dust being destroyed as soon as the larvæ are hatched. The power of reproduction of these flies is so great, that, if the early attacks of the insect are not checked by the destruction of the young onions when the first attacks of the insect are perceived, it will be next to useless to attempt any other subsequent remedy. Burning the plants infested will be more advisable than burying them; because the latter will not cause the destruction of the insects. It will require but a very slight acquaintance with an onion bed to detect the plants which are infested. Mr. Mackmurry states that any remedy, sufficiently powerful to destroy the insect (that is, the larva enclosed within the onion), must inevitably destroy the onion itself; and he suggests that a careful selection of such soils and situations for the onion crops should be made, as are most likely to resist the various common incidents of season peculiar to this very variable climate, and containing such eligible food, and in such proportion, as this bulbous esculent requires and Mackray recommends the sowing of onions in ground that has had strawberries four or five years, and which may be repeated two or three years successively. Macdonald suggests the transplanting of seedling onions, first dipping the roots in a mixture of three parts of earth and one part of soot, with a sufficient quantity of water to make a puddle; and Major advises the frequent watering of the beds with a mixture composed of one gallon of soapsuds to four quarts of gas water; or, in place of the latter, two quarts of gas tar: either will do, as the only use of this mixture is to produce an offensive smell. These are the suggestions of practical writers. How far they are beneficial, how far accidentally serviceable, or how far counteracting the habits of the insect as above detailed, must be left for future investigation. ART. II. Farther Suggestions relative to the Amelioration of our edible Fruits. By D. BEATON. To carry out the principles on which my former suggestions (p. 203.) are founded, every possible precaution must be taken to keep the rain, and even all kind of dampness, from the fruit, after it is supposed to have acquired its full size. A spare glass frame, placed against the tree, will be found a good preventive. The fruit may hang on the tree till it falls of its own accord, or till the appearance of frost. The seed derives a considerable degree of nourishment from the fruit, for some time after it is gathered; therefore the fruit ought to be laid in some dry warm place (say the front of a late vinery), under the influence of the solar rays, for a month or so, or till sowing time. Besides the chance of originating an improved race of fruit by this treatment, I am firmly of opinion, that, if it is possible to reproduce any given variety of fruit from seed, this system, or some modification of it, will be found the most suitable for that purpose, the necessary precautions being, of course, taken to guard against the introduction of foreign pollen. As a matter of speculative curiosity bearing on this subject, it may be enquired how, or by what means, were the apple, the pear, or, indeed, any of our edible fruits, first produced from their "savage parents?" Certainly not by cultivation, which at once would refute the above hypothesis. Then it follows, as a matter of course, that it must have been by some accidental or natural cause. The following may be among the many causes which will occur to the inquisitive mind. The savage parents, sown, in the first instance, by the hand of nature, soon sprang up in youthful vigour, in dense masses, each struggling for the greatest share of that light and air which is so essential to their well-being. The strongest soon overtopped their weaker brethren, and found it no difficult task to keep them in subjection afterwards: yet the more resolute of the weaker party still kept pushing up their aspiring heads among the main branches of their oppressors, and with their united growth, aided by the force of the passing breeze, began to make deep indentations on them by rubbing. Hence, perhaps, the origin of ringing the branches of fruit trees. In course of time, these main branches may have become so much dilapidated, that the necessary circulation of their juices was almost entirely impeded: but their leaves, not willing to give up their assigned functions, still kept pumping up the reserve juices within the sphere of their action. The juice being now supplied to the leaves in a less quantity, they elaborated it to a still higher degree than usual. The fruit all this time had little to complain of, seeing that what nourishment it lost in quantity it gained in quality; and the seed, after partaking of the essence of this improved nourishment, brought forth, in its turn, a new race of fruit trees, removed one degree in improvement from their parents; and thus a foundation was laid for future improvements; or, as Ovid most beautifully describes it, "Hanc Deus et melior litem Natura diremit." DRYDEN'S Trans. This improved race, acting after the example of its parents, in the order of time, we may suppose, brought forth a progeny still further improved; and thus effect followed cause in rapid succession, for nobody knows how long; till at last, after some tremendous chaotic cause, Adam found "every fruit after its kind" ready improved for his use. To starve a tree by ringing, transplanting, or any other manipulation to the same effect, in order to obtain an improved variety from its seed, might reasonably be called a novel and unnatural method: yet you see, by the above, it is the most ancient and natural after all; and, to make a short story of a long one, grafting pear trees on quince stocks, and training down the boughs (a system so prevalent on the Continent), must have powerfully assisted our neighbours in obtaining those delicious pears for which we are now so much indebted to them. Haffield, April 7. 