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and about 100 seedlings were raised. Of the first-mentioned 400 seedlings, three-fourths closely resembled the male parent, A. pontica, in foliage, inflorescence, and general habit. Some were very beautiful, and highly fragrant. The remaining fourth part resembled the female parent in habit, but the foliage was rather on a larger scale. The colours of the blossoms were very rich, various tints of crimson, vivid pink or scarlet; and most of these will form beautiful acquisitions to our shrubbery borders.

17. Preservation of Fruit-Trees from Hares.-According to M. Bas, young fruit-trees may be preserved from the bites of hares, by rubbing them with fat, and especially hogs-lard. Apple and pear trees thus protected, give no signs of the attacks of these animals, though their feet-marks were abundant in the snow beneath them.-Bull. Univ. D. xiv. 381.

18. Cure of Wounds in Elm-Trees.-Those elms which have running places or ulcers, may be cured in the following manner. Each wound is to have a hole bored in it with an auger, and then a tube, penetrating an inch or less, is to be fixed in each. Healthy trees, which are thus pierced, give no fluid; but those which are unhealthy yield fluid, which increases in abundance with the serenity of the sky, and exposure to the south. Stormy and windy weather interrupts the effect. It has been remarked, that in from 24 to 48 hours the running stops; the place dries up; and is cured.-Journal des Forets, 1829.

19. Preservation of Frozen Potatoes.-In time of frost, the only precaution necessary is to retain the potatoes in a perfectly dark place for some days after the thaw has commenced. In America, where they are sometimes frozen as hard as stones, they rot if thawed in open day; but if thawed in darkness they do not rot, and lose very little of their natural odour and properties.-Recueil Indust. xiv. 81.

20. Precautions in the planting of Potatoes.It would appear from experiments made in Holland, that when potatoes are planted, the germs of which are developed, as happens occasionally in late operations, or rather after mild winters, the produce differs in quantity by more than a third to what it

would be if potatoes which had not advanced had been used; and farther, that besides this diminished product, the quality is also very inferior.

GEOGRAPHY.

21. Notice Regarding Lost Greenland.-The Indicateur of Calais has the following:-We learn from Copenhagen, that an expedition which sailed from that port in May last, succeeded in reaching the eastern coast of Greenland, where some Norwegian colonists settled eight centuries ago, and to which all access had since been prevented by the ice. The expedition found there the descendants of the primitive colonists, who still profess Christianity. Their language is that of the Norwegians of the tenth century.

22. Major Rennell's Chart of the Atlantic.-We understand, from the editor of the lately published edition of "The Geographical System of Herodotus," there are preparing for press, from the manuscript of the late Major Rennell, a memoir on the general currents of the Atlantic ocean, accompanied by a series of charts, shewing their force and direction; and also a work on the ancient and modern geography of certain parts of Asia, with twelve maps.

23. Intelligence of Captain Ross, R.N.-Two accounts of the progress of Captain Ross's exploratory voyage have reached us. We give them as communicated to us. According to the one account, Captain Ross was met with in Baffin's Bay in August 1829, where, having suffered damage during hard weather, he fortunately was enabled, from the wreck of a Greenland ship, to refit. He afterwards steered northward, and has not since been heard of. The other account represents our adventurous commander and his brave crew as having been forced back to Lively Bay, in Baffin's Bay, where they spent last winter.

STATISTICS.

24. Commerce of Great Britain.-At a time when the commercial distress of this country is so great, and the utmost anxiety is everywhere shewn for effecting its relief, it will be inte

resting to know the relation in which the various countries of the world stand to us with respect to the value and importance of the commerce which we carry on with them. The following table, for the year from January 1828 to January 1829, and derived from an official return laid before Parliament, will shew the state and value of our commerce with all countries, the first column of which exhibits the value of Imports for one year; and the second, the value of Exports. If we are to judge of the relative value or importance of the commerce of countries by the quantity of commodities with which they supply us, we shall find this shown in the first column of the table. But if we are to judge of the value of their commerce by the quantity of our native or colonial produce which they consume, this we shall find indicated in the second column.

