the green-house in England, and, I presume, were of a delicate kind. Each plant was in a box, six inches square by one foot in depth, filled to the top with a kind of clay; and, no doubt, well saturated with water, previously to being put into the large outer box, which contained eight of these small ones.

The large box was constructed in the usual way; that is, a glazed roof about two feet high, the glass strong enough to resist the fall of a small rope, or other light body. It was hermetically closed with the common Chunam (a sort of lime, used in India as a cement for plastering houses, &c.) of the country, and was never opened during a voyage of five months. When we arrived in England the plants were all in beautiful health, and had grown to the full height of the case, the leaves pressing against the glass.

In dry weather, I always observed moisture within the glass, which was caused, no doubt, by the evaporation of the earth, and was again absorbed by the plants.

It is difficult to account for the perfect health of the plants, without the full admission of the atmosphere; but oxygen sufficient was probably admitted, either through the pores of the wood, or otherwise. It is, however, a fact, that no water was given to them during the voyage, and that they were landed in excellent order.-Robert Gillies. Hibernia, Falmouth Harbor, October 2, 1835. (The Third Annual Report

of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, Falmouth, 1835. 8vo. 2s. 6d.-Gard. Mag.)

The House Fly.-At the Entomological Society, on Monday, a paper by Lieut. Col. Sykes was read, on excluding the house-fly. The mode adopted was a net made of different-colored meshes, of about three quarters of an inch square, and which, when placed against a window, was found quite effectual in excluding the visits of these troublesome insects from the outside of the room. The same experiment was tried with meshes made of the finest black thread, one and a quarter inch square, which proved to be equally effectual. The approach of wasps was also prevented by the above mode, very few finding their way within the boundary. This was accounted for by an optical illusion in the eyes of the insect, of the highly magnifying power of vision, and the small focal length.

Now that netting can be procured at the low price of 21. 1s. 3d. for thirty-three square yards, gardeners might try whether, by covering a hot-house with such a net, they could not exclude both birds and wasps. They might also apply it over standard cherry trees, and over various kinds of newly sown seeds; and, lastly, they might place it before the windows of their own cottages, to exclude the common house fly.—(Ib.). Water-proof Strands of Bast, for tying Trees, and Water-proof Bast Mats.-In our Second Volume, p. 192, a mode of rendering ties of bast water-proof is mentioned by Dr. Van Mons; and, while recommending a trial of metallic ties, it is but fair that we should remind our readers of this very simple mode of increasing the durability of bast. To make bast ties water-proof, it is only necessary to wet them first with a solution of soap, and next with a solution of alum. A neutral compound is formed from the soap and the alum, joined to the albumen of the wood of which the bast is composed, which is insoluble in water. It has often occurred to us, that, if common matting could be woven in Russia, with the weft of pack-thread, and the woof of strands of bast, mats would then throw off the rain nearly as well as canvass; and the whole might be tanned, or rendered water-proof by Dr. Van Mons's process. Perhaps our friend at Cronstadt might be able to induce some of the Russian mat manufacturers to try this process.-(Ib.)

Chenopodium Quinoa.-This plant is cultivated in the warmer parts of North America, and extensively in Chili and Peru, its leaves being eaten as spinach or sorrel, and its seeds as rice. It is also used in the preparation of a kind of beer. Dombey, on his return from Peru, endeavored to introduce the plant as a culinary vegetable into France, but without success. From a dried specimen of the plant grown in England last year, and exhibited at a meeting of the Linnæan Society, by Ă. B. Lambert, Esq., V. P. L. S., it appeared, in habit, very like the stronggrowing British chenopodiums, but we should think the seeds are far too small to be ever equal in value to any of our cereals; and certainly inferior to the white beet as a substitute for spinach.-(Paxton's Mag.)

ART. II. Foreign Notices.

ENGLAND.

Camellia Show at the London Horticultural Society's Garden.-Exhibited for Prizes. Chinese camellias: Camellia japónica striped, C.