1837. ART. III. Plan, Section, &c., of a small span-roofed Pit, for Greenhouse Plants, recently erected at Stratford Green, Essex. By JOHN BEVIS. FIGS. 84, 85, and 86. are a section, elevation, and plan, of a small span-roofed pit, which Mr. Allcard has lately had erected. a 84 The letters refer to the same parts in the three figures; a a are air-flues covered with plain tiles; b, tiles covered with sand, to re 85 C ceive the plants; c c, small gratings to admit air, and to exclude vermin; dd, brick pillars to receive the tiles. This pit was erected for heaths, and for rearing and preserv ing the hardier species of green-house plants, intended to be planted out in the open garden in the spring. The principal novelties in it, I apprehend, consist in the method of admitting the air at the bottom, which secures the plants from damping off; the ease with which the lights are removed, being hung on with hooks and eyes; and the method of covering the lights with mats. These are fastened at one end to the ridge of the roof, and at the other to a roller, the whole length of the pit; by which the mats are readily run down over the lights, and kept down, without any fastening, by the weight of the rollers: they are also useful for shading either side, as may be required. Mr. Allcard wishes it to be known, that he has had this, and other more extensive, useful, and ornamental erections, put up in his garden, entirely by Mr. Thomas Dalby, builder, of this place, whose judgment and good taste in such buildings entitle him to encouragement. Mr. Allcard will have much pleasure in allowing any gentleman to inspect what has been done here, by application to him. Stratford Green, Essex, Oct. 24. 1835. WE owe an apology to the author of the above paper, and to Mr. Allcard, for not having inserted this article sooner. The real truth is, that, soon after it was received, it was put into the hands of our architectural draughtsman (Mr. Robertson), to reduce the drawings, and transfer them to wood for the engraver. This he does at his own house; and being, soon after he received them, seized with a lingering illness, he was unable to proceed with them till quite lately. The drawings belonging to several other articles have, unfortunately, been in the same predicament; and we, in consequence, owe similar apologies to Mr. Hogg, jun., of New York, to M. Rauch of Vienna, to the author of a transplanting machine in use in Ireland, and to some others, as will appear by the dates of their respective papers, when we publish them. Cond ART. IV. An Account of some remarkable Trees of the Norway Spruce (Abies excélsa Poir.), now growing at the Whim, in Peeblesshire, the Property of Sir James Montgomery of Bartstanhope and Stobo. Drawn up, at our request, by J. M'NAB, Superintendent of the Experimental Gardens, Inverleith; and, with our permission, read by him before the Botanical Society at Edinburgh, Jan. 12. 1837. THE estate of Whim was purchased by the Earl of Islay afterwards Duke of Argyll, in the year 1730; and not long after his death, in 1761, it was purchased by the late Lord Chief Baron, Sir James Montgomery, who formed the garden in 1776. He also improved and enlarged the former plantations of the duke. The Whim is situated on the high grounds bordering the Pentland range of hills, fourteen miles south-west of Edinburgh. The soil is chiefly composed of brown moss or bog earth, which is deep and spongy; the subsoil is various, and is composed, in the kitchen-garden and its vicinity, of a retentive whitish clay. A large proportion of this property is planted with the Norway spruce: a few black spruces, silver firs, and larches, also exist, but only in solitary trees. Of hard-wooded trees, the beech seems to be the most prevalent; and it thrives uncommonly well in the spongy peat soil. It was planted in belts surrounding the estate, by the Duke of Argyll, soon after 1730; the ground having been previously trenched. Nearly all the fine old specimens of trees on this estate were cut down about twenty-five years ago; but there are still some spruce firs, between 65 ft. and 70 ft. high. The girt of the largest common spruce on the estate is 5 ft. 10 in. at the surface of the ground; and that of the largest black spruce is 5 ft. 1 in. The Whim spruces present some very interesting and remarkable forms, to all appearance caused by the spongy nature of the peat soil in which they grow. Such forms, perhaps, are not common in the country; or, if they do exist, I am not aware of any notice having been taken of them. Of the Whim spruces, the form which appeared to me the most remarkable, was that of a tree which was tillering, or assuming a stoloniferous aspect, This was shown in several specimens, on different parts of the property; and, of those I observed, the most fantastic specimen was one growing on a piece of elevated mossy ground, about an acre in extent, and within the boundary of the kitchen-garden wall. The Lord Chief Baron, in forming the garden, left a bank of peat standing, after the rest had been carted away and burned, as a trophy to show the strongly marked contrast between the improvements of human art, and nature in her wildest form. This spot of ground is called the Wilderness; and on its highest point a singular Norway spruce exists. Owing to its stoloniferous growth, this tree has received the appellation of the Travelling |