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The sums are given according to the official valuation.

25. Cholera Morbus.-There was read at a late meeting of the French Institute, an interesting paper on the epidemic cholera at present raging in Russia. The author said that its progress can be traced from India through Persia; that the majority of those attacked were carried off within twenty-four hours; that

its propagation was entirely checked by intense cold, ceasing each year about the 15th of October, and breaking out again in the month of April. Humboldt, who made some observations on the paper, said that he was of opinion it was not imported into Europe by caravans, which are all subjected to a strict quarantine; and that the Russian army brought it back with them from Persia; and that its extension into southern Europe is very probable from the movements of large bodies of men to the western frontier of the Russian empire. To those interested in the nature of this terrible disease, we recommend, as the best treatise on the subject, that published by Dr Alexander Turnbull Christie.

ARTS.

26. Size for Illuminators, Artists, &c.-Four ounces of Flanders glue, and four ounces of white soap, are to be dissolved on the fire in a pint of water, two ounces of powdered alum added, the whole stirred and left to cool. It is to be spread cold with a sponge or pencil on the paper to be prepared, and is much used by those who have to colour unsized paper, as artists, topographers, &c.-Bull. Univ.

27. Manufacture of Charcoal.-A new process, recommended in the Journal des Forêts, for this purpose, is to fill all the interstices in the heap of wood to be charred, with powdered charcoal.

28. Potash obtained commercially from Felspar.-According to M. Fuchs, this important alkali may be extracted from minerals containing it, by the following method :-They are to be calcined with lime, then left some time in contact with water, and the liquor filtered and evaporated. M. Fuchs says, he has thus obtained from nineteen to twenty parts of potash from felspar, and from fifteen to sixteen from mica, per cent.—Brand's Journal, No. 1. New Series.

29. Improvements in Printing-It is well known that of late years a vast additional power has been given to the art of letterpress printing, by means of machinery. For speed, the newlyinvented printing machines, when compared with the manual presses, are to printing what the power-loom is to weaving; and, accordingly, they are of great utility in all establishments

where newspapers and other periodical works having a large circulation are printed, and of course where the greatest number of impressions is required in the shortest possible time. Although the machines have been very much simplified since their first introduction, and much neater work is now accomplished with them than at first, yet they are still so expensive, and the manual presses so superior to them for the purposes of fine printing and general economy in the case of small impressions, that it is doubtful if the present kind of machines will ever come into general use. In confirmation of this opinion, it may just be stated, that long as these machines have been used in London, only two offices in Edinburgh have as yet obtained them, and we are not aware of there being a single machine elsewhere in Scotland. The machines, however, possess in their inking apparatus, one decided advantage over the common presses, for by it the ink is applied to the types with the utmost regularity and equality; while, at the common press, it is laid on in greater or less quantity, and with more or less regularity, according to the care or judgment of the pressman. Hence it frequently happens, in the latter case, that no two sheets, nor even both sides of the same sheet, are perfectly uniform in colour, though printed at the same press, and at all events seldom or never if printed at different presses.—In printing each sheet at the old press, two men are employed, the one for applying the ink, and the other for laying on the paper; and within the last 25 years a subsequent process of pressing or smoothing the printed sheets has been introduced, likewise requiring the labour of other two individuals. This last operation is performed by placing a printed sheet and a thin glazed pasteboard alternately above each other, till a sufficient number be obtained for filling a large screw-press or hydraulic-press. This being done, a very powerful pressure is applied, and the whole then allowed to stand consolidated for some hours, by which means the printed surface is completely flattened, and a glaze at the same time imparted to the paper. A book is thus much improved in appearance, but it is at a great additional expense to the printer, and for which he receives no extra remuneration. It would therefore be of no slight advantage to him could the labour of printing and pressing be diminished, and the inequality of inking at

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